Wrecked: A Stepbrother Romance Novel (13 page)

Then I gripped the base of his cock with one hand and leaned down to swirl my tongue around the head. The sound of that first tortured moan would be forever ingrained in my memory right along with the first taste of his cock.

Wanting more, I tightened my lips and sucked the head into my mouth, keeping my tongue moving and feeling a heady wave of feminine pride as his hips strained up and his back arched.

“
Ohhh fuck yes
. Suck me, baby.
More
,” he groaned, his hips still attempting to flex upwards into my mouth even though I was doing my best to hold him down with one hand. “
Please.
”

The broken gasp was what got to me more than anything else and I gave in to his wishes, sinking my mouth down as far as I could go and running my tongue along the underside of his cock. The sounds he made when I started bobbing my head went straight to my core, making my panties damp with need as I forcefully sucked in time with the small thrusts of his hips.

True to his word— it didn’t take long. I felt his hands tugging gently at my hair as he tried to force out the words to warn me, but I still sunk down lower and lower, using my hand to work what I couldn’t reach with my mouth.

When I pulled up to focus the suction of my mouth solely on the head while I used my spit as lube and rapidly jacked him off, he let out a choked grunt of surprise followed by a loud roar of ecstasy as he exploded in my mouth.

I kept the gentle pressure on him until the spurts stopped and I felt his abdomen starting to twitch and shudder beneath my palm. I sat up and looked at his face, laughing lightly at the spaced-out smile that was spread across his lips. I couldn’t recall him ever looking so... peaceful.

And to know that I was the cause of that look was heartwarming.

“
God
, that was... come here, baby,” he beckoned, opening his arms and waving me up.

I climbed the rest of the way up the bed and cozied up beside him, unable to keep the ecstatic smile off my face as he rolled onto his good side to wrap me in his arms and cradle me against his body.

I had expected him to fall asleep right away like pretty much every other man I’d ever been with, but I could tell he was awake for a long while afterwards by his continuous strokes of my hair with one hand and my bare back with the other.

My arousal drifted to the back of my thoughts as the bed and his soft touches began to lull me to sleep. Just as I started to slip into dreamland, I heard Brandon whisper that he loved me and the words pulled the corners of my lips up in a smile that stayed in place for the rest of the night.

W
aking
up with someone beside me wasn’t something I was accustomed to, so it was a bit of a shock when Brandon’s alarm went off the next morning and I felt a warm weight pressed against my back. It seemed to surprise him as well and both of our bodies stiffened at the same time before instantly relaxing when the events of last night came rushing back.

Brandon reached up to the shelf above his headboard and switched off the alarm before burrowing back beneath the covers and burying his face in the crook of my neck.

“Good morning, angel,” he whispered.

“Good morning.”

I twisted out of his grip and flipped over, snuggling into his body and arching up for a kiss. He cupped my cheek with his hand as he moved to deepen it— pulling my unsatisfied arousal from the night before right back to the front of my mind.

When he pulled away, he cracked open his eyes to stare at me seriously.

“If it’s not too presumptuous of me, I’d like to have someone fetch us protection for tonight. Or whenever. If you still want to, of course.”

I laughed as his eyes grew slightly panicked. I knew he didn’t want me to feel like he was pushing, but I figured I could remedy that by telling him just how much I wanted him.

“If you could get someone to bring us condoms this morning, we could always use them before tonight.”

“You’d want to do that?”

“I want
you
. It doesn’t particularly matter when.”

He groaned as I kissed him again, pushing him onto his back and straddling his waist. Part of me wanted to do something right then—perhaps teach him how to return the favor from last night—but logically I knew it was better to wait. I begrudgingly pulled away, giving him a sympathetic smile as I rolled off the bed.

“Before you start protesting—How much work do you have to do today?”

He gingerly sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed, giving me a half-shrug as he thought about. “No more than usual.”

I raised an eyebrow at him before bending down to pick up my discarded dress and sliding it back on. When I walked towards him and spun around, I didn’t even need to ask for him to zip me up. A true gentleman as always.

And while I truly loved that quality in him, I looked forward to making him lose control when his leg was fully healed.

“But the usual amount of work for you is still a lot and the sooner you get up and get it done, the more time we’ll have to spend together later.”

Recognition began to dawn in his eyes and he nodded, smiling at my plan.

“I think I can wrap everything up by four.”

“Perfect. I think I’ll spend my day lying out on the beach covered in tanning oil,” I said idly, waiting for the inevitable reaction.

I grinned at the sound of his tortured groan.

“Why must you tell me that?
Fuck
. We better make it five. I’ll need an extra hour to come out and randomly check on you.”

“
Check on me?
” I asked with a snort of disbelief. “You mean check me out.”

“Semantics,” he said with a scoff and a wave. “I need to make sure you don’t get dehydrated or suffer from a heat stroke.”

His reasoning made me laugh out loud and he smiled fondly at my mirth. I was still smiling as I fetched his cane from where I left it the night before and backed away to let him stand up on his own.

“Do you want to eat first or just get straight to work?”

His reaction was
completely
unexpected. His head whipped towards me and a sly grin appeared before he commented, “Oh I think I’d enjoy that, but I wouldn’t be getting any work done.”

He chuckled at my slack-jawed expression and began the slow walk to his bathroom. Before he closed the door, he called out a warning that if I wasn’t gone when he got out—there wouldn’t be any work going on today. I took his words to heart and left the room, although I was extremely hesitant to do so.

As much as the idea of lounging on the beach all day appealed to me earlier, I really wasn’t looking forward to getting even more hot and bothered than I already was—even if it was just in the literal sense. The idea of releasing my tension in the shower popped into my head, but I quickly dismissed it.

If anything, I felt like purposely waiting for tonight was going to make it all the better. Until then, I’d do everything in my power not to think about Brandon and the noises he made last night.

H
ours later
, I finally accepted that not thinking about Brandon in a sexual manner was now an impossible task. I was embracing the freedom of that knowledge and indulging in some very explicit fantasies when the sound of a motorboat approaching the dock ruined the mood.

I sat up and tried to shield the sun from my eyes with my hand, squinting down the beach and watching as Shaw, Grant, and another man who looked vaguely familiar hopped off the boat. The unknown man was carrying two recyclable grocery bags and if I hadn’t already been so warm from the sun, I imagined I would have been able to feel the blush sweep across my entire body at the mere thought of Shaw knowing what was likely in that bag.

I consoled myself with the thought that he probably didn’t know. The stranger could just be a random delivery person hitching a ride with Shaw and not someone associated with him and his team. I squinted harder—trying to figure out why the man looked so damn familiar.

Then it clicked. It was the driver who picked me up at the airport. He never gave me his name, but his scowl was still firmly in place. I breathed a sigh a relief, knowing it was one of Brandon’s personal employees.

All three of them walked right up to the house, not even noticing me lounging down the beach. I had opted to go a little further away from the path, mainly in the hope of avoiding Brandon coming out to check on me.

With the fantasies I’d been having, there was no telling whether or not I would have been able to resist riding him right here on the beach in broad daylight. Better just to avoid the temptation altogether.

In the spirit of avoidance, I laid back and stretched out, willing my body to relax and my mind to clear, just enjoying the sounds of the ocean and the wind blowing through the trees. My hope was to lose track of the time and a long while later when I heard the boat engine rev up again, I knew I had succeeded.

I sat up to watch it depart, then angled my body to look towards the house. Brandon was standing on the edge of the walkway—cane in hand and staring down the beach at me with a content smile.

When he noticed I was looking his way, he raised his hand and waved. I returned the gesture, then frowned when I saw him shaking his head. The hand went down then came back up, all five fingers stretched out but not otherwise moving.

Oh. Five o’clock. Damn it.

I nodded and gave him a thumbs up, sighing sadly after he turned and started up the walkway. I dug my phone out of the bag I’d brought with me and took note of the time, knowing by the position of the sun that it couldn’t be much later than lunch time.

1:26. Two missed calls. One unheard voice message.

“Shit,” I grumbled, toying with the idea of listening to the voicemail but ultimately deciding against it.

I knew not calling her back was probably throwing her into a state of panic, but I couldn’t do it until after I discussed it with Brandon. And judging by how things were progressing between us, I just prayed that she’d be able to stay calm until tomorrow morning.

No matter how our discussion went, I’d call her to make sure she knew I was fine. After I made the promise to myself, I powered the phone down and flopped back, resigning myself to waiting around doing nothing until five.

“
H
ow’d
your meeting with Shaw go?”

Brandon startled and I laughed, unable to stop myself as he looked up from his computer screen with wide eyes. He turned his head to the clock on the wall and frowned at it like he had no idea how it could possibly be five o’clock already.

“It took up far too much time for my liking. I wish he would have given me some warning,” he grumbled before turning his attention back to the monitor. “Let me just save out of this and I’ll be done for the day.”

I took a seat and gave him a few minutes to shut everything down, then smiled at him expectantly. I wasn’t entirely sure how to go about this, but I imagined he probably wanted to eat first.

Which would be the perfect opportunity for me to bring up Harold and my mom.

“Do you want to have dinner? I’m not going to lie—I already ate.”

“What’d you have?”

“Just a sandwich.”

He nodded and came over to the couch I was waiting on, reaching his hand out for mine. I slid our fingers together and stood up, staying silent as he led me through the house and down to the kitchen. I was about to offer to put something together for him when he made a beeline for the loaf of bread that was still sitting on the counter.

“A sandwich sounds good. Sounds
quick
,” he said with a smile full of promise and innuendo.

While he moved to the fridge, I took a seat at the bar and nervously twisted my hands together. I wasn’t entirely sure how to broach the subject of our parents and I was worried that if I went about it wrong, his reaction might affect everything I had been looking forward to all day.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked as he plopped the jar of strawberry jam on the counter and braced himself against the edge, looking at me with a concerned frown. “Are you having second thoughts?”

“About tonight?
Hell
no. You got condoms, right?”

Brandon blushed and nodded. “Yes.”

Another thought occurred to me and I felt stupid for not even thinking to mention it earlier.

“You got the correct size, didn’t you? Because, uh... you aren’t exactly average.”

His face turned even more red, but he managed to maintain eye contact as he nodded. Now that I could rest assured that the sex part of our evening was covered, so to speak, it was time to bring up the less pleasant part.

“My mom called.”

His back straightened, but whatever thoughts he had were carefully hidden beneath a mask of indifference as he continued putting together the sandwich.

“Oh yeah? What did she say?”

“I didn’t answer. She left a voicemail but I haven’t listened to it yet. I wanted to discuss it with you first.”

“What is there to discuss?”

I sighed heavily and laid my palms flat on the bar to stop myself from wringing them together any longer. The gesture caught his attention and he looked up, his expression neutral but his eyes wary.

“What am I supposed to tell her? About where I am?”

He sat the knife down and stared off into space for a moment, his lips pursing together as he thought about our predicament. I was silently hoping he would say I was free to tell her the truth, but I instinctively knew he wasn’t going to be thrilled at that prospect.

“Do you have to tell her anything?” he finally asked, breaking the thick silence that had settled in the kitchen.

“Um,
yes
. Her and Harold were on vacation which is why we didn’t talk for a while when I first got here, but if I don’t call her back soon she’s going to get worried. She’s been that was ever since...”

“Since I disappeared,” he finished for me, the resolution melting off his face. It was as if the implication of just how much his disappearance had affected us back home was finally starting to come together in his head. “If you have to tell her, then do it. But I’m... I’m not going back. Just make sure that is very clear. I suppose if they want to come here to see me, that could be arranged.”

I completely blanked out after the words
‘I’m not going back’
, feeling my heart break in every sense of the word. He had his own private paradise here, but I knew that the isolation wasn’t going to be something I could deal with long-term.

Which meant that when the time came for me to go home, I’d be going back to the city alone.

“Vanessa?”

“Hmm?” I hummed, blinking rapidly to clear the tears that were beginning to form.

“Call her and tell her whatever you need to. All right?”

I nodded and smiled, but it wasn’t genuine. He frowned at me from across the bar, knowing that he’d somehow fucked up but seemingly unable to figure out how. Temporarily heartbroken or not, I was determined to live in the moment and hold on to the hope that we’d find a way to make it work. Because knowing Brandon, he wouldn’t give up on me—on
us
—so easily.

When I realized he was still looking at me with concern, I waved him off and gave him a real, hopeful smile.

“Eat. You’ll need all the energy you can get,” I said playfully, adding an exaggerated wink at the end for good measure.

My effort was rewarded with a smile before he bit into the sandwich, tearing it off with a snarl and chewing dramatically. I laughed at the sight and just like that, the pain in my chest eased until I could barely remember why I had been upset in the first place.