Tease: A Stepbrother Romance by Veronica Daye Read Free Book Online Page A

start soon.”
    “Don’t worry, I’ll be right back with her.”
    I left and walked into the main building and towards our rooms. I didn’t know what would take Sierra so long, but if she went to her room, that’s where I would start.  
    I knocked on her door and waited as I tried listening in to hear if she was in there. There was no response, but I heard something from inside her room.
    “Sierra? Are you in there?”
    “Go away!” she yelled.
    “Are you okay? Let me in. Your mom sent me to look for you.”
    “Oh no oh no oh no! Go away, Jagger. You’re the last person I need here. Please just leave me alone.”
    Her voice cracked as she spoke and I knew something had gone wrong. If she wasn’t going to let me in, I was going to figure out another way into her room.
    I entered my room, which was connected to hers, and opened the door between our rooms, revealing the door on her side. Checking the knob, I found it locked.
    “Sierra,” I said quietly. “Please let me in. We can figure out whatever’s wrong. Right now your mom is really worried about you.”
    “Go away.”
    “I’m coming in.”
    The door was much lighter than the one facing the hall. I jiggled the knob and saw how the door wobbled in the frame. I pulled back and then pushed my weight into the door. The door rattled.
    “What are you doing?!” she shrieked.
    I backed up, lining myself up to the door. I knew I could get through with enough force.
    “I told you,” I said. “I’m coming in.”
    “Okay, okay, I give up.”
    She unlocked the door and opened it. For a moment, she was just standing in the doorway. Her hair was loose and wild around her. She had on a simple dark purple dress with thin straps that hugged her in all the right places. I was frozen for that moment, unable to do anything but look at her, until she moved out of the doorway.
    Sierra stood near the window, looking down at the wedding area, with her arms crossed over her chest like I had seen her do a million times before.
    “Your mother sent me to find you.”
    “I can’t go down there. She’ll be so disappointed.”
    “What’s wrong?”
    “I can’t tell you, you’ll think it’s stupid.”
    “The wedding is supposed to start soon. There’s no time for this, Sierra.”
    As she turned to face me, I could see her eyes were a little red from crying. She walked past me and grabbed a flower from the table.
    “This is the problem,” she said, holding up the flower. “My mom wanted me to wear a dahlia in my hair. She had a stylist here earlier who did my hair up with it, but I’m such a klutz that when I ran back here, I knocked it loose and couldn’t get it back in place. I ended up making my hair even more of a mess.”
    “That’s it?”
    “See, I told you you’d think it was stupid. Mom loves this ridiculous flower and if I came back with my hair down like this and without it, I know she’ll be really upset. It’s a bride thing.”
    I took the flower from her and flipped it over to look at the clasp.
    “And you said your hair was up?”
    “Yes, there’s about a million bobby pins in the bathroom. I tried to fix it, but everything I did just made it worse. I didn’t realize how long I’ve been gone.” She entered the bathroom and shook her head in the mirror. “I need to just get back to my mom.”
    Sierra’s eyes watered as she took the flower from me. I couldn’t bear to see her so upset.
    “I can help you.”
    “What?”
    “I can fix your hair.”
    “You’re crazy.”
    “No, really, I can,” I said as I gathered the bobby pins from the bathroom counter. “My mom is a stylist. You wouldn’t believe how much I’ve helped her through the years.”
    Sierra eyed me suspiciously. I took the flower, the bobby pins, and a bottle of styling product she had and set them on the desk and pulled out the desk chair.
    “You still don’t trust me, do you?”
    “Why should I?”
    “Because I’m not that stupid kid you knew years ago. I’m the