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One of the same kind
Tanggal publikasi:
2026-08-18 21:02:34Aurora’s POV
I returned to my desk with my jaw tightly clenched. “Best friends.” Of course they were. I should have known better than to let even a second of ease slip through. Marcus Hale had been polite, he had smiled without mockery and spoken to me like I was a normal person instead of an inconvenience or looked at my size weirdly a moment, I had almost believed he was different from the rest of the men in this building. Then he opened his mouth and told me he had been Prescott’s best friend since childhood.Birds of a feather flock together. If he was close enough to Prescott to call him his best friend, then he was cut from the same cloth rich, charming when he wanted to be, and very likely the same type of man who treated women as temporary entertainment. I had already seen what Prescott was capable multiple times now even in his office. I had no interest in giving another man like him the benefit of the doubt. I forced my attention back onto my screen and continued working, ignoring the faint residual disappointment sitting in my chest. A few minutes later, I sensed someone approaching my desk. When I looked up, Marcus was standing there again, this time without the same easy confidence from before. “Hey,” he said carefully. “About earlier… did I say something wrong?” “No,” I replied, keeping my tone polite but distant. “I just have a lot of work to do.” He studied me for a second. “You seemed fine until I mentioned Press.” I didn’t answer that there was no point in explaining my thoughts to him. Marcus gave a small, awkward smile. “He’s not the easiest person in the world, I know, but I’m not him.” *Of course that’s what someone like him would say,* I thought. “I really need to finish this,” I said, gesturing lightly toward my screen. For a moment he looked like he wanted to say more, but then he nodded. “Alright. I’ll leave you to it.” He walked away, and I released a quiet breath. From the corner of my eye, I could see Prescott through the glass wall of his office. He was leaning back in his chair, watching the exchange with an unreadable expression. When our eyes briefly met, I looked away first. The rest of the afternoon passed slowly. Lena found small reasons to correct me a file placed slightly out of order, a call she claimed I should have transferred faster. I took it all without argument, refusing to give her any visible reaction. Prescott only called me into his office once, and even then the interaction was short and strictly professional by the time six o’clock came, I was more than ready to leave.The drive back to the mansion was silent, as usual. Prescott’s hand rested loosely on the steering wheel while I kept my gaze on the window. The tension between us had become a living thing heavy, constant, and impossible to ignore. When we stepped into the house, I headed straight for the stairs. “You’re doing it again,” he said from behind me. I stopped with one hand on the railing and turned slightly. “Doing what?” “Shutting down.” He slipped his hands into his pockets, watching me with that same assessing look he always wore. “Marcus said one thing about being my friend and you immediately treated him like he was contaminated.” “I treated him like I don’t know him,” I corrected. “Because I don’t.” “You were perfectly civil before you found out we were close.” I held his gaze. “That’s because I hadn’t realized he was close to someone who thinks it’s acceptable to use his secretary on his office desk in the middle of the day.” His expression darkened slightly, but he didn’t deny it. “So now anyone associated with me is automatically the same?” he asked. “In my experience, people who keep the same company usually share the same habits.” I turned fully to face him. “If I’m wrong about him, it won’t matter. I didn’t come here to make friends.” Prescott took a step closer, the soft light of the entrance hall casting sharp shadows across his face. “You have a habit of deciding who people are before giving them any chance.” “And you have a habit of proving me right,” I replied quietly. For a moment, neither of us spoke. The silence stretched between us, thick with everything we weren’t saying his eyes moved over my face as if searching for a crack in my composure i refused to give him one.Finally, he exhaled through his nose and looked away. “Go upstairs, Aurora.” I didn’t need to be told twice. I climbed the rest of the stairs and walked into my room, closing the door firmly behind me. Only then did I let my shoulders drop. I sat on the edge of the bed and stared at the floor. It would have been easier if Marcus had been cold or arrogant from the start. Instead, he had been decent for just long enough to remind me what it felt like to be spoken to without judgment… before the truth of his connection to Prescott ruined it. I lay back against the pillows and closed my eyes i was tired of rich men and their polished charm. I was tired of the tension in this house. And I was especially tired of the way Prescott’s presence seemed to linger in my thoughts long after I left the room. Tomorrow would be another long day under his roof and under his authority. i told myself I was prepared for it. I just wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep pretending that none of this was getting to me.
Bab terbaru
MY STEPBROTHER’S CURVY TEMPTATION Old habits
Aurora’s POV I was reviewing a stack of reports at my desk when a shadow fell over me looking up, I found Marcus standing there with two cups of coffee in his hands and a careful expression on his face.“Before you tell me you’re busy,” he said, placing one of the cups on my desk, “this is just coffee no strings, no hidden agenda.”I glanced at the cup but didn’t reach for it. “You didn’t have to.”“I know.” He slipped his hands into his pockets. “Look, I keep thinking about yesterday. You shut down the moment you found out Press and I are friends I get it he doesn’t exactly have the best reputation. But I’m not him.” I met his eyes, keeping my voice even. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me.”“I feel like I do.” Marcus gave a small, self-deprecating smile. “I’m not asking you to trust me completely, I’m just asking you not to decide I’m the same type of man based on who I’m friends with. I’ve known Press
MY STEPBROTHER’S CURVY TEMPTATION One of the same kind
Aurora’s POV I returned to my desk with my jaw tightly clenched.“Best friends.”Of course they were.I should have known better than to let even a second of ease slip through. Marcus Hale had been polite, he had smiled without mockery and spoken to me like I was a normal person instead of an inconvenience or looked at my size weirdly a moment, I had almost believed he was different from the rest of the men in this building.Then he opened his mouth and told me he had been Prescott’s best friend since childhood.Birds of a feather flock together.If he was close enough to Prescott to call him his best friend, then he was cut from the same cloth rich, charming when he wanted to be, and very likely the same type of man who treated women as temporary entertainment. I had already seen what Prescott was capable multiple times now even in his office. I had no interest in giving another man like him the benefit of the doubt.
MY STEPBROTHER’S CURVY TEMPTATION Birds of a feather
Prescott’s POV I was reviewing the final clauses of the contract when my office door opened without a knock. Marcus walked in looking unusually pleased with himself, a wide grin already on his face. He dropped into the chair across from my desk and leaned back like he had the best news of the day.“I just met your stepsister,” he said.I slowly lifted my eyes from the screen. “You did?” “Aurora.” He said her name with clear interest. “You made her sound like a nightmare cold, difficult, always ready to argue. But she’s not that bad at all.”My expression didn’t change, but something in my chest tightened. “You spoke for what two minutes?”.“Long enough.” Marcus chuckled. “She’s polite Soft-spoken a little reserved, but not unfriendly. And honestly, Press… she’s beautiful. Those curves, that pretty face, you left that part out when you were complaining about her.”I leaned back in my chair, keeping my voice
MY STEPBROTHER’S CURVY TEMPTATION Someone new
Aurora’s POV The next day at the office felt heavier than the first.I kept my head down and focused on the tasks in front of me, determined not to give Lena any more reasons to look at me with that cold, superior expression. Prescott had been civil but distant since our argument, only speaking when he needed something. The silence between us was tense, but at least it was better than hearing him entertain his secretary again.I was returning from the printer with a stack of documents when I nearly collided with someone near the elevators.“Whoa…careful.”Strong hands steadied me by the shoulders. I looked up and met a pair of warm brown eyes and a polite, slightly amused smile. The man was tall, well-dressed in a navy suit, with an easy kind of handsomeness that felt different from Prescott’s sharp intensity.“I’m sorry,” I said quickly, stepping back.“No damage done.” He glanced at the company badge clip
MY STEPBROTHER’S CURVY TEMPTATION Chapter 18
Prescott‘s POV The house felt quieter than usual that night.I dropped my keys on the entrance table and watched as Aurora walked straight up the stairs without a single glance in my direction. Her back was rigid, her movements controlled. She didn’t slam her door when she reached her room, but the soft click still managed to sound final.I stood there for a moment longer than necessary, jaw tight.She was furious.Not the loud, explosive kind of anger I was used to provoking from her. This was colder, sharper, the kind that lingered.I loosened my tie and walked into the kitchen, pouring myself a drink. The image of her standing in my office that morning still replayed in my mind eyes wide, face pale, the stack of files clutched against her chest like a shield. Most women would have muttered an apology and fled. Some would have pretended they saw nothing and then start flirting with me. Aurora had looked at me like I had
MY STEPBROTHER’S CURVY TEMPTATION Aftermath
Aurora’s POV I don’t remember walking back to my desk.One moment I was standing in Prescott’s office, staring at the obscene scene in front of me his head between Lena’s thighs, her skirt bunched around her waist, the wet sounds still echoing in my ears and the next I was sitting in my chair with my hands clenched tightly in my lap. My face felt hot, my pulse was still racing.I couldn’t believe it.He had been doing *that* here. In his office, in the middle of the workday with his secretary. The same woman who had looked at me this morning like I was beneath her. The same woman whose moans I had been forced to listen to last night through the walls of the mansion.A bitter taste filled my mouth.This was the kind of man Prescott Zane truly was. He didn’t just use women in private he did it without shame, without caution, and without a single thought for anyone who might walk in not even in his father’s compan
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