Love in Troubled Times

by Gayle Riley

  When everyone had gone home, Kenneth took Aida into his arms and danced her across the yard whispering, “What a difference a year makes. Last year I thought I would lose you, but today I have you and two perfect little boys who I adore. My life feels complete.” He stopped by the table and picked up a bottle of champagne saying, “Let’s toast to new beginnings and the wonderful life we are headed for.” They drank straight from the bottle, clasped hands and headed for their bedroom at a run.

  Someone had lit candles, put on soft music and had more champagne on ice waiting in their room. They both said a silent thank you to whoever the fairy was. As they danced their way to the bed, they slowly peeled away each other’s clothing. Tonight as they made love new promises of forever were given and received. Never again would they feel the need for someone or something else to make them happy. They had each other, the boys, and their future children. Nothing else was necessary.

  THE END

  Bonus 12 of 30

  His Model

  Description

    Steven has the idea to invent glow in the dark swimwear for those who enjoy swimming at night time so they could be seen. He doesn’t think that his ideas are going to work because he doesn’t have the models that he needs to advertise the swimwear. He just needs the right woman for the bikinis that he is trying to get off the ground, as his hopes dwindle little by little. He finds out that his sister, Emma, is coming home. He doesn’t know for what reason, but he’s already scratched her out as a candidate because of how she looked when they were younger. After two of his interviews fall through, one calling to cancel and the other not showing up at all, he knows it will take a miracle to find a woman to model for him. Just as he thinks there is no hope at all, Emma shows up at his office door, he doesn’t look at her right away but when he picks his head up, he sees that all his dreams have come true. Now it’s just the matter of convincing Emma to model for him. Success glimmers in his eyes as he tells her what he needs. He keeps the thoughts to himself of what he wants until Emma dangerously makes the first move. Life is full of secrets and Emma has one that she doesn’t admit until Steven comes out and asks her after the hints she has given to him sexually about how long she’s waited.

  Chapter 1

  Steven was twenty-five years old with short black hair and dark blue eyes. He was a billionaire’s son. He worked with his father at the modeling agency. On day, he was going to run it completely. He owned half the business and it was already in his father’s will that when he passed if Steven knew the business inside and out, then the company would be his.

  Steven had his own a new shirt line as a side business. Neon orange shirts that glowed on rainy, cloudy days and they also glowed once they sun began to set at dusk. He had come up with the idea for safety reasons. Joggers, bicyclists, skateboarders, anyone that felt the need to have one or want one.

  So far, the business was making a killing. Now all he needed was a beautiful model for the glow in the dark bathing suits for women. In California, he had seen men and women out on the beaches in the middle of the night, enjoying night time parties.

  Steven had the bathing suits already available. The only reason he hadn’t advertised was because he needed a female model. He hadn’t found the right one to model for him. He had the male models that he needed but it wasn’t going to be much help since he wanted the swimwear to come out at the same time.

  Steven was working in his private office when there was a knock on the door.

  “Come in,” Steven called out, putting his pen down.

  He sat back in his chair and watched his father walk into the room. His father was an older version of Steven. His black hair was slowly graying, his blue eyes looked tired behind the thin gold-rimmed glasses. Mark was dressed up in a suit and tie with a briefcase in his hand.

  “Where you going? It’s Saturday.” Steven assumed he was going to work, most times he was right.

  “Not today, I’ve been keeping a surprise from you for about a month. I can’t hold it in any longer.” Mark grinned, putting his briefcase down for a moment.

  “Well don’t keep me in suspense.” Steven was waiting for the big news and he knew it was big because he hadn’t seen true happiness in his father’s eyes in a long time.

  “I’m bringing Emma to the house. She’s going to stay with us for a while. Her plane lands in thirty-five minutes. You want to come with me?” Mark asked, picking his briefcase up off the floor.

  “No, I have a few models coming in today. I have to get these bathing suits out for production soon.” Steven didn’t want to waste his time going to get Emma.

  Emma was his stepsister who he hadn’t seen in years. She was fifteen the last time he’d seen her. She was heavy set and wasn’t pretty at all. If he was going to waste his time, he’d waste it with interviews. If the interviews failed, he would do it trying to be productive.

  “I think it would be nice if the both of us went to greet her.” Mark tried convincing him.

  “I would if I didn’t have interviews today Dad. Tell her I can’t wait to see her.” Steven smiled at him and picked up the phone pretending to make a call.

  Mark sighed and shook his head. Steven had been watching him for too long. It was a move that he would’ve made himself.

  One thing that Mark was sure about was when it was his time to go, he knew that Steven would do great taking the business over.

  “Love you Dad,” Steven told him before he walked out of the office.

  “Love you too,” Mark replied, a small smile coming to his face.

  The two hardly showed affection. So, when the words were spoken, he knew that it meant a lot.

  Steven sat back in his office chair and placed his hands behind his head. If he didn’t find a decent model soon, his dreams of the glowing swim suits would be destroyed.

  “Something good has to come soon,” he groaned.

  The phone rang beside him and he picked it up just to hear more bad news.

  “Hello?” Steven’s voice became cheerful, his smile faded fast.

  “It’s Colleen, I wanted to call you and let you know I’m canceling for today,” she told him in a sorrowful voice.

  Steven knew it wasn’t very professional, but he hung up without responding to her.

  He got up from the chair and headed out of the office, slamming the door behind him.

  Chapter 2

  Steven got out of the shower and put on a tight, white, t-shirt and a pair of jeans. He gelled his black hair and styled it. Looking at himself in the mirror, he smiled trying to put himself back into a positive mood.

  Steven looked at his watch and saw he had fifteen minutes until his second interview was supposed to show up.

  He hustled down the stairs and waited in the living room. He paced the floors as he looked at his watch.

  The living room had four small coaches, four matching reclining chairs and a long glass table made of crystal. There were two flat screens hanging over the man-made fireplace.

  Steven had waited in the living room for over an hour before he finally gave up and realized the woman was a no call, no show.

  “Damn it!” Steven shouted at himself. He hollered so loud it echoed throughout the living room.

  Steven went up to his office and slammed the door so hard that the glass picture frames shook on the wall.

  He put his head down on the desk and felt like crying. He was doomed to fail at the new production that he knew could make him a lot of money.

  There was a light knock on the door. He thought for a moment that if he didn’t answer, the person on the other side of the door would just go away and leave him alone.

  “Come in,” he muttered, not lifting his head off the desk.

  He heard the door open, not lifting his head off the desk. He was about to give up on everything that he had started.

  “It’s been a long time brother.” A sweet, soft, voice cut the silence.

  Steven lifted his head off the desk and looke
d up, his eyes grew wide and a smile came to his face.

  “Emma?” he asked, getting up from his office chair.

  “I know, I’ve changed a lot over the years,” she said and laughed.

  Steven looked her over. Emma was no longer heavy set. She had long, beautiful, blonde hair and light blue eyes. She had the perfect body he was looking for since she had grown into herself since the last time he had seen her. She was a few inches shorter than he was; his prayers had been answered.

  Steven reached over and gave her a hug. She hugged him back tightly. She had missed him and she saw that he had changed too.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked, wondering why she was there, what had brought her to California.

  “I’m out here to start a new life. Maybe start a career that I like.” Emma shrugged her shoulders.

  “How about trying a modeling career?” Steven raised his eyebrows at her. Hoping she would say yes.

  “I don’t know about that.” Emma blushed, shaking her head.

  “Here’s the problem, I have a new line of bathing suits, they glow in the dark,” he explained to her.

  “It sounds like a great idea. I don’t see where the problem is,” Emma told him.

  “I don’t have a model, I’ve had two models cancel on me,” he sighed, sitting on the edge of the desk.

  Emma didn’t say anything for a few minutes and a small smile finally came to her face. She was willing to help him out.

  “I’ll give it a shot but the second you get a new model I’m out,” she told him.

  “Deal.” He nodded, grinning at her. Steven’s day was beginning to look up.

  “I see the two of you have hit it off,” Mark chuckled, walking into the room.

  “We sure have and you’re looking at the new model that’s going to take my glowing bathing suits off the ground,” Steven told him, his grin growing wider across his face.

  “That’s great news, I think we need to celebrate,” Mark suggested, glad to see that the two were getting along. He was afraid the two would ignore each other.

  “This is cause for a celebration. I want the two of you dressed and ready to go out, you have fifteen minutes,” he told them both.

  “You know that I can’t get ready in fifteen minutes,” Emma whined at him.

  “There are things you’re going to get used to while you’re living here Emma and it’s to be on time for everything. Get to it,” Mark told her, closing the office door behind him as he left the room.

  “You heard him. Dad always wants everyone to be on time. That’s where I get it from, I think,” Steven laughed.

  Chapter 3

  They were ready in fifteen minutes like Mark had asked them to be. They knew that when he told them something that they had better do it.

  Emma could see that Mark hadn’t changed that much in the years that she had been away from him. She took a deep breath as she headed down the stairs in a red tight dress. She had the diamond necklace around her neck that her mother and Mark had given to her when she was

  little.

  “Your mother would be proud of you for wearing that.” Mark nodded his approval.

  “What do you mean she would be proud?” Steven asked, seeing the sadness on Emma’s face. He knew that he was missing something.

  “The real reason I’m here Steven is because my mother had cancer. She wanted me to come up here before she passed away but she died last week. I couldn’t come up here until I had everything taken care of for her. She passed away in a tragic car accident,” Emma told him, feeling tears coming to her eyes.

  Steven didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t been told but then again, he had been so busy with his own life he didn’t think that he would’ve heard if his father told him.

  “I was hoping that your mother would’ve come back with you. Just last month she was happy about you turning your life around. She would’ve come up, I know that I could’ve convinced her,” Mark told her, opening the front door and letting her and Steven step out of the house before he locked up behind them.

  “I didn’t know, I’m sorry,” Steven whispered to her, tugging at his tight tie.

  He didn’t like wearing suits. He only wore them for work and going out. He couldn’t wait to get back home and dinner hadn’t started yet.

  “Everything’s going to be okay. Mom had a few more weeks left and I wanted to spend that time with her. No one knew that she was going to get into an accident you know?” Emma told him looking into his dark blue eyes.

  “Yeah, I know what you mean. Let’s try to have a great dinner tonight okay? It’s your first night in town and between working together, I can show you around. It’ll be fun,” Steven told her, taking a hold of her hand to comfort her.

  “That sounds great,” she told him, putting a smile on her face as he held open the limo door for her.

  The driver was already in the car waiting on them to get in. Mark got in beside Emma who was sitting in the middle.

  “Do you want a drink?” Mark asked her, getting in the mini fridge that had just about any kind of drink she wanted.

  “No thank you,” she smiled at him.

  The three of them were quiet on the way to the restaurant. Steven couldn’t take his mind off how much Emma had grown. She had changed in a good way and as he sat there so close to her, he could see the cleavage that was hiding behind the top of her dress.

  “What are you looking at?” she asked him in a teasing voice, feeling his eyes on her but not sure what he was looking at.

  “Nothing,” he whispered, looking away from her quickly but

  she knew it was something because his face was red.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she looked at him, checked out how good he had turned out since she had been gone. She thought that Mark was going to have a hard time shaping Steven and she had been proven wrong. The last time she had seen him, Steven was in and out of trouble. With daddy’s money, he got away with it, everything had been swept under the rug. She was shocked to hear that he was now part owner of the company that their dad had made from the ground up. She was already impressed with him when Mark had told her everything that Steven was doing to become a business man, following in his footsteps.

  By the time the night was over, it was almost midnight when they got back home, the three of them laughing and talking about the old times. About when Steven and Emma were younger and all the trouble they had gotten into.

  “Alright, I’m going to call it a night. I’m glad that you decided to make a go of it here, Emma. Your mother would be real proud.” Mark nodded his head at her as he left the two in the living room and went up the stairs to his room.

  “You know dad never did get over your mother. He hasn’t had a real relationship since they split up but that’s between you and me,” he told her.

  “I didn’t want to leave when Mom left, but I didn’t want her to leave alone either. I know that it hurt Dad when I left with her. I’m just glad that nothing really changed. I’m glad that you’re still my brother and nothing would ever make me change my feelings on that,” Emma told him seriously.

  Steven licked his lips and saw that her blue eyes were glimmering with happiness. He could tell she was happy there.

  “Do you remember when you found out that I was going to play spin the bottle with some friends and you had to be there to make sure nothing was going to happen?” she laughed, wanting to keep going down memory lane.

  “I remember,” he blushed.

  “My first spin and when it stopped, it landed on you so you kissed me on the cheek.” She pointed and laughed at him.

  “I know,” he whispered to her.

  Now he wished that he could kiss her, wished that she had looked the way she did now back then.

  Emma leaned in to kiss him on the cheek, but at the last second Emma moved and he ended up kissing her on the mouth.

  “Sorry,” he whispered against her lips and pulled away from her.

  “I don’t w
ant you to be sorry Steven,” Emma murmured to him, looking him in the eye and kissing him softly on the lips.

  He allowed her to kiss him, felt his heart racing as her soft lips pressed against his but then he pushed her away from gently.

  “We can’t do this,” he told her softly, feeling his cock getting hard inside his pants and he knew that she could see it.

  “Maybe next time,” she laughed and winked at him before getting off the couch and heading up to the room across from his.

  “Eight tomorrow morning. I need you to try on some bathing suits!” he shouted up at her, he wanted to get the show started.

  “Tomorrow morning!” she called back and he heard the bedroom door she went into shut softly.

  Steven’s head was pounding. He couldn’t believe that he had kissed her. That he had allowed her to kiss him. Shaking his head, he had to make sure that it didn’t happen again. After all, they were siblings, stepsiblings. but he thought it was the same thing.

  “What a night,” he muttered as he got off the couch himself and headed up the stairs to his room.

  He heard her television on as he went to his room and shut the door behind him. Though he knew it was wrong when he got into bed, he felt a smile crawl across his face.

  Chapter 4

  Steven had meant what he said and when he got up at seven that morning, he was surprised to see that Emma was already to go. Her hair was washed, her make-up was on and she was wearing a white robe. He couldn’t help but wonder if there were any clothes under the robe that she was wearing.

  “You told me to be ready so here I am,” Emma grinned at him, sitting at the kitchen table with a hot cup of coffee in front of her.

  “Did you save me any?” he asked, looking at the cup in front of her.

  “There’s a pot, you don’t have maids?” She narrowed her eyes at him, her mother had all kinds of maids when she was living with her.