Stepbrother Studs: Taboo A-Z Boxed Set Volume 1: A Stepbrother Romance Bundle (Stepbrother Studs Boxed Sets) (16 page)

They took a swim to cool off. 

Lacey shook out the sandy blanket and spread it out again.  They lay side by side, staring up at the sky, letting the sun dry their naked bodies.  Small waves lapped lightly at the beach nearby and a gull cried out.  They linked hands and lay silently for the longest while.

“Lace?”

“Hm?” 

“Am I dreaming?”

“Maybe.”  She smiled, not opening her eyes.  “But if you are, I’m having the same dream.” 

He was quiet again and she almost drifted off, listening to the water lapping the shore. 

“Lace?”

“Hm?”

“I don’t want to go.” 

She rolled toward him, then, putting a finger over his lips to shush him.  She didn’t want him to go either—still—but it was different now.  He had to go.  And she would be here, when he came home.  Waiting for him. 

“We can do this every time you’re on leave,” she reminded him.  “I’m not going anywhere, Daren.  I meant what I said.”

“Mine.”  He pulled a wet strand of hair from her cheek, that hopeful look back in his eyes.  But there was something else there too.  He was beginning to believe her. 

“Yes.”  She nodded, smiling. 

“And to think, if I’d never told you how I felt…”

“But you did.”  She slid a thigh over his.  “And I’m glad.” 

“Even if…” He swallowed, looking at her.  “It seems so… wrong…”

“Maybe we’re not supposed to.  But, Daren…” She shifted against him on the blanket, her body already wanting more of him.  “I can’t say no to this.  Can you?”

“No.”  He swallowed, shaking his head.  “I love you, Lace.  I’ve loved you for a long time, and now that I’ve had you… no way.  I can’t give you up.  I won’t.” 

“Good.”  She gave him a satisfied smile. 

“Besides…” He gave her a slow, mischievous grin.  “It’s not like we’re breaking any maritime laws or anything, right?”

“You dork.”  Lacey laughed and punched him on the shoulder.  “Fuck me again.”

He brightened.  “Permission to come aboard, Captain?”

“Permission granted, sailor.”

Sissy and her stepbrother, Dustin, are both in college now and their parents are finally letting them plan a trip to the family’s cabin on their own.

But when it turns out that Sissy’s boyfriend bails on her for the umpteenth time, and Dustin’s on-again off-again girlfriend gets sick and can’t go, the siblings end up dangerously alone.

This gives both of them an opportunity to reveal some taboo truths and forbidden fantasies they’ve kept secret from each other. 

For Sissy and Dustin, things are about to get real. 

“I don’t know what you see in him anyway.”  Dustin was sarcastically trying to cheer me up about my boyfriend cancelling at the last minute, but I was ready to hit my brother over the head with the tent pole he was carrying in from the car.  “If Jake went to a mind-reader, they’d only charge him half price.”

“Shut up, Dustin.”  I continued unpacking all our food ‘staples’—flour, rice, canned soup, boxed macaroni and cheese—slamming them on the counter.  I was in no mood, glaring at my brother as he made another trip back out to the car, practically yelling so he could hear me.  “What about Erin?  You want to bet she wasn’t really sick—she just wanted to go to Chicago with Dan!”

“Yow.”  My brother chucked our sleeping bags onto the floor of the cabin as he came back in, red-faced from exertion or anger, I wasn’t sure which—and I didn’t care.  “You get up on the wrong side of the cage this morning or what?”

“Ugh!”  I threw up my hands, reaching for my bottled water and waving him away.  “Dustin, why don’t you just wander outside, like the two-year-old you are, and go play hide-and-fuck-yourself!”

“Ooo, burn.”  He rolled his eyes, tossing the last of our stuff from the car onto the floor.  “Look, I didn’t just spend nine hours in a car with you so we could fight all weekend.”

“Save your breath.”  I took a swig of water.  “You’re going to need it to inflate your new girlfriend.”

“Look who’s talking?”  He snorted, shoving our piles of stuff further into the cabin with his foot so he could slam the door behind him.  “At least my girlfriend had a reasonable excuse.  What was Jake’s?”

I blinked fast, turning away from him and unpacking grocery bags, saying in a small voice, “He said he had to work.”

“Right.  Sure he did.”  Dustin grabbed his own backpack and slung it over his shoulder, carrying it down the hallway to the room he would have shared with Erin, calling back over his shoulder, “Can’t bait a hook, can’t pitch a tent.  What did you think he was going to do up here anyway?”

I gave up on the groceries, folding my arms and turning to look out the window over the sink.  There was nothing to see except miles and miles of state land out back, with the shore of Ontonagon’s Thunder Bay to the right.  It was quiet, serene, beautiful—and I’d never felt more alone in my life. 

“Keep me company.”  I answered Dustin’s question, too soft for him to hear, my eyes filling with tears as I remembered Jake’s promise saying he would accompany me to the great outdoors in spite of his misgivings.  He was definitely more of an inside kind of guy, to be sure.  But that didn’t mean we couldn’t have had fun.  He’d bailed on me at the last minute and now I was stuck here alone with my brother instead. 

“Hey Sissy.”  Dustin’s presence behind me made me stiffen at first, then I relaxed as he put his arms around me, giving me a squeeze.  Sissy wasn’t my real name, but it’s what everyone had called me since my parents stepbrother Dustin when he was just two and couldn’t say my name—Cecilia.  “I’ll keep you company.”

“Did you just swallow a happy pill?”  I retorted, but I put my hands over his at my waist, taking a deep, relaxing breath, watching the wind sway the trees, the leaves shifting in the wind, back and forth, like schools of silver minnows.  It couldn’t have been a more beautiful day. 

“I said I didn’t want to fight with you, didn’t I?”  Dustin’s hands moved to my hips, his fingers starting their precarious trip up my rib cage.  I refused to even giggle, although I did smile—I was incredibly ticklish and holding back took a lot of energy.

I twisted away from him before I started to laugh, trying to hang onto my anger.  “Could’ve fooled me.”

Dustin raised an eyebrow, his mouth twisting into a knowing smirk.  We were stepsiblings, from two different families, but our coloring was quite similar—dark hair and eyes.  His mother—the only mother either of us had ever known—had remarked on our striking similarities our whole lives, pleased both of her children not only looked like each other, but like her as well.

My brother grabbed the edge of his t-shirt, pulling over his head and tossing it on the counter, revealing a broad, tanned chest and washboard abs.  He’d been working out! “Come on, let’s go cool off.  It’s too fucking hot in here.”

He was right.  The cabin had been closed up all summer and it was stuffy—far too hot and musty. 

I grinned, grabbing the edge of my t-shirt and pulling it over my head too.  “Race you!”

Dustin gaped at me in my bra, which gave me a good head start as I streaked past him, pulling the door open and pounding down the front porch steps. 

“Brat!”  my brother called, trailing behind me as I dashed down the path toward the water.  Lake Superior was the coldest of the Great Lakes but we had swum in it a hundred times during hot August vacations like this one with our parents.  This time, since Mom and Dad had decided to go on a long-awaited trip to Europe, Dustin and I had finally been allowed to come up here by ourselves. 

I already had my shorts undone, shoving them down my hips as I reached the water’s edge, kicking off my flip-flops.  I left my panties on—they covered more than my bikini would have anyway—and splashed into the lake, screeching at the cold, but Dustin was after me. 

“Cold!”  I warned over my shoulder—as if he couldn’t have figured that out by my initial reaction—seeing him stripping down to his boxers. 

I plunged in up to my neck, shivering, knowing the sooner I went under, the better my body would acclimate to the temperature.  The water was a deep, dark blue, the wind high, creating white crests all around me as I held my breath and slipped below the surface.  The world went away and I reveled in the sensation, staying down as long as I could, until my lungs began to ache. 

That’s when Dustin caught up to me, grabbing me around the waist from behind and swimming with me to the top.  I drew a big breath as we surfaced and squealed as he tossed me into the waves.  I came up sputtering, laughing, splashing my brother as I tried to swim away. 

“Don’t go out too far,” he warned, giving up the chase and floating on his back, letting the waves rock him.  I did the same, the sun warm on my face, for the first time really glad we’d come, in spite of the fact it was under less-than-perfect circumstances.  So Jake had chickened out—I didn’t need him to enjoy the weekend.  And Dustin didn’t need Erin.  We could make do, hanging out together like this, as long as we could keep from fighting!

As if to prove me wrong, I felt a sudden, sharp poke on my thigh and I jumped, gasping. 

“Dustin!”  I protested, uprighting myself and treading water, but he was too far away to have touched me, still lazily floating.

“What?”  he called, popping up too, shading his eyes to look over at me.

I rubbed my leg, frowning.  “I thought you pinched me!” 

“Must have been a fish.”  He laughed.  “Come on, let’s go in.  I’m getting hungry.  Tomorrow we’ll catch the little bastard and eat him.” 

I followed him toward shore, shivering when the air hit my skin as we waded out.  I saw Dustin glance at me in my bra and panties and I looked down, realizing my white underwear was now completely see-through. 

“Too bad Jake isn’t here.”  He grinned, tossing my clothes at me.  “He’d enjoy the show.”

We ate dinner on the porch—Beef Sirloin Chunky soup warmed up on the stove—sitting in the orange glow of the sun setting over the lake.  It was peaceful and quiet, and Dustin and I caught up on what had been going on at school this year.  I had just finished my first year of college at Michigan State.  Dustin teased me about going to “farm school.”  He’d been at the University of Michigan for two years on a full scholarship.  We both stayed clear of the subject of my missing boyfriend and his “sick” girlfriend. 

“Tired,” I announced finally, looking up at the stars studding the night, like hundreds of tiny jewels on black velvet.  “I’m gonna go to bed.”

“Night, Sissy.”  I couldn’t see his smile in the darkness, but I could hear it.  “Sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite.”

The phrase from childhood made me smile as I cleared our soup bowls, leaving them in the sink before heading to the room I would have shared with Jake.  But I didn’t want to think about him, I told myself, checking my cell phone for messages anyway.  There were none. 

I stripped down to nothing—
which I definitely would have done if Jake was here,
I thought, with a touch of regret—and slid between the cool, clean sheets I’d put on the bed.  I left my window open so I could hear the light chirp of crickets and the deeper call of the bullfrogs.  Besides, it was still warm, my hair sticking to the moist skin of my shoulders and back.

I’d imagined the perfect, romantic weekend getaway, Jake and I tucked away at night in this bed, kissing and touching and trying to be quiet so my brother and Erin didn’t know what we were doing in here.  My mind tried to argue I didn’t miss him, but my body knew better.  Sighing, I closed my eyes, sliding my hand down between my legs.  My pussy was throbbing, in need of attention, and I decided to give it some, since Jake wasn’t here to do it. 

My fingers slipped between my pussy lips, teasing my clit, imagining how sweet Jake’s tongue was right there—when I could get him to stay there long enough to make me come, anyway.  I mimicked his usual motion with my finger, back and forth, up and down.  I tugged and pulled at my nipples with my other hand, my breath coming faster, my hips thrusting up, the sheet falling away.  Soon I was so lost in the sensation I forgot everything else. 

“Hey Sissy?”  Dustin knocked, but he opened the door right after, poking his head in.  I gasped, grabbing for the sheet, pulling it up to my neck, praying he hadn’t seen anything, telling myself surely,
surely
it was too dark for his eyes to have adjusted so quickly!

“What?”  I snapped, feeling my face flush with heat, glad for the darkness.