stepbrother two, jewel crotan [best ereader for textbooks txt] 📗

mirror, smoothed my dress over my hips, and walked to the living room where Cole was waiting.

He looked effortlessly put-together and in control, his jaw chiseled, his shoulders broad. I remembered how close he’d come to kissing me in the kitchen, and I tried to push the thought out of my head. But I couldn’t. It was all I could think about.

And then he turned around, and his eyes took me in, his gaze starting at my feet and sliding up my body.

“Oh my God,” he breathed.

“What?” I asked. “Is it too much? I’m sorry, but there isn’t really anything else that –”

“You look beautiful,” he said, and I flushed.

“Thank you,” I said. “You look nice, too.”

He crossed the room to me, and I took a step back.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“It’s…” I cleared my throat. “Cole, if I’m going to stay here, what happened in your office earlier…that can’t happen again.”

“I know.”

“You do?”

“Yes.” He nodded, his face serious. “I’m sorry, Avery, I shouldn’t have done that. It was wrong.”

“Yes,” I said, “it was.” I was agreeing with him, but inside I was disappointed. I wanted him to tell me he wasn’t sorry it happened, wanted him to pull me toward him, to run his hands over my body, pull my dress down and kiss me until I was breathless.

“But I want you to know,” he said, “that it’s going to be very hard for me to keep my hands off you.” He took another step toward me. “Especially when you’re wearing dresses like this.” He reached out and grazed my hip with his hand, and I moved back.

“We can’t.” I shook my head. “It’s not good. If your dad ever found out, he’d have a field day selling that story to the tabloids. And besides, it’s…”

“It’s all kinds of fucked up.”

“Yes.”

“Because you’re my stepsister.”

“Yes.” I hesitated, wondering if I should say the other part out loud, the part that I’d been secretly thinking ever since he’d made me strip for him in his office. That the reason it was so hard to stay away from him was because he was gorgeous yes, but also because I got off on the fact that he was so demanding with me. And he liked telling me what to do, dominating me. It was twisted.

But before I could say anything, his face turned back to stone, and he moved away from me, grabbing his suit jacket and sliding it on.

“The car should be here in a couple of minutes.”

“The car?”

“Yes, our town car. It will take us to the party so we don’t have to walk or take the subway.”

I nodded, like I was used to riding in a town car, even though I obviously wasn’t. I don’t think I’d ever been in a town car my life. “What about your car?” I asked.

“Too much of a pain in the ass to drive it,” he said, and I marveled once again at the kind of money he had, the kind of money that allowed you to have a beautiful, expensive car that you just parked in a garage, choosing not to drive it just because it would be an inconvenience. In my world, cars were the kind of thing you spent months saving up for, just so you could buy a junker and wind up having to spend hundreds of dollars to get it fixed when it inevitably broke down a couple weeks later.

We took the elevator downstairs, nodding to the doorman before stepping out onto the street.

There was a shiny black car waiting for us, and a driver in a black hat opened the back door.

We slid inside.

Cole sat next to me, his leg pushed up against mine. Heat radiated from within me, and I tried my best to calm the butterflies in my stomach.

“So you’ll be attending this party as my assistant,” he said.

“Of course.” I nodded. Obviously I wasn’t going to the party as Cole’s date. That would be incredibly strange and inappropriate. “Whose party is this anyway?”

“Connor Raskin. He’s an investor who owns a huge share of stock in my company. Every so often he throws parties for no reason other than to rent out a huge ballroom and splash his money around. Everything starts out extravagantly, but by the end of the night, people are doing blow in the bathroom, and everyone’s drunk.” He glanced over at me. “We’ll be gone before then.”

“Of course.”

“There’s always a few photographers there, so hopefully someone will get a picture of you looking happy and normal.”

I nodded.

“If anyone asks what you’re doing there, tell them you just got hired, and that you’re looking forward to the networking opportunities.”

“Okay. Um, but won’t you be with me?”

“Yes, but not the whole time.”

Panic shot through me at the thought of being at some swanky party without Cole by my side.

“Hey,” he said, obviously noticing my discomfort. “You’ll be fine. There might even be some people there you know.”

“Like who?”

“Shawn Carter and Jake Brooks,” he said. “You remember them from high school, right?”

I nodded. Shawn and Jake were Cole’s friends, and they’d always been nice to me. They were the ones Cole had gone off to New York with when he moved here. “They work with you?”

“Not anymore.” He shook his head. “They sold their shares in the company and used the money to start their own.”

“Oh.” And then I remembered something. Something I’d been trying to forget ever since it happened. “And Jeffrey Adams?” I asked, trying to keep my voice light. “Will Jeffrey Adams be there?”

Cole shook his head. “No. Jeffrey sold his shares too, and no one’s heard from him since.”

I breathed out a sigh of relief. Jeffrey Adams was the one person I never wanted to see again as long as I lived, the one person I never even wanted to think about. He’d gone to New York with Cole, too, but I hadn’t heard much about him since, and I was glad to hear he wouldn’t be there tonight.

The car was slowing, and as it pulled up to the curb, Cole reached over and opened the door, then helped me out onto the sidewalk.

“You ready?” he asked.

I nodded. “Ready.”

We walked into the lobby of the Grand Meridien, and its elegance was almost blinding. Everything was shiny and new and sparkling, from the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling to the black marble of the check-in desk. The party was being held in the Diamante Ballroom, and Cole walked toward it, his strides long, his gait fast.

“We’ll be able to get out of here soon,” he said. “It’s all about making an appearance.”

I nodded, quickening my pace to keep up with him, even though the idea of getting all dressed up and taking a car to a fancy hotel just to stay for a little while seemed like a waste of time to me.

Once we were in the ballroom, Cole headed right to the bar, and I followed him. He ordered me a diet coke, and himself a bourbon.

“I want rum in my diet coke,” I said to the bartender, but Cole shook his head.

“No,” he said. “You’re not having any alcohol.”

“Why not?”

“Because I said so.”

“Because you said so?”

“Yes, Avery, because I said so.” He spotted someone across the room, and turned to me. “I’ll be right back. Stay here and don’t move.”

“Wasn’t planning on it,” I mumbled under my breath as he walked away.

“Ah, go ahead and have some rum,” a voice on the other side of me said, and I turned to see a man standing there. He was about thirty, with sandy blonde hair and sparkling green eyes. “You got to have a little fun, right, sweetheart?”

“Thank you,” I said.

“No problem.” He held his hand out. “Connor Raskin, Raskin Technologies.”

“Oh,” I said, suddenly tongue-tied. It was his party. What had Cole said? That he was some kind of important investor? Shit, Avery, get it together and don’t embarrass yourself. “Mr. Raskin, I didn’t realize…”

“Please, call me Connor,” he said. “You’re here with Cole Buchanan?”

I nodded. “Yes. I’m Avery, his new assistant. Well, second assistant.” I was babbling, and I forced myself to take a breath.

“That can’t be a fun job.” Connor motioned to the bartender. “A little rum for this girl’s diet coke.”

The bartender poured a shot in my glass, and I hesitated.

You’re not having any alcohol.

Because I said so.

But Cole wouldn’t want me to go against Connor Raskin, would he? That would make me look bad, giving the host of the party a hard time. So I took a sip, enjoying the feel of the run as it burned my throat.

“It’s been okay so far,” I said, hoping he wasn’t going to ask me about my duties. “Today’s my first day. I’m his stepsister. So he’s doing me a favor by giving me this job.”

“Still.” Connor shook his head. “Your brother can be one tough SOB.”

“Don’t I know it.”

He laughed, like this was the funniest joke he’d ever heard.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his card. “I have to go,” he said. “It’s my party, so I’m expected to mingle. But call me sometime.”

I watched as he disappeared into the crowd, admiring the easy way he moved. “What the fuck was that?” Cole asked, suddenly appearing behind me.

“Connor Raskin,” I said, holding up his card.

“He gave you his card?” Cole said.

“Yeah.”

Cole took it from me and ripped it in half, then dropped it on the bar.

“Hey!” I said. “Why’d you do that?”

But he didn’t answer me. Instead, he picked up my drink and took a sip. “I told you no alcohol.”

“He made me.”

“He made you?” This seemed to enrage him, and the next thing I knew, he’d grabbed me by my elbow and was leading me through the party back through the lobby. He pulled me into a side room, then turned around and locked the door. It took me a second to realize we were in some kind of coatroom.

“What he hell are you doing?” I demanded.

“I don’t want you talking to him.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. I don’t want you talking to Connor. Or any other guy at this party.”

“That’s ridiculous! There are going to be guys here, Cole, and they’re going to –”

“No.” He shook his head. “Then I won’t leave your side.”

“You can’t do that,” I said. “I’m supposed to be here for a photo op, remember? So maybe someone will see that I’m not brainwashed, that I’m just here as your assistant, that everything’s fine? You’re acting crazy.”

“I am crazy.” He grabbed me then and pushed me up against the door, pushing his body against mine. I tensed as his hands moved up my leg, stopping at the bottom of my dress. “Because you’re driving me crazy.”

“Please, Cole,” I said. “We can’t – ”

“Shut up.” His hands grabbed the bottom of my dress and pushed it up, his fingers sliding up my thighs and into my panties before finding my bare pussy.

I gasped. “What are you doing?”

“Finishing what I started.” His fingers moved inside of me, in and out, making me so wet I couldn’t take it. His thumb swirled against my clit, making me breathless. He grabbed onto my hair from behind, gathering it in his hands and yanking my head back as he finger fucked me.

I moaned. Feeling his fingers inside of me was ecstasy. Back in his office, he’d wanted to tease me, to toy with me, to play with me. Now he wanted to make me his. “Come for me, Avery,” he commanded, his breath hot on my neck. “Come on my fingers, baby.”

A second later, I did, my orgasm ripping through me like a tidal wave.