Stepbrother, Mine #2 (4 page)

He nodded. “A very practical attitude.”

She thought she read approval in his eyes, which both pleased her and made her heart sink. A part of her wished he would rage against her analysis, telling her they didn’t need to live by society’s rules. That if they wanted to be together, that’s all that was important.

But that would mean that he did have the same feelings for her that she had for him, and that simply wasn’t true. He was her protective older stepbrother, who cared about her, yes, but only in that context.

He didn’t love her like she loved him.

She ran her fingertips under the collar of his tuxedo jacket, then down his lapels again. “So does that mean that tonight you will reward me with what I’ve been waiting for?”

“And what would that be?”

She locked gazes with him, letting him see the need in her eyes. “You know what I want, Mason. You’ve been teasing me with almost-there ever since we got here, but at some point I want you to fulfill your promise to be my first.”

His arms loosened around her and she felt panic in the pit of her stomach.

“Dana, I need to be honest with you.”

She drew in a deep breath. “Please,” she said, happy her voice didn’t shake.

“I brought you here hoping we would get to know each other better.”

She nodded at his words.

“And my intent was that once you trusted me again, that I could talk you into taking the money without me following through on that deal.”

Her chest constricted. “You … never intended to…” She blinked back a tear, her head shaking. “You really don’t want me, do you?” God, her heart ached so badly.

He pressed his hand to the small of her back and pulled her tight to him again, then arched his pelvis toward her. A hard, thick bulge pressed against her, prominent despite layers of her full skirt between them. She gasped at the feel of it so hard against her.

“I want you, Dana. There is no doubt about that,” he said, almost fiercely. “But that doesn’t mean I should act on that desire. You’re my stepsister.”

“I am a grown woman,” she retorted, just as fiercely. “And we’re not stepsiblings. Our parents were married for less than three years a long time ago. I don’t see why we should let that get in the way of what we want.”

She ran her hand down his stomach, then wrapped her fingers around his thick bulge. She slid her hand up and down his engorged cock, feeling faint with the need to feel it inside her.

“You made a promise to me, and I expect that, as a gentleman, you will be true to that promise.”

“Dana,” he muttered through gritted teeth, his tone a warning. “You’re playing with fire.”

“Good, because I’m ready for a whole lot of heat.” She found the tab of his zipper and glided it downward.

“Fuck.” His hand slammed down on hers and he pulled it away, but then his lips were on hers, his tongue plunging into her.

He pulled her tighter to his muscular body, his arms around her, and if his tongue hadn’t been exploring her mouth with such passion, she would have gasped at the feel of his long, impossibly thick cock pressed hard against her.

When he released her lips, she gazed at him, her eyes wide. “Please, Mason. I need you so badly. I want to feel you inside me.”

He groaned and she felt herself swept up into his arms. Then he was racing up the stairs with her, her heart pounding. He flung his door open and carried her inside.

*   *   *

Eight Years Ago

Mason parked his car in the garage, then walked into the house. It had been a tough week at work, pulling together a big deal to expand his company. Now he was looking forward to kicking back and watching a movie with Dana. She’d been looking forward to the new sci-fi thriller that had just come out on Blu-ray, and they had planned to watch it tonight.

As he walked down the hallway from the garage door entrance, he passed his father’s study.

“Mason, I want to talk to you.”

Mason frowned as he stopped at the doorway and peered into the study to see his father sitting at the desk.

“Not now, Dad. I have plans.” Mason was long past doing as his father commanded. He had been for a long time.

“You will come in here and sit down right now. Do you understand?”

Mason simply turned and continued down the hall.

“It’s about Dana.”

Mason froze, his stomach clenching. He turned back and walked into the room. “Is she all right?”

His father gestured to the chair facing the desk. Mason frowned, but sat down, knowing his father would use his weakness—Dana—against him. Chas would not be forthcoming with any more information until Mason did what he wanted.

Mason settled into the leather armchair and crossed his legs, keeping his composure despite his worry about Dana. Had something happened?

“Well?” he prompted.

“She’s fine. She’s gone away on a weekend trip with her mother.”

Mason’s eyebrows arched upward. In the whole time they’d all lived together, which had been close to two years, he had never seen that woman spend any quality time with her daughter. Now they had suddenly gone off on a trip together?

“What the hell’s going on?” Mason demanded.

His father opened his desk drawer, then pulled out a brown envelop. He slid it across the glossy wood surface of the big desk toward Mason. Mason leaned forward and picked it up, then opened the envelope and pulled out the contents. It was a photograph and he stared at it with a frown. And a little shock.

It was a picture of him, naked, sporting a full erection. Sound asleep, it seemed.

He shoved it back in the envelope and tossed it on the desk.

“What the hell is this about? Have you put surveillance cameras in my room?”

Fuck, suddenly he wondered if his father knew about Dana sneaking into his room at night and sleeping on his couch.

“No, but maybe I should have.” His father’s hawk-like gaze bored into him.

“Then where the hell did you get this?” Mason demanded.

“We found
that,
” his father pointed a finger at the envelope, “on your sister’s computer. Did you give her that photo?”

Mason scowled. “Of course not.” He couldn’t get his head around the fact that Dana had this picture. “How did you know it was on Dana’s computer? You have no right to invade her privacy.”

“Maria found it. She went into Dana’s room to clean and Dana had left that on her computer screen.” He shrugged. “Maria felt she had to let me know.”

Mason scowled. “You’re sticking with that story?” There were so many holes in it, he didn’t know where to begin. The most obvious being that Dana would never leave a picture like that showing on her screen, and even if she had, the screensaver would have kicked in. Maria had to have been snooping.

“The bottom line is that I did find it. It doesn’t matter how.” He stared into Mason’s eyes. “So you’re screwing her?”

Mason glared at him. “Of course not. I would never do that.”

“The picture suggests otherwise.”

“You do see that I’m asleep in that picture?”

Chas shrugged. “Your eyes are closed. But no matter what you say, there is a picture of you, naked and fully aroused, on your younger sister’s computer. She got it somehow.” He crossed his arms. “And Maria has told me that more than once, she’s seen Dana sneak out of your room first thing in the morning. Still in her pajamas.”

“It was innocent,” Mason said.

His father’s eyebrows arched. “So you admit it.”

Mason sighed. “I admit nothing, except to say that nothing has happened between Dana and me. How she somehow got a picture of me, asleep in my bed, I can’t comment on, but there was nothing more to it.”

His father pushed himself to his feet and walked around the desk, then picked up the envelope. “Do you know what this would do to our family if it got out?” he said, waving the envelope at him.

Mason stared at Chas stonily. “Well, it seems that it would only get out if you let it out.”

Chas nodded and perched against the desk. “True. And, of course, I wouldn’t do that.”

He pulled the photo from the envelope again and dropped it on the desk in front of Mason. His gaze fell on Mason again, this time glittering with challenge. “But I should take it up with Dana.”

Mason’s gaze reluctantly fell on the photo. It was so damning, especially in the context of having been found in Dana’s possession. He could just imagine Dana being faced with that photograph, presented by his father, probably with her mother present, and how mortified Dana would be.

She must have taken it one morning when she’d been sleeping on his couch—and God damn him for being so stupid as to sleep naked—but it was just a crazy mistake she’d made and she shouldn’t be punished for it. And certainly not in such a horrifyingly embarrassing way. It would scar her.

Mason’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t need to do that.”

“Oh, but I do. As her father, I need to protect her.”

Mason stood up. “Fuck this. What will it take?”

His father turned to him; and thank God he didn’t choose to pretend he didn’t know what Mason was talking about.

“You will move out. Immediately. And you will have no contact whatsoever with Dana from now on.”

Mason’s heart clenched. Not only would that be painful for him, it would be devastating for Dana. He knew he gave her a stable influence in her life. She’d felt so alone all her life and he’d seen her blossom since the two of them had gotten close. Not that he had done anything more than someone who simply cared about her would do. But everyone else in her life, notably her mother, had failed miserably at giving her even a basic sense of being loved.

Could he really walk away from Dana without a word? Abandon her so completely?

But he knew his father would never let this drop. Even if Dana could get over the embarrassment of the photo, his father would find something else, and he would torture Dana as much as he could, especially knowing that she was Mason’s weak spot.

Mason even wondered if Chas would leak the photo to the press, along with where it had been found, just to destroy Mason.

Chas had always been jealous of how well Mason did in business, and the fact that Mom had given Mason the money to start his own company, and he had been spectacularly successful, had pissed his father off to no end.

If Chas could destroy Mason’s reputation, hoping to also destroy his success, then Mason fully believed he would do it, even if it caused him and his wife some embarrassment.

Mason had no doubt he could weather the scandal, but the real victim would be Dana and he would not allow his father’s scheming to hurt her so viciously. So he made a split decision, as he’d been trained to do in business.

“All right, Chas. You win.” He chose the words to give his father the satisfaction, knowing that’s what his father’s ego craved.

As Mason had grown up, Chas had struggled with Mason’s achievements surpassing his own. In athletics, intelligence, and in business. His jealousy had been clear to both Mason and his mother.

Telling his father he won took nothing away from Mason, but it gave him the great advantage that his father, now smug, would be easier to manipulate.

“I will leave, but I have a demand of my own.”

“You’re not in a position to demand anything, boy,” his father snarled.

Mason stood up and walked toward Chas, like a panther stalking his prey. With a full five inches on him, Mason towered over his father.

“You will destroy the photo and never,
ever
tell Dana you knew about it. That goes for Maria, her mother, and anyone else who knows about it,” he instructed. He took another step forward and his father took a step back. “And don’t think that because I’m gone I won’t be paying attention. If you hurt Dana—and believe me, I will know—I will destroy you.” He glared at his father. An unwanted sense of satisfaction gleamed through him at the flicker of fear in his father’s eyes. “I will destroy your business, and I will destroy
you.
And if you
ever,
” Mason said the last word in a searing tone, his eyes flashing, “touch Dana…” At the mere thought a fury blasted through him that palpably increased the tension in the room. “I will kill you.”

At that, he turned on his heel and strode away.

*   *   *

Present Day

Mason set Dana onto her feet, then swept her against him and devoured her mouth. Liquid fire blazed through his veins, and he was filled with the deep, blinding need to make love to her. He’d wanted her with a quiet desperation for years, but he’d always been able to master that desire. But when she’d told him she needed him, and that she wanted him inside her, he’d lost it.

His fingers found the metal tag of her zipper and he slid it down. He eased back as the snug bodice loosened from her body and fell away. She wore a dainty pink lace bra, the same soft color as the gown, adorned with a smattering of tiny pearls. It was strapless and held her beautiful breasts up as though offering him their bounty.

She pushed the dress over her hips to the floor, revealing a pair of tiny panties that matched the bra. And, God help him, she wore a matching garter belt with stockings. Seeing her standing there in the erotic, yet virginal-looking lingerie and pink sequined spike heels that accentuated her long, shapely legs, sent his heart stammering.

She smiled at his heated gaze and stepped close, then drew him into her arms. She stroked his lapels, like she had downstairs, setting his heart racing. Her lips brushed lightly against his and he drew in a breath, then slid his arms around her and pulled her closer. His tongue stroked the seam of her lips and she opened for him, then he slid inside. Her tongue met his and they danced an erotic rhythm together, undulating and curling around each other.

Her hands slid under his jacket and over his shoulders, and he felt his jacket fall away. The delicate feel of her fingers releasing the buttons of his shirt sent quivers across his flesh. Their lips parted and he pulled off his tie, then tugged his shirt from his arms and shed it. Her hand glided over his bulging cock, still restrained within his tuxedo pants. He unfastened the button and tugged down the zipper, desperate to feel her stroke his naked shaft with her delicate fingers.