SEDUCING MY STEPBROTHER

Lexi couldn’t believe her eyes as she stared at the man that refused to leave her head.

He is here? Flesh and blood?

“Are you alright? Do you feel dizzy?” Raymond’s tender voice brought her out of her thoughts and she realized she had leaned on him, her body bent in awkward angles as if she were about to fall.

“Lexi,” Balthas smiled at her but she find it hard to lift the corner to her mouth and returned his smile.

Raymond guided her to the table and she notice Aziz’s eyes never left hers since the moment she walked in. Trying to ignore him would be ridiculous, so she lifted her head and tilted it a little to the side.

“Aziz,” she nodded in greeting, but he ignored her and continues to stare at her. His eyes held so much rage and betrayal, she didn’t know if she was mistaken, but a look of disappointment crossed his features before they vanished as if they hadn’t been there.

Lexi sat down beside Raymond and all through the dinner, she struggled to ignore the man staring at her as if to bore holes in her head. She barely acknowledges Raymond, who keeps trying to get her to laugh with his dry jokes.

Aziz’s gaze followed each movement of the woman in front of him, he couldn’t get over the shock that she had moved on from him and forgotten how she cried, telling him she loves him so much.

He folded his fist every time Raymond touches any part of her body, he wanted to punch his face and ruin it but he knew he would only ruin the dinner and Lexi would hate him if he lay his hand on her boyfriend.

When he could no longer bare to sit still and watch them display their lovey-dovey act, he pushed the plate aside and stood up from his seat.

“What happened? Is the food bad?” Daphne’s worried voice filled his head and he felt guilty for making her worried for nothing.

“The food is great Daphne, I must have been jetlagged… I have little appetite for food,” he smiled at her, and turn to glare at Raymond before pinning Lexi with his gaze.

He sighed when she refused to look at him and walked away from the dining room. She had really moved on.

Aziz had hoped he was mistaken, that her relationship with that man was as a result of their break-up and it was a mistake, but the way she avoided eye contact and ignore him and kept talking to everyone in the room like he wasn’t there was enough to let him know he had lost her for good.

The sound of a door click shut caught his attention and he knew at once that she was the one. He wasn’t sure if her boyfriend would sleep in the same room with her and he hope it was just her alone.

With bated breath, he watched the hours tick by until silence descended in the mansion and he confirmed that she is the only one in the room. As soon as the hours struck 12 AM, he slid out of his bed and walked to the door that linked their room together.

Carefully, he pushed the door open and walked into her room. He was expecting her to be fast asleep but was surprised to find her sitting on the edge of the bed as if she was waiting for someone.

His heart twisted when the thought of her waiting for her boyfriend crossed his mind. He stopped a few feet from the bed and stared at her for so long.

“You must have a reason for you to sneak into my room at this kind of hour and I am sure that reason isn’t for you to stare at me like I am a stranger,” her voice pulled him out of the abyss of his own mind.

“We need to talk,” he finally manage to speak.

“The last time you said those words, you ended up breaking my heart into tiny shards, why should I listen to you again?” Aziz stared into her eyes and a chill ran down his spine.

Her eyes looked hollow, the sparkles that draw him to her long gone.

“You are right,” Aziz swallowed with a pause. “You have no reason to listen to me, nor are you mandated to hear me out. I just hope you will let me lift this burden off my chest.”

Before Lexi could open her mouth to either protest or accept his plea, he fell to his knee in front of her and held her leg.

“I am so sorry Lexi… You are right, I never really got over what Lena did to me but it wasn’t because I was deeply in love with her,” he looked at her, tears pooling in his eyes.

“It was because I was too desperate to have her in my life, I wanted to know what love feels like so I thought buying her stuff would be enough to keep her with me.

“Love was something foreign to me and I didn’t know what it feels like. So when she told me she loved me, I came to the conclusion that I was in love with her as well. With Lena, it was all about wanting to impress her and earning her approval, but with you, it was something else.”

“What are you talking about?” Lexi tried to get away from him but he held on tight.

“I didn’t know what love meant or how it feels until I let you. I have never been scared to lose anyone before, but when you told me you love me, and I wasn’t sure of my feeling, the thought of losing you scared the shit out of me that I stopped breathing.”

“What the fuck are you saying!” Lexi’s voice shook as she listened to him pour out his feelings to her.

“I am so sorry it took me so long to realize it, but I do love you, babe,” he paused and look at her. “I love you with the whole of my being.”

Lexi’s eyes widened, and she jolted away from him, as she stood up from the bed.

He loved her? He finally admitted he love her after so long…

She didn’t know whether she should cry or smile, the pains she went through kept her from screaming the roof down. After the sleepless night, the headaches, heartache, and the crazy thoughts of killing herself numerous times.

He is finally here, on his knee and confessing his love for her.

“Isn’t that too late right now, I have a boyfriend now. Besides, I have gone through so much pain and I don’t want to ever experience such a thing again,” she stared at him through guarded eyes.

“I know I don’t deserve you anymore, not now that you are carrying someone else child, but I promise you, Lexi…” He paused to see her reaction. “I will not stop telling you how much you mean to me, I will make it up to you for the rest of my life until you let me have you again.

“And I will never agree to let you marry someone else, not when I love you so much that it hurts.”

As much as she tried to keep up the facade and punish him for what he did to her, she couldn’t bring herself to reject him.

God! She loved this man so much that every bone in her body screams for his touch alone. To top it off, she still has her child to consider, she couldn’t let the poor boy grow up without his father.

“You always have me,” the words slid past her mouth and Aziz lifted his eyes to look at her.

“What?” He furrowed his brows as he tried to understand what she meant by that.

Lexi slowly brought her hands to her stomach and rubbed it affectionately, his gaze narrowed on that part of her.

“And you are wrong,” she stared at him. “I never got intimate with another man, it was you… Only you.”

Aziz sprang to his feet and pulled her gently to him. “You mean…”

“Yes… You are the father of my unborn child.”

“But I thought—”

“You thought wrong.”All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

Aziz’s face breaks into a charming smile, but it was gone as soon as it came. “You agreed to take me back so easily than I thought,” he stared at her, his brow knitting tightly.

“I expect you to slap me, punch me, get angry, do all sort of thing a typical female would do, but I didn’t expect this,” he explained.

“Considering the pains I endure, I should have gouged out your eyes, but I always knew you love me, even though you didn’t know of it yourself.”

Aziz tilted his head to one side, his face showing how surprised he is to hear her say that.

“Why do you think I asked you to make love to me the night we ended our relationship? Why did you think I chose to stay true to my feelings for you?” She placed a finger on his lip to stop him from talking.

“One look at you and I saw the indecisiveness on your face… You wanted me to stay, you were afraid of losing me but you refused to admit what you are feeling.

“So I decided to give you the push, if you won’t admit it easily, then you will admit it when you are forced to let go of what you cherished so much.”

Aziz smiled and pulled her closer to his chest as she continue to speak.

“Truth be told… I wasn’t heartbroken over the fact that you left me, I was pained because you could easily admit you loved Lena, but you hide like a coward when it comes to admitting your feelings for me,” she leaned against him, as he wrapped his arm around her.

“I am so sorry,” Aziz mumbled.

“I knew you would come around, but when I heard you left the next day, the thought that I might have mistaken the look on your face made me almost kill myself but Raymond saved me and brought me home.

“And each day that ticked by without you coming back to me shattered me, that I lost hope… I was barely hanging on to the last thread of hope within me when I saw you sitting on that chair, staring at me.”

Aziz pressed his lip to her temple before getting on his knee in front of her again.

“I know no amount of sorry can make up for the pain you passed through, but I promise to always stand by your side and not run away like a coward.”

“Of course, no amount of sorry can get you out of the punishment I have planned for you,” Lexi grinned sinisterly. “You didn’t think I was going to let you go just like that?”

Aziz got up on his feet and tug her closer, he leaned down and kiss her hard. “I will gladly take whatever punishment you mete out to me, your highness.”

“I love you,” Lexi cooed.

“I love you so fucking much princess,” Aziz whispered in response.

Lexi pulled him for another kiss, as Aziz gently pushed her to the bed, rekindling the flame of passion between them.