Shatter Me Read online

  “How about some refreshments, darling? Then I will show you up to your room.”

  I nod, feeling thirsty and tired and ready for an early night. “Lemonade please, Mother. If it isn’t too much trouble for anyone.”

  “Of course. Anything that you want, my love.” She leaves me long enough to order refreshments and I sit back and close my eyes.

  “Well, I see the dreaded step-sister has arrived.” A deep amused voice murmurs near my ear and I jerk.

  I open my eyes to find a tall blond, devastatingly handsome man standing behind me. He is bent over so that he can inspect me better from his angle. His blue eyes, like his fathers, are lit up with humor and I instantly know that I am going to like my new step-brother. Raising a blond brow at him I slowly get to my feet. “Ah, I see the dreaded step-brother has come to welcome me home.”

  He bows his handsome head. “At your service.”

  “So…You must be…” I think back trying to remember the names my mother told me. “Hunter?” I am rewarded with a delighted smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Hunter.”

  I offer him my hand and he gives it a gentle squeeze before letting me go. He motions me to retake my seat and drops down beside of me. “How was your flight?” He questions. “Did the staff treat you well? Any problems?”

  I had flown home on one of Winthrop Industrials private jets. Having been the first time I had ever flown on a private aircraft it had been…Well pretty spectacular. “It was a bit lonely. But I enjoyed it. No problems at all.”

  Mindy is followed into the entertainment room by a small stout older woman who is carrying a tray of refreshments. A pitcher of fresh lemonade, several glasses and a small dish of cookies. I feel as if I am ten again as I quickly snatch a cookie before my mother can tell me no.

  “Hello Hunter.” My mother greets her step-son who is barely ten years younger than she is. “How are you getting along with my girl?”

  “She’s lovely.” Hunter takes a glass of the lemonade when offered and snatches a few cookies for himself. “Just as you said she would be.”

  The rest of the afternoon goes by quickly. I find that I really enjoy Hunter’s company and that my stepfather is just as amusing as his youngest son. But I am exhausted after my flight and beg off dinner for an early night.

  Upstairs I find that my room is three times the size of that of my old dorm room back in Paris. There is a king sized bed in the middle of the room made up in my favorite comforter and there is even my favorite pillow resting on top waiting for me. I take a quick shower and fall into bed…

  I am woken in the middle of the night. A noise from the room beside of mine? I open my eyes and find that it is half past two in the morning. Yawning I attempt to go back to sleep but find that my stomach is rumbling. Knowing that until I get something to eat I will be unable to get back to sleep, I climb out of the oversized bed and slip a robe on over my naked body. Having spent the last six years in an all-girl boarding school I have learned not to be modest about her body.

  The house seems quiet as I tiptoe my way downstairs and attempt to find the kitchen. After a few wrong turns I finally find what I am looking for. I hurry and put together a tomato sandwich with just a little mayo and salt and pepper. I find some carrot sticks in the fridge and add them to my plate and then pour myself half a glass of milk.

  I eat in complete silence with only a single light on. When I am finished I rinse my plate and glass but leave them in the sink when I find that the dishwasher is full of clean dishes. Stomach full I sleepily make my way back up to my room. But the hall is dim and I am unsure which of the two rooms in this wing belongs to me.

  I open the first door I come to and instantly know that I have chosen wrong. Standing by the bed is the most incredible looking man I have ever seen in my entire life. He is so well sculpted that the gods must have created him themselves. Even in the dim light of the bedside lamp I can see that he is hard and tanned and…WOW!

  Standing at well over six feet tall with wide shoulders that look as hard as stone, my heart begins to pound just looking at him. There is a light dusting of dark hair across his chest, but that does not disguise his thick pectorals. His abs are well defined and as my gaze travels lower, over his towel covered waist I find, for the first time in my life, that I want to know what is underneath.

  Having been busy drying his hair with a second towel he finally realizes that I am standing in the doorway. Hard, green eyes glare at me for a moment before a sardonic brow lifts and one side of his sexy as sin mouth raises in a half smile. “Lost?”

  The deep timber of his voice makes my skin prickle with goose bumps. I bite my lip, not sure if I can find my voice just then, so I shrug. He lets the towel in his hands drop to the carpet as he takes his time crossing his room toward me. “Kari is it?” My nipples harden as he drags out my name, it sounds so delicate and sensual coming from his lips.

  Mutely I nod, still not trusting my voice.

  “You really are quite beautiful, I’ll give you that.” He stops less than a foot in front of me. “But I think it is time you went back to bed.”

  I swallow hard, trying to get my wayward body back under some semblance of control. “Keith?”

  He inclines his dark head. “At your service, little one. But not tonight. Go back to bed, Kari.”

  I sigh. “I guess I had better.” I mutter. “Goodnight.”

  Again with the sardonic brow. “Goodnight, Kari.” And I couldn’t help the shiver that runs down my spine as he caresses my name.

  

  I am having breakfast out on the veranda overlooking the pool and the lake in the distance the next morning. Charles has already gone to work, but I have spent a few minutes teasing him and made him laugh before he had to leave. I am still grinning several minutes later as I spread strawberry jam all over my croissant and take a large bite.

  “Yuck!” Mindy makes a disgusted face as she watches me gobble up my pastry. “Why must you inhale your food, Kari?”

  “I’m hungry, Mother.” I reach for my coffee and sip it as I bask in the morning heat and the dazzling view before me.

  We sit in silence for a long while. Mindy is busy going over her social datebook and I am simply enjoying my surroundings when a dark shadow interrupts my sun. I frown up at the man standing over me and can’t help but blush as a vision of him in only a wet towel the night before flashes across my mind.

  Once more I am treated to that sardonic raised brow and I cannot help but find it sexy. “Good morning, Kari.” He murmurs as he takes the seat beside of me and reaches for the coffee.

  “Just who I wanted to see!” Mindy exclaims as she puts away her things. “I take it since you haven’t already left for the office that you are not busy today.”

  Keith shrugs. “There is nothing pressing that I need to take care of.” His deep voice sounds bored as he adds just a little cream to his coffee before loading it with sugar and just a little honey. Whoa, someone has a sweet tooth!

  “Wonderful. You can give Kari a tour of the house. I have a lunch appointment with the party planner and Kari hates such things.” She rolls her eyes at me but smiles lovingly. “Keep her company for me, will you?”

  When he hesitates I glare at my mother. “He doesn’t have to babysit me mother. I am a legal adult. Besides I was thinking of barrowing a car and going to visit friends. I haven’t seen Christian Marshall since Christmas and he is home from his trip to Japan.”

  “Christian can wait until later in the week, surely?” Mindy frowns at me. “And there is no need to barrow a car when your father had his driver bring over your own.”

  “Really?” I grin. “Well then. I guess Daddy does have some fine qualities after all, huh Mother.” She rolls her eyes once more, knowing that I think the world of my father.

  “Kari, I really would like for you to stay home today.” Mindy says as she stands. “I have plans for us and when you go out with those friends of yours I don’t see you for days.”

&
nbsp; “I would be happy to show her around.” Keith finally speaks up and I send him a cool glare, wondering why he was so hesitant to begin with. “And then we can take a swim.”

  Mindy beams at him. “Thank you, Keith.” She drops a kiss on his cheek and then one on top of my head. “Have fun, darlings.” She calls over her shoulder as she goes into the house.

  When she is out of sight I turn the full force of my glare on him. “Don’t feel like you have to stay. I don’t need nor do I want a nanny!”

  He returns my glare. “If you are spending time with Christian Marshall then I say you do. The man has a reputation of gobbling up and spitting out little girls like you.” He takes a large swallow of his coffee, not seeming to notice the scalding liquid as it moves down his throat.

  But I am memorized as I watch his throat move up and down. After a long moment I shake my head to clear it of the desire filled fog I suddenly find myself in. “Christian is a good friend of mine. He would never even think of me in that way.” Bianca on the other hand…Well that was another story. Bianca and Christian have a complicated relationship and I am stuck right in the middle of it.

  Keith gives me a thorough tour of the house, which takes a little over an hour. I am still angry at him so I don’t attempt to make small talk. And he seems more than happy to keep it that way. The tension rolling off him is thick and I can’t help but blush every time I look directly at him.

  By late morning I am laying on my stomach on a sun lounger soaking up the sun’s rays and enjoying the heat easing all my stiff muscles into a mass of goo. Beside me Keith sits with his lounger in the upright position reading some files for work. From time to time I open my eyes behind my Prada sunglasses and find him frowning at me instead of the papers in his hands.

  Each time I find him staring over at me my skin heats up more and it has nothing to do with the high summer temperatures. I am thankful that I am laying on my stomach because my nipples, under the thin material of my bikini top would have easily given away how much I want him.

  I wonder why he keeps staring at me with that frown on his handsome face. Is it possible that he wants me just as much as I want him?

  But I quickly dismiss that idea. My instant attraction to my sexy step-brother is most definitely one sided. He is ten years older than me and treats me more like a child than a woman.

  “You know you will never get any work done if you keep glaring at me like that.” I murmur.

  “I’m not glaring at you. And if this work could hold my attention better than the sight of you in those tiny little scraps of cloth then I wouldn’t have a problem.” He closes the file and drops it beside of his chair. “Ready for a swim, or are you going to sleep the day away and burn to a crisp?”

  I yawn. “I don’ like to get my back wet.”

  “Your back?”

  “Yes, my back. I don’t even like to turn my back to the spray in the shower.” He grins at my oddness and I can’t help smiling in return.

  “Then put on some more lotion so that you don’t burn.”

  “I can’t.” I yawn again. “My muscles aren’t cooperating. Jet lag is sitting in.” It always hits me hard and the sun was not helping as it tried to lure me into a deep sleep.

  I hear him shifting and when I open my eyes he has moved and is now dropping down onto the edge of my lounger, suntan lotion in hand. The lotion is cool compared to the warmth of my back, but his hands quickly warm it up as he massages it into my skin. I can’t help the goose bumps that pop up and as he rubs more it feels so good that it is nearly painful.

  When he is done with my back, which has been thoroughly coated in the high quality SPF product he moves to my arms and then down to my legs. By the time he is done I am completely awake and my breathing is a little ragged.

  He stands and without looking at me jumps into the cool clear water of the swimming pool. He stays under for nearly a minute and I am just starting to worry that maybe he has hit his head when his head lifts. I watch in fascination as he swims to the shallow end and climbs the stairs.

  The water is glistening off his hard body matting his chest hair and making my fingers itch to comb through it. With each step he takes my breath catches, but he doesn’t even look in my direction as he grabs a towel and wraps it around his lean waist before taking another to dry his dripping body.

  “Want some lunch?” He asks in a cool tone.

  “No. Thank you.” I am starving but not for food.

  Chapter 2

  It is raining. It seems fitting. The sky is just as unhappy and filled with tears as I am. I wipe away an errant tear with the back of my hand and stare into the warmth of the fire. Beside of me sits Hunter, seeming just as lost as I am. Keith stands by the window looking weary and pale. I want to go to him, hold him close, but know that he will only push me away.

  It has been a long week. Thanksgiving is only a few days away, but this year it will go uncelebrated in this house. There is too much pain.

  My mother is gone. The woman that gave me life has had her own ripped away all too soon. My step father, whom I have come to love over the last two years, is gone too. And I…I am lost.

  I was in London with Bianca for a nice weekend when Hunter called to tell me that one of Winthrop Industrial’s small planes went down with our parents inside. A small plane with only the Mindy and Charles inside on their way to Atlanta for a few days to themselves before Charles left for a week in Germany on business.

  I rushed home as soon as I could get a flight out. But when I got back there was nothing I could do. Charles who had barely been holding on just hours before was gone before I could say goodbye. My mother hadn’t even lasted that long.

  I didn’t know what to do. There were so many arrangements to make, people to call. But I was unable to do any of that. Thankfully Keith was there. He took over and everything got taken care of, all the right people were called. And I set back, helpless to do even the smallest thing.

  The funeral had been today. I let Keith guide me through it all, stuck on auto pilot. My father, Bianca, all my other friends and family arrived to say goodbye to my mother and step-father but without Keith I don’t think I could have done any of it.

  And now, as some of the cold shock is beginning to wear off and it is just the three of us once more I want to offer him the same comfort that he has so readily offered me.

  But I knew it would just be a waste of my energy. Keith hated for me to touch him. Hated for me to show him how much I care. Over the last two years my feelings for my step-brother have grown stronger, turning from raging lust to gut wrenching love. But he has made it clear on more than one occasion that he doesn’t want me…

  “How about some dinner?” Hunter murmurs beside of me. “When was the last time we ate?”

  I give him a sad smile. “I can’t remember.” I murmur. “But I’m not hungry. You go though.”

  He gets to his feet. “Keith?” But his brother shakes his dark head. Quietly Hunter leaves the room.

  Unable to just sit there, knowing I am facing rejection I go to him anyway. Fingers trembling I touch his arm. He stiffens but thankfully doesn’t pull away. I watch his face and he closes his eyes for a brief moment. There is strain around his eyes, tension in his jaw.

  I wrap my arms around his waist and bury my face into his chest, relieved that I am not being pushed away. Within seconds he pulls me closer and I hold on tighter. “Are you okay?” I whisper.

  His lips are in my hair making me shiver. “Getting there.” His voice is hoarse with emotion.

  Under my ear his heart is racing and I snuggle closer, breathing in the smell that I have learned belongs uniquely to him alone. “Thank you for helping so much this week.” I tip my head back enough to see his handsome face. “Thank you for being the strong one when I needed you to be.”

  His smile is small, but genuine. “Thanks for the hug when I needed it the most.” He drops a kiss on my forehead and I close my eyes, enjoying his lips on my skin. “Kari�
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  There is something in his voice, something powerful and full of danger that makes me open my eyes. His emerald eyes are blazing with need down at me. I want him so much but know that if I give in to our needs now, when we are both so vulnerable, he will only hate me when he is himself again. Yet I am weak, and hurting, and love him so damn much…

  The buzzing of his cell phone from his pants pocket draws us apart. With a muttered curse he pulls it out and glares down at the number before answering. “This is Keith.” He barks into the cellphone.

  I watch as his eyes darken yet again and hear the difference in his voice the next time he speaks. “Eliza…Busy, no.” He steps further away from me without another look and leaves the room without a backward glance.

  Tears fill my eyes. Eliza. There were rumors that he had been dating the Austrian model. And now, with one of the hottest new models on the phone no doubt wanting to see him, I am pushed to the back of his mind.

  The feeling of rejection makes my chest hurt. This new pain on top of the pain I have been feeling at the loss of two of the most precious people in my life is nearly my undoing and I rush upstairs. I don’t want anyone to see me like this. Sobs escape me as I drop down onto my bed and pull my favorite pillow close, burying my face deep to muffle my crying…

  I must have cried myself to sleep because the next time I open my eyes it is pitch dark outside. My cellphone is ringing and I stretch out to grab it off my nightstand. Bianca, I think, as I put it to my ear. I need my best friend. “Hey.” I muttered, laying back once more and covering my eyes with my arm.

  “How are you?” Bianca asks gently.

  Fresh tears sting my eyes but I blink them away. “Crappy.” I tell her truthfully. “Can you come get me?” My car is at my father’s. I wasn’t going to return to the apartment that I shared with Bianca for a few more days, thinking that my step-brothers needed me. But Keith sure as hell didn’t need me with the lovely Eliza to console him. Hunter…Well Hunter would understand.