Page 61 of Heartless Stepbrother

He was close enough now that I could feel the heat from his body, a whisper away from my knees beneath the blanket. Thescent of him clung to the air, clean clothes and warm skin and something darker I couldn’t name.

I struggled for breath, my voice shaking. “You can’t just come in here.”

“Seems I already did.”

My heart tripped violently.

“Get out,” I whispered. “Please.”

He tilted his head, considering the word please like it was a gift he had not expected to receive.

Then he stepped closer.

The mattress dipped under his knee. One moment he was a silhouette in the moonlight, the next he was inches from me, invading my space with quiet, devastating certainty.

“What if I’m not finished with you yet?” he murmured.

And every part of me broke into terrified sparks.

I shrank back instinctively, but the headboard stopped me. Riley’s shadow swallowed the space between us, his knee sinking deeper into the mattress. The faint creak of springs felt deafening.

“Finished with me?” I echoed, hating the tremble in my voice. “You don’t even get to start.”

His smile wasn’t really a smile. Just a slow curl at one corner of his mouth, like he’d heard a joke meant only for him. “You keep saying things like that,” he said softly, “and yet…”

His fingers reached out, not for me, but for the blanket bunched in my fists. He didn’t tug. He didn’t need to. Just the sight of his hand near mine sent electricity skittering across my skin.

“You’re shaking,” he murmured. “Are you afraid I’m gonna take something else? Besides your bikini top?”

I clenched my jaw. “You think this is funny?”

“No,” he said, gaze darkening. “I think it’s interesting.”

The air between us tightened. My heartbeat roared in my ears. If he leaned forward even an inch, he’d be close enough for his breath to brush my cheek.

“Riley…” My voice cracked on his name. I hated that too.

For a moment, just a moment, something unreadable flickered in his eyes. Something that didn’t feel like mockery at all. But it vanished as quickly as it came.

The mattress dipped further, and his face came into focus, shadows carving along his jaw, eyes catching slivers of moonlight. He looked unfairly calm, considering my heart was trying to beat its way out of my ribs.

His hand braced beside my hip, not touching, but the heat of him seeped through the blanket like a threat. Or a promise. I couldn’t decide which terrified me more.

“Careful,” he murmured, leaning in just enough that his hair brushed my forehead. “If you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to think you want something.”

“I don’t,” I breathed, though the words tangled together.

“Mm.” His gaze dropped to my lips for a fraction of a second, just long enough to make my lungs seize. “Liar.”

I flushed hot. “You’re in my room, Riley. Uninvited.”

“I had a keycard,” he said with a smirk, as if that excused anything. As if breaking into my space was some clever trick he expected me to applaud.

“That’s not—“ My voice faltered when he dipped closer, forearm brushing the blanket near my thigh. Every nerve in me lit up, panicked and alert.

“You really should see your face right now,” he murmured, amused. “All wide-eyed and trapped. It’s kind of adorable.”

“Get off my bed.”