Page 7 of Right Side of Paradise

Like the First Time

I shouldn’t have been hard watching my stepsister walk up the beach and back to my house. But after the conversation I’d had with Soul and the memories that flooded me shortly after, I was a lost cause.

I couldn’t help but notice every little thing about her as she approached the back of my house, carrying her board in one hand with her paddle in the other.

The teal leash was still secure around her ankle, but my gaze quickly abandoned the bottom half of her in favor of obsessing over my new discovery.

“When the fuck did she get those?” I asked my bottle of alkaline water as footsteps hit the floor behind me.

I was standing at the kitchen window, watching Harlow with no shame, but my jaw grew slacker the closer she got to the house.

“What?” Christian grumbled behind me, voice thick with sleep and something else I didn’t have the attention span to decipher right now.

Right now, every modicum of attention was laser focused on the horizontal bars visible beneath Harlow’s bikini top.

The triangular scraps of her bathing suit barely covered her chest and they did a damn good job showcasing the piercings I didn’t know existed until a minute ago.

“Fuck.” I was never getting rid of this hard on. My dick was already tucked into the waist band of my shorts. It was either that or rocking tented pants to the breakfast table.

Warm precum hit my lower stomach and I held back a groan. There were a lot of things wrong with me, but lusting over my stepsister in a bikini was high on the list.

Thankfully, she chose that moment to disappear under the house to stow her board. A second later I heard the outdoor shower come on and relaxed a fraction. Until I remembered I wasn’t alone in the kitchen and turned my head to see Christian at the table, staring into the void.

He wasn’t on his phone or focused on anything but his hands in front of him.

If I asked him what was wrong, he would give me the same bullshit lie as last night. I knew whatever it was had less to do with him being tired and everything to do with our new houseguest.

Seeing him uneasy fucked with me.

Christian had always been quiet and to himself. But when he was obsessing over something, his poker face failed him every time.

My lust took a backseat to making sure he was good as I walked over the cool tile to close the space between us.

Before I sat down, I kissed the side of his head and pulled out the chair directly beside him.

Christian and I had never been more than friends. Our relationship was nothing like my relationship with Soul. But I thanked God every day I didn’t end up with men in my life who didn’t value platonic affection.

“Tell me what’s bothering you,” I prompted instead of asking.

He inhaled sharply and glanced at the door like he was waiting for Harlow to make an appearance. When a few seconds passed without that happening, he leaned back in his chair and said, “Just obsessing over old shit.”

With another heavy breath, he scrubbed a hand over his face and tore his eyes away from me.

“I know I should move on like you and Soul did, but every time I see her, it comes rushing back. I don’t know how to get over that night. I don’t know how to get over her.”

He thought Soul and I had moved on?

I almost wanted to laugh because of how far off he was, but I cleared my throat and cocked my head to look at him.

“I’m a grown ass man, I know. I think it’s just the fact that we were all close for so long.

Then we did that. And my heart is still waiting for what comes after that.

” He shook his head, looking disgusted with himself.

“I tried to hook up with other people. But it feels empty. Hollow. And I feel like a dick for holding this over Harlow’s head because she told me—all of us—what it was that night. ”

Damn .

I wasn’t expecting the words to flow so freely. Christian could keep a secret from himself, so for him to open up like this before his first cup of coffee had me speechless.

“I got coffee,” Soul announced while I was trying to untie my tongue. “And donuts. Chocolate glazed for Rico, old-fashioned for Chris and sprinkles for Harley.”

Christian got up before I could say anything else and helped Soul unload the bags on the kitchen counter.

But his words stayed on repeat even after Harlow walked in the house and joined us for breakfast.

I don’t know how to get over that night. I don’t know how to get over her.

That made three of us.

But what about Harlow? Had she gotten over what she’d done to us that night?

“I’m going to grandma’s house,” Harlow said, entering the living room while I checked emails on my phone and Christian went over expenses for the bar.

Soul had left for work an hour ago and Harlow had disappeared upstairs around the same time.

She’d changed into another bikini—this one pink instead of the green she’d been wearing earlier. She had a white dress on over it and her hair spilled over her shoulders in tight coils.

“You need my keys?”

“No.” She shook her head and all I smelled was mangoes and sunshine. Whatever conditioner she used complimented the citrusy perfume she wore too well. “I want to walk.”

She said that but held out her hand as she hovered above my seated position.

I dapped her up and suppressed my laugh when she narrowed her eyes at me.

Without a word, I reached in my pocket for my card holder and gave her the one that had her birthday as a PIN.

“Thank you, bye.” She ran her hand over my waves and shot Christian a smile before she walked to the front of the house.

When the door closed, Christian looked up from his laptop screen and shook his head.

“She’s so fucking spoiled.”

“I know,” I said, smiling at my phone.

And that was our fault. We taught her to never go in her pockets if she was around a man. Why would that change just because it was us? If anything, she knew we had her covered three times over.

Exactly as it should be.

I turned my attention back to my phone, determined to get some work done before Soul and Harlow got home. Because I knew once they were back, I wouldn’t be able to focus on anything but them. And that excited the fuck out of me.