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Chapter 8

"Why do you have to be my step-brother?"

"I'm not yet," Paul whispers huskily. His arms pull me closer to him until our faces are so close our lips are lightly brushing against each other.

I decide to take a leap of faith. Because let's face it, I've already dug myself into a hole – I may as well lie in it. Smirking, I look him right in the eye and agree, "That's an excellent point."

Without further hesitation, Paul closes the minimal distance between our lips and pulls me into a long, slow kiss. I instantly respond, running my hands gently up his firm chest to tangle them in his cropped hair. I deepen the kiss, and things heat up a lot more quickly than I ever imagined.

Before I know it, he's lifted us off the floor and my legs straddle his waist as he perches me on the kitchen's island. His hands roam my body fervidly; my hands stay in his hair, pulling his body as close to mine as possible.

I finally break the kiss, solely to let out a moan as his hand slides underneath my shirt.

Almost faster than I thought possible, Paul jerks away from me as if the moan finally brought him back to reality. He clears the space between us to at least a foot. My legs fall limp against the island. I quickly untangle my hands from Paul's now messed hair and rest them against the countertop. "What" – I'm about to ask what's wrong, but I know the answer to that – "the fuck did we just do?" I finish awkwardly.

Paul remains quiet, his brown eyes staring intently into mine. A mixture of shame and pure lust dances through them. He's panting just as much as I am. Eventually, he whispers darkly, "Something very stupid."

I nod slowly, using all my strength to hide the hurt I feel. I'd wanted to kiss him for so long. Then it was unimaginably more incredible than anything I had ever fantasized about. But to him, it was just stupid. Which he's right. It was. But still, I want to cry. Hastily, I hop off the counter, looking anywhere but at Paul as I stumble through the kitchen to find the drawer.

"There's flashlights in here," I say rapidly, my voice squeaky with evident disappointment. "With no power, we can't watch Netflix, so we should probably just go to bed." Turning on the flashlight, I walk around the opposite side of the island to get to the closet. The power has probably only been out fifteen minutes, but it's already getting cold in here.

"Cassie," Paul sighs, sounding frustrated as he follows me to the closet. "Please don't be upset."

"I'm not upset." My voice cracks to my embarrassment. Slowly, I take a deep breath. This cannot be happening.

"Cassie…." he repeats, less frustrated. He reaches out to squeeze my shoulder gently. Because that is obviously what I want from him right now. "You know we can't…" Paul drifts off which annoys me. Because although I'm sure I can figure out what he was going to say, I really want to know what his thoughts are right now.

I jerk away from his touch. "Yeah. I know. I totally agree it was stupid," I squeal. Paul frowns at my words; he makes no sense sometimes. I'm literally agreeing with him, yet he's displeased. "I'm just upset of what my mother would think of this."

Paul gulps. He runs his hand through his hair uncomfortably. I can't even look at him because the anxiety on his face is too upsetting. Which makes no sense to me. "They can't find out about this."

"No shit." I fling the closet door open. "You've got to be kidding me."

"What's wrong?"

Turning around so fast I'm surprised I don't get whiplash, I exclaim, "I'm stranded at my father's condo with my soon-to-be step-brother who just fucking kissed me. There's no power or heat, and my dad only has a sheet and a ridiculously thin blanket in here! Everything is wrong!"

"You're being dramatic," Paul informs me, leaning sideways to look around me into the closet. He doesn't seem concerned about the fact that there's minimal blankets for us. "I only need a pillow really."

"It's freezing in here! Plus my dad always has his heater on full blast so my bed barely has any blankets on it."

"Cassie it's going to be fine. You just take those blankets and put them on your bed. I won't be cold."

"Paul are you insane?" I exasperate, angry at how nonchalant he is being. Less than ten minutes ago we were having a heated make out session on my father's island and now he's acting as if everything is normal and we've never had any sexual tension between us in our lives. "It will probably go below freezing tonight. It's humanly impossible for you not to freeze without more blankets."

He purses his lips and folds his arms across his chest, clearing pondering something. "Well, you'll freeze with whatever is on your bed."

Groaning, I rub my hand over my face, wishing we'd just never come up. If only my dad didn't lock his damn door. At least then we could have access to more blankets. I take a deep breath before quietly muttering out, "My bed's a queen. We could just put all the blankets on it and sleep there." My face is flushed bright red, but then again, it has been since I originally fell on the kitchen floor. Besides, unless he has nocturnal eyesight he shouldn't be able to see me with how the flashlight is pointing.

"Jeez, Cassandra, that sounds like a great fucking idea after what just happened," Paul snaps, his previous composure instantly gone. His hands tremble slightly. It's an odd habit of his that happens whenever he gets angry.

I don't hide the hurt on my face as I glare at him. "It's either sleep on opposite sides of the bed or we both freeze to death." I grab blankets and shove them at him angrily. "Your call, Lahote." I storm towards my bedroom, and I'm honestly a little surprised when he follows me.

I place the flashlight on my dresser so that it shines on the bed. In silence, we add the sheet and blanket over my thin bedspread. He gestures for me to get in bed, then turns off the flashlight and climbs in on the other side.

I turn away from him and wrap my arms around myself, trying to warm up. I was right. It's definitely below freezing. Among the numerous reasons why sleeping in the same bed as Paul is bad, the main reason is that I can't cry myself asleep a mere two feet away. I'm tempted to get up and call Ricki, but I know I shouldn't use my phone until the power is back on and I'm able to charge it.

Besides, I don't think I can relay tonight's events without crying in humiliation and anger. So it should definitely be in person when I do tell her. Plus if I get out of bed, I'll be even colder than I am right now. And I'm already shivering.

I feel a scorching hand rest on my shoulder; Paul's warmth has never felt so inviting before. "Cassie," he whispers softly, "Come here. You're freezing."

"Jeez, Paul, that sounds like a great fucking idea after what just happened," I mock, giving my best effort to keep my voice steady.

He sighs. "You're going to get sick."

Turning around to face him – although I can't really see his face – I whisper through chattering teeth, "It's a bad idea."

"I'll keep my lips to myself. I promise." Before I can object, Paul wraps his arms around me pulling me into his chest.

"It would be stupid not to," I tell him bitterly. Nonetheless, I rest my head on his chest and soak in the warmth radiating from his body. As much as I want to be falling asleep in Paul's arms, the reasons that got us here are not what I was hoping for.

…

When I wake up in the morning, I'm alone and if it wasn't for the fact that I'm in my bed at my dad's condo, I probably would've thought last night was a terrible nightmare. I'm about to get out of bed when I hear Paul's voice muffled from the other side of my door. I freeze.

"No, Leah, I don't know what I was thinking!" His voice is clearly frustrated.

Leah? Why was he talking to her? They didn't seem overly close at Emily's, and at school the guys all complained about how annoying she is.

"Don't be all smug," he complains. "You weren't right… said if I was just nice… happened anyway…" Paul must be pacing throughout the room because he keeps cutting in and out. "Well, of course, he hasn't found out!"

Who hasn't found out what? Quietly, I maneuver myself out of bed, hoping to hear more if I'm closer to the door.

I'm out of luck. My feet just hit the floor when I hear Paul say, "I think she's up. I have to go. Tell Sam I'll probably be back for patrol tonight."

With a frown, I comb my fingers through my hair. From living together, we've seen each other in pretty unappealing states, but after last night, I at least need to look decent to have the confidence to walk out there.

"Good morning," he greets, sitting awkwardly on my dad's couch. "The power's back on."

"Yeah, I see that," I reply, painfully uncomfortable.

Paul stares at me, confusion evident in his expression. Eventually, he mutters, "Should we talk about what happened last night?"

I blink, surprised that he's being so straightforward. "I… um, I think we should just act like it never happened. For our parent's sake."

Paul's face looks crestfallen, but only for a second. Then, he shoots me his signature smirk. "Phew," he jokes in relief. "That's what I wanted to hear. You want to get ready and I'll drop you off at your friend's?"

"Sure. That would be great. If you don't mind."

"Of course I don't mind!" He pulls out his phone, playing on it as he adds casually, "I can pick you up once you're done, and we can drive home tonight. That way you won't get stranded here tomorrow if it snows again."

I shoot him a questioning look, but shrug it off search through the cupboards. Unsurprisingly, they're empty. "Um, yeah, sure. If you don't mind."

It boggles my mind how nonchalant Paul becomes after awkward encounters between us. Like, yes we're supposed to be pretending it never happened. But it did. And it's still awkward as fuck. "There's no food here," I state, trying to shake off my awkwardness. I reach on top of the fridge. "We can grab McDonald's or something on the way to Ricki's. It's on my dad. It's the least he could do after having so few blankets around."

"It didn't turn out too bad, though," Paul says, smiling warmly at me.

"What?" I blurt out. Didn't turn out too bad as in he also enjoyed having an excuse to cuddle all night long as much as I did?

He coughs. "I didn't find it that cold," he clarifies, although he seems unsure. "Did you?"

I shrug, backing towards my bedroom. "It was, um, okay. Yeah." I point into my bedroom. "I'll go get ready. I'll just be a few minutes."

Before getting ready, I shoot Ricki a text, asking how her morning is going and subtly seeing if she's made any other plans for the day. As expected, she'll be home all day, so it will be quite easy to surprise her. Thank god, because we have a lot of catching up to do.

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