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Family. Yeah, right. There is nothing about the way I look at Trey that’s at all familial. I can feel my face burning as I cringe at myself.He’s your step-brother!I chastise myself, but theknowledge does nothing but make me burn hotter. God, I’m sure I’m bright red right now. I duck my head to try to hide it, but I swear I can feel Trey’s gaze on me like a brand.
No! Don’t think about him marking you.
What the hell has gotten into me? I’ve never reacted to someone like this before. Never even been interested enough in anyone to have sex with them, and all of a sudden I feel like I’m on fire because of my literal stepbrother. Great. Perfect. Totally ideal.
This is a shitshow.
Trey begins speaking, and I realize I’ve ignored my mom, too lost in my own spiraling thoughts.
“Talk to you soon!” Mom and David call before the phone beeps, signaling they’ve hung up.
Silence falls between Trey and me, making the air feel thick. I’m struggling to remember how people breathe normally. A mess. I’m a mess. And I hate silence.
“So…guess we’re spending the month together,” I say, clearing my throat and hoping my cheeks aren’t as pink as they feel when I raise my head again.
The fact of the matter is that Trey and I are going to be alone here for a month, and I think a month of silence and awkwardness might actually kill me. It’d be much better to make an effort to be friendly and hope he can’t sense the way I react to him. Maybe that’ll stop, too? Like exposure therapy. Notlikely.
I walk around the counter, smiling, and reach out my hand in his direction. “I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself,” I say, “I’m Talia, Lucille’s daughter.”
I realize too late that I’m still only wearing a towel, and with one of my arms extended, the fabric starts to slip. Panicked, I drop my hand and grab the towel before it unravels completely, stumbling backward. There’s no way I can start my goal of friendliness while I’m practically naked in front of him for the second time since we met not even twenty minutes ago.
With Trey still silent, I turn and rush out of the room to put on some actual clothes and get a grip on myself.
I return twenty minutes later, with my hair still damp but in twin braids so it doesn’t drip anywhere, wearing comfy pajamas and fuzzy slippers. I feel a little more centered now that I’ve had a chance to breathe and cover myself up.
Trey’s standing right where I left him, leaning against the kitchen counter like a statue. Hell, it wouldn’t surprise me if those muscles of his were actually carved from stone. I swear I can see his abs through his shirt.
You’re ogling him again!I blink and raise my eyes to his face, smiling. Friendly. I can do friendly.
It’s nearly seven in the evening now, and I know for a fact there’s nothing much in the cupboards because I was supposed to grocery shop today. We both need to eat something.
“You grew up here, right?” I pull over a stool and sit down on the island.
Trey raises a brow and nods with a grunt of affirmation. Not a talker, I see.
“Then you know the area better than I do,” I push on, filling the silence with my rambling. “I’ve only been here for a few days. What’s the best take-out spot?”
Trey considers my question for a minute, those stormy eyes of his holding me hostage as he keeps his gaze trained on me. After a minute, he reels off the name of a Chinese food place, and I immediately pull up my delivery app.
My stomach grumbles eagerly while I scroll through the menu, adding a whole bunch of food to my cart. Trey doesn’t give me any input into what his favorite dishes are, so I choose for him, ordering us a feast. When I’m done, I set my phone down and pin him with a look.
“Look, we may as well get to know each other, considering our parents clearly aren’t going to do the introductions for us,” I say with a smile and a shrug.
Trey inclines his head slightly. “I’m Trey,” he states simply. I wait for him to expand on that, but he doesn’t.
I laugh a little, shaking my head. “Just Trey?”
“What more is there to know?” he asks in that dark voice that makes goosebumps break out on my skin.
“I have an idea,” I announce, hopping off my stool. “You know the best way to get to know someone, to know what they’re really like?”
Trey frowns at my question. “What?”
“Board games,” I finish with a grin. “You never really know what someone’s truly like until you’ve gone head to head over a game of Monopoly. Once, Mom and I had a month-long game because neither of us was willing to admit defeat.”
“A board game?” Trey repeats slowly, sounding unconvinced but not objecting. I take that as a win and hurry over to the cabinet beneath the TV where I know Mom’s stored her board games.
I grab Monopoly and spin back, shaking the box at him. “I won in the end,” I add with a teasing smile when Trey still looks unconvinced. “What? Are you worried I’ll wipe the floor with you?”
