All Chapters of Rule Number One: My Brother's Best Friend : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

He laughed when I groaned, then bounced upright like Tigger, his eyes widening as though he'd had a brilliant idea. "Now what?" I demanded as he leapt off the bed. "Don't tell me. You're bagsying first go in the Jacuzzi as well?"But he wasn't heading for the bathroom, he was heading for the wardrobe. And as he opened the door, I suddenly remembered what he was expecting to find. Sure enough, when he turned around, I saw that he was holding out a pure white bath robe, an identical robe still hanging from the rail within."Yay," I cheered half-heartedly. "Would you look at that? What a wonderful surprise."Drew gave me a contemplative look. "Nah," he said after a moment, shaking his head."What?" I frowned, realising a second later I'd inadvertently swallowed the bait. "Nah—what?"He grinned. "I have a proposition for you. A dare if you will."Deep down, I think I already knew where this was going, knew exactly what he was going to suggest—and given it was a dare, the terms I'd have to

"I could run you a nice warm Jacuzzi.""Really?" Touched, I tilted my head back again. "You'd do that for me?""Sure." He sent me a teasing smile. "And while you're in there, I'll watch the porn."I grimaced at him, fairly confident he didn't mean it. Because that would be just too weird, wouldn't it? Drew watching writhing bodies on screen, with me right next door in a bath full of bubbles? "The Jacuzzi sounds rather nice," I confessed."Okay." He reached behind us to turn up the lights then gently seized my upper arms. "Up you go," he coaxed, easing me forwards. "Give me five minutes and I'll—" He broke off abruptly, his fingers tightening on my shoulders."What?" I demanded, twisting around to look at him—only to realise exactly why he'd stopped the moment I caught the direction of his gaze.Bugger."What's this?" Looking grimly amused, he reached around me and picked at the lace-edging of my camisole, now just visible above the top of my loosened bathrobe."Nothing," I lied, grasp

"Yeah well, maybe I should've died too," I muttered, trying hard not to meet his gaze but finding it almost impossible given the way he was holding me, his fingers buried firmly in my hair, his thumbs brushing away my tears."Sam..."I closed my eyes. "Backfired on me big time, huh? There I was, trying to do the one thing that might just make them love me more—and I wound up making them hate me instead.""Nobody hates you." I could hear the thinly-veiled pain in his voice, his desire to reassure me. "It wasn't your fault. Nobody blames you—""Oh come on, Drew." A bitter smile twisted my trembling lips. "Mum hates me, you know that. She wishes it'd been me that died, not her golden boy Paul."I'd been in my brother's shadow my whole life. No matter what I did, no matter how I tried, I couldn't measure up. My elder by two years, he'd been the brains of the family, the one who scored straight As, the one with the good looks. Me—I'd been no slouch and I hadn't fallen from the top of the u

Swallowing hard, all moisture having deserted my mouth, I looked, keeping my focus strictly north of his navel. Even the sight of his bare chest was enough to take my breath away. Strange in itself, given I'd seen Drew without a shirt maybe hundreds of times before, in the summer, at the beach and the pool. But in this context...Oh crap. This was completely different."You're still not looking.""Drew!" I screwed my eyes shut."Samantha Bloom, do I have to dare you?"Opening one eye, I knew I was beaten the moment I clocked his confident grin. "You bastard," I muttered. "Fine.""Fine?"I struggled upright, drawing a deep breath. And this time, after permitting myself a longer look at that broad expanse of masculine chest and abs—not bad for a guy whose idea of exercise was an occasional kick-about in the park—I let my gaze fall south. "Fine—whoa... Fuck."There it was, erect and proud, jutting out from a nest of springy blond curls—a darker shade of blond than the hairs on his head,

Oh, Drew could kiss, there was no doubt about that, better than any man I'd known. It was almost too easy to let the last of my lingering doubts slip away, his mouth demanding my full attention.When he lifted his head at last, he smiled down at me, his finger toying with the thin strap of my camisole. "So do I get to see everything—or are you planning on keeping this on?""Is this the bribery part?" God, I sounded wantonly breathless..."Nope." Though he was still smiling, his dark eyes were solemn. "This is the part where you find out I'm actually a sensitive guy."A tiny something in my chest swelled and abruptly wentping. So he'd taken on board how much I hated my scars. "Sensitive?" I echoed, deciding to feign incredulity.He grinned, kissing my nose. "I know, hard to believe, but it's true. Besides, seen one set of tits, seen 'em all, right?"I gave a snort of laughter. "So sensitive. And so very practical. You'll just use your imagination, right?""Absolutely," Drew parried che