Married. Wait! What? Page 2

  He shook his head. “This is so fucked up,” he said.

  She nodded, but she couldn’t resist reaching forward to tuck one of the locks of his ever-untamed hair from his brow. “I know.”

  His hand gripped her wrist, surprising her as he dragged her closer. When their bodies were flush, he whispered so softly that no one around them could’ve possibly heard him, “If you think anything they do changes what is between us, you’re fooling yourself, my pretty little Liza.”

  Blinking up at him, she licked her lips. It seemed Paul had grown up a bit since when they’d last met. “What, big brother? What could possibly be between us at this point?”

  He dragged her hand lower, using her palm to cup the thick ridge between his legs. “This will always be between us. And so much more. You’re not going to pretend you don’t feel it, are you?”

  Gripping his cock, she tried to fake a confidence she didn’t feel. “This little thing? I can feel it, all right.” But in her head, she was torn between the rush of lust and panic. People could see her standing there touching him in such a private place. On the one hand, anyone could spot them, and if it was one of her mother’s friends…they’d know she was touching her soon to be brother in a way that was far from sisterly. On the other hand, he knew it was one of her things—she’d always liked the risk of being caught.

  Even before she’d gotten old enough to realize just how twisted her tastes were.

  He leaned closer to her, stroking her cheek gently before running his fingertips over the shell of her ear. “If you honestly thought it was so little, why are you still holding me so very tight, little sister?”

  Releasing him abruptly, she moved to the bar. “I’m going to need more shots to get through this day.”

  “Same,” he replied, but his hand was stroking her ass as he said it.

  2

  Paul woke up curled around a woman, which was an oddity unto itself. He never took his lovers to bed with him, but in this case, he only had vague memories of the night before. The rush of skin on skin, the moans of his lover…and he’d pretended it was Liza.

  Which wasn’t unusual. More often than not, he imagined it was her when he plunged into a woman’s willing body. Something about her always stayed with him—as if they were connected, even though he didn’t even know if he’d ever see her again.

  His head throbbed, the very light piercing his eyes. Burrowing deeper into the woman’s soft hair, he decided there was a certain charm to waking with a lover. She was so soft, so warm, and her ass cheeks cupped his cock in such a pleasant way. If it weren’t for the hangover, he’d probably roll her onto her back and see if he could make less blurry memories he could keep for a while.

  She smelled sweet, some musky blend of woman and sensuality which tickled his memory a bit. Hell, that was probably why he’d drunkenly imagined her to be Liza. She even smelled like the other woman did when she was a girl. As he fondled her breast, his partner released a soft moan, rubbing that rounded ass back against him and making him think maybe he could perform, hangover or not.

  “Paul?” The whiskey-drenched whisper had him freezing, stunned. He hadn’t imagined Liza after all, the woman in his arms was his Liza.

  As she rolled to face him, her hand reached up to stroke his face, and he captured her wrist.

  The gold band around her ring finger glinted up at him like a curse.

  “Fuck,” he whispered. “What did we do?”

  She shook her head slightly, looking a bit bleary. Then again, if he remembered correctly, she’d been drinking as heavily as he had after the wedding ceremony that made them officially siblings. But that part after…the other ceremony…

  “Did we get married?” he asked her.

  The words froze Liza, and she furrowed her brows as if trying to remember. “I think I’m still drunk,” she mumbled. “But, no, we couldn’t have. We went to our parent’s ceremony, then we…” She drifted off, apparently noticing her finger. “I couldn’t have married my newly minted stepbrother.”

  He caught her fingers, considering the ring. “I remember saying I wanted to keep you and that our parents weren’t going to keep us apart.”

  “Yeah,” she agreed, rubbing her face with her free hand. “I remember going back to the chapel. I think we were going to talk them out of it? Which was crazy, because they were already married…”

  “And there was some confusion about why we were there.” He remembered laughing, saying that they could show them. “We got married, Liza.”

  She shook her head, sitting up abruptly then groaning and holding her hands over her ears. “My head is throbbing. Stop talking.”

  Rolling his legs off the bed, he buried his face in his hands. He’d done it. He’d married Liza. But was the wedding even legal? It wasn’t like they were sober enough to make legal decisions. They didn’t have a license…did they need a license in Vegas?

  None of that mattered at the second, though. A surge of protectiveness rose in his throat like bile. This was Liza, his Liza, and the least he could do was take care of her. Hell, if she felt half as wretched as he did, she would need some pain reliever and water. Dehydration caused the worst part of a hangover, if he remembered correctly. That and the fact the fermentation process in his blood stream lowered blood sugar levels.

  Forcing himself onto his feet, he placed an order with room service before going to the bathroom. Once he’d found medicine and snagged a bottle of water, he returned to Liza’s side.

  She was still seated in the middle of the bed. The sheet was pulled tightly to her chest, but it wasn’t like it hid much. The smooth slope of her back was enough to make his dick twitch, hungover or not. Flashes of memories from the night before twined with his old memories of her, reminding him of the way she looked with his cock in her mouth, with her legs spread above her head while he thrust into her, with her face upturned in the rain.

  Liza was in all his best memories, and it seemed they’d added to the list—whether he remembered it exactly or not.

  “Here, take these,” he offered, passing her the pills. She accepted them with a grateful look before also taking the water bottle he’d opened for her. “We probably have a few minutes before the food gets here, so—”

  “I’m not hungry,” she grumbled. “I’m married, and whatever you ordered, it isn’t going to fix that.”

  He smiled a little. His Liza was always grouchy in the morning, and it seemed the woman version of the girl he knew wasn’t altogether that different than he remembered. “As I was saying, while we wait, we should grab a shower.”

  She blinked up at him, her gorgeous eyes seeming confused. “I don’t feel good. I’m not going to try to walk to the—oof!”

  Scooping her into his arms, he took the whole warm bundle—woman, sheet, and shock—to the bathroom where he placed her gently on the sink top. “One second. Let me get the water running.”

  “Paul, you can’t just—”

  Before she could say another word, he stooped in to cover her mouth with his own. She didn’t move at first, which was okay. He teased kisses at the corners of her mouth, tracing his tongue across that sexy bottom lip of hers until she opened her mouth on a gasp. With one hand, he yanked the sheet away so he could see her body.

  “Mine,” he growled, fierce in his need for her. He might have had her the night before, and maybe that’s why his desire was so damned insistent. He wanted to claim all that smooth white flesh, to mark it with his teeth until she recognized that the thing between them was timeless and unbreakable.

  When he took her mouth again, she rose into his arms like silk, looping her arms around his neck until her nails scraped his scalp. Once she’d melted into him, he lifted her again. Her legs twined around his waist, bringing her sweet slit in contact with his already throbbing cock. He smiled against her mouth, and she pulled out of the kiss to look at him.

  “When you smile, it usually means you’re about to do something particularly evil,” she comm
ented.

  Standing her in the shower, he said simply, “You doubted me.”

  She shrugged, wrapping one arm around her middle protectively. “So?”

  “It’s been a long time since we were together last, so maybe you don’t realize how much I value control.” He stroked a hand slowly down the slope of her face, continuing his leisurely exploration until his fingertips rested just above her nipple. “Do you trust me enough to let me be in charge, my Liza? Will you let me control you?”

  Her lips curved. “You’re dominant, which I already knew,” she said. “You know I’ll let you, so why are you even asking?”

  “You doubted me,” he reminded her. “Which means I need to punish you.”

  The slow way her eyes widened proved she wasn’t sure she wanted whichever punishment he had in mind, but her breath continued to heave out. He was sure if he dipped his touch between her legs, he’d find her hot and wet for him. The mere thought of it had his own pulse pumping as he breathed in the scent of her.

  “Do your worst,” she said. “It turns out I like being spanked, so if you thought you’d freak me out with that threat, you are confusing me with another woman.”

  “I’d never confuse you with another woman, Liza. You’re the one I’ve carried with me. You’re part of me, and now you’re my wife.”

  She snorted, but he simply reached beyond her to turn on the faucet. When the cold water poured down from the showerhead, Liza let out a little shriek. “It’s cold,” she complained.

  “I never said I was going to spank you,” he told her. “I said I was going to punish you. Stand, take your punishment like a woman.”

  Her chin popped up, even as she shivered. “I can take whatever you can deal out, Paul.”

  “Master,” he corrected. “When we’re together, I’m your master.”

  Instead of answering, she forced her hands to her sides and faced the icy water. He didn’t know about her, but it didn’t cool his ardor in the least. He did move out of the water, allowing his skin to warm to the ambient temperature of the room, while he gave her a few seconds under the cold blast.

  The water would cool her flesh, making any touch of warmth a shock to her system. It would also help abate some of the hangover, allowing her to think clearly. Once she’d taken her punishment long enough to satisfy him, he considered the wrinkled peaks of her nipples with fascination. “Are you sorry you doubted me, little Liza?”

  “Y-y-yes, master,” she said through chattering teeth.

  “Do you want me to warm your flesh?” he asked slowly.

  Her nod wasn’t enough of a response, so he waited until she ducked her head and said, “Yes, master.”

  He bumped her away from the faucets, stepping into the flow of water before he turned the dials to make the water almost too hot. Then he reached for her. His mouth was hot on her chilled nipple, and she cried out in shock before clutching his head with her nails. “Oh, God,” she whispered, “you’re so warm.”

  “Then climb me, lover. Get warm.” She obeyed, melting into him. Her flesh was so cold, so he focused on warming it as he pinned her to the wall of the shower.

  “I feel…too much,” she pleaded, shuddering under his touch. “I’m so…”

  “Aware,” he answered, plunging deep into her body with his own. She was even cool there, but so wet. He surged deeper, driving his heat into her cold body. Her claws ran down his back and across his shoulders, leaving her mark on his skin as he pushed into her again. Her entire body trembled against his, jerking thrusts as she tried to push as much of her skin against his as possible. In seconds, she was screaming out his name, legs twitching helplessly as he continued slow thrusts into her core.

  “Call me master,” he ordered.

  “Too much,” she whimpered, still twitching.

  With his thumb, he thrummed against her clit, pleased when the little bud hardened under his touch. Capturing a bead of water that ran down her chest, he drank from her, suckling her nipple deep into his mouth as he continued to clean the water from her trembling flesh.

  Once he released her breast with a pop, he looked up at her. Eyelashes spangled with drops of water, her mouth hung open as she panted. Tiny moans escaped her throat, groans, as if the pleasure was too much to fit in her curvy little body, so it was escaping as sound. “Is it too much?” he asked her.

  “Faster,” she begged. “Faster, please, master.”

  He obeyed, driving into her until she screamed out his name again. Only when her body pulsed around his in another orgasm did he let himself fly over the edge, splintering to shards as they both leaned on the wall of the shower.

  They’d talk about the marriage later. Deal with the fact that they were quite possibly married—and stepsiblings.

  For now, he had his Liza back. And he’d wanted nothing more than that for years.

  3

  Liza didn’t want to take off the ring. Nibbling a piece of bacon, she noticed Paul hadn’t been quick to remove his either. It was a cheap gold band, clearly, and she wouldn’t be surprised in the least if her finger turned green within a day from it, but it meant something.

  Sure, Paul was wildly attractive, and their sexual chemistry was off the charts. She shivered in memory of their time in the shower. Yeah, they had chemistry, but they always had.

  Back when they were younger, though, they’d had more than that, too. He’d been her one solid and dependable relationship. For the longest time, they’d exchanged letters and messages online. He understood her. Hell, some of her favorite memories with him didn’t involve sex whatsoever—she remembered sitting in their treehouse and doing crossword puzzles for hours. They’d tried to bake cookies and burned them. Hell, he’d helped her with her homework.

  They’d been friends, too, and she’d valued that once. But just like he’d grown and changed sexually, had the man changed, too? She wanted the chance to find out. She wanted to be with him. Although married seemed to be a bit of an abrupt leap, it still placed them together until they resolved the whole mess.

  Did she want it resolved? No, that was a stupid question. Of course, she didn’t want to be married to a man who was practically a stranger.

  Right?

  She snagged another piece of bacon and continued to stew over the whole matter. It wasn’t like there was someone else she’d rather be married to. For years, she’d compared every man in her life to Paul, so she couldn’t work up any enthusiasm to be upset over it being him.

  Well, other than the fact that he was her stepbrother now. Which made their situation particularly tricky.

  Her phone beeped and she choked on the bacon in surprise. Paul raised one eyebrow. “You okay?” he asked.

  “Fine,” she muttered, taking a quick sip of her water. She grabbed the phone and saw her mother had texted her. “My mom wants me to meet her by the hotel pool.”

  His phone beeped, and he glanced at it before saying, “They could’ve saved their time and just texted one of us.”

  She rolled her eyes, since there was no way for their parents to guess they’d be together after mind-blowing sex, but she didn’t correct him. “What are we going to do?” she asked, twirling the gold band on her finger. “Like, how do we even explain this?”

  Paul leaned forward, catching one of her hands. “For one, we don’t know for sure that we’re actually married and it wasn’t just a novelty service. Before you ask me but what if it is, I’ll say that we need to deal with one problem at a time. For now, we go on about our day as normal.”

  “I’m not sure there is anything normal about waking up married to your stepbrother,” she pointed out, but his hand was on her knee. Just his touch in such a simple place sizzled her system to life.

  “Wear a skirt,” he recommended as he stood.

  “What will a skirt do to resolve the situation?” she asked, flustered as he stood over her. The bathrobe he’d put on after their shared shower was coming a bit loose, and she was distracted by his body revealed by t
he soft fabric. Just a slice, a tease of what was beneath if she simply tugged on one end of the knot holding it on him.

  Pulling her to her feet, he looked into her eyes with a small smile. “It won’t resolve the situation whatsoever.” His hand slid inside her matching bathrobe, fondling her breast before giving her nipple a harsh tug. “But it is easy access. I find I want more of you, my sweet Liza. And I don’t want a lot of barriers between us. Do you?”

  She swallowed hard, allowing her body to drift into his arms. “Not really,” she admitted.

  “Skirt, pool, parents. We’ve got this. We can do anything together, remember?”

  As his mouth closed over hers, she couldn’t think of a single reason to disagree.

  * * *

  To say that meeting with their parents was uncomfortable was an understatement, but she reminded herself that regardless of whether or not their own quickie vows were legal, she was a grown woman. Any decisions she’d made, bad or good, were her own and not ruled by parental consent.

  Then again, admitting she’d married her stepbrother to her coworkers and friends could prove more than a little awkward. Sighing, she shifted in her seat. Her mother noticed and smiled slightly. “You never could take much of the sun, Liza-love.” The nickname was childish, but she couldn’t correct her mother, so Liza simply shrugged. “Thank you both for joining us for breakfast, but we’re planning on having some alone time today. Can you guys find something fun to do for the rest of the day? We could always get back together later for dinner…”

  “They always did get along so well,” said Paul’s father. Liza had just sipped the fruity concoction they’d ordered for her, and she nearly spit the drink all over everyone. Paul’s brow went up, and his smile teased her for her reaction. “Thank you both so much for joining us to celebrate our special day. I know this whole thing might feel rushed, but Kaitlyn was the one woman I could never forget. When you get to be our age, and you find something special, you don’t want to waste another day apart. Hopefully, one day you kids will find something similar.”