He pet him, giving me a good chance to enjoy the view of his body in those clothes. Finally he turned back to me. “So how are you settling in, Cara? You finding everything ok?”
“Uh, yes, I guess so! Thanks so much for letting me stay here. It means a lot right now.”
“Not a problem Cara, it’s been far too long.” Adam’s eyes alit on mine again, and I was ashamed to admit I felt a thrill pass through me. Where were the dorky glasses, where was the awkwardness? He took my arm as Daniel and the others unpacked the car and brought everything in. “Should we have a drink, sit down and talk, and maybe throw the ball for the pup?”
“Sounds great.”
Adam grabbed the ball from my hand and easily lofted it a few hundred feet across the estate and almost to the wide strip of forest that outlined his property. Sparky took off like a shot, happy as could be. Meanwhile, I held onto Adam’s arm, trying to ignore the ripped musculature underneath the soft, rich cashmere of his sweater.
My step, the hottest guy I had ever met.
Chapter 7
We sat in front of the pool, which in turn overlooked the lake view. It was something to see the vast body of water from the perspective of deck of the underwater-lit pool. It was so manicured, and the lake so wild, yet the juxtaposition made each look even more enticing. Whoever had designed Adam’s estate had the harmony of the landscape in his mind and as such the view was amazing. But me, I was mostly trying to keep my eyes of my step. Adam had not only become gorgeous, he had also developed charm, and I couldn’t find a way not to feel attraction for him. But I had to stay in this house for the time being, regardless of how I felt about him, and I had to make the best of it. I didn’t want to take advantage of him and his kindness, and it was terribly embarrassing to be having these feelings for someone I was practically related to. I mean, not technically, just by marriage, but we still lived together when our parents were married. I wondered: Did he see me only as a sister? Or as something potentially more?
I freshened up before our cocktail on the deck, letting my hair loose and wearing a strappy dress, a little mascara and lip gloss, and sandals. Did he notice? Were his eyes lingering on me a little too long? Or was it just my wishful thinking?
Conversation was easier than I had expected. We discussed his rise to fame in his field, and he told me all the things he had done for his business. He had undergone a lot of change, he said, in order to inspire the employees of the company he had founded, to follow him. It wasn’t enough in this day and age to be just smart, he said. One had to be charismatic, one had to strive always to be the best version of himself. Only that way would the employees be inspired themselves to follow, and inspiration was the only real impetus to effort. I couldn’t disagree. He said without inspiration, one was just following plans, only to get secondary rewards, ready to quit at any time if something slightly better came along. When one was inspired, the job itself was a reward. That’s why he had undergone so much revolution in himself. He was trying to conquer all his fears, and be a real leader.
“Ad, is that why you had that painting done? That portrait in the hall?”
“You noticed that?” He laughed, hiding his face momentarily with his hand. “Oh God, that’s embarrassing. That was a really awkward gift I got from a Japanese corporation. They wanted to do something to show me what I really meant to their company. I am sort of stuck with it since, if I got rid of the thing, it would be seen as an insult, so that’s out of the question. I’ll keep it up as long as there is any chance they might visit, but after that, its fate is up in the air!” He blushed a little, which I found even more charming.
“Or maybe I’ll keep it.” I found myself saying. “You know, it’s less weird for someone else to own a portrait of you, and you know, I rather like it.”
He laughed. “Yeah sure, Cara.” He side-eyed me. “Hey, how ‘bout a swim before the sun goes down?”
“Sounds lovely, but I don’t have a bathing suit.”
“No problem, there are a few in the pool house that you can change into. They’re all new, so no worries about wearing something another person has had on. Once a person picks one, they just take it home when they’re done and the staff picks up a few more.”
“Well, ok,” I grinned. I walked to the pool house, and changed into a black bikini. It was designer, made by Rodarte, gorgeous, and thank heaven it fit. I peeked around the corner to see Adam on the other side of the pool, now in his swimsuit as well, his perfectly sculpted body nearly taking my breath away. He saw me looking and smiled. I smiled back, knees going a little weak. What the heck, I asked myself, this is Adam, what is going on?
“Race you!” I said, to break the tension, and started running along the deck to the pool and jumping in. Adam executed a perfect dive, coming up right in front of me. He looked beautiful, dripping wet, smiling. I had the urge to wrap myself around him, and I wondered if I weren’t the only one – was there something in his eyes, as well? Luckily Sparky started barking at that moment. He had never seen anyone swimming before, so I am sure he was a little worried that we splashed into a big pool of water.
“Come on, boy! Come on Sparky!” said my step as Sparky ran back and forth along the poolside. “Does he swim?” He asked me.
“Your guess is as good as mine. Come on Sparks!” I called and Sparky screwed up all his courage and jumped into the waiting water, swimming up to us, a little frantic. We spent the next hour jumping in and out, throwing the ball for Sparky, and to be perfectly honest, I did a lot of drooling over Adam’s body.
“It’s great to see you,” said Adam over another cocktail. We were wrapped in towels and sitting again on the porch. “You look fantastic. You’ve really grown up.”
“Have I?” I asked. “Until today I still lived with mom. Now I have to figure out what to do with my life, to support myself.”
“Yeah, Sometimes that’s not easy,” Adam traced the rim of his cup. His hand looked so lovely – it was strong, yet delicate. I couldn’t help but imagine his hands on me touching the edges of my bathing suit that way - and then slipping under them. I shook my head to clear my mind of those thoughts - the cocktails weren’t helping in that regard. “But you’ll figure it out. You’re a smart person. And you can stay here as long as you need. As you can see there’s a heck of a lot of room, and nobody to take it up.”
“What about you, aren’t you seeing anyone?”
“Nobody special,” said Adam, grinning. “I don’t have a whole heck of a lot of time to meet people outside of business, and to be honest, I haven’t liked the ones I’ve met all that much.”
“I feel like I hardly even got to know you when our folks were married. And now you seem so different.”
“I’m really not, you know. I’ve just come out of my shell. I was shy back then and losing my mom was pretty hard to deal with, especially when it seemed like dad had moved on so quickly. No offense to your mom. She’s a great lady and I am happy that I am in a position to help her now when she needs it, since she tried to be so welcoming back then to me. But, I’m not gonna lie, it was tough. If I hadn’t thrown myself into my work, I don’t know what I would have done. Especially once dad died, too. I guess I’m an orphan now.”
I was worried that I had brought up something more painful than I meant to. “Hey! You want to watch a movie? I really got into some of the Bond films you had.”
Adam immediately brightened. “Oh that sounds fun! Goldfinger? Casino Royale? Anything! I’ve got ‘em all!”
We went into the house, put on some comfy clothes and settled in the home theater. Adam started the movie, and right on cue, Daniel came with two bowls of popcorn and some other snacks. We sank into the plush seats and let the adventures of 007 wash over us. The lights automatically dimmed and the movie started on the big screen.
Later on, I woke up. I guess the cocktails had gotten the better of us, as I was asleep on Adam’s chest, and his arm was around me. I could smell him again, a mixture of cologne, chlo
rine, and his own natural scent. He was warm and soft. I pulled away to look at his face, his cheekbones, his lips, his lashes. He was truly beautiful. I don’t know what came over me but as he was asleep, I kissed him, just once, very gently but on the lips. I guess I wanted to see what it was like, and figured it was my chance. They were soft, tender. Warm. Then,I extricated myself, and went back down the hall to bed, tingles remaining on my lips.
The next morning I was really embarrassed. Why had I kissed my step? And fallen asleep on him! Arg! I didn’t mean to do such a thing. He may not be my brother now, but he was! And besides he was the only thing I had in this world to help me. My mother certainly wasn’t up to the task. She was having her own problems, dealing with Roger and his situation. The last thing I wanted to do was to become some weird unstable version of my mother, flitting from man to man. At least she had an excuse, since she was in a real relationship with my stepdad, a good relationship that would have endured had it not been for the tragedy of his early death.
Still, I traced my lips with the tip of my finger, thinking of the softness of his, thinking of his delicate and strong finger on the rim of the glass. My hand moved down, and in the plush luxury of what were probably 1000 thread-count sheets, I slid my hand over the silk of my panties, and touched myself to the thought of his lips and hands touching me. My stepbrother, my superman, my gorgeous Adam. His body, by the pool…I ran my other fingertips over my hardening nipples, feeling a shiver as I touched their tips, pinched them, thinking about him wanting me too, feeling his arms around me in the theater, thoughts that led to fantasies of him grabbing me, holding me against the plush red wall, turning me around and shoving his hand between my legs as he pushed his own hardness against my ass, him bending me over the pool chairs, pushing aside the bathing suit and entering me, his cock ready, its skin petal-soft, his hands grabbing my tits and pinching, squeezing. I came hard, moaning his name.
Oh my god. Was that someone at my door? I put the sheets over my head, inexplicably. My eyes were wide. I was panicking.
“I’m busy!” I yelled, fully flustered. There was no answer, but I think I heard faint footsteps retreating from the door. Maybe it was Daniel or one of the other help, but oh God, what if it were Adam?
Chapter 8
I jumped in the shower, inwardly cringing. There was no sense on just hiding forever, I figured. Ok, maybe I spent a little extra time on my hair and makeup, but that was just because, uh, the place was so nice, and I wanted to fit in. Yeah, right. For real, I wasn’t sure if I were stalling, or if I were trying to look hot for Adam. Or some combination of both. That was probably it.
The first thing I felt I ought to do was look for a job. I couldn’t sponge off my brother forever, and my current job was not enough.
I went into the (thankfully) deserted kitchen, seeing that there were recent remains of coffee and toast. Likely my brother’s, as who else would be allowed to leave their dishes, besides me? Oh God, that means he could have heard me. My cheeks flamed with embarrassment. No matter, I will definitely look for a better job, I’ll just go on the library computer and apply for some things, tell people I am looking for work, and before you know it, I will get my own room in a shared place, and this incredible stupidity will be behind me.
I poured a coffee and grabbed a banana. In my current state of embarrassment, it was the only thing I figured I would be able to stomach, and besides, why go for a leisurely breakfast at the moment. Sure, the early sun was beautiful on the lake, but I had bigger fish to fry. My brother is the billionaire, not me.
I touched the mouse to awaken the computer, figuring I would continue my searches from the last days. I clicked on the history to pick up the job sites where I was considering applying. Oh my god. Adam must have used this thing since I did. One particular site that came up since I had last used the computer, looked, shall we say, a little… sketchy. I opened up his last Google search, shocked to find what was basically a description of me – my hair color, my eye color, my body type… and the sites he clicked on after that, were all, well, kinda porny. Nothing really weird or anything but still, they were really sexy, with girls who unmistakably looked like me. A million thoughts ran through my head. Was Adam as attracted to me as I was him? Was this a little weird? Did I care? After all, he was pretty amazing.
I had to jump up and down as I had so much nervous energy I didn’t know what to do with it. At least, these carpets were so soft I figured nobody would be able to tell. But I didn’t count on my stepbrother walking by.
“Cara, what are you doing?” said Adam, poking his head in the room with a smile. I froze. His eyes flickered over to the computer, where he saw his pages open.
“Uh, excuse that,” he said, quickly running over to the computer to clear the history. “Wow, that’s embarrassing,” he laughed nervously, closing out the windows. “That’ll teach me to be negligent about clearing my browser history! You’d think I was enough of a computer person that that wouldn’t happen.”
“Oh God, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t snooping,” I said quickly. “Honest. I wouldn’t do that. I didn’t know that you had used the computer – I thought I was the last one to do so. I’m really sorry!” My face was as red as his. “I wanted to look for a job. I’ve inconvenienced you enough!”
“Cara, you’re not an inconvenience.” He ran his hand through his hair and for a second I could see him as his teenaged self, when he used to feel really embarrassed and he’d do that. “It’s nice to have someone else living here. It gets pretty lonely when I get home, with only Daniel to talk to. And besides, I had a fantastic time yesterday with you. Swimming was incredible. And watching movies was a blast. I’m really sorry I’ve made you uncomfortable with these websites, but after you kissed me last night, I – well, I didn’t know what to do with myself.”
“Oh God, you were awake? Are you serious?” I hid my head in my hands. “I don’t know what came over me. You’re just so damned gorgeous. I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life,” I whimpered.
“Well that makes two of us. At least there’s that.” Adam smiled winningly, revealing a set of beautifully white teeth. Damn him for being so attractive. “It’s guess it’s dangerous having a beautiful woman like you stay with me. We could get in all kinds of bad situations.”
Beautiful woman? Maybe I am in more trouble than I thought. I was getting turned on, thinking of him wanting me. Body, why do you betray me like this?
“Hug it out?” Adam said, coming up with his arms outstretched. I couldn’t exactly say no. Nor did I really want to, if I’m honest with myself. He pulled me into his arms, and I melted against his body. I didn’t mean to, I didn’t want to. Well I did want to. But I knew I shouldn’t. He just felt so damned good, his body fit with mine so perfectly, his strong arms around me, his body enveloping me, I needed to press myself against him. It was like when I kissed him last night, there was just something much stronger than me that was pushing and pulling me toward Adam.
He was so close I could hear his heartbeat, as fast and ragged as his breath became. His arms tightened around me, pressing me against him with one broad hand, while the other came up into my hair, holding me to him.
“You’re shaking,” he whispered.
“I …am?” I looked up at him, at his soft lips, his blue eyes, and was transfixed. I couldn’t move, and neither of us did for a moment, until he leaned toward me almost imperceptibly. He pressed his lips against mine, nearly still, but the energy between us seemed to course back and forth, every molecule in our bodies alive. I couldn’t stop myself, and breaking the tension I kissed him back, our mouths sparking electric at the movement, his lips parting, his soft tongue touching mine, tentatively. Mine met his and they gloriously intertwined.
I thought my heart would burst, he was so beautiful, his skin, his hair, his mouth. We kissed hotly, ardently, and he pressed me against the oaken computer desk, my legs falling open, his hardness pushed so close to me. I had never felt so completely immers
ed in anyone before, his hands everywhere, my hands reaching for him, voracious.
He began kissing my neck, pulling gently at my collar, exposing more and more skin. Getting nearer to my nipples, he looked up at me for confirmation and I grabbed the back of his head and pushed it to my chest. He pulled my lace bra aside and took my nipple in his mouth, circling it with his tongue, sucking, nibbling, filling me with stars. I threw my head back, pushing my sex against him, grinding against his cock. He lowered me to the floor, pulling up my shirt and undoing my jeans, which I slid off. Even though I had never expected that this would happen, I was glad I had taken some extra time to dress, since under my jeans was my best underwear, a lacy thong, which he growled when he saw. His mouth trailed down my belly to the panties, and he kept them on, putting his hands around me and grabbing my ass as he kissed the crotch of my underwear, his hot breath filling me with desire. I played with his hair, as he teased me, wanting to push his face closer, but letting him set the pace. He finally eased the panties off, the slight roughness of the lace dragging along my soft skin, prickling my senses even more, before enveloping my pussy in his mouth, and sucking on my clit. I squirmed, I cried out… my stepbrother Adam. My superman, my savior, my love, making me come, and come hard. My mind swirled with pleasure, with desire, with need.
Stepbrother Rogues: A Steamy Three-Story Collection (A Bundle of Standalone Stories featuring Rebel Stepbrothers) Page 2
