The Other Brother Part 2: Taboo: Stepbrother Billionaire Romance Read online

  “Have you seen him since he got out?” His words are measured as he casually picks up his glass from the table and refills it. He refills my water too, and I’m glad, because just looking at him makes my mouth dry.

  I watch as he sips from his scotch, and for one long moment I’m tempted. Tempted to have a drink myself.

  I can’t. I never actively admitted that I was an alcoholic, never went to any meetings, but I know. One drink and I can’t stop. I can’t have just one, or I lose control. Alcohol is poison, at least for me.

  But even knowing that, I’m tempted. And my hands shake as I clasp them in my lap, trying to focus on the fact that I’m strong enough to have this conversation without alcohol.

  “Allegra?”

  Right. He asked me a question. I force my stare away from the golden gleam of Seth’s glass of scotch. “Yes, I’ve seen him. Last night. I’m not even going to ask how you knew.”

  “Is he staying at the house with you?” Seth’s looking at me as if this is the most important question in the universe—and I’ve just about had it with his little innuendos and comments about Theo.

  I give him a look. “Yes, of course. It’s his home. Where else would he go?”

  Seth clearly doesn’t like this, I can see it in the tension of his body, but he only says one thing. “Be careful around him.”

  I groan with frustration and shake my head. “Stop. Just stop. Don’t say shit like that and not explain. You did the same thing that night.” Angry all over again, I stalk toward him. My hands vibrate with pent-up frustration. I need answers.

  “Tell me what the hell is going on. Tell me what Theo did to warrant you almost killing him. I want to believe that you had a reason, but you’ve given me nothing to go on. Please, Seth, I want to forgive you. I want…”

  I’m right in front of him now. I can see the faint sapphire flecks in his icy eyes. The heat of his body envelops me, and the scent of him, soap and man and just a faint hint of cologne, makes me fuzzy in the head.

  Going to him is definitely the wrong decision, but neither can I seem to step back. I’m frozen in place, waiting for him to make the next move.

  “You want?” Like a large cat who finally has its prey in its sights, Seth appraises me with glittering eyes, raising his hand to traces the line of my jaw with a finger.

  “I want.” It’s a relief to say it, to just give in.

  “What do you want, Allie?” Our stares are locked together, and I have to fight back a whimper. I can’t say it. I just can’t. I don’t even have the right words.

  “This?” He leans down to me, slowly edging toward my mouth. My lips part in anticipation. A gasp escapes me as his lips lightly brush mine.

  But it’s not enough. I want more. More of what I know he can give me… more of what he showed me last night.

  I don’t have a clue how to ask for that.

  I moan into his mouth with frustration as I shift restlessly. I can feel him smile a bit against my mouth, but I’m not amused. I…

  I want him to take control. Otherwise I don’t think I can do this. I need to be dragged over that line.

  I want to be.

  “Allie.” Seth fists his hand in my hair. “I think I’m getting the picture here. I think you’re having a hard time asking for what you want. Am I right?”

  I nod as he tugs lightly, just hard enough to awaken the nerve endings in my scalp. Yes. Yes, this is what I want. Take my control away. Make me take what I need.

  “You want to submit to me, Allie. I know you do. Your entire body told me that last night.” Seth brushes his lips against mine again, and I can barely breathe. “We just need your mind to catch up with everything else.”

  “I’ll hate myself if I do this, Seth. If I give in.” My mind is starting to catch up. I can’t do this. I can’t. This man almost killed my brother.

  “What if I said that you had no choice?” Seth is watching me so closely that I’m sure he can see every thought I’ve ever had. The hand in my hair tugs a bit again, reminding me of how it felt to be under his hand last night.

  I exhale, my knees trembling. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean…” He tugs again, forcing me to look up into his face. “I mean that I can absolve you of responsibility, if that’s what you need. I’ll make you.”

  What?

  I’m full of questions but can’t get them out of my swollen throat.

  “Let me explain.” His hand slides from my hair to cup my throat, and I shudder at the possessive gesture. “I think this is what you want. I think you want to run. I think you want do the smart thing and run away from me. But I think you also want me to chase you. Is that right?”

  “Yes.” I nod, then stop. Wait… surely he doesn’t mean that literally?

  “Oh yes.” He seems to read my thoughts on my face. He smiles at me, the curve of his lips full of dark intent. “That’s exactly what I mean. If it’s what you want, we’re going to act out exactly what you’re feeling. And by act out, I mean that you’re going to run. I’m going to chase you. And when I catch you—and I will catch you—I’m going to fuck you the way we’ve both wanted to fuck for years. You’re going to take my cock, Allegra. You’re going to be mine.”

  Say something, damn it. I’m a strong woman. I shouldn’t want this. But the picture he’s just painted is so, so perfect…

  I’m lost to him. He knows what I want, what I need. Nobody ever has, not even me, so in this moment, I can’t move away. I can’t push him back.

  I don’t fucking want to.

  Seth releases me and steps back. His hands are fisted at his sides, as though he’s doing his best to control himself.

  “If you need to stop, if you need to slow down, if you need anything at all, you say red. Do you understand?”

  “Red,” I repeat, my voice hoarse. “Why not just stop?”

  He smirks, his hands raising to the buckle of his belt. “I think you can imagine why the word stop might not work in this game.”

  Game. Right, this is just a game. But it sure doesn’t feel like one as he closes the distance between us, fists a hand in the front of my work blouse, and tugs. I shriek as buttons go flying and fabric tears.

  “Seth!” I’m wild-eyed and shaking, just from that animalistic action. “What are you doing?”

  He smiles at me mockingly, already in character.

  “Run.”

  Run. It echoes through my head as I back away. I haven’t gone more than three steps when he starts to move too. Crying out at the sudden clench of fear in my belly, I turn and do as he’s ordered, kicking off my low-heeled sandals as I go.

  Adrenaline is potent, rocketing through my veins and making me clumsy. It’s real fear, but… different. Exciting. As I take off across the living room, I can’t help the giggle that escapes me.

  I’ve never felt so alive. And it’s not funny; the laugh is slightly hysterical, because I can hear Seth’s footsteps behind me, each heavy and deliberate.

  I’m being chased. When he catches me, he’s going to fuck me, and I’m not going to be able to do anything about it. I should hate the whole idea. Instead I crave it more than I crave my next breath.

  “You’re not going very fast, girl.” Oh my God, he’s so close. “Seems to me you want to be caught.”

  “No!” Oh no, I didn’t want that. He wasn’t going to get me that easily. I slide behind the bar to put something between us, turning while I’m protected to get a look at where my pursuer is.

  “Oh, this was almost too easy.” Seth reaches over the counter, grabs a fistful of my shirt. I shriek and pull away, jolting myself free. I hear the fabric tear and the sound is huge, echoing in my ears as I sprint away.

  The suite is big, but not big enough to stay away from Seth for long. No matter where I go, I can hear him following behind me, his steps slow but relentless. He’s driving me mad.

  After a detour through the dining area, I propel myself back into the main room. Relief is warmth on my skin as
I heave out a massive sigh, thinking I eluded him again. He’s still in the dining room, which has two doors on opposite ends. I have a chance to catch my breath and maybe think about where to hide next.

  I scurry across the thick carpet where the game first started. Maybe if I hide in the bedroom, I can get away.

  I’m just passing the huge floor-to-ceiling window when a strong, hard hand grabs me by the upper arm.

  I scream.

  “That’s a nice sound.” He tugs me toward him roughly, my heart hammering so hard it hurts. The look in those icy eyes in full of possession.

  “No!” I flail, and my arm connects with a stone lamp sitting on an end table. It crashes to the floor, the light flickering out in a shower of glass. I can barely hear it over the tattoo of my pulse.

  “No!” I shriek again as he herds me toward the window. He curses loudly as I buck against him, which only serves to press me against every last hard plane of his body.

  This chase has aroused him. Excited him. And he can do whatever he wants with me.

  I have no control.

  The realization makes me buck even more wildly against him.

  “I like it when they fight.” Seth. This is Seth smiling mockingly down at me. Grabbing me by the hips, he presses his erection into my belly and grinds. “See what it does to me? What you do to me?”

  He’s going to fuck me with that cock, and I can’t do anything about it. Just like I couldn’t do anything about the events that happened six years ago. Adrenaline and endorphins flying through me, I hiss at him and duck my head, sinking my teeth into his biceps with blinding rage.

  “I hate you.” I bite him again, and he groans. “I don’t want this.”

  He smiles again, his hand sliding between my legs. I cry out when his hand slides up my skirt, when he shoves two fingers beneath my panties and right inside of me.

  I clench around him. I’m shaking, and panting, and my heart is racing so hard I feel like I might be sick. I’ve never experienced anything like this.

  “I hate you!” I cry again as he pulls his fingers out, then shoves them back in. My hips press forward, my body betraying me. “Fuck you! Let me go!”

  “Remember our rules, Allie.” He continues to fuck me with his fingers, and I’m so wet I can hear it as he tunnels in and out. I can barely hear him, but I understand what he’s telling me. I have a way out.

  In all of this chaos, I still have control.

  I don’t for a second consider using it.

  “Yeah, I remember the rules.” I try to wiggle away, but only succeed in sinking down farther onto his hand. “The rules that say you’re a bastard who’s going to just take me, no matter what I want.”

  “That’s right.” He removes his hand, and I can’t hold back the groan. Pinning me against the window with his pelvis, he unbuttons his shirt, tugs mine right off of me, rips the front of my bra open. His hands fill with my breasts, roughly kneading them, making my body clench, my skin go hot.

  “No.” This time my voice is weaker, and it’s belied anyway by my actions as I press my breasts into his hands. I know I won’t protest again. There’s no point. He’s in control, and he’ll do what he wants with me. All I have to do is let go.

  “Ready for my cock?” He’s being deliberately crude, I can tell, but even knowing that, I’m still affected, breath panting in and out as I watch him reach into his pocket and pull out a square of foil.

  Oh my God. This is really going to happen. Instinct has me shoving him away.

  “Bad girl.” Before I can suck in another breath, Seth turns me, presses my front against the glass. I cry out—it’s cold on my bare breasts, my belly.

  “Since I can’t trust you to hold still…” My wrists are bound behind me with his fingers. From the sound of ripping foil, the rasp of a metal zipper in the air, I know he’s smoothing the condom down his length, and I crane my head to see over my shoulder.

  “Oh, no. Bad girls who don’t hold still don’t get to look.” One hand still binding me, I feel his other palming one of the globes of my ass. I shudder.

  “I’ve always loved your ass.” A heavy swat falls on the cheek he’d just been caressing and I moan, pushing back against him. “I have all kinds of plans for this ass. But not tonight. Tonight I’m too desperate to be inside this tight little pussy to take time for anything else.”

  “Just do it.” My forehead presses against the glass, the sweat from my brow beading there. I’m mindless at this point, a slave to my instincts, and all I know is that I need him inside of me. “I’ve waited so long.”

  None of the boys, none of the men—I know that nothing will ever compare to this. This feeling of being utterly at this man’s mercy, and yet somehow completely in control.

  “Ask me nicely. I need to hear you say it.” Seth’s voice is a growl, his palms on my skin sweaty. I’m not alone here… he needs me as much as I need him.

  The realization would have brought me to my knees if he wasn’t there to support me.

  “Please. Fuck me. Just fuck me!” He doesn’t, and I realize belatedly what he’s waiting for. “Sir! Fuck me please, Sir!”

  “Good girl.”

  I scream again as he drives into me. Oh my God. Oh my God. He pushes, filling me until I groan.

  And he’s not even all the way in.

  “I think you can do better than that.” He pulls almost all the way out and I moan. Reaching between my legs, he delivers a light slap to my pussy that makes me tighten around him hard enough that he curses and surges forward again.

  I feel pressure, and I clench my teeth, sure that he’s not going to fit, and then my body gives way. He’s seated fully, his hips flush against my ass, and I cannot breathe.

  “Good girl. It’s not easy, taking all of this cock. You’ve made me happy.” He pulls back with excruciating slowness, then slams back in, imprinting me from the inside out. I have a vague notion that I should rebel against his words, about being told I’m good like one might a kitten, but instead I feel only a warm sort of pleasure burning in my chest.

  Pleasure that I’ve given him what he wanted. Given us both what we need.

  “Oh. Oh!” Every smart word I’ve ever had flies free from my mind as he continues his rhythm, slowing sliding out before crashing back in. The fast/ slow combination drives me wild, my body both trying to pull away from the assault and also draw as close as I can.

  I can feel it coiling inside of me, an onslaught of tension that is bearing down on me like a steam engine. My legs try to close but Seth releases my wrists, grabbing my thighs and tugging them even farther apart. I’m pressed right against the window, and if someone thinks to look up they’ll see me, the milk-white skin of my breasts smashed against the glass, my hips slamming into the clear pane as Seth fucks me from behind.

  “I can’t—oh God. Seth! Please!” His pace is speeding, and I’m pushed into the glass with every thrust of his hips. I’m meeting him with every movement, careening blindly for something I can’t quite even understand.

  “You’re a lot nicer when you’re bouncing on my cock.” Seth laughs breathlessly, continuing to drive himself home. I can only moan my agreement.

  I don’t hate him anymore. I love him for helping me find what I’ve been looking for.

  “Come for me, Allegra. I’ve always wanted to see it.” His fingers dig into my hips, spurring us both on at a brutal pace. The sweet friction threatens to burn me alive, to consume me. I’m reduced to a pool of whimpers and trembles, held above water by Seth’s thick hardness, his every thrust punctuated with a groan that tells me he loves this every bit as much as I do.

  “I said, come!” He swats me again. My clit throbs and a rush of liquid heat floods my pussy, slicking Seth’s cock, and I bear down around his length, the waterfall of sensation finally crashing over me.

  “Seth.” I press my palms against the window, trying to gain some kind of purchase, but they slip damply against the glass. Seth wraps his arms around my waist, catching
me before I fall as he continues to thrust, his increase in breath telling me he’s chasing his own pleasure.

  He shouts as he pumps once, twice, and then again, and I can feel the heat of his release deep inside of me. He holds us there, rocking us through the aftershocks of something that shattered both of our worlds.

  After this, I’m not sure that anything can ever be the same.

  Chapter Six

  SETH

  Holy. Fucking. Shit.

  Crude, but there are no elegant words for what just happened between us.

  “Oh Jesus, Allie.” I swipe a damp hand through the fall of hair that obscures her face. It is a blazing inferno swirling around her, symbolic of the heat that just consumed us both.

  I love the way her hair shines, even in the fading light in the room. But I can feel her stiffening beneath me, and I slowly come to I realize that we’re not in the most comfortable of positions.

  Reluctantly, I untangle my fingers from those long ribbons of hair. Her body still vibrates against mine as I slowly lower us to the floor. We’re sealed together with sweat. I know that I need to move out of her, to clean us both up, but every part of me wants to stay inside her heat for as long as I can.

  Although my legs shake, it feels too damn good. My heart hammers so hard I can feel it in my dry throat. This girl, the one I’d never imagined would be interested in this side of me, met my needs and raised them.

  She’s done me in. She’s it for me. I’ll never want anybody else. But I have no idea how to get from here to there.

  Allegra makes the awkward decision for me by nudging me away from her. I tuck myself back into my briefs—Jesus, I wanted her so badly that we’re both still half dressed— while she strides across the room, adjusting her clothes. She doesn’t look at me, rather at the wreckage of the room after our chase. Cushions are on the floor, our drinking glasses upended. The lamp is in shards on the floor.

  All of this makes me want to do it all over again. But as I look at Allegra’s wide eyes, I can see her shame growing as she tries to fasten her shirt. Since I’ve torn it, and the buttons are no more, she winds up tying it in front of her midriff, just below her breasts. She follows this by crossing her arms over her chest.