Free Vacation with my Stepbrother: A Forbidden Stepbrother Romance by Tiffany Madison

just leave it alone for now,” I said. “We can talk about it later. I just want to have some fun tonight.”
    Danny didn’t say anything else. He just walked next to me in silence. The moon was out, illuminating our way. After fifteen minutes of walking along the water’s edge, the sound of music began to fill the air. I lifted my gaze, noticing a small building just fifty feet away from the ocean. It was completely lit up, with Christmas lights strung around the outside patio. People surrounded it, all of them casually dressed in shorts and swimsuits. My eyes lit up and I started walking a bit faster.
    “Is that it?” I asked.
    “Yep, that’s the place,” Danny responded. “It’s a lot of fun. Get ready to dance.”
    I smiled wide and then, without even thinking twice, I grabbed Danny’s hand and started jogging across the sand. A newfound energy filled me. I wanted to party. I wanted to let go.
    We slowed our pace as we neared the bar. Reggae music played on the speakers. The deep bass thumped loudly, echoing out across the water. As soon as we walked up, the bartender waived us over.
    “Danny’s back!” he shouted.
    I rolled my eyes. It seemed Danny had already made some good impressions at the bar.
    “Come on, that’s James,” Danny said, as we approached him. “He said he’d hook me up if I came back tonight.”
    As soon as we walked up, James held his hand out for a handshake.
    “Is this your girlfriend?” he asked, looking at Danny. “Damn, man. Wow.”
    I blushed at the compliment as I shook his hand. Then I responded quickly, “No, I’m not his girlfriend. We’re...”
    Then I hesitated. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to tell James that Danny was my stepbrother. I was pretty sure he had seen us running down the beach hand in hand.
    “We’re just good friends,” I finally said. “We’re good friends on vacation.”
    James shrugged and then wiped his shaggy blonde hair out of his eyes. “Well, you’re in the right place for a vacation. And drinks are on me tonight. At least until we close...which is unfortunately in about thirty minutes.”
    Free drinks? Only thirty minutes to drink them? What could possibly go wrong?
    “What would you like?” James asked.
    I glanced over to Danny, who was eyeballing a bottle of tequila on the bar. “How about tequila shots?”
    “More tequila?” I asked. “You are going to get me into a lot of trouble. I’ve already had three shots.”
    Danny just chuckled and before he could say a word, James had two shot glasses on the bar. He poured the clear liquid and then Danny and I drank them down.
    “One more!” James cried.
    He poured another. I took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly. The buzz was coming on strong.
    “One more,” I agreed. “That’s it.”
    Danny and I took the shots and I set the glass back onto the counter. Then I looked at my stepbrother, shaking my head. “You and tequila. Now I see why you got in trouble so many times during high school. You were probably drunk on this stuff.”
    “Most likely,” Danny said.
    Then he grabbed my hand and pulled me into the crowd of people that filled the patio. We walked through them and I began bobbing my head to the beat of the music. The tequila was thick in my blood, and I was becoming more confident by the second.
    When we got to the center of the patio, Danny stopped in his tracks. Then he turned to face me directly. He placed his hands on my hips and pulled my close. My first reaction would have normally been to push him away. But I didn’t. I let him touch me. We looked into each other’s eyes for a moment and I began to feel the same attraction that I had at the cottage when we kissed. There was no denying it. I liked him. A lot.
    “Will you dance with me?” he asked.
    He shifted his feet a bit as he spoke and I suddenly realized that he was a bit nervous. It was actually kind of cute.
    “Of course,” I responded.
    The tequila was obviously talking at that