My Brother’s Girl Read online

  I’d known him for six years now. I was twelve when my father started dating Kirsten. She’d come into our life like a colorful bird of prey. She had her eyes set on my dad’s fortune. I could smell it on her—or maybe that was just her perfume and her damn candles. Either way, she’d descended upon us in a flurry and my father was ill equipped to see through her. He was enamored by her beauty, which even I couldn’t deny. Tanned skin, raven hair, and a body that looked good in every outfit she owned, of which there were hundreds. Her son was the apple of her right eye and my father the left, leaving me as the odd one out.

  I didn’t mind. Not in the slightest. I had other places to be. Other company to keep.

  Luke sank his hand into the pocket of his navy-blue slacks. The guy was always wearing a suit and a buttoned shirt with the collar popped open, exposing a bit of chest. He thought he looked handsome. I thought he looked like a poser. But what did I know?

  He fished around in his pocket and I heard keys jingling. Then he pulled them free and tossed them to me. “Sorry. I borrowed them. I needed to pick up some beers.”

  I caught the keys and frowned at them. “You didn’t think to ask?”

  Luke shrugged his broad shoulders. “Nah. We’re brothers. They were hanging on the hook. I was only gone for fifteen minutes. No need to get your panties in a bunch about it.” He moved into the living room and clapped me on the shoulder as he brushed past me. “Tell me you have plans tonight. And tell me you can take me with you. I’m bored as shit out here.”

  I frowned as he collapsed onto one of the sofas, kicked his heels up on the coffee table, and clasped his hands behind his head. “I’m going out with my girl after dinner.”

  “Ah, the elusive girlfriend.”

  I didn’t care if he believed I had a girlfriend or not. “You’ll have to entertain yourself.”

  Luke scratched at his jaw. He needed to shave. “Bring me with you.”

  “No.”

  “Why? I can finally meet this girl of yours and see with my own eyes if she’s as beautiful as you claim.”

  I had no intention of introducing Luke to Olivia. He had a tendency to be a complete and total ass even when he was on his best behavior and I didn’t need to subject my girl to that fuckery.

  “We’ve been looking forward to tonight for a while,” I said. “I’m not going to spoil our date by bringing you along.”

  “Well fuck you too.”

  Dishes clanged obnoxiously in the kitchen. Luke’s mother’s voice was loud enough to hear as she gave the cooks she’d hired to prepare dinner for the family tonight shit for making a mess. I groaned internally when my father called to us that dinner was ready.

  I’d have preferred going through a drive thru before I met up with Olivia or just going hungry. Both were preferable to sitting down as a family on one of the nights Kirsten hired help. We’d probably be eating three courses, salads and cold soups and a thin slice of fish served on some low-carb gluten-free substitute.

  Luke swung up off the sofa and draped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me in close to him as we walked to the dining room. “You can’t keep this girl a secret from me forever, little brother. One day, I’ll meet her in person. And if she’s as hot as you say she is, you’d better watch yourself. Women find me irresistible. And as soon as she turns nineteen…” He winked at me.

  I shrugged out from under his shoulder. “Classy, man. Real classy.”

  “Hey, a real woman needs a real man.”

  “I don’t think real men refer to themselves as real men. Do they?”

  Luke’s eyes narrowed.

  I took my seat at the table as the kitchen staff, a trio of women dressed in black pants and button-up shirts, came out to top off our glasses and put silver trays covered in dome-shaped silver lids upon the four table settings. Shortly after, my father and Kirsten arrived, claiming their seats at opposite heads of the table, leaving Luke to sit across from me.

  My father sipped a glass of whiskey while Kirsten nursed a martini.

  “Bon appétit,” Kirsten said sweetly before lifting the lid from her plate.

  The rest of us followed suit. I found what I expected on my plate, a garden salad sprinkled in goat cheese and cranberries. I stifled my sigh and ate, every bite as unfulfilling as the last, and then sat back once I was done. One of the kitchen staff cleared my setting and then the others as everyone else finished, leaving us to wait the ten minutes between each course.

  I loathed family dinners now that Kirsten was around. She’d managed to make one of the highlights of the day absolutely insufferable with her dietary restrictions and the expectation that the rest of us would be on board.

  “Graduation is around the corner, son,” my father said, swirling his whiskey in its glass. His moustache twitched. “You must be getting excited. Olivia too.”

  I nodded. “We are.”

  Kirsten piped up at the mention of graduation. “Are you taking her to prom?”

  “Of course,” I said.

  “Are you going to get her a corsage?” she asked.

  “Of course,” I said again. I’d gotten her more than just a corsage. Her father and I had been in cahoots. He’d bought her a beautiful necklace over six months ago with a small, elegant diamond pendant. It came with a matching pair of earrings, which I’d gone in and picked up for her. Her mother had sworn that the pieces would look perfect with her dress.

  Just the thought of seeing her in her dress gave me butterflies.

  But there was more than just the earrings, too. I had something special. Something she wouldn’t expect.

  Something no one would expect.

  “What color is her dress?” Kirsten asked.

  “No idea,” I said.

  She stiffened at that. “How are you supposed to match your date if you don’t know what color dress she’s wearing?”

  I shrugged. “Olivia doesn’t really care about that kind of stuff.”

  My stepmother scoffed. “All girls care about that kind of stuff, Caden. If she claims otherwise, she’s lying.”

  “That’s a fact,” Luke said.

  I arched an eyebrow at the pair of them. Seeing as how neither of them had met Olivia, which was no accident, I found it hard to believe they would know more about her than I would. But pressing the subject with them was pointless. “Luckily, I kept it simple and am just wearing a full black suit. So no matter what color she picks, it will match.”

  “Smart boy.” Kirsten smiled approvingly.

  “For a turd,” Luke snickered.

  I shot him a dark look.

  My father chuckled in good humor. Then he set his drink down. “I’ll be flying to New York with Luke and Kirsten tomorrow morning to look at some apartments in the city. Now that you’re done with school, I think it will make sense for us to own properties both in Houston and New York. I’ll be back before your graduation. I wouldn’t miss the ceremony for anything. Will you be all right here on your own for the week?”

  Would I be all right home alone without my irritating stepmother and her graceless son?

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine,” I said.

  “Very good,” my father said.

  “You sure you won’t need someone to tuck you in at night little brother?” Luke teased.

  I gave him a stormy glare. “No, and it will be nice not having my truck borrowed.”

  Luke laughed. I didn’t.

  As I endured the rest of dinner, I itched to sneak away and get to my girl. It was nearly eight o’clock, which was when I said I’d be there to pick her up. She knew I was having dinner with my family though, and she knew they would more than likely delay me.

  But still, I hated waiting.

  However, Olivia was and always would be worth waiting for.

  Chapter 3

  Olivia

  I sat on the front steps with my hands braced behind me and my legs stretched out down the length of three steps. I crossed my ankles and enjoyed the cool evening breeze of the Tex
as night. It smelled like hay and dirt and hot asphalt and my skin tingled pleasantly from the time I’d spent in the sun that afternoon. I caught a whiff of my coconut lotion and smiled.

  Caden would like that.

  My stomach fluttered at the thought of seeing him. Any minute now, he’d be pulling into the drive in his big red truck. We’d make one pit stop at the pharmacy, and then there’d we’d be, seconds from changing our lives forever—seconds from being closer than we’d ever been.

  I drew my bottom lip into my mouth.

  Was I really ready for this? I couldn’t take it back. I couldn’t go back to being a virgin. I couldn’t save myself for someone else should things go wrong.

  I shook my head at my own silliness.

  This was Caden. Nothing would go wrong.

  Beside me was a wicker basket full of strawberries and chocolate yogurt dip. I’d also snagged two beers from the fridge and earned myself a hearty applause from my father, who joked that it was about time I had a drink.

  He didn’t need to know I’d had plenty in my last two years. He wouldn’t hold it against me, but I didn’t want him to worry. I was responsible. I’d never been drunk, only tipsy, and I’d never drank while Caden was also drinking. Partly because it made me nervous and partly because he refused and said he’d be the sober one to look out for us at parties.

  That was just the kind of guy Caden was.

  It wasn’t that he didn’t trust me when I was drinking or that he didn’t trust our friends. It wasn’t anything like that. It was simply him being aware that things happen. Things can go wrong. And he always told me he’d rather be prepared than get caught off guard.

  Caden made me feel safe and always had.

  His red truck swung around the corner at the end of the street. I pushed up off my hands and couldn’t wipe the grin off my face as he approached. I swept the wicker basket up and hurried down the steps to meet him at the end of the drive. He leaned across the passenger seat and opened my door for me, meeting me with a bright smile, mossy green eyes, and peculiarly tamed brown locks.

  “You look nice,” I said as I pulled my seatbelt across to clip it in.

  “You too,” he said, putting a hand on my bare knee and leaning over the console to give me a sweet, gentle kiss. He tasted like Juicy Fruit gum. “That dress is—”

  “Your favorite?”

  He chuckled and let his foot off the brake. “Yes. There’s no competition.”

  I suspected by the end of the night, he would have a new favorite outfit of mine: the pretty yellow lace bra and matching panties I’d picked just for this occasion. He’d only seen me in my underwear one time and that had been an accident. I’d fallen into Rachel Kenny’s pool during a house party and she’d sent us up to her room for me to put on something dry. I’d been a little tipsy, so Caden helped me out of my skin-tight wet jeans and T-shirt. Then he’d put his back to me and told me I was on my own with the getting dressed part.

  I’d teased him endlessly about it until he told me he wouldn’t have been able to be a gentleman if I kept kissing him while standing soaking wet and half naked before him. Truth be told, I probably wouldn’t have been able to remain a lady either. My panties had been very wet, and not just from the pool.

  “Where to?” Caden asked.

  “Our usual spot?” I suggested.

  “I should’ve known,” Caden said as he palmed the wheel of the truck.

  I’d always loved watching him drive. Actually, I loved watching him do anything, but there was something about the way he draped a wrist over the top of the wheel or how he’d hang a hand out the window. He was the hottest guy I’d ever laid eyes on and I still had a hard time believing he was with me sometimes. Like right now.

  He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. “What’s up?”

  “Just checking you out.” I grinned.

  He laughed. The sound was like joyful music in the cab of the truck. “Then by all means, carry on. By the way, what’s in the basket?” He nodded at the wicker basket at my feet.

  “You’ll see. I have a surprise for you tonight.”

  “A surprise? What did I do to deserve this?”

  Everything. “I need to make one pit stop first though,” I said. “Can you swing by the pharmacy on Eighth Street? I just need to run in for something quick.”

  “Sure.”

  Caden didn’t ask questions. I was grateful for that. I didn’t want to have to come up with some thin lie to throw him off the scent that I was buying condoms. I did, however, have to convince him to stay in the truck while I went inside.

  “What are you up to, Desmant?” he asked as I slid out of the truck and fixed my dress.

  “You’ll see. Now wait right here. Okay?”

  He nodded.

  I closed the door and hurried inside, where I suddenly became very flustered.

  I’d never bought condoms before. I’d never even really looked at the boxes in grocery stores or pharmacies or anything like that. I’d thought such things were still so far away until just a couple weeks ago when I started re-evaluating why I was making myself wait.

  I already knew I was going to marry Caden. I knew he was the one. Why not make our final week of high school together even more special by finally taking that step? He’d been so patient. He’d never even asked if I was having second thoughts. I’d told him I was waiting for marriage. He’d smiled, nodded, and told me he respected the hell out of that and he would never put me in a position to have to compromise my values.

  Pretty big words coming from a sixteen-year-old.

  Now, two years later, I was ready. No. More than ready. I was pretty damn horny. I wanted him. Badly.

  And I was going to have him.

  I selected a small box of magnums. I knew Caden was well endowed. Just because we hadn’t had sex didn’t mean we hadn’t done other things. I brought the box to the counter, put it down, and proceeded to rummage around in my purse for my wallet.

  When I looked up, the girl behind the register was smirking at me.

  “Rachel,” I said, surprised to see her there. She was in the same grade as me and on the cheer squad with me. She was disciplined, determined, and had a body made for our uniforms. “I didn’t know you worked here.”

  “Just started a couple weeks ago,” she said as she picked up the box of condoms. My cheeks grew suddenly very hot. She scanned the barcode. “I figured it would be nice to have some extra money for the summer. Seven sixty-two.”

  I handed her a ten-dollar bill and she gave me back the change.

  Then she leaned forward and rested her elbows on the counter. Her long blonde ponytail fell over her shoulder and grazed the countertop. “So does this mean what I think it means?”

  “What?” I asked lamely.

  “Are you and Taylor finally doing the dirty?”

  “Um. I…”

  She snorted. “Oh God. Don’t hurt yourself, Olivia. It was just a question. You’re lucky, you know that? Every girl at Edgemont High would love to ride Caden Taylor like a bicycle.” She waggled the box. The condoms inside rattled against the cardboard. “So it’s true then?”

  “What?”

  “He has a big cock?”

  “Rachel, I don’t want to talk about this.”

  She tossed the box at me. “Right. I forgot who I was talking to. Speaking of which, you want some lube, honey? You know it’s going to hurt getting that monster inside you, right?”

  I gaped like a fish in front of her. What was I supposed to say to that?

  She rolled her eyes at me and plucked a bottle of lube from the shelf behind her. She scanned that too, then punched a bunch of things into the register. The total on the screen went to zero and she smiled sweetly. “Consider it a gift from me to your pussy. You’re welcome.”

  “Thank you?” I said uncertainly.

  “Have fun.” She smiled.

  I crammed the lube and the condoms into my purse. My cheeks were still on fire as I left the
pharmacy and got back in Caden’s truck.

  “What took you so long?” he asked.

  “Nothing. I ran into Rachel. She just got a job here.”

  “Rachel Kenny?”

  “Yep.”

  “Sorry that happened to you,” he said.

  I laughed. The embarrassment from the store slipped away as he pulled out of the lot and we headed toward our favorite lookout spot in Houston. It was a decent drive, about thirty minutes to get there down a narrow dirt road that kicked up more dust than one might think possible, but it was worth it at the end. We backed onto a grassy ridge, pointing the bed of the truck over the rocky hill so we could see Houston spread out below like a blanket of winking stars in the night both above and below.

  Caden dropped the tailgate and lifted me onto it. I unfolded the blanket he kept in the truck and we settled onto it. Next, I opened the basket and set out the strawberries and chocolate dip as well as the beers.

  “I realize these things don’t really go together,” I said, “but the beers were all I could get my hands on.”

  Caden grinned and cracked his open. “This is awesome, Olivia. Really.”

  We stared out at our city down below. “It’s so weird to think that we’re going to be graduates by the end of next week.”

  “Right?”

  I sighed. “I feel ready and unprepared all at once.”

  Caden laughed. “You always feel that way.”

  “Still, it’s unnerving.”

  “Well,” he said thoughtfully, “what can we do to help? Do you feel like there are things you wanted to do that you didn’t get around to?”

  I swallowed. “Maybe.”

  “Like what? Let’s do them together.”

  Like you. My heart raced in my chest as I watched him pop a strawberry in his mouth. The muscles in his jaw flexed and drove me wild. His brow furrowed as he caught me staring at him and I could have jumped him right then and there.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “I’ve been thinking.”

  “About?”

  “Us.”

  He stopped mid chew. “What does that mean?”