Chapter 2

2

Bella

O h my God. Whatever.

We go skinny dipping in the mayor’s pool one time.

“You’re not going to put handcuffs on us, are you?” Over my shoulder, I bat my eyelashes at Portsmith’s newest deputy, Wendy, but her grimace doesn’t budge an inch. She’s not amused by our antics, as evidenced by the fact that she is leaving us standing here in nothing but towels, instead of offering to retrieve our clothes where we left them by the pool. “You know our stepdad is the sheriff, right?”

Finally, her lips change position, but only a smidge. In order to smile. “He’s the one that told us to handcuff you.”

“Wendy, I didn’t take you for a liar,” Charlie, my sister, deadpans. “Joe would never.”

“The hell I wouldn’t,” booms a familiar voice behind us. “Put them on tight, deputy.”

My mouth falls open at the same time as my sister’s. No way.

“Joe, why would you betray us like this?” I say, my tone giving way to panic. “It was just some harmless fun.”

“The mayor doesn’t seem to think so,” my stepdad says, phone up against his ear now. “He’s seriously considering pressing trespassing charges.”

Charlie winces as the cuffs clink close around her wrists, followed by mine. “You won’t let him, though, right?”

“Daddy?”

“Come on, Daddy.”

“Zip it, you two.” He gives us both a hard look. “I mean it.”

He turns around and strides away to take his phone call. Charlie and I wait until his back is turned before passing each other a secret smile.

“Finally got his attention,” murmurs my sister.

“It only took a little breaking and entering.”

Charlie bites her lip to sedate her smile. “He’s really mad this time.”

“This lecture could go for hours .”

“Hours,” she sighs happily, hip bumping me.

We’ve never really talked about our fascination with our stepfather, Joe, out loud. We’ve never needed to. The day my mother brought him home for dinner, me and Charlie communicated everything with a single breathless glance. Our mother had introduced us to a handful of men since her divorce from our father, but there was something special about Joe. Something real and flawed and honest.

We did everything in our power to make sure Joe stuck around, including being on our best behavior during his courtship with our mother. We planned date nights, cooked for them, pretended to be perfect angels—and we snagged ourselves the best stepfather two girls could ever hope for. He’s the big, strong, silent type. Protective. Honest.

Hot. As. Sin.

Might as well admit it. I’ve always had a little crush. But as we’ve gotten closer over the last difficult year, I’ve really started to notice everything about Joe. His looks, his strength, his confidence and character.

Do I have an older man fetish? Doubt it. None of the other forty-somethings walking around Portsmith make my mouth water like Joe does. He towers over me, and his body is thick in all the places . His face is grizzled and gruff, hands scarred and calloused. And he does this loose-hipped walk paired with a head tilt when he sees me coming down the hallway of our house. Almost like he’s coming down to my level to check in and see if I’m okay. Lately it has me climbing the walls.

Boys my age are weak, emotionless husks compared to him.

I’ve kissed three boys and they all made me want to brush my teeth.

Joe wouldn’t. He’d know what he was doing.

“Why are you looking at Joe like that?” Charlie asks me.

“What?” Wendy is trying to knot my damp towel tighter around my body, but I shake her off. At roughly the same time, I realize I’m staring hard at Joe’s ass in his snug uniform pants. Stop . “How am I looking at him?”

Charlie narrows her eyes at me. Blue ones, so similar to mine, even though we’re not related by blood. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen you look at anyone that way before. I’m not sure what it means.”

I scoff. “You’re imagining it.”

“No, I’m not. I have Bella sense.” She steps closer, studying my face with a touch more scrutiny than before. Sometimes I do think Charlie can read my mind, despite not being natural sisters. She was adopted by my mother and father before I could even walk, because they wanted me to grow up with a support system, but they also wanted to help a friend who couldn’t raise her baby. Whatever the circumstances, I consider her my sister and best friend. “Tell me why you’re looking at Joe funny,” Charlie says now. “I’m going to find out anyway.”

I tilt my head in Wendy’s direction. “Can you wait until we’re alone?”

“Good timing,” Wendy says brightly. “I was just about to load you into the back of the police car.”

“Oh, goodie,” Charlie responds. “Is there a phone charger I can use?”

“No,” Wendy answers with a smile, circling around behind me and Charlie, ushering us toward the back of the police car. She puts her hand on my head and ducks me into the opening. Charlie follows me into the backseat, silence prevailing for a whole three seconds before she fills it.

“You were checking out our stepdad.”

No use in denying it. “Fine. I’ve been noticing him in a…different way, lately, I guess.”

Charlie stares at me in horror for a few beats, before whispering, “Me too.”

I jolt forward in my seat, the awkward position causing my towel to unknot, revealing one of my breasts and half of the other. I’ve just gone skinny-dipping in broad daylight, however, so obviously nudity isn’t high on my list of concerns. “You think Joe is kind of…sexy, too?”

“No,” Charlie says slowly. “I think he’s extremely sexy. A certified smoke show.”

“Oh. Okay. You want him.”

“Yes.”

“So do I.” Jealousy nips at my cheeks out of nowhere, making them smart. I disguise the green monster with a high-pitched laugh, however. “But we’re not going to do anything about it, right? I mean, we misbehave to get his attention once in a while, because it forces him to spend time with us…which we love. But anything more would be weird, right? He was married to our mom. We call him Daddy.”

“Yeah,” Charlie scoffs. “It would be totally weird.”

I settle back. “Right.”

“But, like…what if something accidentally happened? Like there was a terrible storm and I crawled into his bed because I’m scared. And when I reach for his hand, I hold his dick, instead. We look at each other while lightning flashes—”

“Okay, you’ve thought about this a lot.”

“But now that I’ve crossed the line, we just cross them all. You know?”

I frown at my sister, the green monster thrashing around now, highly agitated. “I’m older than you. If he crosses the line with anyone, it’s going to be me.”

“Oh, right, a couple of months makes a huge difference when he’s twenty-four years older than both of us, Bella.” Joe is off the phone now and walking toward the vehicle while Charlie wets her lips, watching him approach with a growing flush on her face. “No. It’s going to be me.”

I gape at Charlie. “Care to make a wager?”

“A what?”

“A wager.” What in the name of everything holy am I doing? I don’t know, but two things are occurring to me at once. One, now that I know Charlie wants to sleep with our stepfather, too, I am inundated with permission to go there myself. To a place where he’s not quite so off limits. “Whoever seduces Joe first…” I begin.

“What is the prize?”

We let out a breathy sound simultaneously. “He is the prize.”

Said prize nearly rips the door of the police car off the hinges in the process of opening it. He props a meaty forearm on the roof of the vehicle and leans down to speak with us, but when he sees my breasts have been exposed by the slipped towel and my back is arched, presenting my tits to the air, he inhales an unsteady breath, his Adam’s apple moving high and low in his throat. I curse the fact that his eyes are hidden behind his sunglasses, because I would do anything for confirmation that they’re glued to my breasts. My thighs. All my exposed parts. “I got the mayor to drop the charges,” he says, finally. Then he slams his fist on the roof of the car. “But don’t feel too relieved. Wendy is going to drive you home. And you’re not going to like dealing with me there, instead.”

“Doubt that,” Charlie murmurs.

“Bring it on,” I say out of the side of my mouth.