Free Stepbrother, Mine #2 by Opal Carew

bed.
    Mason lay there with his arm casually thrown over his face, the blankets sprawled across his waist, baring his broad muscular chest and shoulders. She wanted to climb right back into bed with him. To reach under the covers and find out if he was hard, then stroke him awake. But she was haunted by what had happened last night.
    Mason had taken her virginity and then only hours later had dreamt about another woman. And then, when she’d questioned him, he’d told her she didn’t meet his needs.
    Her heart ached.
    He met her needs. Every one of them.
    Except for loving her back, of course. And that tore at her soul.
    As if Mason could feel her scrutiny, he opened his eyes. He blinked, then gazed in her direction.
    “Good morning,” he murmured, his voice sleep-roughened.
    She longed to sit on the bed beside him and stroke his raspy, whisker-shadowed jaw. To press her lips to his chin and drag her teeth along the coarse stubble, then run her hands down his sculpted chest.
    “Good morning,” she responded. “I have breakfast for you.”
    She turned and lifted the tray, then carried it to the bed.
    He pushed himself upright and she set the tray on his lap. She lifted the silver top from the plate.
    “Eggs and bacon and those silver dollar pancakes you used to love so much.”
    He smiled and gazed up at her. “You made this?”
    Her cheeks heated. “No, I asked the butler to arrange it. I would have, but you didn’t have the ingredients in the kitchenette.”
    “It’s okay, Dana. You don’t have to cook for me. I was just curious.”
    She sat on the chair near the bed. “I would like to cook for you.”
    He laughed as he poured syrup from a tiny silver pitcher onto his pancakes. “Okay, we’ll arrange that sometime.” He glanced at her. “Have you already eaten?”
    “No, my breakfast is on the table.”
    “Get it and we’ll eat together.”
    She nodded absently as she watched him take a bite of one of the small pancakes.
    “Mason?”
    He tilted his head toward her, then frowned at her serious expression. “What is it, Dana?”
    “The conversation we started last night … When you said I didn’t meet your needs…”
    He put down his fork, his expression grim, hesitating.
    The silence was too much for her, so she had to fill it. “When you were dreaming about that other woman … Sylvie … the way you made love to her…” It reminded her of when she’d seen him with the maid. “I think I should tell you that I once saw you and…” She sucked in a breath. “I saw you and Maria … uh … having sex in the den.”
    His expression turned pained. “When?” he asked sharply.
    She stared at her hands, her fingers twisting around each other. “It was on prom night.”
    The fact that he asked her when … did that mean it had happened more than once? But, of course, it had. Why would she believe otherwise?
    “You couldn’t have seen. You’d already left with your date.”
    She shook her head. “I changed my mind while we were driving away. I didn’t want to be with him that evening. I wanted to be with you. So I told him I felt sick and had him bring me back to the house, then I raced inside looking for you.”
    “And you found me.” He frowned. “Damn it, Dana. You should never have seen that.”
    “I didn’t really understand at the time. You seemed to be … forcing her.” She shook her head. “But everything I knew about you told me you wouldn’t do something like that.”
    “Fuck, Dana, I wish you hadn’t…” His hands clenched into fists. “You shouldn’t have seen that,” he repeated in a low mutter. “Maria … she liked it rough. She liked a man to take control, and she liked to struggle. Fuck, it must have looked to you like I was raping the woman.”
    “I would never believe that. And even though I was still young, and inexperienced, I could tell she was … enjoying it.” She shook her head. “But it was confusing to me.”
    “Dana, I’m sorry you