I leaned back in my seat. Something about his tone put me on edge, and I felt my pulse begin to quicken and my mouth run dry. I had the feeling this wasn't going to be a fun conversation.

"Okay," I told him. "I'm listening."

Preston took a deep breath before beginning. "When my parents divorced, I was still pretty young. I didn't really understand what was going on. My mom tried to explain it to me, but it didn't make a lot of sense. What kid can wrap his head around his parents splitting up?" He shook his head. "I know now that my father was cheating on her, and she couldn't take it anymore. But back then, she didn't explain that to me. I guess she didn't want to tarnish my image of my father, even though for a long time, it tarnished my image of her."

I listened quietly, hands in my lap as Preston continued. The corners of his eyes were pinched and his mouth had turned into a pained grimace. I felt a pang of sadness for him. Maybe I couldn't relate-my mother had never felt the need to hold back when badmouthing my father-but the hurt it was causing him was plain on his face.

"That must have been hard for you," I said. I knew those words were stupid and meaningless, but I felt like I ought to say something.

"It was," he replied. "To make matters worse, she'd signed a pre-nup before she and my dad got married. So she wasn't ent.i.tled to a dime of his money when they divorced, and my father used his considerable wealth to ensure that she'd walk away with absolutely nothing-including me."

I had wondered why Preston stayed with his father. I had a.s.sumed that it was because a boy might want to stay with his dad, but I'd always heard that courts were more likely to award custody to children's mothers.

I asked him, "How?"

He said, "My father sought full custody. My mom had never intended to take me away from him. She'd wanted to split my time between them so that we could all still be some kind of family. But my dad was vindictive, and as I learned later in life, family courts only side with the mom when fathers don't seek custody. When they do, either joint or sole, they get it over seventy percent of the time. It didn't hurt that Dad paid off the judge, either. When you have the money to hire the very best lawyers around, not to mention provide an 'excellent standard of care' for your child, odds are that the other parent is going to get screwed."

When he spoke again, his voice shuddered. "My mom walked out of that courtroom with nothing. She was penniless. She'd lost her only child. And not long after that, there was an accident."

My lips parted. I felt my stomach plummet to my feet. A chill seized me, and I shook my head in utter disbelief. "Oh my G.o.d, Preston. I had no idea. I'm so sorry..."

He nodded slowly. "Me too. We didn't even go to her funeral."

Preston was quiet for a long while, and I didn't dare disturb him. That revelation weighed heavily on the two of us. I couldn't imagine what it must have been like for him to lose his mother at that age, and for his father to act like she'd never even mattered.

Miles pa.s.sed, and finally I mustered the courage to ask him, "Do you know why your dad handled it like that? It couldn't have been just to get back at her..."

"No, it wasn't just that," he said. He was gripping the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles had turned white. "I was valuable to him. Not because I was his child, but because I was his heir. I was eleven at the time, and by that point, he'd already invested quite a bit of time and effort into me. He wasn't just going to let me go."

"But surely joint custody..."

"He had to prove a point," Preston said flatly, wringing the leather in his hands. "In his eyes, my mother had committed the ultimate sin. She'd shattered the perfect image of the Harvey family. What he did with that other woman was discreet. A divorce was public."

So, this was the man my mother was marrying. Part of me immediately felt like she deserved him. They both treated their children like s.h.i.t, and maybe it was time for her to get a taste of her own medicine for a change.

But I couldn't hold onto that feeling for long. My mother was already a deeply miserable woman. The last thing she needed to experience was even more pain and suffering.

"Should I warn my mother off him?" I asked. "Is that why you're telling me all this?"

"That's one reason," he said, his eyes distant. "Another is that I'm certain that he's doing it again. He's cheating on your mother, Maddy." Finally, a bit of anger shone through. "G.o.dd.a.m.n him. I'm so sorry."

I closed my eyes. So, it was even worse than I thought. There wasn't just a looming threat of infidelity now-it was already here. My mother was just another trophy to Mr. Harvey, a woman he could bring to company functions and let hang on his arm in front of all the other businessmen and their wives. He could hardly do that with his mistress, could he? The wealthy head of a company certainly couldn't be seen in public with some young s.l.u.t.

The way men like Mr. Harvey treated women made me sick to my stomach, and my nausea only grew worse as Preston dropped the final bombsh.e.l.l.

"There's one other thing," he said. We stopped at an intersection and he looked into my eyes. "Maddy... he knows."

I wished I'd had doubts. I wished that I'd been able to express some confusion as to what Preston could possibly mean. But I couldn't. I knew exactly what he was talking about. His father knew about our tryst, and everything in my body grew suddenly cold.

"f.u.c.k," I whispered. "How?"

"I don't know," he admitted. As he moved past the stop sign, he added, "But somehow he does. And I don't feel safe staying at my office anymore. Do you?"

Slowly, I shook my head. I was beginning to feel numb all over, the side-effect of shock, I was sure. Would Preston's dad tell my mother? Had he done so already? No, he couldn't have. If he did, she would have been sure to bring it up when we were in the parlor.

I could almost see the smugness in her beady eyes as she feigned horror. Your own stepbrother, Madison. How low will you stoop?

"Is that what he told you in his office?" I asked him, my voice quavering as much as my hands were. "Is that why we left in such a hurry?"

"Yes," Preston said. "And because he wants me to start taking a more... active role in Harvey Enterprises. Apparently, the way I handled the Verger account impressed him, or something..." He snorted in disgust. "He wants me to shut down my office and fire you."

Great. So not only was my new stepfather going to hold this secret over my head for the rest of my life, but as punishment, I'd end up dest.i.tute again. My head was reeling and I fumbled for the control on the side of my seat, leaning it all the way back as I tried my hardest not to faint.

"f.u.c.k," I muttered, closing my eyes as everything began to spin. "f.u.c.k, f.u.c.k, f.u.c.k, f.u.c.k..."

The car stopped. Preston reached over. He took my hands.

"Maddy, look at me."

I gave the slightest shake of my head. I needed a moment to breathe. I could feel my chest tightening, and there was a steadily growing ache in my jaw. I realized I was grinding my teeth.

"Maddy," he said again. This time, his voice was far more commanding. "Look at me."

Trembling, I did as I was told. All the tension in my body faded away as I stared into my stepbrother's glittering blue eyes.

"I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you," he whispered, stroking my knuckles with his thumb. "I made a choice tonight. I never realized how worthless my father's approval was until I had it, or what it meant until tonight. The man has no soul, Maddy. He ruins the lives of everyone he surrounds himself with. I thought being like him would make me untouchable, but all it's done is make me just as empty and miserable as he is."

I remained silent, staring up at him as he grasped my hands tighter. His palms were so warm. I could feel his pulse radiating through them as he said, "I never would have realized any of that without you. The idea of losing you terrifies me. For the first time in my life, I'm... feeling something, not just playing a part. Whatever we have between us, however wrong it is-it's real."

He lifted one of his hands from mine and brought it to my face, lightly sweeping his fingers against my cheek. I leaned into his touch, savoring the comfort it brought. How had I gone from despising my soon-to-be stepbrother to feeling safe with him in just a few short weeks? How had I opened my heart to him despite knowing that it could never, ever work?

"Come upstairs with me," he said gently. "Stay at my place tonight. I don't want to be alone."

I blinked up at him slowly. "But I thought you didn't trust being in your office anymore?"

"I don't," Preston answered. He reached over and fiddled with my seat controls, adjusting them until I was sitting up. "I want you to stay with me in my home."

I looked up past the gate at the villa beyond. It was absolutely breathtaking. More than that, it looked like a fortress-someplace we could both rest and hide away from the rest of the world until we were ready to face it again.

"Yes," I told him, unable to tear my eyes away from his beautiful home. "I'll stay."

"Good," he said, finally pulling up to the wrought iron gate. As it opened, he added, "We have a lot to figure out."

Preston's housekeeper had retired to her one-bedroom suite on the grounds for the evening, so it was just the two of us in his grand estate. Though he had done his best to calm me in the car, my knees were still shaking and I could feel panic squeezing my chest. He suggested I use his master bathroom to relax, and I couldn't say no to that.

I leaned back in his whirlpool tub, sighing softly as I piled my hair on the side. The water was nearly scalding hot, perfect for releasing all the aches and pains that had built in my strained muscles. I could feel myself slipping away already, the frustration and confusion receding as I lay my head on the built-in neck support, letting myself float weightless in the bath. A moment later I heard Preston enter and I opened my eyes to see him extending a gla.s.s of champagne.

"Here," he said. "You look like you need it."

I nodded and sighed as I took it from him, bringing it to my lips. This was the good stuff, not the fifteen-dollar bottles I'd picked up from the grocery store once or twice back when I'd been in charge of Execus.p.a.ce's company parties. Those days seemed so far away now. I'd been shrouded in opulence for so long that I could barely remember what it was like to struggle. Had I become my mother?

I didn't realize I'd said that last part out loud.

Preston's eyes darkened as he looked down at me. "No, Maddy," he said, sitting on the edge of the tub. "You're nothing like Vivian. Don't you ever think that. Okay?"

I smiled at him thinly and took another sip of my champagne. I wasn't in the mood to argue. "What do we do now?"

He rolled up his sleeves and sighed, kicking his shoes across the bathroom floor. Then he reached into the water and pulled my wet feet into his lap, soaking his slacks as he ma.s.saged along my arches with exquisite care. I moaned and sank into the water, purring like a kitten as my Preston worked my soles.

"I'm not giving into my father's demands," he said, gently stretching and rubbing each of my toes. I nearly swooned. "We'll find a way out of this. It may have to be extreme, but if you're willing to go for it, then so am I."

I opened my eyes. "What exactly are you proposing?" I asked him.

"I'm not sure yet. But it may involve withdrawing everything from my account and starting all over someplace new. Would you be willing to do that with me, if it came down to it?"

I sat up a little, studying his face. "Are things that serious between us?"

Preston shrugged. "They could be. I don't know. But that's a last resort. In the meantime, I can simply say I'm not interested in being a larger part of Harvey Enterprises until his plans for the future include you, too. Maybe there's still time for me to change things from the inside-hold his feet to the fire over this. I am his only heir, and the only one who knows enough about the family business to take it over once he's out of the picture. Without me, the board would cut this company to shreds and dine on its carca.s.s."

"Do you think that's enough leverage?" I asked him. "And what about my mom?"

"That's up to you," he told me, gliding his fingers up my ankles and calves. "What do you want to do about that?"

I pursed my lips in thought. On one hand, Preston's father manipulating my mother for his own gains didn't sit well with me. She was a terrible person, sure enough, but did she deserve to be used and lied to like that?

On the other hand, didn't she sort of have this coming? I couldn't say that out loud, of course, but my mother had been more awful than ever since she and Mr. Harvey had hooked up. It might serve as some kind of sick vindication to tell her the truth: that she was no more special to him than any other woman who would silently put up with his s.h.i.t.

"I'm not sure," I said at last. "If it were me, I know I'd want to know. But my mother isn't me. In fact, she isn't most people. I'm not sure she's even human." I sucked in a sharp breath as Preston fondled the very sensitive backs of my knees. "I can't say with any certainty that she wouldn't blame me for this, somehow, or that she might turn a blind eye and accuse me of lying to ruin her happily ever after. She might just write me off as jealous and tell your father to make your life h.e.l.l until you got rid of me, or something."

Preston smiled. "That's not going to happen," he told me as he slowly crawled into the tub.

"Preston!" I shrieked, watching his clothes stick to his body. His white b.u.t.ton-down clung to his hard, muscular chest, revealing the tone of his skin beneath, and I laughed as he prowled toward me. "You're getting soaked!"

"So are you," he breathed against one of my nipples cresting the surface of the water. Then he bent his head down and took it between his teeth, gently laving it with his tongue as he nibbled and sucked and made me sigh.

"Oh, h.e.l.l," I muttered. "We're getting ourselves into so much trouble..."

Preston didn't seem to care about that. He only grasped my opposite breast with his hand, crushing it between his fingers as he drew his body up against mine and parted my legs with his hips.

"It's worth it," he a.s.sured me, inspiring chills up and down my spine. I slipped my arms around him, running my dripping fingers through his hair as he pressed his growing erection against my slit under the water. "Bend over the side, Maddy, while I turn on these jets."

I blushed but did as I was told. After the day we'd had, I needed Preston inside of me. With just a gentle touch, he'd brought me to this place again, a place where no one and nothing mattered more than the man of my dreams claiming me. It didn't matter that some silly piece of paper might complicate our lives. Stepbrother or not, I was going to do this.

He helped me up onto my knees and turned me around, my back against his chest as I gripped the high edge of the tub. I pressed my stomach against it, my heaving b.r.e.a.s.t.s hanging over the side as Preston spread me with his knee, my p.u.s.s.y positioned right against the place the jet would bubble up from.

I stuck out my a.s.s and rubbed it against his swelling crotch, moaning as he continued to tantalize my nipples with his fingertips. Then he drew one hand away, reached over, and turned on the control for the jets, and I threw my head back in utter bliss as the one I was straddling pounded perfectly against my c.l.i.t.

"Oh, G.o.d," I moaned, squirming as it pummeled me.

The silken fabric of Preston's slacks fell away as he pulled his c.o.c.k free of them, pressing it against me from behind. He parted my folds, sliding his tip against my slippery opening while I writhed and shuddered on the jet teasing me into utter oblivion.

"You're so perfect," he whispered, nuzzling my hair before digging in deep. I cried out as he filled me, his thick shaft stretching my p.u.s.s.y wide as he grabbed onto my t.i.ts with both hands and pushed all the way up to his hilt. "I need you, Maddy. No matter what happens, say you'll stay with me."

I scrabbled for purchase on the slick edge of the tub as my stepbrother began to thrust in and out of me. Every movement of his hips splashed water onto the tile floor. I could feel waves of it surging up over my back, wetting my hair and crashing over me like Preston was the ocean itself, and I was being swept away by the tide.

I had never felt like this with any man before. And I knew, deep down in my heart, that I never would.

I let myself believe that this could work. I released the fear inside of me and took Preston in deep, finally giving him unfettered access into my soul, my precious core.

"Yes," I hissed, throwing my head back against his shoulder as he grunted into my ear. "I'll stay, Preston. I'll always stay. I promise."

"Nothing will tear us apart," he groaned, laying feverish kisses upon my neck as he took me. Before I knew it my o.r.g.a.s.m was upon me and I screamed, bucking against him, the water now flowing freely out of the tub as we both undulated in ecstasy. "I swear it, Maddy. I'll take care of you, always."

And then my stepbrother was spilling inside of me, filling me to the brim with his seed. I shuddered beneath him, feeling as though we'd made a pact, a bond that couldn't be broken by anyone, not even our families.

Everything would work out. I was sure of it. We'd run away together, if we had to. Preston had promised me as much.

I turned and kissed his lips, no longer thinking of him as the man who would become my stepbrother, but rather the man who would make my deepest, wildest dreams come true.

Later, I would hate myself for being so d.a.m.n blind.

Stepbrother Fixation

Despite all the money I had, all the privilege extended to me by mere virtue of my birthright, it was only now that for the first time in my life, I felt truly powerful.

I had long viewed my status as a billionaire as more of a curse than a blessing. Maybe in some other family it would have been different, but in the Harvey family, I lived in a gilded cage. People always thought that because of my money, I could do anything I wanted. They were sorely mistaken. I could only do what my father would allow. h.e.l.l, my mother had died alone as proof of that fact.

For years, I had cowered in his shadow. But now I was defiant. Now I felt like a man. And it was all thanks to Madison Hearst, my soon-to-be stepsister and the love of my life.

I gave her the next day off and invited my father to meet me at my office, where I would break the news to him that I wasn't his good little soldier boy anymore. It had taken most my life for me to see him for what he really was, but now that I had, there was no turning back. This was do or die. Either my father would back off and let me run the company as I saw fit, or he'd threaten to ruin me and stalk out under the impression that I still gave a f.u.c.k. If the former happened, Maddy and I would have to keep our relationship secret, but that wasn't impossible to do. If my father chose the latter, I'd take everything out of my bank account, dump my vested shares, and she and I would run away together. It really was that simple.

There wasn't much for us here, anyway. Billions of dollars could give us a fresh start somewhere new. h.e.l.l, maybe we could go into business together, a joint venture where she kept me honest and I kept her realistic. Part of me was secretly hoping that was the way things would turn out. There was nothing I wanted more than to throw my father's misery right back in his face just before I vanished into thin air.

I made myself a cup of coffee while I waited, imagining my gorgeous, half-naked stepsister lounging on my bed and getting a well-deserved break from all this insanity. Whatever happened next, I was rushing right back home to her. I couldn't stand to be away from her for more than a few hours at a time. Waiting here without her was torture.

Thankfully, I heard the front doors open and close not long after. Oh, thank G.o.d. He was finally here.

I made a point not to bring him a mug of coffee as I strode out, smiling as I envisioned the pure rage on his face once he heard my decision. But that smile soon turned to a slack jaw and a frown as I saw who was standing in my foyer instead.

"Jane? What the h.e.l.l?"