Read Bend (A Stepbrother Romance) for Free Online Page B

couldn’t ruin this—not now that I knew that Keir wasn’t angry.
    “I’ll stay if you want to,” I said, “I’m not afraid of her. Besides, ooh, champagne’s here!” I thanked the waiter that slipped between us to deliver our glasses.
    “Wouldn’t it be rude to leave before it’s over?” I asked. He shrugged. Of course he wouldn’t care. But I did. “We should stay at least through the speeches.”
    “Okay,” he said, nodding and sitting back in his seat. “As soon as the last mic is dropped, though, we’re sneaking out.”
    “It’s a deal.”
     
    ═ ♪ ♫ ♪ ═
     
    Keir winked at me as he leaned over and said to the young pop singer seated next to him, “Want to know what she said to Kelly?”
    The pretty young girl laughed, fluttering her eyelashes, but Keir’s eyes kept drifting back toward me. “What’d she say?”
    “She goes, ‘you’re not that important.’ ”
    The girl snorted, then looked around, surprised at the sound that she’d made.
    I was having the time of my life. I finally got a good look at the other people we were seated with when dinner was served—an actor and his wife, the famous pop singer, Tracy Stroll, and her date, a songwriter whose face I recognized but whose name escaped me.
    “Keir says you work for the paparazzi?” Tracy asked, though her tone was teasing. It worried me a little when I realized that they knew each other—she was so pretty, I could hardly stop looking at her myself. But he’s here with me tonight .
    “I’m just a research assistant,” I said. “I dig up old articles so the writers have their facts straight for new ones. Not that exciting.” I was glad the air was cleared, though. There were no secrets hanging in the air between me and Keir. At least, none that mattered for a one- or two-night stand. I still wasn’t sure how to define what we were doing.
    Keir ran a hand through his hair. “Damn. I was going to give you some Kelly gossip to write a post about. Guess it won’t do either of us much good.”
    “I guess I’m the one who’s not that important,” I joked, and they both laughed.
    “Then what’s with the camera?” Tracy asked, gesturing.
    “Chasing the dream,” Keir answered for me, and Tracy smiled knowingly. Artists. All artists. They get it .
    “I once took a job where I wore a big banana costume and handed out free samples of smoothies,” Tracy said with a sheepish grin.
    Keir chuckled. “I worked as a carnie for a summer. Father’s orders. Said it would build work ethic.”
    I looked between them in disbelief. Keir as a carnie, I could see. But the beautiful and willowy Tracy Stroll as a banana? I laughed. “I guess I don’t have the worst first job ever.”
    “Not at all,” Keir winked. He reached beneath the table and rested a hand on my knee, his calluses rough, but his palm warm and soft. My pulse spiked, and I whipped my head up to look at him. He was smirking. He knew exactly the kind of effect he was having on me.
    The champagne was going to my head. I felt like I was floating. I rested my hand over his and slowly smiled, then nodded. Let’s go .
     
    ═ ♪ ♫ ♪ ═
     
    He ran his hand up my leg in the limo ride back to his hotel. His skin was warm and his breath was hot on my ear. “You’re fucking adorable, you know that?”
    “I am?” I breathed, unable to keep my hands off him—his neck, his hair, the stubble along his jaw. Like I could hardly believe this was real, he was real.
    “Yeah. The way you told off Kelly. How you blush and cover your mouth when you laugh.”
    “I guess I’m a little shy.”
    “Except when you’re angry.” He nipped my ear, and I tensed at the thrill that ran through me. “Then you’re a little spitfire. My spitfire.”
    My heart stuttered at that last bit. His . “You’re sure you aren’t angry about who I work for?” I asked, pushing him back to arm’s length so I could see his face.
    He smirked. “Baby, I’m invincible. Do your