ARROGANT BRIT (A BRITISH BAD BOY ROMANCE)

by Wild, Nikki

  I remained silent, staring up at him as he grasped my hands tighter. His palms were so warm. I could feel his pulse radiating through them as he said, “I never would have realized any of that without you. The idea of losing you terrifies me. For the first time in my life, I’m… feeling something, not just playing a part. Whatever we have between us, however wrong it is—it’s real.”

  He lifted one of his hands from mine and brought it to my face, lightly sweeping his fingers against my cheek. I leaned into his touch, savoring the comfort it brought. How had I gone from despising my soon-to-be stepbrother to feeling safe with him in just a few short weeks? How had I opened my heart to him despite knowing that it could never, ever work?

  “Come upstairs with me,” he said gently. “Stay at my place tonight. I don’t want to be alone.”

  I blinked up at him slowly. “But I thought you didn’t trust being in your office anymore?”

  “I don’t,” Preston answered. He reached over and fiddled with my seat controls, adjusting them until I was sitting up. “I want you to stay with me in my home.”

  I looked up past the gate at the villa beyond. It was absolutely breathtaking. More than that, it looked like a fortress—someplace we could both rest and hide away from the rest of the world until we were ready to face it again.

  “Yes,” I told him, unable to tear my eyes away from his beautiful home. “I’ll stay.”

  “Good,” he said, finally pulling up to the wrought iron gate. As it opened, he added, “We have a lot to figure out.”

  ****

  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 pa
rted 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 acro
ss 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.