Wrecked: A Stepbrother Romance Novel (14 page)

T
he time
while Brandon ate was ripe with sexual tension, but as soon as he put the plate in the dishwater and turned back to me, I could almost see his anxiety set in. He awkwardly suggested that we watch a show or movie or something considering it was still so early, a suggestion that I agreed to only because I wanted him to be at ease.

But mid-way through the romance movie I had purposely picked, the love scenes began and I snuggled closer to his side. I really couldn’t describe the pleasure I got from feeling his chest rising and falling faster and deeper the closer I got, but it made me want to swing my leg over his lap and grind myself down until he begged me to go to bed with him.

To my surprise, I didn’t have to let it get that far. Brandon blindly reached for the remote and turned off the TV, licking his lips and taking a deep breath before he asked, “Would you like to move this to the bedroom?”

I smiled and nodded, detangling myself from his side and helping him stand up. We walked through the house hand in hand and it suddenly hit me that more time had passed than I realized. The sun had already gone down and I wondered if Brandon timed it that way because he thought it would be more romantic at night.

Which I was kind of inclined to agree with. Sex in the morning or randomly throughout the day was fun and all, but this time was really about him. Whatever he wanted to do to make it special was fine by me.

When we finally got into his bedroom, I watched as he used the dimmer to lower the lights. He turned them down so far that for a moment, I couldn’t see a damn thing in the room. But then he seemed to think the better of it and turned them up just enough to see.

“Everything okay?” I asked when I noticed how undecided he looked.

“I just... I want to see you, but I’d prefer if you couldn’t see me.”

“I saw you yesterday,” I gently pointed out, reaching over to place my hands on his shoulders. “I think you’re gorgeous, Brandon. You know that.”

“I don’t know why you think that,” he said dejectedly, leaning into my touch when I put my hand on his disfigured cheek. “
You’re
the gorgeous one.”

“We’re
both
gorgeous. Leave the lights like this,” I told him, reaching for the hand that wasn’t holding the cane and pulling him back to the bed. “I want you. I love you.”

“I love you, too,” he said softly, allowing himself to be pulled. “More than anything. I’m just afraid of doing something to fuck this up, or you seeing me and changing your mind later.”

“There’s nothing I’ll see that will make me stop loving you,” I said bluntly. “As for you doing something to screw it up? Well, I think no matter what you do— I’ve got you beat.”

He laughed lightly at my pitiful attempt to lighten the mood, but I think we both knew that I was serious. I had caused so much damage between us over the years that I couldn’t even think of something that Brandon could possibly do that would be unforgivable. Short of cheating on me— something that I was certain would never happen— I came up empty.

Realizing I was being side-tracked again, I shook my head a little and said, “Sit on the edge of the bed again. Where’d you put the condoms?”

“In the nightstand.”

“Perfect,” I said, mentally making a note for when it came time for it. Which, if I was being honest, was going to be very soon.

An entire day in the sun getting hot while thinking about Brandon had made me even more turned on than I had been the night before. Add on the snuggling on the couch and I was
desperate
to finally feel him inside me.

“Take this off,” I mumbled, tugging harshly at the buttons on his shirt.

His hands covered mine and assisted me getting the shirt off, then his immediately moved up to pull my shirt over my head. I pushed my shorts down my legs while he pushed himself up enough to reach my back and unclasp my bra and I was ecstatic that he seemed as desperate to get going as I was.

His eyes were staring up to my face when he licked my taut nipple, then sucked it into his mouth and gently bit down. I mimicked our positioning from yesterday and propped my knee up on the bed beside him, grinding my center against his slacks. His eyes drifted shut and he let out a huff of breath against my breast, trying to cover his reaction by switching sides.

The way his hips rocked upwards to push against me was all the welcome I needed to move us forward. I pulled back and stepped down, then hooked my thumbs in the elastic band of my underwear and shimmied them down my hips.

The pure lust on his face when he finally saw me fully exposed was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. No man had ever made me feel this beautiful before and Brandon was managing to do it without even needing to speak.

His jaw clenched when I drifted a hand down my navel to rest between my legs, his hands flying to unfasten his pants and wiggle them down his hips. His briefs went along with the pants and after he kicked them off, I motioned for him to slide up the bed.

“I hope you’re all right with me being on top,” I said as I crawled up after him, settling my legs on either side of his knees. “I think it’d be best to keep as much pressure off your leg as possible.”

Brandon nodded in agreement and swallowed hard. “I asked Shaw about it today. I… Well, I tried to be as neutral as possible, but I think he figured it out on his own. At worst, it’ll only be two weeks before it’s healed enough to... take the lead.”

I was slightly horrified by the thought of Shaw not only
knowing
about us having sex, but having an actual
conversation
with Brandon about it. Then again, the news about his leg was good enough to make it fairly easy to ignore and when Brandon put his hands on my hips to bring our bodies closer together, it was almost entirely forgotten. At least for the time being.

“Hold on.”

It was one hell of a stretch, but I managed to reach his nightstand and pull out a strip of condoms without getting off his lap. I tore a gold packet off and tossed the others to the side for the time being.

“Wait, wait. I’ll do it,” Brandon offered, reaching up to take the packet from my hands and tearing it open himself. “The more you touch me, the faster this is going to end.”

“It’s not like that’s our only condom,” I pointed out, watching with hooded eyes as he stretched the latex over his cock. “And if you think I only plan on having you once tonight, you are sorely mistaken.”

Brandon let out a breathless, incredulous laugh as he finished putting the rubber on and I was mesmerized by the sight of his dick twitching at my words. I moved to place my core over him and pressed down, moaning as his cock slid up my wet folds and brushed against my clitoris. Brandon tipped his head back and closed his eyes, fighting to stifle the low groans that were coming out of his mouth and failing miserably.

I thought about getting myself close to the edge before taking him inside me in hopes that we could both finish on his first time, but my need for him was too strong to bother. There was always next time to worry about myself.

So after the next upward slide—when I felt the thick head of his cock touch my clit—I angled my hips downwards and maneuvered until I felt him just barely beginning to breach my entrance.

His eyes opened wide and he looked at me in awe as I slowly sank down, taking him in inch by tortuously slow inch. The grip he had on my hips continuously tightened until he was fully seated within me and I was almost certain that I’d have bruises the next morning.

“
Oh my god
,” he groaned, letting his eyes shut again while still clinging to my hips. “Don’t move. Feels so good.”

He was definitely the biggest partner I’d ever had, so I wasn’t surprised to find myself panting right along with him. It felt like he had completely filled me.

“It’ll feel even better when I move,” I told him before prying his hands off my hips and lifting myself up before he could try to stop me.

“Jesus
fuck
,” he moaned as his hips raised from the bed in an attempt to bury himself back inside me. “Don’t stop, don’t stop. Ride me.”

I did as he asked and leaned forward to press our lips together while I slowly bounced my ass up and down. I tried to keep the rhythm slow and gentle enough to keep him from shooting off immediately, but I could tell by his labored breathes and his inability to keep up with the kiss that it was only a matter of time. So I bounced myself faster—moaning at how perfect he felt inside me while he twisted his hands in the sheets and alternated between moaning my name and a string of obscenities.

Watching him come was even better from the angle and I kept my hips gently rocking as his cock throbbed and pulsed inside me, his mouth hanging open in ecstasy as he let out a long, guttural groan. When his body began to lightly shake, I eased myself off and reached down to remove the condom.

The upside to Brandon being inexperienced was that when I leaned down to clean the cum off his cock with my tongue, his hips thrust upwards in a jolt and his cock stiffened back to fully hard instantly.

“
Jesus Christ
. I didn’t know you meant we’d be doing it again immediately,” he panted, propping up on one elbow to watch as I continued to slowly clean his cock. His other hand lifted my hair out of my face and at the sight of my cheeky grin he whispered, “
God
, I love you.”

“I love you, too. Now get another condom. It’s my turn.”

I didn’t need to tell him twice. He leaned back and reached for the strip— getting the latex over his cock in what had to be record time. There was a wicked grin on his lips as he pulled me up and gripped his cock with one hand, helping to direct himself inside me. It didn’t fade away until finally he got back in, his jaw going slack when he felt the wet heat envelop his hard length.

“I’ll never get enough of this. Of
you
,” he drawled lazily, his eyes barely open as he smiled up at me. “So tight and warm.”

Brandon tried to pull me down, but I pushed his hands away and leaned further back, ever-so-slightly rolling my hips while my fingers sought out my clitoris. I closed my eyes to enjoy the sensation, my head falling back as I worked small circles over the swollen nub.

When Brandon noticed what I was doing, he must have propped himself up to watch for a few moments. Because when I felt his fingers shoving mine away and then flawlessly mimicking the motion I had been making—it felt as if he had known my body for years.

“Just like that,” I gasped, putting both of my hands on his abs and using the leverage to ride him a little harder.

The friction of his fingers combined with the delicious stretch of having him inside me was sending waves of heat rolling through my body, followed by intense jolts of pleasure that rivaled electricity. The rhythm of my hips faltered when he sped up his fingers and I stopped entirely when he abruptly sat up and attached his lips to my neck.

With the new option of using his shoulders to brace myself up, I began to bounce again. He grunted into my neck as his fingers worked me into a frenzy and I could feel his muscles clenching and unclenching as he got closer and closer to his second peak of the night.

“I want you to come,” he growled into my skin, turning to nuzzle his nose just beneath my ear as he whispered, “Want to feel it on my cock.”

“I’m so close,” I choked out, moaning loudly when he moved back down to nibble at my neck. “
Faster, faster.
”

He took a long, shuddering breath and started moving his fingers even more frantically, hitting the speed that was
exactly
what I needed to fall over the edge. I shouted his name at the ceiling as it slammed into me—grinding my pelvis down and bucking my hips wildly as the strongest orgasm of my life rocked through my entire body.

Brandon let out a noise somewhere between a whimper and a choked off grunt as he shuddered beneath me, then murmured, “Oh
fuck
, I can feel it. I can...
Shit
, I’m gonna come again.”

My body was too shaky to continue moving, but he used his strength and the tight grip on my hips to bounce me up and down on his cock until he came for the second time. His face was still buried against my neck, alternating between whispered words of affection and short, breathless gasps of pleasure.

When we both managed to get our racing heartbeats slightly under control, I lifted myself up and sprawled out on the bed. Brandon disposed of the condom and cleaned himself up with a tissue before lying back and pulling me to his side. I let out a sleepy hum of approval as I snuggled closer and rested my head on his chest.

“So that was sex.”

“Mm-hm. What’d you think?”

“I have no words. But
definitely
worth the wait.”

I was certain he could feel me smiling against his chest and he stroked my hair as I started to drift off. But before I had a chance to fully fall asleep, I felt him shifting around and sliding down the bed. I frowned and opened my eyes to see what he was doing, gasping when I felt his hand drifting down my thighs as he slowly turned me until I was lying on my back.

“
Again?
”

“If you insist,” he cheekily said before tugging my knee and spreading my legs open to give his hand better access.

My incredulous laughed was cut short when he slid his fingers into me and I tipped my head back, moaning as I resigned myself to the fact that I likely wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight.

Not that I was complaining.

W
e somehow managed
to get up when Brandon’s alarm went off the next morning, but it wasn’t easy. Both my mind and body screamed at me for not getting enough sleep, the overall crappy feeling reminding me that I definitely wasn’t twenty-one anymore.

Still, the lack of sleep didn’t dampen my mood when Brandon shyly asked me to join him in the shower. Which resulted in the both of us being an hour late starting our day.

Now, he had gone off to work and I was sitting outside on the beach, staring down at the cell phone clutched in my hand. He had given me free rein to tell my mom everything—he even made it a point to remind me that I needed to call her this morning—but that didn’t make the call any easier.

Because I wanted to tell her everything. And I mean
everything
.

About where I was, why I was here, what happened to Brandon, and that we were now a couple.

And maybe also mention the fact that although Brandon seemed content at the idea of living here for the rest of his life, I was still hoping to find a way to convince him to return New York with me.

But the expression
‘don’t count your chickens before they hatch’
sprang to mind and I opted against it. Might as well start with the facts.

I ignored the blinking voicemail message and dialed her number, lifting the phone to my ear and waiting for either her or Harold to pick up. After five rings, I was beginning to think that they were either asleep or I had missed them. Then—

“Vanessa? Oh my god, where have you
been?
I’ve been calling you for two days! I have half a mind to—”

“Mom, stop. I’m with Brandon.”

“You—” she stopped, the silence so heavy and abrupt that I actually glanced at my screen to make sure I hadn’t dropped the call. Then I heard her finally shout, “HAROLD! Pick up the other phone!”

I could hear her footsteps and muttering as she rushed through the house, before my stepfather finally picked up the phone with a slightly annoyed, “Hello?”

“Hi Harold,” I greeted before my mom had a chance to chime in. “If you guys have been wondering where I am, I’m with Brandon. I’ve been with him for the past few weeks.”

“Wait,
what?
How did— Where are you?”

I sighed and rubbed a hand against my forehead. The best way to explain what was going on was to start at the beginning— which for me had been when I quit the hospital. I knew before I even called that this was going to be a long conversation, I only hoped that my cell battery could hold a charge long enough to answer all the questions they were going to fire at me.

“Well, it started a few weeks ago...”

“
H
ow’d it go
?”

I gave him a look like he’d grown two heads. “How do you think it went? We talked until my phone died,” I said with a tired sigh, plopping down on the chair he had placed close to his desk just for me. “They were shocked, to put it mildly.”

Brandon nodded and held up a finger, signaling for me to wait a moment while he saved the spreadsheet he had been working on and closed the lid of his laptop. He pushed his chair back enough to turn and face me, the dread clear in his eyes.

“Tell me everything.”

I threw my hands up in a helpless gesture and laughed. Where the hell was I supposed to even start?

“Well, I gave them the whole story. Me quitting at the hospital, getting the letter, coming here. When I got to the reason why you needed me here and why you disappeared, I could barely get a word in. Harold started freaking out and—”

“You spoke to my dad?”

“When I told mom I was with you, she had Harold grab the other line. I spoke to them both.”

Brandon’s hand balled into a fist on the desk and he turned his head to the side, the jagged lines of his scars making me wonder if our parents would have a similar reaction to his face when they first saw him as I did.

Knowing them, it’d probably be much worse. A mental image of my mom crying made me own eyes start to water.

“Were they angry?” he finally asked, his eyes coming back to meet mine.

“Of course they were. And they have every right to be,” I pointed out when he opened his mouth, sternly shaking my head to keep him from interrupting me. “But they were more concerned than anything else. I had to talk them out of immediately hopping on a plane.”

“I... I’d like to see them, but would prefer to do it on my own terms. So thank you for that.”

“No problem. They did ask me to try to convince you to at least call and talk to them yourself. Think you might be up for it? If not, I need to text them and make sure they aren’t waiting by the phone. Which is entirely probable.”

Brandon chuckled and nodded. “I think I can manage that. One question though. Did you tell them about us?”

I felt my cheeks heating up— not from embarrassment, but from a sense of shame. I had every intention of being completely up front with them, but the way the conversation had gone and Harold being included wound up holding me back.

“I didn’t. I wanted to, but there really wasn’t any opportunity. If you want to, though...”

“I’ll consider it. Anything else I should know before I do this?”

I stood up and smiled, walking towards him as he frowned down at his telephone. I could see he was nervous about speaking to them and to be quite honest, I was surprised he had so readily agreed to it. I assumed it was only because it meant keeping them from hopping on a plane and coming down.

“Yes. I love you,” I whispered into his ear before placing a loud, wet kiss on his cheek. “Thank you for doing this. It’ll mean a lot to them.”

“And to you?” he asked, looking up at me with a small smile.

“Yes, it means a lot to me as well. I’m especially happy that it means I don’t have to play middle-man again. Not my favorite role.”

Brandon laughed and lifted the receiver, dialing the number that he still had memorized even though he hadn’t dialed it in years.

“I’ll find you when I’m done,” he said, covering the mouth of the receiver with his hand. “I love you, angel.”

Since he had given me privacy to make my call, I figured it was only fair to do the same for him. I blew him a kiss as I exited the room, smiling to myself when I heard his low voice as he said, “Hey, Dad.”

Even though Brandon was right when he said he and I would never feel like family, it still warmed my heart to know that we were slowly being pieced back together.

T
he time passed far too quickly
after that. Brandon and I spent every moment that he wasn’t working together, spending our time switching between catching up on the past five years and making love in various different places and positions.

The better his leg got, the more aggressive he became. It wasn’t long before his stamina had increased to the point where one might think he’d been doing it his whole life, but I was pretty sure that was primarily due to how often we did it.

We got closer and closer as the days turned into weeks. We had both changed quite a bit over the course of the past few years, but at our cores, we still knew each other better than anyone else. The love I felt for him grew every day, but so did my insecurity.

Because as his leg steadily improved and the days continued to pass, I could feel the proverbial shoe getting closer to dropping. Eventually, this arrangement would come to its natural end.

And I was terrified of that day.

The only thing that kept me from mentioning it to Brandon was how utterly happy he seemed to be. Even though I was paranoid about the state of my own heart, I was more concerned about his. If he wasn’t worried, then I wasn’t going to burden him with my own fears. So I continued on as normal, doing everything in my power to act like nothing was wrong.

Three weeks after the first time we made love and I was sitting in Brandon’s office chair, waiting for him to wrap up his meeting with Shaw and the physical therapist. He’d been feeling well enough to take on new positions in the bedroom, but still hadn’t quite been up to walking yet.

So when he practically strutted into the room an hour later sans cane, I let out a low, impressed whistle and leaned back in the chair, folding my arms across my chest as I blatantly checked him out.

“Well look at you. How’s it feel?”

“Pretty good. A little tender, but it still feels a hell of a lot better than it did before the surgery.”

“Good to hear. Think you’ll be up to some more
strenuous
activities soon?”

Brandon chuckled and nodded. “Sooner than you might think. But we need to talk first.”

Uh-oh.
Those were words no human being was ever fond of hearing, especially not from their significant other.

“I’m all ears,” I said haltingly, unsure of whether or not I even wanted to hear it. The look on his face was beginning to make me panic.

“It’s nothing bad, I promise. Walk with me?”

His words assured me, but there was still something about the look on his face that was making me nervous. I forced a smile and stood up, taking his hand as he offered it and thoroughly enjoying the fact that we could now walk together at a more normal pace without his leg causing any problems.

Brandon led me outside and down towards the beach, slowing his pace when we got to the squishy sand. I ditched my sandals and opted to walk barefoot instead, swinging our clasped hands and grinning when he laughed at the childlike gesture.

“So what’s up? As much as I love long walks on the beach, you said we needed to talk.”

“It’s just... We both knew this was coming. This check-up with Shaw was my last. He confirmed that I’m healed enough to no longer need observation, which means your duties to me here are finished.”

I stopped walking, tugging my hand out of his and propping them on my hips. “You said this wasn’t anything bad.”

“It’s not. I mean... Well, I wanted to ask what you thought about your time here.”

I gestured wildly to the ocean, laughing incredulously at the question. “You mean here with you on the private island and the massive house? Brandon, I love it here. These past few weeks with you has been the most incredible time of my life.”

“I’m glad you like it here so much because I… Well, I was hoping that you’d stay.”

I’m not entirely sure what I expected him to say, but that certainly wasn’t it. I took a moment to attempt to gather my thoughts, trying to figure out a way to say what I needed to say without giving the impression that I was outright declining his offer.

“This house, this island… Brandon, this place really is paradise,” I told him honestly, looking away from his eyes for a brief moment to take in the beautiful sight of the sun reflecting off the water as it set.

When I looked back at him, the hopefulness shining in his eyes was almost enough to stop me from saying what I knew I needed to say.

Almost.

“But I have to go back.”

The hope, the happiness, the love—everything disappeared the moment the words left my mouth. His entire face fell, the heartbroken expression telling me more than he ever could with words.

“Hey, hey,” I said softly as I placed my hands on his cheeks and forced him to look me in the eye. “I am
not
leaving you. When I said I have to go back, I meant the both of us.
We
need to go back. I know you’re scared, but you
know
I’m right. We can’t just… hide away here forever.”

“Speak for yourself,” he mumbled.

“Just because you
can
doesn’t mean you
should
. And just in case you weren’t aware, having scars on your face doesn’t mean that you have to hide yourself away in some twisted attempt to do the world a favor. You are the
last
person who should be ashamed of anything, Brandon. You’re the best man I’ve ever known, scars or no scars.”

“I told you I wouldn’t go back,” he mumbled, rubbing a palm across his stubble-ridden face. He looked completely lost for a long moment, before his jaw clenched with anger. “I told you outright that I didn’t want to go back. Was your intention this entire time to get me to love you so much that I couldn’t say no to you? Was this some sort of game to you?”

“Of course not!” I said with a scoff. “I admit I was hoping you’d change your mind, but I’m willing to look for a compromise. I don’t want to lose you again.”

The tension in his jaw released and he let out a resigned sigh. “I don’t want to lose you either.”

“Then we’re on the same page,” I confirmed, nodding my head as I began to pace in the sand and consider our options. “How about we split our time between here and the city? Or I suppose if we need to, you could stay here and I’ll travel back and forth. It wouldn’t really be long-distance since I’ll probably be here more often than not, so I think we could make it work.”

I stopped pacing and trailed off when I saw Brandon stepping away from me, hiding his expression as I was forced to stare at his back. I was hoping that he’d throw out his own suggestions for how we could make it work or at least comment on my ideas, but he seemed to be lost in his own world.

“Brandon?” I asked, gently tapping his shoulder after a few minutes of standing in silence.

“I have a better idea.”

“Yeah? Tell me.”

“I’ll go back. For you, I’ll go back. On one condition.”

“Are you—Are you serious? Name it,” I said, bouncing up and down on the balls of my feet with excitement at the prospect of going back to New York with Brandon in tow. “Seriously, anything you want.”

He slowly turned around to face me, his eyes wide with fear. When he finally spoke, it was just barely loud enough for me to hear over the waves crashing against the shore.

“I want you to marry me.”

I instantly stopped bouncing as my jaw dropped. To say I was stunned would be a hell of an understatement and that feeling only multiplied when he eased himself down to one knee in the sand.

“It doesn’t have to be immediate. We can have as long of an engagement as you’d like,” he assured me as he reached into the inner pocket of his jacket. “But it’s something I’ve been thinking about for the past few weeks.”