Blame it on the Tequila by Fiona Cole (the reading strategies book txt) 📕

thrusting up. I forced my eyes open and watched his neck strain, his mouth part over each groan ripped from him only to sink into me. Each brush against me sent another aftershock of pleasure, and I never wanted to stop.

Finally, we slowed, both of us gasping for air and limp from the onslaught. I collapsed my damp forehead to his and promised myself to remember this moment forever.

“Happy birthday, Nova.”

“Thank you,” I whispered just before leaning in for his kiss.

The kiss was just as languid as our muscles—lazy and slow. Before, we’d been releasing almost a year of tension, and now, we took our time to discover each other’s mouths.

“I need to clean up,” he said with one last soft peck.

I looked down to his pants, a wet spot blooming near the zipper. “Oh.”

“Yeah, oh. These are my favorite jeans. I haven’t come in my pants in a long time.”

Something about it bubbled up, and I laughed.

“Sure. Laugh it up,” he deadpanned.

And I did until he was laughing with me.

“Want to sleep in my bed tonight?” he asked, standing up.

“Yeah, that sounds like the perfect ending to my birthday.”

“K. Let me go get cleaned up.”

As soon as he disappeared into the bathroom, I ran to my room, giddy with the thought of laying in his bed before we fell asleep. Usually, he snuck into my room after the house was quiet, but what would it be like when we were both wide awake and already giving in to our pleasure? The possibilities had me floating around my room, looking for my sexiest tank top and shortest shorts.

At least until the front door slammed and our parents’ voices reached down the hall, into my room, and ripped the night away. I heard muttering, and I just stood there frozen, unable to stop myself from playing the what-if game, imagining them having come home ten minutes earlier. What the hell were they doing home anyway?

My mom appeared in my doorway, pulling me out of my stupor.

“Happy birthday, Nova.”

“Mom, what are you doing here?”

“The event was boring, and tomorrow’s seminars were even less appealing than today’s,” she explained with an eye roll before going back to smiling. “Besides, I wanted to at least say goodnight to you on your birthday. I figured we could all go to a gallery or something and then dinner tomorrow. Maybe come back here for games. Just a family night.”

“Family night,” I repeated lamely.

“Yes,” she said, clapping her hands. “It’ll be great. But I’m beat tonight, so I’m off to get my beauty sleep and wake up refreshed for tomorrow.”

I nodded slowly, still standing stupefied when she turned to walk away.

Coming to terms with my new night, I dropped the shorts and grabbed my sweatpants, heading to the bathroom to get ready for a night alone. I’d almost made it when I heard Parker’s dad from his room.

“She wants to do a family day tomorrow,” Brad said.

“A family day? With me?” Parker asked.

Brad chuckled. “Yeah. We had a talk this weekend, and it was good. Things have been a little tense, and she admitted she thought you and Nova could end up acting inappropriately. She thought she saw you two looking at each other a certain way.”

Brad snorted like it was the most absurd thing, and I just wanted to run away and pretend I never heard anything. I wanted to delete this moment from my mind forever.

“I assured her that you look at Nova as a sister and that you’ll take care of her like you would your own sister.”

“Yeah,” Parker said, sounding pained.

“Tomorrow will be good.”

“Yeah. Good.”

“Well, I’m off to bed. Those seminars were boring as hell and long. I need a glass of wine and some mindless TV.”

“Night, Dad.”

“Night, Park.”

I darted into the bathroom before I could be spotted, leaning against the door, running over every word. I squeezed my eyes shut, hating all of it. Parker and I knew our attraction came with a wealth of issues. It was why we never bothered acknowledging them. It was pointless. But we had tonight, and although I started it with a promise of only wanting one night, somewhere between the wall and the orgasm, I realized I’d wanted so much more.

I forced myself to fall back into our routine, washing away any fantasy I’d foolishly concocted.

Parker’s door was closed when I left the bathroom. It always was, and I shouldn’t be bothered, but walking past it was harder this time. My covers clung to me like a twenty-pound blanket, and I struggled to relax when all I wanted to do was be in his room like we planned. All I wanted to do was be with my best friend and not worry about anyone else.

It took me a long time to fall asleep that night, going around and around with ways to make us work and always knowing we couldn’t.

And just like every night, once everyone had fallen asleep, my door creaked open, and Parker’s shadow crept toward my bed where he crawled in behind me, pulling my back to his chest. Unlike other nights, he pressed a soft apologetic kiss to my shoulder.

I held his hand tight and squeezed.

“I’m so sorry, Nova.”

He didn’t have to say what for. We both knew. So, I did what we always do.

I shoved it aside and didn’t talk about it.

Why bother?

One night of giving in wouldn’t change the fact that Parker Callahan was my stepbrother.

Not even the fact that I was starting to fall in love with him.

Thirteen

Parker

For four days, I did nothing but think about picking Nova up. I did my best to respect her wishes and wait to talk to her until I saw her today, but I had to force myself to put the phone down more than once. At one point, I’d even asked Oren to take my phone. He, of course, proceeded to send her selfies, which she at least reacted to but never wrote back.

The guys didn’t bring up the