NEVER KISS A STRANGER (A Stepbrother Romance) by Renshaw Winter

Author:Renshaw, Winter [Renshaw, Winter]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2015-03-04T05:00:00+00:00

“So, son,” my father said the next morning as we met for coffee. “What’d you think of the new family? Bet you never thought you’d be a big brother at your age, huh?” He chuckled as he took a sip from his steaming Styrofoam cup.

“Completely blindsided, if we’re being honest.”

“What do you think, though? You like ‘em?” His brows were raised, almost begging me to tell him what he wanted to hear. The truth lingered on the tip of my tongue.

“I don’t know, Dad.” My lips pursed as I tried to fight it. It was no use. “This is what, number five? When does it end?”

“Oh, come on.” My dad refused to remove his rose-colored glasses. “Tammy Lynn’s different. She’s not like the rest. She’s a keeper.”

He said that about Connie. And Debra. And the other two whose names escaped me. His marriage to my mother lasted maybe a decade. No marriage since had made it past the one-year mark.

“Wilder,” he sighed. “Look. I’m not getting any younger. I want a companion. Someone to settle down with. I’ll be retiring soon, and the nights get a little lonely. Not to mention I love Tammy Lynn. This marriage is forever, mark my words.” He jammed his index finger into the table top. “Forever.”

“Excuse me while I don’t get too attached,” I huffed, though he didn’t seem to pick up on my sarcasm. He never was good at reading between the lines, and maybe that was why his marriages never lasted.

“What do you think of your new sisters? I know you’re all grown adults, but maybe you can all try to spend a little time together after we leave? You’re family now. You should know each other. Be there for each other.”

“I don’t know about Coco. She seems to have a stick up her ass,” I said. “But that Addison. What a looker, am I right?”

I tested him, though he was so dense he’d never know it. His face turned a shade of crimson, his smile washing away. “Wilder, don’t speak that way about your sister.”

“Kind of hard to be sitting across the table from one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen and think of her as my sister,” I said, taking a careful sip of coffee. “I’m an adult. She’s an adult. Things happen…”

My father went to speak, but the words appeared to all jumble before they had a chance to make it out of his mouth. He was flustered, and Vince Van Cleef never got flustered. He was a smooth-talking salesman. A guy’s guy and a lady’s man all rolled into one. He had a comment for everything and could talk his way out of any situation. But me talking about the hotness of my new stepsister got him all kinds of flustered.

“You won’t speak about Addison that way,” Vince growled like he did when I was a troubled teenager. I knew that tone all too well. My mother shipped me off to stay with him every summer until I turned eighteen, hoping I’d come back a reformed man.

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