Chapter 15
The following day I leaned against the wall of the garage, Sinclair’s head buried under the hood of my Bentley.
“I really wouldn’t have pegged you as a car guy.”
He stood tall, eyes pinning me in place. “Because you know me so well?”
Jesus, this guy was pricklier than a fucking cactus in the Nevada desert. Those green eyes locked on me, completely disarming me like they always did. And I fucking hated it.
“Just wouldn’t have thought you were the type to get your hands dirty.”
“And what type do you think I am?” Sinclair asked, reaching for a tool from the rolling cabinet beside him.
He was wearing a pair of jeans that sat low on his hips, a black long-sleeve t-shirt hugging his chest and arms. It was the most casual I’d ever seen him dressed. Usually it was all dress pants, fancy leather shoes, and button-down shirts for the oldest Aston brother. Suited and booted Sinclair was a sight, but roughed up, greased-stained Sinclair was something else entirely. Especially bent over an engine, the hood propped above him.
Which means he’s good with his hands.
I really needed to get a grip. It wasn’t like my stepbrothers were the only hot guys I’d ever seen in my life. It was just annoying that we were forced to live under the same roof and I had to see them every day. At least, with Sinclair I felt that way. Since Presley and I had fucked each other in the shower, he was all I could think about. And how desperately I wanted to do it again.
I shrugged in response to Sinclair’s question. “A sexual sadist.”
It was a joke, but then again… it could be true.
He didn’t react, those careful, calculating eyes watching me. He turned back to the car, disappearing under the hood again. “Didn’t realize you’d given so much thought to my sexual preferences.”
From anyone else, I might’ve considered it flirting. But not Sinclair. Everything about him was so matter-of-fact. It didn’t surprise me one bit that he’d managed to grow the company he’d started in college into a multi-million-dollar empire two years out. He was ruthless, unfeeling, and deliberate with every move he made and every word he uttered.
If I were the wagering type, I’d put money on odds he didn’t even like me. There was no way he was going to flirt with me.
“Sometimes the mind wanders where you can’t control.”
He stood tall again, closing up the hood of the car. “Does it? My brother not keeping you satisfied?”
His gaze ran over me, making my brow pinch in confusion. What the fuck was that look for? And he was just going to bring up me and Presley hooking up so casually, like it meant nothing? He was a mindfuck and a half.
“What happened yesterday?” he asked. “Why didn’t you head into one of the buildings on campus and call someone when Pres wasn’t there?”
I pushed off the wall, tugging up the neckline on my high-neck shirt to cover the finger-shaped bruises. “Who was I going to call?”
“Dacre. Your mom. My dad.” He halted for a beat. “Me.”
Our gazes locked, silence passing between us.
I shook my head, resigned. “I was going to, but Trenton showed up and my phone died.”
I stopped before admitting that he was the one who’d put the marks on my neck. After the shower, Presley had bundled me in towels and ushered me to the bed, where he’d held me tight and tried more than once to get me to talk about what had happened. But I’d kept my mouth firmly shut.
As much as I’d love nothing more than to see Trent get what he was most definitely owed, it didn’t need to be at the hands of my stepbrothers. I wasn’t allowed to make waves in this community.
Sinclair’s expression pinched with irritation. “We warned you about the guy. You should have listened.” He reached for a rag on the tool cabinet beside him, wiping at his hands.
I rolled my eyes. “Let me just go grab my time machine and go back and heed your advice.”
“You could have just taken it in the first place.”
I leaned against the side of Dacre’s car which was parked beside mine. “I didn’t know you at all. I had no reason to trust you.”
Silence hung between us again.
Sinclair discarded the rag, slowly moving between the cars so he was in front of me. “But you do now?”
My brow pinched. “Do what?”
“Trust us.”
He shifted forward, leaving only the smallest space between us.
What would it be like to have his body pressed against mine? He was dominant and commanding in every aspect of his life, surely he’d be the same in the bedroom. A small part of me willed him to come closer so I could find out.
He stared down at me, those green eyes trapping me as we gazed at each other in a standoff. Would his fingers tangle in my hair when he angled my mouth to his? If I tilted my hips and pressed them against him, would he be hard? My mouth watered at the prospect.
I’m sure his girlfriend likes it when he gets hard, too.
The thought was like a bucket of ice water over my head and I dropped my eyes, clearing my throat and moving around the front of the car.
“Is my car roadworthy again?” I asked, avoiding looking at him.
“It always was.”
My head snapped up and he shrugged. “We knew you’d put up a fight about riding with Presley or Dacre, so we gave you no other option.”
Irritation flooded me. They’d messed with my car so I’d be forced to ride with them?
“You’re a real controlling asshole, you know that?”
A smile twitched at the corner of his mouth, but he didn’t let it break free.
He glanced down at me as he made his way to the door back inside.
“Yeah, I do know that.” His gaze dropped down my body like a promise. “It’s what makes me so damn successful at anything I focus on.”