CHAPTER 4: BROTHER'S FORBIDDEN TOUCH

The house felt smaller in the dark, every creak of the floorboards amplified by the silence. Ethan dropped his duffel in the hallway and followed the faint glow from the living room. Sophie was on the couch, knees pulled to her chest, eyes swollen from hours of crying. The oversized T-shirt she wore had slipped off one shoulder, exposing the smooth curve of her collarbone. At twenty-two she looked both fragile and impossibly alive, hair messy, lips bitten raw.

She looked up when he stepped into the light. “Ethan?”

He crossed the room without a word, sat on the coffee table in front of her. Their knees brushed. “Dad said you were hurting.”

Fresh tears welled. “Tyler… he fucked his coworker in our apartment. On our bed.” Her voice cracked. “I walked in on them.”

Ethan’s hands clenched into fists on his thighs. “He’s dead to me.”

Sophie laughed once, sharp, broken. Then she lunged forward, arms wrapping around his neck, face buried in the crook of his shoulder. The hug was fierce, needy. Her body pressed flush against his, soft breasts crushed to his chest, thighs parting around his hips as she climbed into his lap without thinking.

He froze. Every instinct screamed danger. But his arms came around her anyway, one hand splayed across her lower back, the other cradling her head. She smelled like vanilla body lotion and salt. Her breath hitched against his neck.

“I feel so fucking worthless,” she whispered.

“You’re not.” His voice was low, rough. “You’re everything.”

She pulled back just enough to meet his eyes. Hers were dark, searching. “Make me believe it.”

The air between them thickened. Ethan’s pulse roared in his ears. He cupped her face, thumb brushing away a tear track. Then he kissed her, slow, testing. Her lips parted immediately, soft and trembling. The kiss caught fire fast, tongues sliding, breaths mingling, small desperate sounds escaping her throat.

She rocked forward instinctively, grinding down on the growing hardness trapped in his jeans. Ethan groaned into her mouth. His hands slid under her T-shirt, palms gliding up her bare back, feeling the heat of her skin, the delicate ridge of her spine.

He broke the kiss only to drag his mouth along her jaw, down the side of her neck, open-mouthed, teeth grazing just enough to make her shiver. Sophie’s fingers dug into his shoulders, nails biting through his shirt.

“Ethan…” Her voice was wrecked already.

He pushed the T-shirt higher, bunching it above her breasts. They spilled free, full, pale, nipples tight and flushed from arousal. He cupped them roughly, squeezing the soft weight, thumbs brushing over the peaks. Sophie gasped, arching into his touch. He pinched one nipple between thumb and forefinger, firm, twisting just enough to sting, then the other. She moaned, hips jerking against him.

“More,” she breathed.

He obliged, squeezing harder, rolling the sensitive buds, tugging lightly until her breaths came in short, sharp pants. Her thighs trembled around his hips, panties already soaked through against his jeans.

Ethan lifted her in one smooth motion, laid her back on the couch. The throw blanket tangled beneath her. He hooked his fingers in the waistband of her panties, yanked them down her legs in a single pull. She was bare, glistening, folds swollen and slick. The sight punched the air from his lungs.

He spread her thighs wide, shoulders wedging between them. No teasing this time, he dove in. Tongue flat and broad, he licked a long, slow stripe from her entrance to her clit. Sophie’s hips bucked hard, a choked cry tearing from her throat.

He did it again, deeper, hungrier, tongue plunging inside her briefly before dragging up to circle her clit in tight, relentless loops. She tasted sweet and salty, addictive. He sucked the swollen bud between his lips, flicking rapidly with the tip of his tongue while two fingers slid into her heat, curling upward, stroking that spot that made her whole body jolt.

“Fuck, Ethan, right there, ”

He added a third finger, stretching her, pumping fast and deep while his mouth worked her clit without mercy, suck, flick, swirl, suck again. Her thighs clamped around his head, heels digging into his back. Her hands fisted his hair, pulling hard enough to hurt.

She came suddenly, violent, shattering. Walls spasming around his fingers, fresh wetness flooding his tongue. She cried out his name, back bowing off the cushions, thighs shaking uncontrollably. He didn’t stop, kept licking through the aftershocks, softer now, drawing every last tremor from her until she whimpered and tugged him upward.

Ethan rose, kissing her stomach, her ribs, the underside of one breast, quick, hot presses of his mouth, before claiming her lips again. She tasted herself on him and moaned into the kiss, hands already fumbling with his belt.

Jeans shoved down, boxers following. His cock sprang free, thick, veined, dripping at the tip. Sophie wrapped her fingers around him, stroking slow and firm, eyes wide with hunger.

“You’re so hard,” she whispered, thumb circling the head, spreading the bead of precum.

Ethan groaned, hips jerking into her hand. “Been hard since the second you climbed into my lap.”

She guided him to her entrance, rubbing the blunt head through her slick folds. “I need you inside me. Now.”

He braced one hand beside her head, the other gripping her hip. He pushed in slow, watching her face as he stretched her open inch by thick inch. Sophie’s mouth fell open on a silent gasp, eyes fluttering. When he bottomed out, hips flush to hers, buried to the hilt, they both froze, breathing ragged.

“Goddamn,” he rasped. “You’re so fucking tight.”

She wrapped her legs around his waist, heels digging into his ass. “Move. Please.”

He started slow, long, deep rolls of his hips, grinding against her clit with every forward thrust. The couch creaked beneath them, soft wet sounds filling the quiet house. Sophie clung to him, nails raking down his back, meeting every stroke with a lift of her hips.

He sped up, harder, faster, skin slapping skin. One hand slid between them, thumb finding her clit, rubbing tight circles in time with his thrusts. She moaned louder, head thrashing side to side.

“Harder, fuck me harder, ”

Ethan slammed into her, deep, punishing strokes that rattled the cushions. He pinched her nipple again, sharp twist, then squeezed her breast roughly, feeling it bounce in his palm with every brutal thrust. Sophie cried out, walls fluttering around him.

“I’m gonna come again, ” Her voice broke.

“Do it,” he growled. “Come all over my cock, Soph. Squeeze me.”

She shattered, pussy clamping down like a vice, pulsing in hard, rhythmic waves. The squeeze dragged his own release from him. He buried himself deep, hips jerking as he came, hot spurts flooding her, groaning her name against her neck.

They stayed locked together, sweat-slick and trembling. His cock twitched inside her with the last aftershocks. Sophie’s fingers traced lazy patterns on his back, breath slowing.

Ethan kissed her temple, then her cheek, then her mouth, soft now, almost reverent.

“I’ve got you,” he murmured.

She smiled against his lips, sleepy and sated. “I know.”