Boned: A Stepbrother Romance (Mandarin Connection Book 4) Read online

  And, my fingers felt as though I’d touched a hot stove.

  I started to cry, and Bone motioned at the crew who had finally gotten the tender launched.

  “Is she all right, Mr. Jaeger?” asked a pretty steward.

  She had a look of genuine concern on her face, and I know that all of them were worried not only about me but about their jobs.

  This kind of thing didn’t look good on the old CV, for sure.

  “She had a man-o-war stuck to her leg when I pulled her ashore. We need the kit, and also some blankets and oxygen. Bring the stretcher over here,” Bone ordered.

  The crew had already jumped off the launch and were rapidly surrounding me with the medical gear.

  I was moved onto the stretcher, covered with a blanket, and had a blood-pressure cuff strapped around my wrist before I had stopped my sniffling.

  They poured ammonia over the barbs, which stung more, then felt better.

  An oxygen mask was put on my face, and Bone took a towel from one of the crew.

  Even as messed up as I was, I couldn’t help but notice how the light made his hair look like gold, and his profile etched against the horizon made me weak in the thighs.

  He rubbed the water from his hair, and toweled off, then wrapped it around his waist, obscuring the wonderful bulge of his cock.

  My eyes felt heavy, and I closed them for a second.

  I tried to open them again, but now I felt tired, and so I fell asleep.

  I could hear someone calling my name, and dreamed of Bone.

  In the dream, he was flying through the air, naked and proud.

  He flew through white clouds, and then blue clouds, and then a red one.

  Then, all was blissfully black.

  I heard and saw nothing.

  —————

  “Rachel, don’t move,” said Bone.

  My mind was slowly coming back to my body. I could hear the hiss of a machine and see some blinking lights.

  “You’re going to be okay, but you had a reaction to the venom of the jellyfish,” said a female voice that I assumed belonged to a doctor.

  “You’re very lucky that Drake was there. You had a close call,” she said.

  “Where am I?” I asked.

  I remembered very little now.

  I felt small, and alone.

  I cried a little, and Bone took my hand.

  There was an IV needle in it.

  I got scared, but Bone leaned over and kissed the top of my head and hugged me gently.

  “It’s okay, Baby Doll. You’ll be fine, shhh!” he whispered into my ear.

  His breath was warm, and he smelled like the ocean, mixed with sandalwood and something spicy.

  I hugged him tightly, and breathed him in, listening to the beep-beep of the machines to which I was connected.

  All of this hospital kit didn’t make me feel very happy, but I knew that everyone must be doing their best.

  I thanked my lucky stars that I hadn’t drowned.

  The pain from the jellyfish was now just a dull ache on my leg. At least my fingers were not bothering me.

  “How long will I have to stay?” I said.

  I had a frightening thought and glanced at my hand. Both hands. My legs.

  “They didn’t cut anything off, did they?” I said, my eyes as big as pie plates.

  Bone laughed, a hearty, throaty laugh full of good humor.

  “Oh, my god, no! You’re intact and you’ll be fine! All that happened was that you fell overboard and nearly drowned and then got stung by a man-o-war, and went into anaphylactic shock. Your heart didn’t even stop! But, you did look like a fugu fish there for a bit!” he went on.

  I smacked his arm, as hard as I could, but the bastard barely felt it.

  “You shit! You little shit! You’re lucky I’m hooked to these machines or I’d…” I began.

  Bone stopped me with a kiss.

  I looked around, startled to find that we were alone.

  The doctor and nurse had moved on, when I was worrying about my limbs, apparently.

  So, I guess I would live after all.

  Bone’s mouth had not removed itself from mine, as yet.

  I felt its warmth and tasted its clean, manly taste.

  I kissed him back, and tentatively let the tip of my tongue lick out.

  He nibbled it, and I nuzzled his lips with my mouth.

  Suddenly, our tongues were playing with each other, trying to dart into the deep crevasses we made as our faces pressed together.

  We hugged tight, and I could feel his strong arms on the small of my back as he held me to him.

  I could feel the love in his grasp, and I broke free.

  “Stop! We can’t!” I cried.

  I hated my body, that traitorous thing!

  I could feel it craving this man, wanting him, wanting his seed — his babies.

  Betraying me.

  I flipped away, despondently burying my face in my pillow, fighting not to cry.

  “Leave!” I cried.

  “Rachel, what is wrong?” he said.

  He seemed confused, so I spelled it out for him.

  “Bone – Drake. You are my stepbrother! It’s WRONG, okay! What happened before was a mistake! That’s why we never did it again!” I cried.

  Now, the tears were close as I saw his face, the hurt there, the longing reflected from my own.

  I wanted him to just carry me away, to take me somewhere we could be alone and isolated from the cruelty of a world that would allow this travesty of love.

  “Rachel, Baby Doll…” he started to say.

  “Stop it! Drake, please, for both our sakes, you’ve got to be strong and stop this madness!” I said.

  I tried to get angry at him, but I just couldn’t.

  He looked so sad and hurt by my words.

  I knew then I’d have to be cruel.

  “I don’t love you! I don’t even want to see you ever again!” I lied.

  “Please, just go away and never come back!” I finally collapsed onto the bed, hiding my face with my arms.

  The machines hissed and beeped.

  For a long while, there was nothing but that, and his breathing.

  “Fine,” he said, at last.

  My heart was beating fast, and I could feel the knife starting to enter.

  “Have it your own way,” he said.

  I couldn’t look at him.

  “Goodbye, Rachel. Goodbye, my love,” he said.

  I buried my face in the pillow, my arms around my ears, screaming into the soft folds of silky material as the man I loved walked away, thinking that it was what I truly wished.

  I hated myself as I heard the door close, and then he was gone.

  —————

  I was in the hospital for two long weeks.

  I wished I were dead.

  That I had drowned and that this was my new hell.

  Bone was gone.

  Oh, I knew we’d see each other, now and again, since we were family, after all.

  I knew that, as the years went on, he’d find someone, and so would I.

  We’d settle for a reasonable facsimile of the love we knew we had just stupidly tossed overboard, in the same way I had stupidly tumbled off the yacht.

  We’d be cordial, and pretend nothing had ever happened.

  We’d maybe even send a card, or attend our respective children’s weddings, and smile and try to forget what we’d given up for convention.

  One day, we might even manage to be friends.

  I wanted to kill myself.

  The pain of that emotional knife in my heart far outweighed the pain from my crushed chest, and the sting of that jellyfish.

  I kept telling myself I’d get better, in just a little while longer.

  But each day started with the realization that he was not there, and each night ended with me loathing myself that much more.

  It got to the point that I actually had a breakdown, and couldn’t stop cryi
ng for two weeks.

  Every waking moment, I wailed my pain at my stupidity.

  When it got bad enough, the doctors gave me sedatives.

  Once they had worn off, I still lay there in my despondent state.

  Om and Moms came and went, worried to death that I was still not over the allergic reaction, and assured by the doctors that everything that could have been done was done.

  No one asked me about Bone.

  No one knew.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Lonely Girl

  I finally emerged from my cocoon of depression, and thought I could bear to be around the family again.

  At first, it went well enough.

  We did what rich people do — travel, eat, and drink and play.

  I’d discovered that I enjoyed tennis, and Stephan took it upon himself to give me some lessons.

  It took my mind off my problem with Drake, but one afternoon, hot and sweaty, Stephan took off his shirt to towel off and I saw the tattoo.

  Instantly, it catapulted my mind to Bone’s forbidden taste.

  I wanted to suck Bone’s cock, to swallow him.

  I wanted to simply fuck him.

  I excused myself to go to the lady’s locker room, and to take a cold shower.

  Stephan smiled, and let me know we’d done well that session.

  He said he’d see me the next day, and wandered off in search of another, more challenging tennis partner.

  I barely made it to the locker room, and thanked god it was abandoned.

  I collapsed in a stall, sitting there, frustrated, crying, and hornier than I’d been since the day Bone had last kissed me.

  I stripped off my soaking shorts and panties, undid my bra, and threw all my clothes into a heap.

  Then, I jumped into the coldest shower I could stand.

  The shock of the cold water made my nipples immediately hard, and I washed the tennis sweat from my face, opening my mouth, filling it with the icy liquid.

  Another flash of memory, from when Bone was giving me mouth-to-mouth.

  I flashed on Tokyo, my face covered with his slick cum.

  To us laughing as we ran like crazed loons out of the store that day.

  My throat ached to have his meat fill it, again.

  I wanted to gag on his delicious cock until I felt nothing.

  I jumped out of the shower, into the sauna, hoping to sweat the memories from my body.

  The heat felt delicious after the cold, and sweat poured off of me, pooling under my ass.

  The slick wetness of it began to affect me again, my nipples now harder than they had been in the shower, from my unbridled lust.

  “Ahhhhgh!” I yelled, frustrated and horny and sad.

  I went to the jacuzzi.

  The tiny bubbles and rippling currents soothed my sore muscles, and soon I was adrift on a kind of high.

  I thought of a woman I had seen at the tennis courts, all taut and sinewy muscles, moving rapidly across the court to smack the yellow ball back to her partner.

  Her movements were like a cheetah, fast, sure and decisive.

  I wanted to be like her, confident and strong.

  I suddenly realized, eyes closed in the hot tub, that my hands had moved by their own volition to between my legs.

  I rubbed my clit, which was hard and flinty, until it felt raw.

  I stuck three fingers from my other hand into my hole, and was astonished at how wet I was, slick even under the bubbling water of the jacuzzi.

  I masturbated frantically, until I came, shoving my face under and finally emitting my orgasmic howl under the water, hoping to stifle the noise of my desperate need for Bone.

  I raised my head out of the tub, and my salty tears streaked down my wet face.

  “Ohhh! Drake! Bone, my love! Why? Why? Why?” I screamed, and felt the knife back firmly in place.

  —————

  CHAPTER SIX

  Cruising for a Bruising

  A month later, Drake had been selected to represent the United States in the Olympic Diving Competitions for the upcoming games.

  His brothers and father were excited and proud, and Moms gave him all of her best.

  I tried to make sure I wasn’t around as much as possible.

  I had continued to play tennis, and found a companion - the wiry woman player to whom I had rubbed one out.

  Her name was Barb.

  Barb thought it might be fun to do an impromptu ‘world tour’ of various countries.

  She suggested that it might be a hoot to play tennis in a dozen or so of the most unlikely places, such as Timbuktu, or Ayer’s Rock, or Bali.

  Maybe even somewhere like a village in the heart of the Amazon, or on the ice in Antarctica.

  I was looking for any excuse to stop the hurt and pain, so I agreed we could plan an itinerary and decide where to make our connections.

  We made a great game of it, and had dinner and went out and did all the things one is supposed to do when getting over someone.

  She even arranged a double date with some beautiful men, big, burly males that were perfect for a casual sport fuck.

  But, I excused myself early, blaming the escargot I’d eaten as an appetizer. (A sin for which I will probably burn in hell, since they were exquisite!)

  Barb was a real live wire, and had lived in Tahiti, Oahu, and Singapore.

  She’d been to Everest, and even tried to walk to the top of Mt. Rainier, but confessed to not really liking to hike.

  She was a devastatingly good tennis player, but not quite the equal of Stephan (few were).

  She’d won many local competitions, and once was a finalist in a celebrity match, where she lost to one of the best women’s players of the day.

  She was also bisexual.

  This didn’t really come into play in our relationship, but it certainly made for some interesting times during our trip.

  I’d caught her a time or two in our cabin, as she was giving head to one of the gorgeous female stewards on our cruise ship as we went through the Panama Canal.

  I excused myself, and she just smiled and asked if I wanted to join in.

  I acted as though I were thinking about it, then remembered pressing business elsewhere.

  Barb laughed at my transparency, and went back down to snuffle in the nice young yeoman’s truffle.

  I closed the door to the sounds of the yeoman’s ecstatic noises, Barb happily munching her.

  I almost envied them.

  Another time, Barb was pinned underneath a largish woman, who was sitting on her face, while giving one of the male passengers a blowjob.

  I could see Barb’s eyes, and occasionally her nose.

  Most of the time, she was buried deep in the large woman’s vagina, happily engaged in cunnilingus, or maybe even rimming.

  I decided not to find out more, and again excused myself.

  As I was leaving, the man happily invited me in, and the woman took his cock from her mouth long enough to amiably insist I should join in the fun.

  I left the trio, the sounds of their muffled groans and moans haunting me long after their fun was logically over.

  My mind still wrestled with my feelings for Bone.

  He’d won a bronze, silver and then a gold in the diving categories at some of the contests leading up to the Olympics.

  I’d hear about it from the other passengers, and sometimes a newscast.

  Each time his visage appeared, a pang of loss hit me hard.

  Once, I saw him kissing a blonde perky German girl, after he’d just made a 9.8 score dive.

  I thought I was going to die from my heart exploding.

  I cried myself to sleep that night, and the one following.

  Barb had thankfully found other entertainment.

  I needed some solitude.

  —————

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The Best Way of Getting Over One Man

  One day during our trip, I tried to seduce a man who had boarded near th
e Fiji islands.

  He was swarthy, strong and reminded me of the actor from that new barbarian movie.

  He was gorgeous.

  His muscles rippled when he walked, or swam, and even when he was just looking out at the endless ocean.

  His short brown hair and brown eyes were usually covered by a funny black cowboy hat.

  He wore an interesting kind of jacket that had a lot of pockets.

  He liked to smoke these funny little cigars, called ‘cheroots’.

  He was devastatingly handsome, had a wicked sense of humor, and was very, very sharp.

  His name was Kevin.

  I decided Kevin would be the man I would need to get under in order to get over Bone.

  —————

  I set out my trap, and took my time.

  We spent a day or two, accidentally running into each other on deck, or in the lounge.

  I enlisted Kevin’s help in some nonsensical project, and flirted with him.

  I tried to gauge his interest in me, and it seemed genuine enough.

  Kevin invited me to dinner, and I accepted.

  We had a wonderful time!

  Kevin was glib, intelligent, and had some salty stories.

  He regaled me with his tales of working as a contractor for the financial industry.

  It wasn’t too boring, but when he saw me woolgathering, he quickly changed gears and asked me about my own life.

  We chatted long past the dinner, leisurely sipping our drinks, and walked around deck, looking at the bright white stars in the clear sky.

  We stood by the railing, while Kevin pointed out interesting things in the sky.

  A shooting star scratched a white line briefly, then was gone.

  “Courtesy of Spielberg, no doubt,” he said, and laughed.

  “What?” I giggled, but then I moved close to him, to let him know I wanted him.

  The ocean rocked us, and he put his arm around me.

  I nestled into his strong body.

  I felt nothing.

  Good.

  I needed fucked, not loved.

  —————

  Kevin walked me to my cabin, then he kissed me.

  It was a good kiss.

  I could feel my body reacting to it, and returned it with some fervor.

  When his hand drifted from the small of my back to my breasts, I coyly moved it back to my ass.

  He groped me for a few more minutes, expertly.