Page 7 of Her Stepbrother Master (Master Me #7)

Brad chuckled at LuAnn’s death grip on his waist, which tightened every time he turned or leaned the bike. Despite the fact that she’d been playing at being wild, her beguiling innocence showed through in so many ways.

He’d never dated nice girls, not even after he’d graduated and started working as a professional. He wasn’t the sort of boy to bring home to mother, for one thing, or he hadn’t been in high school. And since he wasn’t looking for a serious girlfriend, he’d run with the fast girls.

LuAnn may want to pretend she fit in with that type of girl, but she didn’t. Underneath the rebellion was a sweet and polite girl. The kind of girl he’d never have.

He arrived at the carnival and parked his motorcycle. They walked together to the ticket counter where he bought a long string of tickets to play the games. “I can hold my jacket if it’s too hot now.”

“No,” she said quickly. “It’s not too hot. Thanks.” She beamed at him, resplendent in dimples and perfect, white teeth.

He grinned back and touched her nose. She liked wearing his jacket, pretending he was her boyfriend.

He shouldn’t let her. He should clarify his role as big brother, and nothing more.

Except ever since he’d taken her over his knee and then held her in his arms, he had no interest in being her big brother.

Why, in all his dating, had he never met a girl like her? So fresh and sweet, so adoring.

She looked around, standing on her tiptoes to survey it all, and bouncing on her heels with excitement.

“What should we do first?”

“Ferris wheel,” she exclaimed.

“Ferris wheel, it is,” he said, putting his hand on her back and leading her toward the giant rotating disk.

The line was long, but she spotted a few young women she knew who waved them in.

“Hey, LuAnn,” a dark-haired girl said with a curious look. “I heard you left Sarah Wharton.”

“Nope,” she said, only blushing a little. “I just moved off-campus.”

The girls stared at him. “This is Brad,” she said, “my, um…” She darted a glance at him. “...friend.”

He didn’t contradict her. They were friends, after all.

Sort of. In the we’re-related-by-marriage-and-I-can’t-keep-my-hands-off-her way.

Not wanting to stay and chit chat with her fellow coeds, he excused himself.

“I’ll be right back, mouse.” When she gave him a panicked look, he said, “I promise I’ll be back before it’s our turn, okay? ”

“Okay,” she said, her face relaxing.

He walked over to lean against a building and pulled his pack of cigarettes out from where he’d rolled it in his shirt sleeve.

He lit up, watching LuAnn pretending not to watch him.

What was it he found so irresistible about her?

The simple fact he couldn’t have her? No, there was something more.

He couldn’t put a finger on it—it was more than the protectiveness he felt for her, more than the lust she inspired, or the way she blushed, or her starry-eyed gazes.

Maybe it was all those things wrapped up into one.

The snaking line had moved up and LuAnn was looking over at him. He stubbed out his cigarette and walked back to...he almost thought his girl . And he never said that, not about any girl he dated. And the wrongness of it somehow made it feel even more right.

She turned to him as he approached, her green eyes lighting up as her lips curved into a wide smile.

This was the mouse he’d observed when she thought no one was watching.

When she forgot to try to be cool or impress others.

He’d always loved watching her childlike enthusiasm for simple pleasures like Ferris wheels and, well, his presence.

Her unwavering regard filled him with pride, as if he was someone so much more important than an entry-level architect in his second year of the profession. He wanted to kiss her berry lips suddenly, with an ache that had him sucking in his breath to inhibit the urge.

Wrong. This all was so wrong, and yet he couldn’t stop letting it play out. He found his stepsister too fascinating, too tempting to leave alone.

They climbed on the Ferris wheel and he put his arm around her shoulders, allowing her to snuggle up against his side and pretend she was afraid.

Her hand trembled on the bar, but he knew it wasn’t from fear.

Around and around the wheel went, their bucket tipping forward and swinging with each lurch as the conductor loaded the people.

At last they all were seated and the wheel began to spin.

The passengers broke into cries of glee, and LuAnn joined them, lifting her hands from the bar and reaching toward the sky, her eyes wide with delight. He grinned back at her, the childish joy contagious.

“I love the view from up here,” she said as the wheel spun around once, then twice, then a third time. The conductor began to stop it, car by car to let the passengers off. “Aw.” She stuck out her lower lip.

He wanted to kiss it. No, he wanted to bite it between his teeth—gently, of course. He wanted to pull her onto his lap and tease her with his hands and lips and tongue until she squirmed with delight.

Of course, he did no any such thing. Instead, when the conductor let them off their car, he took her to the bean bag tossing booth and won her a big, fluffy brown teddy bear with a gingham ribbon around his neck.

“This can replace that ratty old white bear I gave you years ago.”

“No way. I’m not getting rid of Marshmallow.” ” She squeezed the bear, twirling back and forth with it. “I’ll just add Beary to my collection.”

He smiled. “Beary, huh? Cute.” Like you.

Her cheeks turned pink and she ducked her head, adorable in her embarrassment.

“Oh, he’s absolutely dreamy, Lu,” Beth said, handing her a cigarette and lighting a match.

She didn’t know Beth that well, but they’d been in the same dorm and had gone to squeal at an Elvis Presley concert together once. It was nice to have a friend to sneak off behind the bathrooms with to have a cigarette. “I know. But we’re not...um, dating.”

“That’s not how it seemed to me. I saw the way he looked at you.”

She held the cigarette out to the flame and inhaled, then coughed when her lungs filled with smoke. “How did he look?”

“Like he thought you were adorable. He had an indulgent sort of smile.”

She frowned. Adorable and indulgent. Both words sounded big-brotherly. Not passionate. Or adoring. Or lustful.

Well, what did she expect? She had acted like a child back there. Why, oh, why had she made such a fuss about the bear? She didn’t want him to find her adorable. She wanted to be sophisticated, smart, sexy, sassy. She wanted to be far from the little “mouse” he still called her.

She needed to come up with a new strategy. Maybe instead of hiding back here smoking, she should just march over and ask him for a cigarette. Except she never could light it up without coughing. That wasn’t cool.

“Well, he’s not my boyfriend. But maybe soon…” she said with a wicked smile.

Beth dug in her purse and handed her a gold tube of lipstick. “Here,” she said. “Make yourself appealing.”

“Thanks.” She accepted the gold tube and pulled off the cap. The lipstick was bright red—bolder than Marilyn Monroe’s. “Gee, do you think this is too much?” she asked, but rubbed it over her lips before Beth could respond.

“No, you look sharp. Very sultry.”

She took a puff on the cigarette, looking at the stain her lips left behind. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, silly. It’s perfect. See?” Beth smeared the daring shade on her own lips, puckering them in an imaginary kiss.

LuAnn giggled and closed her eyes, leaning forward to imitate Beth’s pose. “Like this?”

“Yes, dahling, you look mahvelous.”

She dropped her cigarette and rubbed it out with her round-toed pump. “Thanks.” She gave the girl an air kiss. “Let’s go see if it works.”

She walked out from behind the restrooms toward the big tent where the animals were kept. The sky had clouded over and she was glad, now, that she’d kept Brad’s jacket.

“There you are.” His deep voice sounded behind her as he caught her elbow. His brows were lowered. “I’ve been looking for you. We need to get out of here before it rains. Come on,” he said, tugging her toward the parking lot.

It took her until they reached the motorcycle to realize what the hurry was. Duh. Of course it would be unpleasant to ride in the rain. She zipped the teddy bear he’d bought her inside the leather jacket as they hustled toward the motorcycle.

He picked up the helmet and began to slip it on, then stopped with a frown. “Have you been smoking?”

She shrugged. “Yeah, so?”

His lips flattened. “You’re too young to smoke.”

“I’m twenty years old,” she said, lifting her chin.

He put his arm around the front of her waist and turned her sideways to smack her backside. “You don’t need to try to look glamorous by smoking, LuAnn Walter.”

Her face flooded with heat at being swatted in public. She needed to dissuade him of this image he had of her, right away. Why couldn’t he see she had grown up and was ready to play at his speed? “Why shouldn’t I be able to smoke? You do.”

“Well, I’m an adult.” He grasped her chin is his fingers, holding her face captive. “Were you smoking to impress me?”

“What? No,” she said, but her protest came out too loud and shrill to sound true. She hadn’t been. Not really. But maybe wearing his leather jacket and seeing him smoking had made her want to accept that cigarette from Beth.

“The truth, little girl.”

She stamped her foot and tried to pull her chin away, but his fingers tightened. “I am not a little girl.”

“You are. You’re my little girl to watch over, remember? Listen to me, mouse. No more smoking. I’ll quit, too. I don’t want to be a bad influence on you.”

She rolled her eyes. He made her sound like a thirteen-year-old girl who still hero-worshipped him and copied everything he did. That wasn’t it. She smoked because she was a grown up, exercising her independence and pleasure.