Stepbrother Desires (Billionaire Contemporary Romance) (6 page)

“What’s this goddamn crap all about?” my
father screamed wildly as he threw the folded newspaper down in front of me as
I idly toyed with my half eaten breakfast.

Oh shit. He’s really pissed.

“A titty bar? That’s where you have to meet
the press for an interview and photo shoot?” I could see the veins in his
temple bulging and the crimson on his neck rising above his collar.

“Come on Dad, it was hardly my fault. I
didn’t send them there.”

“They didn’t find out you’d be there on
their own. Someone had to have tipped them off. Do you have any idea how this
looks?” He picked up the paper and started waving it in my face. “How you’ve
made me look?”

“But —”

“But my ass. The board are gonna use this
against you. You’ve given them all the ammo they need.”

“It’s your company. Can’t you do
something?”

“I can do a whole lot of things, son. I can
get a piss ant to pull a freight car if I tell it to, but that’s not gonna
help. Our family owns nearly all the stock, but your Granddaddy made damn sure
the board had enough voting power to keep us honest, so not even I can tell
them what they can and can’t do.

“I’ve got PR consultants and lobbyists all
over the country trying to sort out this fracking mess and cover up the damage
these hippy protesters are doing and now I’ve got to make them waste time dealing
with your mess, too?”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t my —”

Dad held his hand up to silence me before
resuming his tirade. “I don’t want to hear it. If I want any more shit from
you, I’ll squeeze your head. The press is going to tear you, me and the company
a new one with this ... this … crap.” He fisted the newspaper into a crumpled
mess and threw it at me before storming toward the dining room door.

I remained silent, figuring that it
probably wasn’t the best time to tell him that I was in love with my sister.

His muscular physique filled the hallway. I
knew whose silhouette was being framed by the window at the end of the hallway
the moment I turned the corner and saw it. His well-proportioned shoulders and
narrow waist were unmistakable. Not to mention divine.

“How did you find me?” I said rather
bluntly as I approached.

My God, he was good looking man.
Breathtaking.

Focus Anna. Don’t fall for his charm and
good looks
.

“Having lawyers and investigators on
retainer has its uses. So does having a family name with some clout in this
city.”

“After all the times you’ve made fun of me,
belittled me in front of your snobby friends, paraded every wanton slut you’ve
picked up in front of me and
now
you feel the need to track me down to
harass me some more?”

Tyler took a deep breath, like he wanted to
argue. Then he just sighed. “We need to talk.”

“I’ve got nothing to say and you’ve got
nothing I want to hear right now.” I had my cranky pants on and he wasn’t going
to disarm me with is slick charm. Or his cute smile. And, no, I wasn’t going to
melt as his to-die-for blue eyes cast their spell over me. No way. I wasn’t
going to soften. Not after the way he’d made a fool of me at the club. There
was no way.

“Alright, you can come in for five minutes
and then I want you gone. Out of my life for good.” I said as severely as I
could, with my resolve waning, before pushing past him to open my apartment
door.

As soon as he stepped inside I saw his eyes
scan my humble apartment. I knew he was judging me. I also knew I shouldn’t
care. But it hurt nonetheless. Sure, it wasn’t the ten bedroom, seven bathroom
home he was used to, but it was
my
home
. How dare he …

“This is nice,” he said as his gaze came
full circle.

“Bullshit.” I nearly spat the word in his
face.

“I’m serious. I like it. You’ve really made
your mark on the place. It’s got … personality. Yeah, personality.” He nodded
to himself.

“So, what’s so important that you have to
take a break from destroying the environment to track me down?”

“I guess you saw the press coverage, then.
Lucky they didn’t go chasing after you.” He started laughing. “Not that they
would have had trouble catching you in those heels.”

“Fuck you!” I flipped him the bird.

This is how it always was with him. Any
opportunity to laugh at my expense.

“Lighten up sis. Come on, I’m only trying
to break the ice, here. I’m not here looking for a fight. You’re looking really
good, by the way. College life seems to agree with you.”

“You mean I don’t look so fat and frumpy
now that I’m working out.” I glared at him, almost daring him, “Go on, you can
say what you’re thinking.”

“Whoa! Where did that come from? I’ve never
said you were … well, either of those things. Why do you think I was always
giving you a hard time?”

“Because you’re a bastard?”

“Because I was threatened by you,” he
snapped back.

“
You
felt threatened by
me
?”
I couldn’t believe he just said that.

“Since Mom passed, it had just been me and
my dad. I was kind of used to that and even though he’s not the easiest guy in
the world to live with —”

I didn’t mean to, but I snickered at his
assessment.

Tyler continued as if he hadn’t heard me,
but I knew he had, “but he was all I had and I was worried that he’d start
giving you more attention to get on side with your mom.”

“Like that was ever going to happen. He
hated me from the time he set eyes on me.”

“Don’t take it to heart, sis. He hates
pretty much everyone. He’s mean spirited and doesn’t give a fat rat’s ass about
anything or anyone other than his precious company.”

“Is that why your mom …”

I cut myself short when I saw his hands
ball into fists and knew better than to finish the question.

Tyler’s eyes glazed as he nodded. I’d never
seen him look so vulnerable before. Now my heart ached for him in a different
way.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said —”

“That’s OK. I’ve been in denial for way too
long. It’s probably about time I faced up to why she did it.”

But all of that was beside the point. “Why
were you always making fun of me, especially in front of your friends? That
wasn’t insecurity. That was just plain nasty. You were behaving just like your
Dad.” He winced when I said that. I’d struck a nerve.

“Because I didn’t want them to know I had a
crush on my fucking sister. That’s why!” he blurted, as if fearing the words
might choke him.

“Stepsister.” Was all I could think to say.
Words simply failed me.

There, I’d said it. It was a relief to
finally tell somebody. A crushing burden was lifted from me. I felt like I
could breathe once more.

“Stepsister. Sister. Do you really think anyone
cares about semantics? I couldn’t help how I felt, but I had to do everything I
could to stop people, like my friends and especially our folks, from finding
out. Do you know what my old man would say or worse,
do
?

“So that’s why you made my life a living
hell and drove me out of home?”

I was aghast. I couldn’t process what I was
hearing. I never had the faintest idea that she left because of me.

“
Drove
you out of the house? I
thought you ran off because you were sick of living with my father and the way
your mom kept taking his side on everything, all the time?”

“I left because I couldn’t stand being near
you. I hated watching you with all those women. I hated hearing you brag to
your buddies about your
conquests
. I hated the way you treated me like shit.
I hated
you
… I was
in love
with you!”

 I did not see that coming.

“You were what?” Surely, I hadn’t heard
that right?

“You heard me. I’m not saying it again.”
She crossed her arms and glared at me defiantly. “I won’t be making a fool of
myself again, either.”

I was speechless. As hard as I tried to
make sense of everything I was hearing, I just couldn’t. Nothing made sense. It
just wasn’t possible. That’s when I decided. That’s when I didn’t give a shit
any longer about what my dad would think or what he’d do. I’d been living under
his shadow and by his rules all my life. Now was the time to saddle up, lock
and load as my Granddaddy used to say.

He moved with the speed and grace of a
predatory cat, like a panther. And I was his prey. Before I had time to process
what was happening, he was practically on top of me. He’d closed the gap in
less than a second and the next thing I knew, his mouth was on mine. Despite my
best efforts to resist his primal pillaging of my virtue, my own body betrayed
me as my lips opened to receive him and my traitorous tongue sought his,
passionately and without reservation.

The mutiny spread like wildfire. My nipples
erupted, pressing hard against my bra and blouse. I could feel them brushing
tantalizingly against Tyler’s muscled chest as he ravaged me with his mouth. My
breathing was a ragged mess as I fought to reply to his passion with my own and
my heart raced as I crushed my breasts against him.

Then the heat spread. All the way down. The
yearning built up in my tummy and I found myself involuntarily bucking my hips
so I could feel his warmth and firmness where I needed it most. I’d never felt
so out of control in my life. I was possessed. And I loved it.

The emptiness I felt
down there
craved to be filled. To be filled with him. All of him.

But he was my stepbrother. It wasn’t right.
Wasn’t it one of the reasons I ran away? This
thing
I felt, it wasn’t
frowned upon or considered forbidden for no reason. It was wrong.

I pushed him away, breaking off his hungry,
needful kiss.

“What’s wrong? I thought you wanted this?”
He looked confused.

I was confused, too. I had no idea what I
wanted. That’s why I ran. Because it was wrong. Because I was afraid of what
people would say. Because I was confused.

“I don’t know.” I lowered my head. I
couldn’t look him in the eyes. Those enticing eyes. They were all but
irresistible. I couldn’t look at them.

His fingers gently curled under my chin and
tilted my head back so my gaze met his. I could see the longing and underlying
hurt in his eyes. He was afraid, too. Afraid of being hurt. Afraid of starting
something we might never be allowed to finish.

I wanted to run. I wanted to get out of
there and run far away and start over. Somewhere safe. Somewhere
he
couldn’t find me again.

My bottom lip quivered. I could barely
force the words out.

“I don’t want to be just another one of
your conquests … another one of your fuck and dump girls.”

He looked at me seriously. His eyes bore
into me, right into my heart and soul.

“I can see that I’ve got some explaining to
do. I really think you’ve got the wrong idea, which is all my fault. If I’d
known how you felt …”

I’d made a rod for my own back. All the
hard work I’d put in building up a reputation as guy who always got lucky with
the ‘ladies’ was coming back to bite me fair and square on the ass. Working so
hard to fit in with the guys in high school and college just so I could live a
normal life instead of always being heir to the ‘Reynolds fortune’ and treated
like I was, somehow, special or different was bringing me some real bad karma.

“Do you have any idea what it’s like to
grow up as the only child in one of the wealthiest families in the state? The
pressure. The loneliness. Being watched and monitored all the time and
constantly being compared to my father when he was my age. You can’t imagine.”

“What’s that got to do with not being able
to keep your dick in your pants?”

Fair question, I guess
.

“I just wanted to fit in. I grew up being
the ‘entitled kid’ and treated like a pariah by my classmates. It was lonely
and I hated it. Being an only child at home was bad enough, but I always hoped
I’d have more fun in school than I did.

“So, in high school and college I worked
harder to blend in with the other guys and become more like them. But I needed
an edge and using my charm with the ‘ladies’ made me appealing not only to
them, but to the guys who wanted to make moves on their friends as well. The
better I appeared to do with the girls, the more popular I became with the
guys.” I couldn’t help but smile as I thought about how smart the idea seemed.
At the time, anyway.

“So you became like a college pimp or
something?”

“Hell no! Come on, give me a break. I was
just trying to be popular with the guys so I could be part of a peer group for
once instead of the rich kid who nobody wanted to hang out with. Those girls
were just for show. I hardly dated any of them, but I had to make it look
convincing.”

“You had me convinced alright. I’m
still
convinced.”

“Remember how I told you that I had a thing
for you, but didn’t want anyone to know, so I made fun of you a bit?”

“A
lot
,” she threw in quickly.

“OK, a lot. Anyway, I thought that being
seen with a few other girls might stop the folks and my buddies from working how
I really felt.”

“Why couldn’t you say anything to me?” she
asked. Her voice wavered with raw emotion.

“You mean apart from the fact that you were
too young to deal with it at the time, or the fact that you were my legal
stepsister or have you forgotten who my father is and how he’d react if he
found out I was doing something that might disgrace his precious family name?
Have I left anything out?”

“So why are you here now? What’s changed?
Our folks are still married. Your father is still who he is. What’s different
now?”

“You, for one thing. When I saw you at the
club, I saw a beautiful, confident, fit and motivated woman. Not my younger
stepsister. I saw you for the person you really are and when I realized you
were my stepsister, I simply didn’t care. I decided my heart was more important
than keeping other people happy.”

“But you were disgusted by me. I could see
it on your face,” she whimpered while trying to hold back the tears that
threatened to flood her eyes.

“No. You couldn’t be more wrong. I was in
shock. I had no idea who you were. I didn’t recognize you with the hair and the
… well … hot body.”

“You think I’m hot?” she asked, her eyes
pleaded for my approval.

“Well, yeah, but it’s not just that. I
can’t explain it, it’s just a feeling. Like I’m drawn to you and you fill a
need that’s been festering inside of me for a long time.”