Forbidden Miles Read online

  Over the past week, I’d spent almost every spare minute with her. Props to her for not getting sick of me. That was a good sign. I’d tried really hard to let her study and do homework when she needed to. Even helped her, which had done weird things to my insides. Given me a mix of pride—because I knew she was going to kill it on her test—and satisfaction that I could actually help her.

  But mostly, she’d listened.

  She’d listened to me talk about everything. Some of it had been casual stuff, things I could discuss with anyone. Work, and what it was like running my own business. Random stories about shit Cooper and I used to pull.

  But I’d also told her things I’d never uttered aloud before. Things I’d never felt comfortable talking about with anyone—even Cooper. I’d talked more about my parents, and what my childhood had been like. How ignored I’d felt, and the lengths I’d gone to get them to notice me. It was as if once I’d started, I hadn’t been able to stop. It had all poured out.

  I’d glossed over all the partying and girls. I figured she knew enough; I didn’t need to make a thing out of it. I already felt like that was in the past, anyway. It was so weird how quickly my outlook had changed.

  There was life before Brynn, and life now. They were largely separate things. Old me never would have spent so many hours with a girl knowing it wasn’t going to end with me getting in her pants. I loved women, and I loved sex, and it had seemed like there wasn’t much more to it. Why make it complicated?

  But spending time with Brynn was doing something to me. She was tugging on something in my chest I hadn’t known was there. Opening places inside me I hadn’t realized were closed. And it felt good. It felt so fucking good, I couldn’t get enough—made me crave her in a way I’d never experienced before.

  I peeked at her again, from the corner of my eye. Her tongue slid out to wet her lower lip and she crossed her legs. She shifted a little more, a subtle movement of her hips, drawing my eyes to the apex of her thighs.

  With a deep breath, I tore my gaze away and focused on the road. What was she doing to me? I’d never been so attracted to a girl. Never wanted someone like this. Like my whole body needed her. Every nerve ending flared to life, desperate to feel her.

  And don’t even get me started on my dick. Just thinking about her got me hard, no matter what I was doing. It had made for some awkward moments at work. But now? Being alone in an enclosed space? It was killing me.

  “Music?” My voice sounded strained and I swallowed hard. I needed something to distract me from this voodoo sex magic Brynn was giving off.

  Her lips lifted in a subtle smile, and her voice was soft. “Sure.”

  Nothing about that helped.

  I turned on the radio and tried to focus on the road. Conversation might have been a good way to calm the insistent pressure of my erection—give my brain something else to focus on—but I couldn’t think of anything to say. I was afraid if I opened my mouth, it would either come out as gibberish, or some version of I want to fuck you senseless right now.

  And of course, every song on this station was about sex. Literally.

  Sparks flared between us as I drove down the highway. I could feel them, pinging back and forth, bursting against me. She shifted in her seat again, hips moving, her hands on her thighs. God, was she feeling this too? The music hummed, the lyrics promising a night to remember, the bass reverberating through us both.

  The arousal didn’t end in my groin. It thrummed through my body, teasing through my chest, down to my fingertips. I was on fire for her. By the time I pulled off the highway into Echo Creek, I was wondering if I’d survive the blaze.

  “So… I don’t have any studying to do tonight,” she said. “Do you want to go hang out at your place?”

  Say no, Chase. Tell her you can’t. Anything but yes. You’re not equipped for this today. “Sounds good.”

  There I went doing the idiot thing again. Damn it. But it was like I physically couldn’t say no. And the truth was, I wanted her around. I didn’t want to drop her off at the winery and say goodbye. I wanted her with me. The fact that she wanted to be with me, too? Completely irresistible.

  I drove us over to my place, telling myself I could handle it. Yes, I wanted her so badly it made me ache. And yes, she was giving off a fuck-me vibe that was short-circuiting my brain. But we’d been hanging out for more than a week without any issues. I’d loved the time we’d spent together.

  Cooper would be home in a few days, and then I’d talk to him. And once that happened, it was game on. Tonight? I’d enjoy the fact that she wanted to spend more time with me. No problem.

  It was actually a big problem.

  Ten minutes after getting to my place, we were sitting on the couch with the TV on. I pretended to pay attention, but I couldn’t have told you what we were watching. All my senses were attuned to Brynn. My fingers twitched with the desire to touch her. My heart thumped hard in my chest. Every time she moved, I caught a whiff of her.

  This girl was killing me.

  “How was work?” she asked.

  “Not bad…” That’s awesome, Chase. Way to keep the conversation alive.

  She adjusted, turning her body toward me. Her legs were crossed, and she’d taken off her shoes, leaving her feet bare. Her toes brushed against my leg and I almost groaned.

  “Thanks again for giving me a ride.”

  “Of course.”

  I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Her skin looked soft, flawless. Her lips wet and shiny. She blinked those big eyes at me and her mouth turned up in a slow, sexy smile.

  My heart beat faster as a litany of dirty thoughts poured through my mind. What I’d do to that mouth. How I’d suck on her skin. I wanted to slip my fingers into her pants and play with her pussy. Explore her beautiful body until I knew every inch. Until I knew how it worked.

  She shifted closer. I didn’t move away.

  “Is it just me?” she asked, her voice quiet.

  “Is what just you?”

  A glimmer of uncertainty passed across her expression. She looked so vulnerable. It made me want to pull her into my arms and hold her.

  She moved even closer, so her thigh leaned against mine. When she spoke again, her voice was a whisper. “Do you feel it, too?”

  Not daring to move an inch—almost afraid to breathe—I nodded.

  I saw the second she made the decision. Resolve shone in her eyes and she dragged her teeth across her lower lip. “Good.”

  She leaned in, tilting her chin up. I stared at her, watching her close the distance between us, unable to move. And then her mouth was on mine and I was fucking done.

  I pushed her back onto the couch and spread her legs with my knee. Kissing her deeply, I settled on top of her. My tongue slid into her mouth, tangling with hers. They were desperate, messy kisses, filled with a heady mix of relief and mounting tension. I’d been holding back, keeping myself in check, and I was ready to unleash.

  Dry humping wasn’t sex, but it was fucking awesome foreplay. I ground my erection against her, rubbing her pussy through our clothes. She slid her hands up my back, beneath my shirt, and rolled her hips. Our bodies moved together in a slow rhythm, the heat and pressure building so fast I wondered if she was going to make me come in my fucking pants.

  Her fingers dug into my back and I groaned into her mouth. Just kissing her felt so good, I never wanted to stop. Our first kiss had blown me away, but this? Every press of our lips and caress of our tongues was a blissful explosion of sensation and desire. I couldn’t get enough.

  “Jesus, Chase, this is why we made a room rule.”

  I froze. That was Cooper’s voice. I hadn’t heard the door open, but I’d been a little lost. Why was he home?

  “Seriously, I don’t want to see your balls again.” The clink of keys hit the table. Shoes dropped to the floor. “Come on, man, we have these rules for a reason. And check your fucking phone. I texted you saying I was on my way.”

  Brynn’s eyes
were wide and she wasn’t moving either. God, we were so fucked.

  Cooper’s footsteps moved around the apartment and I heard the refrigerator open. “Sweetheart, are you staying? I’m going to grill some chicken. Should I make extra? I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starving.”

  She winced and mouthed, What do I say?

  I don’t know, I mouthed back. Fuck. This was bad. I wished he’d go into his room so we could at least get up. I glanced over, and he was behind the open refrigerator door.

  Brynn nudged my chest, so I shot another look into the kitchen and got off her. She stood and quickly smoothed down her hair and clothes.

  “I’ll sneak out,” she whispered. “I can call Zoe for a ride. She’ll be cool about it.”

  Fuck, I hated this. I didn’t want to hide her. It felt so wrong. The whole thing felt wrong, and I knew there had to be a reasonable way to handle it. But if she didn’t want Cooper to see her here, I wasn’t going to make her stay.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah, it’s better this way.” Her eyes flicked toward the kitchen, and I caught the unspoken message: Talk to him. She picked up her backpack and smoothed her hair down again. “Text me later?”

  “Definitely.”

  She made it all the way to the door before Cooper popped out of the kitchen.

  “Shit, I’m sorry. Sweetheart, you don’t have to go. Is it the chicken? If you don’t like chicken, we can just order pizza. Or you guys do your thing, it’s cool. We have good insulation in this place. You won’t even know I’m—” He stopped, his last word snapping off like a breaking twig. “Brynn?”

  She slowly turned toward him, her hand still on the doorknob. “Hey, Cooper.”

  He stared at her, unmoving except for a few twitches of his fingers. “What are you…”

  “Cooper, it’s fine,” she said, reaching out toward him. “Please don’t.”

  His face swung toward me, his eyes blazing. I stood my ground, keeping my back straight, but didn’t say anything.

  “What the fuck?” he asked.

  “Cooper—”

  “Don’t even fucking start.” His voice was low, missing his usual stream-of-consciousness quality. That was not a good sign. “You had my sister on our fucking couch? My sister?”

  “Cooper, stop,” Brynn said.

  I held up a hand. “It’s not what you think.”

  “Oh really? That’s a fucking relief. Because I think I just caught you dry humping my sister on our couch. Am I mistaken? Is the other girl in the bathroom and Brynn just got here?”

  “No, but—”

  “What the fuck, Chase?” Cooper looked between me and Brynn.

  Brynn stepped toward him. “This isn’t his fault.”

  “What the fuck were you thinking?” Cooper asked, ignoring her. “This is fucked up, dude. I never thought I’d have to worry about you pulling something like this.”

  “I’m not pulling anything,” I said.

  “She’s not on the fucking menu,” Cooper said, his voice rising. “What kind of asshole do you have to be not to know that?”

  “On the menu?” I asked. “That’s not what this is, Coop.”

  “Don’t fucking call me that.”

  “Cooper, listen to me,” Brynn said. “I kissed him, okay? He was going to talk to you, but—”

  “Talk to me about what?”

  “About us. About me and Chase.”

  “There’s an us? You mean you’ve been hiding this from me? Are you fucking kidding me right now? How long have you been hooking up with my sister behind my back?”

  “Will you just listen? I’m not hooking up with her.”

  “No shit you’re not.” Cooper swiped his keys off the table and grabbed Brynn’s arm. “Let’s go.”

  She wrestled her arm away. “Stop it. You’re not listening.”

  “I’m taking you home.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  He grabbed for her again and I almost launched across the room to stop him.

  She sidestepped out of his grasp. “Damn it, Cooper, I knew you’d overreact.”

  “I’m not overreacting,” he said. “You should know better.”

  “Know better?” she asked. “What does that even mean? It’s Chase.”

  “Yeah, it’s Chase, which is such a goddamn mind fuck I don’t even know what to do right now. What the fuck am I supposed to say when I come home and find you on that couch with him? You know how many girls he’s had on that thing?”

  “Hey,” I said. “Wait a fucking second.”

  “What if I don’t care?” Brynn asked. “It’s none of your business anyway. If I want to make out with Chase on your stupid gross couch, I can.”

  “No, you can’t,” Cooper said. “Let’s go.”

  I tried to interject. “I’ll take her—”

  “Shut the fuck up right now,” he said, pointing at me. “I need to take my sister home. We’ll finish this later.”

  “No,” Brynn snapped, and her eyes brimmed with tears. “You shouldn’t talk to him like that, and you’re not taking me home.”

  “Brynncess—”

  “Do not follow me,” she said as she whipped the door open and stormed out.

  Cooper twitched, like he was struggling to decide if he would follow her outside or not. He seemed to decide to let her go, moving with unnatural slowness as he closed the front door. He didn’t look at me—kept his eyes on the floor, his teeth grinding and fists clenched. I’d never seen him so angry.

  I gestured toward the door. “What the hell was that?”

  His gaze swung to me, his eyes narrowed. “You’re not asking the questions right now, asshole. Why the fuck did you have my sister on that couch?”

  “I was going to talk to you first.”

  “What the fuck does that have to do with it? I didn’t think I needed to say anything about Brynn. I thought you understood. How the fuck could you do that to her?”

  “Do what? I’m sorry you found out like this, but I didn’t do anything to her.”

  “You were making out with her on the couch,” he said, gesturing wildly.

  “You say that like I did something horrible to her.”

  “You did do something horrible to her.”

  That hit me like a blow to the chest. “What? Why is it horrible?”

  “Because you can’t make out with your best friend’s sister, you dick. Did you sleep with her? If you slept with her, I swear to god…”

  “You swear to god what? You’ll kick my ass to protect her virtue? Why is that your job? Why do you think you get to decide who she’s with?”

  “She’s my—”

  “Yeah, she’s your fucking sister, we’ve established that. And apparently the thought of me being with her is enough to make you lose your mind. Is that what you think of me? Am I that big of a piece of shit?”

  “Don’t turn this around on me,” he said, pointing at me again. “That’s not what this is about. You don’t pull this shit, Chase. You don’t mess with a guy’s baby sister.”

  “She’s not a baby, Coop.”

  “I thought you were better than this.” He threw open the door and walked out, slamming it shut behind him.

  Thirteen

  Brynn

  I’d completely forgotten about my car problems until I went to leave for class in the morning. But when I turned the key, the engine hummed to life, as if nothing had been wrong yesterday. That was weird.

  It was cold outside, so I turned up the heat and waited a minute to let the car warm up. I wondered if I should bother going to class today. I wasn’t in any frame of mind to concentrate on accounting and statistics. Not after the nightmare that was yesterday. But my statistics professor was known for pop quizzes. Besides, if I was at the winery all day, I’d probably run into Cooper. And if I did, I was liable to murder his face.

  I’d never been so angry at my brother. He’d pulled some ridiculous overprotective crap before, but this was so much w
orse. Obviously I hadn’t wanted Cooper to walk in on me and Chase making out. That was awkward. But did he have to lose his freaking mind? It’s not like I was a child and Chase was a predator. Chase was a good guy, and Cooper shouldn’t have treated him like that.

  I felt bad for leaving the way I had. Maybe I should have stayed to help Chase explain. But I’d been too angry to think straight. And rational-Cooper hadn’t been home, so it probably wouldn’t have done much good anyway.

  The strange thing was, Cooper hadn’t texted me since. Usually when I got mad at him, he’d blow up my phone, trying to make me laugh. But there was no string of texts with ridiculous gifs and reminders as to why he was the best brother in the world. He’d gone silent. It wasn’t like him.

  Chase had texted last night to ask if I was okay. I’d replied that I was and wanted to know if he was okay. I knew his yeah was a lie. I just didn’t know how not okay he was. Had he and Cooper worked things out? And where did that leave me?

  I’d foolishly thought Cooper would understand—maybe even be happy. After all, he loved Chase like a brother, didn’t he? Why was it so awful for his best friend to be with his sister? It wasn’t like we were getting married. We were just… dating. Or almost dating. We hadn’t even gotten that far.

  One thing I knew for sure. I couldn’t ask Chase to choose between me and Cooper. Even if that meant whatever was happening between us never had the chance to get off the ground.

  The thought of losing Chase before I’d really had him made my heart ache. Why did Cooper have to be so insane? Why couldn’t he be a normal brother?

  I drove out to campus and my classes went by in a blur. My stats professor did surprise us with a quiz, which I probably bombed, but that was better than missing it and getting a zero.

  After my last class I headed home. I still hadn’t heard from Chase again. Or Cooper, for that matter. Their radio silence was disconcerting—seemed like a bad sign. I wondered if I should try to talk to Chase—text him or stop by. I had no desire to talk to Cooper. I was still too angry. Until he decided to apologize, I didn’t want to deal with him.