RICH BOY BRIT (A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance) (22 page)

“Amy, get away from my door,” Claire said and pushed her away gently.

“Wait, so how about a double date? Mario and I were going on a little hiking expedition.”

“Goodbye, Amy,” Claire laughed and closed the door.

“Hiking might not be too bad,” Chance laughed too when she finally got the door closed. “I didn’t make an itinerary for today.”

“Hiking? Ugh! I don’t think I’m ready for that,” she said, and fell back against the bed.

He smiled and hovered over her. “There is a lot to see in the parks and gardens here.”

“I guess,” she said. “Fine. I’ll go over to her room and make final plans, then.”

“And in the meantime, I need to take a shower,” he said. “Though I hate to wash the smell of you off me.”

“Go wash up, you slacker,” Claire said as she raised on her tip toes and kissed him. “I need to shower as well.”

“Okay, see you in a little while. If I take too long, you know where I am.” He grinned as he walked out.

Claire fell back on the bed with the pillow on her chest, feeling light and blissful. If she had known she would feel this good, she would have listened to Amy’s coaxing on Chance’s island. But when she rolled over and allowed her thoughts to probe the future, the smile completely disappeared. What reason did she have to hope he would return with her to Miami? He was wealthy and had girls chasing him all over the world. And he had already conquered her, so what was left besides the rest of her vacation? And his? She was still deep in thought and dragging herself around the room when Amy returned.

“Knock, knock,” her best friend said as she burst inside. “I can see he isn’t here or the door wouldn’t be open.” Claire smiled at her. “So, you sneak.” She walked over to knock Claire on the shoulder. “You have been seeing him the whole time.”

“Not the whole time; you and Mom left me with nothing to do. Chance was there, so I passed the time with him,” Claire blushed.

“Passed the time? Hmm, I’ve never heard it called that before,” she laughed.

“Knock it off, Ames,” she laughed. “This is just for a time. We go home in three days, and Chance and Mario will be no more.”

“Maybe Mario won’t be, but why not Chance? The man has money coming out his ears. He even has his own private island. What’s to stop him from coming to you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe all the other women who have his attention,” Claire reminded her.

“Claire, he wants you for a reason, and that’s because you aren’t anything like those whores chasing him,” Amy told her.

“You mean like you?” Claire teased.

“Yeah, like me,” Amy laughed. “But I came around to invite you guys to hang out with us.”

“I was just about to come up to your room.”

“Mario is coming by in another…” she paused to look at her watch, “half hour, so get ready.”

“I don’t have a choice, right?”

“Not really. But please get lover boy,” she winked and backtracked to the door.

Claire tossed the pillow at her, but she desperately wanted Amy to be right. She was still smiling at the thought of Chance coming after her when he knocked on her door. She had a bright smile for him.

“Don’t tell me I caused that,” he said.

“Caused what?”

“Your smile,” he laughed.

“You did,” she said. “Amy and her guy are waiting for us.”

“Then let’s go.”

“Amy!” she called from the hallway. “You’re late.”

Amy opened the door. “Well, hello,” she said when she saw Chance.

Chance smiled and nodded at her. “Hi, Amy.”

“Ok. Well, let’s go,” she said. “Mario’s waiting in the lobby.”

Mario turned out to be quite a handsome islander with a body crafted in the gym; he had muscles bulging from every inch of him, and Claire found it hard not to giggle. “Just your type,” she whispered to Amy. Amy punched her gently on the shoulder, and the men looked on as they shared their private moment.

“Oh, my apologies,” Amy said. “Claire, Chance, this is Mario. Mario, Claire and Chance.”

“Nice to meet you both,” he said and reached out to shake Claire’s hand. She was surprised at how soft it was; it didn’t match his outward appearance.

“Okay, let’s go! I’m excited,” Amy said. She stopped walking and turned to the group. “Which car are we going in?”

“Mine is fine,” Chance smiled.

The group made a stop at the tour company that would lead them to the Gros Piton hike, one of St. Lucia’s volcanic mountain trails. It wasn’t hard to convince Claire to experience the mud baths after all the complaining she did along the trail. They had to stop several times to wait for her to catch her breath. They spent most of the day sightseeing along the trail, and by the time they decided to go back, it was evening.

“There is a bonfire party on the beach tonight,” Mario told them when they returned to the hotel. “You’ll love it.”

“Count me in,” Amy said.

“Me too,” Claire added. “As long as it doesn’t involve walking.”

They all laughed when she spoke and agreed to shower and return to the beach.

***

The bonfire was just what Claire needed to get closer to Chance. She enjoyed his embrace as they watched the locals play games and dance around the fire, yanking the tourists from their perches to join them in several line dances. Towards the end of the party, she snuggled next to Chance, and he wrapped his arms around her as the air grew chilly.

“Would you care for a walk?” he asked her.

“Sure.”

He held her hand as they walked along the seashore, saying nothing and doing nothing other than enjoying each other’s company and feeling the splash of the waves on their skin. Chance brought her to a stop, turned her to him, and planted a hot, wet kiss on her lips. He pulled her to him and drank her in, and she could feel the need in his kiss. As he held her, Claire felt a sudden confidence that he wouldn’t let her go, and she clung to him and received him like never before.

“I’ve wanted to do that all day,” he told her.

“I’ve wanted you to,” she smiled back.

He put his arm around her waist and led her back to the others. Amy was just about ready to leave; she held Mario’s hand as the four of them returned to the hotel.

At the elevator, Claire heard someone calling to her excitedly. “That’s my mom,” Claire said as she stopped and waited, planting a smile on her face as her mother approached them. A man walked behind her, and for the first time Claire officially met her mother’s mysterious man.

“Claire, I’d like you to meet Bryan,” Willow said.

“I’ve met him before. Though not officially,” she smiled. “Back on the island.”

“Okay, that’s good. It will make this a whole lot easier,” Willow said, glowing when she turned to the man.

“Make what easier?” Claire asked, looking at her mother suspiciously. She didn’t like the tone of her voice.

“Bryan and I got married this afternoon,” she glowed.

“You what?” Claire asked, looking from her mother to Bryan and then Chance. Amy and Mario slipped away.

“Dad?” Chance asked. “You did what?”

Willow turned to Bryan. “This is Chance?”

“Yes,” Bryan said. “This is Chance, my son. And this must be Claire.”

“Yes,” Willow said simply. “This is my daughter.”

Claire looked at her mother, unable to formulate the words she needed to express her feelings. She wanted her mom to be happy and finding a man who made her happy like Bryan was her dream for her mother. But Bryan was Chance’s dad, and she had just given her virginity to Chance. What are the odds that the one man who made her forget Trent had just become her stepbrother? No one had even bothered consulting her.

“Mom, you know Chance and I are seeing each other, right?”

Willow’s eyes flew open and Bryan looked at the younger kids and then to Willow.

“Way to go, Dad. I’m happy for you, truly I am. But it would have be nice to consult us before you guys ran off and got married like teenagers,” Chance said and turned to Claire. They needed to get out of there, and soon.

“Chance,” Bryan said. “It was so impromptu and felt right.”

“Good day, Father,” Chance said. He looked at Claire, who shook her head at both of the older adults and held onto Chance’s arms as they walked away. From lovers to stepsiblings in one week!

CHAPTER 13

“Chance, come back,” Bryan called after his son.

“Claire, I can explain,” her mother called.

“Chance,” Claire whispered as they kept walking. “Maybe we should go back and congratulate them.”

“Do you know what that means for us?” he asked. “That means we are now a family.”

“I know, but it might not be so bad. We might be able to work things out.”

He raked his hand through his hair and paced the floor. “I can’t be any part of this.”

“But Chance, let’s think rationally,” Claire said, but Chance was already gone.

Claire stood alone with the grown-ups; all she could do was walk back to them and congratulate them. She hugged her mother and smiled; she shook Bryan’s hand, and as soon as she could, she dragged herself up the stairs and went to her room. Amy and Mario were nowhere to be found.

When she stepped onto the balcony, Chance wasn’t there. She knew he was stewing somewhere. Granted she didn’t know him that well to reasonably assume what he was doing, but she knew how he felt. She personally felt like the rug had been pulled out from under her, and she was nursing bruised ribs and shattered bones.

***

Chance sat on his bed pondering the situation until a knock on his door interrupted him. He opened the door to let his father into his room, then turned and walked back inside without saying hello to the older man.

“That’s not the usual response you get when you make a wedding announcement,” he said as he closed the door behind him.

“That’s not the usual time frame it takes normal people to get married,” Chance fired back. “Dad, you met her, what, a week ago?”

“And what does that matter? I love her.”

“Just cut the bull, Dad!” Chance shouted. “You knew I was interested in her daughter, and you didn’t say a word. Was I the only one in the dark?”

“It had nothing to do with you, Chance,” Bryan said as he walked to the balcony. “Your relationship shouldn’t have to affect mine.”

“Nothing to do with me? You married her! She is now my stepmother, and the girl I am seeing is now my stepsister! How does that not have anything to do with me? We were here, and we didn’t even get a say in it until after the fact.” Chance flung the cushion across the room out of frustration and kicked the chair from his path. “What do you mean your relationship shouldn’t affect mine?”

“Chance, don’t be so upset,” Bryan said. “I’m sorry it worked out like this, but how do you expect me to give up the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with simply because you are having a fling with the daughter?”

“It’s not a fling, and even if it was, you have made it extraordinarily uncomfortable for that fling to continue, haven’t you? So I hope she makes you happy and that it lasts forever.”

“There is no need for sarcasm, son,” Bryan told him. “But just in case, you do know that whatever was going on with her daughter can’t continue?”

“Yes, I am aware,” Chance smirked. “How many chances do you get to make me miserable? An unlimited supply? As many as your money can buy?”

“I didn’t hear you complaining about the money yesterday on the yacht,” Bryan fired back.

Chance froze in his step and kept his back to his father. “You know, if it wasn’t Mom’s, I’d have sold it.”

“You know that’s not what I meant, Chance.”

But Chance had already opened the front door and left. Bryan called after him, but Chance kept walking. The only place Chance wanted to go was to Claire, so he hurried down to the lobby and turned towards her door. He pounded on the door until she answered.

“Chance, what’s the matter?” she asked when she saw the panicked look on his face.

He didn’t respond. He simply forced himself inside, pulled her to him, and kissed her with so much passion her head spun. When she composed herself, she stepped back. “I don’t think we should be doing this, Chance.”

“Maybe they shouldn’t be doing anything,” he told her and held her to him again. “Claire, for the first time in my life I am with a woman who actually means something to me. There is no way I am going to stop this just because they decided to get married. We were right here, and they didn’t even consider us. Let’s just do what we want to do.”

“I don’t think it works like that, Chance,” Claire said and stepped away from him. “They are married now, and we are a family.”

“That’s just a technicality,” Chance pleaded. “Who knows if they will even last?”

Claire thought about that for a moment. It had been five years since her mother had been with anyone, and she had just had her heart broken by the man she was supposed to marry. “It just seems selfish to take all of this away from her, you know.”