Book Title: My Stepbrother, The Billionaire
Series: The Dom's Submission Part One
By: Ashley Sands

"I want you, Kyra. With every fiber of my being. With every breath that I take, I want you. You have bewitched me as no other woman has and I am determined to get over you. To not feel this way. You will not ruin me."

MASON:
I had been burned enough times by women to know to not get involved seriously with any of them.
But one look at Kyra, my new stepsister, and all bets were off.
I didn't want to be attracted to her, but I was.
When my father asked me to keep an eye on her for the summer, I couldn't say no.
I would just need to fight my attraction to her.
You can imagine how well that will go.

KYRA:
I hadn't known what it was like to have someone actually hate me.
But Mason did.
Which would be okay with me if he wasn't so damn sexy.
I tried to be friends with him, and instead, he kisses me.
Rocks my world is more like it.
And I know I will never be the same.

This is a standalone romance with a guaranteed HEA and no cliffhanger or cheating

Excerpt:

It had been a week since the wedding and I hadn't seen or heard from Mason at all. If not for the occasional dish in the sink or that there was a change in the food in the refrigerator, I would never have known that he was there. Which was just fine with me. I hadn't wanted him around; I hadn't needed him checking up on me. He didn't seem to want to be around me either so I didn't feel that I was neglecting my promise to Ryan to get Mason out more and have some fun. The man didn't want it, so I was fine to not give it to him.

I didn't need him around. I didn't want him around. It wasn't like I thought about how it had felt to be held in his arms. It wasn't like all I had to do was close my eyes and I could hear the sound of his heartbeat as he held me. How it had sounded like it was in sync with mine. I didn't dream about how his arms had been so strong and comforting around me and how strangely right it had felt. I didn't long to feel it again.

Obviously, I was the only one who felt that way. Who had felt the connection, the spark, the overwhelming desire? I tried to tell myself that it was because I had been a bit tipsy. That I had been susceptible to having a man hold me because it had been so long since one had. It wasn't that it had been such a different feeling with Mason. That when he had called out for me to wait after the dance that I had been too overcome with my emotions that I had just needed a moment. But he didn't even need that moment. It had all been in my head, he had looked right through me as he had spoken. Saying more in that one sentence about staying away from him than he had in any other conversation. It reminded me how much he seemed to hate me, how he couldn't stand to be in the same room as me.

He had all but ran out of the reception after our dance. Giving some lame excuse about a problem at one of the hotels. I knew it wasn't that. It was me, I had done something to offend him, to piss him off or for him to be so grossed out by me that he didn't want to be in the same room as me. I could be okay with it if it didn't hurt so much. Even though I longed to talk to him again, to see what I had done. To see if we could patch things up. If I could find a way to be in his arms again. I didn't, because I knew what he was going to say and I didn't want to be rejected again.

I knew if I kept thinking about him, lusting after him, it was going to be one long summer. Instead, I tried to keep myself busy. With work and my social life, it wasn't that hard to do. It was only when I came back into the house and I would see some random indication that he had been there that it would send my system into overdrive and I would start thinking about him all over again.

By the start of the second week, I was on edge every time I came home or thought about going home. I couldn't seem to get comfortable in the house. Whenever I was in the living room with its big couch that sat in front of the large screen television and huge fireplace, I wondered what it would be like if Mason was seated next to me. When I would try and cool off after a day at work and go for a swim, I would think about Mason lounging next to me. Or when I was in the kitchen making a meal I would wonder if Mason wanted one too and if I should bring it to him.

I thought the best way to get past my issue was to be friends with him. To extend an olive branch of sorts. Maybe he didn't like me because he didn't know me. If that was the case, then I would help him to get to know me. I started by trying to open the lines of communication between us. I left him little notes asking him if he wanted anything from the store if he wanted to have dinner with me that night. I was hoping he would talk to me, come and sit with me, or yell at me and tell me why he didn't want to be around me. But none of that worked. I never even got a response. The only way I knew he had even seen them was because the notes were gone when I got home. I felt like it was because he didn't even want to see them and had immediately thrown them out.

By the end of the second week, I was at my wit's end. There was a tension in the house that was almost making it unbearable to be there. I either needed to fix things between us or me needed to move out. I didn't want to do that, not only because it would disappoint my mother and Ryan, but I was hoping to save some money over the summer and didn't want to have the added burden of rent if I could help it. So far, I had played off that everything was fine the three times I had talked to my mother, but I couldn't keep putting her off and I knew eventually she was going to figure it out. I couldn't live like this anymore and needed to do something, anything.

I knew it was a bit risky but I waited in the living room until Mason came home one night. He had a tendency to come home late if he came home at all and usually left very early in the morning. I knew if he saw me in the kitchen, he would more than likely just walk past me. He would ignore me like he always did. When I heard him go into the kitchen, I knew that was the chance to talk to him.

"Good evening Mason," I said as I walked into the kitchen.

He had his head in the refrigerator and jumped slightly when he heard my voice.

"Kyra. What are you doing here?" he asked after he looked around from the refrigerator.

"I live here," I said as if that should explain everything.

He slumped his shoulders slightly and then pushed the refrigerator door closed before he addressed me. "What are you doing in the kitchen so late?"

"I wanted to talk to you," I said.

"There's nothing for us to discuss. I thought we both agreed to that," he said and started to walk out of the room.

I didn't want him to leave and stood in his way, blocking his path.

"Why do you hate me?" I asked him. I figured I only had a little bit of time before he found a way past me. This was no time to pussyfoot around the situation.

Mason looked at me like I had punched him in the gut. "I don't hate you," he whispered.

"Then why are you avoiding me. We've been living in this house together for two weeks now and this is the first conversation we've had," I said.

"It's a big house."

"It isn't that big."

"I've been busy at work," he added.

"You've been avoiding me," I accused.

"Kyra, it's late," he said and tried to walk past me.

"You didn't answer my question," I said.

"Just because our parents are married and we live in the same house, it does not mean we have to be friends," he said.

"I would settle for civil," I spat.

"We are, or were until you bombarded me in the kitchen," he said.

"I left you notes and you ignored them. You stay away from the bottom floor of the house when I'm there. You moved to the other side of the house to avoid me. How is that civil?" I asked.

"I thought it best, all things considered."

"Considering you don't like me?" I asked. I felt like we were going round and round. He wouldn't answer my questions and I wasn't going to let him leave until he did.

"That isn't it at all," he said.

"Then tell me what it is. I'm not going to let you leave until you tell me," I said and crossed my arms over my chest.

Mason gave the slightest of smiles, showing off a dimple on the side of his left cheek. I had never noticed it before, but he had never smiled at me before either. "If I wanted to get by you, I could," he said.

He was right, but that didn't mean I was going to let him and I didn't see him using force to not have a conversation.

"Just tell me, please. What did I do that was so horrible? Did I offend you in some way? Did I say something wrong? Do something wrong? What is it?"

"It was none of that, can't you just leave me alone," he all but bellowed at me. He turned to look at me then, his eyes full of anguish. It caused me to take a step back. But even as I knew it would be wise to retreat, to just continue as we had been, I knew I couldn't.

"No. I'm not going to leave you alone. We're family now and you need to get used to that," I said.

"We're not family," he all but growled at me.

It was then that I realized what was going on, why he was so upset with me. Why he didn't want to be around me. It was as Ryan had said, Mason thought I was taking his father away from him. That my mother and I were going to replace him, or change things in his and his father's life.

"Your father loves you and always will. My mother and I won't change that," I said and put a reassuring hand on his arm.

He twisted away from my touch as if he had been burned. I felt the same way for even with the briefest of touches, the heat was there between us.

"I'm not a child. And our parents have nothing to do with this," he said. He kept his back to me so I couldn't see his face, but I could see the tension in his muscles.

"Then what is it? Why can't you just man up and tell me!" I yelled at him.

He did turn to look at me then, his eyes wide and full of fire and fury. A shiver went down my spine and in the back of my mind I told myself I had caused this; I had wanted this and there was no turning back now.

"It's you. It's you and your voice and your hair and your eyes and your body. It's your smile that can light up a room. It's your demeanor that can put anyone at ease. It's how you have invaded my mind to the point that all I can think about is you. That since the moment I held you in my arms I have fought everything that is in me to not go to you, to take you in my arms again. That you have been a slow torture for me these last two weeks. Being in the same house with you. Knowing that you are just down the hall and I can't touch you. I can't have you. I stay away because that's the only salvation that I have. That's the only way that I can keep both of us safe."

"What? I don't understand." I heard what he said, but none of it made sense.

"I want you, Kyra. With every fiber of my being. With every breath that I take, I want you. You have bewitched me as no other woman has and I am determined to get over you. To not feel this way. You will not ruin me," he said, his voice barely over a whisper.

I was transfixed by what he was saying. I couldn't move, I had never had a man look at me the way Mason was, much less say such things. My eyes were locked on his which were still full of anger and frustration. His breathing was coming in short bursts as if he had just run a long distance.

"How, how can I ruin you?" I asked.

"With this," he said and pulled me into his arms.

I went willingly. There was nothing in me to stop him, and there wasn't a part of me that wanted to. As he had spoken, he had woken up something in me. Something I had never felt before and I knew instinctually that I would only feel with him. His arms came around my back and into my hair, his mouth descending to mine. He pressed his lips up against me, his tongue pushing against them demanding entrance. I yielded to his touch and sighed as his tongue moved inside. My hands went up and clung to his back, needing to hold on to him as much to know that this was real, that this was really happening.

He moaned into my mouth as his tongue played with mine, flicking and teasing it and driving me insane. I had never had a man who could turn me on, who could make me feel so much with only his hands and his tongue. I wanted to keep kissing him, holding him, having him hold me until the end of time. I was mindless to anything but his tongue teasing me, his hands holding me, the feeling of his body pressed so close to mine.

Just as quickly as it started, he stopped. Putting his hands on my shoulders he pushed me away. My eyes were heavy with desire as I looked up at him and swayed a little. If he hadn't been holding me up, I would have surely fallen to the floor. His lips were as swollen as mine felt and his breathing was coming in fast and shallow.

I didn't speak, I couldn't. I could only stare at him, dumbfounded at what had happened, what he had done and what I so wanted him to do again.

He dropped his hands away from me and I had to take a small step forward to keep from falling. He lifted his hands up and ran them through his hair, causing it to become disheveled, a look I had never seen on him.

"Damn you," he said and then turned and walked out of the kitchen.

Meet Ashley Sands

Ashley Sands likes to read and write about taboo stories full of romance and hot sex scenes. She enjoys telling stories of strong women and the men who aren’t afraid to support and love them. When she isn’t writing, she likes to spend time exploring the outdoors with her rescue dog, Abby, or enjoying a nice glass of wine. She currently lives in Southern California where she is working on her latest taboo romantic story

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