Stranded with My Stepbrother Chapter 129

Will

When I opened my eyes hours later, the sun was setting, casting a pinkish hue through the entrance to the small balcony and across the tile floor. The wind gently blew the curtains. If this were a honeymoon destination, it would have been perfect.

But this was no honeymoon.

I sighed. Way to go, Will. Let’s just forget where we are and fuck the stuffing out of my…. I paused. My what?

Looking down, I saw McKenzie still lying on my chest, her gorgeous, thick honey hair feathered out over her back. Her arm was still draped across my abs, her luscious breasts….

My throat went dry, and I got hard. I squeezed my eyes shut, ignoring it. I could never ignore her, however. Not in a million years.

My what? my brain prompted again.

Funny, I hadn’t felt the need to define it until this moment. Did I really need to define it? We were certainly a lot more than ‘friends with benefits’ or ‘fuckbuddies.’ Just thinking those terms with regard to McKenzie disgusted me. I also couldn’t quite say we were dating. We’d never had that conversation, and, given our current situation, it wasn’t exactly high on the priority list.

For some reason, the danger we were in didn’t make my brain any less prone to speculation. As though this was the most important question ever asked, and even if Ibrahim decided to throw us both into the desert to die, I needed the answer more than I would need water or food.

After all, we weren’t going to be on the run forever. Someday, we’d be able to stop.

Then would we stop?

I’d never thought of myself as a primal, possessive guy, but the very idea of going back to my life without McKenzie made me want to growl and beat my chest like Tarzan.

Yeah. A lot more than ‘friends with benefits.’ And even though we’d never discussed it, I wasn’t even sure ‘dating’ was a strong enough word.

My what? my brain taunted me again.

I looked down again and softly stroked her silky hair. “Honeybee,” I answered aloud. It was the only answer I could give.

McKenzie made cute little sounds of displeasure, clearly not wanting to wake up. She rubbed her cheek against my chest, right over my nipple, and cuddled closer, sliding her leg between mine, her thigh brushing my erection.

I let out a hiss.

“Mfph.” She opened her eyes, giving me a very disgruntled look. “Is there a reason I’m awake?”

“You started it.” I moved my hips so my cock rubbed against her thigh. “There’s snuggling and then there’s—”

She smacked her hand over my mouth, her cheeks flaming.

I grinned against her skin and licked her palm.

With a yelp, she pulled her hand back. “Will!”

“Mhm?” I rolled her beneath me, my tip poised at her entrance.

McKenzie winced.

I pulled back immediately. “Honeybee, what’s wrong?”

She bit her lip. “I’m sorry. I’m really sore.”

“Oh. Right. No, I’m the one who’s sorry.” I stroked her hair away from her face and cupped her cheek. “It’s my fault.”

“It was fun, though!” she said quickly. She closed the distance between us and kissed me. “I liked it. I promise. I would have said something if I didn’t.”

“I know. I still feel bad for hurting you.” I wrapped my arms around her and sat us up so she was in my lap, and I could hug her. The fact that I’d done something to cause my honeybee pain made my dick completely deflate.

“I would have given you a handjob at least,” she murmured against my lips.

I laughed. “And it would have felt fantastic, but I don’t think that little horndog deserves it.”

“Little? What are you calling ‘little’? Have you seen your thing?!” she argued.

“Okay, not little. But naughty. He needs a timeout.” I kissed her nose.

She snorted. “If he wasn’t naughty sometimes, we’d never have any fun.”

My laugh got louder, rolling out from deep in my chest. I kissed her again, slowly this time. “I—”

The scraping sound of the bolt on our door drawing back silenced whatever else I was about to say. I ripped back the covers and tossed her under them just as the door opened.

Ibrahim walked right in without so much as a ‘by your leave.’ “Oh good, you’re awake,” he said casually as though we weren’t both stark naked.

Well, I was stark naked. She’d yanked the covers up just as the door opened so only her head and bare shoulders were visible.

It was still more of her than that asshole deserved to see.

I folded my arms, just as casual as him even though I was sitting on top of the covers without a stitch on me. “You know, most people knock.”

“I’m not most people,” Ibrahim countered. “I see we should probably have the bedding laundered.”

“You’re here about semen stains?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He laughed. “Hardly. I’m here because your grandfather has negotiated for your transfer back to the States. Or, rather, back to his estate, where he can keep an eye on you.”

A fist of panic tightened around my heart. I looked at McKenzie. “What about her?” I asked.

“I’m sure I can find a use for her until her parents are found,” he replied with a lascivious smile.

It was official. I was going to kill this man someday. “That is unacceptable,” I said flatly.

“I don’t remember asking you. I think you’ll find this is between Miss Killeen and me.” He winked at McKenzie. “Nice you’re already naked.”

“Try it. I dare you. I’ll bite it right off and shove it up your—” she began, though her hands gripped the sheets so hard they trembled.

That was it. No one was going to scare and threaten to rape my fierce little honeybee. The businessman in me told me I needed to negotiate—now. The man McKenzie held in the palm of her hand?

His arm shot out and he grabbed the startled Ibrahim by the throat.

She gasped. He gurgled.

The door slammed against the wall as a security guard kicked it all the way open. Soon, five handguns were pointed right at me.

I didn’t give a flying fuck. I just kept squeezing.

“Will?” McKenzie put her hand on my arm, the other holding the sheets against her chest. “Don’t kill him, Will. They’ll kill you. They’ll kill us both.”

It took a few beats for my brain to catch up, but I finally released him.

He stumbled back, clutching his already bruising throat. “You sonofabitch,” he croaked.

“And don’t you forget it.” I growled.

McKenzie pressed herself against my back, wrapping her free arm around my waist and laying her cheek on my shoulder blade. “It’s okay, Will. Just breathe. It’ll be okay.”

Ibrahim scowled at me, but I knew he couldn’t do shit. My grandfather wanted me. My grandfather was going to get me. I was sure it had been quite costly to William Masterson, Sr. to arrange my return, and Ibrahim didn’t want to lose his down payment on a small country. Or maybe a large country. It was hard to say what sort of deal he’d managed to swing with my grandfather.

I just raised my eyebrow, daring him to retaliate.

Instead, he looked past me to McKenzie. “I owe you my life,” he said with great gravity.

“Um… then if we could take the whole rape thing off the table…” she began.

He shook his head, and I was just about to change my mind about strangling him and going out in a blaze of gunfire when he continued, “I will accept Masterson’s offer and send you with Will here. He didn’t want you quite as badly, but it’s a respectable sum. It doesn’t really matter who has custody of you, anyway. Him, me—it’s all the same. Your parents will fall on their swords to free you.”

“Don’t count on it,” McKenzie muttered. “Dad for sure will know better than that. Them showing up isn’t going to guarantee anyone’s freedom.”

“We’ll see. I think you underestimate the sad desperation of a parent’s love.” He waved at his guards to leave. They finally holstered their weapons but seemed reluctant to go.

Ibrahim rolled his eyes. “I’m following you out. You two get dressed unless you want to get on the jet naked.”

“My jet or yours?” I asked.

“Yours. By the time we get to the airport, it will have landed.” He gave me a hateful glare that I returned steadily.

“If you two don’t mind, I’d like to get dressed,” McKenzie grumbled against my skin.

“Of course,” Ibrahim and I said together then shared another glare.

“Jinx. You both owe me privacy for a shower. There’s time for a shower, right?” she asked hopefully.

“A short one. Nothing… lengthy.” He gave me an accusing look as though any delay would be solely my fault.

He wasn’t wrong, but it was still annoying to be having that asshole speculating about what McKenzie and I did in private.

“Just a shower,” the woman in question assured him.

Ibrahim nodded and followed his men out. “Thirty minutes. No longer.”

I opened my mouth to say something sassy, but she squeezed my arm.

“What’s gotten into you?” she asked, frowning at me. “This isn’t like you. You don’t provoke people. I provoke people. But you’ve been needling him since we first met him!”

My what? My brain took the opportunity to poke me again when I looked into McKenzie’s green eyes.

I kissed her. I couldn’t help myself. Then I pressed my forehead to hers. “I’m sorry, honeybee. I’ll do better.”

She swallowed, and her eyes shimmered. Was she trying not to cry? “I don’t want him to hurt you again,” she whispered. “Please stop antagonizing him.”

“Okay.” I tugged her into my lap and thumbed away the moisture. “Okay, I promise. I’ll be good.” I tipped her chin up so I could kiss her.

McKenzie kissed me back for a while, and it was blazing hot. But then she pulled back and swatted me. “Shower!”

My cock was not happy about this reminder. But I also didn’t want us showing up in front of Grandfather’s right-hand man disheveled and reeking of sex.

Ike fucking Freeborn. If he wasn’t on the jet he was sure as hell going to be on the ground waiting to dispense my grandfather’s justice. I at least wanted to be standing tall when he did it.

If I was very, very lucky, McKenzie and I wouldn’t be separated. It was just a question of how much I was willing to give up to make that happen.

I stared at her, and a throbbing ache settled in the middle of my chest.

I was in so much trouble.

McKenzie, who had no idea what was going through my mind, scrunched her forehead. “Will, are you okay?”

I took a deep breath. It hurt. “Yeah, honeybee. I’m fine. You shower first.”

“Okay.” She kissed me swiftly, then dropped the sheets and hopped out of bed, darting naked into the bathroom.

My lips burned from the kiss, and my cock was deeply disappointed I hadn’t pounced on her and made Ibrahim fuck off with his timeline. There were more important things than getting on a jet right now.

Like…

My what? my brain demanded again.

Everything, I decided firmly. McKenzie is my everything.