Though as soon as I set eyes on her, I wasn’t sure anything could keep me from putting my hands all over her.
When I entered the room, Tanya turned toward me, giving me my first look at her gorgeous breasts. They were young and perky, but full, the kind of breasts you’d kill to have your hands on, with soft, rose-colored nipples. I turned my head away a moment too late, certain that she’s caught me staring.
“What’s wrong? A lap dance is one thing, but seeing me naked crosses the line?” she asked, a chuckle rising from her full lips as she stepped into the swirling waters of the hot-tub. “We’re a little too far beyond the Pale now, Gunner, don’t you think?”
“I guess,” I said, nervously undoing the button on my pants before I too stripped down to nothing. I stepped out of the crumbled jeans and slowly dipped myself into my side of the Jacuzzi’s hot, turbulent waters. I lowered my body all the way down to my chest, closing my eyes as I felt the massaging jets begin their work on my tense back muscles. For a long time, the two of us sat in silence, letting the rushing water fill the silence between us.
“Do you think he knows where we are?” Tanya asked, sinking down almost all the way to her chin in the bubbles and warm water.
“I made sure nobody can find us,” I said, resting my arms on the walls of the hot tub. “And I paid cash downstairs. We hole up here for a few weeks, let the detectives do their job, and everything’s going to be fine.”
I wanted to believe my own words… To relax and just enjoy a little break from work and worry and this psychopath… So why the fuck did I have the feeling that I’d missed something?
Tanya was quiet for a moment as she settled in. But that damn pensive look never left her face. She curled her toes on the rim of the tub.
“What if he goes after someone else?”
“Just let the detectives do their job.”
Tanya actually looked a little scared. “I mean it, Gunner,” she said, splashing some water at me from her side of the tub. “We should at least make sure this guy doesn’t hurt anyone. I’ve got friends back at that club. What is this psycho goes back there? Someone needs to warn them.”
“All right,” I relented, holding my hands up to stave off the bulk of her splashing. “I’ll talk with the detective. Just keep your water on your side and for tonight at least, relax.”
“Thank you,” she said, giving me a strained smile. I could tell she had more thoughts running through her head than she probably knew what to do with—one of which I could actually do something about.
It was going to hurt. But Tanya had questions. And I had the answers. It wasn’t right to keep them from her. Not when there was a chance that_._._._
I couldn’t entertain the thought for more than a second. She’s going to be fine. You’re going to be fine.
Still. I needed to tell her.
I took a deep breath. “Do you think we can talk about—you know_._._._” I said, trying to come up with a better way of saying it without it and failing miserably. I looked over at her and winced. “The kiss?”
Chapter 12
Tanya
My heart hammered. My lips burned. Finally, my stepbrother was ready to talk about our kiss—the one I couldn’t get out of my head.
But then Gunner opened his mouth, and what came out was nothing good.
“I’m sorry,” he told me. “It was a mistake. You were vulnerable, and I took advantage of you_._._._”
I settled back against my side of the divided tub and stared at the ceiling, grinding my teeth so hard I couldn’t even hear my stepbrother’s voice. My hand skirted the edge of the bucket of ice on the partition between us, the one with a bottle of champagne inside it. The bucket was starting to sweat from the heat of our bathwater, and soon enough the ice would be all but a memory… And nobody likes warm champagne.
I looked at my stepbrother. He was still rambling on, making excuses. Trying to be the big damn hero.
Maybe that was what he needed. But what I needed was him. I’d known it from the moment I’d first seen his face again. I needed his touch. I needed his kiss… And though I’d never experienced anything quiet like it before, I knew I needed his dick pressing up hard and deep inside me.
To make that happen, Gunner was going to need to feed that hero complex of his. Maybe I’d have to play the villain.
I grabbed the champagne bottle out of the bucket, and with a hard tug, popped the cork. Gunner went silent as I put the bottle to my lips, chugging as much of it as I could, sweet suds spilling down my chin and jaw.
A little spark lit up inside me when I saw him eyeing me from his side of the tub. He’d stopped talking and just stared, lips parted and just a little wet. His tongue darted across them and he sucked the lower one in between his teeth as I wiped my mouth with the back of my wrist and slammed the champagne bottle back into the bucket between us.
“No more games, Gunner,” I told him, grasping the sides of the tub. Then I hauled myself over the divider and into his side, sinking into the bubbles. “There’s something between us. And I think I know what it is. I think I know how we can get past it. Besides, I’ve beaten death twice this week and I don’t want to die a virgin.”
Gunner sat up and stiffened, his jaw trembling, aching to spit out a coherent strand of words. I could already see it in his eyes—that battle between desire and responsibility. Responsibility to me. To society. To himself. To the family that shattered when my mom died, and that had become irreparable when Gunner left us.
We weren’t a family anymore. We never would be again. Not like we used to be. And where there had once been familial affection between us, there was something different now: a dark, seething passion that was more akin to hate than love.
I swept my knees forward, positioning my hips against his and putting my naked body right in his lap. I felt the tops of his thighs clench against me and his manhood throb.
“All this frustration, Gunner. All this pain. It’s got me so worked up. My head spins whenever I look at you.” I lowered against his shaft, and with an expert sway of my hips, brought him to full attention. He grunted and pressed up, his dick nestled neatly between my pussy lips. “I think you feel the same way.”
“Tanya,” he began, but whatever protest he’d been trying to make died on his lips the second he felt my tongue.
I ran the tip of it up his earlobe before taking his flesh between my teeth. Just one little nibble filled his cock with blood so warm I could feel it despite the heat of the tub. I never stopped moving my hips, grinding and writhing slow and steady. His prick pressed into my entrance, millimeters away from impaling me. From taking me from virgin to… Something else.
My nipples hardened when he put his hands on my ass. He was shaking. I whispered, “We need to get this out of our systems_._._._”
I threw my head back as Gunner dug his nails into me and let out the lowest, sexiest growl I’d ever heard. He was past the point of no return. He needed something to satisfy the lust inside him. It would either be me, or his hand. I needed to make sure it was me.
“Fuck me, Gunner,” I moaned. He had the perfect view of my tits now—gleaming and soaked and right in his face. “Give me everything you’ve got.”
Before I’d even finished the sentence, Gunner lunged. He grabbed the sides of my face, his fingers weaving through the wet tendrils of my hair. He crushed my lips with his, stealing my breath and giving me life all at once. My nerves sparked and sizzled. My pussy ached and pulsed. Everything in me—my body, my heart, my soul—was ready for Gunner’s big, thick cock.
“No,” he whispered.
I stared, certain I’d heard him wrong. “_._._._no? No what?”
But then Gunner stood, cradling me in his arms.
“I’m not gonna fuck you, Tanya.”
He made quick strides toward one of the bedrooms and lowered me onto the bed. I was still dripping wet from the tub, but all I could think about was what the fuck I’d done wrong.
It was obvi
ous my stepbrother wanted me. Needed me. So why wouldn’t he go for it? Why wouldn’t he take the plunge?
“Oh!” I breathed, eyes rolling back. Gunner had shoved my legs apart and stuffed his face between them to lap at my clit.
Fiery bursts of pleasure jetted through me, singing everything they touched. I bucked into Gunner’s face, so eager for more. He knew exactly what to do, how to stoke the fire inside of me. Figures that a firefighter wouldn’t only know how to put out a fire, but how to start one, too.
“Gunner!” I licked my lips, looking down at him, reveling in the image of his tongue flicking between my folds. “Fuck!”