ALMOST

When I got home, the house was so quiet, even i was scared.

My dad's car wasn't in the driveway. Yvette's car wasn't either so they were probably still at work. Which means it's just me and—

I open the door and freeze, Kaelen is sitting on the couch. Shirtless and pumped like he just finished working out. His hands stretched on the entire chair, making it look small and he just sat there watching TV like he's been here a hundred times. 

Like he lives here…which he does and  I keep forgetting because every time I see him, I see a rival! An enemy! A goddamn threat but right now, all I see is his glorious skin.

Dark, smooth and spotless, with muscles in places I didn't know muscles could be and those grey sweats hanging for their lives low on his hips. This should be illegal.

"Welcome home," he spoke like he was hiding a smile, without looking away from the TV.

I didn't move a damn inch. What does this idiot mean home?! My feet stayed rooted to the floor and when the door slams shut behind me, Kaelen turns his head. Slowly and lazyly, still smirking.

"Lock the doors."

"What?"

"The door. Lock it."

I blink and look behind me and realize I'm still holding the doorknob instead of locking. I locked the door not because he asked me to but because I wanted to. But even after that, I stayed glued to the ground, my back against it as I stared at him.

"I was thinking," Kaelen says, sitting up and fixing his gaze on me. "About what you said last night, about how we can't do this and about how I'm your stepbrother."

"Kaelen—"

"We're not really brothers, Leo. Our parents got married, but that doesn't make us family. Even if it does, it's not the way it counts."

"It counts."

"Does it?"

Before I realized, he was standing now and walking toward me. Like some predator who knows its prey has nowhere to run…damn, so I'm prey?

"What are you doing?" My voice cracks.

Kaelen stops inches away and it's so close I could count his eyelashes, trace the lines of his jaw, lean into that body and get squashed by muscles.

"I'm asking you a question," he says, bringing me back to the reality I hate very dearly. "Does it count?"

Of course I don't answer because the truth is I don't know and I don't care but right now, I want him so bad my bones ache…I need to feel the weight of those juicy muscles.

"I don't know," I whisper. Kaelen smiles slowly and very dangerously. 

“Good answer."

He reached out and his fingers grazed my jaw, tilting my chin up. My breath catches in my throat because damn, this is sexy as hell.

"I want you, Leo. I've wanted you since the moment I saw you and I'm tired of pretending I don't."

I should stop him or even say no. Or try to play hard to get…lock my doors and forget this ever happened.

But I don't because I've wanted him too and I've been pretending too and I'm too tired of fighting something I can't win.

"Kaelen," I breathe.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up and kiss me." He grins, that same wolfish grin I've seen a hundred times, and then he does but hell it's not gentle.

It's not slow. It's teeth, tongue with years of hatred and tension and longing all crashing together. His hands tangle in my hair while mine grab at his thin waist. He backs me into the wall and his mouth moves down my throat and I can't breathe, think or even do anything. All I do is feel his weight and warmth.

"Tell me to stop," he murmurs against my neck.

"No."

"Tell me to stop."

"I won't."

He pulls back and looks at me. I smile and continue, stretching my hands.

“You're as hard as a rock…” his eyes go down,

“Says you.” And we both laugh.

“So who's going to take care of it?” His eyes went dark, his chest heaving and those red lips, wet and waiting for me to taste them again.

"Then we're doing this," he says.

"Yeah."

"No more pretending."

"No more."

"You're mine now." His voice was rough as he bit into my neck. It was warm and…possessive. "You got that? Mine."

I should have been scared… no. Terrified but I wasn't and that scared me because I'd never been more sure of anything in my entire life.

"Prove it," I say.

Kaelen laughs and then he picks me up and carries me toward the stairs. I always thought I was heavy but he picked me up like a sack of feathers.

And that's when the front door opens.

"Leo? Kaelen? We're home!" My father's voice.

Kaelen freezes on the stairs, I freeze in his arms. We're halfway up, my legs wrapped around his waist, his hands on my ass, both of us half-dressed and breathless.

"Shit," Kaelen whispers.

"Fuckin hell! Put me down," I hiss.

He does…too fast, too clumsy and I almost fall. We scramble apart just as Yvette's heels click against the hardwood. Kaelen grabs the towel from the railing, I run my fingers through my hair and we're both panting like we ran a marathon.

If my dad was a little more observant, he'd have caught us but I was so sure he wouldn't be.

"Boys?" My father again but closer now.

"We're up here!" I shout. My voice cracks. “Fuck!” I whisper as Kaelen laughs besides me. “Take me now lord, I want to die.”

Kaelen looks at me. His lips are still swollen, his chest is still bare and those eyes are still hungry.

"You owe me," he whispers.

"Shut up."

My father appears at the bottom of the stairs. He's holding a grocery bag, looking confused. "What are you two doing?"

"Nothing," we say at the same time. He frowns. 

“Were you—were you two just—"

"Kaelen was just showing me his room," I say, too fast.

"We were going to watch a movie," Kaelen adds smoothly. This fucker lies like it's as easy as breathing.

There was a beat of silence. 

My father looks at Kaelen's bare chest, then at my flushed face, then back at Kaelen.

"Alright," he says slowly. "Well. Dinner's in an hour. " and he walked away. I knew his ass wouldn't suspect shit.

We don't move until we hear the kitchen door close, then Kaelen turns to me and his eyes are bright with that wicked smile.

"Movie night," he says. "My room. Ten minutes."

"Kaelen—"

"Don't argue."

"I wasn't going to."

His smile softens, just for a second. 

“Good."