Stepbrother Broken (The Hawthorne Brothers Book 2) by Colleen Masters Read Free Book Online Page B

something wrong. He doesn ’ t think I ’ m upset about what happened between us , does he?
    “ Luke, I —” I begin, but a waving arm catches my eye across the
room. Danny ’ s flagging me down to let me know
the cab is here.
    “ You ’ d
better get a move on, ” Luke says to me, running a
hand through his short dark hair. “ Get home safe, OK? ”
    “ Um. Yeah, ” I stammer helplessly. “ But … Luke? ”
    “ Hmm? ”
    “ We ’ re
cool, right? I mean —”
    “ Of course we are, ” he says with a placid half smile, “ Have a good summer, Sophie. ”
    And
just like that, turns and walks away. I stare after him, totally at a loss.
What the hell just happened here?
    “ Sophie, come on! ” Danny calls from across the crowded bar.
    I
turn on my heel and hurry for the door, eyes prickling with sudden, surprising
tears. Am I angry at having my time with Luke interrupted by some ignorant
asshole? Or am I disappointed that he didn ’ t ask to see me again? Or am I
still just hopelessly turned on and in need of a major self-love session once I
get home?
    Whatever
has me upset, I know I ’ ll be able to deal with it much
better once we ’ ve made it out of The Bear Trap.
Clasping hands, Danny and I hurry out the front door and into the waiting cab.
We ride along toward the relative safety of campus in silence.
    “ I don ’ t
know about you, ” Danny finally says, “ But that ’ s enough excitement for me tonight. ”
    “ Yeah, ” I
murmur, still attempting to blink back my tears, “ A
shitty Disney movie doesn ’ t seem too bad right about now. ”
    “ I have Hercules on DVD and a
bottle of Merlot at my place, ” Danny offers.
    “ Done, ” I
smile back at him, glad for a spot of levity. We could use it after the
intense, startling night we both had.
    “ So … how
did you leave things with the Professor? ” Danny asks after a moment.
    “ I ’ m
not even sure, ” I tell him, “ But I ’ m pretty sure I managed to fuck it
up. ”
    “ Wow. In just one night? That ’ s a new record for you, ” Danny
laughs weakly.
    “ You know me, ” I sigh, sinking against the backseat as we race along
the highway, “ Always gotta outdo myself somehow. ”
     
    ***
     
    The
campus is nearly deserted the next morning when I finally make my way home from
Danny ’ s place. We fell asleep watching
cartoons and drinking cheap wine like we were wee little freshmen again — but then, we both needed a little bit of comfort after
the events of last night. Already, everything that happened at The Bear Trap
feels like a dream — a sexy, scary, unsettling dream.
For the first time, I find myself wondering whether I am ready to deal
with the world outside my cozy university walls. After all, there may not
always be a Luke Hawthorne to rush to my rescue.
    Luke
weighs heavily on my mind as I arrive back at my dorm to find that my roommate
Kim has already moved her things out of our shared abode. Though we barely
traded more than a few niceties over the course of the year, I find myself
feeling unaccountably lonely here in my half-empty dorm room. But then, maybe
it ’ s not just anybody ’ s company I ’ m longing for now. Maybe it ’ s the company of a certain sexy professor — the man who saved me and my best friend from god knows
what last night. The memory of Luke ’ s hands, the way his body felt
against mine, comes roaring back to me, and I hurry to sit down at my desk
before I topple over with longing. 
    I
eagerly open my laptop to see if he ’ s reached out to me since last
night. But when I scan my email inbox, there ’ s
no new message from Luke Hawthorne. My heart sinks as I sit back in my chair,
unreasonably disappointed. My fear that I bungled things between us last night
burrows deeper into my heart. It ’ s not like we promised to keep in
touch or anything, now that school is over. What was I expecting? What do I
even want from him, come to think of it?
    As
I stare despondently at my computer