Playboy - A Stepbrother Romance (16 page)

Chapter 20

Anya

It was nine o’clock by the time we got back into the city, and I frowned and looked out the window as we pulled into the parking garage under the glamorous apartment building Pierce and Mom lived in together on the Upper East Side.

“Are there usually four photographers outside the front of their building, or is that the paparazzi just hanging around out there on the street?” I asked, craning my head and looking back.

Cam shrugged. “Probably paparazzi. Wouldn’t surprise me.”

“But we’ve been gone for a week. Would they really still be hanging around our places, let alone our parents’ place?”

“Yep. Some people will do anything to get a story or a photo. After the whole coke scandal that got me suspended from racing, there were photographers camped out outside my apartment—and also Dad’s apartment—for three whole days, just so they could try and take pictures of me supposedly looking guilty.”

“Ugh. It’s so stupid. Shania’s right. Our lives aren’t anyone else’s business.”

Cam’s forehead crinkled with concern as he looked over at me. “Anya…this kind of stuff pretty much comes with the territory for me. I understand if you think you can’t handle it. Doesn’t mean I don’t still feel the same way about you, but if you don’t want to—“

I cut him off by pressing a finger to his lips. “Don’t be silly. I can handle anything if it means being with you. We’ve gotten this far, right? I’m just whining. I’ll get over all the attention and learn to cope with it.”

His shoulders sagged with relief. “Glad to hear it. Anyway, I guess it’s time to face the firing squad.”

My stomach roiled as I considered the fact that five minutes from now, we’d finally be facing our parents after what we’d done. Even if there was nothing technically wrong with our relationship, we’d still brought a lot of negative attention upon our family, and that was going to create problems.

As soon as we entered the apartment, Pierce spotted us from where he was sitting in the spacious lounge room. He jumped to his feet, his face etched with fury.

“You two! Where the hell have you been?” he said before turning his head to the right. “Christina! Look who finally decided to grace us with their presence!”

Mom came racing out from down the hall, and as soon as she saw us, her eyes widened with concern, like she’d simply been worried about us and nothing else. Then her eyes narrowed, and she wrapped her dressing gown tighter around her waist and marched up to us.

“Anya, I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life. I didn’t raise you to behave like this, running away to god knows where with your stepbrother—not to mention what else you two have been up to together. A sex tape! My god…I would’ve never…”

Her sentence trailed off, and Pierce joined her where she stood. “So what do you two have to say for yourselves?” he said, eyes flashing with anger.

My tongue was seemingly tied for the moment, so Cam spoke first. “Look, I know we shouldn’t have left, but we just needed some time to deal with everything that happened. We’ve come to apologize. Can we at least sit down and talk this through?”

Mom grumbled under her breath and stalked over to the lounge, and we all followed her. Pierce’s eyes were practically burning a hole in Cam, and as we sat down, he leaned forward and spoke, each word careful and measured.

“Do you have
any
idea what kind of media frenzy you two have created here? I very much doubt it, considering how you both vanished off the face of the earth. Now, I want to know how long this has been going on for, and what you intend to do about it.”

Cam and I exchanged glances, and then he began to speak. “Anya and I met almost two years ago, like we told you at that first family dinner. We had no idea we’d be stepsiblings one day, and even after you two ran off and got married, we had no idea until we saw each other at dinner that night.”

He continued on, telling them everything that had happened between us, and how we’d only recently gotten together after fighting our urges—and each other—for so long.

“I don’t care what the media is saying,” he said. “We’re staying together. We aren’t real biological siblings, and if you guys can’t accept that, then you’re being really unfair.”

Pierce scoffed. “Is
that
what you think the problem is? That what you’re doing is somehow incestuous? Of course it isn’t. We aren’t that stupid. We know you aren’t related, and of course there’s nothing
technically
wrong with what you’re doing. However, you’ve brought so much unwanted, negative attention upon this family in the last week that I just don’t know….I don’t know what the hell you were thinking. What
were
you thinking?”

“That we love each other,” Cam said, his voice firm and bold.

Pierce rolled his eyes. “So you release a damned sex tape? Is that what love is these days?”

“That was an accident.”

“An accident. Right.”

“It
was
an accident. Do you think I’m that desperate for media attention that I’d do it on purpose?” Cam asked, his cheeks reddening with indignation.

Pierce let out a deep sigh. “I really don’t know with you anymore, Cam. And you know what the worst part about this is? The media actually loves you two together. They’re all making you out to be some amazing couple who tore down some sort of societal boundaries for love. What a load of garbage.”

“What?” I said. I’d had no idea the media was saying anything positive about us at all. I’d been too scared to look, but I’d assumed it would all be horrible, defamatory stuff painting me as some sort of dumb skank and Cam as some sort of twisted playboy who’d viewed his stepsister as the ultimate taboo prize.

“Oh, yes,” Pierce said. “You’re media darlings now; some sort of twisted Romeo and Juliet story, especially since you ran away together to god knows where. Why do you think all those people are out the front of our apartment? They’re hoping to snap some photos of the two of you together. So now every damned person in this city associates our once-proud hotel brand with that crazy young stepsibling couple who released an online tape of their sexual exploits. When I said your public image could help our hotels, this is
not
what I was expecting, Cam!”

Cam held his hand up. “Like I said, that was an accident, and we’re both very upset that it happened. We understand why you’re upset too, and if we could take it back, we would. But we can’t. All we can do is own it and say that we fucked up, and that it won’t happen again.”

“And that we’re still staying together,” I added quietly, grabbing Cam’s hand.

Mom’s lips pursed, and then she sighed. “Anya, I’m not actually angry at you, I’m just extremely disappointed,” she said. Oh, yay…that old parental chestnut. “You’re very young and naïve. You’ve never been in a serious relationship with anyone before, and you’re making a mistake by choosing Cam.”

“Wow, thanks, Christina,” Cam said sarcastically.

“Shut up, Cam,” Pierce said. “You might be my son, but I agree with Christina on this. She’s right. You’ve taken advantage of Anya’s naïveté, and now you’ve probably wrecked her future by dragging her down to your level with that damned sex tape out there. Her name will be tainted forever. Not just that; what happens when you two break up? Do you have any idea what kind of drama that could cause for our family?”

“Hold on!” I said. “Don’t try to blame this all on Cam! It’s entirely my fault that the tape got out there. As for our relationship, I’m only a year younger than him, and I’m not as dumb and sheltered as you’re making me out to be. I knew exactly what I was getting into, so this is just as much my fault as his.”

Pierce opened his mouth to say something, but I kept going. “Wait, you know what? Fault is the wrong word. You make it sound like our feelings are some sort of mistake, and they’re not. And by the way, you seem to think that it’s inevitable that we’ll break up, but it
isn’t.
”

“Forgive me, Anya, but I’ve known my son a lot longer than you have,” Pierce said. “Yes, you might have some responsibility in all of this, but I know what Cam is like. I’ve been too understanding and lenient, and as a result I’ve let him get away with all kinds of things over the years. He repays me with this type of utter
bullshit
almost every time, and I’m tired of it. You two won’t last. Mark my words.”

I didn’t think I’d ever heard Pierce swear up until this point, and he turned his face back to Cam.

“I didn’t raise you to be a womanizer, Cam, but unfortunately that’s how you turned out. You know you could have any woman in the world, yet you choose my wife’s
daughter
, just to create as much trouble as possible.
I don’t know where I went wrong with you, but I’m tired of blaming myself and trying to relate to you. You’re nothing like me. You’re just like your mother.”

I froze. Had he really just said that? Cam stiffened next to me to as well, and then he stood up. “Fine. I see we aren’t going to have any sort of rational conversation anytime soon. I’m leaving, and Anya is coming with me. If you calm down at some stage, feel free to call me. Call
us.
”

With that, he reached for my hand, and I took it and rose to my feet. Mom glared at me, and for a second I was seriously afraid that actual laser beams would shoot out of her eyes if I left with Cam, but instead she slumped back into the sofa and turned her head away as we made our way out of the lounge area.

“That went well,” I muttered as we stood in the elevator a moment later.

Waves of anger seemed to radiate off Cam’s body. “Yeah, tell me about it. I guess my Dad finally got sick of dealing with my shit. Took him long enough.”

“He’ll calm down. They both will,” I said, squeezing his hand. Tears pricked at the backs of my eyes, but I tried not to let them spill out. My Mom had been upset with me, but at least she hadn’t said the awful things that Pierce had said to Cam.

Cam rubbed my back as we made our way back to the car. “I’m sorry that went so horribly,” he said. “I really thought they’d at least listen and try to understand.”

“Same. I knew it’d be bad, but I didn’t think it’d be that bad.”

“Yeah. Hey, at least the media apparently likes us.”

I gave him a weak smile. “Silver lining?”

“I guess. So what do you want to do? Do you want to go back to your dorm, or do you want to spend the night at my apartment?”

“Take a guess.”

“Apartment it is, then,” he said. “Hey, why don’t you give one of your friends a call and see if they want to come and have breakfast with you before class on Tuesday? It might help you get used to being out in public again.”

Ugh. I’d almost forgotten I had to attend class three days from now. I could only miss so many lectures before automatically failing, and I didn’t want to have to repeat any classes next year.

“Good idea. I’ll call Kara. I could use another friendly face around me, especially seeing as I’ll have to see everyone in class.”

“It’ll be fine. You heard my Dad. Everyone loves us together, apparently.”

“I guess. I still feel so shitty, though. It’s such a weird feeling knowing that everyone’s seen me naked.”

“Lucky you’ve got a sexylicious bod,” he said with a wink. “Really, though…I get it. It’s fucked up sometimes. But there’ll be another scandalous event soon, and everyone will forget all about yours and start treating you like they normally would. Look how quickly they all forgot I was allegedly on coke! No one’s brought that up with me for a while now, and it was only six months ago.”

“Okay. I’ll give it six months, and if it hasn’t died down by then, I’m moving to Antarctica. You can come.”

“Deal. We’ll befriend some penguins. They won’t judge us.”

When we arrived at Cam’s apartment, we were too exhausted to do anything other than fall into bed and sleep. A week into a new relationship, most couples would still be screwing each other’s brains out every night, but we didn’t need that. We were perfectly comfortable with simply being next to each other and cuddling, knowing that there was always tomorrow to have more wild, passionate sex. It wasn’t that we were already losing our spark or anything…hell no. I still felt tingles every time Cam’s hand brushed over my body, and he still stared at me with those lust-filled eyes every time I walked into the same room as him.

Just before I drifted off to sleep, I reached for his hand. Without missing a beat, he squeezed mine, letting me know that I would always be safe with him. He didn’t even need to do that…I already knew that no matter what happened, he’d be there and he’d take care of me.

To be honest, despite all previous misgivings and problems I’d had with him in the past, a tiny little part of me had known that was true ever since I’d walked into that French restaurant and seen him again that fateful night.

Maybe that little part of me had somehow always known.

Chapter 21

Anya

“Cam…are you awake?”

Cam stirred next to me and grumbled sleepily. “No.”

I gently prodded him. “I guess you don’t want to see me naked, then?”

The winter heating in Cam’s room had proved a bit too warm in the middle of the night, and I’d taken off my pajamas and thrown them on the floor after waking up drenched in sweat. Cam must have felt too hot as well, because he was only in his boxer shorts.

He opened his eyes wide as I spoke. “Okay,
now
I’m awake.”

He grinned and pulled me on top of him, cupping my cheek and drawing my face near to his so that our noses touched. The small gesture made my skin sizzle, and he grazed his lips against mine. I sighed as I melted into his touch, remembering our first kiss almost two years ago. He’d been ferocious and demanding, and I’d loved it like that, but this kiss was soft and unhurried.

I loved it both ways.

My body turned pliant under his caresses, and I felt a slow buzz of sexual energy vibrating through my system as he laced his fingers through my curls and held the back of my head in one hand.

“Mmm…maybe I’ll skip class and stay in bed with you,” I said as I pulled away.

We’d spent the last three days holed up in his apartment, but today was the day we both had to return to the real world. I had to go class, and Cam had an early Skype meeting with Marko Schreiber, who—surprisingly—hadn’t decided to drop him from the
Aubé
campaigns. We hadn’t heard from our parents yet. We’d figured we’d wait for them to calm down and get in touch with us, although I was starting to become afraid that it would never happen.

Cam shook his head and brought his hand down on my ass with a gentle slap, making me yelp with surprise. “Naughty girl. You have to go to class.”

I laughed softly, wriggling my body against his straining erection. “Are you sure I can’t at least be a little late?”

“Nope. You’re meeting Kara for breakfast, remember? Don’t be so bad.”

He gripped my hips, the pressure pulling me down so that my already-slick pussy grazed right against his hard length, and I sighed. “Bad girls do it better, though. Or so I’ve heard.”

“Really? Well, you’re gonna have to prove that,” he murmured, lips quirking into a grin.

My core throbbed with anticipation from the thrill of having access to his body all over again. I didn’t think I’d ever get sick of a body with abs and shoulders like his. What woman in her right mind would?

Spreading my hands all over the smooth, hard skin of his chest, I gently caressed and stroked him, and then I slowly moved down to his boxers, teasing him with every little movement. Another jolt of energy shot through me as I pulled the shorts down, and my eyes widened as his cock made its appearance. Damn. I’d never get sick of that either.

I scooted further down on the bed and kneeled between his legs as I pulled the boxers all the way off, and then I took a deep breath before leaning down and taking him in my mouth, slowly but surely at first.

He let out a soft groan as I flicked out my tongue around the head of his cock, swirling it around like I was tasting an ice cream cone. “Shit…that feels good,” he said before groaning again.

I smiled to myself, savoring his taste and loving the sounds he made, and then I decided to tease him some more as I worshipped the rest of his body.

I pulled my mouth away from his cock and scooted even further down the bed. Starting at his calves, I kissed my way up his legs as my hands roamed further up his body, and by the time I reached all the way back up to the grooves in his abs, he was twisting around and begging me to stop teasing him.

“Be patient,” I murmured. “This is my revenge for the way you made me beg for it the other week.”

“Just tell me you aren’t filming it this time,” he replied.

I laughed softly. Even though the sex tape scandal was still fresh in our minds, it seemed to have finally reached a point where we could tease each other about it. That was probably a good sign. It meant that we’d accepted the fact that something bad had happened, but we were trying to stay positive anyway.

Cam groaned again as I mapped his body with my mouth, and he reached down and grasped at the back of my head, guiding me over him. I could feel his cock pressing insistently against me, and I smiled and returned to my kneeling position between his legs.

Lowering my mouth back over the head, I wrapped my hand around the base of his throbbing cock, loving the soft, silken feel of his hardness against my palm. Heated desire exploded between my legs, and I began to suck the tip as my hand stroked up and down his shaft.

Cam groaned and thrust his hips upwards, trying to get more of his cock in my mouth, and I smiled and lowered my mouth even further, gradually increasing my speed and depth while occasionally coming up to flick my tongue against his frenulum. Heat continued to creep all throughout my body, and I knew I was wetter than anything as I rubbed myself against his thighs.

I could tell that Cam was getting close, so I kept going and moaned loudly while he was buried deep in my throat. The vibrations sent him over the edge, and he growled his pleasure as his seed spurted into my mouth. I swallowed, holding his legs down as they twitched like mad, and when he’d recovered from his climax, he sat up and looked at me with a grin glued to his face.

“You really are a naughty girl,” he said, watching as I licked my lips. “Maybe I
am
a bad influence on you after all.”

I smiled. “Yes, you are.”

“Guess I better keep influencing you, then,” he said, pulling me towards him and kissing me roughly. Wow…he was already hard again.

He reached into his bedside table for a condom, tearing it open with his teeth and sliding it over himself. “Climb on top,” he ordered. “I want to see you ride me.”

I didn’t need to be told twice. Practically jumping on him, I lifted my hips and lowered myself onto him, grinding myself against his groin as I gasped with pleasure. I was already so wet, so ready…it wasn’t long before I was coming on him, and I leaned forward and buried my face in his neck as I moaned and bucked against him.

Cam murmured into my ear, his voice deep and gravelly.

“I want to make you come again, baby.”

He pressed his fingers against my clit and slowly rubbed it as I continued to ride him, up and down…up and down…oh, God. I came again only moments later, engulfed by a wave of heady bliss, and my muscles squeezed and contracted around Cam as he grunted his own pleasure.

Collapsing against him for a moment, I sighed breathlessly before letting out another yelp as he slapped my ass again.

“Come on,” he said with a grin. “You’ve gotta get going.”

“Why are you so desperate to get me out of here?” I asked, returning his smile. “Got another hot date coming over or something?”

“Maybe,” he said, waggling his eyebrows at me. “Kidding. I might have a surprise for you, though…but I need to get it ready for later.”

“Fine, I’ll leave,” I said, sticking my tongue out at him. “But it’s not really a surprise now that you’ve told me!”

I jumped out of bed and wiggled my ass at him as I headed towards the bathroom for a quick shower.

“Don’t do that or I’ll have to drag you back into bed!” he called after me.

I honestly I wouldn’t have minded if he did…

***

“Have you logged back onto your Twitch channel since everything happened with the sex tape thingy?” Kara asked before taking a sip of her cappuccino.

We were sitting in a café just down the block from our college, and I had to admit, being out in public was nowhere near as stressful as I’d thought it would be. The paparazzi were no longer hanging around our regular haunts all the time, and a few people had recognized me on the street and talked to me, but none of them had said anything negative. Pierce had been right—everyone seemed to love the idea of Cam and me being together.

It was strange how the media and the general public could be so fickle. They’d eviscerated poor Maddy Carver last year for a similar scandal, yet they were treating Cam and I like some sort of heroes for sexual liberation.

Oh well. I guess I couldn’t complain. The only thing I needed to sort out now was my relationship with my Mom and Pierce.

“No,” I replied, setting my coffee mug down. “I haven’t been on Twitch since we left. There was no internet out at the cabin, and since we got back, I’ve been afraid to check it even for a second, in case there’s a billion horrible messages on there.”

“Well, you should check it,” she said. “None of your fans are saying anything bad about you; they’re just surprised that their favorite gamer did something so…um…wild. Anyway, you know how some of your older gaming streams were recorded and saved onto your channel?”

“Uh-huh.”

“You get paid when people log on and re-watch those recordings, right? As well as for the actual live streaming.”

“Yep. Why?”

“Because I keep going onto your channel, and there’s always thousands of people watching your old videos. You must be making heaps.”

“Oh. Wow. I had no idea,” I said, wondering exactly how much money I’d earned. Maybe it’d be enough to help Shania move to the city and study here, so we could spend more time together. She’d expressed interest in doing so a few times in the past.

“So yeah, that’s cool. By the way, people keep coming up to me and asking about you. I kinda feel famous by proxy.”

I smiled half-heartedly. “Sorry.”

She snorted. “Don’t apologize. It’s awesome. It’s even better than that time I got kissed on the cheek by Cam Meyers.”

I laughed and then took another mouthful of my coffee, and my phone vibrated on the table in front of me. I ignored it, and Kara raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you gonna check that?”

I shrugged. “I keep getting emails from media people wanting to interview me. They’ve been coming in all morning so it’s probably just another one of those.”

I glanced at my screen anyway, and I was surprised to see that it was a text from my Mom.
Sweetie
—
I’m so sorry about the way Pierce and I blew up at you and Cam the other night. I feel awful, and we shouldn’t have said those things to either of you. Can you come over later and see me, so we can talk properly?

I hesitated and then sent her back a quick text.
Sure, Mom. I’ll come over after class if you aren’t busy then. 3 P.M?

That’s fine. Looking forward to it. Love you,
she replied.

Kara and I spent the next half hour talking about Shania, college, and the new guy she’d just met in one of her classes, and I had a smile glued to my face the whole time. Everything was working out really well, despite what I’d just been through. I had Cam, great friends, a cool half-sister who I’d finally met, and best of all, my Mom was willing to talk to me again.

Right now, everything was as perfect as it possibly could be for someone who’d just been through a major sex scandal.

Of course, nothing ever stayed perfect for long…