Kayla is a smart, focused, top-mark student in her last two senior years of high school in a private facility for rich kids in Florida. All she wants is to get accepted to Harvard and graduate with top marks to follow the career she has set for herself. Her entire life is about becoming an independent and successful vet. She has micro-managed it and planned it to the tiniest detail. Leaving no room for a social life or living her teen years like her peers.

This year has had its ups and downs, with her stepbrother of almost ten years coming to live under the same roof after being raised apart after their parents married. The chaos and drama his appearance has brought, since he despises not only his father but Kayla's mother too, has made home tense. He's a rude, defiant, and arrogant pain in her ass who is hellbent on causing trouble and listens to no one.  

Dane is the polar opposite in every way - Vain, oversexed, a playboy who takes nothing seriously except booze, girls, and his motorbike while he rebels in every way against his father for ripping apart his family. Looking like a teen idol, acting like someone who doesn't need to take accountability for anything in his life, Kayla honestly cannot stand him. She sees a loser who will live on daddy's money and drink away his youth while sleeping with every girl in the county.

At 17, they have known one another most of their lives and never had any kind of friendly relationship. They have always been classmates but never friends and definitely not siblings. - but all that is about to change. 

A series of events pulls them closer, a forbidden and unexpected accidental kiss, and they plummet into confusion as feelings grow that neither expected. Slowly the walls come down between them, and they have far more in common than they ever imagined.

TEEN DRAMA

　　“How can I help you today?” I cut straight to the chase, not wanting this to draw out and get weirder or invite him to join us. I cross my arms over my bust and jut out one hip, hoping my body language conveys impatience and that I have no desire to chit-chat. I’m already grumpy from lack of sleep and spending a night anxious over a jerk called Dane and his foul mood.


　　“After having a great time with you last night, I thought….” He’s sheepish, looks down at his fingers, which are now a focus of fidgeting, and visibly swallows hard. This does not feel good, and I get a flutter of nerves in my stomach. All the signs of Jordan working his way up to something important are like a huge neon sign, and I can almost hear panic alarms going off like sirens inside my head. My hands get clammy instantly.


　　“You thought?” I coax him, annoyed he’s stammering and stalling. The more he drags it out, the worse it will feel.


CHAPTER 74