16. Nick
16
NICK
S abrina turned to meet my gaze after spotting my reflection in the mirror. She looked like a mess, her hair all over the place, dirt and grime on her golden skin. Her office outfit of a skirt and blouse looked ragged and filthy, torn in spots.
But she was here.
She’d made it. She’d figured out how to fix her car to get here after all, and by the scrapes on her skin and the mess on her clothes, she’d done it herself.
She’s got grit.
Scrappy Sabrina was sexy.
I couldn’t think of many women I personally knew who’d tough out fixing a car on their own. I knew this girl was determined, but damn, had I underestimated how much.
Surprise filtered over her face. Uneasiness and confusion followed swiftly afterward.
The case of her seeing me here in the Lorsen mansion made it seem like my cover was blown. If she knew that I lived here, that I was associated with Tiffany, she would never trust me again.
She hadn’t yet, actually. That was what she’d told me. She didn’t trust me. Not to help her. Not to get her off. I couldn’t blame her after the way I treated her, but I wanted her to soften up toward me again and let me almost get close.
Before she could ask why I was here, I turned away and flattened my back against the wall, out of her sight via the mirror’s reflection.
“Sabrina?” one of the old professors asked. “Are you wounded? Were you hurt?”
Sabrina cleared her throat. “No. I’m fine. Just a tad weary from the trip. I, uh, I couldn’t park up close. The gate was closed so I walked the rest of the way in.”
“I’m so sorry,” George said. “The gate would close on the schedule. We assumed you wouldn’t be showing this late.”
“Oh, no. It’s fine.”
I almost scoffed. Fine? She looked exhausted and worn down. I bet that walk from the gate to the mansion felt long and difficult.
Once the dinner and meeting started, hours ago, I stayed away from the dining room. I didn’t want anything to do with this small group of law students, and I had nothing invested in being present. From what I could tell, though, they had to be almost done. Dinner had come and gone over two hours ago, yet Sabrina rejected George’s offer of a plate to be made up for her. She insisted that she cared more about what she’d missed in the meeting.
I stayed where I was, eavesdropping and listening in, but even I could tell that she’d more or less missed it all. Still, I was impressed. She’d gotten here on her own. She was strong and determined.
Even in resisting me.
I yearned for another chance to taste her lips, wishing she would reply this time. I missed the warmth of her curvy body under my fingers and palm.
But seeing her show up despite the obstacles and delays, I had to admire her a little more for the gumption to make it at all. She kept her head high and didn’t show a hint of being bothered.
Nothing could bring her down. No one could crack her. She was cool, no matter what, and I hated how it made me want to try even harder to get her.
She was still the good girl, seemingly too perfect, and I was impatient to dirty her up, to mess her up as a way to vent all the frustration I was stuck in from how lousy my life was.
When it sounded like everyone was getting ready to leave the dining room, wrapping up the evening’s discussion about whatever they’d done at the jail today, I pushed off the hallway wall to get out of there. I wasn’t prepared to encounter Sabrina now. Not after the way she’d rejected me so coolly even though she was clearly attracted to me.
Before I got down the corridor, Tiffany rushed up to me and shoved at my back until she got me into another room. She shut the door and rounded on me, her face as furious as ever.
“What the fuck, Nick?”
I raised my brows.
“How the hell did she get here?” She pointed in the direction of the dining room.
I shrugged. “She must have fixed the car.”
“I thought you tampered with it.”
“I did.” Then I offered to help her get it back in operation, but you don’t need to know that. Ever.
“So what the fuck happened?”
“She must have fixed it and hurried to get here as quickly as she could.”
She growled, fisting her hands and locking her arms straight at her sides. “Then do something!” She lifted both hands to shove me without moving me at all. “I told you to ruin her. You’re not doing enough. She’s here. So do something, dammit!”
My hatred for her was only scaling higher and higher at this rate. If she didn’t have leverage over me, I would’ve tired of her bullshit a long-ass time ago. “I will,” I said tiredly.
She shook her head, scowling deeply. “No. Now. Here.”
Fuck, she didn’t know what she was asking for. If I approached Sabrina again tonight, I wasn’t sure how it would end up. The most burning question and most urgent unfinished business I had with her was the fact that she hadn’t kissed me back. That she’d clung to her morals or ethics or whatever she ruled by. Telling me no and fighting a dying battle of keeping me away from her… Well, that only ensured that I wanted her more.
“Never mind.” She gritted her teeth. “I’ll handle it. If her car is outside the perimeter fence, anything could ‘happen’ to it.”
Haven’t you done enough for one day? Isn’t she suffering already?
“Tiff—”
“Don’t call me that.”
“What the hell are you going to do?” I asked, hoping she wouldn’t think that I was starting to get concerned about the girl she instructed me to ruin.
“I’ll have her car towed. Then she’ll have to walk home in the storm that’s coming.” She smiled and nodded once, as if to confirm her plans with herself.
Goddammit.
“Tiff—”
She narrowed her eyes at me before spinning on her heel and hurrying out of the room.
I rubbed my hand over my face, peeved and worried. Sabrina had already gone through hell to get here, and now she’d have to, what, walk home?
Warring between this nagging need to protect Sabrina and also bring her down enough that my stepsister would be satisfied, I paced in the room and debated what to do. I couldn’t stand around and let her walk all the way home, not in her condition and without food. But I wasn’t confident about controlling myself around her if I approached her again.
Things were too tense now. The air felt raw between us, like the electricity coursing from us would spark so hot that we’d catch on fire.
Deep down, that possessive need to be near her kicked in.
She wasn’t walking home, not when I was around.
Yet, I knew that the second I found her in the house, she would put me on the spot and demand to know why I was here.
Fuck it all.
I hurried out of the room and sought her out.
George and the other professors were still talking to a few students in the dining room, but Sabrina wasn’t there.
I turned, whipping my head around to face the front door. And I caught a glimpse of her exiting.
Running after her, I gave chase. The drive from the circle in front of the house stretched long and far to the main gate that had been left locked and barring her from driving up close. She wouldn’t slip away that quickly. It was more than a couple of minutes of a walk, even for someone who wasn’t hungry and tired from a long day of trying to make a car run again.
Twenty yards from the front steps, she picked up her pace. She had to have heard me running after her, just knowing it would be me. So, I hurried to sprint and close the distance between us. How she could run in those heels was beyond me, but I didn’t care. If she wanted to try to get away from me, it would only make me chase harder and faster.
“No, Nick.”
I reached out for her, grabbing her hand as she pumped her arms to get away. We weren’t anywhere near the side of the mansion where the dining room was located. If someone was watching out the windows, we had adequate distance between us that no one would see through the trees placed along the drive.
Now that I had her, she stopped. Skidding to a halt, she wrenched her arm to free it from my grasp.
“Wait.”
“No, I want nothing to do with you!”
I pulled on her hand, whirling her around to face me. Using too much force, I practically hauled her against me. She crashed against my chest and let out a harsh breath at the sudden impact. But as soon as she could get her grounding, she jerked to evade me.
“Sabrina—”
“No!” She slammed her palms on my chest to push me away, but I didn’t stagger back far. Keeping her within my embrace, I made sure she stayed right here with me.
“Get away from me. I told you no before. And I’ll say it a thousand times more. I warned you that you won’t win.” She blinked up at me as she scowled. Rain began to fall, but it didn’t stop her from shouting at me. “You won’t win this with me. I won’t let you get close enough to hurt me.”
“I’m not?—”
She scoffed, laughing once, and raised her hand to slap me. She’d done it once, and that was the first and last time she’d strike me.
I caught her hand and held it, feeling the strength in her push.
“Don’t say it. Don’t even think about fucking saying you’re not hurting me.” She licked her lips as the rain picked up more. “I don’t even want to know why you’re targeting me and bullying me and trying to confuse me and—no. If you’re in that house, if you’re someone associated with Tiffany Lorsen, I want nothing to do with you.”
I knew it. I wasn’t slow or stupid. Of course, she’d be suspicious of my bullying her on Tiffany’s behalf. That was precisely what I was doing, but now was not the time to admit that. I had to tread carefully.
“They’re friends of the family,” I explained. Technically, that wasn’t a complete lie, not that I was being too careful about honesty with her. My dad and George were good friends way back before they drifted apart somewhat over the years.
I couldn’t tell her that Tiffany was my stepsister. She’d ice me out more than she already was, and I couldn’t live without her in my life. I couldn’t risk not being able to tentatively get close to her like this.
Sabrina was right, though. She wouldn’t let me get close. And it pissed me off that I wanted to peel her layers back and matter to her. That pathetic need to have her attention rose up once more.
“I don’t care. Let me alone, Nick.” She shook her head, almost pleading with me instead of demanding it sassily. “It’s not worth it. Find someone else to bother.”
It was worth it. I had to at least look like I was trying to mess with her and ruin her reputation so that Tiffany wouldn’t tell George about my mom being unfaithful.
Thunder boomed overhead as the wind picked up. Still, we stared each other down, but there was no chance of looking serious and strong when we had to squint just to see.
“You’re not walking home in a fucking storm like this.”
“Walking home?” She furrowed her brow, then scowled. “For God’s sake. My car was towed out there?”
I nodded, guiding her under the shade of a tree’s canopy. “You’re not walking all the way home,” I repeated.
“Says who?” she shot back.
“Me.” Not giving her another chance to argue, I took her hand and hurried toward the pool house. Taking her inside the main house was out of the question. I didn’t want to share her with any of the law students or the professors, in case they wanted to talk to her again.
I wanted her to myself, and the pool house was simply closer—and drier—than standing around outside in a heavy rainstorm.
After I opened the door, I pulled her inside with me. We were both soaked, doused thoroughly from the rain just from the short run over here.
Catching our breath, we stood near the entrance. I closed the door and locked it, just in case Tiffany should wander by.
The second I turned my gaze onto Sabrina, I held back a growl of desire that climbed up through me.
If there were ever another good time to crack a wet T-shirt contest joke with this woman… this was it.
“I don’t want anything to do with you,” she reminded me coolly.
“You don’t?” I grinned as I stalked toward her, driven to show her how much she’d actually wanted me before. Her body wouldn’t lie.
Just like I worried it would go if I had her alone with me, I fell into an instant pit of desire. It consumed me, taunting me to make a move and let her feel the evidence of how much of a liar she was. I was addicted to the opportunity to make her cream and moan those sexy sounds.
“No. I want nothing to do with you,” she insisted hotly.
I snaked my arm around her and tugged her close. “Then prove it.”
“I—”
Crushing my lips over hers, I kissed her silent.