Gripped: A Stepbrother Romance (Bonus Story: Stepbrother Forbidden) by Stephanie Brother Page B

me. Fool me a gazillion times? Who was left to blame? All I knew was that I wouldn't go down that stupid path again. Initially, I'd been heartbroken by how callously he could throw me aside, but I'd grown to accept it. It was Logan's way after all. When he couldn't deal, he ignored or behaved horribly. And he was right. We couldn't do what we'd both clearly yearned to do that night. We were siblings. It didn't matter that we weren't blood related. He was my brother and I was his sister. Whatever feelings we had for each other were inappropriate and ought to die a swift death.
    Limiting our time together, while painful, had been the right thing to do. It had taken me a while, but I'd followed in his footsteps. In the remaining week left on my trip, I'd gone out more with Melanie and Cassie and had resolved to have as much fun as possible to help take my mind off of the hurt of losing Logan. Whoever invented the phrase 'it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all' was probably one miserable fucker. It had been the suckiest few days of my life trying to quit cold turkey on my feelings for Logan.
    Not that I'd achieved much progress on that front, anyway. The moment I'd seen Logan today, the memories of the night he first kissed me had returned with impressive clarity. The feel of his mouth and his hands on my body must have been imprinted into my flesh because even now, as he stood there watching me, I could feel his touch.
    "I don't know why you'd not want to come," he said. "It's dinner at a fancy French restaurant. You love those places."
    "Yeah, well, reheated Chinese sounds way more appealing to me right now," I responded as I turned to watch the TV. Anger prevented me from truly following what was going on in the show.
    "Alyssa, why do you enjoy telling me no?"
    I looked at him. "Maybe I learnt from the best."
    Silence. Both of us knew what I meant.
    "Please come with me tonight," he said quietly. "I really need your help."
    I struggled to maintain a hardened heart but I was failing fast. Resisting Logan had always been tough. He had a way with whittling me down to his will.
    I became desperate. I began to lie.
    "I won't be of much help. I’m not that good at French."
    He smiled and shook his head. "Yeah right. Do better than that, Miss Scholarship."
    "I don't have any dress-up clothes. Only brought casual wear. Sorry."
    "Good thing I bought you clothes then," he said, smiling.
    "Those are for me?" My eyebrows lifted in surprise as I looked at the large pile of shopping bags in the center of the living room.
    He reached for one of the bags and pulled out a gorgeous red dress.
    "Last I checked I don't wear things like these."
    My eyes drank in that dress. I wanted to touch it. I shouldn't. "Logan—"
    "Alyssa," he said, handing the dress to me. "Go put this on and come have dinner with me."
     

 
    ***
     
    Whatever guilt I felt for caving to Logan got washed away the moment I slipped on the dress. He tried to pretend he wasn't awed by the sight of me, but I'd seen the look and it pleased me to no end. At La Bonne Nuit , I turned heads but I feigned nonchalance so I could appear worldly.
    While we conducted the meeting, Adrien, Mr. Dufort's translator and son, flirted with me openly and it was clear it irritated Logan. He frowned when I blushed at Adrien's compliments. He glared at the way Adrien fed me a forkful of his dessert. He scowled when Adrien said something funny in French and I laughed. By the end of the night, even though the business deal had been successful, Logan's mood had visibly taken a turn for the south.
    "You did well," he said after the quiet drive home. "Thanks."
    "Are you sure?" I said, kicking off my heels as I headed toward the kitchen for some water. I gave him an innocent look as I sipped from my glass. "You don't look pleased. Did I do something wrong?"
    "You didn't," he said brusquely, loosening his tie. He'd looked handsome in his suit tonight. Like one of those hot