Dirty Little Secrets: A Stepbrother Romance (10 page)

W
hen we got to Portland
, I wanted both of us to take our time. Thankfully, my condo has three bedrooms, two of which were unoccupied at the time.

“What’s in here?” Alix asked when I showed her around. It was late afternoon after we arrived, since both of us had been so exhausted after the drive to do much more than go to bed. She reached for the door knob, stopping when I spoke.

“Don’t go in there,” I commanded, just a bit of sternness in my voice. Alix turned to me, her eyes growing wide as she heard me give her her first order. “Alix, do you trust me?”

“Yes, Kade,” she said. She looked at me with her eyes wide and clear blue, looking at me without any fear at all. “I trust you completely.”

“Then don’t go in there,” I said, “Not yet,” still commanding but not as stern. “Alix, there’s so much I want to show you. But not yet.”

“Why not?” she asked, pouting before stopping. “Sorry, I guess I’m not supposed to ask why, am I?”

“You can ask, but don’t expect an answer quite yet.” I smirked. “But before anything, I need you to do something for me.”

“What?” she asked, leaning into my hand and shivering. “God, that feels good. How is this so good?”

“Because we’re doing it for the right reasons,” I explained. “But what I need you to do is call Layla.”

“And do what?” she asked. “Apologize?”

“Yes,” I said quietly. “You don’t need to tell her what you know. She had her reasons for not telling you, as much as I personally disagree with them. But you do need to apologize to her for the way you’ve behaved for so many years. In the meantime, I’ll have a visitor tonight.”

“Who?”

I nodded, leading her into the living room. “It’s my paralegal investigator, Vince. He’s the guy who tracked down what happened for me, although he doesn’t know the details. He and I are going to discuss our legal weapons available right now, and some that are not exactly legal. Vince has some connections on both sides of the law.”

Alix nodded.

“Before you call though, I have something for you,” I said, knowing Alix was ready.

“What?”

“
Tudor Rose
,” I said. “Never forget it. Say it, and I stop anything.”

Alix looked at me with surprise and understanding in her eyes. “May I kiss you?”

We kissed, and it was even better than the first two. There was no spark of shame, no hesitancy, just the sweet taste of Alix’s lips and the feeling of her willowy waist in my hands while her firm breasts pressed against my shirt. We were both breathing heavily when we broke our lips apart, her eyes dancing in delight. “I’m going to go call Mom.”

“I’ll give you privacy. By the way, I don’t want to sound presumptuous, but for appearance’s sake, we should set up the other bedroom like you’re staying as a guest for a while.”

I went into my bedroom, looking at the wide expanse of my king-sized mattress, looking forward to the fact that I hopefully wouldn’t be sleeping alone that night.
Then again
, I pondered,
perhaps Alix is a horrible snorer who hogs the blankets?

V
ince came
over just before dinner time, greeting me at the door with a handshake. “Good to see you again, Kade,” he said. He was dressed in jeans and a red t-shirt, casual after a day at work. “How was your drive back?”

“Hectic and rushed,” I admitted. “Come in, you’ll see why.”

Vince followed me into the living room, where he stopped short upon seeing Alix on the couch. She was heart-stopping, even wearing the cheap discount store clothes that we’d picked up the night before, giving her two pairs of things at least temporarily. “You must be Alix,” Vince said. “I’d seen you in a family photo, but it doesn’t do you justice.”

“Kade said you were his paralegal, not his paid flatterer,” Alix replied with a smile. It was a remarkable transformation from the girl I’d held sobbing on the side of the road fourteen hours earlier, and I realized that Alix was in fact a natural sub. In public, in front of everyone else, she would be confident and self-assured. But she would give herself to me if I asked for it. I was momentarily overwhelmed with the gift she was offering me, and had to clear my throat. “Are you okay, Kade?”

“Yeah, just something went down wrong,” I said, rubbing my throat. “Probably a few side effects of all that Venom Sting on the drive up from LA. That much caffeine is so going to screw with my body for a while.”

“How many’d you put down?” Vince asked as he took a seat. “My personal record was seven, but I was seeing hallucinations for twelve hours afterwards.”

“Five,” I answered. “Alix had one after a bad dream.”

“So I guess your presence here has something to do with that phone call,” Vince commented. “What did Karla tell you?”

“Karla pointed me in the direction of Sydney Hale, who I found trying to assault Alix after she paid him a lot of money in a blackmail scheme. I probably broke his nose, but sadly enough I’m out the money.”

“I’ll pay you back, I promise,” Alix said, and I shook my head.

“There’s no need. Family, you know?” I commented, hoping she read my meaning. “Anyway, Vince, because of the sensitive nature of the items Alix is being blackmailed about, she doesn’t want the cops involved. But we need this guy off our backs.”

“I’m sure,” Vince replied. “What do you have on him?”

“Would a voice recording of him threatening blackmail and sexual assault help?” Alix said with a bitter smile. “It needs edited down, but it’s leverage, nearly two hours long.”

“Why so long?” Vince asked.

“I forgot to turn it off until Kade mentioned my phone in the car,” Alix said. “So you can trim out at least the last hour or so.”

“Vince, I’ll do the initial editing, but if you listen to this, there’s going to be things on there I don’t want out in public,” I cautioned. “Think you can still work on this, or do I need to handle it myself?”

Vince was a good man, and didn’t bat an eye. “Kade, whatever is said on there, I’ll never repeat to anyone. I don’t know your reasons, and I assume the recording will give me some insight, but that doesn’t matter. I work for you, and she’s your family. Hell, that’s greater than attorney-client, isn’t it?”

“Good man.”

“I had a question,” Alix said, and I turned to face her. She looked at me and blushed slightly, but hid it well. She was so beautiful when she blushed, her creamy pale skin darkening just slightly. “What exactly can you do, anyway?”

“If we stay within the law, not much without getting the cops involved,” Vince said for me. “Kade can tell you more, but the classic step of getting a restraining order requires that you go before a judge and file a grievance, and that requires evidence. If all you can present is this audio recording, the judge is going to want to know what sort of blackmail we’re talking. He could seal whatever it is this Sydney has over you, but the guy would still probably release it before that could happen, contempt of court be damned. Same if you go to press charges, you’d need to present some sort of evidence to the cops and swear out a statement.”

“What about if you stay somewhat close but on the other side of the law?” Alix asked. “I don’t mean Italian men who walk with accents and make offers he can’t refuse types, but still not exactly letter of the law.”

I chuckled. “There’s a lot of ways,” I said. “Most would require a lot of work, but more importantly, they could be backtracked to us here. But if we wanted, we could go after him with debts, I’m sure he has some, foreclosure if we just buy that apartment complex or the note to his car, stuff like that. Credit’s a hell of a thing to play with. The next level would involve cyber harassment, get in contact with some hacktivists and turn them loose on him. He won’t be able to pay for a damn thing with anything but cash at that point, and his entire life would be open to the Net. They could even take over his computer and track everything he does.”

Alix blinked. “Damn, I thought attorneys were supposed to uphold the law.”

“I do,” I said with a smile, “but sometimes, well, the law isn’t always the best answer in the short term.”

“I see. It seems I have much to learn then.”

I could see Vince nod, and I had to suppress a chuckle. If my paralegal only knew the levels of meaning to Alix’s words.

A
fter Vince left
, I sat back on the sofa, looking across the room at Kade. “How’d I do?”

“Perfect, as if you could be anything less,” he said. “So what did you think of the plan?”

“Counter blackmail or we bring the hacktivists in? I hope it works,” I said. “I’m worried about one thing, though.”

“What’s that?”

I shrugged, feeling shy again. It seemed with Vince gone, I felt myself reverting to the insecure shyness that I often felt around Kade. “Well, what if I’m not the only one Syd is doing this to? He admitted that he’s seduced lots of women, what if he’s milking others the same way?”

Alix smiled and stood up. “Come with me,” he said, holding out his hand.

“Where are we going?” I asked, taking his hand and standing up. “Is something wrong?”

He shook his head and leaned in, kissing me on the cheek. “No. You’ve been amazing. You made that connection faster than a lot of people would have.”

“So where are we going?” I asked, smiling. “Dinner?”

Kade chuckled and shook his head. “Maybe later. But for now, no words unless I ask you something, understand?”

“Yes, Kade,” I said. Just saying those words sent a small thrill through my body, and I realized what Rita was talking about in terms of how being a sub meant being strong. It wasn’t strength over Kade, although I could say
Tudor Rose
and end it at any time. Instead, it was control and strength over myself. In that regard, I thought as we stepped out of the living room and down the hall, both of us were similar.

At first I thought Kade was taking me to that mysterious room, but instead he led me past the door and into his bedroom. “Stand perfectly still,” he ordered me. “I’m going to put a blindfold on you, but you won’t be restrained or hurt in any way. But you aren’t to move at all unless I direct you to.”

I nodded, swallowing as Kade walked over to his dresser and took a long black cloth from the top drawer, letting it dangle from his fingers. “Alix, once I tie this, our relationship is going to be forever different. If you want to back out, this is the time.”

I shook my head and swallowed, looking into Kade’s dark eyes, almost as dark as the silk in his hands. He hadn’t asked me a question, so I instead closed my eyes and raised my chin, keeping my hands by my sides. In the red-tinged darkness of my closed eyes, I could hear my breathing as well as Kade’s responding hum of approval. “You’re very strong, but also very proud, even underneath that shyness you say you have.”

True darkness descended over my vision as Kade tied the cloth around my eyes, making sure to tuck the fabric behind my ears, leaving me fully able to hear. The knot was tight but not painfully so—that wasn’t its purpose. “Answer me, Alix. Can you see anything?”

“No, Kade.”

“You are using my name. Why?”

“I don’t know what I should call you. Using your name has meaning to me. What should I be calling you?”

Kade’s fingers traced over the back of my neck, trailing from my skin to the fabric of the light sleeveless blouse I was wearing. Goosebumps broke out on my skin, delicious chills rippling through me as his fingers left the blouse to travel down my arms. “When the time is right, we’ll discuss it. Alix, are you sure you’re ready for this? You do realize that we’re going to have sex right here, don’t you?”

“Yes, Kade.”

His lips came close to my ear, his breath tickling against the skin. I was feeling hypersensitive to his presence, like my skin itself was a form of vision, feeling him behind me, the smile on his face and the glint in his eye clear to me as his warm breath caressed my skin.

“Very good.”

Kade’s lips found the edge of my earlobe, sucking it in before he bit down slowly. The pressure mixed with the pleasure of feeling his touch, but he stopped before it could grow painful. Instead, I was left nearly gasping as he released my ear to trace it with his tongue, while at the same time his hands came around to the front of my shirt, cupping my breasts through my blouse. I gasped, wanting to turn, but remembering Kade’s command that I not move.

Kade massaged my breasts slowly, not with force but instead with teasing strokes, knowing that each brush of his hands and movement of his fingers was sending lightning through my body. “You obey well, Alix. You want to move, don’t you?”

“Yes, Kade,” I barely moaned. Kade’s fingers started undoing the buttons at the front of my blouse, exposing more of my skin to his fingers. I was frustrated that I’d chosen a high-necked blouse. It meant more buttons for Kade to tease me with, but I kept myself still.

“Do you want to know why I teased you so much before?” Kade asked as he came around my body to my front. I could feel and hear him in front of me now, increasing my desire to reach out and touch him. I curled my fingers into balls, digging my fingernails into my palms to maintain control. Kade told me not to move, and I wouldn’t.

“No, Kade.”

Kade’s fingers were just underneath my chin, undoing the last buttons of my blouse, and he lifted my chin to kiss me. Our lips barely touched, and yet I was on fire with need and want. I’d never been more aroused in my life, and we didn’t even have our clothes off yet. “Because I wanted you. I teased you because it was the only way I could keep control and keep my anger in check.”

I nodded, accepting that he was angry with me. When I called Mom, both of us had cried as I apologized to her, and I realized how terrible a daughter I’d been. As I hung up the phone with her before Vince arrived, I only hoped that there was time for us to undo the damage I’d done.

“I’m not angry anymore,” Kade continued as he pushed my blouse off my shoulders and let it fall to the floor. “You’ll be punished later, but not tonight.”

I mewled deep in my throat, wanting to say something but not letting myself. I could hear Kade chuckle, however. “Do you want to be punished, Alix?”

“Only by you, Kade.”

He nodded and picked me up. I let myself rest in his arms, my hands coming up around his neck to keep my balance as he spun me around until I was totally disoriented. All I could feel was my arms around his neck, the taut muscles of his upper back and shoulders, and the feeling of his strong hands under my ass, holding me like I was a feather.

Kade set me down on a soft surface which I assumed was his bed. “You may move, but not undress me,” he commanded. “And you still can’t talk unless I say.”

I wanted to talk, to ask a question so desperately, but I restrained myself. Instead, I used my new freedom to hold Kade’s shoulders, finding his head and running my fingers through his hair. I memorized every curve and texture of his face with my hands while he worked on the button and zipper of my shorts, pushing them down to my knees. I was already so wet that I could feel the coolness of the air through the fabric.

Kade moved down the bed, pulling my shorts off, leaving me in just a simple cheap set of bra and panties we’d gotten in Bakersfield, but I felt sexier than if I’d been wearing the most expensive lingerie money could buy.

He began at my feet, massaging them with his thumbs, making his way to my calves. I rumbled deep in my chest in appreciation as he turned my muscles into jelly before turning me over. “On your hands and knees.”

I obeyed his command, feeling both powerful and helpless at the same time. Kade got off the bed to walk away for a moment, and I didn’t move, even as I heard him get back on the bed. A cold, metallic pressure gathered against my hip, and then there was a soft ‘snick’ as the scissors he’d gotten cut through my cheap underwear. “I know you have another pair for tomorrow, but after that, we’re going shopping.”

“Yes, Kade,” I moaned as he cut the other side, the thin cotton falling off to expose me to him. As a model, I kept myself very closely trimmed. Kade’s hand ran over my ass, and I couldn’t help but push back into his touch, my body needing him so much.

“You don’t know how beautiful your skin looks right now,” Kade whispered. His hand came toward the middle, closer and closer to the wet heat that needed his touch, my body already trembling. “Alix?”

“Yes, Kade?”

“You can’t come until I say. Do you understand?”

How could I resist it? I was nearly ready to come and he’d only touched my breasts through my shirt! I took a deep breath, and thought about what Rita had told me. Kade knew what he was doing. “Yes, Kade.”

“Very good.”

Kade’s hand cupped me down below, rubbing in slow circles as his other hand roamed over my back and hips. From what I could tell he was still totally clothed. I hadn’t heard him take anything off, but it didn’t matter. I was in heaven, my body afire as he explored me. I stayed as still as I could, knowing I was giving myself to him, letting him have me the way he wanted.

Kade undid the clasp on the back of my bra, letting my breasts dangle in the cups until his scissors came into play again, snipping the shoulder straps and sending it to the bed. I mewled in delight, feeling them droop heavy into his hand, his fingers lightly pinching my left nipple between them as he massaged the naked flesh. He pinched harder, just on the edge of pain, the sensation pairing with his hand over my pussy to leave me seeing stars in the darkness of the blindfold. I bit back a cry as he continued, but then he stopped, like Rita promised, just at the edge of where the pleasure would give way.

“I said I wouldn’t hurt you tonight,” he said apologetically, “but I pinched. Did it hurt?”

“Yes and no. It was a pinch, but not a painful one, Kade,” I answered. “You stopped before it became painful.”

“I see. And another question. How long has it been since you last had sex?”

“Five weeks,” I said.

“Then we’ll go even slower. Would you like that?”

“I don’t know if I can go slower, Kade. You’re lighting me up so much,” I said honestly. “Please just take me.”

Instead, Kade removed his hands. “Wait.”

I stayed there on my hands and knees in the blindfold induced darkness, my thigh muscles already quivering from the touch of Kade’s hand, my nipples hard and aching in the warm air of his bedroom. I heard him get off the bed, and then the sound I’d been hoping for since he first kissed my earlobe, the sound of his belt unbuckling, followed by a zipper as he undid his pants. A rustle of fabric told me he was taking off his shirt as well, and then a light snap of elastic as he hooked his underwear off and pushed them down. Then I heard the opening of a package. A condom. I wouldn’t have to wait much longer.

He remounted the bed, taking a moment before pressing his body up against me from behind. He was warm, oh so warm, yet he still didn’t push himself inside me. I could feel his cock, thick and long pressing against the front of my pussy, his cockhead being tickled by the light hairs I had left.

“I love this position,” he said, reaching underneath me and pulling me upright off my elbows. He cupped my breasts again, his nose nuzzling against my neck as his cock became trapped between my thighs. “But tonight, I want to look into your face when I give you permission. Turn over.”

I obeyed, turning onto my back and laying with my legs spread, open and submitting to him. Still in darkness, I could only feel as he lifted my legs into the air, positioning himself at my entrance. I was momentarily frightened. Kade felt big, bigger than maybe any other lover I’d ever had before. Kade paused, seeing the apprehension on my face. “Alix, don’t worry. I’m here, I’ll take care of you.”

He pushed inside me, and I was gasping for air as he pushed. He was large, bigger than I’d ever had, but he took his time, not to tease but instead to give me the opportunity to adjust to him. He knew how to ride that line, however, pushing with each thrust until I was on the line between pain and pleasure before pulling back until just his head was inside me. He paused then pushed forward again, each fraction of an inch that he pushed in again causing my body to spasm in pleasure. Releasing my legs, he pushed in one last time until I could feel his hips settle against mine, and his body leaned forward, pinning me to the bed.

We kissed, our tongues entwined and twisted slowly around one another, my arms coming up to hold him close. He pulled his hips back and started thrusting, filling me over and over. Moving slowly at first so I could get used to his size, he soon had me quivering, my body alight with pleasure from the contact.

Normally, when I had sex with a lover, I concentrated on the activity. I moved, I stroked, I was the one to move. With Kade though, I wanted nothing more than to be what he wanted. If he wanted to pin me to the mattress, helpless and submissive to him, then I would stay there for a week if that was what he wanted.

Kade thrusted faster, his strong hands planted on either side of my head. I yearned to see him, to see his face, but the blindfold prevented me. Instead I let my mind focus on the feelings he was giving me while my mind’s eye filled in the visual details from my memory. His smile, the smirk in his face when he said something ironic. Most of all though, the way he looked at me, the glimmer in his eyes when he took me in. I had only recognized what it was in the past few days, but as my memories played back I saw it more and more as we went back.

His hips sped up, softly smacking into my own, and I trembled even more. I was on the edge, tearing the images of Kade’s eyes from my mind in order to try and hold out until he gave me permission. I sent my mind to somewhere, anywhere else, recipes for chocolate chip cookies, the time I went swimming in the Pacific in February, anything. I just needed to hold back a little longer.

With a yank, Kade tore the blindfold from my eyes, and I saw that he had dimmed the lights so as not to blind me. Instead, my vision was filled with the sight of Kade, powerful and beautiful, his face inches from mine. “Don’t, Alix. Focus on this, right now. Focus and control yourself. I promise you, you can do it.”

His face was shining with the sweat of exertion and I nodded, my breath tearing from my chest as he hammered in and out of me. “Kade . . . ”

“I know,” he said. “Hold on. Hold on, my love.”

I blinked and gritted my teeth, nodding as he sped up further. I was on fire, my body feeling like an over-taut guitar string, ready to snap at the next stroke inside me. Still he kept going, his face intent and studying me, never closing his eyes even as I did, not to escape but to focus on the man that I now knew I loved. Regardless of what else happened in the future, I loved Kade. That moment made me realize I would always love him, no matter what.