Chapter Two
Chapter One
Drake
“Sir, we’re here.” I open my eyes and see my driver pull up to the front of my house. I hadn’t even noticed we pulled through the black iron gates and up the smooth driveway. I slept straight from the airport in after taking a ten-hour flight. One thing after another, this business trip made me regret my life choices. After acquiring property in Europe and losing deals to some competitors, I’d left with a headache and all I wanted to do was touch down on American soil.
As much as I wanted to be here it wasn’t like I had a reason to come home, anyway. I look at my family’s mansion, and it’s all mine. Three floors with ten bedrooms and every amenity possible. I loved the home, but it was empty.
My father had his own home because this was my maternal grandparents’ home, and they hated my father after the divorce even though it wasn’t his choice for the split. My mother wanted to end the sham of a marriage. Although they loved me, they blamed him for getting her pregnant, so he was never allowed back on the premises. They left this place to me when they died, so he comes by every chance he gets, but for some reason we haven’t had time for each other in months. Maybe it’s because we’ve both been insanely busy making deals.
“Bring my things inside,” I tell Sloane, my personal driver and security. “I’m feeling a bit stiff.” I rub my neck and take the stairs in a hurry.
“Yes, Drake. Would you like Ms. Amanda to bring you anything?” Amanda was my housekeeper and part-time chef.
“No. I’m going to go for a swim.”
“Okay.” When I enter the house, my housekeeper approaches me. “Mr. Daniels, your father stopped by earlier.”
That’s odd considering he knew I was out of town. Usually, he checks in with me first before just popping in. “Did he? That’s strange since he knew I was out of town. I’ll give him a call later. I’m going for a swim.”
“Um, sir.”
“It’s not a big deal.” I waved her off.
“He asked that you call him when you had a moment.”
“Is he ill?” I asked, hoping something wasn’t terribly wrong.
“No, sir.”
“Well, I’ll just go and swim. I need to unwind after that long flight.” I’m not in the mood to deal with his nonsense about getting married and having grandchildren. That was his latest gripe with me. After my mother died, it was like he took over her nagging about grandchildren. I’d lost my grandparents and mother at the same time six years ago in a tragic accident.
I toss open my bedroom door and strip out of my clothes, turn on the shower, and wash off the grit of the long flight before finding my clean swim trunks and heading out to the back pool area.
Immediately, I’m stopped dead in my tracks by the sound of music blaring from the patio. I’m glad I don’t go free balling in my pool because my housekeeper is around most of the time, but who the fuck is in my home?
At first, I spot the sound of the music coming from a speaker near the deck with a phone beside it, but then the next thing to catch my eye is the light splash from the water. Swimming the length of the pool is a woman in a bikini. Someone forgot to mention there was a woman in my home, and what a stunning woman she is. She might be hot, but she’s trespassing. I need to have a word with my uninvited guest. Walking across the length of the deck, I see a large fucker in a suit standing hidden on the wall’s edge with his eyes trained on the intruder.
I press the pause button on the phone to turn off the music. The fucker has the nerve to glare at me and give me attitude. “That was rude to turn off her music. Mr. Daniels will hear of this.”
I tilt my head at this big piece of shit and scowl. “Who the fuck are you, and what are you doing on my property?”
He looks past me which irritates me more than it should, so I follow his gaze and find the little fucking bombshell swimming to the edge of the water. She uses the ledge to lift her fantastic curves out of the water, giving both of us an eyeful of soaking-wet perfection.
“Hi, I’m Summer. You must be my new stepbrother, Drake.” My mouth falls fucking on the floor, but only in my head because I maintain my composure.
The sound of her voice catches me off guard, causing me to shake my head and try to erase it from my brain. There’s no way I can shake the way she looked, swimming across my pool in a tight bikini and now with her hands on hips, smiling up at me while delivering devastating news.
“Excuse me. I believe I misheard you.” I reach over and grab the towel off the rack beside us and hand it to her because I don’t like the fact that the meathead beside me, who is about twenty pounds heavier than me, is eyeing the water dripping down her juicy round tits like perfectly round melons.
“Yes, I’m your stepsister, Summer. Dad has us staying at his house here.”
“His house?”
“Well, I guess it’s the family home, but it’s gorgeous. I suppose this is an awkward introduction.” She wrings out her hair with the towel.
“Where’s my father?”
“He and my mother went on their honeymoon.”
“Honeymoon?”
“Do you always repeat everything with a question?”
“I do when I’m blindsided by the fact that my father went and got married without telling me.” She blanches, pressing her hand to her mouth and shaking her head. She steps back and falls backward, landing in the pool. I’m quick, and I dive right after her. My hands slide around her waist and pull her up and to the shallow end where the steps are. Sitting her on them, I check for injuries on her head.
“Summer, are you alright?” her piece of shit guard asks, too damn late to the party.
“I’m fine. I promise.”
“Yes, she’s fine. Not that you were any damn use. Get the fuck off my property before I toss you out on your ass.” I helped her all the way out of the pool and grabbed another set of towels for both of us.
“Mr. Daniels hired me, and I work for him.” This fuck has huge brass balls to think anything he says has any bearing here.
“I don’t give a shit who you work for. This is my home, and you’re on my estate, so I’m warning you to get off my land before I get my gun and shoot you or have my own security do it for me.” I take a towel and wrap it around the little wet intruder.
“Oh goodness. You didn’t have to be so mean to Sven. He was just doing his job. I shouldn’t have said anything, and I didn’t mean to scare you because I can swim.”
“It isn’t that you can’t swim. You could have busted your damn head, and I would have been liable.”
“Well, I didn’t, big bro.”
“I’m not your brother. I don’t even know your name.”
“I told you it’s Summer.”
“Well, Summer, since you are obviously more informed than I am, how long have our parents been married?”
“Two months.” My mouth drops again.
“Are you fucking kidding me? Two damn months.” I’m dripping wet, so I grab a towel and dry off before storming into my home. I hear her behind me, but I’m not paying the sexy little thing any mind because I’m going to lose my shit in a minute. There is no fucking reason my father is married and away on his honeymoon while I’m stuck with his stepdaughter, who is… I turned around and looked at her. “How old are you?”
“I’m eighteen.” Fuck me. She’s eight years my junior. I’m going to end up in prison for my thoughts about her.
“Go put some damn clothes on and stay away from that meathead security guard. Whoever that asshole is, he wants to fuck your tight little ass.”
“What?”
“You heard me and don’t get any ideas either because I’ll be keeping an eye on you while you’re here, which won’t be long.”
“Nice to meet you, too.” She walks away with an eye roll, and I adjust my cock before heading to my bedroom for a cold shower and a damn phone call to my father.
I’m furious when the bastard doesn’t answer the phone, but I head back downstairs because I need to eat. My housekeeper was only there for the day, but there should be a well-stocked fridge with some prepped meals that are easy for me to cook.
As I walked into my kitchen, I was surprised by the sexy, untouchable, uninvited houseguest. “Um, we got off on the wrong foot. I wanted to apologize,” she says. I can’t figure out what she did wrong other than being in my home looking like a sensual, tempting treasure that I’m not allowed to touch.
“There’s no need to apologize unless you’re lying about this whole thing, and you’re just some random freeloader who snuck onto my property.”
“I didn’t. I swear. Why would I have a bodyguard?”
“Bodyguard, pimp?” Her mouth falls open in pure shocked offense. If she wasn’t around the other end of the island, I’m sure her tiny hand would be meeting my cheek, but I’m only graced with her verbal outrage.
“How dare you be so rude? Your father is so nice. What is with wealthy men?”
Wealthy men? I wonder who the fuck else she’s dealing with that I need to speak with. A sense of duty to protect her from this other asshole washes over me like I have any right. It makes no sense since I just tossed out such an insult.
“We get women who throw themselves at us, tripping in our laps, trying to scale our property, making excuses, lying to the media sources.” I would love for her to throw herself at me, wrapping those legs around my head and letting me get a sample of that tiny cunt on my tongue. I’d been thinking about it since she was in my arms in the pool, and my dick was rock hard just standing a few feet apart from her.
Her pretty, makeup-less face frowns. “So, you have a lot of experience with that? That must be a terrible way to live.”
After spending years dealing with sharks in the business world, I’m used to reading my opponent, and although she’s a stranger, I can see she’s genuine in her sympathy. “No, I haven’t had that many crazy attempts in my life, but I have friends and business associates who have. It comes with the money, hence the security.”
“I suppose that’s why your father hired security for me.”
“You didn’t have security before that?” I asked, wanting more about her life before they strolled into the Daniels family.
“Yes, but my mom’s ex-husband did it, so I would behave. Not because he was worried about my safety, but my behavior.”
“Why? Was he worried about you getting wasted at parties?” I wanted to learn more about her without getting too pushy.
“No, he was worried about me giving away my virginity before he could take it.” I stab my knife into the counter, wishing it was that faceless prick’s chest.
“What the fuck? Who is that sick son of a bitch?” I had gone from thinking about forgetting the taboo nature of our connection to wanting to commit a felony in a heartbeat.
“It doesn’t matter. I ran away before anything could happen.”
“When was this?” I questioned.
“Last year.”
“That means you were a minor,” I muttered, wondering how long this fucker had been in her life.
“Yeah, well…I’d rather not talk about it. Um…Are you hungry?”
My father did me a favor and finally called me back, ending our talk. “It’s my father. I need to take this.”
“I’m going to start dinner.”
It was even more wrong to want her. She’d gone through something traumatic, and I was standing here thinking about undressing her and eating her pussy for dinner. Unfortunately, I’d lost my appetite. “I’m not hungry. Enjoy dinner. Goodnight, Summer.”
She sighs and whispers, “Goodnight, Drake. ”