Stepbrother: Instant Spark (Stepbrother Billionaire Romance) (Stepbrother Romantic Suspense) (9 page)

I’m learning that consequences are smaller when you’ve learned to leave all those narrow-minded expectations behind. You can begin to take bigger risks then and although things could backfire, I’ve been finding that the rewards are totally worth just letting go of your inhibitions. When I’m not trying to keep up an apartment or impress my boss, I’m free to indulge a side of myself that was always repressed before and I highly recommend it
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Georgie smiled and published another article. She was already a hundred followers strong and finding that people truly did enjoy a true story of someone doing what most people dream of having the guts to do. She’d walked away from a boring, depressing, demanding life to try something completely different and had decided to not care about what anyone thought about it.

Her mother had called a few days after she’d quit her job and not having seen her name in the papers for several days. When Georgie had told her that she’d taken off with a guy she’d met, she’d almost been able to hear her mother’s jaw drop to the ground and feel her disapproval transmitted wirelessly through the phone call. She’d hung up and just laughed about it. Only a week into her new adventure and already what a difference! Georgie could finally recognize that nobody else’s opinion mattered. She didn’t need their approval or permission to be happy.

That being said, the hostility from the other bikers was making life hard, both for her and Charlie. Charlie had always been close to the others and he didn’t like that they were only speaking to him in short, moody sentences and he had terrible trouble controlling his temper when anybody had a bad word to say about Georgie, but so far Georgie had managed to keep him calm so that there were no more fist fights. She even tried to smooth things over with Charlene one day when they’d stopped off at a bar in a town they’d come to for a night.

“I bought you a drink, Charlene.”

“A wine? Do I look like I drink wine to you?”

Georgie sighed. “It’s a gesture. Do you want the drink or not?”

Charlene took it from her sullenly.

“We got off on the wrong foot and I don’t really know why.”

“Because you and your buddies badmouthed us in that paper, that’s why,” Charlene retorted. “You tried to chase Mickey out of town. You came in like a spy to get the dirt on us and then started to take advantage of one of our own.”

“Charlie?” Georgie guessed. “He’s what this is really about, isn’t he? He told me that you two had a night together.”

“I’d be careful, little girl,” Charlene hissed. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’m sorry that he’s not interested and if he hurt you, but it’s really got nothing to do with me.”

Charlene rolled her eyes again and then fixed Georgie with a contemptuous glare, throwing back her blonde hair over her shoulder angrily and exposing a tattoo of a pin-up girl on her neck. “You think I’m jealous, is that it?” she demanded scornfully. “Let me tell you something, sweetheart. I could have any guy I wanted so there is no way I’m jealous of some chubby wannabe who’s managed to buy a leather jacket. Charlie will be done with you by the end of the summer. You’re a little plaything to him. I am not jealous of you. I don’t like you because I think you’re a two-faced snake in the grass with her own agenda. I don’t know what it is yet, but you step one toe out of line and you’ll hear it from us.”

Georgie gave up and held up her hands despairingly. “I tried.”

She returned to where Charlie was sitting with the others at a table in the corner and sat on his knee with a sigh. He wrapped an arm around her waist and looked up at her with concern.

“Has she said something else to you?”

“I tried to straighten things out, but she doesn’t want to hear it.”

“Charlene’s not the sort to forgive and forget. She’s a spoiled little girl. She only rides with Jimmy in the hopes it’s going to make me look twice, but I wouldn’t touch her again with a barge pole.”

Charlie thought that he’d go unheard as the others had been deep in conversation, but suddenly Jimmy looked up from the other end of the table and his teeth formed a vicious snarl.

“What did you say about my girl?”

Charlie held up his hands defensively. “Sorry, Jimmy. I meant nothing by it.”

Jimmy threw his chair out and stood up with his hands curled into fists at his side. “You think that I’m only capable of picking up your sloppy seconds, is that it? I can’t get my own women, is that what you’re trying to say?”

Charlene noticed the commotion and she grinned widely to see that a fight was starting and she might at last have a chance to see Georgie dropped at the side of the road. She came to join in the argument and egged Jimmy on.

“She was trying to stir shit up, Jimmy. She thinks she’s all that.”

“You want to come in here and talk trash about my girl when you’ve been riding with that journalist whore who’s only here to get into your head and write her silly stories?”

Charlie could feel that the situation was escalating and after a quiet moment of sitting there, calmly deliberating his options, he also rose from his chair and looked Jimmy straight in the eye.

“Your girl has had everyone here and you know what? You were the very last one to give her a ride. Talking about my sloppy seconds? She’s had ‘em all.”

Even Georgie gasped to hear him throw fuel on the fire like that and she tugged at his arm in the hope of drawing him away from the fight.

“Charlie! Don’t say anything else.”

Charlie held her back. “Stay out of it, Georgie. You know what? I’m sick of this. You’ve all been giving me shit ever since we left Darton and I’ve had enough. If anyone’s got anything to say to me, they can say it to my face.”

One by one, the other bikers began to rise from their seats and began to step away from the tables until a ring had formed in the middle of the bar with Charlie and Jimmy at the center and Georgie and Charlene at their sides.

“Yeah, I’ll say it,” Jimmy hissed. “You’re trash and so is that little slut of yours. Mickey was the one who had your back, but I guess he’s not here anymore, is he?”

That was it. Charlie was the first one to throw a punch this time, but unlike the bar brawl back in Darton where everyone was fighting everyone; this was very much a case of five against one. Charlie managed to get a few good throws in and gave Jimmy a black eye and another a split lip, but it was him who was ultimately left the worst for wear and when the others finally decided they were done, they got up and left the bar without another word, but Georgie and Charlie knew they were out of the pack when they heard the rev of five engines pulling away outside. Georgie’s hand flew to her mouth once again and she timidly came over to Charlie to try and brush back a strand of his hair to check that he was alright. Charlie brushed her off and simply picked up the beer he’d put down before the fight began and continued to drink.

“Charlie, should we go after them?”

“What for?” Charlie shrugged. “They’ve made up their minds.”

“This is all over me and it always has been. You should go after them.”

Charlie let out a hollow laugh. Georgie could tell he was angered by the situation, but when he looked at her his eyes softened. He sat down on his chair once more and patted his knee to invite her to sit down.

“I don’t need them, doll,” he told her. “You don’t ride with guys who haven’t got your back. It’s the first rule of the road. I’m better off.”

“You say that now, but this is what you do. What will you do next summer? Just ride around on your own?”

Charlie’s eyebrows lifted in surprise and he gave her a charming grin even though his face was starting to bruise. “You gonna make me ride alone?”

*****

Georgie was careful not to hurt Charlie as she wiped away the blood from his face, but he didn’t make a fuss. She could tell that he was perhaps a little hurt from what had happened in the bar - the pack was as good as his family, after all - but he was too much of a tough guy to let that show. She paused for a second as she was pressing a cloth to his face and then leaned forward to gently brush her lips against his.

All of their kisses so far had been heated, demanding exchanges full of passion and sexual desire, but this was something different. This kiss was recognition of a good man who’d stood up for her and thankfulness that he’d chosen to stay by her side. It was affectionate, like the kiss of a woman to a man she cares deeply about, rather than the heavy kiss between two people engaged in a one night stand.

Charlie noticed the difference in her kiss and when he returned it, his own kiss was also tender. His rough lips brushed against hers softly and his tongue just gently ran against her lip as if he wanted to remember the taste of her kiss forever. Charlie was sitting on a chair by the window of the motel room and Georgie sat on his lap, straddling him with one leg on either side of his body so that she could more comfortably lean into his kiss and be closer to him. She ran her fingers through his hair as she pressed her lips down over his and Charlie wrapped his arms around her back so that they were embracing as they kissed.

Their other encounters had been urgent, rushed activities at times when the sexual tension between them had boiled over, but this was a patient and sweet encounter, where each took the time to be tender.

“It means a lot that you stood up for me,” Georgie told him softly, kissing his temple sweetly.

“I told you: you’re with me.”

“So I’m not just another girl who comes and goes?”

“I don’t want you to go. I think you’re pretty amazing, Georgie.”

The flutters in Georgie’s heart now weren’t the adrenalin-fuelled palpitations that came from uncontrollable lust, but the kind of butterflies you get when you’re looking into the eyes of someone you care for deeply. She kissed him again.

Charlie rose from his chair, took Georgie by the hand and led her to the edge of the motel bed. She’d already changed into her day clothes, so he was able to take his time in slowly removing first her pastel cardigan and then her baby blue shirt. Georgie reached out to pull his shirt from his body. They were standing so close to one another now. Charlie’s body was so warm and Georgie loved the feeling of his skin warming hers when his chest pressed against her as he leaned in to kiss her again.

“You’re amazing...” he muttered, as he planted kisses down her neck, on her collarbone and then on the tops of her voluptuous breasts, cradling each one in the palms of his hands as his lips explored her body. Georgie threw her head back and reveled in the sensation of his stubble and warm breath tracing it’s way over her skin. Charlie reached around and removed her bra. His kisses continued to move lower until his lips reached her nipples and he began to tease each one with his tongue, gently and with tenderness, every now and then giving her breasts a gentle squeeze with his hands. Each kiss drew another happy sigh from Georgie’s mouth.

She kicked off her jeans and lay down on the bed. Charlie threw his own denim jeans to the floor and leaned over her. She was the first to reach for him and she gently teased his shaft with her fingers, feeling how ready he was for her, but Charlie took his time to press his hand down between her legs and tease her to the brink of orgasm before he’d even entered her. The sound of her gasps were met by the sound of Charlie’s low moans as their hands brought each other closer, closer...

“I want you...” Georgie breathed. “Now...”

Charlie obeyed. He slowly slid into her, keeping his eyes fixed on her face to see how her expression changed to feel him inside of her. She let out a long, pleasure-filled sigh and Charlie moaned again simply from the pleasure of hearing that sound coming from her lips.

He began to move his hips slowly back and forth so that she could feel the full length of him moving inside her in slow, erotic motions. She let her head fall back onto the pillow and bit down on her lip, letting out little moans of pleasure as he filled her again and again. Every now and then he dipped his head to plant kisses on her neck or lips and Georgie returned them feverishly.

His hands moved from her face, to her neck, to her breasts and her waist. It was like he wanted to feel every part of her and she wanted to feel every part of him too. Her hands ran down his back and across his broad shoulders. Every part of him was toned to perfection and so strong and rigid beneath her fingertips, his skin growing hotter as he moved over her in smooth, full thrusts.

Too soon, Georgie felt that beautiful pressure building between her legs and then it spread like an explosion through her body, making her moans turn to cries. Charlie at last began to move faster, spurred on by her pleasure and almost immediately Georgie felt another wave rising and she squirmed as another orgasm overtook her. Finally, Charlie gasped and thrust one more time and he finished by kissing her firmly on the mouth.

“Oh Charlie...that was amazing...”

Charlie lay down at her side and pulled her into his arms. Georgie lay her head down against his chest and felt blissfully happy. She couldn’t believe that it was barely a fortnight ago that he’d first stepped into her life. It felt like she couldn’t remember life before Charlie. He’d changed her way of life and how she viewed the world so dramatically that Georgie felt like she could never go back.

*****