Authors: Jessa Hawke
Emma tugged down and straightened her dress and they began making their way back to the hall. They were visibly disheveled, with their crinkled clothes and messy hair clear evidence of some wild sex. Then, from out of nowhere they bumped into Linda.
“Emma, is that you, what have you two been up to?” Linda beckoned in her screechy and irritating voice. Linda raised an eyebrow and placed her hands on her hips as her eyes examined the two of them up and down. Emma and Brandon froze and looked at each other, neither knowing how to reply.
“Umm, we just needed to get some fresh air. The hall was getting really warm and stuffy. We just needed to get out and..” Emma said nervously. Linda stormed away before Emma could even finish her lame excuse. Without speaking another word to each other, Emma and Brandon entered the hall to the sounds of laughter and glasses clinking. Emma’s mom immediately spotted the two of them and rushed over, putting her arms around each of them.
“I see you too have finally met!” Lisa chimed with excitement at seeing her daughter and her new step son together. “Come. We have spots for both of you reserved at the head table.”
THE END
Stepbrother Encounter: Captivated (Book 2)
The reception hall was buzzing with music, laughter, and joyous conversation as Emma and Brandon joined their parents at the head table. As Emma pulled a chair out from the table and sat down next to Brandon, a wave of anxiety rushed through her body. She needed to escape.
She hurried to the washroom to straighten up her dress and check to see if her makeup was alright. It had been a close call with Linda almost busting Brandon and her making love by the lake and she was still feeling pretty drunk from all the wine they had consumed. She was going to have to pull through the rest of the evening with a straight face although she was not sure that she would be able to sit there next to Brandon and pretend that there was nothing that existed between them. The bond that she felt with him was one that was way too strong to ignore, and the fluttering of her heart whenever she even thought of him was enough to make her realize that she was indeed madly in love with her stepbrother.
“Are you alright, girl?” her best friend, Tina, walked into the washrooms after her, handing her a bottle of mineral water. “I think this will do you some good. Now, tell me, what the hell is going on?”
Emma took a huge drink from the bottle, draining almost all of it before tossing the bottle into the trash can. “Tina, I think that my life is totally screwed up.”
“I don’t understand you, what are you talking about?” Tina asked, a look of confusion clouding her face as she eyed her friend.
“I really don’t know how to even begin telling you this, Tina. The man that I am in love with, he is forbidden,” she said, trying to find the right words to use as she splashed cold water over her face and looked at her reflection in the mirror.
“Em, stop beating around the bush; I am your best friend, for heaven’s sake. What do you mean that the man that you are in love with is forbidden?”
“Just that, Tina; he is my step brother and we only just found out,” she said. Surprise registered on Tina's face as her eyes widened in disbelief.
“Wait a minute, let me get this straight, are you trying to tell me that you are fucking your brother?” Emma could tell the shock in Tina's voice.
“Stop making it sound so forbidden, he is my
step
brother, and yes, we even fucked just a few minutes ago while the wedding was going on. We are in love, Tina. We were in love before we knew that our parents were getting married,” Emma looked at her friend as she dried her face using a paper towel.
“Wow, that is surely one hell of a total screw up!”
“I don’t know what to do, Tina. What would you do if you were in my shoes?” she asked ruefully. “I mean, Brandon is the only guy who can make my heart turn to jelly just by looking at me, and he is the only man who had truly ever made love to me in ways that I will never forget. I don’t think that I even have the strength to leave him, I would die. And you wanna know something else that is really fucked up? I think Linda knows what is going on between us, that snooping old lady!”
“It looks like you have your legs pretty deep in this one, girl. Love is a very complicated thing,” Tina said carefully as Emma powered her face and began applying her mascara again. “I don’t think that things are that bad for you. I mean, you and the Brandon guy are not related by blood and the only sin here is that you and your mother are fucking the same blood. I don’t really know what I would have done in your situation, but the best advice I could give is to take it slow and see how things pan out. It could either have a happy ending or a very disastrous ending being that this is a very delicate situation.”
The words sent a chill down Emma's spine. It was indeed a very delicate situation, but she could not just throw away the love that she had been waiting for all her life. She was just going to have to remain in this forbidden relationship and if worst comes to worst, then so be it. It is not every day that a girl meets her prince charming under such circumstances. Tina helped Emma work on her makeup and by the time that they left the washroom, she was feeling much better. Guests had flocked into the reception area and there were drinks and food going around. Emma's eyes skimmed the room for Brandon and she finally spotted him chatting up a couple of guys with his eyes on her. She blushed and looked away quickly, turning her attention back to Tina.
“I'm guessing that is the guy, right?” Tina asked. “You are definitely in love, it is written all over both of your faces. Just be careful, don’t let this mess up your relationship with your mother.”
“Yeah, that’s him,” Emma said as they walked in his general direction, grabbing a glass of champagne each off a tray.
“Ah, here you are again. You ran away from the table so quickly. Aren't you going to congratulate your mommy on her wedding day?” Lisa, her mother said as they bumped into her and George just finishing a conversation with an elderly couple. “Where did you disappear to in the chapel or was I the one who was just too overwhelmed by everything to notice you?”
“Mom, congratulations; I am so happy for you,” Emma said, hugging her mother and then turning to George. “And you too, George.”
“Thank you Emma, I hope that you are enjoying the party. I’m thrilled that you had a chance to meet Brandon. I hope that you two will get along well now that we are all family,” George said, kissing her on both cheeks before doing the same to Tina.
Suddenly, seemingly from out of nowhere, Linda was right beside Emma’s mother. She appeared to be flustered and irritated.
“Linda darling,” Emma’s mother said as she reached an arm around her best friend. “Are you enjoying the party?” Linda crossed her arms and sent a disapproving glance toward Emma.
“Maybe you should ask Emma how she is enjoying the party. Sure seemed like her and Brandon were having a fun time out in the woods,” Linda replied in a snarky tone.
Emma froze and she could feel her heart pounding in her chest while her ears got hot. She was speechless and just looked back and forth between her mom and Linda, not knowing how to respond.
“Do you think I don’t know what was going on with you two out in the woods?” Linda asked Emma. “It was obvious that you two were out there smoking marijuana.” Linda said knowingly as she was getting more visibly upset.
Emma burst out laughing. It was an automatic reaction of nervousness, relief and utter hilarity.
“Pot? No way, I don’t do that sort of thing. Brandon and I were just sharing a cigarette, definitely not a joint,” Emma said as she nervously fiddled with her hair.
“Cigarettes?” asked Emma’s mom. “I thought you quit last year.”
“Oh, I did,” replied Emma. “I just had one puff.”
Emma’s mom shook her head disappointingly toward Emma, but then quickly changed the subject to keep the party atmosphere light and joyous.
“I was thinking, maybe we should have a late dinner together, you know, just the four of us as a family later on in the evening, that would be a great time for all of us to get to know each other better,” her mother said, abruptly changing the subject.
“Mom, I was actually just about to leave, I have a slight headache-“
“I'm not taking no for an answer, Emma,” Lisa interrupted her as Emma wondered if she would be able to make it through dinner with Brandon so close to her.
“Your mother is right, it will just be a quick bite because we would like to leave for our honeymoon in the Cayman Islands as soon as we can,” George said, Emma avoiding his eyes.
“I guess you are right, I'll see you at dinner then,” she said, walking away with Tina quickly before they could strike up another conversation that might leave her in an even more awkward situation.
“Okay, this time you are totally screwed up and I would hate to be in your situation,” Tina said as they drifted out onto the terrace.
*****
Brandon listened absentmindedly to some of the sons of his dad’s business partners ranting on about their latest ventures. It seemed as if all that they ever talked about was business even when they were out at social functions. His mind, however, was elsewhere, as he was trying to piece together what had suddenly become the puzzle of his life. One minute he had been single, the next he had met this hell of a sexy bartender and fallen deeply in love with her, and now he had just discovered that she was now his step sister and had even had sex with her while their parents were getting married in the chapel; how much crazier and more fucked up could things get?! For Brandon, there was no turning back. He intended to fight for his love even if it meant wading through the deepest waters or climbing over the tallest mountains. Emma was a rare catch and there was no way that he could just let her slip out of his fingers that easily, step sister or not.
“Excuse me,” a butler walked over to Brandon and said politely. “Your father and mother would like you to join them for a private dinner upstairs.”
“Thank you, tell them I'll be right there,” Brandon said, glad for the excuse to leave this boring group of dudes behind.
He excused himself and headed off towards the direction the butler had gone. It had been almost an hour since he had been with Emma, and he had changed into a dinner jacket and a matching pair of pants and shoes. He looked at his gold Rolex. It was almost nine and he knew that his father had asked for the private jet to be ready to take them on their honeymoon in about an hour and a half. As he took the elevator to the next landing, Brandon was wondering what would become of him and Emma while they were away. Would she be moving to their house with her mother, or would she remain where she lived? He realized that he did not even have any idea if she lived alone or with her mother. As the elevator doors slid open, he walked into the dining room to the table where George and Lisa were already seated next to each other. On the other side opposite to them, the table had been set for two, and he wondered if the extra seat was Emma's.
“Come on, what took you so long, and where is your new step sister, Emma? Have you had a chance to get to know each other at all yet?” Lisa said with a smile as the butler pulled out a seat for him opposite his father.
“It was hard tearing myself away from the Woolworth twins,” he lied, settling into the seat and looking at his father.
Just then he heard the elevator door sliding open and when he looked in that direction, out walked the most stunning image of a woman that he had ever seen. Emma had changed into a red silk and lace dress that hugged her body tightly showing off her dangerous curves. It was short showing off most of her sexy thighs, and the upper part was strapless, showing off her shoulders and cupping her breasts in a revealing way. She held a matching clutch in her hand and further down, she had a matching pair of stilettos; she was dressed to kill. Brandon found himself staring at her as if he didn’t believe that it was actually her. She looked like a goddess who had just walked out of the gates of heaven and it was even harder to believe that she was the same person that he had made love to not so long ago. She gave him a million dollar smile when his eyes shot back to hers and he blushed when he realized that he was staring at her with his jaw hanging.
“Good evening, everybody, I hope that I did not keep you waiting too long, I had to dash out and get something appropriate to wear to dinner since I had not initially planned for it,” she said confidently, walking up to her seat as Brandon got up quickly despite himself. Brandon greeted Emma and pulled out her chair for her.
“Yes, that is my son, Brandon, a true gentleman,” his dad said Brandon hugged Emma lightly, kissing her on either cheek.
The mere feel of her skin against his lips reminded him of all the pleasure that he had felt when he had been making love to her such a short time ago, and it began to get him aroused. Surely, no other woman had ever gone under his skin as deep as this sexy blonde, and Brandon found it hard to think straight when he was around her.
“It is such a pleasure to finally meet you, Emma,” he said, pushing her chair in when she sat down before settling back into his own chair right next to her, their bodies barely inches apart.