ARROGANT BRIT (A BRITISH BAD BOY ROMANCE) (35 page)

Preston’s housekeeper had retired to her one-bedroom suite on
the grounds for the evening, so it was just the two of us in his grand estate.
Though he had done his best to calm me in the car, my knees were still shaking
and I could feel panic squeezing my chest. He suggested I use his master
bathroom to relax, and I couldn’t say no to that.

I leaned back in his whirlpool tub, sighing softly as I piled
my hair on the side. The water was nearly scalding hot, perfect for releasing
all the aches and pains that had built in my strained muscles. I could feel
myself slipping away already, the frustration and confusion receding as I lay
my head on the built-in neck support, letting myself float weightless in the
bath. A moment later I heard Preston enter and I opened my eyes to see him
extending a glass of champagne.

“Here,” he said. “You look like you need it.”

I nodded and sighed as I took it from him, bringing it to my
lips. This was the good stuff, not the fifteen-dollar bottles I’d picked up
from the grocery store once or twice back when I’d been in charge of ExecuSpace’s
company parties. Those days seemed so far away now. I’d been shrouded in
opulence for so long that I could barely remember what it was like to struggle.
Had I become my mother?

I didn’t realize I’d said that last part out loud.

Preston’s eyes darkened as he looked down at me. “No, Maddy,”
he said, sitting on the edge of the tub. “You’re nothing like Vivian. Don’t you
ever think that. Okay?”

I smiled at him thinly and took another sip of my champagne.
I wasn’t in the mood to argue. “What do we do now?”

He rolled up his sleeves and sighed, kicking his shoes across
the bathroom floor. Then he reached into the water and pulled my wet feet into
his lap, soaking his slacks as he massaged along my arches with exquisite care.
I moaned and sank into the water, purring like a kitten as my Preston worked my
soles.

“I’m not giving into my father’s demands,” he said, gently
stretching and rubbing each of my toes. I nearly swooned. “We’ll find a way out
of this. It may have to be extreme, but if you’re willing to go for it, then so
am I.”

I opened my eyes. “What exactly are you proposing?” I asked
him.

“I’m not sure yet. But it may involve withdrawing everything
from my account and starting all over someplace new. Would you be willing to do
that with me, if it came down to it?”

I sat up a little, studying his face. “Are things that
serious between us?”

Preston shrugged. “They could be. I don’t know. But that’s a
last resort. In the meantime, I can simply say I’m not interested in being a
larger part of Harvey Enterprises until his plans for the future include you,
too. Maybe there’s still time for me to change things from the inside—hold his
feet to the fire over this. I am his only heir, and the only one who knows
enough about the family business to take it over once he’s out of the picture.
Without me, the board would cut this company to shreds and dine on its
carcass.”

“Do you think that’s enough leverage?” I asked him. “And what
about my mom?”

“That’s up to you,” he told me, gliding his fingers up my
ankles and calves. “What do you want to do about that?”

I pursed my lips in thought. On one hand, Preston’s father
manipulating my mother for his own gains didn’t sit well with me. She was a
terrible person, sure enough, but did she deserve to be used and lied to like
that?

On the other hand, didn’t she sort of have this coming? I
couldn’t say that out loud, of course, but my mother had been more awful than
ever since she and Mr. Harvey had hooked up. It might serve as some kind of
sick vindication to tell her the truth: that she was no more special to him
than any other woman who would silently put up with his shit.

“I’m not sure,” I said at last. “If it were me, I know I’d
want to know. But my mother isn’t me. In fact, she isn’t most people. I’m not
sure she’s even human.” I sucked in a sharp breath as Preston fondled the very
sensitive backs of my knees. “I can’t say with any certainty that she wouldn’t
blame me for this, somehow, or that she might turn a blind eye and accuse me of
lying to ruin her happily ever after. She might just write me off as jealous
and tell your father to make your life hell until you got rid of me, or
something.”

Preston smiled. “That’s not going to happen,” he told me as
he slowly crawled into the tub.

“Preston!” I shrieked, watching his clothes stick to his
body. His white button-down clung to his hard, muscular chest, revealing the
tone of his skin beneath, and I laughed as he prowled toward me. “You’re
getting soaked!”

“So are you,” he breathed against one of my nipples cresting
the surface of the water. Then he bent his head down and took it between his
teeth, gently laving it with his tongue as he nibbled and sucked and made me
sigh.

“Oh, hell,” I muttered. “We’re getting ourselves into so much
trouble…”

Preston didn’t seem to care about that. He only grasped my
opposite breast with his hand, crushing it between his fingers as he drew his
body up against mine and parted my legs with his hips.

“It’s worth it,” he assured me, inspiring chills up and down
my spine. I slipped my arms around him, running my dripping fingers through his
hair as he pressed his growing erection against my slit under the water. “Bend
over the side, Maddy, while I turn on these jets.”

I blushed but did as I was told. After the day we’d had, I
needed Preston inside of me. With just a gentle touch, he’d brought me to this
place again, a place where no one and nothing mattered more than the man of my
dreams claiming me. It didn’t matter that some silly piece of paper might
complicate our lives. Stepbrother or not, I was going to do this.

He helped me up onto my knees and turned me around, my back
against his chest as I gripped the high edge of the tub. I pressed my stomach
against it, my heaving breasts hanging over the side as Preston spread me with
his knee, my pussy positioned right against the place the jet would bubble up
from.

I stuck out my ass and rubbed it against his swelling crotch,
moaning as he continued to tantalize my nipples with his fingertips. Then he
drew one hand away, reached over, and turned on the control for the jets, and I
threw my head back in utter bliss as the one I was straddling pounded perfectly
against my clit.

“Oh, God,” I moaned, squirming as it pummeled me.

The silken fabric of Preston’s slacks fell away as he pulled
his cock free of them, pressing it against me from behind. He parted my folds,
sliding his tip against my slippery opening while I writhed and shuddered on
the jet teasing me into utter oblivion.

“You’re so perfect,” he whispered, nuzzling my hair before digging
in deep. I cried out as he filled me, his thick shaft stretching my pussy wide
as he grabbed onto my tits with both hands and pushed all the way up to his
hilt. “I need you, Maddy. No matter what happens, say you’ll stay with me.”

I scrabbled for purchase on the slick edge of the tub as my
stepbrother began to thrust in and out of me. Every movement of his hips
splashed water onto the tile floor. I could feel waves of it surging up over my
back, wetting my hair and crashing over me like Preston was the ocean itself,
and I was being swept away by the tide.

I had never felt like this with any man before. And I knew,
deep down in my heart, that I never would.

I let myself believe that this could work. I released the
fear inside of me and took Preston in deep, finally giving him unfettered
access into my soul, my precious core.

“Yes,” I hissed, throwing my head back against his shoulder
as he grunted into my ear. “I’ll stay, Preston. I’ll always stay. I promise.”

“Nothing will tear us apart,” he groaned, laying feverish
kisses upon my neck as he took me. Before I knew it my orgasm was upon me and I
screamed, bucking against him, the water now flowing freely out of the tub as
we both undulated in ecstasy. “I swear it, Maddy. I’ll take care of you, always.”

And then my stepbrother was spilling inside of me, filling me
to the brim with his seed. I shuddered beneath him, feeling as though we’d made
a pact, a bond that couldn’t be broken by anyone, not even our families.

Everything would work out. I was sure of it. We’d run away
together, if we had to. Preston had promised me as much.

I turned and kissed his lips, no longer thinking of him as
the man who would become my stepbrother, but rather the man who would make my
deepest, wildest dreams come true.

Later, I would hate myself for being so damn blind.

Despite
all the money I had, all the
privilege extended to me by mere virtue of my birthright, it was only now that
for the first time in my life, I felt truly powerful.

I had long viewed my status as a billionaire as more of a
curse than a blessing. Maybe in some other family it would have been different,
but in the Harvey family, I lived in a gilded cage. People always thought that
because of my money, I could do anything I wanted. They were sorely mistaken. I
could only do what my father would allow. Hell, my mother had died alone as
proof of that fact.

For years, I had cowered in his shadow. But now I was
defiant. Now I felt like a man. And it was all thanks to Madison Hearst, my
soon-to-be stepsister and the love of my life.

I gave her the next day off and invited my father to meet me
at my office, where I would break the news to him that I wasn’t his good little
soldier boy anymore. It had taken most my life for me to see him for what he
really was, but now that I had, there was no turning back. This was do or die.
Either my father would back off and let me run the company as I saw fit, or
he’d threaten to ruin me and stalk out under the impression that I still gave a
fuck. If the former happened, Maddy and I would have to keep our relationship
secret, but that wasn’t impossible to do. If my father chose the latter, I’d
take everything out of my bank account, dump my vested shares, and she and I
would run away together. It really was that simple.

There wasn’t much for us here, anyway. Billions of dollars
could give us a fresh start somewhere new. Hell, maybe we could go into
business together, a joint venture where she kept me honest and I kept her
realistic. Part of me was secretly hoping that was the way things would turn
out. There was nothing I wanted more than to throw my father’s misery right
back in his face just before I vanished into thin air.

I made myself a cup of coffee while I waited, imagining my
gorgeous, half-naked stepsister lounging on my bed and getting a well-deserved
break from all this insanity. Whatever happened next, I was rushing right back
home to her. I couldn’t stand to be away from her for more than a few hours at
a time. Waiting here without her was torture.

Thankfully, I heard the front doors open and close not long
after.
Oh, thank God.
He was finally
here.

I made a point not to bring him a mug of coffee as I strode
out, smiling as I envisioned the pure rage on his face once he heard my
decision. But that smile soon turned to a slack jaw and a frown as I saw who
was standing in my foyer instead.

“Jane? What the hell?”

She grinned, tossing her long, auburn hair as she sauntered
toward me in her leopard-print kitten heels. “Don’t you ever get tired of
greeting me like that?” she asked me, clutching a manila folder in her hand. “A
girl could get the idea that you’re not very fond of her.”

“I’m
not,
” I
growled. I didn’t want to leave any room for her to get the impression that I
was somehow pleased she was here. “I was expecting my father. Why are you
here?”

“Because the senior Mr. Harvey doesn’t need to get his hands
dirty,” she said, stopping mere inches from me. She was wearing a very
expensive brand of perfume, but on her, it was putrid. “He knows how to delegate.
Shall we do this in your office, Preston, or would you rather get into it right
here?”

I hated the way she looked at me then. There was a hunger in
her eyes, one that made my stomach turn. I snatched the folder out of her hand,
knowing damn well that whatever she wanted was detailed in there.

“What the hell is this?” I asked her, flipping it open. “Is
he trying to buy me out?”

I choked as I saw the reality of the situation. My eyes
widened and a hot ember of rage took flame in my chest. This wasn’t a buyout
offer at all.

I looked at Jane, trying not to shake as I asked her, “Where
the
fuck
did you get this?”

“Oh, Preston,” she purred, walking around behind me. “It
wasn’t that hard.” She stopped and slid her hands around my waist from behind,
trailing her blood red nails down my stomach as she whispered, “Next time
you’re fucking your stepsister, maybe don’t leave the balcony doors open.
Anyone
could just look in and see.”

“And take pictures,” I snapped, whirling on her so fast I
almost knocked her down. This was how my father had known about me and Maddy.
Jane the hell-bitch had delivered the photographic evidence right into his
sleazy hands.

She regained her balance and smirked. “Don’t shoot the
messenger, Preston. I just do what I’m told.”

“Oh, yes. I’m sure my father twisted your arm about this,” I
sneered, tossing the folder and its contents into her face. “What does he think
this is going to accomplish, huh? Does he think that I’ll come crawling back
now, begging him not to ruin my future at Harvey Enterprises with these obscene
photos? She’s not my stepsister yet, Jane. Nobody going to give a shit if my
father—”

“—waits to release them until he and Madison’s mother are
legally married?” Jane asked, batting her eyelashes in mock innocence at me.
“If he cuts off all your money and then sends these photos to ever single
potential employee Madison will ever interview with in her entire life? You
really
think no one will give a shit
that Madison Hearst was fucking her stepbrother?”

I shook my head in disgust and disbelief. “He can’t possibly
be serious.”

“Oh, he is,” Jane assured me, grinning from ear to ear. “In
fact, he’s willing to throw you completely under the bus, if that’s what it
takes. He’ll leak the photos to some tabloid somewhere and watch you go down in
flames, if he has to. He might even come out the better for it, denouncing his
only son’s perversions and rooting him out from the company.” She stepped on
one of the pictures and slid it toward me with the toe of her high heel. “Check
your bank accounts, Preston. I’m sure you’ll find that you really are between a
rock and a hard place.”

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and quickly logged in to
my personal accounts. Just as Jane said, every single one of them had been
frozen. Two of them I couldn’t even log into at all, and the third had a red
banner across the screen that said “pending the results of an investigation.”

“I have cash,” I told her. It wasn’t much, but it was still
enough to get me and Maddy the fuck out of here. “Hundreds of thousands. I
don’t need billions to start a new life without my father and you.”

“You mean the money you keep in the safe at home?” she asked
me, and I felt my insides coil with dread. “Carla was sweet enough to fetch
that for us. But don’t be too mad at her, Preston baby. She was very
loyal—right up until the point where your father threatened her with
deportation. Little Enrique would be so torn up if his mommy had to go back to
Venezuela without him.”

I wanted to wring this bitch’s neck. I wanted to watch the
life drain out of her eyes as I pressed and pressed until her throat collapsed.
I wanted her to suffer through every moment leading to her death. And then I
wanted to do the same to my bastard father.

“Think about Madison,” Jane said, snapping me out of my
murderous rage. “Maybe you don’t care what people think. Maybe you’ll find a
way to get by with that business degree of yours. But let’s face it—Madison
will be fucked. She’ll never get a job anywhere ever again. And who knows?
Maybe some day she’ll have a mysterious accident just like your mother did—”

“I swear to God, Jane,” I whispered, just barely holding back
the fury inside of me. “Keep talking about Madison and my mother. Say one more
word about either of them, and I’ll make sure
you
have an accident somewhere down the line. Maybe not now, maybe
not even in a year, but it’ll happen. And it’ll be messy. It’ll hurt. You’ll
suffer in ways you can’t even comprehend. Say something smart, Jane—I dare you.
But if you know me at all, I’m betting you keep your fat, whore mouth shut.”

Jane’s lips parted, and I waited for her to say something
stupid, anything at all that would give me a reason to carry out the sentence
she so richly deserved. But then she shrugged, shouldering her Prada bag as she
told me, “Just think it over, Preston. You can ruin both your lives, or you can
both come away from this relatively unscathed. Maybe it’s a shit choice, as far
as choices go, but at least he’s giving you one.”

“Go,” I said. It was the only word I could manage that wasn’t
an expletive.

“You’re right,” she said. “I should. Mr. Harvey will be
wanting an update.” She looked me up and down before adding, “We could have had
it all, Preston. And maybe, if you play your cards right, we still can. I’ve
always liked the thought of having a baby, you know? Stranger things have
happened. Feel free to stare at my ass on my way out. Maybe you’ll be seeing a
little more of it soon?”

I watched her walk away, fiddling with her cell phone as she
stepped back through the doors to my office and out into the sunshine that
seemed at odds with the anguish I was feeling now.

I spent the next ten minutes ripping everything apart.
Everything I owned, everything I had built—I didn’t want it. All I wanted was
her.
And she was the one thing I could
never have.

When my knuckles were raw and bloodied I sank to the floor in
front of the stairway, my chest heaving as I fought for air between snarls and
gasps. Everything was crumbling down around me, and the person I needed the
most was the one whose heart I was going to have to break in just a matter of
minutes.

Someone texted me. My hands shook as I reached across the
floor and retrieved my phone from where it had struck the wall when I’d thrown
it. Beyond the cracked screen, I read the last little message from Jane.

Carla went ahead and set up a few
cameras on her way out. If you tell that sweet little stepsister of yours
anything we talked about, your father will do all that he promised and more!
J

She was the most evil fucking bitch in the entire world. And
I was the bastard who was going to do her bidding. What choice did I have? My
father was going to ruin my life, and Jane had threatened to do something far
darker than that. How did she know about my mother’s accident? What the hell
was she trying to imply?

****