“Very.” Andrew kissed me gently, chastely. “I love you. You’re an incredible woman, and I want you to come and live with me and try to have a relationship. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
I shivered at the intensity of his words.
“What about Victor?”
“Even if I hadn’t met you, I know that Victor and I couldn’t keep messing around,” Andrew said. “I’m getting to the point now where I need to be with one person, and that person is you.”
Shock radiated through my body. “Are you serious?”
Andrew chuckled. “I wish you’d stop asking me that,” he said.
“I love you, too,” I whispered. “I think I always have. Ever since the first time I saw you.”
Andrew nodded. He nuzzled my face tenderly before kissing me again. This time, I slipped my tongue between his lips, dancing in his mouth.
“I love you,” I repeated, feeling a warm glow erupt in my body. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Andrew.”
Andrew grinned. “Good,” he said. “Because that’s exactly what I want.”
As Andrew and I drifted off to sleep, I gave no mind to what my mom and Dean would think. Sure, they’d be shocked and angry. But if they’d come around to Andrew after all this time, that meant that the same had to hold true for me. After all, I’d always been their good daughter. And nothing was really changing…I was just moving out, and dating my stepbrother. My perfect, sexy, amazing, rich stepbrother.
This is a dream come true, I thought as I drifted off into a happy, sated sleep. And I’m going to make sure that the rest of my life is as wonderful as this moment.
The last thing I heard before falling asleep was Andrew’s gentle whisper in my ear.
“I love you, Kristin.”
Purring happily, I stretched in his arms. “I love you,” I whispered softly. “I love you so much.”
The end
CRUSH
CRUSH
“Belle!”
My head snapped up and I saw my roommate and best friend, Alexa, bounding across the kitchen. She grinned at me as she dumped a handful of pasta into a pot full of boiling water on the stove.
“Hey,” I said with a grin. Setting my backpack down on a chair, I did a lazy twirl across the hardwood floor. It felt good to be home – especially considering today had been my last week of classes before finals. I’d worked my ass off this week, and I really needed a break.
“I’m making dinner,” Alexa said dryly. She grabbed a jar of marinara sauce and started unscrewing the lid. “This looks good, right?”
I snickered. “You’re not supposed to put that in until the pasta’s done,” I said as kindly as I could. Alexa had never really been prone to making good meals. In the two-and-a-half years that we’d been living together, I’d done the vast majority of the cooking. But I didn’t mind – that was one of the things that made me and Alexa work so well as roommates. Sure, we were good friends. But we also knew our strengths: I was a better cook, and Alexa wasn’t bad at cleaning…and gossip.
“Thanks, sous chef,” Alexa teased. She set the sauce down on the counter and sighed dramatically. Her big blue eyes widened as she slapped her hand against her forehead. “I had the worst day,” she added.
I frowned, knowing a story was coming. “Oh, yeah? Tell me about it,” I replied. Moving my bag from the chair to the floor, I slid down in the chair, making sure to keep one eye on the stove. Alexa’s dramatics were nothing new, and I knew from experience that it was a good idea to keep track of time. Knowing my best friend as well as I did, I knew her story could take hours.
“Well, I ran into Jared,” Alexa said. She paused for dramatic effect.
“And?” I rolled my eyes. “What happened?”
“Only the worst thing ever.” Alexa pranced from one end of the kitchen to the other, swinging her graceful arms through the air like she was practicing dance.
I giggled. “He ignored you?”
Alexa’s nostrils flared. “Worse,” she complained. “He made this huge thing about how we hadn’t talked in forever! And he tried to hug me!”