IN LOVE WITH MY STEP BROTHERS

CHAPTER ONE

FIRST IMPRESSION

LAURA'S POV

"I am so sorry; I did not see you there."

The masculine voice of the person who had bumped into me as soon as I got out of the room I was given by my mum's new lover said, and I looked down at the hem of my long gown which was beneath his dark polished shoes.

"Do you mind?" I asked as I looked up. Instead of the anger I had felt when he bumped into me, I was captivated by the good-looking man who stood before me. A small glint in his eyes lightened up his beautiful face. He looked down at the place where he was stepping on the hem of my dress and immediately stepped away. "I am so sorry about that."

"I... I..." I opened my mouth to say another word, but nothing was coming out as I was lost in his beautiful gaze. Perhaps he did not notice this because he seemed like he was in a hurry to get away.

"I am so sorry."

"It's fine," I finally managed to say, and he nodded with a cute smile as he excused himself.

I watched him until he turned the corner, which seemed to be where I was heading as well, so I hurriedly rushed into the restroom to touch up my makeup and change into something better.

I was to have dinner with my mum and her new lover's family. I did not expect much, so I had only thrown on a long gown, but seeing as that hot piece of cake was heading in my direction, he was probably a guest who would be joining the dinner.

I put on a short gown that had a low back and a pair of slippers. I would have opted for heels if we were not eating in, but I guess this looked okay, so I headed out. I could hear the distant voices of my mum and some other people, and I was now certain that my prince charming was there.

I walked into the dining room to see three people at the table: my mum, Anselm (her lover), and my prince charming. I tried not to look at him.

"Look who finally showed up! God knows why you take so long to prepare for anything," my mum said, and the men laughed. I gave her a look that asked what she was doing. She was ruining things for me without even knowing it.

I sat in the seat opposite Prince Charming and looked at him as if I was just seeing him.

"Hey, it's you again!"

"Huh, Laura, meet Chris, my eldest son," Anselm said.

"Oh, shit!"

I said and hurriedly covered my mouth as my mum narrowed her eyes at me.

"Hi, Laura. It's so good to finally meet you, and I am so sorry about earlier."

Now, he even apologized again! He's so cute. Wait, what the hell are you thinking? He's your stepbrother, you moron! I mentally chided myself, but that did not help matters at all as I smiled at him.

"It is nice to meet you, Char... Chris."

I am in so much trouble. My mind has even refused to listen to me now. What the hell am I to do with my life now?

"Are you okay, dear?" Mum asked, and I nodded.

"Yes, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I do not think we will wait for that bastard to arrive here. He always sets his own time for any meeting or dinner or whatever. I won't be surprised if he shows up when this whole dinner is over," Anselm said.

"Come on, dad. Cut him some slack. He might be busy at work."

"Yeah, it can't be easy working two jobs at the same time, even when he is the boss. He is quite an interesting young man compared to how you make him sound," Mum jumped in, in defense of him, I assumed to be Anselm's youngest son.

"Why are you making me out to be the bad egg here?"

The man asked with a laugh. He did not take any of that to heart. He is just like my dad. I wonder why Mum would pick another version of my dramatic and extra dad, but she promised me that I would see the reason she was with him, and I hope I do. I have to talk to my dad tonight. He has been complaining about why I have chosen not to complete my internship application for the session break, which would allow me to come stay a month or two at his place and work in his office.

My dad and I are pretty close, so is my relationship with my mum, and I find a way to balance it, which is why I understood when they wanted to separate. I couldn't push them when I saw that they both desperately needed a break from each other.

"Sorry, I'm late, traffic."

A deep, muscular voice said from the entrance, bringing me out of my thoughts, I was tempted to look back to see whose voice it was, but the way Chris rolled his eyes made me sigh deeply as I felt the chair beside me pulled out. I looked at the man who sat in it, and I could hardly compare the two men at the table, aside from their father. They were both extremely good-looking, but I must say the new arrival had a kind of boyish charm and devilish mischievous look that anyone should run as far away from as possible.

"Seb? Traffic?" Anselm said with a raised eyebrow.

"Fine, Dad. I did not think you would start without me anyway. My apologies; I got tied up at the last meeting I attended. It is nice to see you again, Arya."

"As sweet as my name sounds in your mouth, I cannot wait for the day when you would call me mum."

The guy smiled bitterly and turned to me, "And who do we have here?"

"Sebastian, meet my daughter...."

"Laura La Desi." He cut in.

"How do you know my name?"

"Come on, Tinkerbell, who doesn't know the greatest stoner of our time?"

My heart skipped a beat. Does he know anyone from school, or how else would he know about that deepest secret of my life thatmy mum must never find out?

"What did you just call me?"

CHAPTER TWO

A 'SLIP'PERY MISTAKE

LAURA'S POV

What did he think he was doing? Even if he knew what I did in my private life, how much sense does it make to see a grown man like him talking gibberish like this?

"Why would you say that?" Anselm said, and everyone at the table looked shocked as if they were torn between believing and not believing.

"That is very rude. Apologize to Laura right now," Anselm said, and there seemed to be a mental standoff between Sebastian and me.

"I am sorry. I did not mean it that way."

I was offended, so I was not going to back down.

"How exactly do you mean it?"

He threw his hands in the air, and Chris cleared his throat. The tension in the room was enough to make everyone feel uncomfortable, but for some time, he didn't know me to sort himself out like that in front of my mum and his handsome brother, not that I cared about making such an impression on his father; I did not think it was cool.

"I apologize on behalf of my brother; he can be very insensitive and playful sometimes. Pay no attention to him."

That made me calm down without any anger left in me.

"So, tell us, how's your internship application going, still considering HR at your dad's?" Anselm asked.

I cleared my throat. I did not like the fact that my mum told him so much already, but it did not matter.

"I haven't made a decision yet, and I'm afraid I might not make it on time."

"You know, sometimes I wonder what is wrong with kids these days and why they don't seem to take things as seriously as we did in our days."

"I think Laura should take her time and make her decision," Chris said, and I smiled at him. "But if you do consider another option for a location, you should try to intern at our company. We have the best team, and I do not doubt that you will do very well with them."

"I will think about that," I said with a light smile.

"So, I hear you are a finalist in the university; how is that going for you?" The annoying brat asked.

"Very well, thank you," I said between my teeth. I did not want to sound rude, but if he makes any comment that does not make sense to me again, I will not take it easy on him.

"I'm doing a kind of publicity among students at your school in the next couple of weeks, and I heard you're interested in marketing and media, so maybe you could gain some experience working with my team."

"That is so nice of you, Sebastian. I guess that is his way of saying he's sorry." The last part was directed at me, but I knew what my mum meant.

"Thanks, Sebastian. I will consider that too. I think I have lost my appetite and would like to take a little walk around."

"You just got here; are you sure you'll be fine? The estate is quite big," Chris said.

"Perhaps you'd like to come with me."

"That would be nice actually; you could spend some time bonding with him. Perhaps Sebastian would..."

She was trying too hard to outdo me with this guy, but honestly, the impression I already had of them would last, so there was no point in doing this.

"I think I'd rather go alone." I stood up and began to walk out of the dining room. I could hear them talking behind me, but I could not understand what it was.

All my life, my mum has always protected me from everything, and the one thing she just won't let me have was the reconciling of her relationship with my dad. At first, I was upset about it, but I realized that they were adults, and they could make their own decisions.

Sebastian struck me as the stuck-up type and someone I would like to stay away from, although I was very curious about him, I was more interested in his brother than him.

Yeah, I realize how crazy that was, but I was not about to start making sense of my feelings now. My phone rang, and I looked at the caller to see that it was my dad.

"Hello pumpkin. How is dinner going?"

"Disastrous," I said as I looked at the face of my dad, which popped up on the screen. He looked like he was in a plane, probably traveling for business.

"Tell me about it; are you okay?"

"I am now. There was an annoying fool, Sebastian, Anselm's younger son, who said something really stupid."

"So, what did you do, and most importantly, what did he say?"

"Dad, you know I no longer do bad things, don't you?"

"I know, love."

"Well, he called me a snob."

"Oh no, he didn't!"

"Well, I could not help it; I was so angry at him, especially because I did not want to break Mum's heart."

"I sense something else there, my daughter." He said with a smile. He knew me too well, but I had no plan to tell him what was going on in my mind because even he might not indulge in that.

"Nothing else, Dad. I don't think he and I will get along, although they are all giving me options for my internship."

"They seem nice."

"Yeah, but I wish we stayed together, and maybe if you guys had decided to give me an easier sibling, I might be as happy as they are."

"Congratulations! Your mum made the smart move and got you two brand new brothers."

"You talk as if brothers are something I could buy or something. I do not even like Sebastian."

"Seeing as you are expressing your strong dislike for the younger brother, I take it you like the elder..."

"No!" I was startled because my mind went somewhere else when he said that, but I immediately recovered my composure, although I might have given away more than enough.

"I think he's cool."

"I have to go now, cupcake. I will talk to you as soon as I get to my hotel. I love you."

He blew me a kiss before hanging up. I was standing beside the pool, and as I looked at the screen of my phone, I heard a voice behind me.

"So, you think I'm cool?"

I screamed in shock and lost my footing, falling into the pool.

CHAPTER THREE

PRINCE CHARMING TO THE RESCUE

LAURA'S POV

"Oh my gosh! You scared me," I said as he helped me out of the water. I could see that he was trying his best not to laugh, but eventually, he yielded to the urge and began to laugh.

"Were you scared because I have just heard you confess that you think I'm cool, or because you weren't expecting anyone to come after you?"

"Both."

"I'm sorry about that. For eavesdropping on your conversation and shocking you."

"It's fine," I said, and then I noticed his eyes had drifted towards my gown, which was now very transparent and sticking to me due to the wetness. I looked at him and cleared my throat.

"Take my jacket; you can return it after you have changed into something dry," he said as he gave me his suit jacket, and I nodded with a smile as I headed into the room. We will have to go to their home tomorrow, and I wonder if they have a vacation house this luxurious, how much would their real home be worth? Not that any of these freaks me out, but I think my mum is attracted to only the wealthy. Funny, who wouldn't be?

I ran inside. Thankfully, I did not have to go through the dining room. At least, I would be able to avoid the idiot who had messed with me, the source of all of this.

Although, now I have him to thank because he had brought me a little closer to Chris, and now, I will be able to savor his cologne from his jacket. I sniffed deeply as I opened the door to the room and met my mum sitting on the bed, looking at the picture of our family that I kept on the bed.

"Oh my God! What the hell happened to you?"

"Don't be dramatic, mum. I just fell into the pool, but I'm fine."

I quickly took off my clothes and changed into something else.

"Is that Chris' jacket?"

"Yes, why?"

"I just hoped it would be Sebastian's."

"Why?"

"I saw that you guys didn't like each other much, although your age is quite closer than that of Chris, and Chris seemed a little stuck-up and more of the busy man. You have always wanted a brother, and Sebastian seemed to be the one that would fit into all those criteria you wanted."

"Well, mum, like you said, criteria 'I' wanted, I know what is good for me, and Sebastian is not. He is bad news."

"I hear you. Did you talk to your dad?"

"Yes."

"I just wanted to make sure that you are fine."

"You need to stop worrying. I am fine!"

"Well, I know all of this is new to you, but I hope you will be able to adapt well, and if you can't, just tell me, and I will do whatever will make you happy."

"Even if what will make me happy is for you to return to Dad?"

"Well, everything except that."

"I know. I was just messing with you."

"Goodnight, daughter."

"Goodnight, Mum." I repiled as she planted a kiss on my forehead.

As soon as the door closed, I jumped into the bed. I would have gone out to look for Sebastian to return his jacket, but I wanted to hold onto it a little longer.

It would be hard living in the same house with him, although I wonder why he still lives with his family when he is old enough to live alone. But I want to understand that it means nothing.

My phone chimed with messages, and when I checked, I had a slew of messages from my best friends, Bryan, Talia, and Ashley. Don't even get me started on why we have a male in the mix. Bryan is a sweetheart who looked out for us as if we were his sisters, and we love him more than anything. Other than messages from them, I saw one from my dad and one group message from a new group named "To Family."

I opened the chat and saw Mum and Anselm's numbers pop up with two other unknown numbers. I did not need anyone to tell me who they were, and when I checked their profiles, I saw Sebastian had a profile picture, while Chris had a silhouette. Shortly after, I got a message from Sebastian.

"Hey, you! Changed yet?"

I wondered if he was asking if he could take his jacket back, so I jokingly teased him no.

"I am only asking to be sure you're not still wet, you know? Because in the cold, it gets pretty cold here at night."

He had no idea what these words did to me, especially the 'wet' part.

"Oh! I have changed now, but I think I might have caught a cold, so I will stay in the room all night and return your jacket tomorrow. I hope that is okay."

"Yes, I will have one of the maids here send you some tea. You did not eat much, so maybe something to eat?"

"I'd like that."

See why I wanted a brother? If this one came in the form of a brother, I would love to be 'not a brother.' My hand went towards my thigh as memories of how he held me when he got me out of the water filled my head.

His arms were gentle around my waist, and he held me as if he did not want to break me. When his arms disappeared from my body, I regretted immediately that I had not protested like I was too weak to walk on my own. But what excuse could I have had?

I smiled to myself as I ignored the message from the group chat with my friends and sent a message.

"I think I want to fuck someone."