As she walked into the apartment, she could hear her phone ringing. She reached into her bag and dug it out. The number wasn’t familiar so she didn’t pick it up. Moments later it rang again. This time she recognized the number.
It was her friend and business partner Sarah. Sarah was in the neighborhood and wanted to know if she could drop by. It had been a couple of days since they had been able to talk about the business. Cathleen gladly invited her over.
Larger orders were coming in each day and they had to figure out a new manufacturing process if they were going to stay in business.
Thirty minutes later, Sara knocked on the door. She had long flowing blond hair and sparkling blue eyes. That pretty exterior disguised just how much of a cutthroat business minded woman she could.
While Sarah sat down on the couch and got comfortable, Cathleen went to the kitchen to get them both a glass of white wine.
“I thought you said you had studying to do,” Sarah said with a hint of playfulness.
“You sound like my mother,” Cathleen replied. After a brief moment of silence, both young women started laughing.
“I’m just joking,” Sarah said. “I’ve been plenty stressed myself and I would love a glass of wine.”
Right before Cathleen began pouring the wine, her phone started ringing again. She picked it up and stared at the number. It was the same number that she hadn’t picked up before. She wasn’t in the habit of giving her number out to strangers. She had no idea who it could be.
“Aren’t you going to answer it?” Sarah asked. “It might be one of our distributors.”
Cathleen sighed and finally picked up the phone.
“Hello?”
“Hi, can I please speak to Cathleen Hampton?”
“This is her. Whom am I speaking to?”
“Hi, Cathleen. This is Gareth Daugherty.”
Daugherty? Cathleen almost dropped the phone. How had he gotten her phone number? She didn’t need to spend much time thinking about that. It must have been her mother. How exasperating! She had given her number out to a stranger. Who does that? Even if they were going to be family in a couple months, they weren’t family yet.
“Yes, how can I help you,” Cathleen said with plenty of attitude. She wanted her future stepbrother to know that she didn’t appreciate him calling her out of the blue like this.
“I know this is a little awkward but I was hoping that we would be able to get together some time.”
“That would great,” Cathleen said sarcastically. But it was unlikely that Gareth picked up on her condescending tone.
“That’s awesome. I’ll send a car to pick you up at 830.”
“What?” Cathleen blurted out.
But there was no answer from the other end. Gareth had already hung up. Cathleen stood staring at the phone in shock. Send a car to pick her up at eight? Was he really that well off that he could afford to send a car for her?
“Who was that?” Sarah asked. Cathleen was reluctant to talk about her family issues. But after a glass or two of wine, her tongue loosened up and she explained to Sarah some of the drama that she’d been experiencing lately.
“Your mother has always been man crazy,” Sarah said. “She just can’t go more than a few weeks without getting laid.”
Cathleen doubled over with laughter and nearly spit out her mouthful of wine. Her mother would have probably agreed.
“And that’s why she can’t understand why I enjoy being single and celibate.”
“Celibate?” Sarah said. “That’s the first I’m hearing of this. I just thought that you were busy.”
“What’s the difference? It’s been a long time since I got laid.”
“Well, you better make sure that your rich, spoiled stepbrother doesn’t sweep you off your feet.”
Cathleen frowned and shook her head. Even though she had yet to meet him, she could never imagine doing anything sexual with a family member. That was way too taboo for her.
“That’ gross,” she’s said. “Really gross.”
“There’s no way that we’re going to be able to pay the rent for the kitchen space and keep up with the package and shipping costs,” Sarah said. That wasn’t what Cathleen wanted to hear. There seemed to be so much happening in her life all at once. Sometimes she wished that she could be more like her mother and find a man who would support her financially. Then she would be able to take a lot more risks with her business. But she quickly brushed those thoughts away. That was completely ridiculous. There was no way that she would be able to tolerate such a life.
She sighed and let her head drop in her hands. Then she turned to look at Sarah.
“So what do you suggest?” Cathleen asked.
“I think that one of us needs to seduce a hot, rich guy who will invest in the company without asking for any equity.”
Sarah had a big smile on her face when she finished speaking. Cathleen just stared at her in silence. After a few moments both of them started laughing. It took a while before they were to able calm down.
Cathleen already felt better about the situation. That moment of laughter had helped cheer her spirit.
“Well, then we need to be out there looking for our dream guys,” Cathleen said.
“Yeah, maybe tomorrow,” Sarah said. “I'm feeling a little bloated tonight. And not too sexy at all.”
Cathleen smiled and raised her wine glass in the air. “I’ll toast to that,” she said.
They clinked their glasses and broke into a laughing fit. Despite the obstacles that lay before them, Cathleen had never felt better about starting the business with the girl who had been her best friend in school, since they meet on the first day of NYU orientation.
Chapter 2
Gareth got back from his jog along the East River and plopped down on his couch. Those runs always refreshed him. It was such a pleasant form of exercise. He would never be able to understand his friends who plunked down hundreds of dollars per month on gym memberships. He couldn’t stand the competitive atmosphere that reigned in those places, especially at the high-end clubs where everyone seemed to walk around preening and showing off.
But it wasn’t as if Gareth didn’t have a muscular physique of his own to show off. He most certainly did. That just wasn’t his style. He preferred to be a bit more humble. Yet he had certainly been blessed with good looks.
After he got out of the shower, he cracked open a beer and sat down on the couch. He flipped through the channels and landed on a college football game. On most Saturday nights he would have friends over to watch the games that started in the early in the afternoon and ended just after midnight.
But tonight would be different. He had plans to meet the young woman that would be his stepsister in a couple months. He still wasn’t happy that his father was getting married. For some reason he had believed that he would remain single his whole life after mom his died.
Despite his reservations about this new family that he would be a part of, Gareth was determined to do whatever his father asked of him in order to make things run smoothly. So when his father asked that he get to know his younger stepsister before the wedding, he quickly agreed.
This stepsister was supposedly a liberal arts student at NYU. When he heard that bit of information, he figured that she was probably one of those artsy fartsy girls who liked to hang out with hipsters in dive bars in the East Village or maybe in the gentrified areas in Brooklyn. Those weren’t the types of girls that Gareth usually went for, so he wasn’t exactly sure where he should take her to break the ice.
He was about three years older than his soon-to-be stepsister. But he was still somewhat nervous about meeting her. She probably figures that I’m some spoiled brat, he thought. It might have seemed strange to most people but Gareth had always been insecure about his family’s money. He could never tell who he should trust and let into his life, especially when it came to women. That’s why he would often test them by acting like a jerk. But that usually just led to
hurt feelings and lots of bitterness.
So he tried turning over a new leaf by being honest with women from the start and limiting himself to hookup apps such as Tindr. That was fun for a while. Yet it always seemed that once the women learned of his immense wealth, they would immediately try to turn the relationship into something besides just a hook up. And even the relationships that managed to just stay at the hookup stage soon became boring. It all seemed so empty. He wondered if he would ever meet someone that he would actually enjoy spending time with.
He checked his watch and realized that he needed to head out soon, if he was going to make it through traffic to the midtown restaurant where he had made the dinner reservation. It seemed a bit odd to be going to a nice restaurant with someone he had never met before and someone who would soon be his family member. But he still had the urge to impress her right from the start.
Yeah, she’ll definitely be impressed with Avra, he said to himself with a smile. A couple of his friends texted to ask what he was doing for the night. There was a rooftop party down in Greenwich Village. That was the kind of event that Gareth was usually more than happy to attend. He didn't know how to explain to his friends that he would be meeting his would be stepsister on a Saturday night. They probably wouldn’t have believed him anyway. Or they would have made some cruel sexual jokes. He didn’t feel like dealing with any of that so he just told them that he was sick.
Two knocks on the door of his apartment startled him. He hadn’t buzzed anyone in. Who would be visiting him unannounced like that? He had a bad feeling about who it could be. But he didn’t want to pretend like he wasn’t home. That would be rude and immature. Not his style at all.
And who did he see standing in the hallway? A tall, leggy seductive blond with an Australian accent. She had on a big coat and high heels. From the smile on her face it was clear why she had come over.
Gareth smiled and shook his head. “Come in, Sophia,” he said reluctantly. He would have preferred to turn her away, tell her that he was too busy. But he had never been a very good liar, particularly with women. They always seemed capable of seeing through whatever deception he tried to put forth on them.
The attractive blond, about twenty-five years old with electric blue eyes, sauntered into the apartment as if she owned the place. She had slept over a few times. They’d had fun together but it had been awhile since they’d spoken. And there she was popping up on a Saturday night.
“I haven’t heard from you in a while,” Sofia said. “I hope you haven’t been running around with any other girls.”
Gareth hesitated before answering. He couldn’t stand clingy girls. And he couldn’t stand girls who worried about the other girls in his life. Big turn off. He liked women who had the self-confidence not to give a damn who else he was dating.
He expected her to take her coat off and sit down on the couch. But instead she stood in the middle of the luxurious apartment staring at him. He didn’t have time for the teasing sexual games. Not tonight, at least. On another occasion he might have played along. He remembered holding her sweet ass in his hands while he pumped his cock into her. They had both come multiple times that evening. Things had gotten quite primal between them. It was one of the rare times that he actually got lost in the moment and enjoyed himself with a woman.
Yeah, he remembered all that. But he still wasn’t going to let himself be seduced by her. Clingy girls who came over to your place unannounced were the worst. And often times they would end up being crazy, like Cameron Diaz in Vanilla Sky crazy. That movie had given him nightmares the last time he saw it. He still didn’t know what to make of it.
“There might be,” Sofia said in her most seductive voice. Then she began walking towards him. And as she did, she slowly peeled off the coat. What it revealed got Gareth’s cock pulsating in his pants.
She was wearing nothing but lingerie, black lingerie. The color contrasted beautifully with her slightly tanned skin. She had sexy legs. And for such a tall woman she had full, perky breasts.
This is not what Gareth wanted to deal with. Not tonight, definitely not tonight. That’s what he kept saying to himself. But neither his dick nor Sofia cared anything about his best intentions.
“What do you think of my outfit?” She asked. She let the large coat drop to the floor.
“You might catch cold on a night like this in such a skimpy outfit.”
“Oh, I think that I’ll be just fine, baby.”
He expected her to come towards him. He may have even wanted her to. Instead she sat down on the couch and crossed her legs and stared at him.
Gareth shook his head and smiled. What ridiculous a situation, he thought. I actually have to turn a beautiful girl away. A beautiful girl who’s just throwing herself at me. What is my life coming to? He wondered.
“Are you going to ask me if I want a drink?”
“Sofia, I’m really sorry. But I am not going to be able to party tonight.”
The smile disappeared from the leggy, blonde’s face. She glared at him.
“It’s nothing personal. Really. But I’ve got some family stuff that I have to take care of.”
Sofia didn’t say anything for a moment. But eventually, she sighed and got off the couch to retrieve her coat.
Gareth felt bad about having to ask her to leave. That’s not the kind of thing that happens to beautiful blondes with Aussie accents. She was the kind of woman that men were constantly throwing themselves at. So many guys would have killed to find themselves in his position. And here was kicking the girl out of his place, after she had taken the time to visit him unannounced wearing nothing but sexy lingerie.
“I knew I should have called before I came over,” Sofia said as she bent down to pick up her coat.
“It’s not you. Really it isn’t.”
“It’s fine. But just out of curiosity what kind of family thing do you have to do?”
Gareth stared at her for a moment before responding. She’s not crazy enough to ask if she could go with me, is she? He wondered. He quickly brushed that thought away. He didn't think that she could be that nuts. But he still knew that it was best to proceed with caution.
“I’m meeting my stepsister.”
Sofia smirked at him. “Does she fuck you better than I do?”
Gareth stared at her with wide-open eyes. He couldn’t believe what she had just said.
“What?”
Sofia took three steps closer and pressed her body into his. Then she reached down and grabbed the hard bulge in his pants. Gareth opened his mouth wide and sighed with pleasure.
“Does she lick around the head of your cock like I do? And take it deep down her throat.”
This was too much for Gareth. He had the sudden urge to strip off his pants and let her blow him in the middle of the apartment. But apparently Sofia had other ideas. Just when he thought they were going to start ripping each other’s clothes off, Sofia sauntered past him towards the door.
“Maybe we can do something next week?” Gareth said.
“Haha,” Sofia cackled. “You had your chance, baby. You won’t see me back here anymore.”
Gareth let her out of the apartment. Before disappearing down the hallway, she turned towards him and kissed him softly on the lips.
“Have fun with your stepsister.”
Gareth stood in the doorway for a few moments, watching the sway of Sofia’s hips as she walked languidly down the hallway to the elevator. He couldn’t quite believe what he had just done. Had he really let such a nice piece of ass, Aussie ass no less, get away like that? And it was all for a stepsister that he had never met. He shook his head and slammed the door shut. Ten minutes later he headed out to the upscale Greek restaurant to meet the future stepsister that had already messed up his evening.
Before heading out, he had even considered canceling at the last minute and chasing after Sofia. She had probably wandered to one of the upscale bars in the neighborhood to drink and act slutty, teasing man aft
er man only to end the night drunk, alone and in tears. She didn’t seem like the kind of girl who was used to dealing with a lot of rejection and with good reason. There weren't too many guys foolish enough to refuse her advances.
For the first few minutes they both hid behind their menus. Cathleen had no idea that they were coming to such a nice restaurant. She didn’t feel completely underdressed but if she had known that they were coming to this upscale spot, she would have definitely worn something different.
But her less than formal attire didn’t seem to bother Gareth. His hungry eyes revealed that he was clearly pleased with the feisty girl who sat across from him. At first his gaze was a bit too insistent for Cathleen, even though she had to admit that she was already very impressed by him.
After they ordered and the menus were taken away, they finally had to talk to each other. The conversation began awkwardly but soon they were talking about where they had grown up. Just regular getting to know you stuff. No big deal. But just underneath the surface of all that innocuous small talk, sexual tension simmered.
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