Stepbrother Broken (The Hawthorne Brothers Book 2) by Colleen Masters

in a moment than I ’ ve felt all evening. It ’ s all I can do to keep from tearing his clothes off
right here on the dock.
    We
may be resolved to see this thing through, despite our families ’ tangled history … but something tells me that giving
them a front row seat to us getting down and dirty would still be
ill-advised, to say the least.
     
    Though
Luke and I manage to pull ourselves away from each other before things get out
of hand that night, we do leave the dock with some ground rules in place.
First, we decide that it ’ s best to keep our families in the
dark about the details of our acquaintance for now. All they need to know is
that we met at Sheridan. That ’ s it. Seeing as neither of our
families are particularly forthcoming about their emotional and personal lives,
it won ’ t be out of character for us to
keep our lips sealed.
    Secondly,
we agree to keep our distance for the next couple of weeks, at least when other
members of our families are around. We can sneak off together and get up to
anything we like, but when the others are watching, we ’ ll keep our hands to ourselves. We ’ ll be back at Sheridan in two weeks ’ time, anyway. Surely we can control ourselves until
then. Any interference from our families now will just jeopardize this thing
between us … whatever “ this thing ” might turn out to be.
    “ If I know my dad at all, ” Luke says, as we walk back to the house after our long
conversation, “ This little fling isn ’ t going to last forever. ”
    “ Not with my mom, it ’ s not, ” I laugh, “ Since my dad died, she ’ s
barely kept a guy around for two weeks running. Whatever ’ s going on between her and John will be kaput by the
time summer is out. ”
    “ We ’ ll
just be patient then, ” Luke smiles, taking my hand
in his. We ’ ve paused in the shadow of the
enormous lake house, hidden from sight. “ Trust me. It ’ ll be well worth the wait. ”
    “ Oh, I trust you, ” I breathe, giving his hand a squeeze. “ I ’ ll be counting down the days. ”
    “ This trip will be over before you
know it, ” he murmurs, tucking a lock of hair
behind my ear, “ Who knows? We might even think it ’ s funny. Someday. ”
    “ That might be overstating things, ” I mutter.
    “ Fair point, ” he allows, lifting my chin with two strong fingers.
His smile fades as he looks down at me in the moonlight, green eyes gleaming. “ I have to say, Sophie. You impress me. ”
    “ Impress you? ” I breathe, “ How — ? ”
    “ It ’ s
not just anyone who could roll with the punches like this, ” he goes on, trailing those fingers down my throat, “ I like a woman with an open mind. ”
    “ Oh yeah? ” I smile, taking a step toward him, “ What else are you hoping I ’ ll be open to? ”
    “ You ’ ll
see, ” he grins back, bringing his mouth
swiftly to mine. He lays one firm, final kiss on my lips before breaking away. “ See you, Sophie. Try not to stay up all night thinking
about me. ”
    “ Your modesty is truly stunning, ” I shoot back, rolling my eyes as Luke turns and walks
away from me into the lake house.
    He ’ s not wrong, though. I doubt I ’ ll sleep a wink tonight, knowing that Luke Hawthorne
is under the same roof as me. It ’ s a good thing our ground rules for
this trip have some wiggle room. Now all I have to do is figure out how to get
some privacy with my ardent paramour. I look out across the expansive lake, the
sprawling forests, the acres of open space without a soul to be found …
    Who
knows? Perhaps privacy won ’ t be so hard to come by after all.
     

 
     
    Chapter Seven
     
    I ’ ve got to hand it to Luke, he really isn ’ t a shabby actor. As the days goes by, I ’ m frankly stunned by how easy it is to hide the true
nature of our relationship from our families. Any time we ’ re in the presence of our siblings or parents, we give
Oscar-worthy performances of not having any interest in each other. It