Falling for his Step-Sister by Alie Garnett
Chapter Twelve
Wrappingher mind around the menus that Judith had given her was even harder than getting her mind around the fact that Jonas was possibly her stepbrother. Was it even a stepbrother if you never met him before?
After four hours in the house, she was almost ninety-five percent sure the woman was her mother, but not because of anything she did or said in the hours they had been together. It all came down to the fact that she had named her daughter Louisa May. Maybe the kid’s middle name wasn’t Alcott, but Buzz needed to make sure.
Who else but her mother would name another child after an author? She had been the only kid in school with the middle name “Potter.” When she was young and would introduce herself as Beatrix, everyone would say, “like Potter?” Yup, Beatrix Potter Lovely. Bea Lovely.
All of her sisters had been blessed the same way, from Nelle Harper Lee Lovely to Agatha Christie Lovely. And let’s not forget Lucy Maud Montgomery Lovely and her twin, Mabel Lucie Attwell Lovely. Maby was named after an illustrator and not an author, but they were an illustrator of children’s books. Louisa May Alcott Raiden would fit right in, if only in name.
Based on the conversation and fight, she wasn’t too much like a Lovely, who tended to argue and fought at the drop of a hat. There was no way Buzz wouldn’t talk back to Sera, and if she didn’t, Sera would worry she was sick. Never had a Lovely went willingly to their bedroom when asked.
If Louisa was a sister, that meant that Buzz was lusting after her stepbrother, who had almost kissed her in the TV room, she was sure of it. His eyes had been on her lips, and she had wanted his lips there. Contract or no, she would have kissed him back.
Jonas Raiden being there was a complete shock to her. She had given up on ever actually seeing him again when he missed the wedding, but instead, here he was. Somehow, he always showed up where she was working. If he hadn’t been so surprised, and if anyone had known about this job, she would have been worried he was following her.
Tackling him to save the kid he was about to punch had maybe been a mistake. It was completely unplanned and shouldn’t have happened, but she had to stop it. Though he had probably been right to protect his sister … her sister.
Yup, Louisa May had been a complete surprise to Buzz as well. Judith had said nothing about kids in the house, which left Buzz wondering why she had raised one child but had walked away from five others.
When she had called Jonas her son, Buzz’s mind had toggled between figuring out where he’d fit in with Judith having five more kids and realizing she’d had sex with her brother. Stepbrother was bad enough, but half-brother was wrong. Based on his age, she knew he was slightly older than Harper, who was the oldest, so it was possible. Except where had he been for a decade as Judith popped out one girl after another and raised them before taking off?
“Tomorrow, you will start with breakfast, correct? Then lunch and dinner?” Judith asked. Spending all day there was not what Buzz wanted to do, but she knew she only had to do it for a few days because she was not a chef and couldn’t pretend forever.
“Yes, bright and early,” she answered, looking closely at the woman. She looked a bit like the twins, but more like Harper. And nothing like her or Agatha.
“Good. See you then.” Judith dismissed her with a wave.
With a shrug, Buzz got up from the table. She was ready to be gone. Without a word, she headed for the back door and started unbuttoning Harper’s Jacket. Judith had informed her already that the back door was the only one she should ever enter, which was okay with Buzz since it was easier to sneak in her already made meals through the back. All she had to do was get one of Harper’s plug-in coolers, and she was set to leave the food in her truck all day. She had decided that this would be easier than she had originally thought.
Pushing through the door, she had the hot coat open, revealing a bright blue T-shirt underneath. A breeze hit her, and Buzz let out a sigh of relief. For days, the weather had been meltingly hot.
Before she’d made it two steps outside, she found herself pinned against the cold brick of the house, Jonas pressed to her front. His heat adding to hers kept the chill at bay. His hands were instantly under her coat and holding her tight to him by her sides, his thumbs caressing the undersides of her breasts. Her hands itched to touch the skin under the sweater he was wearing.
“Missed you, Chef Buzz-Buzz,” he whispered breathily into her ear, causing a shiver to run down her spine. The fact that he knew her nickname was intoxicating.
“I can’t,” she answered back, but her body was pressing into his, demanding that he touch her more. It felt like it had been forever since he’d touched her.
He ignored her words and listened to her body as he ran his lips from her ear down to her neck, pulling aside the collar of the white coat as he did it. Her body ignored her commands to get away from him—she really didn’t want to. She wanted to relive their time in the bathroom.
“I want you naked again, Bea.” His hands were pulling up her T-shirt and skimming her bare skin, leaving a trail of fire behind.
“We can’t,” she managed to say as she tried to help with the T-shirt, but the jacket was blocking it from leaving her body.
“We must,” he countered as his hands cupped her breasts, her bra no longer covering them.
Coming to her senses, she realized he still might be her stepbrother. Until she knew for sure, he was completely off-limits.
Pushing out of his arms, she pulled her shirt over her bare breasts and stomped to her Jeep, or Agatha’s—hers had been making a noise lately. Relief washed over her when she realized he had not followed. Her resolve was short-lived as it was, and she wanted to rush back to him and demand he finish what he’d started.
After slamming the door, she looked back at the house before starting the engine. Jonas was leaning against the brick wall, looking at her. A grin was on his mouth, his sexy hot mouth that felt so good on her body.
“See you tomorrow, Chef Buzz-Buzz,” he called and waved at her.
She waved back and took off for home, which was only a short drive from the house that Judith lived in now. How had they never run into her before if she was still in town? And even if they hadn’t, did she know what was happening with them? Did she read about her daughters’ weddings when they were in the paper? Did she even care?
The Lovely house was completely silent. Was it possible there was nobody home? That never happened.
The kitchen was empty, and Buzz took a few minutes to gather together a few meals that she would bring the next day to the Raiden house. Happily, Harper had listed what was in every container and how to heat it up on the package. She wasn’t called a control freak for nothing.
Upstairs, she checked all the bedrooms and found them all empty on the second floor. Buzz slept in Harper’s room again for the night since she was acting like her during the day anyway. In the room, she hung up the coat, which now had a smudge on the back from the brick wall. The smudge mocked her for lusting after her stepbrother.
It was not quite 4 p.m., so she headed up to the fourth floor to talk to Agatha, who was usually up by now and drawing at her easel. But to Buzz’s surprise, her sister was also gone. Her bed was made, and her room was clean, but she was gone.
Smiling, she said out loud to the empty room, “Good job, Agatha.”
Her sister never stayed out overnight; she and Maby were the least likely to hook up with someone for just sex. Though Agatha had gone through a phase years before, she had mellowed now and wasn’t as into casual sex anymore. Still, Buzz didn’t know if Agatha had ever had a relationship either.
Back in Harper’s room, she decided to try to do a little bit of research on dear old Mom. Typing in her name, she realized she had never actually looked up the woman. Judith had been gone for so long that Buzz had never cared about her. Sera had been her mom and would always be.
There was enough information online that Buzz didn’t need to take the job to learn anything about the woman. She had married the head of the children’s lit department in Chicago. He had recently retired, and there had been a write up about his wife and daughter, only named Louisa in the article, and a son, Jonas.
Digging deeper, she used Maby’s passwords and found that Louisa M.A. Raiden was a freshman and taking a lot of English classes, with a splattering of science and computer. This confirmed her suspicion that she was named after an author. Though that didn’t make it one hundred percent true that the two Judiths were the same person, just that the two Judiths had the same naming pattern. Maybe it was a Judith thing?
Buzz hoped it would only take a day or two to find her answers; she had no control over herself when Jonas was around. She just hoped she wouldn’t sleep with him tomorrow and was only slightly happy she hadn’t slept with him earlier that day.
But she was going cold turkey until the mystery was solved. However, giving up actual turkey would be so much easier than giving up Jonas Raiden. He was way yummier.
