Highlander's Love: Winter Solestice (Against All Odds Series 3) Read online

  “It’s important because she was from Earth. Understand? All our consorts were from Earth. The commander had made a glorified concubine into our superior, only due to the fact that she was his.” The anger in Johnny’s eyes was readily visible. “Ancient tenets of our great race, cut into ribbons for no reason whatsoever! All to satisfy a woman who, for all we knew, might even have been a spy, saboteur, or something worse!”

  So that’s why the women went missing. Johnny had refused to divulge such information to her before, calling it a breach of the so-called sacred tenets. I guess the tenets aren’t as sacred to him as they used to be.

  “Out of sheer, unbridled hubris, our commander chose his consort over us, the greatest of his soldiers, and we wouldn’t have any of it! We decided to remove him from his position, in any way possible. When our attempt failed, we were stripped of our… privileges, and banished here to die.” His lips tightened after he finished the final statement. His gaze refused to meet her own, instead staring out the window.

  “Revenge was my goal at first,” he continued. “I wanted to shoot them all out of the sky. Melt the hapless armada into nothing, all by its own tech. Now that I am close to actually getting that chance, I find it difficult to go through with it.”

  He turned toward her now, his eyes gleaming with trace amounts of moisture. “First, I betrayed my lord. Then, I planned to kill everyone I’ve ever known for no reason other than revenge. Now, I get to conspire with the enemy of my birth race. Am I that much of a slime-ball, my beloved Cynthia?”

  After a short pause she propelled herself toward him, embracing his lean waist with both of her arms. He squirmed around for a little bit, but she wouldn’t let go.

  “You are no longer an alien invader, my love,” she spoke, gripping him as hard as she could. “Now you are my husband—the love of my life.” He stopped moving around, his expression slightly mellowed out. “The two of us, we have our own rules, our own tenets, and you didn’t betray a single one of them.”

  He didn’t speak, merely staring into her eyes instead. For a little while he stood rigidly like that, as if she was embracing a broom. Then Johnny’s arms moved, wrapping gently around her waist, taking special care not to break her grip.

  “Cynthia, my beloved,” he whispered in her ear. “I would never think of betraying you.”

  In response, she joined her mouth with his, ending the debate with a passionate kiss.

  THE END

  Step Lover

  Chapter One

  “You know what rhymes with bugs don’t you?” Damien tugged at her pigtails as he made fun of her prominent buck teeth. “Jugs, yeah, those things you don’t have!” He laughed before staring at his friends to encourage them to laugh along with him. “Bugs has no jugs, bugs has no jugs!” Soon his friends began to join in the chorus and Caroline pressed her hands down hard over her ears.

  Caroline sat bolt upright in bed, her heart pounding. She switched on the bedside lamp and leaned against the headboard. Her breath was still coming in heaves. She didn’t know why it still bothered her so much that Damien had bullied her in high school. Lately it was all she could dream about. Of course, that could be because she’d had to suffer through his presence through the entirety of last week. For whatever reason Caroline’s mother had seen something worth marrying in Damien’s father, which meant that ‘Bugs have no jugs’ was now her stepbrother.

  Damien had been surprisingly polite. Of course, that could be due to the fact that the focus had been primarily on how fabulously successful he had become in the year since he had graduated high school. Yes, even Caroline’s mother couldn’t escape the shadow cast by Damien S. Odin. Surprisingly, she hadn’t seemed to mind, in fact, she almost relished the fact that all of the attention wasn’t on her. At least it mean that no one noticed the last ten pounds she hadn’t dropped for the wedding day.

  In the last year since high school graduation, Caroline had spent her time volunteering. She had been told it would improve her chances at getting in to a better college and she needed all the help that she could get. Damien, on the other hand, had gone straight in to his father’s furniture business.

  Not surprisingly, Damien was able to talk his way in to sale after sale with that manipulative little way he had and soon he was the top selling salesman at Odin Furniture Gallery. Damien could talk his way in to – or out of – just about anything, that much Caroline knew from experience. So many times she had tried to tell her homeroom teacher that she was being bullied by him, but every time he managed to talk his way out of it. He had been the bane of her existence throughout all four years of high school.

  Caroline’s mother had met Damien’s father at their furniture gallery during her search for a new sofa. Caroline had just moved in to her apartment and to justify buying a new sofa, her mother had given her hers. On the showroom floor she had run in to Mike Odin and it wasn’t but a few months later when the two declared their intention to marry. It was at that very moment that Caroline was met with the horrifying reality that Damien would be her stepbrother.

  There was small comfort in the fact that Caroline no longer wore braces and that she had managed to ‘fill out’ her more feminine shape. At least, she had thought to herself, he couldn’t call her ‘bugs have no jugs’ anymore. Still, the good looking high school football player who had mercilessly picked on her for four years was now going to be a relative.

  It didn’t count for much that Damien had refrained from his typical name calling during the week of the wedding. Just seeing him had stirred enough in Caroline’s psyche to let dream Damien do it for him. Each night since the wedding, Caroline had dreamed of his high school taunts. Every night she woke up, her chest heaving, her hands covering her ears. There was something about that boy that had really gotten in to her head.

  Chapter Two

  “Hey hon.” Caroline’s mother had a nasally voice and it sounded even more so over the telephone.

  “Hey mom.”

  “You sound tired, is everything okay?” Caroline had already explained her feelings about Damien to her mother a grand total of three times. Every time her mother opted to sweep it under the rug with the heartfelt words of ‘you’re family now.’

  “Yeah, I haven’t been sleeping much.” Her mother sighed exasperatedly.

  “You’re not still having those silly dreams about Damien are you?” She said it in an accusatory tone and Caroline almost said no.

  “Yes. And they’re not silly dreams mom. He tortured me in high school.” Her mother laughed.

  “Oh, don’t be so dramatic. You’re family now. Plus, you know how boys can be. Besides things have changed since then. Neither of you are in high school now and just look how well he is doing at the shop!” Another jab from her mother to file under the ‘what are you doing with your life’ tab.

  “Yeah.” There was a few moments of silence before Caroline added, “Umm did you need something or were you just calling to chat?”

  “Oh, Mike and I rented a cottage up by the lake for the weekend. There’s room for you to come if you want?” Caroline frowned. She wasn’t much of a fan of Mike based on principle alone, but she could use a little time out of Wausau.

  “Sure, that’d be nice.” She wanted to ask if Damien was invited too, but after their last exchange she opted not to.

  “Oh that’ll be just great. Wait until I tell Mike that you said yes! He was so worried you wouldn’t come. He thinks you don’t like him, Caroline.” Caroline rolled her eyes at the phone.

  “Well, I’ll be there so Mike can get good and happy!” She hadn’t meant to sound quite as nasty as she did, but somehow it went completely over her mother’s head.

  “Okay sweetheart, well just come by the house on Friday and we can all drive up together.”

  “Okay mom, I’ll see you Friday then.” The idea of driving an hour out of the way just to meet up to drive somewhere else seemed ridiculous. Caroline was in no mood to argue with her mother however, so she d
id, as she always did, and relented.

  “Alright, love you sweetie! Bye!” Caroline mumbled her response and hung up the phone.

  A trip to the lake would mean a chance to get in to a bathing suit. Caroline thought about the idea. The more she thought about it the more she hoped that Damien would show up, if for nothing else but to show him just how much prettier the last year had made her. She’d show him who had no jugs and now that she was rid of her braces and an extra twenty pounds she knew that he’d at least do a double take when he saw her in a bathing suit. Perhaps if she really tried, she could turn the tables on him and tease him for a little while? The thought of making him suffer was an exciting one. No, Caroline wouldn’t tease with name calling, she was going to hit him where it hurt. She was going to get him to embarrass himself with Mother Nature’s bane of all men’s existence – the erection. She certainly couldn’t fault anything on his perfectly toned body, but she could embarrass him if even a little, by giving him a hard-on.

  Chapter Three

  The drive up to the cabin had been tedious. Mike had insisted on stopping every thirty minutes to ‘stretch his legs’ and Caroline’s mother had insisted that she do the same just to keep pace with them. By the time they got to the cabin it was dusk already and Caroline was torn when she saw Damien’s large SUV already pulled in to the driveway. Irritated that no one had told her that Damien was coming, but excited to put her plan in to action, Caroline stepped out of her car.

  “Hey, you guys didn’t tell me that Damien was coming!” She looked at her mother with accusatory eyes.

  “We thought it best not to what with those dreams you’ve been having lately. We thought if you knew, you might not come.” Caroline shook her head.

  “Those silly things? No, I haven’t had one of those since we last talked.” Caroline lied. She had been having nightmares about Damien’s taunts every day for the last week.

  “Oh, I’m so glad. Perhaps you two can do some bonding this weekend? Wouldn’t that be nice, Mike?” Caroline’s mother looked at Mike who nodded.

  “Sure would, Helen.” Caroline watched them for a moment as if she were watching a 1960’s sitcom and then turned back to her car. Grabbing her small case she slammed the door shut and crunched up the gravel driveway.

  The front door of the rustic log cabin opened just as Caroline walked up to it.

  “Well hey! Look who it is!” Damien shouted with a genuine smile on his face. Caroline raised an eyebrow and walked past him in to the foyer. “Aww, you’re not happy to see your new stepbrother?” Caroline rolled her brilliant blue eyes and turned back to him. His short cut blonde hair glinted in the light of the foyer. Even in her anger with him, Caroline couldn’t deny that he was handsome. He was the typical all American boy with the body of a Greek God.

  “Sure I am, why wouldn’t I be?” She pulled her long blonde hair back in to a ponytail. Mike and Helen appeared at the front door with smiles and both greeted Damien with crushing hugs.

  “We’re so glad you could both make it! It’s going to be such a great weekend!” Caroline forced a smile as she pulled her ponytail a little too tightly.

  “Sure is!” She said, before grabbing her case and going in search of her bedroom. She was sure that Damien would have left her the smaller of the guest rooms, but was surprised to find that he had given her the largest. Looking around suspiciously she threw her case on to the bed and unzipped it.

  “I gave you the biggest one.” Damien appeared in the doorway. She jumped. He had been so silent coming up the stairs she hadn’t even noticed him. She nodded, her long blond ponytail falling over her shoulder.

  “Thanks.” Damien stood staring at her as she flipped her case open.

  “You need a hand? I already unpacked mine.” Caroline looked at him with a frown. Why was he being so nice to her?

  “No. Thanks.” Damien shrugged.

  “Just thought I’d offer. My room is right across the hall if you need anything. My dad and your mom have a room downstairs off the main part of the house. We could have a whole party up here and they’d never notice!” Damien laughed lightly and Caroline forced a smile.

  “Yeah, don’t think that’ll be happening.” Damien sighed.

  “Well, the offer stands, you know, if you need anything. I’m just across here.” He backed in to the door of his room and opening it, he vanished inside.

  Caroline hated that he was the one making her feel like a bitch. As though she didn’t have reason enough to be angry at him. Here he was acting like Mr. Nice Guy when all she wanted to do was to exact the most perfect revenge. It made her hate him even more, but more than that, it made her hate herself a little bit as well.

  Chapter Four

  The next morning Caroline woke with a start to a rapping on her door. She lay silently hoping that it would go away, but when it came again she craned her neck as best she could in the direction of the door.

  “What?!” She groaned sleepily. The door opened and Damien walked in, shutting it behind him. Without a word, he walked up to the end of her bed and grabbed for her leg under the covers.

  “So I was thinking we could go out swimming at the lake today. My dad has taken your mom to some pottery exhibit or something. I was pretty sure you wouldn’t want to go either so I told them we’d planned some bonding time or whatever.” Caroline squinted her eyes, trying to wake up fully. She could make out Damien standing at the end of the bed wearing nothing but his board shorts. His abs were still as ripped as they had ever been and his arms were perfectly toned. She paused momentarily, trying hard not to look like she was gawking.

  “Fine.” Lying back on the bed she pulled the pillow over her face. “But not yet, alright?”

  “Sure, whenever.” Damien turned around and left, shutting the door behind him.

  When she heard the door shut, Caroline slid the pillow off her face. She couldn’t believe it, but she had actually been turned on by that creep’s body. As much as she hated him still for the torture he had put her through in high school, she was apparently still a nineteen year old woman with needs. Needs that Damien’s body would meet quite nicely. Closing her eyes she tried to reimagine Damien standing there, watching her, grabbing for her under the covers. She licked her lips quickly as she thought of him sliding out of his shorts. She imagined him crawling up on to her bed completely naked and as she did she slid her fingers down over her soft supple belly. Slowly she slipped her fingers under the elastic of her panties and just as she did there was a loud knock and her door burst open. She froze.

  “Hey, I meant to ask, do you want pancakes? I’m making some now if you do?” Damien stood looking at her. Caroline could barely get her breath. She didn’t dare move in case he saw where her hand was.

  “Umm, yeah sure.” Damien smirked as if he knew exactly what she had been doing before he turned and left again.

  When the door shut for the second time, Caroline decided to jump in the shower and finish off what she had started. At least in there she would have a little privacy. Although, she found herself thinking, it may be a little more fun if she didn’t have any privacy at all.

  The shower water was warm and it didn’t take much fantasizing for Caroline to pick up where she had left off. The bathroom mirror was completely steamed as were the glass shower doors and Caroline relaxed in her own little erotic spa. As her breath came quickly she found herself fantasizing about Damien walking in and finding her and it only served to make her breath come faster. She let her fingers do the work as she imagined him opening the glass of the shower door.

  “Hey, pancakes are ready!” Caroline jumped. It had sounded as though Damien had actually been right there in the bathroom. Had he seen her? She opened the shower door just a crack and saw the bathroom door standing wide open. He HAD been in there with her. Turning off the water she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself. Standing back she tried to see if Damien had been able to see anything when he walked in. The doors were plenty steamed up so it se
emed unlikely. He was definitely up to something though and Caroline was more than ready to put her own plan in to action.

  With the towel wrapped around her tightly, Caroline wandered downstairs and in to the kitchen. Her long wet hair clung to her naked back as she padded through the kitchen.

  “I’m starving!” She said as she sat at the breakfast bar, making sure to lean forward as she did.

  “Good, because I made way too many pancakes!” Damien turned around to flip some on to Caroline’s plate and for a moment his mouth fell open. He tried his best to recover as he wiggled his jaw from side to side, imagining that it was bothering him. Caroline knew what was really bothering him though and she was enjoying every minute of it.

  “Is everything okay?” Caroline asked with one perfectly groomed eyebrow raised.

  “Umm, yeah. How many do you want?” he hovered the spatula over Caroline’s plate. Caroline smiled wickedly.

  “Well…I’m pretty sure I could take two but if I’m really bad, I could probably take three.” Damien flipped three pancakes on to her plate and turned around awkwardly. Caroline watched bemused as she saw him readjusting himself inside his board shorts.

  “I hope they’re good!” Damien slid a few more pancakes on to the spatula and flipped them on to his own plate. Caroline watched him scurry around to his barstool and sit down, hoping that she hadn’t had a chance to see his arousal.

  “Mmm, they’re so good!” Caroline exaggerated her moan, knowing that it would only cause Damien further discomfort. Sliding the fork from between her lips she let her tongue dance over the syrupy prongs.

  “I’m…umm…I’m glad you like them.” Damien started shoving food in to his mouth just as quickly as he could in hopes of distracting himself. “I was thinking,” he swallowed his mouthful, “we could go down to the lake with some of the sandwiches your mom made us this morning. Maybe swim a bit and have a picnic or something?” Caroline shrugged as she wiped the corners of her syrupy lips.