Reason and Romance (River Valley Book 1) Read online

  Alex’s room was right next to hers. The light filtering under his door told her that he was still up. She hesitated, then walked resolutely into her room. Dumped her clothes on the floor and got into bed, but after tossing and turning for what seemed like a couple hours, she got up. This wasn’t working.

  Oh, what the hell …

  She moved quickly before she could think better of it. Resting her hip against the door frame, she knocked and then tried the knob. It was unlocked, so she let herself in.

  Surprisingly he was still up. He was listening to some music, but he sat up on his bed when she entered. He’d shrugged off his T-shirt, but he’d changed into loose athletic shorts.

  “Why are you here, Adrian?”

  His wariness made her smile. Oddly enough, she felt better by just looking at him. With Alex around, there could never be any comparison to Jason because Alex Montgomery would never let you think of anyone else but him.

  “Your door was unlocked,” she said, shutting it behind her.

  Alex met her halfway before she even made it to the bed. “Let me take you back to your room.”

  She laid a hand on his chest. “Mm. Why don’t you come back with me?” And because she knew he wouldn’t, she kissed him.

  His lips parted and she tasted his surprise. And then it was something sweeter, something deeper …

  A thrill ran through her. She locked her hand into his hair, melting against him. The muscles in his arms shifted—and for a horrifying second or two, she thought he would push her away, but then he was yanking her closer.

  She wrapped a leg around him, and he lifted it higher. He was taking on almost all of her weight as he kissed her. Actually, kissing didn’t even cover it. His hand was under her bathrobe, under her thigh. At the feel of him against her skin, she closed her eyes. Oh yes. She’d always known that it would be like this.

  Alex broke away first. He sounded breathless, but now he looked wary. “Wait. What about your boyfriend?” he said, setting her down on the floor.

  “Oh, not that question again,” she said lightly.

  “You’re drunk. Seriously. Go back to your room. You don’t want to do anything you’ll regret in the morning.”

  “Oh, I’m drunk,” she agreed, untying the sash on her bathrobe, “but not that drunk.” She let her robe fall from her shoulders, but she kept the edges together. “And besides … I want you.”

  As soon as the words left her lips, she knew it was the truth.

  Alex’s eyes were green, but in the light they were golden. “Do you now?” he said very softly. “Are you sure?”

  Her throat had gone dry with desire. “Yes,” she said, her nerves thrumming from a sudden excitement. “Drop the gentleman act, Alex. Screw my brains out—or can you?”

  His grin was brilliant. “I’ll try.”

  They came together in a mess of arms and legs. She trailed kisses all over him as they tumbled onto the bed. He yanked her robe off, tearing it in the process. It ended up somewhere on the floor, but by then, she didn’t care. It had never been like this with Jason, never like this.

  She ended up lying under Alex. He pinned her wrists with a strong hand as he kissed, licked, and sucked. She moaned, her hips arching instinctively under his. “Like what you see?” she whispered into his ear, hooking her legs around his.

  “Hell yes,” he said.

  Her hands roamed over his chest. She’d known Alex had a good body, but it was even better than she’d imagined. He’d showered, so he smelled of shampoo and soap. She licked his neck and sucked on the skin. Not too hard, but when she raised her head, some redness marked his throat.

  Sighing, he buried his face into her wet hair. “Like what you see?” he gasped.

  “Hell yes,” she said.

  She got a hand free and slid out from under his body. He tried to pull her down, but with her eyes locked on his, she moved slightly backward. Then she dipped her head and kissed his abdomen. She moved lower until she found his hips. They were narrow and lean, and she traced them. Then she ravaged him with her mouth.

  He stifled a moan, and she flushed with triumph. Then it was her turn to cry out when he returned the favor and held her in place.

  Caught up in the sensation of him, she let Alex do what he wanted. She clutched at the bed sheets, barely recognizing her voice. It was an unsteady cross between a whispered gasp and a whimper. She dissolved and when she came to herself, she found Alex next to her, gasping for breath.

  Their kisses were desperate and short. They’d had enough, both of them, no games now. Alex stripped down without any finesse and opened a drawer from his nightstand. He grabbed a condom—his supply was huge, of course—and when he would have put it on by himself, she did it for him.

  Alex’s eyes locked with hers. “Are you sure?”

  Her mouth curved. “Yes.”

  He didn’t say anything else.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Something had happened last night.

  She wasn’t sure how she knew this, but the knowledge made her open an eye. A bright light seared her eyes. Moaning, she huddled deeper under the blankets. An entire marching band had taken up residence in her brain because she couldn’t hear anything over the racket. Something had happened, all right.

  Her muscles wept as she shifted. Squinting against the unbearable light, she let her gaze settle on the ceiling. Ah. She’d fallen asleep facing the windows, so that explained why she was staring into the sun. Why had she left the blinds open?

  The bedsheets were too warm against her bare skin, and only then did she realize she wasn’t wearing anything.

  Her stomach tightened in dread. A horrible suspicion was lurking in the back of her mind, but she couldn’t voice it aloud, lest it become reality. For one thing, she didn’t have sports trophies. And she certainly didn’t have plaques that had the engraved name Alex Montgomery—

  Ohgodohgodohgod …

  She shut her eyes immediately. There had to be another explanation for it. Maybe she’d sleepwalked. Or maybe aliens had possessed her body. Or better yet, she was still dreaming, and this was a surprisingly vivid nightmare. Yes. That had to be it.

  Gathering the tattered remains of her courage, Adrian shifted her weight just enough so that she could look over her shoulder.

  And she just stared.

  Alex lay sprawled in the light that streamed from the windows. Her disbelieving gaze skimmed over his cheekbones to his chest to his—she jerked her gaze away. Of all the times she could have picked, she was finally blushing. If there was anything good about this situation, it was that he was sleeping still.

  I am so fucked.

  Why yes, you are, her inner self said smugly. You told him to screw your brains out.

  A series of erotic images assaulted her brain. In that moment, Adrian relived everything she’d done with Alex only a few hours ago. Her eyes slid shut as she recalled the feel of his body against hers.

  She shielded her mind against those images. I didn’t mean it!

  Too late, honey.

  Great. Now she was arguing with herself, and if that wasn’t a harbinger of insanity, she didn’t know what was.

  Her jaw tight, she eased out of the bed. Alex never made a sound, so she tiptoed over to the wall to grab her bathrobe. She cinched the sash and listened for sounds from the household before she twisted the doorknob. It was Saturday morning, but the house seemed surprisingly quiet as she ventured into the hallway.

  She hustled into her room and resisted the impulse to slam her door shut. Once she was alone, she collapsed in an inglorious heap.

  Her head was pounding from the hangover, but also from the dilemma she’d just landed in. Dilemma? Oh no. A fucking catastrophe was more like it! She’d had sex with the guy who’d made her life miserable. And if that wasn’t bad enough, she’d had sex with him twice. Was there no end to her humiliation?

  Hi, my name is Adrian Blake, and I just slept with my future stepbrother!

  A strangled
laugh rose up in her throat. This sure as hell made a great Christmas story. “How did that happen, you ask? Well, it’s a funny story, you see …”

  She pressed fingertips to her throbbing temples. Okay, they had used protection, so no pregnancy scare there. Wait, what if the condom had broken? She would have to wait a month to see if there were any results. And if there was, what would she do? Have the baby or get an abortion? How would she tell her father?

  “Stop it, stop it,” she whispered. “Stop it!”

  She had no idea if Alex was clean. Jason had been her first and only, but oh God, he’d cheated on her with Stephanie. What was to say that he was clean?

  And Alex had hooked up with Mandy.

  That thought flashed through her mind. Adrian dug her nails into her palms. Oh God! She had no liking for Mandy, and she doubted she ever would. A witch the redhead might be, but that didn’t change the fact that Adrian Blake had voluntarily slept with Mandy’s guy.

  Just like Stephanie.

  Just like her mo—

  Moaning, she fell face-first into her pillows. She’d slept with two guys: Jason and Alex. Now that was a sterling list! Maybe she’d take up with a convicted felon or something. She so was going to hell for this. Sleeping with your own future stepbrother had to rank somewhere high up there on the list of sins you weren’t supposed to commit.

  She tugged the blankets over her head, then flung them away. She’d showered last night, but now she couldn’t even smell her shampoo anymore. No, instead, there was that faint, lingering aftershave Alex favored.

  She jumped to her feet and grabbed some clothes. She’d shower and then think about it some more. It wasn’t a solution, but at least it was something.

  The house was still eerily quiet when she scuttled to the bathroom. With a household of eight people, silence was a rare luxury, but today, Adrian chalked it up to Providence. Apparently she’d screwed up so badly that God had taken pity on her.

  An awful sensation choked her throat. She’d cry in the shower, if she had to, but not now. Then she leaned forward and stared at the mirror.

  Her thickly lashed eyes went wide with surprise. She tilted her head to a side, hoping it was just a bad dream, but her eyesight hadn’t failed. Hickeys? She hadn’t had one since … well, last year, maybe. Jason had gotten so drunk at their junior prom afterparty that he’d pawed at her before she’d even gotten her dress off.

  Fumbling with her bathrobe, she closed the toilet lid and collapsed on the top of it. What the hell had happened? Oh, she remembered everything perfectly well—what a pity, that—but she still couldn’t make the pieces fit. How had she just trashed everything? In her life, she’d wanted one thing and only one.

  Control.

  She turned her head to the wall. Her long hair fell and obscured her eyes, and that was bad because even it smelled like Alex.

  Somehow he’d saturated all the corners of her life. He was there in AP English class. He was there during lunchtime. He was in her house—or rather, she was in his house. He had been there during the party. Then in bed with her.

  Her cheeks flushed with a sudden heat. She’d completely lost herself in the feel of him, in the fevered sensation he’d created. She’d done things she hadn’t done with Jason, and in return, Alex had done things Jason hadn’t done. Until then, she hadn’t really believed it was possible to feel that good.

  She’d had the best sex in her relatively short life, and it had been with her future stepbrother. How depraved was that? What could she do now? She couldn’t undo last night. No, that was a ship that had sailed. Yeah, Alex would probably tell his friends and have a good laugh about how he’d banged her.

  The kids at her new school already disliked her, and considering how she’d behaved at the party, she’d only fueled their gossip. Now they would pass around the salacious details Alex would dish out.

  A montage of images flashed in her mind: Quentin Maxwell who didn’t even know what respect meant, Grant Darlington with those cool blue eyes, Bri Latimer who now hated her because of how she’d danced with Justin, Vaughn Mackintosh who was the so-called school grapevine …

  What if Travis backed away from her? Him and Justin, they had been the only friendly faces she’d seen. What if they ignored her on Monday? And what if Nicky heard about it? Adrian wasn’t speaking to her younger sister these days because Nicky had her lips firmly glued to Alex’s ass, but Nicky didn’t deserve to be punished by the whole school.

  More importantly, what if Nicky heard the rumors and told their father?

  Adrian couldn’t let that happen. She wouldn’t let that happen. The sex was done and over with, but this part wasn’t. She couldn’t move out of the house until college. If her father and Karen got married after all, she’d have to see Alex for the next thirty years or so. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and so on. She couldn’t avoid him, period.

  There was really only one thing she could do.

  She had to seize the advantage before Alex twisted it to his benefit. Strike first and downplay the situation. No blackmail or threats because if she used them, Alex would only know that she was terrified. Once she let him see that, she was lost.

  So, then, she had to brazen it out. She’d done it at the party last night, hadn’t she? She’d owned those guys. What was to say she couldn’t do it again?

  It wasn’t anything different from what she’d done all of her life. She’d protected herself and her sisters from the knowing glances and whispers about their mother. A bland smile and a cool courtesy had been among the weapons she’d used. If you had your armor on, no one could ever hurt you.

  She’d crawled into bed with Alex, true, but it had been of her free will. Nothing had forced her to sleep with Alex, and nothing would force her to sleep with him again.

  Calmer now, she tugged her bathrobe off and stepped into the shower. When she was done, she dressed and blew her hair dry. Covered up her hickeys with makeup, popped some aspirin. Just motions, really, but they kept her busy.

  She momentarily faltered when she heard footsteps. Not from the vicinity of Alex’s room as she’d expected, but someone coming downstairs. The household was stirring, and she couldn’t hide out in the bathroom any longer.

  The quicker you see him, the quicker you move on!

  After reassuring herself that she looked fine, she hurried to her bedroom and dumped her things. She kicked the bathrobe under her bed. Now that was one that would find its way to the trashcan when she had a free moment.

  “Showtime,” she whispered.

  Her heart was jumping out of her chest, but summoning all of her hard-won discipline, she pulled her smile together. Maybe it was a little cracked around the edges, but it was a pretty good imitation. With an immense effort, she sauntered to the kitchen. No one else was there, so she sat down at the table and reached for the box of muffins.

  Then she wasn’t alone anymore.

  She couldn’t have said how she knew he was there, but maybe it was due to the fact they’d had sex because she just knew.

  Alex was leaning against the wall, watching her. His hair was wet and she realized she’d heard him come downstairs from the bathroom upstairs. The green shirt he wore didn’t entirely cover up the hickeys on his neck.

  Looking at him was like being slapped in the face. She had done many stupid things, but this one, she would never forgive. It was that heinous, and it was also that foolish. Why on earth had she picked him? Why couldn’t she have picked Justin? Travis—no, Travis was a friend. She couldn’t do that to him. Still, she could have had Quentin or any other guy who’d eyed her at the party. Why Alex?

  “Morning, Alex,” she said calmly.

  “Morning, Adrian.”

  Her nails dug into her palm. His voice still sounded a little rough as if he’d just woken up. What had he thought when he’d seen the empty bed? Had he tortured himself about what had happened between them? Didn’t he care?

  “You should try the muffins,” she said, pushing her thoug
hts aside. She nodded toward the bakery box she’d opened.

  Alex inclined his head. He pulled a chair out and sat down. The table was large, so he could have sat anywhere, but now he was in the seat across from her. She had no choice but to stare directly into his eyes.

  “Sleep well?” he said.

  She’d thankfully put the muffin down; otherwise she’d have choked on it. What was this flash of concern about her welfare? Or maybe he was just doing the smart thing by bringing up the subject before she could.

  “Yes, I slept well,” she said. “And you?”

  There was that faint smile curving his lips. “Same. It was an interesting night.”

  Bastard!

  Where the sudden vitriol had come from, she didn’t know, but it was burning a hole in her stomach. Was that all it was to you, Alex?

  He sounded so casual, and that, more than anything, galled her. If she wasn’t mistaken, that was amusement in his eyes. With just a few words, he could make her life at Varner High even worse than it already was.

  “Yes,” she said, wanting to vanquish that smile. “A one-night stand was exactly what I needed. Thank you.”

  Alex’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “Glad I could help.”

  She pulled her muffin into halves. “No, really, I don’t mean to sound condescending,” she said sweetly. “We had fun.”

  He tilted his head to a side as if considering her for a moment. There was that unfathomable look she’d first seen from him when she’d started groping him in the car. She’d driven the amusement out of his eyes, yes, but now she couldn’t read him anymore. They were an intense green, and right now they were searching her face.

  Then he smiled.

  At the sight of that brilliant smile, her heart constricted. God, he was far too attractive. Disturbingly so. Now that she knew what he could do in bed, she couldn’t push those images out of her mind.

  “Mm. You don’t hear me complaining,” he said.