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“Thanks for letting me crash at your place,” I said.
“Of course,” I replied. “We're family now. My home is now your home.”
Still, I stood in the doorway awkwardly, not sure where to sit in my own home. Lydia's penthouse downtown was on the market since I had this home in Forest Glen, and a condo downtown as it was. Our family only needed so many homes in Chicago.
Family. Heh. Saying that still felt incredibly weird. Especially since this “family” came with a grown-up daughter who could easily pass for my girlfriend, given the relatively minor age difference between us.
She went to school at Agnes Bouvier University, a private all-female college on the outskirts of Chicago. It was a premier liberal arts and science college that had an impressive history. When Lydia first mentioned she had a daughter at ABU, I assumed she was a quiet, bookish type. The typical nerdy girl. Instead, she was – well – Ember. Nothing quiet, bookish, or nerdy about her.
Ember's auburn hair cascaded around her shoulders like liquid fire. It looked hot to the touch, trailing along the pale coolness of her skin. A line of freckles dotted her nose and cheeks, giving her an impish look. While her face appeared young, her body was all woman beneath her sundress. The sweetheart neckline accentuated the full mounds of her breasts, giving a glimpse of heaven without showing too much.
Everything about her was stunning. She was a goddess. The type of women I'd have walked over hot coals to be with.
She was also my stepdaughter – and I was a married man now. I shouldn't be having such thoughts about another woman now, let alone my new wife's daughter.
“Jude?” Lydia said, her head cocked to the side as she grinned up at me. “Are you going to stand there all day? Have a seat. It's your own home for God sake!”
I blinked a few times and gave my head a small shake, forcing myself to come back to reality.
“I'm tired,” I said. “I think I'm going to rest for a bit.”
Lydia nodded, turning back to her daughter. Ember met my eyes and I held her gaze for a long moment. There was a stirring in my pants, and I felt guilty for the involuntary reaction.
Cursing myself, I hurried up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Do not think about your stepdaughter, Jude. Especially not her lovely, alabaster skin and... fuck, me.
A cold shower. That's what I needed. A nice, cold shower to take my mind off the redhead downstairs. Thankfully, she'd only be here for the summer. I just had to get through a few months of her walking around in her low-cut dresses, and it would be smooth sailing after that.
Another thought hit me though – hard. A thought that left me reeling with guilt. Lydia, while beautiful and charming, was not the woman I thought she was. Ever since the wedding, she'd been distant, almost uninterested in anything but shopping and traveling. The honeymoon wasn't a typical honeymoon – not one Ember would have been embarrassed to hear about, at least.
I stepped into the master shower, the one large enough to fit two or three other people and turned the water on. I shivered as cold water washed over my skin, and I scrubbed off all my impure thoughts about Ember, and all my doubts about my new wife. My wife. Wow. The last few months had been a blur, and I wasn't even sure how I got to the point of having a wife and a stepdaughter. But, there we were.
The cold water was helping. My erection was slowly going away and I breathed a sigh of relief. I feared though, that there'd be many, many more cold showers in my future.
The bedroom door opened and closed suddenly, startling me. Turning off the water, I grabbed a towel and peeked out. Lydia was digging through her suitcases, since she hadn't unpacked a thing from the honeymoon yet – and technically most of her things were still at the penthouse. She caught me staring and turned away quickly.
“I'm looking for my bikini,” she said. “Ember and I are going to take a dip in the pool, if you'd like to join us?”
Ember in a bikini? Though incredibly tempting, I knew that wouldn't go over well for any of us.
“No, I think I'm going to get rest,” I said, clearing my throat. “Then, I need to get some work done.”
“You sure? I really want you two to bond,” she said, pulling out her swimsuit, scowling down at it. “I really need to get a new one.”
“You just bought that one for the Maldives,” I said. “It's beautiful.”
She shot me an exasperated look before slipping into the walk-in closet to change.
“Oh, and don't worry,” I called after her. “I'll get to know Ember better. Just not today. We've got a whole summer to bond.”
“Sure, okay,” she said.
“Are you upset with me?
Lydia stepped out of the closet wearing her gold and white bikini, showing off her petite figure, and I felt an approving stirring in my groin. It was hard to believe she was fifteen years older than me sometimes. Especially with a figure like that. She caught me staring and smiled.
“No, not mad. Just disappointed,” she said. “I was really hoping we could hang out, Jude.”
I sighed. It was way too early to get into an argument, especially over something that was genuinely my fault. I was married to Ember's mom and I'd need to find a way to make this work. For better or worse, right? Well, they said nothing in my vows about super-hot stepdaughters, which was intriguing and yet incredibly problematic.
