Forbidden Camel Ride With My Stepbrother Novel by Clara Wilson _ Novel





Forbidden Camel Ride With My Stepbrother Chapter 01

Lainey’s POV
I sat on the camel, my inner thighs pressed against the saddle and my butt nearly glued to my stepbrother’s thighs behind me. All I kept wondering was, how did my life get to this point?
Ten minutes earlier, Dad had given one of our three rented camels to a young honeymoon couple. At the time, I did not think it was a big deal.
There were four of us and two camels left. That sounded fine to me. I would ride with my stepmom, and Travis would ride with my dad. One camel for the women, one camel for the men. Simple.
But camels had weight limits. Travis stands six feet tall and weighs close to two hundred pounds. That meant he had to ride with me, the lightest one in the family, to avoid overloading the animal.
The guide put us on the strongest camel at the back. The honeymoon couple took the middle one, and our parents rode at the front. The three camels walked in a line behind the guide, heading out into the desert.
“He is really built like a damn gorilla,” I muttered under my breath, shifting forward a little. Then I used the chance to elbow him. Travis let out a pained groan, but didn’t say anything.
To me, rather than referring to him as my stepbrother, I think it would be better to call him my enemy.
When I was fourteen, my dad, Mike, married his mom, Evelyn. For four years after that, our family had been happy. Evelyn treated me like her own daughter. I soon started calling her Mom.
The only problem is Travis and I were constantly at each other’s throats. Even the smallest things became a battle between us. Who got to use the bathroom first in the morning. Who took the last butter cookie Evelyn baked. Who got the better seat in the car.
Once, Travis’s baseball team played against another school, and I went to cheer for the other team just to piss him off. He refused to speak to me for a whole week after that.
Then one evening at dinner, I brought up a fun fact I had read in a book about insects while talking to Dad and Evelyn. Travis finally broke his silence just to smirk at me and say, “Bookworm.”
That was Travis, annoying, arrogant and always ready to make me angry. Now here we were, stuck on the same camel. It felt worse than death.
I muttered another curse and shifted uncomfortably. The space between the camel’s humps was much too narrow. I could not sit properly, and my legs hung at an awkward angle. My hips and back hurt.
“Stop wiggling so much,” Travis said behind me.
I ignored him and tried to squirm again. But then Travis grabbed my waist with one big hand and pulled me straight back against his chest.
“What the hell are you doing?” I froze, too shocked to move. My butt was completely pressed against his thighs. Only two thin layers of clothing were between us. I was even afraid my butt might be touching something I shouldn’t be touching.
When he didn’t answer, I twisted around to hit him. But the camel suddenly lurched as it stepped over a large stone. The world tilted. I lost my balance completely, slipping to the side.
Just as I was about to slide off, Travis’s strong arm shot out, wrapping tightly around my waist and yanking me back on the camel's back.
“You just can’t go one fucking day without stirring up trouble, can you?” Travis snarled, clearly pissed. His hand shot up, gripping my face hard and forcing me to meet his eyes.
I glared at him, but I could not exactly argue.
"You’re not the only one uncomfortable here, Lainey." His fingers pressed into my cheeks. "But deal with it. Stop acting like a damn baby and making everything worse. Got it?"
When I tried to nod, he finally released my face. Then he pulled me back against him again, tighter this time.
For the next half hour, I barely moved. The desert stretched out on both sides, but I couldn’t enjoy any of it. I sat stiffly between the camel’s humps, with Travis’s chest pressed against my back, rising and falling with his breath.
When the guide at the front finally announced a break, I almost jumped off the camel before it fully settled. My legs felt shaky, and my thighs burned. Most of all, I needed to get away from Travis and the nervous feeling bubbling inside my stomach.
I didn’t know what to make of the fact that his arm had never left my waist, his thumb absentmindedly tracing slow circles on my belly.

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