Side Swiped By My Step Brother (10 page)

              “But that still doesn’t mean I want to—”

              He doesn’t let me finish. He lets go of my wrist and grabs my hips, lifting me up onto the bathroom counter. My breath catches in my throat as my shoulders collide with the mirror. He’s kissing my neck, his hands all over me, and I wrap my legs around his torso and run my hands through his hair.

              “I don’t want to be doing this,” I gasp, but we both know that’s not true. And if he’s not actually married, then . . . it’s not as bad. And he’s not technically my stepbrother yet.

              He starts moving lower, kissing my collarbone, between my breasts, making a trail of kisses down my stomach. He doesn’t take my g-string off, but just pushes it to the side before he starts swirling his tongue over my clit, sliding first one, then a second finger into me. I arch my back, pressing against the cold glass of the mirror. As he moves his tongue over me, his fingers inside me, I look out the bathroom door, into the room I’m staying in, where the door is slightly ajar. Anyone could walk by at any moment. They’d have to actually push the door open a bit to be able to see anything, but the bathroom light is on, making me feel like I’m under a spotlight any anyone could be watching.

              But any concern I have about that is quickly diminished by that pleasurable tingling that’s threatening to overtake me like a rogue wave. I have to bite down on my lip to keep from crying out, and I do so hard that I taste my own blood in my mouth. I twist my fingers around his hair, wrap my legs around his neck. He groans, and the vibration of the sound reverberates throughout my whole body.

              He pulls his head back just a little, takes his fingers out and rubs the slickness over my clit then back down to my pussy, sliding one finger deep inside me, just once, before pulling it back out and tracing that same path, over and over.

              I am about to come. I am about to have the most intense orgasm I have ever had. I can feel it in the air, inside me, it’s like this static electricity, crackling and fizzing and building to this ferocious culmination—

              He stops.

              All of a sudden he stops, pulling his hand back, his head back. He stands, and I slump down against the mirror, my ass sliding off the side of the counter, my hips bucking. He stands there, watching me pant and writhe.

              “All right, darling?” he says after a moment.

              “What . . . why . . . what are you doing? Why did you stop?” My voice is shaking.               He wipes the back of his hand across his mouth, licks one of the fingers that had just been inside me. But he doesn’t make any move to continue.

              “Please,” I say. “That felt so fucking good. That was incredible.”

              “What was?”

              “You. What you were doing. I can’t . . . you can’t just stop like that. I feel like I’m going to explode.” And I do. It’s like there’s this energy in me, that energy and sensation that had been racing toward a climax, is now just circulating through me on this endless, frenetic loop. My inner thighs tremble. My brain feels as though it can’t form a coherent thought, other than to beg him to touch me again.

              “Please,” I say.

              “What was that?”

              “Please.”

              “Please what?”

              “Please . . . touch me again. Do whatever you were doing. Or fuck me.”

              He starts to unbuckle his pants. “You want me to fuck you?”

              “Yes.”

              He pushes his pants down. “Say it.”

              “I want you to fuck me.”

              I scoot back so I’m all the way on the counter. He comes forward, cock leading the way. He pushes my legs apart, lifting one of my knees, then the other, and resting them over his shoulders. He leans into me. Once the head of his dick is in, he thrusts his hips forward, and goes all the way in, his lower torso pressed right up against my ass. He fucks me like that, hard and fast, my tailbone grinding against the hard marble of the counter.

              My breath comes in shorter and shorter gasps the harder he fucks me. That frenetic energy that felt like it had no place to go earlier is building, centered right in the deepest part of my pelvis, radiating out in all directions. His shoulder muscles strain, the veins in his neck stand out. He’s growling something into my ear that might be words or maybe it’s just nonsense, I can’t even tell anymore because that feeling exploding through me like an earthquake, shockwaves of pleasure rolling down the length of my body. I clench my fists, curl my toes, and bite down on the hard bulk of his shoulder muscle to keep from shrieking. Jai comes a minute later, hips bucking, his back slick with sweat. He lets my legs fall off his shoulders and he sort of collapses on me, and we half sit-half lie against the bathroom counter like that for several minutes, our bodies entwined, and it’s like I can’t tell where mine ends and his begins. And as my breathing starts to regulate, I can’t help but wonder how it is that something could feel so good yet be so wrong at the same time.

Chapter Fourteen

Emma

I wake up, and for a second feel as though I can’t move. It’s like my brain is sending the signals to my limbs, but they’re all in such horrific pain that they’re just lying there, motionless. My entire body aches and I realize I’m lying on a cold tile floor, a bathroom floor, to be exact, Jai next to me, my head halfway resting on his upper arm, my neck bent at insanely awkward angle.

              And someone, my mother, I believe, is calling everyone for breakfast.

              “Ouch.” I lift my head a few inches and the pain shoots down from my neck all the way to my lower back. Jai stirs. We’re both naked. He’s got an erection. My mother’s voice is getting closer.

              “Emma? Jess? Jai? Breakfast is ready!”

              “We have to get up!” I whisper. The thought of my mother pushing open my bedroom door and seeing us lying on the bathroom floor, me naked, seeing Jai and his erection is the impetus I need to get moving, despite the violent protests from my body. It’s not even from the sex—well, okay, maybe a little—but from passing out on the bathroom floor, which is all fine and good when the post-coital endorphins are freely flowing through you; not so much many hours later, however.

              “Come here, you,” Jai says, reaching for me. I scramble out of his grasp.

              “My mother could walk through that door at any moment. Get back in your room!”

              “She’s been going on and on about us getting acquainted—we could show her we’ve really taken her advice.” He grins, reaching for me again, but I just dart out of the bathroom, pulling the door shut behind me. For all I know he’s going to lie there and jerk off and not care who happens to see.

              I fling the sheets back on the bed and jump in, my head hitting the pillow just as my mother knocks softly at the door.

              “Emma? You awake?”

              “Sort of,” I say, trying to sound groggy, which isn’t too difficult, considering.

              The door opens partially and Mom pops her head around. “Zack and I got up early and made breakfast. And it’s getting late enough that I don’t feel bad waking everyone up and asking them to come down so we can all have breakfast together, while the food is still hot. Just throw on a pair of those yoga pants you love and a tank top or something—no need to get all dolled up. Not yet, anyway.”

              She winks and then disappears. I lie there for a moment, long enough to hear her knock on Jai’s door and start to give him the same spiel. He says something in return that I can’t quite make out and she starts chortling. Oh my god. I don’t know if I will make it through these next two weeks.

              Forcing myself to get up, I throw on a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt. I want to go back into the bathroom to at least splash some cold water on my face, but I’m afraid I’ll bump into Jai in there and we’ll end up—

              Stop it.

              I can’t let myself think about any of that anymore. Because if I think about it, the likelihood of it happening again is greater and greater. And I don’t want that. Well, maybe part of me does, but I can’t let it happen. I can’t just give in to some primitive, animal desire. This is what I repeat to myself over and over as I go downstairs, the aroma of coffee luring me toward the kitchen.

              But before I can reach the kitchen, my mother intercepts me and redirects me to the patio. Now that it’s daylight, I can see how close the house is to the lake. It really is right in the backyard, the sunlight glinting off the deep blue water, making it sparkle and shine like a giant sapphire. The backyard lawn is achingly vibrant green, and even though the lake is right there, there’s also an enormous in-ground swimming pool, with rocks and a waterfall, like something you’d expect them to have at the Playboy Mansion.

              “It’s a great place for a swim.” Jai’s tone is light and friendly. He comes and stands next to me, close enough that our shoulders are almost touching but not quite. I take a step to the side, putting more distance between us.

              “The lake or the pool?” I ask, trying to match his easygoing tone, and failing miserably. My own voice sounds uptight and forced.

              “Both. And I would like to reiterate my father’s offer last night. If you’re at all interested in going out on the lake—be it by boat, jetski, or any other means—I’d be more than happy to take you.”

              “You’re so sweet!”

              Jessica has appeared, wearing a sleeveless purple sundress, looking like she actually enjoyed a decent night’s sleep and didn’t wake up naked on a cold bathroom floor. She beams at me. “I guess we lucked out getting such a nice stepbrother.”

              Mom and Zack come out before I have a chance to reply, Mom carrying a serving plate heaped with scrambled eggs, Zack with pancakes and bacon.

              “Good morning, good morning!” Zack says heartily as he sets the stuff down on the table. “Have a seat and let’s dig in! Steph and I are so happy that we’re all here together. It really is something.”

              I move to sit as far away from Jai as possible, but the table isn’t huge so I don’t have many options. Mom and Zack are at either end, so I am left with either sitting across from Jai, or sitting next to him. I try to wait for him to sit down before me, but he’s gazing out toward the lake, with what I believe to be a faux-faraway expression on his face, like he’s reliving some especially wonderful lake memory. Jessica sits down to my mother’s right. I can sit next to Jess and have Jai be across from us, or I can go to the other side of the table and take the chance that he’s going to sit next to me. And I can’t decide which is worse: being next to him or across from him, having to look directly at his face.

              He, apparently, though, is doing his best to make me choose first.

              “Em?” Mom looks at me. “You going to sit down, sweetheart?” She pats the empty spot to her left, and now I have no choice but to sit there. Jai waits another few beats and then comes and takes the seat next to me. Mom hands me a plate and I dish myself up some eggs, some bacon, and a pancake. After my scant dinner of oysters last night, I figured I’d be ravenous, but sitting so close to Jai is really the only thing I can focus on, and my stomach twists into a complicated knot.

              “This looks delicious,” Jai says, and his own plate is heaped with food. He pours himself some coffee from a silver carafe. “Can I pour you some coffee? I’m normally a tea drinker myself, but I know how much you Americans love your coffee.”

              There’s the tiniest of smirks as he says this.

              “Oh, Emma does love her coffee,” Mom says.

              “No,” Jessica says as Jai fills my coffee mug without waiting for me to actually say yes. “Emma likes coffee-flavored drinks.”

              “And what is that distinction?” Jai asks, filling the mug.

              “She doesn’t like the actual taste of coffee, but rather coffee enhanced with sweeteners and accessories. I, on the other hand, do love the true taste of coffee. So fill her up!” She pushes her mug across the table and Jai grins.

              “Ah. I see.” He pours Jess a cup and then sets the carafe down. He looks at my cup. “If that’s true and you’re going to add sugar and milk, then I do believe I overfilled your mug.”

              “It’s fine,” I say. I shoot a look at my sister, who is sipping her un-doctored black coffee. “And I don’t see what the problem is with drinking coffee with cream. Which is how I take mine—just cream.”

              “Ah, a cream lover.” Jai grins.

              “It’s like,” I continue, doing my best to ignore him, “saying that you don’t actually like hot dogs if you put ketchup and mustard on them. But who doesn’t put ketchup and mustard on their hot dog?”

              Jai’s grin widens. “You like hot dogs, too?”

              “I don’t eat hot dogs,” Jess says, shuddering. “So I don’t have a comment about that.”

              “Oh, well, Emma loves hot dogs,” Mom says.

              Jai snorts with laughter and tries to cover it up by pretending it was a cough.

              “She always has,” Mom muses. “And sweetie, if you want to eat your hot dogs with ketchup and mustard, and if you want to have your coffee with cream, then by all means, go right ahead.”

              “I’ll have to make sure to get some hot dogs for our cookout later on,” Zack says. “I didn’t know you were such a fan, Emma. I did get sausages.”

              “I reckon she probably likes sausages even more,” Jai says. “Since they’re bigger and all.”

              My jaw drops as everyone laughs, like this is the funniest thing they’ve ever heard. But no one seems to think that it’s strange or completely inappropriate, him saying something like this.

              I find that I can’t actually eat anything, but to keep myself distracted I push the food around my plate. I try not to look at Jai, try not to even see him out of the corner of my eye, but he’s right there next to me, eating his eggs, drinking his coffee, an affable smile on his face.

              “So,” Mom says. “I think we’re all going to have a really nice time here. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

              Jessica and I murmur our agreement. Zack beams.

              “This place has always been a respite of sorts,” he says. “And I’m so happy that I can share it with you. And I’m so happy that my son has made the voyage across the pond to be here with us, too.”

              “Why, I almost feel like next you’re going to tell us to all join hands and sing Kumbaya or something,” Jai says. He’s totally joking, but my mother’s eyes widen as she grins.

              “Why that’s a lovely idea!” she says. She puts her fork down. “We don’t necessarily have to sing—though if anyone feels so inspired, by all means—but yes, I would like us to all hold hands for a moment.” She spreads her arms, offering one hand to me, one to my sister.

              “Uh, Mom?” Jess says.

              “Are you serious?” I look at my mother’s outstretched palm. She gives me an encouraging nod.

              “Yes, girls, I am serious. Why don’t you just humor your mother and do this? Jess, if you just slide over a little, you’ll be able to reach Zack’s other hand, and Emma, you and Jai don’t need to move at all—”

              “Here, I’ll slide a little closer,” Jai says, and he sidles his chair over so it’s right against mine. “Let’s make it as easy for her as we can, right Stephanie?” I turn my head to look at him, right in time to see him give my mom a look that says, God, she’s difficult, isn’t she?

              “Fine,” I say. I take my mother’s hand, and Jai reaches for my other one, and then we sit there, five grown ups, holding hands. I expect that someone’s going to say something, but no one does. My insides start to squirm a bit, from the sheer ridiculousness of it. Across the table, Jessica’s expression mirrors my own, though she’s also trying to bite back a smile. Jai slips one finger around to my inner wrist and starts tracing light circles.

              “Okay,” Mom says, after what feels like forever. She lets go of my hand. Jai holds on a few seconds longer, but I pull away. He lets his arm fall, and when his hand lands on my thigh, he keeps it there. “Thank you, everyone, for indulging me. That was nice.”

              They go back to eating; Jai too, but his hand remains, inching higher and higher until his thumb is resting in my thigh crease. He presses on that sensitive muscle and I feel a twinge, though I manage to stay in my seat, face impassive.

              And somehow, his hand remains there for the rest of the meal, and no one has any clue. Not that I would want them to know, but it just seems so ironic, the way my mother keeps going on about us getting to know each other better, spending quality time bonding. When the meal is finally over, I want nothing more than a shower and a chance to try to figure out what the hell I’m doing. I can’t spend the next two weeks like this, him feeling me up at the breakfast table, us having sex in the bathroom, knowing that we’re going to be stepsiblings.

              I escape upstairs and hope that Jai will stay down there with everyone else and shoot the shit, but no such luck. There’s a gentle knock at the door.

              “Come in,” I say, knowing exactly who it will be.

              “Breakfast was quite nice, wasn’t it?” he says, stepping into the room, partially closing the door behind him. “Though I couldn’t help but notice that you didn’t eat that much. I would’ve figured you’d be ravenous.”

              I stand there facing him, arms folded across my chest. I don’t have a bra on and even though the t-shirt is baggy enough to leave most things up to the imagination, I am suddenly aware of the fabric against my nipples and of the strong desire I have for him to touch them. I take a deep breath. “Jai, listen to me. We can’t do this anymore. Anyone could’ve walked in and seen us last night, do you realize that? Do you know how fucked up things will get if someone finds out? We have got to stop. And that whole thing at breakfast.”

              “I know—that hand-holding really was something. Though I do think we should’ve sung Kumbaya. Really would’ve rounded out the moment.”