Claimed And Marked By Her Stepbrother Mates - Chapter 576

Chapter 576: 576-Norman Is In Love
Helanie:

“She’s sleeping,” I told Norman as I walked into the room with him. She was so tired—I gave her some medication and let her rest in the guesthouse.

“Why did you ask her those questions?” he asked, stopping me from heading to the restroom with a gentle tap on my arm after locking the bedroom door.

“Why did you lie?” I asked, placing my hands on my waist.

“Norman—” I cut myself off, showing him my palm and sighing. “I need to know something from you. Why are you doing this? You keep giving me signals, but that night—you confessed to being in love with her. You said you were angry, and yet you’ve kept acting differently with me since then. I don’t know what’s going on with you, but I want honest answers.”

I wasn’t smiling, and I wasn’t frowning. I was serious, and I just wanted the truth.

We had been playing hide and seek for too long. He looked embarrassed standing in front of me, his head lowered.

“Tell me—what is the truth?” I yelled, and finally, he whispered something.

“I love you.”

It was so quiet I had to look at him with one raised eyebrow, almost demanding he say it again.

“What did you say?” I asked, watching him scratch the back of his neck.

“I said, it’s late. Let’s rest,” he replied, but this time his voice was loud and clear.

I hated when he did that. I kept staring at his face while he avoided my eyes, his cheeks turning red.

“You called me a bitch,” I said. The moment I accused him, he stopped looking around and met my gaze.

“What? No,” he said, clearly offended. His whole body tensed up so fast.

“No, I heard it. You said, ‘shut up, bitch,'” I continued, and he started shaking his head.

“I would be dead before saying something like that to you,” he said, reaching for my arm. But I pulled away, narrowing my eyes at him.

“Don’t fucking touch me. How dare you—” I covered my mouth, hiding my face from him.

“That’s not what I said!” he raised his voice.

I lowered my hand from my face and glared at him. “Then what *did* you say?” I yelled back—and that’s when he walked right into the trap.

“I love you!”

No shying away, no stealing glances. He looked me straight in the eyes and confessed—louder this time.

“Then why didn’t you want to admit it before?” The moment I said that, he realized I had tricked him. I had heard it the first time too, but I wanted him to say it from his whole heart.

“Helanie—” he closed his eyes now that there was no turning back, “I was scared of rejection that night. I didn’t know what to do. I’ve never done anything like this before, and with you—it was even scarier. I didn’t want to push you away.”

Finally hearing his thoughts and feelings made me feel like I’d won a crown. I had finally won a crown.

“What about Jessica? Wouldn’t she accuse me of stealing you?” I asked softly, and he quickly took my hands.

“I never loved her. I never kissed her, Helanie. Never! Before our engagement, I broke up with her because I didn’t want to marry her, but she always caused a fuss—trying to end her life, and everyone kept asking me to take her back. I had to, because I never thought I’d fall in love with anyone. So I thought, why not?” He rambled until he had to close his eyes and added, “Then I saw you kiss Penn.”

I instantly pulled my hands away. He had said that before, and I still didn’t understand why.

“When?” I asked, and he opened his eyes, silently questioning me.

“That night of the crazy text incident,” he answered.

“Huh? Norman, I don’t know what you’re talking about. All I remember is drinking too much, then falling down, and Penn carrying me to my room. The rest is blurry. Did he kiss me when I was drunk?” I was starting to worry if Norman had seen something I wasn’t conscious of.

“Wait, you were drunk?” he asked, zoning out. “Oh, did he kiss you? But you were on top of him—oh fuck! Did you say you fell?” He finally realized something, and after watching his face for a moment, so did I.

“There was no kiss. Maybe accidental touch, but no kiss,” I confirmed, shaking my head firmly.

“Oh,” Norman smiled widely. “Well,” he suddenly looked so happy I had to roll my eyes to bring him back to reality.

“Anyway, I’m sleepy,” I said, about to walk away when he grabbed my hand.

“Confess it,” he demanded, standing behind me.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I kept the playfulness in my voice, knowing Norman might take my jokes seriously.

“I can make you confess, Helanie.” Whenever he said something that sexy in his serious tone, I felt a little spark of excitement.

“Really? How?” I turned to him. “I don’t think you have it in you.”

As I pointed my finger at his chest, he lowered his head, staring down, then grabbed my wrist and spun me around.

His hand held my neck while my back pressed against his chest. I felt his arousal.

“You want to see what I’ve got, don’t you?” he whispered in my ear, gently kissing me. My body shuddered as his arm moved over me and reached for my breasts. That was the first time Norman had touched my breasts like that.

“You’re not winning this battle, wife,” he added before turning me around and pushing me onto the bed.

Once on the bed, I watched him take off his shirt and crawl toward me. My hand reached for his tattoo, my eyes seeing how perfectly it matched my hand.

“In the cave, when we found you after you’d been missing for days, you didn’t just burn my chest with your touch—you ignited so many desires inside me,” he said before grabbing both my hands, pinning them above my head with one hand, and kissing me.