Read Online Step-Lover by Bella Jewel - Free Book Online

go.”
    He does, surprisingly.
    I rush off into the darkness, but not before I hear him mutter, “I fuckin’ didn’t.”
    I’m not sure I was meant to hear that, but it has a smile stretching across my face.
    Maybe Blade didn’t forget me as easily as he’s making out.

CHAPTER EIGHT
    THEN – ONE YEAR EARLIER
     
    His lips run down my neck, causing my body to break out into a thousand shivers. I close my eyes, running my hand over his shoulder and down his arm. His muscles flex and move beneath my fingers and he feels amazing. It’s pitiful, love at first touch, I know it, but I can’t change it. Last night was amazing and now here I am, still in his bed, still enjoying him. He took my virginity, he made it amazing, and we spent an entire night kissing and caressing.
    “So you’re not going to tell me your name?” he asks, nipping my shoulder.
    I smile towards the ceiling. “No. We said no names, remember?”
    “Why?” he murmurs against my flesh. “You got a big secret?”
    I giggle. “Yeah, you .”
    I’m eighteen, and I’ve learned he’s twenty-three. It’s not a massive age difference, but it’s enough that I know he’s far more experienced than I am. He’s been gentle with me, though. He hasn’t pushed to have sex again and he’s been great towards me, offering to clean me up after we first did the deed. He’s a good guy; I know that much.
    “Tell me something about you that no one else knows?” he asks, rolling us so I’m in his arms.
    “I love tulips.”
    A low chuckle as his fingers glide down my side. “That’s it? Tulips?”
    I turn so my nose is pressed to his skin. I breathe him in. “No one knows how much I love them. They’re my secret obsession.”
    “Seriously?”
    I laugh. “Seriously.”
    “Okay,” he says. “Why?”
    “Why what?”
    “Why do you love tulips?”
    My heart aches. I love tulips because my dad gave them to my mom the night he died. He came home from work and surprised her. They weren’t her favorite flowers, there was no special occasion—he just picked them up from any old store, but they made her smile, and in turn, they made him smile.
    “My mom loves them,” I say, giving him no more.
    “Fair enough.”
    I pinch his skin softly. “Your turn. Tell me something no one else knows about you?”
    He rolls back, taking me with him until I’m half positioned over his body. “I have a problem.”
    “A problem?” I question. “With what?”
    “I hate underwear.”
    I burst out laughing. “Say again?”
    “Underwear. I hate it.”
    “You hate underwear?”
    “Yep. It’s all tight and restricting.”
    “So you don’t wear . . .” I swallow and look down. “. . . underwear.”
    “Nope.”
    “Never?”
    “ Never .”
    I look up into his gorgeous eyes. “You’re a strange man.”
    “Yes, I am.”
    “Okay,” I say. “Now that’s out of the way, I think we need names.”
    “Names?”
    “Yeah, fake names. I’ll pick yours; you pick mine.”
    His body shakes with suppressed laughter, before he says, “We can’t just give our normal ones?”
    I grin. “That wouldn’t make this as fun as it is. We can give our real ones at the end.”
    He smirks. “Make sure you pick a name you’re happy screaming when I’m deep inside you again.”
    I flush. “Okay then.”
    His eyes grow lusty and he curls toward me. “You go first.”
    “I think I’m going to call you . . .” I stare at him. “Dante.”
    “Dante?”
    “Yeah, you look like a Dante. Someone seductive and mysterious.”
    He laughs. “Okay. I’m going to call you Tulip.”
    I smile, warmly. “Tulip?”
    “Yeah. It’s a beautiful flower, simple but it stands out over all the rest. You’re all of those things.”
    Swoon.
    “Okay then, Tulip it is.”
    “Okay, Tulip. I’m done talking.”
    He reaches up, curling his fingers around the back of my neck, and then he pulls me down and kisses me.
    ~*~*~*~
    NOW
    I stumble out of my room towards the bathroom. It’s