I know what he means. For all intents and purposes, he’s asking me to have an affair with him, something illicit that would destroy our family if the secret ever came out.
But fuck if I could say no to being with him, if Parker and Bryce weren’t against it.
Chase’s hands are on my biceps and our eyes are locked together. Those eyes, dark blue, shimmering with a passion that he’s tried to contain for too long. I know what happened when he let the floodgates open, when he unleashed that passion on me and it swept the both of us away, leaving us no choice but to let that love become physical.
There’s no escape from those eyes, they see inside my soul and Chase knows that there’s no way that I could ever turn him down, as long as it doesn’t hurt Parker and Bryce.
“I love you, Kaya.”
His voice is barely louder than a whisper and when his eyes drop to my lips I know that he’s about to kiss me and I take a step back.
“Not here, babe. It’s too dangerous. And not until we’ve spoken to the others. Let’s have some peppermint tea. No one can have a problem with us drinking tea together, right?”
I quickly walk away from him, trying to calm down the wild rhythm of my heart as I go to the stove.
The pot of water I put on to boil earlier is now boiling over, so I reach to turn off the hob, still in a lust fueled daze. That’s when the boiling water splashes out of the pot and some hot drops land on my chest, on the tender flesh of my left breast.
I yelp in pain and jump backward, finding Chase’s solid chest right behind me.
“Shit! Come here, princess. We need to put some cold water on it.”
Chase swiftly turns off the hob and lifts me onto the counter next to the sink. He finds a clean kitchen towel that he drenches in cold water at the sink before wringing out the excess water and coming close to place it just above my left breast, where a red, angry welt is starting to appear.
He’s standing between my legs, with one hand holding the wet towel to my skin and the other cupping my jaw as he whispers soothing words into my ear.
My body immediately reacts to his touch and I feel my need for Chase pulsating violently between my legs as I’m a captive of his dark blue gaze again.
“Is it any better?” His breath tickles the sensitive skin of my neck and I’m sure that Chase can feel my heart beating furiously against his hand, through the wet towel he’s still pressing on my skin.
“Yes, thank you. The cold towel feels good.”
He drags his lips over my temple in a kiss that could be brotherly if his lips didn’t linger on my skin.
The sound of steps approaching the kitchen makes Chase begin to move away but when Parker and Bryce enter the room, he’s still standing between my legs.
“Kaya, are you ok?”
We explain how I got burned and while Parker and Bryce don’t look angry, their eyes are fixed on Chase’s hand still on my breast and I don’t miss the look they exchange between them.
The air is thick with tension and I’m almost tempted to say something but the sound of new steps makes me instinctively scoot back on the counter, farther from my stepbrother, just before Mom and Dustin step into the kitchen.
Chase immediately steps away, going to the sink and busying himself by wetting the towel with more cold water.
I explain what happened as Dustin’s eyes keep darting between me and his son. “You must be careful, kiddo. And Chase, you should know better, if you guys wanted a cup of tea, ask the housekeeper. This is why we have house staff. Anyway Karen keeps some burn gel in the emergency kit, let’s put some on the birthday girl and then go to the conservatory. We have a little surprise for dinner.”
Kaya
THE SURPRISE IS ACTUALLY amazing: Dustin got a wood fired oven installed in the conservatory and there’s a guy in a white chef coat preparing the dough for several pizzas.
“We know how much Kaya loves proper Italian pizza, so I got a pizza oven installed here and one at the summer house in Star Cove. Massimiliano here has prepared bases for lots of pizzas and left us a recipe to make our own dough in the future. He’ll cook the pizza tonight but we thought it would be fun to top our own pizzas.”
I squeal in delight and hug Mom and Dustin and then proceed to bombard the chef with a ton of questions about dough hydration and fermentation. My dad was stationed in Sicily for a while and that was the best pizza I’ve ever had, hands down. So I’ve been researching the way to make the perfect dough for years.
The pizza is absolutely delicious and dinner as informal as one could hope with an English Lord at the table.
Mom is delighted that I was selected to pledge the Zetas and she starts reminiscing about her initiation into the sorority. The picture she and Rena paint about their antics when they were our age helps me understand why Mom was so eager for me to become a Zeta.
Especially when she bitterly remarks that her only regret is getting too serious too fast with my dad and not living her college experience to the fullest.
The look on my face must make her feel guilty because she immediately backtracks and apologizes. “Baby girl, don’t take this the wrong way, please. Yes, I regret getting married to your dad and doing it too young but I could never regret having you. Please understand that.”
And I do. Mom and I have had our differences, especially when it came to Marc last summer when Mom felt that I was leading him on but I’ve never questioned the fact that she loves me. She might not be perfect all the time, but who is? She’s always been a loving parent and she’s always been there for me, so I’ll always listen to what she has to say but I’ll make my own decisions. I love her but I’m no pushover and Mom knows that.
I look at Bryce and Parker and feel Chase’s gaze on me and my thoughts go to them and to the difficult conversation I need to have.
I can’t help but hope that I’ll be able to talk to them later and that my boys will forgive me and accept my feelings for Chase. The fact that our parents would never accept our love saddens me but I know that there’s no way to make them change their minds. I accept the fact that we’ll have to hide the true nature of our relationship. But I can no longer lie to Bryce and Parker, they don’t deserve it.
After dinner we watch a couple of movies and this time there are no arguments about the choice of what we’ll watch because I call birthday girl dibs. Even if my actual birthday is tomorrow and I’ll have to wait for my cake until then. Tonight we get ice cream and that’s the perfect complement to the chick flicks I chose.
I sit between Bryce and Parker feeling a little on edge about the idea of talking to them later and I wish that we had no guests and I didn’t have to wait until everyone has retired to their rooms for the night.
So when the two sets of parents and Reid announce that they’re just about done watching girly movies, I let out an over the top yawn and agree that it’s bedtime.
Mom throws an intense look at me and Bryce. Before college started, she asked me out right if Bryce and I were sleeping together and I told her the truth, that we hadn’t taken the final step yet. She wanted to make sure that I wasn’t being pressured and I reassured her that Bryce was a perfect gentleman. I obviously couldn’t open up about that night with Chase.