Page 23 of Puck My Stepbrother

“Gee, I hope the thought of a dinner date with me didn’t make you sick.”

Laughter spilled out of my mouth. Jeff’s wit marked the major difference between him and Levi, which I treasured to no end. I almost let my guard down—almost. Thank God I’d stayed alert, otherwise I would’ve jumped out of my seat when Levi marched through the door.

Shit!

I watched my stepbrother-to-be at the counter as he yapped with the barista. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Levi responded to something with that booming laugh of his. He hadn’t turned to me yet, thank God, but I knew I wasn’t out of the woods.

“Something wrong?” Jeff asked.

“It’s my stepbrother. Do me a favor and just act natural.”

Jeff ducked a little, and I followed instinctively.

“No, no,” I said, “don’t duck, just?—”

We sat up and straightened ourselves out.

But it was too late.

Levi turned from the counter, saw us sitting there, and strolled over to our table. He dragged out a chair, turned it backward, and sat. No invitation from us, but since when did that matter?

He was Levi Dunn.

“How the heck are ya, Quinn?” He slapped my shoulder hard. I did everything in my power to forget how that same hand had wrapped around my cock and stroked it expertly last night.

“I’m doing fine.”

“What brings you here?”

As if he hadn’t noticed—and as if he hadn’t come here to interrupt it. Accidents didn’t exist in Levi Dunn’s world.

“We’re just out for coffee,” I said.

And then Levi turned to Jeff as if noticing his existence for the very first time. I squinted and gritted my teeth to brace for the ride.

“Levi Dunn.” He extended a hand to Jeff. “I’m going to be Quinn’s stepbrother real soon.”

When Levi’s hand closed over Jeff’s, my date’s eyes widened like my childhood bully had squeezed ferociously and he could do nothing about it. Jeff shook his hand to relieve the pain when Levi released it, which only confirmed my suspicions.

And we showered together last night,Levi could’ve added.I helped him with those hard-to-reach spots. Hey, did you know that Quinn had never been touched like that before? Oh yeah, I wouldn’t have believed it either, but it’s true.

Of course, he hadn’t said that…yet.

“I just stopped by after practice to grab a coffee,” he said, “and saw you guys here, so I wanted to say hi.”

“Nice to meet you.”

The tentative notes in Jeff’s voice suggested he found nothing at all nice about meeting Levi, but had committed himself to politeness.

“So, what’s the topic du jour?” Levi asked.

Did I really want to fill him in? Of course not. If I did, he’d appear at Trattoria Aroma this Friday night. It would be the world’s greatest co-winky-dink that wasn’t.

“Oh, nothing much,” I said. “Just stuff from English class. Shakespeare, Chaucer, things like that. It wouldn’t interest you.”

“Try me.”

Oh my God, my stepbrother was testing me in the worst fucking way.