Read PIERCED - A Stepbrother Romance for Free Online Page B

spending a lot of time with him,” I mention casually. He has a right to know. I’d want to know if he were going to be spending his weeks with an attractive woman. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust James - I did. I trusted him with my life. I just feel like couples need to share that sort of information. James doesn’t flinch. He lifts his eyes across the table, meeting mine with kindness and understanding. Once, just once, I’d like to see him get a little jealous. I’d like to see him get fired up over me, if only to confirm that deep down, under his polite veneer, there’s a man dying to do anything to keep me.
    James shrugs and returns his gaze to his menu. “Such is life, eh?”
    “How are things in New York?”
    “Same old,” he says unhurriedly. His words are so dull they couldn’t even slice butter.
    I yawn. This lunch is boring. James is boring. But it’s better than the flipside: drama and tension and chaos. I’ve learned to appreciate boring. I need more boring in my life. I welcome boring with open arms.
    The lunch crowd begins to shuffle in, and the café grows noticeably louder as tables fill. Guests brush past our table one by one, some heading toward the bathroom. I scan the perimeter for a server. No one has said two words to us since we sat down, as if we were invisible.
    “Calm down, babe,” James says. Even from across the table, he can sense my growing frustration. “Someone’ll be here soon to take our orders.”
    “I’m starving,” I groan. I peer around once more for a hint that someone might possibly headed our way, but my glance freezes when I see him coming.
    He’s not in scrubs or a lab coat. He’s in a gray t-shirt and cobalt blue gym shorts with a stream of white ribbon down the legs.
    Sutton .
    He’s making a beeline for the restroom area, but he stops short when he sees me. His eyes shine, and his mouth curls just enough for me to see the white of his straight smile.
    I cup my hand over my eyes and duck down, as if I could possibly make myself invisible by not making eye contact with him.
    “Lauryn,” he calls out.
    “Hey,” I smile and fight the burn in my cheeks. My mouth goes dry and my heart strums hard. “Sutton, you remember I told you about James, right?”
    James twists in his seat, his normally calm expression hardening in an instant.
    “James this is Sutton – Dr. Pierce – I’ll be working closely with him during the launch of Arovag.” I expect them to shake hands, and I wait, only they stand there like two bulls locking horns and flaring their nostrils. I’ve never seen this side of James before.
    The clinking of dishes and cutlery and the drone of hundreds of lunchtime conversations are all I hear. I want someone to say something. Anything.
    “James,” Sutton says through gritted teeth.
    “Sutton.” James sits up straight, pulling his shoulders back as he stares down his nose from his perch on the high-rise chair.
    “You two know each other or something?” I laugh. I laugh because it’s the most insane assumption in the entire world.
    Sutton’s eyes drift into mine and then back to James’. “We do. We went to college together. Undergrad. Dartmouth.”
    “Wait…what?” I’m confused.
    “Roommates actually,” Sutton said. “Until James dropped out of the pre-med program and had to move to another building.”
    “I never knew you were pre-med,” I say directly to James. “You told me you were always Marketing.”
    “Does it matter?” James spits his words at me. He’s never done that before. Something about Sutton has tripped his trigger. He turns back to Sutton. “How do you know Lauryn?”
    “She’s my stepsister,” he says. “ Family .” He emphasizes the word family , as if it carries more weight than it does. “But we go back a long time. I’ve known her long before she was a metal-mouth, pimple-faced teenager with string-bean legs.”
    “Thanks, Sutton.” I shake my head and my eyes dart down. They’re still