Score - A Stepbrother Romance by Caitlin Daire, Alyssa Alpha

have it, I bumped right into his recorder as he rudely tried to push it right up in my face. My glass tipped and in a hot second, I was soaked in dark purple juice. I looked down with horror to see it seeping through my dress.
    “Shi—oh no.” I stopped myself from cursing just in time, discarding of the glass to assess the damage on my dress. The floral pattern was on a white background, the dark stain blooming next to the pink peonies. I was an absolute mess.
    “I have to get this cleaned off,” I mumbled, feeling more nervous than ever. “I’ll be back in a second, I’m so sorry.”
    “Can’t you answer the question first?”
    The journalist was right in my face, pressing the recorder so close that it was nearly touching me again. It was incredibly awkward and uncomfortable, and he hadn’t even apologized about the grape juice debacle.
    “I’m sorry…”
    “Hey now, why is all the attention on Lina? I’d like to answer some questions, too. Show some love for good old Chase Stryker, why don’t you?”
    Chase had strolled up next to us, blocking the journalist’s access to me. The guy looked annoyed, but Chase just winked at me, motioning for me to go with a brief nod. I gave him a grateful smile as he started talking to the annoying journalist, and I headed straight for the bathrooms.
    Once in there, I saw that the stain had seeped all the way through my dress, and I had to strip down the top part and scrub the sticky juice off my skin with a paper towel. I was just in my bra now, so I hoped to God no one would come in and see me.
    I’d finally managed to clean myself up when the door to the bathroom opened. I turned around and stared at the intruder like a deer in the headlights, the top of my dress still around my waist.
    “It’s just me,” Chase said quietly, looking around to make sure we were alone. Once he saw me in my bra, half stripped down, he grinned from ear to ear. “Oh. I see you’ve already gotten things started in here...”
    “You wish. Stop staring, you perv,” I hissed at him, trying to get my dress back up and struggling with the zipper.
    “No worries,” Chase replied. “Nothing I haven’t seen before…and nothing I won’t see again.”
    I rolled my eyes and ignored his jibe as he came over to me and helped me zip the dress back up. It was kind of nice of him, I thought distractedly, still busily checking out the damage on my dress. To be fair, he was probably just making an excuse to touch me like the sleazy animal he was, so he wasn’t going to win any awards for being nice just yet.
    “Put your cardigan on top,” Chase suggested, following my gaze in the mirror. I glanced up, and my heart skipped a beat as my eyes met his. “It should cover up the stains.”
    I flashed him a grateful look, taking the cardigan from my purse. I’d opted not to wear it in the end, since it was an unseasonably warm day today, but now it was coming in more than handy. I put it on and buttoned it up, and thankfully it hid the huge stain from the juice quite well. I might’ve looked like Preppy Penny, but at least I wasn’t a mess.
    My eyes focused on Chase’s reflection in the mirror again. He was looking right at me, standing only inches away. My skin felt scorching hot all of a sudden, and my breathing quickened, growing more erratic by the second.
    He took a step closer, never taking his eyes off mine in the mirror. His hand came to rest on the small of my back and I gasped out loud, unable to hold my breath. I was shaking; one touch of his fingers enough to send my head spinning.
    Chase raised his free hand to my neck, pushing away the fabric of my cardigan until soft flesh was exposed to his lips. He was still looking at me as he lowered his mouth against my neck, almost touching my skin with his mouth, and his breath was fire against my skin, scorching me as he exhaled.
    “Don’t,” I begged him, even though my mind was screaming for me to let him kiss me. “We can’t be