TEASE ( A Stepbrother Romance ) By Caitlin Daire

7

Chapter 7

Rayna

Jace's room was nothing like I expected. I wasn't sure what I'd thought, really-maybe pictures of scantily-clad women plastered all over his walls, dirty plates everywhere and a whiskey bottle sitting in the corner somewhere. I thought it would really scream 'Jace', and from what I'd been told about him, partying and sex was all he was about.

Instead, the room was smartly-designed and clean. Granted, he'd only just moved back to the manor, so maybe he simply hadn't had time to trash the place yet, but still, it was refreshing to see a young guy with such a nice room.

The first thing I spotted was a seriously cool record collection. I'd never thought of him as a Beatles or Rolling Stones fan, and vinyl and old-school rock didn't fit with the image that I had of him in my mind. He seemed more of a hardcore raver type like every other young guy these days, but there was obviously more to him than met the eye, and I really needed to stop trusting my assumptions, as they were so clearly wrong more often than not these days.

I wandered over to the record collection and scanned the albums for some of my favorites. I could see him watching me curiously from the corner of my eye, so I started to hum Octopus' Garden, just to show him that I was cool with his tastes. I wasn't sure why that was important, but despite everything, I still wanted him to like me.

"I know, I know," he said with a grin. "My taste in music isn't exactly cool."

"What?" I replied. "What do you mean? I love all of these bands, especially the Beatles. Octopus' Garden is actually one of my favorite songs. I heard this orchestral version of it once, and it was amazing. Honestly, I can actually picture myself walking down the aisle to that version of it one day, if I ever get married."

Even though I was babbling-about getting married, no less-it was nice to talk about something else other than what I'd just seen out in the hallway. My heart was still pounding but my legs were no longer trembling, and I felt warm and safe in Jace's presence, and while we hadn't exactly been friends since our first few encounters with each other, that seemed to be quickly changing. I was glad for that.

"Really?" he replied, arching a brow. "I've spent half my life being teased by my mates because I don't only like the trance music that we used to listen to when..."

His voice trailed off, as if he couldn't bear to finish that sentence.

"When you went out?" I asked. I already knew that he had a wild history, so that news wasn't exactly going to bother me. "You know, sometimes I used to go out and act stupidly with my friends too. You should've seen the number of cocktails we got through on Spring Break a few months ago."

"Yeah?" he replied with a grin. "I can just imagine you on Girls Gone Wild."

A warm blush crept over my cheeks. Did that mean he was picturing me dancing on tables and flashing my breasts at random guys? I'd never gonethat far with my vacation antics.

"Very funny, Jace," I mumbled. For some reason, his comment had also made me imagine all the girls he was used to hanging around at parties-the girls who liked to get wild and flash their bodies for the cameras. He'd probably had sex with hundreds of them, considering how hot and desirable he was, and the thought drove me insane.

Sensing that he might've gone too far, Jace changed the subject. "Would you like a cup of tea? It's supposed to be good for shock, and you looked pretty damn shocked out there."

I couldn't help but smile at this. "I swear you English people use tea as the answer to everything. We hardly ever drink it in America. I mean, some people do, but coffee is way more popular."