Ex-friends.
His anger at the stunt she’d pulled in the car shifted into irritation that she felt the need to hide things from him. Tomanipulatehim. Maybe his sweet little bird wasn’t quite as sweet as he’d thought. But then, he’d always gotten a different side of her than everybody else. Nicholas suspected that very few people had gotten a glimpse of the bitter Jay revealed by her journal.
He did a few laps in the pool to clear his head, sharpening his focus. He could see her moving beyond the clear glasswindows, heading for the kitchen. She’d taken off her stockings and now her legs were bare beneath that slinky little skirt.
The air became colder and soon, his muscles began to burn. As he sliced through the water, he imagined her bound on one of the recliners, water beading on her cold, wet skin. Those long, beautiful legs wrapped around his waist as he—
Dammit.He stopped with a grimace and stepped out of the pool, toweling himself off on the deck as the cold air deflated his erection. He dropped the towel on the floor of the sunroom while latching the door, rounding the two corners that led to the kitchen. Jay had moved to one of the bar stools. There was a sweet, yeasty smell coming from the oven. She glanced up at him before glaring down at the pages of her book.
“It smells good in here.”
“It’s pumpkin manicotti.”
“Mm. Sounds good.”
“Who says you’re getting any?”
“Don’t be cross with me, blue jay.” He bent over her, running his hand down her thigh as she pushed the book aside to keep it from getting wet. “I said I was sorry.”
Jay snapped the book closed. “You didn’t, actually. You tried to bribe me with a grocery order and then you took your shirt off. Now you’re getting water all over the floor.”
Nicholas spun her stool around. Her eyes widened as she took in his bare chest and tight, damp trunks. Those seemed to be of particular offense, from the way her color heightened.
Apparently, the cold hadn’t been as effective as he’d thought.
“I’m sorry.” He brushed his lips over hers before kissing her full on the mouth. When she relaxed into the kiss just a little, he gave her bare leg a light smack before shoving his hand up herskirt and grabbing a full handful of ass and thigh, growling into her ear, “You little tease.”
Jay yelped when he pushed his hand beneath her underwear, tugging at his wrist. He let her push him away, watching her chest heave as she shot him a furious, thwarted look.
“I am not atease. I was crossing my legs.”
“You know what you were doing.” Nicholas went to the fridge and took out a cold water. “Don’t tease me at work again or I’ll do things that will make you blush.”
It had been intended as a playful warning but only seemed to rile her up further. She was standoffish all throughout dinner, sipping at the very expensive wine he’d brought up from the cellar in a nervous, dissatisfied way, evading all of his attempts at real conversation.
And whatever satisfaction that had sparked in him at finally seeing his stepsister look at him like a man was occluded by the knowledge that every time he had her, he was driving her further and further away.
Fuck it, Nicholas thought.
(What if we didn’t talk at all?)
He caught her on the way to her room that night, wrapping his fingers around her slender wrist and tugging until she was forced to turn around. “If you don’t want to talk to me, there’s other things we can do.” Her eyes flickered up to his, wide with blown-out pupils and she made a sound like she might protest. “You don’t even have to look at me.”
Jay shivered. He hadn’t wanted to manhandle her, so his grip on her wrist was loose enough that she could have pulled away if she wanted, but she didn’t. She let him drag her into his bedroom and push her on the bed, her unresisting body beliedby the defiance on her face.
“Are you just going to lie there?” He mocked her gently as he pushed up her shirt and kissed along the underside of her ribs. “You’re only here because you want to be. Making me do all the work doesn’t make change how much you love being Daddy’s little slut.”
That seemed to throw a switch; her eyes flashed in the gloom, and she really looked at him for the first time since they’d started. Acquiescence suddenly became violent, active participation. She bucked beneath him so forcefully that it had taken some effort to pin her down, and she fought him on every thrust, making it impossible to be gentle.
On some level, he knew that this behavior was concerning. He should have stopped. A good man would have stopped. But he was not a good man, so he fucked her the way she seemed to want him to and then held her body against his in a crushing embrace when it was over and she let out a raw, heartbreaking sob.
“Shh,” he whispered. He ran his fingers through her hair as she trembled, face buried in his shoulder. His other hand smoothed up and down her spine in small, soothing circles. “Shhh. It’s all right. Poor little blue jay. I’m sorry. Daddy didn’t mean to be so rough.”
“That’s how I want it.”
Nicholas stilled, uncertain if he’d heard her correctly. He could feel her heart fluttering against his chest, like the wings of a small desperate creature. As his fingers traced back up her vertebrae, he felt her flinch, as if his tenderness was worse than his brutality. “You cried.”
“Yes.” Her voice was muffled. She still wouldn’t look at him. “Isn’t that so screwed up?”
