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TATUM
Iheard shrieks coming from Star’s bedroom and stormed down the hall in fight mode, only to find Clara and Star rolling around on the floor in a fit of giggles, throwing fake money at each other.
I did a double take as fierce longing ripped through me. I’d laid out my feelings to Clara, and she’d turned me down. I had only myself to blame for being such a stubborn idiot and suppressing my true feelings for her.
Not going to lie, though, it was a bitter pill to swallow.
I couldn’t blame her. After the months we’d spent sparring and the deep level of suspicion she had over all things Lupu, I hadn’t done anything to establish trust between us. As hard as it was, in the end, I’d backed off and respected her wishes because I knew myself. If I got my hands on her and burst through her tight channel, I’d never let her go. It would never work between us. She was obsessed with her clan, and I couldn’t leave mine. If I took her virginity, hard choices would have to be made.
Seeing Star acting silly didn’t surprise me. Clara, on the other hand, I almost didn’t recognize. But the two of them together, appearing so carefree and relaxed, cracked my heart in two. My sister was shy and reserved. She didn’t open up to just anyone. And Clara… Clara’s life was relentlessly demanding. She was constantly interrupted, taking calls from her people in Cali, making decisions for her people, and proving she was so much more than a pampered little princess.
Clara kept people at arm’s length, and Star was a bashful introvert, yet they’d found something in each other. Needless to say, family meant everything to me, and seeing Clara with my sister disarmed me. If I hadn’t fallen for her before, this clinched it.
Blinking down on her, I barely recognized her.
Gone were her stiff, structured suits. Gone were the caked-on layers of makeup. Gone was her perfect hair. She was dressed in yoga pants and a shirt that rode up to expose her tiny waist and slightly rounded belly. Her pants rode dangerously low enough for me to lust over her flared hips. All her fair, peach skin displayed for my lips and tongue to worship.
Clara popped up and her thick tits jiggled in a way that told me she wasn’t wearing a bra. Dear God, I hoped no one noticed my cock lengthening in my pants. Her hair was in a messy bun on top of her head. I’d never seen her glow like this before; she was slightly flushed from laughing so hard. She’d never looked more stunning in all the months we’d spent together. It took my breath away.
The lust and pleasure on her face when her eyes swept over me stirred my blood to a boil. After catching her unguarded expression, there was no way, I mean no way, I could take her resting bitch face at face value again.
Her eyes dropped as if she couldn’t hold my gaze. I’d won every staring contest between us, but ever since I’d begun my campaign to win her over, she couldn’t look me in the eye long enough to challenge me.
I’d unmoored her, and I loved it.
“Hey, Tatum,” my sister said breathlessly, breaking the spell.
“I thought something happened. You two were screaming like hyenas,” I griped, expressing the residual irritation that had quickly evaporated after seeing them on the floor laughing.
My sister rolled onto her back and gazed up at me from the floor. “There’s no internet, so we were whiling away the time. After we watched every makeup video Clara had saved on her phone, she did a makeover,” she said with a flourish of her fingers toward the smoky eyeshadow around her eyes.
My brows lifted. My kid sister looked like…like a grown woman. At seventeen, she was blossoming, and I made a mental note to watch over her more carefully.
“We got bored,” Star continued, “so I pulled out this old game.”
My eyes flicked to Clara, who gave me an almost shy look from beneath her lashes. She fiddled with the fake cash and started organizing it by denomination, her shoulders hiking up as if expecting me to mock her. We’d been at each other’s throats for months, and she still wasn’t used to our new reality. Have no fear, little one, I’m a patient man.
“That was sweet of Clara, and the eyeshadow looks good on you,” I praised my sister, who scrunched her nose at me in response to my compliment.
Clara guardedly lifted her gaze to mine.
“You, on the other hand, are more beautiful without makeup. I can see you better,” I said.
A flush rose high on her cheeks. She got my message. I didn’t see her better, I simply saw her as she was at her core. Now that I had my eye on her, she wasn’t safe behind the makeup and clothes she hid behind.
She wasn’t safe from me, period. It was fine that she wasn’t ready. To be honest, I wasn’t ready either. I wanted her, there was no question about that, but our situation was delicate, and I was nothing if not a cautious man.
Star, who would’ve been blind to not see a shift in me, patted a place by her side and said, “Sit and play with us, Tatum.”
“No,” Clara instantly said. “H-he’s too busy.”
Star made a little scoffing sound. Throwing me a wide smile, she said, “My brother’s never too busy for me, isn’t that right, Tatum?”
“That’s right,” I replied, dropping beside her.
I’d already discarded my jacket, but suddenly feeling stifled by my tie, I whipped it off and placed it carefully between Clara and me. Stretching out my long frame, I propped myself up on my elbow and caught her gaze bouncing from my body to the tie and back. Hmm, already guessed she had a little kink to her, but this solidified my suspicions.
Her interest wasn’t helping me keep my cock under control, either. Crazy ideas bubbled in my head, ideas I had no business conjuring. Ideas of using my tie to bind her to the white metal bars of the headboard of her bed, her naked body writhing beneath me. Or skimming the tie lightly down the center of her torso, teasing her with the edge. Or better yet, spreading her legs open for me and taunting her clit with it. The possibilities were endless.
