Seeing Each Other More

My mind flashed back to the tree, me caging him in, and then the roles being reversed. 

His deep, raspy voice. 

His scent. 

Me asking him to touch me. 

His rejection. 

Lililan’s son. My supposed stepbrother. 

I stared, and stared, and then did some more staring. But the image sitting in front of me, back straight and long legs crossed, didn't fade away. So it’s… real? 

My father cleared his throat, and that's when I noticed the tense, awkward air in the living room. 

“Don’t be mannerless, Siri,” he said, glancing at me in that way of his that always signifies a warning. To an outsider, it might seem like a harmless look. “Stop staring and greet your brother.”

A jolt went through my brain. Brother? BROTHER? 

I flirted with my brother last night. 

I asked my brother to touch me. 

I called my brother ‘daddy.’

Somebody kill me.

But first… manners. I cleared my throat, my mouth opening, but he beat me to it.

“Hello, Siri,” he said in a low voice that almost sounded like a purr, and I bit down on my tongue so hard that I tasted blood.

Hello, yourself! But I was a girl with manners, so I smiled. 

“Hello, Jackson. It’s really lovely to meet you.”

He cocked his head, and I swear there was amusement dancing in those grey eyes. “Is it?”

“No!” my brain screamed. “Yes,” my mouth said.

Was this the same man I had pinned against the tree last night? But then… that almost smile appeared, and that was when I knew it was truly him. 

“There was a delay in his flight yesterday,” Lilian said, breaking the silence that settled. She held his bicep, looking up at him with so much… love. A look I've never seen directed at me in my life. “That’s why he couldn't make it.”

He took her hand and placed a soft kiss on it, reciprocating that look of love, and I suddenly didn't want to be standing there. “I apologize again.” 

“Well, Jackson, it was a pleasure to meet you,” I said, clearing my throat when my voice came out too thick. “Welcome to the family. I shall be upstairs if any of you need me.”

That was Siri’s way of saying, “Don’t need me. I’m going to ignore everybody.”

I rushed back upstairs before anybody could speak to me, closing my door and resting my back on it. I looked out the window, at the clear sky and the wind that carried the scent of winter, and I thought, “Somewhere out there is a chuddy girl who was loved by her family and doesn't have a man like my father as theirs.”

I thought: “How lucky she was.”

~.~

An hour later, a soft knock came at my door that I tried to ignore, but the person was persistent and kept knocking until I stood up with a groan and ripped the door open.

“I didn't mean–”

The rest of my words never made it out as I stared at the tall figure standing in front of my door with his hands crossed behind his back.

“Mind if I come in?”

“I do mind.”

He came in anyway. I closed the door and turned to him. He stood in the center of my room, looking too… large for this space. And those eyes were fixed on me.

“What do you want?” I asked.

He hummed. “I’ve decided I like you better drunk.”

Was this really the same man I met last night? And now I know why I found his accent familiar: Lilian had the same accent. That little trace of a British accent. 

“And I’ve decided I don't give a fuck,” I spat. 

He may be ridiculously good-looking, and certainly too hot for his own good, but now that I've realized he was my stepbrother, I had to draw a line. And that wasn't the only reason. 

Now that there wasn't any alcohol whispering nonsense to my brain, I could think properly, and my old fear returned. 

Amusement danced in his eyes.

He took a step forward, and his long legs brought him close to me. Too close.

“Is that regret, Siri?” he asked in a low voice that I refused to acknowledge the things it was doing to me. “Or are those walls building up in your eyes?”

I tried to keep my back straight. “Both.”

“I thought after last night, we would become inseparable.”

“Why didn't you tell me?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Tell you what?”

“That you were my stepbrother, damn it!”

He took another step closer to me, and I took one back. My back hit the door.

“You didn't give me a chance to,” he answered, his voice low.

I hated how breathless my voice became. “You had plenty of chances.”

Another step, and he was so close that I could feel the heat radiating from his body, and his scent slammed into me with a force I should find offensive, but unsurprisingly, I didn’t.

When he spoke, I could smell the mint on his breath: that is how close he was to me. 

“Did I?” he asked in that deep voice that I didn't like–liar. “Tell me when I had the chance to, Siri? Was it when you had me cornered, pinned against the tree?” He picked up a strand of my hair that had escaped from my braid, and I held back a shiver when his knuckles grazed my collarbone. “Or was it when you were asking me to touch you?”

My cheeks heated. “S-shut up.”

“You don't want me to.”

No, I didn't, but I would cut off my tongue before I admitted that. 

“Siri,” he whispered, and heat pooled in my lower stomach. He brought his face an inch closer to mine, his eyes dark and intense. “Siri.” Another inch, and I felt his next words leave a mark on my lips. “You’re interesting.”

My eyebrows pulled tight. “Me?”

His eyes dropped to my lips, and his even breath changed for a second before he looked back at my eyes. “Yes, darling.”

That damn word again.

“H-how?” I asked, hating how my voice shook. Even more, I hated how I sounded… desperate.

He played with the strand of my hair between his fingers. He dropped it, and once again, his knuckles brushed against my collarbone. And this time, it lingered. He opened his mouth to speak, but Lilian’s voice cut him off as she called out. 

“Kids, come down for breakfast!”

“Got it!” I yelled back, hoping they didn't hear the shake in my voice.

Jackson took a step back, and I released a breath I didn't know I was holding.

“Do you mind?” he asked with an eyebrow raised.

I frowned. “What?”

“The door, Siri.”

My cheeks heated. “O-oh.”

I stepped aside. He opened the door, but then paused with his hand on the doorknob. He turned to me, and that almost smile turned into a smirk. A smirk that made my knees tremble. 

“We’ll be seeing more of each other, Siri.”