My second encounter with Emily only confirmed two things: she’s fucking gorgeous. And she seems to totally hate me.

I wasn’t sure why, but it didn’t really matter. She probably had a huge list of reasons, starting with a general disinterest in rich tech guys. It wasn’t really my fault that I found success the way I had, and it wasn’t like I just hoarded all my money. I invested tons of cash back into worthy causes like charities, laboratory sponsorships, special grants for low-income students, and other companies working on great projects. Maybe I was a jerk-off playboy, but at least I was a jerk-off playboy that donated shitloads of cash every year.

That didn’t matter to girls like her. All she saw was the media scandal and she assumed that was all that I was. She didn’t know about the hundreds of kids I gave scholarships to or the community service actions I was constantly funding.

Didn’t matter either way. I knew I’d win her over sooner or later, I just wanted it to be sooner. I caught her eyeing my body and I knew what she was thinking. I looked at her exactly the same way. I wanted to see what she looked like bent over and naked, her pussy dripping wet for me, ready to give me everything I wanted.

Too bad that was pretty fucked up, legally speaking at least. She was technically my stepdaughter, and although I wasn’t even slightly related to her, and my marriage to her mother was a total sham, it was still pretty fucking frowned upon. Getting caught with my cock down her throat, which I desperately fucking wanted, would absolutely ruin any chances I had at regaining control of Valor.

I was relatively safe in my mansion. The people that worked for me have all been vetted and are paid very, very well. They never leaked a story before, though there had never been one so juicy as the boss fucking his stepdaughter. Still, if I was smart and careful, it shouldn’t be a problem.

The bigger problem was showing Emily exactly what she wanted. I was insanely attracted to her, practically hard just thinking about her, despite it being wrong. Maybe because it was so forbidden. That forbidden aspect absolutely added to the excitement. But really, she was a whip-smart girl with a fucking gorgeous body, and I wanted to make her mine. At the very least, I wanted things to be civil between the two of us.

It was a gorgeous summer afternoon, warm and comfortable, as I walked the grounds outside near the pool. I nodded to the gardener as I made my way down the path, looking up at the clouds moving lazily across the sky.

It was one of those days where I never wanted to go back indoors. I had work to do in the lab, but I was enjoying being in the sunshine too much to bother with it. As I turned the corner toward the pool, I stopped dead in my tracks and stared.

Laying on a lounge chair wearing only the smallest bikini known to man was Emily. Her head was turned slightly away from me but I could see that she was wearing sunglasses. I couldn’t tell if she was asleep or not, but that didn’t really matter.

I walked toward her, feeling my cock stir in my pants. The girl was fucking gorgeous and the bikini only proved my theory that she had the perfect body. Her breasts were full and perky, and her hips were wide and full. I knew she had a fantastic ass and I was mentally willing her to roll over as I got nearer.

For a second, I thought I was able to control the universe as she shifted. But instead of rolling away from me and showing off that perfect round ass of hers, she turned toward me and pursed her lips.

“Carter,” she said.

“Emily.” I stopped and grinned at her. “Nice day.”

“It was.”

“I like the bathing suit.”

She tipped her sunglasses down to stare at me. “What do you want?”

“A stepfather can’t have a friendly chat with his stepdaughter?”

She rolled her eyes. “Enough with that.”

I sat down in the lounge chair next to her. “You don’t like that I’m married to your mother.”

“What gave you that impression?”

I laughed. “I get it. You don’t like me. You think I’m an arrogant asshole.”

“You are, aren’t you?”

“More or less,” I said. “But I’m not your enemy.”

“Who is then?” She put her sunglasses down and leaned back.

“Nobody. You can just have a normal, enemy-free life, you know.”

“Sure, I know. I thought that up until you walked into my life.”

I sighed. “You’re tearing this family apart.”

“There’s no family here, Carter. Just my mom and me.”

“Fine. We’re not a family. Hell, I never wanted a family. But I at least want to do right by your mother, and I need you to play along if that’s going to happen.”

“I’m here,” she pointed out. “I’m playing nice.”

“Fine. I guess that’s all I can ask of you.”

“I guess so.”

We lapsed into silence for a second and I got another look at her. She glanced over and caught me staring, but I only smiled at her, not bothering to look away. For a second, I thought she was going to throw her sunglasses at me, but instead she just sighed.

“Okay, fine. Maybe I’m not making this easy.”

“I never said I wanted easy, darling.” I grinned at her.

She ignored me and went on. “I just don’t want to see my mother get sucked into one of your stupid scandals.”

“That’s fair. Nobody wants that.”

“And yet here you are, married to her.”

“It’s only a scandal if we get caught.”

“What makes you think you’ll get away with this one?”

“I’m an optimist, Emily, my dear.”

“Stop that. You know you’re not old enough to be my father, right?”

“I’m well aware.” I grinned at her. “But I’d love to be your daddy.”

She sighed, shaking her head. “I don’t know why I bother with you.”

I laughed. “Come on, where’s your sense of humor? Our situation is pretty funny.”

“Not to me, it isn’t.”

“Fine. Let’s at least call a truce.”

“Truce?”

“Try not to look at me like you want to kill me for a while.”

“And what will you do?”

I leaned toward her. “I’ll try not to look at you like I want to fuck you.”

She blushed and stared at me for a second. “Okay,” she said. “I can try.”

“Good. I can try too. No promises though. Because I do want to drag you into my bedroom and fuck your warm, tight cunt until you’re begging me not to stop.”

“You’re breaking the truce right now, you know.”

I laughed and looked away, taking a deep breath to calm my hammering heart. “Okay,” I said. “One more thing.”

“What?”

“A little present for you.” I reached into my pocket and dug out the phone, holding it out for her.

She took it tentatively. “What is this?”

“It’s a prototype phone that Valor is working on.”

“I didn’t know you guys were making a phone.”

“Nobody does. This is the second one in existence.”

“Seriously?”

I nodded. “Seriously. I want you to test it out for me.”

“I thought this was a gift.”

“It is a gift. You can control the whole house through that phone.” I paused for a second. “It’s also insurance for you.”

“How?”

“If shit goes wrong, sell that phone.”

She laughed. “One phone won’t be enough to cover the damage you cause.”

“If you play your cards right, I bet you can get at least fifty grand for it. Probably more if you get a few tech blogs bidding on it.”

“Wait, seriously?”

I nodded, standing up. “Seriously. Like I said, it’s only the second one in existence. The tech media is going to want to get a hold of that pretty badly.”

“And you’re just giving it to me?”

“Like I said, it’s a gift and it’s insurance.” I turned and started walking away.

“Carter.”

I paused and looked back at her.

She smiled at me. “Thanks.”

“Sure. Just try not to lose it.”

I turned and headed off, wondering how long I was going to be able to keep this truce. Probably a few hours at most.