Free PIERCED - A Stepbrother Romance by Maya Hawk

of my mind my entire adult life.
    I missed him.
    I missed Sutton Pierce the second he left my apartment.
    It’s all kinds of wrong.
    And now I’m taking it out on him because he’s right here, and he looks amazing, and I’m all sorts of angry at the butterflies swirling around in my belly like they own the place.
    “You don’t know me at all.” Sutton blows a puff of breath through parted lips. “I’m actually insulted that you think I’m that shallow and starved for attention. It’s disgusting actually.”
    He walks up to me, our bodies mere inches apart. He towers over me, making me feel two feet tall.
    “What I do is beautiful, Lauryn,” he says. “It’s my passion, and I won’t have you belittling it because you’re insecure with your own life path.”
    “I am not insecure with my life path. I like what I do.” My chin tilts up, as if to add a silent exclamation point to my statement.
    “Yeah, but you don’t love it. That’s the difference between you and me.”
    “You and I are different in every possible way.” I state my opinion with a huff and cross my arms.
    “Not really, but if it makes you feel better you can believe that.”
    The clearing of a throat makes us jump, and I take two steps back. My face is hot, and I realize I’ve been holding my breath. Sutton looks calm and unshaken, stepping up toward the waiting patron. He’s an older gentleman with a nametag that reads, “Dr. Robert Hocking, OB-GYN, Biscayne Women’s Group.”
    Sutton speaks with him for a second as I arrange and rearrange brochures and swag for lack of something better to do. When the doctor walks away, Sutton and I don’t speak another word to one another. When the event is over, he packs everything up with me in silence. Another doctor, someone who apparently knows him, stops to chat, and I use the opportunity to sneak away, wheeling my bag out to my car before he has a chance to stop me.
    Not that I even know if he would. I really pissed him off today.
    I’m driving back to my apartment, when a call comes in.
    “Hey, Connie,” I say over the Bluetooth.
    “Hey, Lauryn.” Her voice booms through the speakers of my car. “How’d it go today? We just got the preliminary numbers in from the first week on the market, and things are looking good, girlfriend.”
    “Yeah, today was fine,” I say, switching on my right turn signal. “Glad to hear the numbers are looking good.”
    “How do you like working with that doctor? Isn’t he a dream?” I can picture Connie sitting in her office, clutching a brochure in her manicured hands and fanning herself with it. I almost ask her if she’s taken another Arovag lately.
    “He’s very smart.” I wince.
    Can’t think of anything else to say about him?
    “Ah.” Connie sounds disappointed, and I’m quite certain she wanted my answer to excite her Arovag-laced hormones.
    “He’s okay to work with,” I add.
    “You’re lying through your teeth,” Connie says with a laugh. “But that’s okay. I get it. You have a boyfriend. You’re a good girl. Anyway, how’s James liking Miami so far? Forgot to ask you that.”
    “He’s in New York,” I remind her.
    “No, he transferred to Miami a few weeks ago. Said he wanted to be closer to you?” Connie sounds confused.
    I’m doubly confused. “Connie, what are you talking about?”
    “Yeah, he’s got eastern Miami and a few of the ‘burbs.” Connie’s voice dwindles, as if she’s starting to realize she let the cat out of the bag. I didn’t know there was a cat or a bag until just now.
    “I’ll call you later.” I end the call without waiting for her response. I can’t think with Connie’s raspy voice blaring through my speakers.
    Why the fuck would James have moved to Miami and not told me?

 
 
 
 
 
 
TWELVE – SUTTON
     
    My steak sizzles on the grill as I pour beer over it. The late afternoon sun burns down, heating the cement floor of my rooftop deck, but I don’t mind. A second steak