even her mother’s tissues had to have a fine, rich place to land.
Daniel said nothing, but she heard him follow her mother. She crept to the bathroom—one room closer to their bedroom—leaving the door cracked and straining to hear their conversation.
“Honestly, Daniel,” her mother continued to berate him. “I don’t know what you’re thinking half the time. You brought me here to be your wife. And I live the part well—charity events, parties—but you, you do not do your part. I’m off once again tonight to a charity event, alone , as you couldn’t pull yourself away from those horses in time to get ready to take me!”
“Tatyana, I’m sorry. Just give me fifteen minutes, I can shower and—”
“No!” Eva’s mother snapped. “We’ll talk tonight when I get home. Be awake.”
With that, her mother stomped, as only a woman in heels could, down the hall and the stairs. Eva heard her calling for the help with her coat and the car. The woman simply couldn’t do a thing for herself. Michael heard Tatyana’s demands and responded. Eva heard the deep rumble of the man’s voice. Their “butler”—Eva’s mother insisted on calling him that—was kind and tolerant but Eva knew Tatyana tested his patience. Mary, the woman who cooked and cleaned for them, couldn’t stand Tatyana. She had told Eva so directly, but Mary treated Eva far better than her mother ever had—when the poor over-worked woman had two seconds to breathe, working for a tyrant like Tatyana. Eva knew Daniel often slipped the middle-aged woman extra money with his apologies for her mother’s behavior.
Eva listened, waiting for her mother to leave. Once she heard the door, the car revving, and then the blessed absence of her mother’s demanding voice and sharp tongue, Eva crept back down the hall, heading toward her room. The sound of the shower starting, the rush of water through the pipes hissing out of the large showerhead in their private bathroom, accelerated her heartbeat again.
She knew it was wrong, but she hesitated in the hallway, imagining her stepfather naked in the shower. Even if she knew she shouldn’t, she’d done so a million times before. Her mother’s or not, the man was irresistible in a way the Russian guys she’d dated hadn’t been, his age only increasing the odds in his favor, as far as she was concerned. While just as tough and rugged, he had an all-American guy look about him, one not as fierce as the angular jaws and chiseled looks of the men she’d been with back in her own country. Her stepfather, truly, remained the best thing she’d discovered so far in America.
Creeping to his room, she went to rescue the book she would have bet money he’d bought for his daughter and not his wife. She quietly cracked open the door and slipped in. Catching Daniel’s frame in the light of the bathroom, she ducked to hide herself beside the bed. She slide to her stomach at the foot of the bed, craning her neck to get a good look at him before he stepped into the shower.
She caught him, one hand on the edge of the sink, the other wrapped tightly around his erection. Whatever he’d used for lubrication made his hard cock a shiny red even at this distance. The sight of him far surpassed her expectations—even her hopes. He was beautiful from head to toe, but she couldn’t take her eyes off his cock. It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. Watching him—jaw clenched tight, eyes closed as he tugged violently on himself—made her mouth water.
She’d been with boys before—Russian boys, not American ones—but never with a man like Daniel. She licked her lips wanting to lick his skin, to taste him. As she watched, he slid a hand down to cup his balls. The firm sacs hung amid sandy-brown curls that matched the hair on his head. Her hand ached, curling into a tight fist with the need to hold his girth. Her pussy, already wet, pulsed, then tightened, begging for him to force himself inside her.
Over