by Alexa Riley
Mentally shaking myself, I force all thoughts of him from my head.
I pull out one of my suitcases and find a baby blue sundress. I slide it over my head, slip on some simple, white lace flats, and go to the bathroom to wash my face. I brush my teeth, put my hair in a quick braid, and look at myself in the mirror. I debate putting on a little bit of makeup, but my face is still flushed, and I don’t know why I need to bother.
Heading out of my room, I pause outside the room Bruce said was my mother’s. It still seems so odd they didn’t share a room. Pushing open the door, I’m shocked and rooted in place.
Suddenly, a smile splits my face when I recognize Lily dusting the dresser.
“Lily!” I squeal, running towards her and wrapping her in a hug.
“Oh my, Sophie! Look how big you’ve gotten! All grown up now,” she exclaims, and I can’t help but squeeze her tighter.
Pulling back, I look up at her. She looks the same, but with a few lines on her face and some streaks of gray in her rich, chocolate brown hair. “What are you doing here?” I ask. I haven’t seen Lily for years, and didn’t know if she still worked for my mother. She’d worked for my mother for as long as I could remember. I’m almost ashamed that I hadn't asked about her.
“I’ve never stopped working for your mother, and well, now Mr. Archer.” At the mention of my mother she pulls me into a hug again “I’m so sorry, Sophie, it was all so sudden.”
“I’m fine really.” I try to reassure her.
“Let’s go into the kitchen, we’ll have coffee and talk.”
Following her, I sit down at the breakfast bar and watch her shuffle around the kitchen. It’s clear she knows where everything is.
“You kept working for my mother after she got married?” I ask, fishing for answers. I’m curious about my mother and Bruce. They don’t seem like a fit, but when I really thought about it, I don’t think I could picture my mother with anyone. She didn’t care for affection or seem like she would ever play with the idea of marriage. I’m not sure how I came to be, and the topic of my father was never brought up.
“If you call it that,” her reply perks my attention, and I can tell by the look she shoots me she caught my reaction. “They were married on paper only, it was for work.”
“Shocking,” I say, letting the sarcasm bleed through my words. Everything was for work, but I can’t help but feel the relief that follows.
Lily runs her finger around the top of her coffee mug, studying me as if debating what to say.
“Do you miss her?” she asks, a slight tone of concern in her voice.
Her question makes me pause. Do I miss her? “I…well…can someone miss something they never had?” That thought has been rolling around in my head since I found out about her heart attack and sudden death. The more the days passed, the more I was beginning to think I didn’t miss her, I missed the idea of her and what we could’ve had. It was in the plan I’d mapped out after college, to finally have my family, and to make her love me. But it was all in my head, this dream that things would change. In reality I had to admit that it probably wouldn’t have made a difference.
“She loved you, you know,” Lily says, as if she plucked the thoughts from my head.
“No, I don’t know.” My response is clipped and harsh, but I don’t care. My feelings for my mother are coiled in a giant knot that I can’t untangle. Anger, longing, and sadness are snarled together and I can’t tell one from the other.
“That’s fair.” She pauses and takes a deep breath. “Maybe I said it wrong. She loved you the only way she knew how.”
“I don’t know what that means and to be honest I’m just not sure I care.” I can feel myself getting angry, the hurt rising up inside me. “Do you know what it’s like to have to stay in your dorm alone because you have no one to go home to for the Holidays? Or what it’s like when no one shows up to see you while you’re in a foreign country by yourself?”
“No, sweetheart, I don’t” The soft tone of her voice cools my anger. I’m directing it at the wrong person, but there’s no one left to take it out on. “Your mom wasn’t a great mother, I know that, and I’m sure she knew it. I think it’s why she sent you abroad. She thought it was for the best, and I know this doesn’t make it excusable, but it’s the same way she grew up with your grandfather. It’s just how they were; they kept their emotions to themselves and their priority was work. But you, you don’t have to be that way. You can start a new way of life if you want.”
The reality of her words hits me like a punch to the stomach. That’s essentially where I was headed in life. I wanted to come back to the States, and show my mom I could make her proud. Get her attention by becoming a lawyer like her. Is that what she’d been doing with her father? I was setting myself up to walk down the same miserable path. I’d probably end up with a heart attack the same as them.
I don’t want to be alone anymore.
“You don’t have to be,” she whispers, making me realize I said the last part out loud. She’s right. I turn eighteen on Saturday, and the canvas is blank for me. I can do anything I want. At the thought, Bruce flashes in my mind, and all the dirty things I thought about him doing to me. I bite my lip, trying to calm the heat I feel rushing to my face.
“So, Bruce and my mom?” I let the question hang, not wanting to finish the sentence.
“No, he’s a workaholic like she was. Only when he’s not at work, he’s in his home office. I think they got married because of your grandfather. They both made partner before the ink dried on the marriage license.”
I want to pry for more information, but I don’t want to be too obvious. Before I can ask my next question, the elevator dings, and a handsome man in his late twenties strolls into the entryway. He looks like he walked out of a magazine. Damn, are people just made that way around here or something?
“Oh, my apologies, ladies, I didn’t know anyone was here. Mr. Archer’s paralegal sent me to pick up a brief he left behind. He needs it for a meeting today.”
“Hi, Jacob,” Lily says in a familiar tone. This must not be the first time he’s been here.
“Good afternoon, Mrs Lily. Don’t mind me I’ll be out of your hair in just a second. Sorry to disturb you.”
Lily nods her head at him and he looks over at me and smiles, before walking down the hall. I watch him retreat, following him with my eyes as he goes.
“He’s handsome,” Lily whispers behind me, catching me eyeing him. She has the wrong idea. He’s handsome, but he also knows where Bruce works.
You don’t have to be. Lily’s words play back in my head.
No, I don’t have to be alone anymore. I’m tired of sitting around and waiting to get what I want. I’m going for it. Glancing over at the clock, I see it’s eleven already. Maybe Bruce hasn’t left for his lunch date yet. Maybe I can ruin those plans.
When Jacob comes back down the hall, I don’t waste any time.
“Are you going to take that to Bruce?” I ask, nodding at the folder in his hand.
“Yeah, you’re Sophie, Debra’s daughter, aren’t you?” I just nod my response. “I’m Jacob, a junior associate at the firm,” he says, offering me his hand.
“Can I catch a ride with you, Jacob?” He eyes me up and down, his hand still locked in mine, and I suddenly remember I didn’t put anything on under my dress.
“I’ll take you anywhere you like, Sophie.” His tone implies he’d do more than take me to Bruce’s office.
“That would be great. Just let me grab my purse.” I say before dashing down the hall to my room. I grab my purse off the dresser, and notice my panties and the pillow still lying on the floor. I grab the underwear and put them into my purse, and then pick up the pillow. Part of it is still damp from where I came, and I can smell myself on it. Something dark and exciting comes over me, and I have an idea. I know just the place for this, and it’s not my bed.
BRUCE
I’ve read this same paragraph a hundred times and
I can’t remember a thing about it. Ask me about Sophie’s nipples, however, and I could recite a forty-page essay on them, but I can’t tell you what I’ve been staring at for the past hour.
My entire morning has gone like this. My paralegal reminded me I forgot a brief, and I’ve never done that before. I’ve never been so absentminded, and I know the exact cause.
I drop my pen on my desk, and rub my eyes with the palm of my hand.
“Get a grip, Archer,” I whisper to myself, and then I hear the office door open. I look up in time to see Jacob entering my office, and I have to blink a few times to clear my vision. Once he gets to my desk I see someone following in behind him and I shoot up from my desk, wondering what’s happening.
“What are you doing here?”
I give Sophie a glare, but she doesn’t look concerned. I look over at Jacob and he shrugs as he drops the brief on my desk. I get angrier because I didn’t realize Jacob went to my house. I should have known that Sharon, my paralegal, would send him to retrieve it. He’s been to my home on several occasions for work, but I didn’t think about the fact that Sophie was there.
I look over and see how she’s dressed. She’s got on a small, blue, summer dress and, like her clothing this morning, it’s nearly transparent. I clench my jaw hard when I see her hard nipples poking through the papery material. Fucking hell, does this girl not have any clothes that cover her body? I need to get her some decent clothes. I make a note to ask Lily to take her shopping this week.
“Thank you,” I clip, and raise my eyebrows pointedly at Jacob as if to ask him if he’s got anything else he needs.
He looks over at Sophie and I see the gleam in his eyes. He hasn’t missed what she’s wearing either, and rage starts to bubble up in my chest.
“Mr. Archer, I was thinking of showing Sophie around the place, you know, show her the offices.” He gives her a wink and I see her blush a little and look down at her feet. Not only did I catch his drift but so did she.
I don’t know what they had planned but it’s not fucking happening. She’s mine to protect, and I won’t have some junior associate with grabby hands anywhere near her. I’m pissed that he might have gotten to smell the honeysuckle scent that always seems to be around her.
“That’s quite all right, Jacob, you can go.”
He turns to look at me, and then back at Sophie, and starts to speak, but she interrupts him.
“Thank you for the ride, but I’m sure Bruce can handle me now.”
She looks up and we lock eyes, and I get the feeling there’s more to that statement than just what she said.
Without breaking eye contact, I nod my head in agreement.
“It was nice meeting you, Sophie. Anytime you need anything, just let me know.” He gives her one final up and down look and it’s all I can do not to come across the desk and rip his throat out.
I shake my head a little and try to rid it of all these emotions. I don’t know where this anger and protectiveness are coming from. I’m sure it’s because she’s Debra’s daughter and I feel responsible for her. Yes. That’s it. It’s not that I want her for myself.
Sophie lifts her chin in response but otherwise doesn’t confirm, which pleases me more than I thought possible. Seeing her body language and watching her reaction to him shows me she’s not interested. I feel a little of the tension in my chest ease as he walks out and closes the door behind him.
I reach over to the intercom on my desk and hit the button for my secretary. “Paul, hold my calls and switch me to ‘do not disturb’. I’m in a meeting.”
“Yes, Mr. Archer,” he replies, and I hear the locks engage on my door.
Paul has the ability to set the locks on my door, but only I can open them. It’s a vital security feature considering all the sensitive client information I have. It’s also useful for when I have important clients who don’t want to be disturbed by a crazy ex bursting in at any time. The latter happened on so many occasions, it was for the benefit of everyone to have these locks installed. So, it’s not an unusual request and it’s one Paul is familiar with.
“What are you doing here?” I say, and glare at Sophie. I’m sure my words come out harsh, but she’s been a distraction to me all day and hasn’t even been in front of me.
“I’m sorry to bother you, I just wanted to see where you worked.”
“I’m going to set up some time for you to get some new clothes this week. You would think after our talk this morning about appropriate attire, you’d come to my place of business with some decent clothes on,” I say, ignoring her words.
She looks down at her dress and then looks back at me, confused.
I grit my teeth and walk around my desk to stand in front of her. “I can see through your dress, Sophie. I can see what you’re wearing…and what you’re not wearing.”
I glare at her breasts so she doesn’t mistake what I mean. She brings her palm up to her neck, trying to shield her nipples with her arm, but it’s no use. She’s got big, full breasts and her hard nipples push against the thin fabric.
“I don’t know what you mean,” she says, and a deep blush creeps up her neck to her cheeks. I wonder if there’s a blush anywhere else on her.
I shake the thought from my head and try to focus. “Did you even have on panties, Sophie?” I say, and immediately regret the question. Now I’m thinking about her naked pussy being exposed in the short dress and I can’t breathe.
“I have panties with me?”
She says it like a question and I don’t know what that means.
“With you?”
I see her reach into her purse, and pull out the white cotton material. My hands shake as I watch her because I long to reach out for her. I can’t touch her, she’s my stepdaughter and she’s underage. This isn’t right. I try to breathe, but I’m so focused on that white cotton I can’t think.
She looks so innocent as she looks up through her lashes, and holds the panties out for me to take. “I thought since you liked the way they looked on me this morning, you might want to keep them with you.”
“Why would you say that?” It’s all I can manage to say. My mouth has gone dry and my heart is beating out of my chest.
“I saw your, um, penis when you looked at me down there. I know you said it’s not appropriate for you to see me in them, but I thought you might like to, maybe, hold them.”
I can’t deny how much seeing her like that turned me on, but we both know she can’t tempt me like this.
She looks up again through her lashes. It’s so pure and sweet. She’s offering me something that’s touched her flawless body intimately, and she wants me to have it. I can’t touch her because it’s wrong, but I can touch this. I can have this small piece of her, and then we can go back to the way it should be between us.
“Okay, Sophie. I’ll take your panties, but you need to be a good girl after this. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, Bruce.”
I take the scrap of cotton from her hand, and as I lift the material from her palm, her little fingers reach up and touch my wrist. She’s trying to cling to me, and as much as I want it, I have to shut it down. I don’t react to the touch, though I want to, and put the panties in my pocket.
“I mean it, Sophie, you’re my stepdaughter, and you need to behave that way. It wasn’t right the way I looked at you today or the way I’m looking at you now.”
“How are you looking at me now?” she asks, looking up at me and making eye contact.
I look down at her hardened nipples again and then back at her.
“I’m your step-dad. I’m not supposed to want to see all of you.”
“You want to see all of me?”
I shake my head, and try to find the right words. “You’re seventeen, Sophie. You’re not even legal. We could get into trouble.”
“We could only get into trouble if you touch me though, right?”
What is she saying? And why are a million images of her doing things to herself fl
ashing through my mind?
“No, this conversation isn’t happening. It’s time for you to go. You gave me your panties, and that’s already crossing a line,” I scold, even though I know I blew through the line last night on my own.
In a bold move, she reaches down and slowly lifts the hem of her dress.
“Sophie,” I warn, but she ever so slowly keeps lifting up. “What are you doing?” I growl, wanting her to stop. But part of me wants to see what’s under her dress. Needs to see.
“If you don’t touch me, we can’t really get into trouble. You can just look a little, and then I promise I’ll go.”
“Why are you doing this?” I should tell her to stop, not ask her why. I should move from my spot, unlock the doors of my office, and make her leave. But instead I’m just waiting to see what she does.
“Because I like the way you look at me,” she whispers and raises the hem of her dress the rest of the way so I can see her pussy.
I look at her pink lips glistening with nectar, and my mouth waters.
“You shave?” The question comes out thick, laced with desire.
“All the girls at school did it, so I did too.”
I lick my lips, staring at her perfect body, clenching my fists at my side.
She takes a side step, spreading her legs, and her labia open a little, revealing her pink clit. I can also see her honey glazing her thighs, and I’ve had enough.
I reach out and grab her upper arm, causing her to drop her hem. I walk her over to my office door and hit the code for the locks. Pulling her out to my secretary's desk, I find Paul and take her to him.
“Call for a town car, walk her downstairs personally, and send her back home.”
I drop her arm and without looking back, stalk into my office and slam the door behind me so hard it shakes.
Her panties are out of my pocket and to my nose before the door stops shaking. My other hand undoes my belt, pulls out my cock, and jerks off hard as I hold them over my face. I breathe in her scent as I punish my cock. I’m mad at myself for allowing that to happen, and for allowing her to get the better of me. I’m completely pissed off that this seventeen-year-old girl has gotten me harder and more worked up than anyone else in my life. Ever.