Stepbrother: Instant Spark (Stepbrother Billionaire Romance) (Stepbrother Romantic Suspense) (14 page)

“Well, that i
s
the deal.” Adonia said.

“First time I ever heard of that deal before,” Brenda looked at Adonia questioningly. “You must have made quite an impression on the boss.”

Adonia looked at Brenda and smiled. “Let’s hope so,” she said. “I’m not done yet.”

*****

The two women arrived back to an empty house. The guests were gone long ago. In fact, unknown to Adonia, the guests were asked to leave as soon as she had. Craig was a patient man when he wanted to be, when he really needed to be. He had let Adonia have enough time to do what women needed to. She needed to fight for her independence. It was a natural reaction, but coming back here to him told him the real story. She wanted the security of a strong hand, a man who knew what he wanted and could have it. It excited her, that much he knew by her response to him sexually. She wanted the experience and here she was.

Adonia stood in front of the main entrance. She could see Craig’s outline through the frosted glass. He made her wait. Donnie and Brenda carried the bags to the service entrance knowing that the boss wanted to be alone with his queen. They silently wished her luck. The door creaked open slightly and Adonia pushed it open. Craig was already half way down the hall. She practically had to run to catch up to him. When he heard her footsteps directly behind him, Craig turned around to meet her.

“Have you changed your mind or do you think I would just let you spend my money?”

Adonia looked down, actually feeling somewhat deflated from her “high” of running around with Brenda all night.

“I guess I was trying to understand all my feelings about tonight. It was all different for me, I didn’t know how to react.”

“You may want to start by accepting this,” he said holding the diamond choker out to her.

“I accept it, I accept that I belong to you,” Adonia said practically whispering. Her eyes reached his face and what she saw there astonished her. Was it tenderness? Whatever it was, he no longer looked as if he would eat her alive. Craig wrapped the choker around Adonia’s neck and added one more thing, a heart shaped lock on the clasp.

“I alone hold the keys to this Adonia,” he said showing her the two small keys in his palm. “It is my gift and my claim on you both. I chose diamonds because you will have everything you desire, as I have what I desire, you.”

Adonia felt a mix of emotion. Her heart was beating faster partly out of her own quickening desire, partly because she had no idea what she was getting into.

Craig leaned down and kissed her, gently at first and then he showed her just how much he desired her. He reached his hand into her blouse cupping her naked breast. His kiss grew deeper, more urgent.

“I never choose unwisely, Adonia, but I get what I want when I want it. You denied me tonight, but never again.”

“I understand,” she said simply, dizzy from the intensity of the moment, Craig’s hand still on her breast, her mouth raw from the kiss.

“Craig,” Adonia began, “I’m yours.”

Craig picked Adonia up in his arms and carried her into his private suite. Adonia’s life had just changed in the most unusual way, but she couldn’t say that she hadn’t come for the experience.

THE END

The Scent of Rayne

by Jenny A. Keating

Rayne Jameson pulled into Greensburg in her little green Jetta Wagon just two days before classes started. She didn’t know it yet, but by the time the year was over, she was going to have to make one of the hardest decisions of her life. She was going to have to take charge of her own destiny.

She couldn’t believe that at the end of the next two semesters, she would be a college graduate with a Baccalaureate degree in marketing. Then she’d be off to the big city to pursue her lifelong dream of being a commercial writer. Just nine short months from now, her perfect life would start.

Until then, she would have to settle with her not-so-perfect life.

Rayne had been the Patterson family’s live in nanny during the past three school years, and was honestly dreading making it a forth. She didn’t mind the job so much. The three kids she looked after were fairly well behaved. Ellie, the oldest at age seven, was a little disciplinarian and was a big help keeping her two younger brothers in line. The boys weren’t much younger than their sister, Max was five and Jason was almost four. They were typical mischievous little boys, but they were so cute, it was hard for Rayne to ever get mad enough to ever scold them. She adored the fact that they called her ‘Way’, because neither of them could pronounce her name. Besides, they were usually in bed by 8:00 p.m., so she had plenty of time to veg out on her laptop or study.

Rayne’s real issue with her job was that she didn’t have any time for a social life. Mr. and Mrs. Patterson were both doctors. Jack Patterson was a well-respected plastic surgeon, while his wife, Hillary, ran her own family care clinic. Both doctors worked late nights and went away most weekends by themselves to relax before their busy week started all over again. Rayne’s only real time off was on Wednesday evenings. Those were the nights that the Patterson’s always spent as a family. Rayne was actually expected to leave the house on family nights, and she was all too happy to oblige.

Other than that, the job paid well and she didn’t have to pay room and board during the school months, so she was able to keep her debt down and student loans to a minimum. But, she had to admit that she missed the companionship of people her own age. She longed for the stereotypical college experience. But, she knew that in the grand scheme of things, this job kept her from getting into trouble, and kept her eye on the prize… her diploma.

Rayne pulled up in front of the Petterson’s home around 5:30 that Friday evening. The kids were waiting on the sidewalk patiently for her car to come around the corner. They were in the passenger side hugging and kissing her before she even got the keys out of the ignition.

“Hurry! Hurry!” all three of the kids were yelling as they were pulling and tugging her in the house.

She had seen them wound up before, but never like this. After the excitement of the moment was over, Rayne was about to excuse herself to her room so she could get settled back in when Mr. Patterson called her into the kitchen.

“Am I on duty already?” Rayne joked.

“Oh, no. Nothing like that,” Mrs. Patterson explained. “We have a bit of a surprise for you.”

“A surprise?” Rayne questioned.

“There is a reason the kids are so excited to get you in the house. We have been working hard this summer and wanted to show you something in the back yard.” Mr. Patterson said as he motioned Rayne through the patio doors into the back yard. “We think you’re going to like it.”

When they stopped at the garage door, Rayne immediately thought that she was being given a new-to-her vehicle. She was sure the Patterson’s knew that her 10 year-old car that hand been given to her by her grandmother, was on its last legs. But, instead of the large garage door, Mr. Patterson took a key and unlocked the regular door on the side of the garage. He opened the door, flipped on the light and stood aside for Rayne to enter the room first.

“Wow. It’s beautiful in here.” Rayne gasped.

“This is your new studio apartment!” Mrs. Patterson exclaimed.

“Seriously? Oh my gosh you guys! I don’t know what to say!”

“We know how hard you work on your classes and know that your senior year is the most hectic. We wanted to give you a place where you can get peace and quiet and time to yourself when you’re not with us.” Mrs. Patterson continued. “We appreciate you and want you to know that.”

“And we might want to mention that we’ve both lightened our schedules over the summer and plan to both be home by 7:00 on weeknights and we’re planning to take the kids with us more often on the weekends. We realized that we are spending way too much time working and not enough time as a family. We are really trying hard to change that,” Mr. Patterson chimed.

“I’m really glad to hear that. Thank you guys so much. You don’t know how much this means to me.”

“Can we sleep in here with you tonight?” Ellie asked sweetly as she pulled on Rayne’s shirt.

“Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Please let us stay with you Way! Please!” The boys exclaimed in unison as they climbed on the bed and began jumping up and down.

Rayne threw her hands up in the air and fell back onto the bed. “Looks like a slumber party at my place! Get your pillows!”

*****

‘My last year,’
Rayne thought as she walked through the campus to get to her first class on Monday morning. She couldn’t decide if she was elated or sad. A bit of both perhaps. She would be happy to be done with school, but she would miss the familiarity of it all. She was ready to make the transition from student to working adult though, and she was quite looking forward to moving to a big city like LA or New York.

She had grown up on the plains of Oklahoma with her grandmother and grandfather, who were both in their sixties when Rayne went to live with them when she was just 10, so she didn’t get to experience much adventure growing up. She didn’t remember much before the age of 10. She had been told by therapists that she had blocked that part of her life out so that she didn’t have to feel the pain of losing her parents, who had both been killed in a car accident just prior to her moving to live with her grandparents. She would have a memory here and there, but she never dwelled on it for too long, should one pop in her head.

She can’t say that she had a bad upbringing though. Her grandparents were good to her and made sure she had everything she wanted or needed growing up. She had adapted well to the change, she thought. Her grandparents only lived one town away from her hometown, so she never really had to leave her comfort zone. And she made new friends easily enough, she thought looking back. Come to think of it, she wasn’t even sure if she had friends before she moved. She could remember names of kids she went to school with, but couldn’t seem to remember many faces or any memories of friends. All she knew is that she had always, always wanted to work in television as a writer.

The thought of creating fictional worlds where she controlled the outcomes of people’s lives was an exhilarating thought to Rayne. And television seemed to be the perfect outlet for her creativity. She had learned about different types of television writing her sophomore year in college and became intrigued with commercial writing. It appeared to be and easier field to break into that script writing and the work was every bit as challenging, just on a smaller scale than television shows. So, she had set her sights on becoming a commercial writer. But first, she had to graduate, so off to class she went.

Her morning classes seemed to fly by and before she knew it, Rayne had conquered her first day of classes. She was on her way home when Mrs. Patterson called to let her know that Ellie was at the country club attending golf lessons, and asked if Rayne could pick them up since she was running behind schedule. Rayne agreed and off to the country club she went.

She found her way to the practice course and immediately saw Ellie with her instructor hitting golf balls off of a small AstroTurf rug into a hole about a yard away. She looked so cute in her little pink golf pants and blonde ponytail with matching bow.

“Hey, Way! Watch what I can do,” Ellie exclaimed as she putted the ball into the hole.

“Great job, Miss Thang!” Rayne chided as she approached Ellie and her instructor.

“Hey.” The instructor said as he gave a small wave with his hand.

“Hi.” Was all that Rayne could manage to get out of her mouth.

Mrs. Patterson hadn’t mentioned that she would be meeting the most handsome guy she had ever laid eyes on today. She could have at least told her to put on some lipstick before she got there! Now, she was embarrassed and tongue tied and really just wanted to leave.

“You must be Way.”

“Rayne actually, but the kids call me Way.”

“Rayne? That’s a pretty name. I used to know a girl named Rain. That’s definitely a name you don’t forget.”

“I hear that a lot.” Rayne said with a smile. “Okay, kiddo, are you ready to go?

“Bye, John!” Ellie said as she took Rayne’s hand to leave. “See you next Monday!”

“Bye, Ellie. Great practice today. I’m John by the way.”

“It was nice to meet you, John. Bye.” Rayne tried to smile as she turned to walk away.

“Can we stop and get ice cream on the way home?” Ellie asked innocently.

“Not today, hun. Your mom and dad should be home waiting for us so we can have dinner. So, how long have you been taking golfing lessons?”

“Since the beginning of the summer. I really like Mr. John. He’s a good teacher. I don’t think he has a girlfriend and you need a boyfriend.” Ellie said with an ornery grin. “You can be his girlfriend, Way!”

“I don’t think it works that way, sweetie. Why don’t we just focus on your golf swing and save the matchmaking skills for when you get a bit older?”

“Fine. But you do need a boyfriend.”

“Look, we’re home. Let’s go eat!”

*****