Read Stepbrother JEEZ! (The Stepbrother Romance Series - Book #4) for Free Online Page A

us. But yeah…I’ll see you around, I guess.”
    Jaxon shrugged. “I’ll be around. You know. Can’t be a hermit or whatever.”
    “I’ll be around, too.” I wanted to leave but I
couldn’t quite make myself do it for a long moment. I decided the only thing to
do was to force myself to turn around and just walk out of the room. It felt
like someone was hammering nails into my feet, but I turned to the door and I
put one foot in front of the other, and in a few
seconds, I was out of the room and on my way down the stairs.

 
    Chapter
Six
    When I went back into the living room, I expected it
to be awkward; but I made myself just walk in as if nothing had happened, and
asked no one in particular, “What’d I miss?” and everything
was—shockingly—completely normal. One of the guys was ragging another about his
team, the TV was showing the highlights from a wrestling competition earlier in
the day, and someone put another beer in my hands. After the conversation with
Jaxon, I needed it.
    I kept waiting for the awkward moment to happen—for
Jaxon to come down from upstairs and everyone to go quiet again, and the whole
situation to unravel. But by the time Jaxon did finally make an appearance—just
for a second, to ask what was on while he made his way to the kitchen for a
beer—I’d relaxed enough that it didn’t even phase me. I was just happy to be
with my friends, happy to have the conversation behind me, happy not to be
thinking about the whole stupid mess for a few minutes out of the day.
    Jaxon disappeared just as quickly as he showed up,
and I had to wonder why he was making such a big deal about giving me space.
We’d managed to be in a room—in his bedroom, no less—alone together, without
tearing each other’s clothes off, and in spite of the fact that we both knew we
were into each other, we’d come to the conclusion to just be brother and
sister. We’d done really well; why was Jaxon hiding?
    I could still feel the low, thrumming hum of arousal
that had started the moment Jaxon had closed the door behind us in his bedroom.
I almost wished—though I knew it was a stupid thought—that I was attracted to
any of the guys in the frat other than Jaxon. They were all good looking
enough, and another time I might have suggested to one of them that we screw
around and then forget about it. But I couldn’t even think about having sex
with anyone, much less one of Jaxon’s frat brothers, without feeling sick to my
stomach. I would have to just deal with the fact that I was going to be single
for a while. It wasn’t the first time, and I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be the
last time in my life that I had to deal with it.
    I managed to have a good time in spite of worrying
about Jaxon in the back of my mind. It was easier with him up in his room;
everyone relaxed, and no one asked me any questions. By the time Jeremy walked
me back to the dorms at the end of the night, I felt like it would
be easy—or at least easier—to go back to my normal routine of hanging around,
shooting the shit, talking to the guys. They knew something was up, but
maybe they’d just assume that Jaxon and I had figured our shit out, and that
things were just a matter of waiting out the awkwardness between us. I hoped
that’s what they thought, anyway.
    ***
    By the next day I felt a little bit better; it was
good to have some kind of solution, even if it wasn’t exactly the best. Even if it hurt. It was the only way, I told myself again
and again. Jaxon and I definitely couldn’t keep living the way we had
been—either avoiding each other or screwing each other’s brains out. I told
myself that it would get easier. It would be less awkward. I would eventually
stop thinking about Jaxon’s body pressed against mine, his
lips, his tongue, and his hands wandering over me .
    At first, it seemed hopeless; every time I saw Jaxon
passing through campus, or caught a glance of him in the frat house, I felt a
shiver go through