Dirty Little Secrets: A Stepbrother Romance

by Landish, Lauren

  “Kade, after that, I am so going to need a shower,” the girl said with a confident, sexy little smile and swagger to her voice and body. She looked at me with frank consideration, and then her smile grew larger, like she had just discovered a secret. “So you’re Alix. I’ve heard so much about you. I’m Rita, a . . . friend of Kade’s from a long time back. Good to finally meet you.”

  Rita offered her hand and I shook it out of pure instinct. She sauntered off down the hallway, giving Kade a little wave as she disappeared into the guest shower. “So . . . ”

  “Alix, I’ve known Rita for a long time,” Kade said. “She and I, there’s no emotional bond there. We’re just friends.”

  “A bit more than friends, I’d say,” I replied. I shook my head. “Listen, Kade, it doesn’t matter. Your life is your life. I had some assumptions, sure, but obviously things are different than what I thought. I just wanted to come by and say thank you in person, you did me a really huge favor.”

  “You’re welcome. Um, I know this is strange, but would you mind hanging out a bit? I’d like to just make sure you understand some stuff from yesterday,” Kade replied, shifting from side to side. I really wished he hadn’t done that, I could tell from the way the fabric moved and things shifted around he wasn’t wearing any underwear underneath the shorts. “Please?”

  “I think you should probably shower and get changed first,” I replied, giving him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he didn’t feel for me the way I felt for him, but he was trying to be nice. I’d hear him out. “Tell you what, I’ll go hang out in my room. Just come get me when you’re ready. If anything, I still owe you an Indian dinner.”

  Kade smiled, his white teeth flashing brightly in the hallway, and I felt a twinge at my heart, thinking that smile would never be meant for me the way I had come to realize I wanted it to be. “Yeah, I think we can do that. Let me shower and get changed.”

  I went to my room, trying to distract myself by picking up the same bad novel I’d been reading just a few days before. This time I actually was able to get into the hackneyed prose when there was a knock on my door and someone came in.

  “Kade, I know that . . . ” I started, before seeing that it was Rita. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t invite you in.”

  “I wouldn’t have violated your space, Miss Alix, if it wasn’t that I had to tell you something important,” Rita replied. She was still wearing her emerald green robe, although her hair hung wet and pulled back over her shoulder. “Please, only two or three minutes.”

  There was something in her voice and eyes that said I needed to listen to what she had to say. “Did Kade ask you to come in here?”

  “No, he doesn’t know I’m in here. He enjoys long showers, you know; it helps him relax.”

  I nodded, only somewhat surprised. “You’ve known Kade a long time, I take it.”

  “We went to high school together,” she said simply, “but despite what you saw, he and I have never had a deep emotional relationship. We’ve offered each other a different type of support and comfort over the years as we need it.”

  “You’re his FWB,” I replied. “I’d heard of that sort of thing before, but never met anyone like that.”

  “We’re a bit more than that, but it’s better to show you than tell you,” Rita replied. She turned and lifted the hem of her robe, showing me a very pert and very pink backside. “When we play over at my place it can be quite a bit more, but he was so shaken after yesterday I had to come to him. He’s a good Dom though, and I had no problems about it. This is the first time in the Laguna house. Last time I had to come to him was when you all lived in Beverly Hills.”

  “You’re . . . you and him are into . . . ?” I asked, trying to get my mind wrapped around everything.

  “We prefer to say Dom and sub, but some people use BDSM,” Rita informed me. “And yes, I love to sub to Kade. I’m a switch though, I don’t sub to just anyone. But Kade . . . from the beginning I’ve subbed for him. He’s not strong enough to sub yet.”

  “Wait . . . what?” I asked. “Explain, please.”

  Rita shook her head, smiling. “I don’t have time. Maybe if you give me your phone number we can talk sometime. What I’m telling you, Alix, is that Kade only calls me when you’re around. Sweetheart, that man has you on the mind constantly, and despite everything he says to himself or to anyone else, he’s head over heels for you.”

  “You mean . . . but why’d he run away yesterday?” I said. “His face said he was disgusted with me.”

  “He was disgusted with himself,” Rita replied. “Kade Prescott is only happy when he’s controlling himself. I’ve never known a man, even back when we went to high school together, who kept himself under such iron-willed control. How do you think he’s been able to get through law school and then get established in law so quickly? He’s twenty-six and has a law office like someone who’s ten years his senior. It’s his strength and his weakness.”

  “So when he asked ‘what the fuck were you thinking’ . . . he was talking to himself?” I asked, surprised. It made sense.

  Rita nodded and came over, sitting next to me on the bed. She reached out and cupped my face, stroking a thumb over my still fading bruise. “You have so much potential, Alix. You’re a natural sub too, you know. But you have to be strong enough to sub for a man like Kade. I can see in your eyes that you feel for him too.”

  There was no denying it. “How?”

  “We can talk later, not now. I need to get back to Kade’s room and change to go home. Besides, you two need to talk, I know that for sure. But it was good meeting you this time. If you ever do want to talk, I’ll leave my phone number by the door. I assume the sound I heard when you came in was a bag being tossed to the side.” Rita got off my bed and checked the knot on her robe before smiling sadly. “It’s going to hurt losing him.”

  “What do you mean?” I said.

  She chuckled and looked at me. “I know the way he feels about you, and I think you’re coming around too. That sort of relationship, it’s exclusive. There was a time I thought I might have been able to bring Kade around to becoming my exclusive Master, but that’s not going to happen, I can see that now. But damn, am I going to miss subbing for that man, he really pushed me to my limits at times.”

  She paused at the door and looked back. “Please don’t tell Kade I told you though. It’s part of his personality—he needs to show you first. Remember, he needs control to feel safe.”

  Rita disappeared through the door, closing it quietly behind her, and I listened as her soft footsteps disappeared down the hall. I could hear Kade’s shower still running, and I sat there, pondering what the hell I’d just heard.

  Chapter 8

  Kade

  I came out of the shower and made sure to change clothes into something that would in no way show myself off to Alix.

  I noticed that Rita was gone when I came out, a note on my pillow.

  Hey Kade. Had to go, I understand that you have family issues to deal with. If you need me again, I’ll be happy to serve. Rita

  I smiled lightly and folded the piece of paper in half. Rita and I had found each other at a strange time in my life. We were one year apart in high school. I was a junior when she was a sophomore, and yet she was in many ways the more mature one. What started off as a friendship grew more sexual, and from the beginning she allowed me to vent the darker side of my passions without judgment, without anything other than acceptance and enjoyment. We never had feelings more than just friendship, however, and had willingly gone on and off as we tried other relationships. She and I both had times when we turned the other down sexually due to that, and it never hurt our ability to just hang out and chill when we wanted to.

  It took me a while that day, however, to get over what Rita had done. She had heard, even before I did, Alix come into the house. She said nothing as I hurriedly pulled on a set of shorts I had lying on the floor, and only sat quietly as I left the room. While I hadn’t specific
ally asked her not to leave the room, she knew that I didn’t want Alix to see her. Yet there she was, not a minute after I’d left, walking out with little more than a silk bathrobe on and sashaying down the hallway.

  Thankfully, the place had one hell of a hot water tank, so I was able to wash the tension away. By the time I got out, I was in control of myself again, and I felt my control reestablish itself more and more as I put on my clothes. By the time I had my shirt tucked in and my belt buckled, I was ready to face Alix.

  I knocked softly on Alix’s door, hoping she was still there. “Alix? Can I come in?”

  “Come on in, Kade,” she called, and I opened her door to find her sitting on her bed, a novel open face-down on the covers. “Nice change of clothes.”

  “Thanks,” I replied. “Uhm, I suppose you’d like to talk about Rita?”

  “Another time, actually,” Alix said, giving me a smile. “Kade, I don’t understand it all, and maybe there will come a time that I might. But for now, let’s just say that it confirmed quite blatantly something you and I joked about yesterday. You are most certainly not gay.”

  I grinned in relief. Maybe I could get out of this without being embarrassed too much after all. “Yeah, but after yesterday, I thought you might have questions.”

  “Oh, I do,” Alix said, picking up her novel and putting it on her bedside table before getting up. “Like how you and I are going to enjoy spending a little time together this evening. I was kind of thinking that maybe we could forget about what happened and have some fun. Before our little incident yesterday, I was having the best time with you that I’d ever had.”

  Her words were like cool water to a parched man, and I grinned. “How about we just stay in tonight? As much as going back down to the ocean would be nice, I’d feel more secure just hanging out here. Would you happen to know if there are any Indian delivery places around here? I’m still looking for naan bread and some butter chicken curry.”

  Alix laughed and came over. “I don’t know, but I’ll find out. Give me a few minutes to find the yellow pages, if they still have one around here.”

  For the rest of the night, I felt like I was in Wonderland. When we found the yellow pages, she used her greater knowledge of the area to help me pick out the closest restaurant, while still giving me the choice on foods. As we waited for the delivery, we sat outside on the back patio, enjoying the late reddish purple of the sunset.

  “Alix,” I asked as we sat, “why didn’t you ever go to college?”

  “I haven’t yet,” Alix said, “mainly because I knew I had to devote my time to my modeling career. Now that I’m three years removed from high school, though, I guess the idea of going back scares me a little. I wasn’t the student you were from what I remember, and besides, I’ve really gotten a lot of personal education just through my experiences.”

  “Still,” I replied, “I’m just saying that you have all the smarts needed to get through college. Honestly the biggest challenge is just working hard. If you can get through what modeling has put you through, college isn’t any more difficult. Maybe a different type of difficult if you want to think about it.”

  Alix smiled and looked over at me. “Maybe I could, but I know I couldn’t do it down here in Los Angeles. Way too many people who know me, I’d feel too out of place. When the time’s right, maybe I could go to school up in Oregon. Do you know any universities I could go to?”

  “Lots,” I laughed. “Besides OU and OSU, there’s a pretty decent university just half a mile from my place, Portland State. It’s small, and it won’t be winning any NCAA titles in anything, but it’s a good school. They’ve got lots you could study there, and Portland is a super relaxed sort of place. You serious about it?”

  “On one condition,” Alix said. “I’d need your help. I’m not saying we have to be roomies or anything, but it’d be nice to be close to someone I know. What do you say?”

  I knew my answer even before the words left my mouth. “When you’re ready to retire from modeling, I’ll be there for you.”

  The food arrived, and we shared our meal out on the back porch, just enjoying the sounds of what little nature still lived in the Los Angeles area. “This is delicious,” I commented, dipping my naan into my bowl of curry. “How about yours?”

  “It’s good,” Alix replied. “I think I like the curry from this place better, but the bread is far superior where I would have wanted to go yesterday.”

  “We’ll have to try it another time,” I replied. “Listen, Alix, are you serious about coming to Portland, or are you just jerking my chain?”

  Alix shook her head. “I’m not saying I’m packing up and leaving tomorrow. But yeah, when I’m done with modeling I want to get out of Los Angeles. Portland sounds perfect, at least from what Derek says about it. I regret to say I’ve never gotten up there. Been to a dozen different states on shoots and modeling jobs, and five different countries, but not Oregon. It’s pretty far from the centers of the fashion and modeling world, which sounds like just what I’d want.”

  I could understand. “And what would you study?”

  “Who knows? I don’t really know right now,” Alix replied. “I mean, business, real estate, general studies, all of those sound interesting to me. Do they have a business school?”

  “A good one,” I replied. “Also a respected course on urban planning and development, which should be real estate heavy. I’ll be honest though, I’m not an expert on PSU.”

  “That’s okay,” Alix said as she finished the last of her curry. “Thank you, Kade.”

  “For what?” I asked, curious. “You paid for the curry, remember?”

  “For everything, I guess. For not slamming the door in my face when I came in today. For being a pretty awesome guy that I can trust. I know, I know, you’ve got a dark side, you’ve got secrets, yada yada yada. We all do, I’m pretty sure. Still . . . I trust you.”

  “You shouldn’t,” I warned her, but I could see in her eyes that she did. And despite it all, despite my misgivings about it, that look warmed me inside.

  “Kade, I hate to just eat and run, but I have an early day tomorrow. I should go. When are you heading back to Portland?”

  “Tomorrow,” I said. “I’ve got paperwork piling up for me, and a secretary and paralegal that need a boss. It’s actually one of the strangest things about my work right now. Most of my clients and both of my employees are older than I am.”

  “Yet they respect you,” Alix commented as she got up, gathering her takeout dishes and putting them in the plastic bag. I went to take it from her, and she shook her head. “No, it’s okay. Let me serve you tonight.”

  I couldn’t help it, seeing that angel smiling down at me and saying those words. I shivered, wondering if Alix knew what she was saying to me, but decided that she didn’t. There was no way my little stepsister could know what she was saying to a man like me. Still, I enjoyed the fantasy and smiled back. “Okay. Despite the frustrations and missteps, this has been the best couple of days I’ve spent with you in a long time, Alix.”

  “You too, Kade. You too.”

  Chapter 9

  Alix

  I hadn’t told Kade the total truth. I didn’t really have a lot to do the next day. However, when I went to get the delivery from the front door, I found Rita’s note sitting on my bag. I tucked the paper deeper into my bag just in case, and through all of dinner I thought about what she’d told me. I was thrilled at the things she said, and I had to admit it made me warm inside to think of being able to make Kade happy.

  On more mundane matters though, I wanted to take care of Sydney’s bribe. I thought there might be a way I could ensure I could get the files back, but I didn’t know for certain. Still, it was worth a try, and I had to make preparations.

  The next morning, the first thing I did was go to an electronics store. I found what I wanted at the third store I tried, which actually didn’t involve buying anything at all. Instead, by downloading an app to my phone
, I could then with a simple tap of a button record a dialogue and upload it to the Internet as a file that I could then access later. The only challenge was that I had to keep my phone out of sight. Thankfully, the guy at the electronics store showed me a Bluetooth headset that I could get that would allow me to tap a button on the headset and it would set up the microphone. Best of all, it was small enough that if I wore my hair over my ear, Sydney wouldn’t see it at all.

  My new device set up and checked out, I gave Rita a call. “Hello?”

  “Hello Rita, it’s Alix Nova. Uhm, I know it’s the middle of the morning and you’re probably at work, but I was kind of hoping that you might be able to find time to talk.”

  “Sure,” Rita said, and I could hear real surprise as well as happiness in her voice. “I work from home, actually. I’ll text you the address. When can I expect you?”

  “How about an hour? Unless you live out in Ventura County or something.”

  Rita chuckled. “Nope, I live in Torrance, actually. You should be familiar with the neighborhood, right? It’s the fashion district and all for Los Angeles, I think.”

  “I sure am. I’ll be there,” I said, hanging up after she’d given me the address. The drive to Torrance was easy, and I parked in front of the little fourplex that Rita lived in. I went up to the second floor, looking for apartment 2B.

  Rita answered me only a few seconds after I knocked, looking vastly different than she had the night before. First of all, her hair was black. Secondly, she was wearing the ridiculous combination of a business suit top and basketball shorts. “Hey, good to see you,” she said, inviting me in. “Guess you’re wondering where the blonde hair went.”