She stayed busy for quite some time, and when her stomach got the best of her, she sought Alex in the kitchen, who provided her with a gourmet salad. She ate quickly and guzzled some water, knowing she didn’t have time to dawdle, and she hugged Alex. “I’ll miss you, and please know that, if I can match your salary, I want you to come cook for me. Or at least teach me how to make a few things so I can survive this world!”
Alex laughed and hugged her. “You give me a call when you get settled, and we’ll see what we can do.”
With a smirk at how easily she seemed to be enticing the help away from Gary Carmichael, she headed back upstairs to continue her rushed packing job. Callie had to start moving boxes out of her room into the office so she could maneuver around the furniture to pack everything else. How had she collected so much stuff? Her room didn’t look cluttered, but then, a lot of the décor rested on a surface, hung on the wall, or sat on a shelf above.
Damn, she’d have to figure out how to take down the shelves that lined every wall of her room a foot below the ceiling. They were coming with her, too!
By early afternoon, Callie needed a break. She’d done a lot of damage on her room and only had electronics left to pack here. From this point, she had to move on to the library, and she didn’t exactly relish the idea of packing all the books. Those were going to be heavy boxes, and it would be a back breaking up and down job that involved ladders and squatting and…
Callie fell back on her bed, already drenched in sweat. She was going to stop, assess and evaluate, and take a shower. She needed to go to the bathroom anyway, so she might as well get rid of the sweat and cool down in a room temperature shower. Gathering some cooler clothes from her closet – a tank top and a pair of short-shorts that would allow her body to breathe a little more as she worked – Callie stripped to her bra and panties, left her room and crossed the hall to the gym. Here was where she’d been so glad to see her stepbrother leave when she was a child. Everything else about her wing of the house was separate – her room, her library, her balcony.
But the two suites of rooms that consisted of bedrooms, enormous walk-in closets, and the studies shared a gym and bathroom. The bathroom was the size of most people’s master bedrooms and contained a whirlpool tub, a standup glassed in shower with multiple nozzles that sprayed from above and all around, and a huge vanity with his and hers sinks. But her toiletries had spread across the entire vanity with the lack of need to share the space after Keegan was gone, and she’d had this entire side of the house to herself for the last twenty years.
She’d asked one time if she could have Keegan’s rooms, too, and while Gary didn’t get along with his son or even seem to care about the kid he’d sent overseas, he insisted on keeping the rooms exactly as Keegan had left them. Callie peeked in every now and then, finding it odd that a kid who hadn’t yet hit puberty didn’t have some comic book theme to his room or model dinosaurs up on the shelves around his room. It looked like a cross between a stuffy teenager and a very nerdy adult had lived there, with dark chocolate and tan sheets and modern art hanging on the walls.
At the time she’d asked, Callie had wanted to paint the whole room purple and turn it into a princess castle. She thought about that, remembering how she’d pictured having a canopy bed and clouds and stars painted on the walls and ceiling, and as she walked through the gym toward the bathroom, she chuckled at what she imagined would be the look on Keegan’s face if he came home to that.
The geeky boy she remembered probably would have pouted his bottom lip, gone to his father, and told him what a nasty trick Callie and her friends had played on him because they thought he was a dork. She’d grown up a lot over the years, but Callie couldn’t help laughing at the image. Everyone still carried a little child in them somewhere. Besides, she was plenty mature for her age. She didn’t need to be anymore of a grownup.
She reached for the door handle to the bathroom and pushed it open, confused as to why it was steamy until she looked up.
Callie froze. This couldn’t be real. She must have fallen asleep on her bed and dreamed it. But if she was dreaming, would her panties suddenly seem too tight, and would there be moisture leaking into them? She’d had plenty of wet dreams before and never had a reaction that felt this real.
Chapter Five
The shower door stood open, and the sexy man in front of her still had droplets of water all over his body. His black hair hung wet around his face, which was chiseled to fine angles and plains with lips so perfectly shaped she wanted to not only kiss them but eat them. They had to taste like strawberries fresh from the vine on a hot summer day.
But Callie wasn’t even as interested in that amazing face as she was the fantastic body. Every muscle was deeply lined, and while none of them stuck out like a bodybuilder who’d juiced up, they were all tight and well developed, with not an ounce of fat there to cover up the unbelievable definition. By the time her eyes slid over the washboard abs, all Callie could think about was licking all that water off him.
But it didn’t end there. Even soft after a hot shower, she could tell he was beyond well hung, and she had an impulse to drop to her knees and suck him till he was hard, just to see how long he could actually get. His legs were just as toned, and his hands looked like they could bring her with a single touch. Her loins caught fire, and her pulse quickened to a point that, had she been in the shape her stepfather was in, she would have keeled over from a heart attack.
She imagined that body on top of her, his cock hard and thrusting inside while her tongue traced every indentation between muscles. She nearly came right there, just from the stimulation of the view, and when she finally made it back over his strong arms and broad shoulders to his face, it didn’t help to find that he was staring at her with the same hunger.
For the first time in her life, Callie felt exposed and vulnerable, this guy’s expression much too predatory for her comfort, and she fell back against the door, using it to hold herself up as she fought the urge to say, take me now.
As she got a little bit of sense back, she stared into his eyes rather than at his cock, which she could see getting longer out of her peripheral vision, and that devastating blue made her gulp. He seemed to be looking right through her, and she could almost see him picturing her bent over the bench press while he pounded into her, or maybe riding him as he sat upright on the military press. She would have done anything he wanted, if he’d been a stranger. At least, a complete stranger.
Keegan Carmichael – or Pierce, she supposed – wasn’t someone she really knew, but he definitely was not a stranger.
Her lust was wildly out of control, and she started to step forward to push him back in the shower so she could climb in with him. If they were under the hot spray, any sin they committed would be instantly washed away, right? Keegan obviously felt the draw, too. He hadn’t made a move yet to cover himself, and if Callie was going to resist the urge to touch him, he really needed to do so. His cock was flawless as far as she could tell, and it was growing quickly.
As if someone had snapped their fingers, Keegan suddenly moved, turning around and wrapping the towel around his waist. When he turned back, he still dripped from the shower, which enticed Callie all the same, but the biggest draw was taken away, out of sight. She could still envision his lower body; she’d burned it into her mind. But now, it was just awkward.
“Callie.” He said her name as a statement, his voice raspy and deep, and it rolled over her body with a shiver, like a caress. His eyes still roamed up and down her body, and Callie was again aware of her state of undress, more so now that Keegan was covered.
She pulled the towel in front of her, blocking his view for what it was worth, and nodded with short, jerking movements of her head. Licking her suddenly dry lips with a tongue that felt like sandpaper, she replied, “Keegan,” with the same affirmative tone. “I was told you were coming this next week.”
He smirked, his eyes twinkling with mirth and sarcasm, and the h
alf smile was enough to make Callie want to melt into the floor. She clung to the doorknob behind her for support. “I was. But I don’t exactly want to please my father, so I thought I’d take an earlier flight and give him a not so pleasant surprise.”
Great. In his little plan, he’d managed to give Callie an all too pleasant surprise…and she couldn’t do a damn thing about it. Not sure what to say, she swallowed and averted her eyes slightly. “You look…different than I remember.”
When she looked back at him, he’d obviously been staring at her because his cheeks reddened and he instantly averted his eyes. “I got rid of the glasses, and I found some activities I actually like. I snowboard, and I train horses. Those things take a lot of strength, so I have to work out more than I really care to. But it seems to have done me well in making the scrawny pale guy disappear.” He nodded at her, giving her another onceover. “You certainly grew up. You were always pretty, but…” Rather than complete the sentence, he just gave her a look that was more effective in raising her temperature than standing next to a bonfire. Now could she jump him? They’d exchanged niceties, and she really, really wanted to see him fully erect.
He stared at her expectantly, but Callie didn’t know what he wanted. With a teasing look, his soulful eyes dancing, he told her, “Listen, I can probably get out of your way faster so you can take a shower if you give me about five minutes.”
Feeling completely stupid, something she wasn’t the least bit familiar with, Callie groaned inwardly. This was far more awkward than any situations she’d ever faced. “Sure, I’ll just…wait in the gym.” She fumbled with the doorknob behind her, unable to take her eyes off him, and backed out of the room. Once she’d finally shut the door, she released a huge breath, as if she’d been holding it throughout the entire encounter.
Not trusting her legs to support her, Callie sat on the leg press machine. Being low to the ground usually helped when she was this dizzy. But as she rested her legs up in the air against the push plate, she imagined spreading them and letting Keegan straddle her right there. It was a perfect position for both of them to get a workout without feeling the pain.
She jumped up and regretted it as her head spun, and she moved to the curl bench, leaning over it and putting her head in her hands. But the images wouldn’t stop. She opened her eyes and considered the bar in front of her. She stood and bent over it, finding it incredibly comfortable. It hit at just the right spot on her stomach so she could lean on it and let Keegan stand behind her and have his way as long as he wanted. She wouldn’t even have to worry about her arms giving out from holding her weight up.
Moving away from all the machines, Callie finally decided that simply leaning against the wall was her best bet, and she walked toward one to do so, just as the bathroom door opened. Keegan stepped out, his hair still damp but loosely styled, and now, that lock that fell over his forehead wasn’t geeky but sexy as hell. He was fully dressed in a plain gray T-shirt that was just fitted enough to show his perfect vee shape with a narrow waist and broad chest, as well as the flat stomach, and a pair of jeans that made the swell of his ass perfectly squeezable and clung tight enough to accent the package he carried at his groin.
If Callie’s throat was parched before, now she felt like her body made sand instead of saliva. He gestured over his shoulder with a jerk of his thumb, still not controlling the way he assessed her, and gave her that devastating half smile. “It’s all yours. When you’re done, maybe we can catch up a little. I’ll help you pack later, if I take up too much of your time.”
She nodded, not trusting her voice, and ducked into the bathroom. She couldn’t look at him anymore and resist. What was she thinking? She couldn’t be attracted to her stepbrother. Blood or not, it was just wrong! People would be disgusted.
As she got in the shower for the second time today, she inhaled and could smell him. The cologne he’d put on, the Brut shampoo and conditioner he’d used on the hair that women would give their firstborn child to have. It made her core ache, and she crossed her legs, squeezing them tightly together in an attempt to ignore her need. She had tried showerheads in the past, and they did nothing to ease her desire. It would only be worse now, when she was more turned on than she could remember being in years, or maybe ever.
Cactus, she thought. Cantaloupe, coffee creamer, peanuts. That didn’t work; she thought about spreading peanut butter and jelly over Keegan’s chest and eating it off slowly. Mom! Mother, grandmother, old women, Betty White. That didn’t work, either – Betty White made a lot of sexual remarks, and every one gave her another dirty vision of Keegan.
Cartoons! Mickey Mouse, Daffy Duck, Popeye. No, Popeye made her think of muscles, and muscles made her think of…
She rushed through the rest of her shower, toweled off with more aggression than ever, and yanked her clothes on. She would not go seek out her stepbrother to ‘catch up’ on old times. There was nothing to catch up on. They had never been close, their parents were divorcing, and she had maybe eighteen hours left to get her things packed.
Wait. Divorced.
That meant that, technically, in a month or however long it took, Keegan wouldn’t be her stepbrother anymore. Maybe…no, damn it. She hated Gary more and more. Why had he insisted on adopting her? He didn’t like her, never had. Was it really so important for all of them to have the same last name? When Keegan had chosen to use his mother’s maiden name, Gary hadn’t protested. She grunted, assuming it was just another way Gary could exact control, especially over women.
Back in her room, she locked the door, making sure she didn’t have any unexpected visitors. She had work to do and couldn’t suffer the distraction. At least, that’s what she told herself. Honestly, she was going to be distracted either way. She started simply throwing things in boxes without even looking at them. Her body itched to be scratched, and she had no outlet for it. That made her angry, and she couldn’t concentrate on what she was doing. She nearly broke a very delicate dragon statue because she wasn’t being careful enough.
At that point, she knew this was a drastic problem. She needed to face it down, and then, she would be alright. That was the answer, Callie thought. She’d find Keegan, face him for a few minutes and remind herself of all his geeky interests by holding a ten minute conversation, and she’d be over it.
With a sigh of relief, Callie left her room and hesitantly knocked on Keegan’s door. There was no answer, and she tried his study room with the same results. She checked the gym and found it empty, so she sighed and set off for a game of hide and seek she hadn’t planned on playing. She started by going downstairs. She didn’t imagine he would have gone into his father’s wing of the house; she never did, not even to find her mother. She would rather send her mother a text and draw her out of there.
She went back down the spiral staircase, hating it more than ever, and she turned toward the sunroom. But something stopped her, and she looked over her shoulder toward the kitchen. If she didn’t find Keegan there, she would play it off as needing a cup of coffee to reinvigorate herself so she could keep packing. Callie didn’t want anyone to think she was searching aimlessly for him.
Interestingly enough, he sat at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in his hand and a plate of deviled eggs in front of him. He looked up when she came in the room, and Callie had to swallow a whimper. In the bright light here, without the steam of the shower, he was the picture of lust. His eyes were at least three shades lighter than she remembered, and as his hair dried and remained that jet black, it only served to highlight the stark lines of his face. She could imagine five o’clock shadow on his chin, tickling and leaving a rash as he sucked her nipples and nibbled at her neck.
Turning away from him, Callie reached for a coffee mug with her hand shaking. She forced her motor control to return and carefully poured her brew. “Are there any more of those?” she asked quietly, motioning to the eggs.
“Alex made a huge batch,” he told her. “They’re my favorite. Have a
s many as you want. The platter’s in the fridge.”
She closed her eyes, trying to ignore the effect his voice had on her. Bumps crawled over her skin. This was not alright, and she felt more awkward by the minute. She could feel him watching her as she moved around the kitchen, and she had a hard time not making jerky motions. She was never graceful under observation.
When she sat down, she finally felt a bit better, and she tried to smile at him, though she still didn’t want to meet his eyes. “So, have you been in Switzerland this whole time?”
He shook his head, looking far more comfortable than Callie felt. That wasn’t fair, was it? “I’ve been there most of the time, but I spent a couple of months in Germany, a few weeks in Spain, and a couple of days in France.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Just a couple of days?”
He made a disgusted face. “Compared to Spain and Germany, it wasn’t my cup of tea. But mostly, I’ve been in the Alps.” Callie gazed up at him, and that was a mistake. His stare pierced her, the pools of blue now making her almost drool rather than drying her up. “Have you travelled much?”
Callie barely heard the question and had to look down at her plate to process her response. She knew she was mumbling like a shy child, but she didn’t know what else to do, other than ask how he felt about a quickie with a virtual stranger who happened to be his adopted sister. “I’ve done a little travelling, but mostly, it’s been domestic. I went to Cancun and hated it. I went to the Dominican Republic and loved it. And the Canary Islands were amazing. But otherwise, I haven’t left the States.”
Erotica: Handcuffing Inhibitions (New Adult Romance Bundle)(Erotic Sex Taboo Box Set) Page 11
