Stepbrother's Gift (22 page)

I looked at the door. James was there. Fury blazed from his eyes. Ryan immediately let go of my arm. I rushed over to James, not caring that anyone could see us. I ran into his arms and buried myself into his chest. He wrapped his arms around me in a protective hug.

“I asked you a question, Ryan. What the fuck do you think you're doing?”

Ryan gave him a cocky smirk, similar to James' own, but definitely less confident. “Hey, man. I was just asking her if she wanted to go for a ride.”

“That's not what I saw,” James said. His voice was low. Dangerous.

Ryan stepped forward. “Hey, man-”

“Don't 'hey man' me, you dickhead. I thought I'd never see this again after Audrey, but somehow you've managed to surprise even me with your fuckup this time. This isn't just some groupie. This is my sister, do you hear me?”

Ryan stepped forward and gave him a mock salute. “Loud and clear, captain.”

James let go of me and was in his face in less than a second. “I don't think you're listening, asshole. I don't want to see you anywhere near Allie ever again. In fact, I don't want to even see you for the next few days. Get out of my home before I tear out your vocal cords.”

Ryan seemed genuinely scared for a moment, then nodded and quickly moved to the door. He didn't even look up to take one last look at me before making his way out of the apartment. I watched him slam the door to the now empty apartment. All of the other people had left.

I looked up at James, who was still obviously seething with anger. His whole body was tense. I came up behind him and wrapped my hands around him. That seemed to calm him down. “Thank you,” I said.

“No problem. You okay?” He barely waited for me to nod into his back. “Let's check and see if there are any stragglers here.”

J
ames went to the door and locked it, and then pushed the deadbolt into place. He was eerily silent as he looked around his apartment. He checked in every room, behind every curtain even. Every motion was sharp and angry.

I followed him around, growing increasingly uncomfortable. As he checked the last bathroom, I spoke up. “James, I-”

He turned and crossed the distance between us before I could say anything else. He had my face in his hands, crushing his lips against mine as he did so. I melted into him. At that moment, he was my lover, my protector, my hero, my stepbrother.

His lips crushed mine. Lips weren't enough. For a moment, I thought that we'd fall to the floor right there, making love without even bothering to go to a bedroom. Then, he broke from the kiss and looked at me with that cocky grin. “I can't seem to leave you alone for one minute without you getting into some kind of trouble.”

My jaw dropped. “You are such an asshole!” I exclaimed, swatting him in the chest harder than I had intended to. He winced slightly, but then grabbed my hands and held them to my sides. I couldn't hit him again, even if I had wanted to. He came in for another kiss, which I eagerly returned.

“I'm glad you're okay,” he said softly.

I gave a little happy moan, then went back to kissing him. He started to move toward the bedroom, and for a moment I kept moving with him. Something was bothering me in the back of my head, though.

“You mentioned something about a girl named Audrey?” I asked.

He stopped dead in his tracks. “I don't want to talk about that.”

I shook my head. “It's important. Audrey Lipman?”

“You know her?”

I gave a 'no duh' kind of look at him. “Of course I do. She was the queen bee of the girls that made my life a living hell in high school.”

He stared off into the distance. “Figures. Look, I'm sorry. I didn't know that-”

I cut him off. “I don't care about that now. High school is over, and she's got a beautiful belly on her.”

“I know,” he said.

I waited for him to follow it up with something, anything at all. “You know? That's it.”

“Yeah, I know. What more do you want?”

My jaw dropped. “I want to know why you kicked her to the curb.”

He looked at me sideways. “I don't know what you think you know, but unless Audrey has been talking outside of her non-disclosure agreement, you don't know anything.”

I crossed my arms in front of me. “I deserve to know.”

He looked frustrated as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Okay. It's true, you do. Especially if she was your high school enemy. I owe you that much.”

“It's not about that,” I said. “I need to know your connection to her.”

He shrugged. “Well, whatever then. I first met Audrey when I came home in October 2013 for a conference. I took some guys out to Annie's Place and she was our waitress. She had just turned 18 and we hit it off.”

“So you are the father!” I gasped. “How could you just leave your child like that?”

Heartache rippled through me. I had guarded my heart, afraid of this, but the realization still reached into my chest and squeezed. I couldn't breathe.

Jame's jaw dropped and his eye bugged out. He turned a little pale and it looked like I really took him by surprise, almost as much as the first time I had ever told him that I wanted him. “What? No! Let me finish.”

I crossed my arms and waited. “Talk.”

“Yes, we had sex that night. Yes, we had sex again a few more times. But I always wear a condom.” He looked at me, then rolled his eyes. “Always used to wear a condom, whatever.”

I was too upset to laugh at that.

“Last April I invited her to a concert, a lot like the one that you just watched. She had a great time, but again I had to schmooze potential clients at the after party. She got way too drunk and, by the time I realized she was talking to Ryan, he had already left with her to go back to his place.”

I thought about the motorcycle ride he had offered me and shuddered.

“I drove over there, hoping to keep them apart, but they had already fucked. Ryan says she was all about it, but she seemed kind of distant. She told me that she didn't want to see me anymore. A couple months later, she called me and asked how to get in touch with Ryan.”

The ache behind my breastbone wasn't quite as painful anymore. The child wasn't his. I spoke up. “And you've been covering for him ever since.” It came out harsher than I expected.

“It's not that simple, Allie. Ryan wants to be a rock star more than anything in the world. A kid would make that pretty much impossible, especially one with someone that he wanted nothing to do with.”

“So now she's saddled with some kid-”

He cut me off. “Allie, I know you don't believe that a baby ruins your life.” His tone was harsh.

“No, of course not,” I said softly. Babies were the best thing in the world, and I couldn't wait to have one, especially one with James. “But the baby deserves to be taken care of.”

“I agree completely. Do you think that dickwad Ryan would be able to take care of a baby anywhere near as well as I can take of one? Even if he does become a famous rock star, he'll never make as much money as me. Trust me when I say that baby is going to have a silver spoon in its mouth.”

Every word he said made me melt a little more. I could feel a river of arousal flowing within me as he talked about caring for an infant. He was everything I had thought he was and more.

He kept talking, almost to himself now. “Audrey will be able to find a real husband, while Ryan will probably end up as a trucker or a night manager at Walmart or-”

“Shut up and kiss me,” I commanded. I needed him, especially now. I leaned up and put my hand behind his neck, pulling him in.

He kissed me back, then pulled away. “And furthermore-”

I didn't let him even start. I just kept kissing him. I couldn't get over what he had just said. He was caring for a child that wasn't his because it was the right thing to do. Even though he could be a total ass, he was a good man.

We started to walk toward the bedroom. I didn't feel like I was at my freshest, when an idea struck me. “I was promised a shower.”

He smiled. “I
did
promise a shower.”

We changed course, shuffling toward the master bathroom as we kept kissing. It was hard not to giggle, but I was too excited by his kisses to think of how silly we must have looked. He reached past me and opened the door to his shower.

I loved this shower. It was big and luxurious, even if he kept it a bit spartan.

He backed away from me and started to unbutton his shirt. “What, you're not going to tear it off this time?” I asked.

He tore the last little bit off, the buttons skittering across the tile floor. “Happy now?”

“Well, there is one more thing.” I spied his shaving cream on the sink and picked it up. Quickly, I sprayed a big circle on his mirror with it, then put a smiley face inside it. “Now, I'm happy.”

He rolled his eyes and advanced on me. “You know I'll have to get you back for that.”

“I'm counting on it.”

He put his fingers under the bottom of my halter top, lifting it up as I raised my arms. I unbuttoned my own jeans as he slid his own slacks down. It was difficult not to jump on him and just take every inch of his body into mine as I watched his rippling muscles move as he continued to disrobe.

I moved over to his huge shower and turned it on. The tiles were still cold, and steam was barely starting to collect on the installed shaving mirror. I looked back at him and gestured, inviting him to come in.

“The water looks too hot, test it out first.”

I frowned slightly, but turned and stuck my hand in the water to test it out. Maybe it was a little hot, but...

*SMACK*

I spun around quickly, putting my hands on my stinging ass. There was that smirk again, showing off how cocky he was. “Now we're even.”

“You...!” I screamed, unable to even form the words. Instead, I just jumped on him, wrapping my legs around him as he moved his hands under my sore ass cheeks. He walked toward the water, looking into my eyes as he walked. He stepped into the shower and closed the door. This was heaven. I was ready for my shower with James. I had always been ready for my shower with James.

He set me down, then started to drop to his knees. I thought he was going to dive right into me, and I opened my mouth in anticipation of the moan that would soon come from me. However, he worked his way around to my backside. “Let me kiss it and make it better,” he said.

I grinned as I turned toward the wall, putting my hands on the tile and pressing against it. The cold stonework was warming under the heat of the spray and now my skin. His lips met the spot where his palm had slapped and a red spot was probably already forming. The kisses were gentle and tender, feeling fantastic against the sensitive skin there. If I could get this every time I got a spanking, I could get used to it. I might even ask for more.

His kisses worked their way up to my lower back, and kept going up my spine. I shivered, and his fingers lingered on my hips, grasping me and keeping me in place as he slowly kissed upward. When he got to my upper back, they shifted around to my belly, and I gasped. I thought of him caring for Audrey's baby in every way that he could, and how he would care for the baby in my belly, and I just wanted more of him.

As he stood to his full height, his fingers moved their way up to the sides of my breasts, then up my arms to my shoulders. I shook out my hair and he caught the soft tresses in his hands. He ran his fingers through my hair, which I hadn't got wet yet, and I moaned. James began to cup his hand in the water, bringing handfuls of water to my hair and gently soaking me.

“This hair is so fantastic, Allie,” he said. I could hear him start to breath heavily, and suddenly I felt his hard cock brush against my ass cheek as he moved. I gasped. The level of want in my core was quickly raising to an uncontrollable level.

“Here, let me get it wet for you,” I said. I leaned all the way into the water, allowing the water to saturate my hair. His hands began to knead through my hair, getting water onto every strand. I couldn't stop the little whimper of pleasure that escaped from my lips. It felt so good to be touched like that.

He reached for a bottle on the wall. As he popped it, I smelled a fruity smell. I opened one eye and peered over at him.“You keep women's shampoo in your shower?”

He put a dollop of the shampoo in his hand, then held still. “Do you remember when I said that I would bring cute little blondes home and make them do whatever I want, imagining it was you?”

I looked back at him. I didn't really want to talk about his past lovers, but I nodded my head anyway.

“You weren't worried about the things I would ask them to do? What if I tied them to the bed? What if I made them call me Daddy? What if I made them have threesomes with me?”

I shrugged as I looked back at him. “I would do all of those things for you... Daddy.” I said it with just a hint of teasing in my voice.

He rolled his eyes. “I did not make them call me Daddy. But, I did make them take showers with me.” He stepped forward and began to rub the shampoo into my scalp. His fingers were strong and sure, just like he was. “I washed their hair, ran my fingers through their beautiful golden locks, and every time I imagined that you were here, moaning as I washed your hair.”

I moaned softly and closed my eyes as his hands ran roughly through my hair. He worked the long blonde hair, taking his time. Every once in a while his fingers would catch a snag, pulling me slightly and making me gasp. But after far too short a time, his expert hands had every kink worked out. He spent untold minutes just running his fingers through my hair, touching every strand. I never wanted it to end.

I was drifting off into a pleasurable haze, his fingers and the hot water drawing me into heaven. He put his hand in my hair and made a fist, paralyzing me. “You have no idea how many times I've fantasized about this,” he said, pushing me harder against the shower wall. He was breathing hard, and I could feel his cock, harder than I had ever felt it before, behind me. I got up on my tiptoes, practically begging him to enter me.

Instead, he reached around my body, touching my clit. My knees immediately began to shake as he expertly did the two-finger swirl, sending waves of pleasure through my body with every drop of water that ran off his fingers. “Come for me,” he commanded me. “I want you to come. I want you to remember this experience every time you take a shower from now on.”