Excerpt from “On The Offensive”
On The Offensive – A novelette
Release date: April (specifics coming soon)
For New Year’s, Peyton finds herself in Aspen for a vacation with her family instead of hanging out with her college friends back in Florida. While she’s missed her mom, stepdad, and little brother, she can’t say that the same for Zack, her older stepbrother—a man she both hates and desires.
*
I smile. “You’re unbelievable, you know that? I don’t see why I have to hide out in my room. You have a room, too.”
“But I want to sit on a fucking couch when I watch a movie,” he grits out, and I notice his laptop sitting next to him. A pair of headphones, too. “And guess what—I don’t have a couch in my room.”
I shrug. “Tough luck.” That said, I call Sarah and place the phone by my ear. I ignore Zack’s muttered curses and sprawl out on the couch as I wait for my roommate to pick up the phone.
“Could you at least put some clothes on?” he asks, aggravated. “You’re practically naked, and I don’t want to see that shit.”
I give him a middle finger in response and make sure my face doesn’t show that I actually care. I’m definitely not naked if I’m wearing pajama shorts and a tank-top, but I know I don’t have the body to show skin anymore. My thighs are too thick, my tits almost spill over in this top, and my ass is probably too big for these shorts. Fuck. Zack is used to women who look like models; I bet I look like a freak in comparison. My heart sinks a little.
“Hello?” Sarah’s voice brings me out of my funk for now, though.
“Hey.” I smile into the phone. “So, tell me how it went.”
She giggles. “Well, I was wrong. He didn’t propose, but he did give me a promise ring. He was so sweet, Pey.”
“He’s a sweet guy,” I agree, ignoring that Zack’s glaring at my legs. “I’m happy for you.” And a bit jealous. Sarah’s boyfriend plays football for FSU, but he’s not a typical jock. On the contrary, Luke is kind of quiet and soft-spoken. “So, I guess he has your parents’ approval?” I know that after their romantic getaway, the plan was for Sarah to introduce Luke to her parents.
“Definitely! They really like him, and my dad was in heaven. He finally has a guy to talk sports with!” She laughs, which I do too. Sarah comes from a family of all women, pretty much. “I lost count of the hours they spent talking about FSU and the damn BCS. Oh, and the new assistant offensive coordinator—some young hotshot from the West Coast.” She scoffs. “Like I give a crap!” I chuckle to myself and fidget with the drawstrings on my shorts. “I’m telling you, Pey. They even watched old games and acted like commentators.”
I can’t help but giggle, though it cuts off abruptly when Zack shoves his laptop aside and storms out of the room, up the stairs, and then I hear a door slam shut.
“What was that?”
I roll my eyes. “Just Zack. Maybe it’s his time of the month.”
“Or maybe he needs to get laid,” she laughs. “You should take one for the team and make your brother happy.” She thinks that’s so funny, but I nearly gag. Making him happy is one thing, but don’t call him my brother. Stupidly of me, I’ve bitched and whined plenty about Zack to Sarah, so she knows. It’s made me the butt of several jokes over the past couple years.
A few minutes later, I get off the phone with Sarah after some more complaining about Zack, and it has only served to make me annoyed; I mean, how dare he act like an asshole to me? Even when I was little, too little to be snarky, he hated me. Which is my reason to head up the stairs. It’s time to confront Zack—ask him why he hates me so much, because I haven’t deserved it. Much.
Pushing open his door, I’m ready to scream and shout, but his room turns out to be empty, and that’s when I hear the shower running in the bathroom between his room and Mom and Garrett’s room. So, without giving it a single thought, I wiggle the doorknob, finding the door to the bathroom unlocked, and shove hard.
“Let’s get something straight—” My words die out when my brain catches up to me. One, this isn’t like back home in San Diego where we have a shower curtain you can’t see through. Two, what am I even doing, entering a bathroom when I know Zack is there? Naked. Oh fuck, he’s naked. And facing me. The shower stall is right in front of me, on the other side of the small space, and the glass surrounding the shower hasn’t fogged up yet.
I freeze. Zack freezes, too. However, my eyes work just fine. Oh, my God. Not only is he completely naked, but his fingers are gripping his cock—his very hard, thick, and impressive cock—with his other hand resting on the glass sliding door.
