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I should absolutely not be having filthy, dirty thoughts about my new stepbrother. Even if it was by far the best sex of my entire life.
My nipples peaked as I remembered the way he gripped my throat and whispered dirty words in my ear. Why did that turn me on so much?
Shouldn’t I feel dirty and degraded?
Because if that’s how I wassupposedto feel, it wasn’t working. I felt…sated. And that wasn’t good either.
Connor was a no-go zone. All I could hope for at this point was that my mom’s marriage lasted as long as all the others, which meant by this time next month, she’d be divorced and I’d never have to see Connor again.
Rolling out of bed, I threw on some yoga pants and my oversized UC Sacramento sweatshirt and then wandered into the kitchen to make some coffee.
“No. No, no, no. Not today,” I mumbled, staring at the empty box next to my Keurig where my coffee pods usually sat. In all the craziness of the past two days, I’d forgotten that I ran out of coffee yesterday morning. I’d planned to get some after brunch with my mom, but then Connor happened.
Okay, not the end of the world. Fortunately, there was a cute coffee shop just down the street. The walk was only about five minutes, and the smell of fresh brewed coffee hit me as soon as I walked through the door. I could already feel my shoulders relaxing just from being in the presence of caffeine.
“Jenna?”
I blamed my lack of coffee for not recognizing the voice right away. But there was no way to hide my shock when I spun around to find Peter standing behind me with his arm wrapped around the slim waist of a petite blonde.
“Peter! Wow. It’s been…a while.”
He smiled ruefully. “Yeah, it has. How’ve you been?”
“Fine. I mean great. I’ve been great.” I was lying through my teeth. My life was a hot mess express andgreatwas the last word I’d use to describe it, but I already knew I didn’t look nearly as put together as these two, so I was not about to share how my life was one disaster away from falling apart.
His smile grew and my stomach cramped. I hadn’t seen him since he dumped me, but he looked just as good as I remembered. He had the stereotypical California blond prep boy good looks, and the woman at his side fit him perfectly.
“I’m so glad to hear that,” he said, sounding genuine. “Oh man, where are my manners? Jenna, this is my wife, Tiffany.”
A record scratch went off in my brain.
His wife? He was married?!
I pasted my smile to my face while I took a better look at her, but all I saw were all the things I lacked. She was pristine with her glossy blonde hair, trim waist, and color-coordinated outfit, while I looked like I’d skipped laundry day and a shower one too many days in a row.
“Next!”
Saved by the barista, I spun back around, quickly placed my order, and then moved toward the end of the bar while my brain tried to organize this information.
My ex was married. He got married. I wondered how many times I’d have to say it before it felt real.
I didn’t love Peter anymore, but that didn’t change the fact that I’d spent four years of my life—my entire undergrad experience—with him, thinking that someday I’d be the woman he introduced to people as his wife.
And now he was married to someone else.
While I was subletting an apartment from a friend and trying to figure out if I could hack it in veterinary school or if I needed to find a new dream.
Peter and his wife walked over to join me, but thank every higher power in existence that the barista called out my name as soon as they reached me.
“That’s me,” I said, grabbing my coffee. “So nice seeing you again. Have a good one,” I said as I made my way to the exit. If he responded, I didn’t notice because I was already racing down the block back to my apartment.
This day was already off to a bad start, and the idea of hiding in my apartment so it couldn’t get any worse was sounding pretty damn good right about now.
Except when I saw who was leaning against the wall next to the door of my building, I had a sinking suspicion my day was only about to get worse.
“How did you find out where I live?” I asked Connor, whose casual pose held a tension that made me think it wasn’t all that casual.
“Your mom was more than happy to give me your address,” he said, pushing off the wall and moving until we stood in front of each other, my head tilted back to meet his eyes.
