Mated To My Obsessive Stepbrother

Chapter 48

KASMINE.

The scent of garlic and butter filled my nostrils, the soft hus of a movie filling the quiet room as I twirled a forkful of spaghetti around my fingers. The fairy lights above us cast a golden glow over Jake's face, highlighting the quiet adoration in his eyes every time he looked at me. And he looked at me a lot. Like I was the only thing in the world that mattered.

I tried to focus on the movie. Some sappy romance Claire hd gushed about weeks ago, where the leads were caught in an angsty, slow-bun love that made my chest for tight.

I shouldn't have agreed to this movie.

Because all it did was remind me of another setting. Another room. Another man..

Kester.

I had beercurled up on the couch in his living room, flipping through movie options, when he had grabbed the remote from my hand and chosen a film I never would've expected him to watch. A romance.

We had watched in an uncomfortable silence until that cursed scene where the male lead pressed the heroine against the bed and fucked her. I felt Kester shift beside me.)

I turned my head just enough to catch the way his chest rose and fell. The way his fingers flexed against his thigh. The way his eyes darkened, heat simmering behind them as if he had been picturing something else.

Something involving me. Before I felt the hard outline of his erection poking my ankle....

I took a slow breath.

No.

Tonight wasn't for Kester. It wasn't about him in any way.

Tonight was for Jake.

So, I forced myself to look at him.

To really look at him.

His dark eyes were already on me as if he had been waiting for me to meet his gaze. He had that soft, patient smile

-the kind that made my heart squeeze for all the right and wrong reasons.

I let myself take in the way his dark hair fell messily over his forehead, and his jaw clenched just slightly. whenever I caught him staring at me for too long as if he was fighting the urge to say something he wasn't sure I was ready to hear.

I set my fork down, smoothing my hands over the soft fabric of my dress-Kester's dress. Guilt pricked at me, but I shoved it down. Jake didn't deserve my half- hearted attention. He didn't deserve to be a second thought.

So, I did something I hadn't done in a long time. I leaned in resting my chin in my palm, and let a small, genuine smile tug at my lips. "You keep looking at me like that,” I teased, tilting my head, "starting to think you have something to say to me."

Jake let out a breathless chuckle, his fingers playing with a strand of my hair. "What if I do?"

The atmosphere between us shifted, something heavier settling in the space where easy conversation used to be.

I should have laughed it off. I should have made a joke and steered us back to safe waters.

Chapter 48

But I didn't. I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry. "Jake..."

His fingers shifted from my hair to the side of my cheek, caressing gently as he looked into my eyes in a way that made my heart melt.

His thumb stroked my cheek, his touch featherlight, as if afraid I might pull away. I

couldn't breathe. Not with the way he was looking at me.

I let myself drown in the warmth of his touch, in the

quiet longing in his dark eyes.

Then, slowly, as if giving me time to stop him, Jake leaned in. His lips brushed against mine, soft and unhurried.

felt like a gentle

once, I didn't

I kissed him back.

as he deepened the kiss, his lips molding against mine in slow, sensual

Gods.

let me go.

kissed like he had all the time in the world. Like

And I let him.

no urgency.

Just warmth

that made me forget every reason I had to hold

strands of his hair, nails scraping lightly against his scalp. He groaned softly against my lips, his body pressing closer, his warmth

way his body pressed against mine. The way his fingers traced the line of my jaw, down the slope of my neck, before settling on my waist,

with him until my back met the

letting in the cool night air, the

too intimate. Too dangerously

I didn't stop

when he hovered over me, his lips trailing slow, reverent kisses along

the

at my hips, and exposing my thighs to

his fingers traced slow, lazy circles around the sensitive skin there, exploring with a tenderness

the place no one but 'him' had ever touched-my body

My voice came

#25 BONUS

his head, eyes searching

hard, nodding "I can't.

exhaled, his fingers retreating as he pressed a soft, lingering kiss to my

Just like that?

No frustration? No disappointment?

Just pure understanding?

made my chest ache more than if

I wasn't blind

in a soft tone, gesturing at

don't have to, Mine. I'll be fine." He

insist," I said, standing up from the blanket and guiding him to stand before me while I knelt, slowly

Jake had aroused in me dissipated. My gaze darted outside the window, and a sudden chill spread across my skin, almost as if I was being watched

I brushed it off.

deep breath. He stiffened slightly, his hands twitching at his sides like he didn't know what to do with

He was shy.

been touched before?" I asked him in

not by a woman I am madly in

response spurred me further.

to see how different

twirled my tongue around the tip of

precum.

as

him gently, dragging my fingers along his length, relishing the way his muscles

of his innocent reaction. I liked the fact that I could unravel him and make

was.

him, drinking in the sight of him above me his

parted, his eyes hooded

beautiful like

Vulnerable.

back as I sucked harder and faster, taking his whole

so difficult as

so slightly into my hand before he caught himself,

"You can touch

shook his head quickly, his jaw clenched. "I-If I do,