by Scarlet West
We thought for a long while.
“Okay,” Brady said, giving me a grin. Then his face fell as he shook his head. “If it all comes to the worst, I don’t think there’s much we can do. Not besides getting Adam to invest with me.”
“Yeah,” I admitted. “I think you’re right.”
“You do?” he pretended amazement. “Is this happening? My little sister admits I’m right?”
“Don’t get used to it,” I said gruffly. “It isn’t something that’s going to happen often.”
He laughed and, for a moment, things seemed normal again.
My brother stretched his long legs out, his feet in worn-out trainers. He sighed, cracking tight shoulders as he stretched his arms. “Well, then?” he said, turning to face me.
“Well, then?” I asked.
“Will you ask him?” he said. “But you don’t have to, if that would feel awkward,” he added swiftly. “I can try asking but after what happened already, I just don’t know if…”
“I’ll do it,” I interrupted, surprising myself.
“You will?”
“Yes.” I steadied myself with a deep breath. “There’s no reason why I shouldn’t. Can you tell me about it?”
He did. The investment sounded legitimate, this time. It really was a business, not a Mob front. It was a very promising-sounding investment, too. The part of my brain that assessed projects assessed this one and liked what it found there.
“It could work,” I agreed.
“I think so, too,” he admitted. He looked at me. Already, I could see less stress in his face, new vitality. That, more than anything, made me want to do it and make it work. I hadn’t realized how long it had been since I’d seen my smiley big brother.
“Okay,” I said again. “I’ll tell him tomorrow.”
“Great!” my brother beamed. “But, Cassidy? If you could avoid telling him about the worst of it?”
“I’ll try to avoid telling him, yes,” I nodded. “Great” my brother nodded. “And thanks, Cassidy.”
I looked into those hazel eyes, the ones I’d fought with, teased, and loved since I was old enough to see straight. I took his hand as he slipped his over mine.
“Don’t mention it,” I said.
16
Adam
I woke up in front of the television. That, in itself, was a surprise. It had been years since I’d had time to watch much TV, and I blinked, disoriented, staring into the darkened room. The screen was black, with little red spirals dancing on it.
Switching off the television, I stood, feeling my legs stiff and sore. I glanced at the clock. It was only ten-thirty in the evening. Shaking my head, I headed to the kitchen to get some water and I froze.
Somebody was knocking on my door.
As I listened, it sounded again. A soft, insistent tap. I realized the sound must have been the noise that woke me. Tensely, I went to the door and peered out the one-way lens.
I could see blonde hair. The knock sounded again, and I heard a soft feminine voice.
“Adam?”
I felt like I’d touched a live wire. My body exploded into color and brightness. I combed my hair flat with my fingers and opened the door.
“Cassidy?”
It was her. She was, unlike me, wide awake. Like me, she was still formally dressed. Entirely differently to me, she looked incredible.
“Adam,” she said.
Dressed in a white dress which clung to her bust and waist and then flared out a little, flowing and elegant, she looked amazing. She was wearing makeup, I noticed, and her hair was in a messy style that suited her. She also, I noticed with growing alarm, looked worried.
“Cassidy,” I said again, noticing how gravelly my voice had gotten. “What’s up?”
“I wanted to talk to you,” she said simply.
“Oh?”
We looked at each other and I felt the familiar tug of my body, responding to hers. Those brown eyes held my gaze. We stood there, not saying anything, the room silent around us.
“Sorry,” I chuckled, realizing that we were still standing in my doorway. “Come in.”
She nodded and stepped over the threshold as I held the door open for her. I followed her through the foyer, trying to calm the butterflies in my stomach.
“Sit down. Please,” I said, waving her to the living room. I walked briskly to the kitchen and stood before the wine rack. I could feel my cock straining at my zipper, and I tried to calm down.
Down boy. She’s here to talk.
“Red, or white?” I called through the door. “Or something else?”
“Red, please,” she called back.
I chose a bottle – the best wine I had in the house – opened it and poured. When I took it into the living room she was sitting on the sofa. She still had that tense expression and I wondered if she was nervous around me now because of how I’d acted at the office.
“Cassidy,” I said, putting the glass down in front of her. “I wanted to say I’m sorry. I behaved very badly this afternoon. I don’t know what got into me. I was way out of line.”
I looked up at her face. She licked her lips nervously.
“I was out of line, too,” she said formally. “I should have called in to say I wasn’t going to be there.”
“Cassidy,” I grinned ruefully. “It’s okay. I’m not your boss right now. Right now I’m the guy you’ve known most of your life.” I grinned, but the statement met with a nervous stare. Internally I kicked myself. I was really handling this badly.
“Adam,” Cassidy began. “I’m not really here about any of that, actually. I’m here because I had an idea. About the business.”
“Oh?” I sipped my drink, looking at my watch. “It’s nearly eleven, Cassidy. We can wait until Monday for this?”
“It’s not just about Synergy,” she said, sipping her wine. “It’s also about Brady.”
“Oh?” I frowned. Last time I had talked to him, Brady had seemed tense. “If he’s feeling bad about the mess, tell him not to worry about it,” I said swiftly. “He helped to sort it out, so it’s all okay now. I’m not angry with him. I never really was.”
“It’s not that,” she said. “He had a new idea. He found out about this investment opportunity. It’s a pretty big deal and seems foolproof. He says it’s guaranteed to make massive short-term returns.”
“Okay?” I frowned. “And so?” I wasn’t sure where this was going. If Brady had an idea, why had he sent Cassidy instead of coming to me himself.
“So,” Cassidy said carefully. “He wants to invest in it himself. He just doesn’t have the kind of capital to undertake it alone.”
“He wants me to throw in as a partner. With him,” I said flatly.
“Yes.”
I looked at Cassidy. She was sitting on the edge of her chair, face blank. Her eyes were earnest – big pools of nervous energy, tense at the corners. She was frowning.
“Why does he want this so badly?”
“He doesn’t,” she said swiftly. “It’s a good investment, Adam.” She sounded nettled. “Why don’t you want to consider it? Don’t you trust him? You just said you weren’t angry with him.”
I sighed, feeling suddenly weary. I was sitting with a gorgeous girl in my apartment, late at night, the day before the weekend. I had just succeeded in making up to her – or at least I thought I did – and I also knew now how much she meant to me. I didn’t want to argue with her again.
I put my wine glass down, pointedly, on the table and leaned forward. I took her hand in both of mine.
“Cassidy,” I said raggedly. “We can talk about Brady and business in the morning. Please? I don’t want to talk about it now. I would rather talk about you. About us.”
Cassidy looked at me. Her eyes were unreadable. She put her wineglass down and placed her other hand over mine. Then, to my utter amazement, she leaned forward, touching her lips to mine.
I felt my body catch alight. I slid over closer to her on the c
ouch. I hadn’t realized how eager I was for her. I pulled her toward me and into my lap. My mouth parted on hers, my tongue, hungry and questing, pushing between those full lips. Her mouth tasted like wine and some stray sweetness that made my loins ache.
“Oh, Cassidy,” I murmured into her neck, kissing my way down the firm, pale skin. “I want you so bad.”
She didn’t say anything. She seemed weirdly pliant, and I pulled her hips against me, kissing my way down her chest to between her breasts. My hands were at her waist, at her hips, pulling those round, firm buttocks toward me. Suddenly, she stood and held her hand out to me. “Cassidy?” I whispered. “Are you sure?”
She didn’t say anything, just dropped to her knees, pulled me down onto the floor with her and began unbuttoning my shirt.
My body was a minefield of nerve-endings, and she was touching all of them. She pushed me onto my back and straddled me. She stroked my chest as she unbuttoned my shirt, and her warm center was hovering above my rock-hard cock as I drew her down onto my chest, reaching for her zipper.
I was pulling the dress off her, and she had gotten to the end of my shirt. I half-sat, shrugging it off, reaching for her ass as I slid the dress down her body. She was wearing a white lacey bra and her dress clung to her hips.
“I’ll do that,” I said gruffly, reaching for the zipper of my trousers. I shifted underneath her, rolling into a sitting position. She slid off me and took off her dress, then started lowering her panties.
“Let me,” I said swiftly. I dragged the panties down her sweet thighs, reaching for her bra. I unclasped it hastily, my hands reaching for those firm breasts.
I kissed her again and she leaned against me, pushing me back onto the floor. I thought I was going to lose my mind as she straddled me again.
She slid her dripping pussy down over me and my body caught fire. She raised and lowered again. I closed my eyes, gasping, then opened them again. She was above me, her breasts firm and round, moving with her motion as she lifted and pushed down.
I could feel flames of raw arousal consuming my cock, blazing down my nerves, blasting my brain. I couldn’t think, all I wanted was more of her. I gripped her waist and, growling, guided her onto me, faster and harder.
She started to make little gasps, and I could hear her panting. She was close to climax, I realized. I was getting there myself, and I gritted my teeth, trying to hold it back. I wanted her to come first. I reached between us and touched my thumb to her swollen clit. I rubbed in circles in time with my thrusts. She threw her head back, bracing her hands on my legs and taking me deeper still as she rode me. With my free hand, I reached up and pinched one of her nipples, sending her over the edge.
Gasping, she came hard, her juices coating my cock.
She groaned and gripped my shoulders, her back covered in sweat. I let her rest, holding her to me.
Then, when her breathing had returned to normal, I rolled over, so that she was underneath me.
“I want you,” I growled.
Then I pulled out and pushed in and felt the longing rise inside me. I had held back earlier, but now I wanted her so badly I was almost in a frenzy. I was gasping and shaking, unable to control myself as I thrust into her again and again. She was moaning, moving below me, and I grunted and gritted my teeth and drove into her with force, again and again. I had never felt anything like the sweet pressure on my cock as I pushed into her wetness, and I never wanted it to end.
I felt the climax rising and building within me and then, almost before I was aware, I was crying out, the feeling crashing over me with more intensity than anything I had felt.
I fell onto her and lay there, gasping as I unleashed my load deep inside of her. She lay below me, both our bodies cleaving together, sweat-soaked and warm.
“Cassidy,” I groaned. “That was amazing.”
I kissed her sweetly before pulling out and gathering her to me. I threw my arm over her and held her to my chest as my breathing returned to normal. When I woke sometime later, I was cramped up between Cassidy and the couch. She was lying under my right arm. Her body was warm, her eyes shut. She was beautiful, I thought, studying her. I found my gaze lingering on her full breasts, the nipples pink as if they had been dipped in dye. I touched one gently, feeling the intense softness of her skin. Her breath came in slow, regular intervals. Her eyes were closed, long lashes interlocking.
I felt my cock start to pulse as I ran my hand down her skin. I tried not to press too hard, not wanting to wake her. At length, she stirred and shifted.
“You awake?” she murmured.
“Yes,” I whispered back. I kissed the soft column of her throat, feeling my cock stiffen where it was pressed to her pliant skin.
She kissed me, wrapping her arms round me and drawing me against her chest. I felt my body ignite again and looked down into her eyes.
“In the bed?” I whispered.
She nodded. Still not saying anything, she stood and walked through toward my bedroom. Stood behind her, drawn by the slight sway of her naked buttocks as she walked ahead of me into the bedroom.
“Cassidy,” I whispered.
I wrapped my arms around her, drawing her against me from behind. Her plump ass felt so good pressed against my stiff cock. I pulled her sharply against me, wanting more of the feeling. I could detect a dampness between her thighs, and I groaned, thrilled by the way that dampness felt, pressed so teasingly against my cock.
I breathed in the scent of her skin, her femininity. I leaned on her, pushing her forward.
She fell onto the bed, losing her balance. I lay down behind her. Gently, I rolled her onto her stomach, leaving that magnificent ass pointing in the air.
Unable to resist, I parted her legs, my body trembling as I looked down at her. I found her clit and passed my thumb across it, again and again, loving the slippery wetness of her folds on my fingertips. I could feel my cock stiffening and growing as I did it, building up a torrent of desire that was making me unable to think straight. She was crying out, gasping, her little sounds driving me to a new point of madness.
“You feel so fucking good,” I growled, and pushed my cock into those wet folds.
She opened to let me in and I knelt between her thighs, my hands on either side of her relaxed body, and sunk into her, feeling her tightness welcome me. I was grunting and straining, wanting the sensation to last forever but at the same time wanting to feel the rush of climax. Her ass was pressed to my hips, and I put a hand on her shoulders, gasping, as she switched position, lifting her hips off the bed.
I cried out as the motion changed everything. I could plunge in deeper now, my cock finding total free range as I drew out and pushed in even further, grunting in wonder as she grunted and pushed back.
My cock was tensing and straining, and I knew I was so close. I could hear her start to pant and moan and I knew she was on the brink with me.
I pushed in, one last time and came on a roar, emptying myself inside her as she screamed my name, her pussy gripping my cock and milking every last drop from it. I collapsed and lay beside her. Our bodies melded together, sweat gluing her skin to mine. I felt more amazing than I had ever felt in my life. I felt exhausted. I felt good.
I lay like that, my body warm and aching beside Cassidy’s, until I fell asleep.
17
Cassidy
I woke up, warm and exhausted. I rolled over, feeling deliciously sore and relaxed. I remembered why and I smiled. I reached out, searching for Adam’s body but he was no longer next to me.
I glanced into the bathroom, but the door was open, the light dim. I got up and made my way to the door to see if he had gone out in the other room when I heard voices.
I froze.
“You might tell me what it’s doing here, then.”
“I would, if I thought it was anything to do with your business.”
I could clearly make out one voice as Adam but the other seemed strained and a bit muffled. I flattened myself to the wall
and listened intently. “My business?” the first voice said. “I’ll tell you whether it’s my business or not.”
“You did. And I don’t agree.”
I stared. The first voice, the angry one, I also knew. Brady?
Shit! What was he doing there?
I looked around the room desperately, searching for my clothes. I couldn’t see them, so I grabbed the discarded shirt and shorts I found on the chair nearest me, dragging them on. Then I walked through the door.
“You might explain it…” my brother was saying. He stopped when he saw me.
Two pairs of eyes stared at me. Adam looked relieved. I opened my mouth to speak, to ask what was happening. My brother looked shocked.
“Cassidy?” he asked. His voice broke on a small, shocked laugh. “What are you doing here? I asked you to talk him into doing business, not fuck him into it.”
That was too much. I felt shame wash through me, replaced almost instantly by rage.
“Dammit, Brady,” I swore. “What the hell are you…”
I got no further. Adam, who was standing across the room from both of us, launched himself at my brother.
“How dare you?” he growled. He had his hand on Brady’s chest, thrusting him against the wall. The other hand was in a fist, balled and ready to strike. “How dare you talk to her like that?”
He was shouting and his face was red. I saw him bring the fist an inch from my brother’s nose. His hand was on his throat, now, and I heard Brady rattle a breath.
He was struggling, and I saw him make a fist, throwing a wild punch at Adam’s shoulder. Adam drove his fist forward, toward his belly.
“Stop!” I screamed. “Brady! Adam! Stop this!”
I lost all sense of restraint, my hands grabbing Adam’s shoulders, pulling him off. I hit Brady’s shoulder, hard, as he whirled round, lifting his fist in a punch.
“Stop it!” I screamed. “You’re being idiots! Both of you! Get off him!”
I was yelling at my brother, who was pushing Adam. Adam stopped first, letting go of Brady’s t-shirt.
