Chapter 3
Aria's POV
Aria didn't understand Ezra at all. She didn't know what she had done to offend him. She didn't believe him when he had said he didn't hate her. She didn't know what his problem was. He had been a jerk to her since she had met him. She had cried all last night. Even though he had said he was happy about the marriage between their parents, she didn't believe him. It wasn't her fault the wedding had taken place. It was like he didn't want her around him, like she annoyed him for some reason. Maybe her looks had something to do with it. Maybe he just found her very repulsive. She wanted to get to know him, to spend some time with him. Why did he continue to push her away? Why didn't he want her to get close to him, to stay away? What was so wrong about it? Why was he so angry? Why couldn't he at least open up with her? Why didn't he want to be her friend, her step-brother? Why was he so closed off? All these questions she wanted to know the answers to. Maybe she should keep her distance from him, but how was that even possible? They were living in the same house. He was so mysterious and angry. She wanted to help him. How could she help him without irritating him? She had no way of knowing.
She thought he was the best-looking guy she had even seen. He had literally taken her breath away when she had approached him yesterday at the airport. She had been so nervous. He was Hollywood handsome. He was tan and really tall about 6'1. She loved the way he towered over her. The way he looked into her eyes with those bright beautiful blue eyes of his. He had a strong face, his nose and jaw line were perfect, and he was of medium build. And he had the most gorgeous hair she had ever seen. It was brown like hers but not nearly as dark. It was also very thick. She knew it was soft. She had wanted to run her fingers through his hair so many times yesterday. He lips were thin, masculine, but still very attractive. She had even wondered what it would feel like to kiss them, to run her tongue across his top and bottom lip. It was crazy how his physical appearance did things to her body; especially by making her wet and ache with need, need she hadn't known existed. She had never had a physical reaction to any guy before. It scared her that she didn't know her own body as well as she had thought.
Aria knew that it was wrong to have these thoughts about Ezra. He was Scott's son, her step-brother. He was also older than her. She was nothing but a 16-year-old kid, a mere teenager to him. What could he find sexual about her? But she couldn't help being attracted to him, or feeling a sexual desire to be with him in every way that counted. She suddenly wondered what it would be like to lose her virginity to him, to have him inside of her, and to have him touch and kiss her. Other guys had never wanted to sleep with her or date her, but Ezra looked like he had shown an interest in her last night when he had walked in on her naked. She had sworn she had seen lust in his eyes. She had been so shocked by it. She wasn't able to believe that a guy as gorgeous as Ezra could be sexually drawn to her. She wasn't anything special. Or maybe she had imagined his look? What was wrong with her? She had to stop these thoughts. She could only see Ezra as a step-brother he had even told her that. But she still wasn't able to get over the way his eyes had roamed every part of her body, remembering her heart thumping loudly in her ears and the trembling of her small body. She had felt so embarrassed to have been caught without any clothes on and for leaving the bathroom door unlock. She could have sworn he had been asleep. She had just gotten in from her job at Adele's Seafood Shack.
She cleared her head and got into her Highlander after a long day at work, pulling out of the little establishment, and then she headed to Pete's Burger Shack to get her and Ezra some dinner. Her mom and Scott weren't home. It was like a dark cloak covering the sky as she drove into the drive-thru that was filled with many cars ahead of her. She turned on the radio to find something to listen to, but she didn't find anything that appealed to her, so she cut it off. Her thoughts went back to Ezra. She hoped he was in a better mood. She hoped that she could learn more about him over dinner. She didn't know why she kept pressing her luck. Why was she so desperate for the company, she thought? Because all of her friends were out-of-town for the summer. She gave a sigh of relief as the line moved forward. Maybe she could get another summer job to keep her busy, she thought. It would guarantee that she stayed away from him. She already knew of one place hiring and that was the music store in the mall. She could go get an application tomorrow. She wondered if the movie theater was hiring. She knew the place stayed busy during the summer break. She would enjoy working at the Carmike Cinema. She'll call tomorrow to see if they were hiring. She smiled, feeling happy at the possibility of getting another job. When she pulled up at the speaker and made their food. She ordered two big monster burgers with everything, two large chilly cheese fries and two slices of chocolate cake, and two large Vanilla milkshakes, then she paid at the window and took the food, and then she headed home.
Ezra was coming out to meet her as she pulled up into the driveway. She could only imagine that Scott had called and told him that she was picking up dinner for them. She took a minute to see him. She loved the way he walked. It was so confident. Her eyes ran over him almost greedily, taking in the dark blue t-shirt that outline his amazing upper torso, and to the denim jeans that hung down over his narrow hips, and then to his barefoot. She stopped staring at him long enough to hand off the heavy bag of food to him as he opened up her door, then she reached over for the drinks, and then she followed him into the house. He was already taken out food as she stepped into the dining room, placing the Vanilla milkshakes down on the table, and took a sat across from him as he gave her food, before getting his own. She ran a hand through her thick hair nervously, shifting the hair to one side of her face and bit the inside of her lip, before clearing her throat to speak.
"I hope you don't mind what I got," Aria said softly, continuing to bite the inside of her lip as her eyes looked over at his. They were so intense. She inwardly shivered. "I had no idea what you liked".
"This is fine, thanks," Ezra said with a smile, before unwrapping his burger and taking a huge bite, and then he moaned. She couldn't help but laugh. "This is so good. Where did you get this?"
"At Pete's Burger Shack," Aria replied as she smiled shyly at him and unwrapped her own burger. "They make the best burgers".
"I can see that, I've never tasted a burger this good," Ezra said in-between bites, before stuffing some chilly fries into his mouth. "Do you work there?"
"No, I work at Adele's Seafood Shack," Aria said, before taking a sip of her milkshake. "Where do you work at in LA?"
He nodded; stuffing more fries into his mouth.
"I work at a music store," Ezra said vaguely, not willing to elaborate on it as he took a swallow of his milkshake, and then he took another bite out of his burger. She frowned sadly; he was never going to open up to her. She pushed her food around, not feeling up to eating anymore. He noticed her disinterest in her food. "Do you not like your food?"
"I do, but I'm just not hungry anymore I guess," Aria said as she got up from the table to throw her food away into the trashcan, and then she sat back down again. She ran her hands through her hair, playing it with, before crossing her legs as she watched him eat. His eyes fell on the action of her hands, something in them flickering as he followed each movement of her deft fingers. "Why don't you talk about yourself?"
There, she had said it.
"Because there's nothing to talk about," Ezra said tersely as he got up to throw his own unfinished food into the trash, stopping to grip the countertop. "Why do you want to know so much about me anyway? And how come you don't talk about your own self?"
"Because I want to know you, and because I want us to be close," Aria said shrugging, before getting up to walk over to him, and then she lifted herself on the countertop and re-crossed her legs, her eyes staring down into his. "And because you never ask me about myself, and I feel like I'll be irritating you if I do start a conversation with you. I don't know what I have done to offend you. I can't understand why you don't like me".
"Okay, what do you want to know about me?" Ezra asked with defeat as he stared up into her brown eyes, before they fell on her mouth. "I'll answer all of your questions, but you have to promise to answer all of my questions about you".
"Fair enough," Aria said with a bright smile, watching as his pretty blue eyes turned dark and heated. She wiggled uncomfortably on the counter, not knowing what to do with her hands as she tried to control her heart rate. She felt so weightless under his eyes. Why were they always so intense? It was like he could see into her. "And I want to know what your favorite color is? What are you majoring in at California State University? Do you stay on campus or have an apartment? What are your likes and dislikes? What kind of music do you like? What type of books do you read? What was it like traveling all over the world? And if you have a girlfriend back in LA?"
"Wow, those are a lot of questions," He whistled, before laughing, and then he joined her on the countertop, his body brushing against hers. She tried to stay focus. His body was hard while hers was soft. "Well, my favorite color is blue. I don't why it's blue. Maybe because it reminds me of the sky. I was majoring in Criminal Justice, and then I switch it to Accounting, but now it's Anthropology. I don't live on campus but I have me an apartment by the beach. I like Italian foods and burgers and fries, the beach and things that are authentic and rare, tennis, piano music and poetry, and astronomy. I dislike flying which involves planes, rock music and Chinese food, traveling around the world, bad jokes, and dishonest people. Like I said I love piano music and I love country music. I love reading true crime books and thrillers. It was very experimental traveling all over the globe, and not a thing that I enjoyed. And I do have a girlfriend back in LA. Her name is Stephanie. Now, that I told you all about me, what about you?"
She turned her body around towards him so that she could see his face fully, running a hand through her silky hair as his eyes followed the movement as the plush locks fell back down again. He was so physically beautiful to her. She could stare at him all day. She felt a million nervous butterflies in her stomach and her body was on fire. He had shared so much with her. She felt like she knew him a little better now. But her heart sunk at finding out he had a girlfriend back in LA. She guessed she should have known. A guy as great looking as him couldn't be single, or attracted to her. What could she tell him about herself? She wasn't as nearly interesting as him. She could lie? But she snuffed that notion. He hated dishonest people, and she wouldn't be dishonest with him. She was grateful for his openness with her, even though she had to draw it out of him. She wanted to gift him with the same courtesy. She wanted him to know her. She felt a connection with him. Did he feel it as well?
"Thanks," Aria said genuinely with a smile, biting the inside of her lip, before running another hand through her hair. He just smiled back at her, his beautiful mouth doing things to her insides. She wanted him to kiss, to feel his mouth press against hers. It was like he could read her mind, because he stopped smiling as his eyes continued to peer into hers. "My favorite color is green. I've always been a sucker for the color of grass. I love pizza, burgers and fries of course, and Greek food. I love computer games like the Sims 3, I like fresh air and taking long walks, ancient things, swimming and tennis, love watching scary movies and dramas and soap operas, puppies and kittens, and curling up in different places of the house with a good book. I dislike football, alcohol and smoking, and seafood. I love pop music as well as country. I love reading books that deals with fantasy, historical romance, and thrillers. And I don't have a boyfriend. I never did".
"How come you never had a boyfriend?" Ezra asked with more interest than he would have like as his eyes held hers with his.
"I don't know. I guess they always found me not interesting or boring, or unattractive," Aria said with a careless shrug of her shoulder. His brilliant blues eyes pierced hers so deeply. It was almost haunting. He frowned, before shaking his head unbelievingly. "You'll have to ask them. I stopped caring so long ago".
"Idiots," Ezra spoke in whisper as his hand reached out to carcass the side of her face.
She sucked in a breath, reveling in his touch as her eyes closed briefly before re-opening. His hand was so soft. They felt like artist hands.
"Who are?" Aria inquired breathlessly, hating how her voice sounded so small and dreamy.
"The guys who never found you interesting," Ezra said angrily, his hand moving to brush across her bottom lip, and watching as it puckered up in response. A little moan slipped past her lips. Every nerve inside of her body was on alert. She felt herself become wet and started to throb. What was her body asking for? She wasn't sure. She had never felt emotions like this. She was also scared, but she also wanted more. "You're a very lovely girl, Aria".
She laughed, shaking her head not believing him. She knew that she wasn't pretty. She didn't see what he obviously did. How could he sound so sincere?
"You are. You're very attractive and sexy," Ezra said thickly, but honestly as his hands found their way into her thick lustrous hair as he gripped the soft tresses roughly as he kept her head still. His hands felt wonderful as they ran through her hair, massaging her scalp gently. Her big honey brown eyes filled with want as they looked down at his mouth, needing him to kiss her. He followed her eyes, seeing them trained on his lips. "When I first saw you at the airport I couldn't take my eyes from you. I thought you were a beauty, so attractive".
"I don't see what you see," Aria said sadly, her eyes coming back up to look into his.
She knew they reflected sadness.
"Why are you so insecure?" Ezra asked softly, his fingers stalling in her hair. "You don't have to be, not with me".
She wished she could believe him. She wanted to believe him. He was the first guy that had ever called her beautiful. Should she tell him that she found him as equally beautiful? She was sure that he had received many compliments. She decided against it.
"So, beautiful," Ezra whispered as his eyes focused on her peachy full lips, before he pulled her head towards his and kissed her gently on the mouth, his fingers tightening in her hair. His mouth grew bolder as he continued to kiss her mouth, thrusting his tongue into her opened shocked mouth as he massaged his tongue with hers. She was too shocked to even kiss him back. But it felt good. It felt like he had all the experience in the world. Her eyes fell close, allowing him to resume kissing her. He was a great kisser. And when she started to kiss him back rather clumsily, he pulled back altogether, and then he jumped off the countertop and began to pace back and forth with his hands running through his hair, before looking back at her with harden eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for that to happen. I shouldn't have forced myself on you like that. I can't do this, we can't do this. I got to go".
Aria watched him go, her heart racing and her breath ragged as she felt her mouth with her hand. It was swollen and tender. She couldn't believe what just happened. It felt like she was in a dream. She slid down the countertop until her feet touched the floor. She could hardly stand upright so she had to grip the sides of the counter to balance herself. She ran unsteady hands through her hair, trying to come to grips with what had just gone on with her and Ezra. Had he really just kiss her? Had he really called her attractive? She couldn't think. What had they just done? It was wrong, but it felt so right. His mouth had molded so perfectly to hers. She couldn't get the feeling of his tongue inside of mouth out of head. She shook her head. He was right. They couldn't do this. It was wrong. His dad was married to her mom. They were practically family. His was her step-brother, and she was his step-sister. It couldn't happen again. She finally found all of her strength and headed out of the kitchen to take a long cold shower to finish clearing her head. The only thought that ran inside of her head was why did he have to be her step-brother, the only guy that had ever showed any interest in her?
Yay, another update for you guys. I hope you're liking it. Please review and let me know. I really do enjoy writing this story. There's so much to come. I'm currently writing chapter 9. And I'll post chapter 4 this upcoming Sunday.