Dare: A Stepbrother Romance by Caitlin Daire Read Free Book Online Page A

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    I smiled at her and then glanced across at the other side of the circle. Oh, of course. Drew was there. He arched an eyebrow and blew a kiss at me, and I narrowed my eyes at him, hoping that if I concentrated enough energy into the glare, a laser would shoot out and vaporize him. Cerie made a big show of spinning the bottle, and we all waited with bated breath to see who it would land on. As my bad luck would have it, it ended up pointing straight at me. I inwardly groaned, and Cerie’s eyes lit up with triumph.
    “Okay, Sophie…I dare you and Drew to go into the closet upstairs and give us a nice old-fashioned Seven Minutes in Heaven.”
    She couldn’t be serious. Dan looked slightly uncomfortable, and Lana grinned on the other side of me. “Go on,” she whispered. “You have to do it, remember?”
    “I’m going to kill Cerie,” I said, not-so-secretly wanting to slap her. It was bad enough they’d done the whole ‘dare’ thing with me the other night when I’d first met Drew…well, met the new Drew, anyway. And look how well that had turned out. They knew he was my stepbrother now, and they were still trying to hook us up by playing stupid high-school games and forcing us together despite the fact that I’d just met a nice new guy. College really couldn’t start soon enough for me.
    “I think this whole dare thing needs to go the way of the dinosaurs, Lana,” I hissed as I climbed to my feet, and she simply giggled along with Cerie.
    “Ew…isn’t that her brother?” I heard someone say in a hushed voice.
    “Stepbrother,” Drew corrected them, rising to his feet.
    Andreas stood up as well. “I’ll take them upstairs and make sure they don’t come out until the seven minutes is up,” he said.
    He linked an arm with me, and Drew trailed behind us, trademark smirk on his face.
    “Lucky bitch,” Andreas whispered to me. “Don’t worry, I haven’t known Dan for all that long, but he’s a cool guy. He knows it’s just a game.”
    He guided us into the master bedroom upstairs and wrenched the closet door open. Drew stepped in first, and I followed him, my heart pounding. Surely he didn’t actually expect for anything to happen in here. It was just a stupid party game that none of us had played since the ninth grade.
    The closet was large and decadent, with a crystal light fixture hanging overhead. Andreas switched it on and then shut the door, leaving us in.
    “Time starts now!” he called from the outside.
    I stole a glance at Drew and realized he was staring right at me.
    “You know, they’re gonna want some proof that something happened between us in here,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone.
    I folded my arms. “Too bad.”
    “Come on, they want a show, let’s give it to them.”
    “Fine.”
    I stood on my tiptoes and planted a kiss on his cheek, knowing my red-tinted lip gloss would leave a lip print on his face.
    “There. That’s all you’re getting,” I said.
    “Good enough for now,” he said, looking bored. ‘We’ll, we’ve still got six and a half minutes to go. We’ve gotta do something to fill the time. Why don’t you start by finally telling me why you were pretending to be someone else at Mint?”
    I rolled my eyes. “You wouldn’t understand.”
    “Try me.”
    I chewed on my lower lip before replying. “It was like…I just wanted to be someone else for the night. I was meant to be breaking out of my shell, or whatever other cliché you want to call it. So when I thought you were a total stranger, I gave you a fake name. It sorta just popped into my head.”
    He cocked an eyebrow. “I don’t see why you’d need to be anyone else. The old Sophie is just fine.”
    “Um…thanks,” I said.
    “So why me? Out of all the guys in the club that night, why’d you pick me?”
    I shifted uncomfortably where I was standing. “Er…it was a dare.”
    “A dare ? Jesus, what the fuck is up with you and your friends? Are you all stuck in the eighth