Naughty Nubile Niece Ch. 02

Literotic asexstories – Naughty Nubile Niece Ch. 02 by Glaze72,Glaze72 Naughty Nubile Niece Two: Mother’s Day!

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~~ All characters in this book are over 18. ~~

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Chapter One

It’s a good thing I’ve had a lot of practice being patient with my brother. Because otherwise I might be tempted to kick his rich, sexy, well-meaning ass.

Jessica’s lips twitched into a smile that was half-sardonic, half fond, as she drove out to the lake house where her brother and her daughter had been staying for the past few days. It had taken all of her considerable powers of persuasion to convince her boss to give her the time off she had asked for, and she had paid for it by working the equivalent of back-to-back sixteen-hour days. But she was finally going to have time to talk with her brother. And they would clear up things he had been carefully avoiding for the better part of the last twenty years.

It had been an accident, those many years ago. At least, Jessica thought wryly, it had been an accident by the standards of incestuous sex. She and her brother had both been young, horny, lonely, and starved for affection. Jessica because she was going through a bitter breakup with her then-boyfriend. Jason because even back then he never truly opened his heart to anyone but those he trusted the most.

But after that one time, that hurried, frenzied fuck in her tiny little bedroom on Walnut Street, he had cut her off, completely and utterly, so terrified of what they had done he refused to even talk about it. Jason had run back to college, only coming home when he absolutely had to, and leaving as soon as he could. After his sophomore year, he didn’t even come home for summer break – opting to stay in Champaign in a crummy apartment and take summer school classes so he could graduate early. And when he graduated, he had fled to New York, returning maybe once or twice a year, if that.

He was back home now, though, glory be to whatever god of second chances had given her this opportunity. And this time, Jessica didn’t intend to let him get away. She would use whatever weapons came to hand. And to her smirking delight, her daughter had already breached Jason’s first defenses. Emily had told her what they had done, her breathless voice coming over the phone late at night while her brother slept the deep, dreamless sleep of the freshly-fucked.

There was a car she didn’t recognize in the driveway, bearing New York plates, and Jessica grimaced. Probably Jason’s. No. Definitely Jason’s. Her brother went through luxury cars like some women went through boyfriends – getting rid of them as soon as the shine wore off. She opened the screen door. “Anyone home?”

“Out here, Mom,” a light, female voice called, and Jessica walked through the huge front room that took up most of the ground floor and out the back door to the deck. Emily and Jason were sitting on the steps that led from the deck to the long, sloping sward of grass that led down to the lake and the property’s strip of narrow, muddy beach. Crab Orchard Lake was a lot of things, but even its most ardent supporters couldn’t pretend it sported Hawaii’s crystal water or white-sand beaches.

Jason stood, a bottle of his disgusting diet soda in one hand as she crossed the deck. Jessica stopped a few yards away and looked at him.

Her brother looked good. He always looked good. It was almost annoying, how he could turn her on with only a glimpse. Black hair, like hers. Blue eyes, like hers. Belly still flat, shoulders still broad, the mobile face that could close like shutters or open like a book, depending on how much he wanted you to see, still unlined by the years.

It was closed now, and wary. “Hello, Jessica.”

“Hello, Jason. You jerk.”

“Mom…”

“No.” Jessica shook her head at her daughter. “This has been a long time coming. If you don’t want to hear it, you can take a walk.”

“Okay.” Her daughter, Jessica noticed, was wearing loose shorts, an emerald-green bikini-top, and very little else. “How long are you planning to ream him out?”

“We’ll be done by suppertime. But if you want to be useful, I brought some groceries out here. They’re in the trunk.”

“I already…”

She cut her brother off. “Here, Emmie. Keys.”

Emily caught the tossed key-ring. “You know you two are just like a couple of kids, right?”

“Am not,” Jessica and her brother replied. Immediately and in unison.

Jessica almost, almost giggled, as Jason caught her eye.

Emily snorted, her point made, and stalked inside. A few seconds later, they heard the screen door on the other side of the house bang open.

“That girl,” she sighed. “Did she tell you about that hare-brained idea of hers to take a break year?”

“Yeah.”

“What do you think?”

A corner of Jason’s mouth tucked up in a wry smile. “I think that you’re her mother, I think Emily is old enough to make her own decisions, and I think whatever opinion I have, I’m going to be accused of taking someone’s side. Better to keep my mouth shut.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Candy-ass.”

His smile widened. “I know better than to get between a couple of Chapel women.” A mock shudder. “I saw what you did to Dad when you and Mom or Ashley got into one of your spats.”

Jessica grimaced. “Just…talk to her, okay? She has a chance to get out of here, Jase. Like you did. I don’t want her to stay here, get knocked up by some loudmouthed redneck, and spend the next fifty or sixty years of her life playing ‘what-if’ with herself, like I have. She looks up to you. She’ll listen. And she doesn’t pay much attention to what I say anymore.”

“Familiarity breeds contempt,” he murmured.

“Yeah. Maybe if you were around more she wouldn’t put you up on a pedestal. Two years, Jason,” she hissed, taking a step closer and jabbing a finger into his chest. “Two years since we’ve seen you. Two years of nothing but five-minute phone calls and e-mails. Or texts. A text to Ashley on her birthday. She’s your sister. What the hell were you thinking?”

Jason looked at his feet. “I was thinking that I was in Singapore and I was thirteen hours ahead of Illinois. And that Ashley probably wouldn’t want me to call and sing “Happy Birthday” at seven in the morning.”

“Why not?” Jessica folded her arms across her chest, fuming. “She’s your sister. Do you really think she cares about what time the phone call comes? Maybe she was having a bad day. Maybe she was worried about getting older. Maybe hearing your voice would have sent her off to work in a good mood. God, Jason. Sometimes you’re thicker than a slab of lard. And don’t even get me started about Mom. Do you know what she asked me, back last Christmas? When you didn’t show up for the third year in a row? She asked me if she had done something to make you mad, and if that’s why you never came home anymore.”

That finally got a reaction. Jason’s head rocked back as if she had slapped him. “What?”

“You heard me.” She dropped her voice so her daughter couldn’t hear. “You want to punish me for what happened back when we were younger, that’s fine. I think you’re a fucking gutless coward for being afraid to be in the same room with me for the last twenty years, but fine. But Mom isn’t going to live forever. And Ashley has a brother she might like to see more than six or seven times a decade. And she has kids who could stand to see their uncle as something more than a bunch of FedEx packages at Christmas.

“You’re wrong, Jason. I don’t care if I’m the reason you never come back home, or if I’m just an excuse. But you’re wrong.” She glared up into those dark blue eyes, remembering a hot summer afternoon, not completely unlike this one. “We deserve better. And so do you,” she added softly. “Are you going to live this guilt trip for the rest of your life?

“Thanksgiving,” she said, poking her brother in the chest with one pink-tipped fingernail. “Christmas. By God, you’re going to be home for the holidays this year if I have to drive to New York, slap a pair of cuffs on you, throw you in the trunk, and drive you back to Illinois.”

“All right!” Jason threw up his hands in surrender. “All right. God, between you and Loretta, I’m going to have the two of you running my life before long.”

“Loretta?” Jessica frowned at the mention of her brother’s executive assistant.

“Yeah.” Jason scuffed his bare foot in the grass. It was really unfair. The man even had sexy feet. “She’s why I’m out here.”

“Oh?” Attention arrested, she cocked her head encouragingly. “Do tell.”

She dragged the story out of him in bits and pieces. By the time Jason was finished, Jessica was nearly choking on her own giggles. “You kicked him out of the meeting? Like you were sending a kid to the principal?”

He glared at her. “I was having a bad week.”

“Sounds like you were having a bad case of PMS.” Emily, who had rejoined them and was listening quietly, sniggered at her tart reply. “No wonder Loretta sent you out here to chillax.”

Emily rolled her eyes. “Chillax, Mom?”

“Blame the job,” Jessica said. “I’m around kids all the time. Birthday parties and first communions and weddings and bar mitzvahs. I can’t help picking up slang and talking like all the cool kids do.”

Jason gave her a long, steady look. “Bar mitzvahs. In Marion.”

The look was uncomfortably like the ones her father used to give her when she came back late from a date. “Sure. There’s at least three Jewish families in town. We’re getting downright cosmopolitan these days, being so close to SIUC.”

“Right.” The tone registered patented disbelief.

“The groceries are all put away, Mom,” Emily offered. “You brought a lot, don’t you think?”

“Your grandmother and your Aunt Ashley and your cousins are all coming out Friday night,” she said. “And you know how Jackson can put food away. I swear that kid has a hollow leg.” She slanted a teasing look at her brother. “Reminds me of your uncle, when he was Jackson’s age.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.” Jessica sat down on one of the deck chairs and crossed her ankles. “Did Ashley ever tell you about the bet your great-grandpa Chapel made with Jason one Thanksgiving?” She looked up at her brother, who gave a long-suffering sigh. “How old were you, Jase? Fourteen?”

“About that,” he admitted grudgingly. But he accepted the peace offering and sat down in his own chair.

Emily looked from her mother to her uncle. “Well? Aren’t you going to tell me?”

Smiling, Jessica spun out the tale, paying no mind to her brother’s increasingly irate interjections. It had been hilarious at the time. At least to her, if not to her parents. Grandpa Chapel had been a crusty old fart, safely retired from a horrible factory job in St. Louis and doting on his grandchildren. On that particular Thanksgiving, he had bet his oldest grandson twenty dollars he couldn’t eat both legs off the holiday turkey. Jason, skinny and perpetually ravenous, had taken the wager instantly. His parents had been less than amused as their son proceeded to make a pig of himself at the dinner table. Jason had won the bet, but had been violently, spectacularly sick later that night, as the sins of the day came back to haunt him. Jessica could still remember the acid tone of her mother’s voice as she asked her son through the bathroom door if twenty bucks was really worth it.

“In the long run, it kind of was,” Jason offered, as the tale ran down to a snickering conclusion. “I learned what my body could handle. I hardly ever drank so much that I ended up barfing, when I left for college. Unlike some guys I went to school with.”

“So what have you two been doing out here all day?” Jessica asked brightly. “Swimming? Fishing?”

“Just…you know. Hanging out, Mom,” Emily said. Though the look she gave her under her lashes told her more than words ever could. Jessica stifled a sudden spasm of envy. Her daughter was getting laid. Her daughter was fucking Jason. They were lovers, and had been for nearly two days. While Jessica, the woman who had given her brother her virginity, and had taken his in turn, was left with nothing.

“Yeah.” God, her brother was as transparent as glass. At least to her eyes, even after all these years. No one else might notice the guilty drop of his eyes, the faint flush that stained his suntanned skin. But she did. “Just…you know. Hanging around. Enjoying the nice weather. Talking.”

“Oh,” she said, not fooled in the least. After all, Emily had already told her the truth. Jason could try to hide it, but Jessica knew. Her brother and her daughter were screwing. And when the time was right, she would use it to her advantage. “Good.”

Chapter Two

Jessica had brought t-bones. And she grilled them herself, disdaining Jason’s offer to do his manly duty as the only male present.

“Don’t tell me you’ve got a grill at your place in Manhattan,” she told him. “Because I know you don’t. The place you live is way too exclusive to cater to the sort of people who would barbeque pork steaks out on their balcony on a Friday night. You probably can’t grill worth crap anymore.”

“It’s not that,” he protested. “I’m twenty-three stories up, for the love of God. Can you imagine trying to cook out in the kind of wind you get that high? Sometimes I’m scared to even go out on the balcony, even when it’s a nice calm night.”

“You never could deal with heights,” his sister observed, slathering marinade over a steak. Grease dripped onto the flames and flared up, sending up gouts of aromatic steam. “But this is a lot better than some of the meals we used to get from Mom. Especially when Dad was on night shift. Remember that? Those bargain-basement fish-sticks on Friday night?”

Banished from the grill, Jason was stripping husks off ears of corn, helped by Emily. “Oh, God. And we weren’t even Catholic. I swear, it was better once I got a job at Hardees. I used to look forward to working a late shift, because then I could get a half-price meal on break instead of dealing with whatever crap Mom could cobble together for supper.”

“Grandma’s not a bad cook!” Emily protested.

Jason plucked corn silk from his ear and shook it off his fingers, watching idly as the breeze blew the strands toward the lake. “No, she’s not. She’s a damn good cook, actually. Better than me. But back then, my last couple years of high school, money was really tight, Emmie. My dad…your grandfather…” He sighed. “He just wasn’t good with money. So your grandma was cutting corners and pinching pennies wherever she could. And that made for some…interesting…meals.”

Emily looked at her mother, who gave her an affirmative nod. “Tough times. Especially after your grandfather passed, God bless his heart. If Jason here,” a nod his way, “hadn’t hit it big, Mom probably would have had to sell the house. And that might have killed her. She loves that place.”

Jason shrugged uncomfortably. “I was lucky. If the economy hadn’t done a face-plant, I would have lost everything. I made a gamble. It paid off. That’s all. Luck, like I said.”

“You make your own luck, in my experience,” Jess said. She flipped a steak. “Emmie, these are going to be done soon. You should probably get the water boiling for the corn. And I brought some baked beans, too. Or we could do baked potatoes in the microwave?” She looked at Jason, who shrugged.

“As long as it’s not deviled eggs, or something hideous like that.” Jason mocked a shudder of disgust. “I can deal with a lot, but not that.”

“Why do you hate eggs so much, Uncle Jason?”

“Why? Why is the sky blue? Why is water wet? Why is the grass green?” He raised his hands to the heavens as Jessica rolled her eyes. “Why are the Cardinals superior to every other baseball team? Why are eggs horrible?” Jason shook his head at his niece. His lovely, sexy niece, with whom he had been having red-hot incestuous monkey-sex for the last two days. “Because they are. What I really find incredible is everyone else has somehow been brainwashed into thinking that eggs are actually edible, instead of something that should be scraped into the garbage. And that their inherent awfulness can be disguised by changing their shape. Fried eggs, scrambled eggs, boiled eggs, deviled eggs, quiche, egg salad, omelets, poached eggs!” He made a face. “Gah! The opportunities are infinite and universally awful!”

“Mom uses eggs when she makes hamburgers,” Jessica pointed out, as Emily went inside to turn on the stove. “And meatloaf. And potato salad.”

“That fact is as irrelevant as it is true,” Jason said, reaching into the cooler at his feet and opening another beer. “Besides. The inherent goodness of potatoes and red meat is able to cancel out the lingering evil of eggs. The eggs are purified. It’s their superpower.”

Jessica tilted her head at him as his rant ended. “You know what, Jason? I almost kind of forgot just how weird you were, back when we were kids. How you read every single fantasy book in the library, and then pestered Mom to get a membership in the Science Fiction Book Club, just so you could get something new to read.”

“Boy, was that a waste of money,” he grumped. “They never had shit that was any good, mostly. I had to drive to St. Louis to find a bookstore that sold anything decent. Like Tad Williams. He’s a freaking genius. And Lois Bujold. And Jim Butcher. And Jacqueline Carey. Christ. If Mom had ever found out I was getting books like hers, she would have done some serious face-punching.”

“Hold on. Can you repeat those names? I might need ammo for later.” She leered suggestively. “Are they sexy books? I bet Mom would be so, so interested.”

“Smart-ass. And no.” Jason pursed his lips and looked up at the heavens. The long summer twilight was fading, and the stars were springing to life, unfiltered by light pollution. God, he had missed this sky. Almost as much as he had missed Jess and the rest of his family. “Well, Carey, yeah. And Butcher, once or twice. But not Bujold. Or Williams. Sure. They admit guys and girls do fun, naughty things with each other. But they don’t really describe it.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.” His mouth curled up in a half-grin. “You know what the difference is between porn and not-porn?”

“What?”

“Nipple. You say show nipple in a movie, or say nipple in a book, then it’s porn. If you don’t,” he grinned at her boyishly, “then it’s literature. Or erotica.”

“Good to know.” Jessica looked down at the grill. The steaks looked like they were almost done. But Jason knew that if he tried to interfere, he would get slapped down hard.

“I never wanted to hurt you,” he said. The words seemed to come from his mouth without thinking. “I’m sorry.”

Jessica turned to him. Her eyes were wet. “Really, Jason? Now?”

He took a deep breath. It was time to abandon cowardice and fear. “Yes, Jess. Now.

“I love you. I have always loved you. Since we were kids.

“And when we did…what we did. I was afraid. Of what would happen, if we were caught. If everyone knew.”

Jessica turned away and sighed. He could see it in the way her shoulders settled. “You know what, Jason? I just can’t deal with this crap right now. If you had bothered to tell anyone you were coming out for a visit, I could have set up some vacation time in advance. But instead, I had to damn near pull a couple of all-nighters just so I could take the next few days off. Do you think it’s easy to get away in the middle of wedding season? I thought Helen was going to strangle me, when I told her I needed some time. And then she told me I could, just as long as I had everything lined up to go for the Whitman wedding on Saturday.” She rubbed the sides of her nose. “If that gets jacked up, I might not have a job on Monday.

“What I want right now is to eat a meal with you and my daughter without having to deal with a lot of drama. Can you do that? And then I want to hang out and have a drink and watch the stars and just talk like we’re normal people.”

It wasn’t a pardon. He knew that. But at least it was a stay of execution. “Sure.”

“Uncle Jason?” Emily’s voice floated outside. “Can you come check on the corn?”

“Sure.” He got up, pausing to kiss Jessica on the cheek. “What’s up?” He frowned as he entered the kitchen. The corn was out of the pot, steaming gently on a tray. Baked beans simmered on the stove. “I thought you needed me to look at the corn.”

“Did I?” Emily’s eyes sparkled wickedly. She reached down to rub his crotch. “Maybe I just wanted to play with your cob.”

“That doesn’t even make sense,” he muttered. “Emily. Your mother is right outside.” In fact, Jason could see her through the open window, looking out over the lake, a set of tongs in her hand. Her profile was an eerie double of her daughters’.

“Right? That makes it even hotter.”

His cock was stiffening in automatic response to her touch. But he pushed Emily gently away. “Emily. No.”

She pouted. “Mom ruins everything.”

“Sorry.” And he doubled down on the apology by giving his niece a kiss. It quickly grew hot, and Emily stretched up on her tiptoes, rubbing her bikini-clad breasts against his chest.

“God, Uncle Jason. You make me so horny.” She grabbed his rear, drawing him close. One thigh rose as she ground her crotch into his. “I want you. Right here,” she whispered against his lips.

“Must run in the family,” he said quietly. “Because you make me horny, too.”

“Oh?” Her eyes twinkled. “What about Mom? Does she make you horny? Maybe I should tell her.”

He dodged the question by grabbing the tray of corn. Emily clutched at him, but he avoided her, ducking around to pluck the salt and pepper shakers off the counter. “Don’t forget the butter when you bring the beans out,” he called over his shoulder.

“Jerk,” he heard her growl, and smiled.

Emily had never shared a boyfriend before. That sort of thing just didn’t happen in Marion. You either had a boyfriend, or you didn’t. But in a town this small, there was no way a boy could keep a second girlfriend a secret. Or vice versa. Word would get around town in hours. And the preachers would thunder from their pulpits, declaring this just one more sign of a world in complete moral decay.

Of course, her uncle didn’t know he was going to be shared. That was the funny bit. Her mother had told her the secret years ago, of how she had slept with Jason when they were both younger. Just once. And she had actively encouraged Emily when fate gave her a chance to seduce her uncle. It was actually hilarious, watching Jason trying to hide the way they felt about each other. It made sense from his point of view, Emily supposed. Bad enough that he had run away from Jessica when he was a teenager. But to have her discover that he was screwing her daughter, instead of her? That would draw down a double helping of righteous fury on his head, if Jessica found out.

But to watch him stumble around, hiding from Jessica that he had slept with Emily, not wanting Emily to know that he had slept with Jessica years ago, when both women were well aware of the fact, almost made up for how he had avoided the central time zone as if it had cooties for the last two decades.

Well, we’ll take care of that soon enough, she thought comfortably, stretching out her legs and wiggling her toes in the evening breeze. It was dark, the only light the waxing moon, high in the east. The other campsites were all but deserted, waiting for the weekend when their owners would come back.

“When are Aunt Ashley and them coming out?” she asked, breaking the silence. “And Grandma?”

“Friday night. Saturday morning, maybe,” her mother answered, and Emily saw her uncle’s shoulders relax, just a bit. “I told Ashley and Mom that you needed some time to unwind, Jason.”

“Thanks.” Her uncle chuckled. “Maybe if I let you and Ashley and Mom ream me out one at a time, I might actually survive.

“That was a good meal, too. Thanks for cooking. There’s a thousand places in Manhattan where I can get a good steak. But no one has decent sweet corn.”

“You’re welcome.” Her mother’s voice was almost a caress, and Emily blushed. It was like listening to lovers, and she wondered if Jason could hear it, too.

If he doesn’t, he’s an idiot. And I don’t care how rich he is.

Emily blinked. And then again. Her mother had allowed her a glass of wine at dinner. She wasn’t drunk. But her head was nodding. And she thought it might be best to allow her mother and her uncle time to work out their issues. God knew they had enough of them, from all the stories she had heard. “I’m going to bed,” she said, standing. Only a hand on a chair kept her from a stagger, and she shook her head. “I’ll see you guys in the morning.”

Jessica smiled as the door closed behind Emily. “I swear, that girl will be the death of me.”

“She’s a good kid, Jess,” Jason said.

“Yeah. That’s the problem.” She shook her head and sighed. The moon was painting a trail of silver across the lake, and lightning bugs were aglow in the dark, dancing in three dimensions. “It would be easier, you know. If she were just another white-trash kid out of Marion. Like Austin, if he had managed to keep his nose clean. Good for nothing more than swiping codes at the check-out counter or answering calls at some insurance agency. But she got some of Mom’s brains.”

“And yours.”

She hitched a shoulder. “Whatever. She’s got a future. Like you did. And that makes me afraid. What if she blows it?”

“I’m no saint, Jessica. If anyone knows that, you do.”

“I don’t give a crap if you’re a saint. You got out.” His sister’s eyes were hard. “Promise me. If she makes good. You’ll help her. I know you’ve got connections.”

A thought tickled Jason’s mind, and he put it aside for later. “I think that Emily is the kind of young woman who wouldn’t much appreciate her uncle pulling strings for her. And who would be as resentful as hell if she found out I did. She’s smart enough not to need my help, Jessica. Don’t borrow trouble.”

Jessica stared at him for a long moment, lips pursed. Then she gave him a small, grudging nod. “All right.”

He knew better than to gloat over his victory. “Good.” He looked out over the lake, then up overhead. “God, I miss this sky.”

“The stars?”

“Yeah. In Manhattan you can see the Moon. And maybe Venus and Jupiter. A couple of stars, if the night is super clear. But that’s it. Here…now…God, you could count stars all night and never get to them all.”

“You know, Jase.” Emily’s voice was hesitant. “You never call New York home.”

“Don’t I?” He chuckled. “It’s a funny kind of place, Jess. It’s not like Illinois, where people live in the same town for generations. You hardly ever meet someone who is from New York. At least I haven’t. They’re all from somewhere else, hoping to make it big and retire to Connecticut or Cape Cod or Arizona or South Carolina.

“But God, it’s exciting, though. You should visit sometime. You and Emily and Mom and Ashley and the kids. There’s a reason they call it the city that never sleeps. There’s so much to do and see. Shows and museums and open-air markets and all sorts of historical crap. Madison Square Garden. Yankee Stadium.”

“If you tell me you’re a Yankee fan now, Jason, I am going to totally beat your ass.”

He smiled down at the lip of his beer bottle. “No way. Are you kidding me? Mom might forgive a lot. But never that.”

A soft breeze touched his face, and he breathed in deep. The breath of home. Not New York’s asphalt stink. Even with the best will in the world, a man couldn’t pretend that the stench of Manhattan bore any resemblance to the green growth of downstate Illinois. He pushed away the thought that in a few days he would have to leave again. Chapel Financial could get along without him for a while. But his conscience wouldn’t allow him to stretch his vacation into weeks.

“I think I’m going to bed,” he said. “You going to stay out here?”

“For a bit. I’ll see you in the morning, Jason.”

Chapter Three

Jason’s sleep that night was troubled, haunted by memories of Jessica and Emily. Some of the dreams were arousing. Some less so. In one particularly vivid one that lingered after he woke, the two women stood over him, their faces twisted by twin expressions of disgust, as each realized that he had slept with the other and hadn’t had the courage to admit it.

That would be just my luck, he thought sourly as he shaved. Come home and try to repair one relationship, and end up ruining two.

He walked out onto the deck. Jessica was sitting where he had left her last night, looking out over the lake. The air was cool, still and damp, and a misty fog hovered over the water. As Jason watched, a long-legged heron appeared out of the haze, dropping down to land in the shallows a few dozen yards away.

“Morning,” Jessica said. She was cradling a mug of coffee in her hands, and a small, sleepy smile curved her lips.

“Hey.” Jason sat down beside her, grimacing at the dew-wet chair. “Any plans for the day?”

His sister lifted a shoulder. “Not really. I turned my phone off. So even if Caroline Gunther goes all Bridezilla because the floral arrangements for her wedding photos aren’t perfect, I won’t have to deal with it.” She lifted black brows at him. “I plan on a fun, lazy day. A little swimming, some fun, some fucking. That sort of thing.”

Jason nearly choked on his own coffee. “Christ, Jess!”

“Please. You’ve been checking me out since the minute I showed up yesterday. You think a woman doesn’t notice?” She sipped her coffee, her eyes alight with mischief. “You haven’t changed a bit, have you? You can’t keep your eyes off my legs or my tits.”

He flushed scarlet. “I’m sorry.”

Jessica heaved out a disgusted breath. “Oh, for fucks sake,” she said impatiently, though her voice was underlaid with a sort of irritated fondness. “I want you to look at my tits, Jason. When are you going to wake up?”

“Emily says you…says you…” Even now, at nearly forty, he couldn’t say it. “That you’ve been with other guys. Lots of them.”

“No, Jason. I haven’t exactly been celibate. Not after you left for college. And especially not after Emily’s father left. The skeez. And why should I?” She stretched, the long t-shirt she was wearing riding up high on her slender legs. Jason glanced at the skin of her thighs, wondering if she was wearing anything underneath. “I like sex. A lot. And I wasn’t going to spend the rest of my life as a nun just because you couldn’t face the truth.”

“What truth? That I fucked you when I should have known better? That I took advantage of you?”

“You idiot. No. That we are soulmates, Jason. That we are perfect for each other.” And while he gaped at her, Jessica got up, swung around, and straddled him, her legs on either side of his on the long, low deck chair. Her shirt hiked up, and Jason saw that instead of panties, or going bare, she was wearing a pair of men’s boxers, so worn and threadbare the fabric was practically transparent.

Jessica set her hands on his shoulders. “I forgive you, Jason.”

He blinked up at her. “For what?”

“For everything. For running away. For staying away. For never coming home. For acting like what we did was a sin.”

Jason rubbed his mouth. He felt himself getting hard. He couldn’t ignore the allure of Jessica’s body. So close. And it had been so long. “Jessica. It was incest. I’m pretty sure that counts as a sin.”

“It wasn’t incest,” she replied. “It was love.” She drew close, so close he could feel her breath on his face. “And love, Jason, is never, ever a sin.”

And then she kissed him.

It felt like…coming home. Over the years, Jason had almost forgotten how perfectly his little sister fit in his arms. How her small, slim body could mold itself to his, warm and soft and delightfully curved. His muffled groan as her tongue slid into his mouth was almost one of relief, rather than carnal hunger. The tips of her fingers toyed with the hair on the nape of his neck, and Jason ran his hands down Jessica’s back, gripping his sister’s perky, well-toned ass-cheeks and pulling her close.

Their lips parted, and they were both breathing hard. “God, Jess.” Jason was nearly weeping, overcome with emotion. “I missed you so much. I’m sorry.”

His little sister smiled, and kissed him again. Shorter, this time. Fiercer. With every touch of her bold, cunning mouth, she seemed to be saying, I’m never letting you get away again.

He lifted his hands, fumbling with Jessica’s shirt. He had to see her, all of her. His blood pounded in his ears as he finally caught sight of her naked breasts. Still small, still exquisitely shaped, still tipped with perky, coral-colored nipples. He rested the threadbare hem of the shirt on the top of her breasts, a sight that drove him absolutely insane with lust, though he was prepared to jerk it back down if they were interrupted. “Can we?”

“Outside? Are you insane?” Jessica retorted immediately, then sighed as he cupped her breasts in his hands. “After twenty years of waiting, our first time isn’t going to be on a bare wooden deck, Jason. Or even on a chair.” She moved her crotch suggestively against the front of his shorts. “No matter how hard you are.”

“Probably for the best,” he admitted, looking over his shoulder at the house. “Emily…”

“Could sleep through a tornado,” Jessica finished. “And don’t think I’m letting you go before I get off.”

“How?”

“Do you ever use your mouth to do anything but talk?”

Jason stared at Jessica. Then he smiled. Inch by inch, he wiggled down the sloping seat of the deck chair, until his face was between his sister’s legs. She didn’t resist as he pulled down the worn boxers. They barely weighed anything in his hand, and the waistband was little more than snarls of popped elastic. He looked at them, frowning, then back up at his sister.

“They’re yours,” Jessica said. “Or were.” She blinked hard, and dropped her eyes. “When I realized you weren’t ever coming back to Marion. I went through the things you had left behind. There were maybe four or five pairs of old boxers you didn’t take to school. I found them in the bottom of your bureau. Sometimes, when I missed you really bad, I would wear a pair. It made me feel better.”

“I’m sorry,” he repeated, swallowing the lump in his throat.

“Oh, shut up, Jason,” she replied. But she was smiling when she said it. Very carefully, she lowered herself to his waiting mouth.

From her spot by the kitchen window, Emily watched her uncle pleasure her mother, her heart in her throat.

She knew how fragile the balance was. Jessica and Jason were both wounded by the events of their past. No matter how many men her mother took to bed, none would never fill the void caused by Jason’s neglect. And no amount of wealth could assuage her uncle’s guilt-driven misery.

Jason didn’t know that his sister and his niece were working together to breach his walls. If he had, he would be on the first flight back to New York. So when Jessica sat on Jason’s lap, when the two kissed, when Jason touched her mother’s breasts with all the tender affection a woman could wish, Emily thought she would explode with excitement. And when Jason pulled off her mother’s nasty, ratty old boxers and began to eat her out, she clapped a hand to her mouth to muffle a betraying shriek of joy. She couldn’t see her uncle’s face. Or what he was doing. But judging from her mother’s reactions, he was just as good at eating pussy as he was at everything else.

“Oh, Jason.” Her mother’s face had gone soft and slack with pleasure, and her nipples were standing straight up. “That’s…” A shuddering sigh. “Lovely.” Jessica was kneeling on the old deck chair, her uncle sprawled beneath her. His hands held her hips, and she rocked back and forth. Emily had never heard that note of aching desire in her voice before. There was a hint of suppressed joy in it, and Emily had to stifle both envy and jealousy as she watched, which was novel, even for her.

“Oh, good. You found my clit.”

Jason gave out a muffled snort, and Emily stretched her ears. “I’ve had twenty years to learn where it is, Jess.”

“Which still isn’t long enough for some men. Trust me. I know,” the older woman said tartly. “Like Emily’s father.” Her gaze drifted to the window, and her eyes widened. Emily slipped to the side, but her mother merely shook her head and smiled, as if she welcomed the audience, and Emily knew she had permission to watch. “He had a nice body, but if we weren’t fucking, he was useless. No.” Her hand snapped down. “No fingers. The only thing I want in my pussy is your tongue. Or your cock.” A pause. “Eventually.”

Jason’s prone figure shifted, and Emily watched his hands come up to cradle her mother’s breasts. Small breasts. Smaller than Emily’s. But still firm and attractive. Neither of the two women were terribly busty. But what they lacked in quantity, Jessica had once remarked, they made up for in quality, and her head rocked back and her hips began to move more urgently as she fucked her brother’s mouth with her pussy. Her breath began to come short, and Emily bit her knuckles as her uncle’s long, skillful fingers caressed and stroked and pinched until Jessica’s nipples were swollen with passion.

“Oh, shit.” Jessica covered her brother’s hands with her own, pressing down. Emily couldn’t stand it anymore. She shoved her hand down the front of her panties and began to finger herself – index and ring finger rubbing her slick, swollen pussy-lips, while her middle finger danced on her clit.

It was so hot, watching them! Emily wanted to run out onto the deck to join them. Wanted to urge her mother to strip her uncle bare and fuck him. Wanted to throw all the rules away and revel in forbidden, taboo lust.

But she didn’t. That would be worse than stealing another girl’s boyfriend. Or opening up another person’s Christmas present. Emily reminded herself, yet again, that all of this, this entire week, wasn’t about her, not really. It was about Jessica and Jason.

“Oh, Jason. You’re eating me so nice.” Jessica’s hands were clamped around the top rung of the deck chair. Emily could see the cords in her arms stand out as she humped herself into her brother’s mouth. “Keep licking me. Keep licking me!” And then her eyes turned up in her head and her mouth fell open, her body shaking as she came. Even Emily, standing a good fifteen feet away, could see the unmistakable signs – the flushed skin, the shaking muscles, and then the drooping languor as the throes of pleasure passed.

“Whoa.” Jessica rocked back on her heels. “That was almost worth the wait. Almost.”

Damn right whoa. Another two minutes and I would have gone off like a firecracker.

“What about…”

Her mother’s smile was wicked. “Sorry, Jason. You’re going to have to suck it up for a while. Because I’m not sucking you off. Not out here, not on my knees on a bare wooden deck. And definitely not where Emily can come out and catch us.”

“But…you…”

“Yeah. I am a hypocrite. Deal with it.” Jessica gave a pointed sniff. “How about you take a shower? And start breakfast? I’m going to take a quick swim.”

And with that, she was gone, tossing her shirt to one side and skipping down the steps to dive, stark naked, into the shallows. Jason stood and stared after her, one muscle twitching in the corner of his jaw. Then he gave a helpless laugh.

Emily skittered away, out of the kitchen and back to her room. When she heard her uncle’s footsteps in the hall, she ducked out of her room, blinking. Her timing was perfect. Jason almost ran her down, dancing aside with a muffled oath.

“Wow.” She looked down at his crotch. His erection was tenting the beige cloth. “That’s one heck of a morning boner, Uncle Jase.” She touched it with her fingertips. “Did you just get up? Were you dreaming of me?”

“Emily.” He shook his head at her. “Don’t…don’t tempt me. Not now.”

“Why not?” She turned and began to twerk, her bottom rubbing against his crotch. “Afraid someone might see?”

“Your mom’s taking a swim,” he replied distractedly. “But, Emily…”

“So she’s not here,” she whispered. “And I am here.” She unbuttoned her shorts and let them fall to the floor. “I’m horny. You’re horny. Why should we wait?” She rubbed her bottom against his crotch again, moaning as she felt his hard length. “I’m already wet.”

Jason broke. With an inarticulate growl he shoved his shorts down. And to Emily’s astonishment, he didn’t haul her into his bedroom, or hers. Instead he pushed her against the wall, his hands pinning her wrists high and wide as he thrust himself balls-deep into her hot, sopping cunt with one fluid motion. She gasped in startled pleasure, and then again as he began to pump into her.

“I warned you,” he said, his voice a half-snarl in her ear. “Don’t tease me.”

This was a side of her uncle she had never seen before. And it excited her more than she could say. She pushed back against him, fighting for her climax, her sheath squeezing Jason’s cock, milking it. His flat belly slapped against her rump and he pressed her into the wall. Her legs were shaking, and Emily moaned as her nipples scraped against the faux-wood paneling.

“Ah!” Helpless, she writhed in Jason’s grip as she came. Over and over, her sheath clutched his shaft. She closed her eyes, reveling in the forbidden, taboo pleasure. Seconds later, her uncle spent himself inside her, his long, thick cock throbbing and pulsing as he filled her channel with incestuous cum.

When he was done, he rested his head on her shoulder, breath slowing. They were both sweating. “I should take a shower,” she murmured. “Otherwise I’m going to drip your…stuff…all over the floor.”

“I’m an idiot. I’m insane. Your mother…the risk…” Jason’s voice was hoarse.

Emily turned in his arms, wincing with regret as his shaft slipped out of her. “We can’t keep it secret forever, Uncle Jason. You know that.” She studied his face. “Don’t you?”

He avoided her gaze. “Yeah. I guess.”

She bit her lip. Oh, God. It was almost cruel to do this, to let him writhe on the hook of his self-imposed guilt. But she had promised her mother. To hold off until the time was right. “Then start thinking about it.” She touched his cheek. “But wait until I’m ready, okay?”

She wasn’t sure if the thump she heard as she ducked into the bathroom was his head or his fist hitting the wall. “Emily!” He called through the door as she shut it in his face. “I paid for this place. And you just cut in line! So you damn well better not use up all the hot water!”

Chapter Four

The fog lifted later in the morning, and after her swim and a long, leisurely, carb-heavy breakfast, Jessica settled out on the deck with her reader, a cold drink, and wicked plans for the rest of the day.

“Aunt Ashley called while you were swimming,” Emily said, taking a chair a few feet away. Her fingers tapped on her phone, and music began to play on the outside speakers. Katy Perry, to Jessica’s relief. Apparently her daughter had decided not to torture her with her favorites. “She wanted to know why you weren’t answering your phone.”

“Planning a three-state crime spree,” she answered easily.

“That’s what I told her. But she didn’t believe me. She’s so suspicious these days.”

“Right?” She flashed a grin at her daughter. “But really. What does she want?”

“Just wanted to let us know they’ll be out here tomorrow night, and if there was anything from town we wanted them to bring. I suggested that maybe they could bring some dessert for supper tomorrow night. Ice cream, pie, brownies, that sort of thing.”

“Ugh. You’re trying to make me fat.”

“Right, Mom.” Emily eyed her bikini, a dark, cobalt blue that was the twin of Emily’s own emerald-green two-piece. “You’re nothing but cottage-cheese thighs and love-handles these days. It’s gross, really. I might hurl.”

“Brat,” she said mildly, and sipped at her drink, enjoying the pleasant, alcoholic bite. It was going to be a scorcher today. A real southern Illinois summertime special. The sky was blue but hazy, the air thick with humidity. Sweat was already popping up on the back of her neck and on her belly. By the afternoon, Jessica knew, the heat would be all but intolerable, and everyone at the lake would be scanning the horizon in the hopes of a thunderstorm. The campground wasn’t as deserted today as it had been the previous night, with some sites on the opposite shore already showing signs of activity. And by the evening it would begin to fill, as everyone who could get away from town would be looking to get a jump start on the weekend.

“Hello, ladies,” Jason drawled in a deep, basso, pimp-daddy voice as he joined them. He sat between Jess and Emily, leering at his sister in a friendly manner. “Tell me, little girl. What high school do you go to?”

“You sicko.” Emily giggled at Jessica’s weary tone. But she was glad her uncle had shaken off his earlier irritation. Sexual frustration had been pouring off him in waves that were almost visible. She wondered if he was aware of it.

Well, nothing like pushing the boundaries to find out. “Mom?”

“What?”

“Do you mind if I take off my top to sunbathe? Otherwise I’ll be like a bad order of chicken.” At her inquiring look, she grinned. “You know. Undercooked breasts?”

Jason groaned. “That’s a total Dad joke.”

“Dad had better taste,” Jessica said. “And yes, you can take your top off. If it’s all right with your uncle.”

“Oh, I’m sure it is,” Emily said blithely, her fingers already undoing the tie that held her top up. “He saw my boobs the other day, out on the lake when we were fishing.”

Jessica cocked an inquiring eyebrow at her brother, who scowled at Emily. “Really?”

“Oh, yeah. He was totally cool about it, though. He didn’t stare at my tits like some gross old perv.” Emily began to oil herself up, her tan skin glistening in the sun. “Most guys would have had their tongues hanging down to their knees and trying to hide their boners.”

“This conversation,” Jason said to no one in particular, “is not happening.”

Jessica caught her daughter’s eye, and they both smiled. And then Jessica took her own top off. “What the hell. I’m just going to sweat through this damn thing anyway.”

“Jessica!” Jason was trying to sound outraged, she knew. But his voice lacked conviction.

“Oh, grow up, Jason. Emily and I live in the same house. Do you think we haven’t seen each other’s tits before?” She took another sip of her drink. “If you don’t like it, there’s literally an entire planet full of places where you won’t see my bare boobs. Or,” she added with a grin, “you can take off your shorts and make things fair.”

“And get my junk sunburned? No thank you.”

“I’ve got suntan lotion, Uncle Jason,” Emily said in a tone of spurious helpfulness. She began to snigger. Soon she was barely able to choke the words out. “Come on. Get all oiled up. I bet you’ll look like the sexy DILF in a gay porn movie.”

Jason stared at his niece as she dissolved into a fit of hysterical giggles. “Teenagers. You know what,” he said to Jessica. “Back when we were her age, all Mom and Dad had to worry about was whether we’d get high on ditch-weed on the weekend. Now I have to deal with this crap. And she’s not even my kid. This country is going straight to hell. No respect, that’s the problem.”

“Hashtag grumpy old man yells at cloud,” Emily said, and laughed more, kicking her feet weakly.

Jason harumphed. Jessica smiled. Eventually, Emily managed to get herself under control, though Jessica could still hear snickers from time to time, like the aftershocks of a cheerful, happy little earthquake. Talk fell to other things. The past, mostly, which Emily didn’t roll her eyes at, but actually encouraged. Fond memories of her father, who Jessica thought would have been quietly, enormously proud of his strange, brooding oldest son if he’d lived to see it. Old movies, old TV shows, bands that were little more than footnotes. Humorous stories of their mother, who had raised four children in an environment of frazzled chaos, sometimes unable to get their names right when challenged. Family vacations done on the cheap. Summers spent weeding the vegetable patch behind the house in the morning, long afternoons swimming at the YMCA. Little league and softball. Emily’s eyes widened when she learned that Jason had been an all-conference second baseman in high school, batting over three-fifty his senior year, though when the conversation inevitably turned to Austin, she merely snorted and rolled her eyes. “What a loser.

“What?” she asked, as two pairs of eyes pinned her. “He is. Getting mad about it doesn’t change things. How many strings did you pull to get him that interview at Dot, Mom? And then he showed up stinking of pot and didn’t get the job. Or Great-Grandma Katherine’s funeral. I was only, like, eleven. But I remember how mad Grandma was at him. He showed up late to the funeral, rear-ended Aunt Sally on the way to the graveyard, and then got bombed at the funeral dinner. He’s a loser. Always has been, always will be. Too old to change and too dumb to learn.”

“Emily.” Jason’s voice was quiet, but dangerous. Jessica shivered. “Remember. That’s my brother you’re talking about. I might not like him. But I do love him.”

“You talk bad about him,” Emily protested. “I’ve heard you!”

“Yeah. But I’ve got a right. He’s my brother.”

Emily looked at Jessica. “What? That doesn’t make any sense!”

“If you had a brother, you’d understand,” she told her daughter, who snorted disbelief. “We lived with him. We have a right. You don’t.”

Eventually Jessica turned off her reader, eased the chair into a reclining position, turned over, and laid down, her cheek resting on her arm. Her eyes drifted closed. Jason watched her, his heart filled with tenderness and desire.

“Uncle Jason?”

He jerked his head around, hoping his feelings hadn’t been written on his face for all the world to read. “What?”

“I liked what you did to me. Earlier.” Emily’s voice was low. “How you took me. Hard.” Her fingers trailed down her skin to the junction of her thighs, softly caressing. Not masturbating. Not really. But Jason knew that at that age, even an innocent touch could set a person’s body aflame. “I want you to do it again.”

He didn’t dare reply, not with Jessica so close. And Emily knew it. Her lips turned up in a teasing smile, and she looked down at his crotch. “So big. So hard,” she husked. Her fingers pulled up her bikini bottom and she rolled her hips up, just a bit, flashing him a glimpse of her wet, pouting pussy-lips. “I can’t wait to have you inside me again.”

Just for a second, Jason considered the possibility of yanking his niece to her feet, dragging her into the house, and giving her a second helping of what he had given her before breakfast. But then Jessica stirred, shifting lazily on her chair, and his skin went cold.

He shot Emily a glare. But she merely smiled and gave her nipples a playful, teasing squeeze.

How long do you think you can walk this tightrope?

The day slid by, and Jason felt himself sinking into the rhythms of a slower, quieter life. Even his voice was changing. The nasal vowels of his borrowed New York accent softening into the downstate Illinois drawl of his youth. Not the stereotypical cornbelt rasp of Kansas or Nebraska. Something softer, more liquid. Slower. As if there wasn’t any real need to hurry. You had all day to say what you had to say, and being buzzed at three in the afternoon wasn’t all that big a deal.

It beats the hell out of a three-martini lunch and an expense account, he thought blearily, trying to shake off the fog in his head. The weather wasn’t helping, either. The air was thick enough to cut, and all three of them had been in and out of the water all day in an effort to stave off heatstroke. The mere thought of cooking made him groan. No one wanted to stand over a grill or an oven.

He suggested delivery, and Jessica and Emily both nodded. By mutual agreement, they retreated into the house. Emily closed all the windows and Jessica turned the central air on. Slowly, the temperature inside began to fall. “What do you guys want? Pizza? Subs? Chinese?”

“There’s a new pizza place in town,” Emily suggested. “Taylor Wilson had it at her graduation party. Place called Jet’s?”

He looked at his sister, who shrugged. “As long as you’re paying, it’s your choice,” she said.

Jason pulled up the website on his phone. After a light lunch, his stomach was growling, so he ordered two pizzas, breadsticks, fried mushrooms and dessert. “Forty minutes.”

“Rain coming,” Emily said, looking out the patio doors. The northwestern sky was growing dark, though sunset was hours away. “Thank God. The weather service says there’s a cold front coming through.”

“I hope it clears up by tomorrow,” Jessica commented. “Ashley and Mom and the kids should have nice weather when they come out here. And I want to put on a big feed,” she went on. “Like Grandpa Chapel used to do, back in the day, when we went to his place for the Fourth of July or Labor Day. Burgers and chicken and potato salad and all sorts of sides and so much booze that everyone will be making really bad decisions by the time the night is over.”

“And fireworks!” Emily was bouncing on her toes. “Uncle Jason can drive me to Indiana tomorrow. Or to St. Louis. We can get some fireworks and set them off from the dock. Not any of that weak-ass Illinois shit. I want stuff that’s illegal.” She mimed an explosion with her hands. “Boom!”

The food arrived in a driving rain, though the greater part of the thunder and lightning stayed off to the north. Still, it was enough to thrash the lake to foam and make them all happy they were inside. “Good god,” Jessica said to Jason as they sat down. “Do you really think we’re going to eat all this?”

“Too much pizza, like too much beer, is a self-correcting problem,” Jason said, scooping breaded mushrooms onto his plate. He dipped one into ranch sauce, popped it into his mouth, and sighed at the explosion of deep-fried nirvana. “Damn, that’s good. If we don’t eat it tonight, there’s leftovers for tomorrow. It will be like college. Cold pizza for breakfast.”

Jessica made gagging noises, and Jason grinned. “You did not!” Emily said.

“Ah, you sweet summer child,” Jason said, smiling at his niece. His hot, sexy niece, who he had fucked up against a wall earlier in the day. “Wait until your junior year. When you’re tired, stressed, broke, late for class, and starving. You’ll eat anything, including nasty-ass leftover pizza.” He took a bite of a breadstick, so heavily buttered and salted it was probably illegal in Manhattan. “This is gourmet dining by comparison.”

“I think it’s really good,” Jessica said. And it was. The pizza was Detroit-style, thick crust and tavern-cut, which made for thick, rectangular slices, light on the sauce, heavy on the cheese and toppings. It was kind of like eating a mobile heart attack, to be honest, but Jason had always loved Canadian bacon and pepperoni. She took a bite and chewed thoughtfully, and pinned Jason with her gaze. “When are you heading back home? To New York?”

I don’t want to go back. The words leapt into his mind without conscious thought.

But he had to. If it was just him, he would be free to chart his own course. But he had responsibilities. Employees. Clients. “Monday, I think,” he said, pretending not to see his niece’s stricken look. “If I leave early, I can do the drive in one day. And be back at work on Tuesday.”

“You will come back, though?” Emily pleaded.

“Oh, yeah.” He shared an amused look with Jessica. “Your mom made things very clear to me. If I don’t show for the holidays, she’s going to kick my ass.”

“Damn straight.”

“And you’re welcome to come and visit,” he added generously. “Whenever you want. You won’t even need a hotel. I’ve got plenty of room at my place.”

“Mom? Can we?”

Jessica met his eyes. He tilted his head. Her lips curved. “Maybe.”

“Another drink?” Jason asked later that night.

“Why not?” Jessica smiled, holding out her glass in an imperious gesture. “Mojito, Jeeves, por favor.”

Her brother sketched a mocking bow. “I am, as always, at your service, my lady.” He retreated to the counter, bending over the cutting board as he chopped mint leaves and mixed rum, lime juice and ice. In a few minutes he returned to the couch, handing her one glass while he kept one for himself. “Cheers.”

“Cheers.” She touched the rim of his glass with hers. “Monday? Really?”

Jason looked away. “Damn it, Jess. I’m not going to be some helicopter boss, who comes in and tells everyone what a shitty job they’re doing, then flies off. Some of these people have been with me for years. Ever since I broke away from Golden Apple. I owe them.”

“And me?”

“I had an idea.” Jason swallowed, still refusing to look her in the eye. “Loretta. My EA. She’s been making noise about retiring for years. But this time I think she really means it.”

His eyes lifted, blazing with hope. “Come with me, Jess. To New York. You’re smart. And there’s no one this side of heaven I trust more. You’re used to handling big projects. After helping put together weddings, managing my schedule will be a piece of cake. You can be my executive assistant, at a salary that’s at least twice what you’re making now. Probably more. And we can be together. The way you want us to be. You can live with me if you want. Or get your own place. I don’t care.” He reached out, his fingers clutching hard. “Please. Come to New York with me.”

Inside, her heart was singing in triumph. But she schooled her expression to solemnity. “Emily…”

“Bring her with you.” Jason looked down the hall to where her daughter slept. “There’s good schools in New York.” His mouth twisted with parochial pride. “Not as good as the University of Illinois, of course. But if she wants to, I can get her into any school she wants. NYU. Columbia. There’s strings I can pull. Money talks. And I’ve got a lot of it.”

“Jason.” Jessica looked at her feet, hiding her joy. So close. She was so close to her goal. She spared a moment of sympathy for her teenage self, who hadn’t known any better, poor stupid horny girl. Twenty years lost, simply because she hadn’t had the patience to deal with her brother’s fears. “Don’t you think we should ask Emily what she wants?”

Her brother’s mouth curled into a smirk. “She’s your kid. You’re supposed to tell her what she wants.”

“Says the man who’s never been married. Or had kids.”

Chapter Five

She came to him in the night.

“Jessica,” Jason breathed, not sure if he were awake or dreaming.

She was wearing the same lace nightgown she had years ago. The same white concoction which had driven him to distraction. In the light of the single candle, her skin seemed to glow. Shadows pooled at her groin, in her cleavage.

“This time,” she whispered, “we’re going to do it properly.”

“Emily…”

“Dead to the world,” Jessica said, pulling down the sheet. “And with two closed doors between us. God, Jason. Are you going to second-guess yourself to death? Are you going to blow this again?”

He put his hands on her waist. “No.”

“Good.” She examined him, from head to toe. “You know,” she remarked conversationally, stroking his cock, which immediately began to stir. “I always wondered. If you were really as big as I remembered. Or if I was just giving you the benefit of the doubt, because you were my first.”

He tugged the straps of her nightgown down, exposing her breasts. “And?”