The Billionaire's Pledge (14 page)
Read The Billionaire's Pledge Online
Authors: Rachel Bond
Julia lifted her favorite pair of pink Victoria’s Secret panties from her underwear drawer, fingered the soft cotton and black lace edging, and placed them in the suitcase along with everything else. The panties were cut just right to fit her slim young hips and athlete’s butt.
Not that anybody would ever see and appreciate them, but she still loved to have them on under her short skirt or tight jeans.
She sighed and plopped down on the bed where she’d slept her entire life. It had been a long day of packing and planning for the trip, but now that everything was organized and figured out, she looked forward to a relaxing evening. Maybe stream her favorite show on Netflix while texting her friends. Freshman year of college was just around the corner, and the three of them were all going to the same school, so they had a lot to chat about.
Julia wasn’t looking forward to the trip to Georgia for Great-grandma Millicent’s 100
th
birthday party. She and Mom and her stepfather all in the car together for three days, not to mention the hotels along the way. Why couldn’t they just have gotten plane tickets? Francis, her stepfather, had been out of work for six months, but still—driving across four states to have lunch and talk to a bunch of old people? It seemed insane.
At least Anna wasn’t coming along. Julia’s 13-year-old sister was like a witch in kid’s clothing, a demon who made Julia’s life a living hell. Getting away from her for a few days would be worth having to be shut up in the car with Mom and the annoying Francis.
They’d be meeting her gorgeous stepbrother Tyler there on Friday. He was driving by himself in his convertible Corvette, probably so he could pick up girls along the way and have sex with them in the back seat. Tyler was 25, the only son of Mom’s new husband, and had been Julia’s stepbrother for three years. She didn’t see him that often. He came and went as he pleased. Why he hadn’t moved out and gotten his own place, Julia had no idea. But he seemed to have no shortage of money from whatever mysterious source, unlike his father.
She opened up her MacBook to see what she wanted to watch, but at that moment Mom came in, looking serious.
“Can I talk to you?” Mom asked, standing just inside the doorway.
“Sure.” Julia closed the computer.
Mom came in and looked around the room. “Finished packing? All ready? Did you get enough socks and underwear?”
Julia bristled at the absurd question. “Mom…I can figure out what to pack for a trip.”
“Sorry, sorry. Listen, Julia, there’s been a change in plans. I don’t think you’re going to like it, but there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Oh, God, here it comes. “What? Just tell me.”
“Anna’s thing fell through. She’s coming with us.”
“Her thing?”
“You know, the sleepover thing? At Carie’s house?”
“What do you mean, it fell through? Can’t she stay with somebody else?”
“No, honey. We’re leaving tomorrow morning. There’s no time.”
“Fuck!”
“Julia, please. Can you be grown up about this?”
“I
am
being grown up. But there’s no way I’m spending the next three days stuck in that little car with Anna. And Francis, no offense.”
“Be reasonable, Julia. We’re a family. Families take trips together all the time.”
Julia sat for a second, thinking. For no particular reason, images of Tyler played across her mind, sending a tiny bit of warmth through her pussy. He had a tough exterior, with wild brown hair, killer green eyes, a couple of tattoos, and the kind of body that you saw on the cover of a
Men’s Fitness
magazine. She’d had a lot of fantasies about him over the last couple of years, especially lately. Sex was always on her mind, but she’d never quite gotten into a situation where she could actually do anything about it.
She looked at the bed and acted casual. “I could go with Tyler.”
“That’s between you and him. I’m just basing everything on what Tyler told me yesterday. Which was that he’s going by himself. He likes traveling alone.”
“So you mean this already came up?”
“Not really. We were just talking about options.”
Julia lowered her voice. “Mom, why is he always so…you know…”
Mom shrugged. “I know what you mean. He takes after his father. They’re both hard on the outside. But if he’s anything like Francis, he’s probably a sweetheart underneath.”
Julia rolled her eyes. “I sincerely doubt it.”
“See you in the morning.” Mom left and closed the door.
Julia sat thinking more about Tyler’s behavior and what it might mean. A typical Tyler move would be to ignore her in the hall, then make a judgmental comment about her friends during dinner. If she tried to talk to him about something, he would usually act too busy. All of this seemed to add up to his simply looking down on Julia as a kid who wasn’t interesting, wasn’t special, and wasn’t worth his time.
She thought the chance of Tyler agreeing to take her to Georgia was about the same as the chance of their family’s old Subaru winning the Indy 500. But the alternative to asking was even worse. She had to try.
Chapter 2
A couple of hours later, after streaming some shows, Julia brushed her teeth and put on her pajamas. Everyone else was in bed, except Tyler, of course. She liked to stay up late as much as possible, and the summer was the perfect time for it. Then she heard the unmistakeable sounds of Tyler coming home and going into his room. Again she wondered why he didn’t just move out.
If she was going to ask him, she knew she had to do it now. If she waited until the morning, it would be way, way too late. There was just no way. She bucked up her courage and went across the hall to knock on his door. She stood looking at his DO NOT ENTER sign for at least a full minute before knocking quietly.
“Yeah?” came Tyler’s voice. He sounded annoyed.
“It’s me. Can I come in?”
“I suppose.”
She opened the door and found Tyler lying on his bed, his back propped against the wall with a couple of pillows, a copy of
Penthouse
in his hands. He didn’t even try to hide it. For a second she thought she’d interrupted something, but then she realized she hadn’t. He had all his clothes on and appeared to be reading an article. Still, a feeling stirred inside her, filling her with a dizzy arousal. Seeing him on the bed with the magazine reminded her of some of her fantasies.
“Umm…” she started to say.
“Can you please close the door?”
“Huh?”
“Come in and close the door. I like my privacy. I don’t really want my dad or your mom walking by while I’m reading this.”
“Oh, yeah, sure.” Julia stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. It dawned on her that in the three years they’d lived together, she’d only been in here a handful of times. It had all the regular furniture you might expect, plus a high-end stereo with turntable, a collection of vinyl records, and two large bookcases full of books.
She couldn’t help but notice the definition in his arms and the size of his chest and thighs. Everybody knew he worked out a lot and played football and basketball in his free time. But it was rare for her to be in such an enclosed space with him. She took a couple of shallow breaths to try to calm down the feelings of desire that were making her head swim.
…
End of excerpt.
Get the full story now by clicking here
.
Table of Contents