“Whoa, there! Wait a minute!” I'm out of the door in a flash and circling around to stand in front of her. I block her path with a hand on either column of my porch. She stops short, gazing up at me wide-eyed. Holy fuck. I just moved into this house about a week ago. How have I never seen her before now? “Who said I won't help you?” I ask her gruffly.
She cuts me a look. “You hate me.”
I blink and shake my head. “I don't hate you, sweet thing. On the contrary, what I feel for you is far from hate.”
Her mouth falls open, and she blinks up at me. I internally curse myself for revealing too much. What the fuck is wrong with me? Why do I act like a fool over this girl?
My stepsister, a little voice inside my head reminds me.
“Come on inside, and I'll call the electric company for you.” I motion her in the house, and she hesitates before I add, “I’m not letting you go back to that dark house all alone.”
She raises an eyebrow up at me.
“As your big brother, it's my job to protect you now, right?”
She frowns before she mumbles, “You're not my brother.”
I don't answer. Instead, I just look at her until she huffs and stalks into my house. I fight back a grin when she flips her brown hair over her shoulder just like she did earlier when she was leaving the chapel. I sober when I remember why we’re suddenly at each other's throats.
I close the door and then walk over to turn down my stereo. I swallow when I glance back at her and see her robe hanging open, giving me a glimpse of extremely short shorts and a too-small tank top. I motion to her get-up, suddenly irritated with her, “You're telling me that's how you go traipsing over to a neighbor's house?”
Her face colors, and she lifts her chin defiantly. “In case you don't understand what out of power means, it means I don't have any electricity so there were no lights for me to find other clothes to change into. This is what I sleep in.”
I grunt, pissed off at the thought that she could have shown up at another man's door and he could have seen her dressed like this. Anything could have happened to her. There are plenty of men out there who would take advantage of a pretty little thing like her out all alone at night looking for help.
As it is, I can see her shapely legs and a patch of her abdomen showing where her shirt doesn't come all the way down to meet the top of her shorts.
Her hair tumbles loose down her shoulders. It looks like she's just been lying in bed—or just been fucked. My jaw tightens at that last thought. I don't like the thought of anyone else touching her—much less giving her just-fucked hair.
“Have you had company tonight?” I ask her.
Her brow furrows, and she shakes her head. “No, but I don't see how that's any of your business.”
My lips thin at her smart-ass tone, but something within me calms at the knowledge that she hasn't had another man over in her bed.
I walk over and grab my phone to report her power outage. The operator says he doesn't have a clue why just her power would be out and that they'll send someone over in the morning to look at it.
Lucy’s shoulders slump when I tell her that, but she nods and thanks me before she turns and starts heading toward the door.
“Wait!” Panic flares in my chest at seeing her leave. I scowl at my reaction. “Where are you going?”
She stills with her hand on the doorknob before she glances over at me like I'm an idiot. “Home?” she says it sarcastically in a “duh” tone before her voice softens and she adds, as if making up for her bad manners,” Thank you for reporting the outage. There's nothing they can do tonight. I can make it without power one night.”
“No,” I say firmly as I walk over and plant a hand on the door, keeping her from opening it. “You'll stay here tonight.”
She looks up at me in surprise. Hell, I'm just as surprised as she is by what just came out of my mouth. This is stupid, man, part of my brain tells me, but there’s another part that says, You can’t let her go home alone to a powerless house. What if she's afraid of the dark?
Still, another part of me is dying to see what the rest of her looks like underneath that robe.
My eyes trail over her, taking in the slight flush to her skin, and before I can even think about what I'm doing, I'm sliding it off her, my hands grazing her shoulders as I do so.
Her eyes lift to me, and she swallows before she says my name breathily, “Luke.”
I watch the goosebumps prickle her skin as my gaze roves over the gentle swell of her breasts. Her nipples are hard underneath the fabric that’s so thin I can almost see the darkened circles of her areolas around them.
My cock is suddenly tenting my joggers, straining to get at her.
I watch as if it's someone else doing it as my hands slide down her arms and over her waist and the curve of her hips. Her little chest heaves up and down as her breathing quickens.
She licks her lips, and I stare at the way they glint with moisture in the lamplight.
“Luke,” she whispers my name again, and I know I shouldn’t, but God help me if I can stop it. I take her hips firmly in my hands and pull her flush against me, pressing my aching, leaking cock right up against her as I crash my lips down onto hers.