Bones like a Bird

I was inspired by this photograph to do a little free story. This is m/f and not work safe.

Diana Blaine was his step sister. She could never be his girlfriend. She could never see herself as his lover. She was ten years older than he was and she thought of him as her little brother.

It didn't matter that he was in his mid-twenties now and they lived in this house alone since their parents had passed away. That during the day he worked at the fire hall and she worked behind the barista of her coffee house on Fourth.

Bones like a bird

Luka Cade knew Di's step, knew the sound of the exact stair that groaned under her feet as she snuck into the house he shared with her.

Tonight he found himself holding his breath, holding it almost like the sound of the world falling still. It seemed a moment when anything was possible, when stars could collide, when the sand below the posh beach house where they lived could be covered with flood waters that would rise and take back the palm trees, the sprinkler-fed grass...

When she might walk into his darkened bedroom and lie down beside him on his lonely bed.

Instead, she walked past his door.

He let out a breath as the world realigned to the same routine. It hurt, knowing she'd been out dancing with some guy. It always hurt so goddamned much. He squeezed his eyes shut, telling himself he could endure another night, keep his secret.

It would be worse if he didn't have her at all.

Diana Blaine was his step sister. She could never be his girlfriend. She could never see herself as his lover. She was ten years older than he was and she thought of him as her little brother.

It didn't matter that he was in his mid-twenties now and they lived in this house alone since their parents had passed away. That during the day he worked at the fire hall and she worked behind the barista of her coffee house on Fourth.

None of these things seemed to change the most vital thing for him, the fact that it was Friday night and he was lying in a bed that might as well be a twin for all the action it saw and she was walking past his bedroom door after another of her dates.

Suddenly he erupted from the bed, stalking across the darkened room in his boxers, swinging open the door so he could glare down the empty hallway.

But she was standing there, looking over her bare shoulder at him, as if she'd somehow known he would appear.

"Can you help?" Di asked, serene gray eyes on his face, her brown hair caught up above her neck. He told himself she was too skinny, 'bird bones,' she'd been called in high school, but her long arms seemed perfect as she tugged at the zipper on the back of her dress.

"Yeah, all right," he grumbled, as if his heart wasn't racing at the thought of touching her intimately. He'd have to pretend she didn't move him, but her skin would be under his hands...

He couldn't help but notice she wasn't wearing a bra under the dress. Not that she needed to. She had small, delicate breasts. He knew when they were growing up she'd lamented her slight figure, but he liked everything about her, from the way she smelled to the way she walked. Not that she'd cared what the irritating little kid who lived under the same roof thought.

"I think it's busted," he said after pulling her zipper up and down, trying to get it to move.

"Probably my slip got caught in it. Can you check?"

He looked up at that moment and her hair collided with his head. A slinky bit of brown fell between them, curling against his neck. He caught his breath.

Di stared at him for a moment and then jerked her head forward.

Just what had she seen in his eyes?

He swallowed around a dry throat. "What color is this dress anyway?"

"Why do you ask?" Her voice was husky. She cleared her throat. "Going to splurge on one for Valentine's day for Maggie?"

Maggie. Luka had to search his brain to remember who that was while he was peeling cloth away from Di's back, his fingers actually--Christ!--touching bare skin. She had a mole just above her ass that he'd always wanted to kiss whenever he'd seen her in a bikini. Just put his mouth to it and suck until she laughed and turned around and he could put his mouth on her somewhere else.

"The receptionist at work, right," he said. "She's seeing someone."

"Oh. I thought you had a thing for her."

Irritated, he said, "No. And if I did, why would I give her a dress?" The idea baffled him.

Di laughed. "Because you actually asked me the color of mine. I thought you liked it."

"I like it because it's yours and tiny."

Oh, shit. Way to be subtle. But he was kneeling at her feet and if she turned around, his boxers weren't going to hide just how much he liked her dress.

She was quiet after that until he cursed.

"What?"

"This is not caught on anything! It's broken, Di."

She pulled away and he had to let his hands drop. He balled them into fists so he didn't just give into temptation and yank the thing off her like a wild man. Di liked charming men, he knew. Men who were smooth and educated. Nothing like Luka who had always been so physical.

"Okay, thanks." She paused, looking down at him. "I saw you are Mr. February this year."

His cheeks heated. "Yeah." He'd posed with his surf board and nothing else. "I didn't know you'd seen it."

"Are you kidding? It's up in the kitchen at work." Di's cheeks were also flushed now, he noticed. "Since we're all gals, we're shamelessly exploiting hot young men in our calendar art."

Hot young men? Wait, forget the young part, she thought he was hot?

"Well, sorry I woke you up," She said. "I'll try to be quieter next time."

"You didn't wake me up. I wasn't sleeping."

Her body swayed as if she were on the verge of heading into her own room, closing the door, leaving him on the outside again. Tonight he just couldn't let it happen.

"Luka--"

"I'm not the street kid who moved in when your Dad married my Mom," he said. "I'm..." He spread his fingers, wanting her to see him. He was an adult now. He'd made something of himself. He helped people.

And some part of him knew it had been for her. He'd worked so hard, wanted to be someone she'd respect. For her, all for her.

Her eyes widened and she knelt beside him, reaching out to grip his hand. "Oh, I know that. Luka... You've come so far from that kid who would barely say anything when you first lived here. You broke my heart, my Dad's heart. We both wanted you to have opportunities." She studied him, her gaze on his shoulders, his chest. He liked to think she liked what she saw since he worked out. "Now you're a hero."

He blinked. "Did you just call me a hero?"

A crooked smile touched her lips. "I'm so going to pay for being sappy, huh?"

"You totally are." He liked the hint of green in her eyes. They were large in her small face and her mouth was a little off center, the top lip fuller than the bottom. He liked it, he wanted to kiss it.

"It feels like forever since we really talked," she said. "Why is that?"

"Maybe because you're always out with some guy. Who was it this time? The architect or the gym owner?"

"Luka--"

"Don't tell me it's none of my business, Di. We're all we've got."

"No, I don't accept that." She climbed to her feet, her dress sagging like a sail without any wind, putting her back on display. Firm skin, small bones, strong. Strong like the way she'd been for him when his Mom had cancer, holding him, letting him know with her body against his that he wasn't alone.

"Then why do you still live here? Why are we both living under the same roof?" Fuck it, he was pushing things, he was probably ruining things but he couldn't take it anymore. He was on his feet, hands on his hips, looming over her.

"It's just easier--"

"That's bullshit. It's not easy for me," he said. "I still live here because I need to be close to you."

She shook her head but he crowded her against the wall, waiting, watching her to see if she wanted free of him. When she only stared up at him he leaned down and put his mouth over hers, claiming her.

Di made a small sound in her throat and then her fingers were digging into his arms. She tasted like coffee and dessert and fresh annoyance hit him when he thought about how she'd shared it with another man.

When his tongue touched hers, she jerked in his arms, her body fully pressed against his now as he crushed her against the wall. She felt amazing, better than anything he'd ever felt, so he tore his mouth from hers and yanked his boxers down, wanting them to be skin to skin.

Her eyes looked shocky as he also tugged down her dress, leaving her wearing only her panties. One his fingers curled under the top of her underwear, moving back and forth, letting her know he wanted in.

"You're what I want." He reached up and cupped one of her breasts and she groaned, her eyes closing tightly. Closing him out? Fuck, he didn't care. Now he was in a heat to mate and he didn't care if she didn't want to acknowledge that she was finally letting her little step brother have her.

They kissed again, man to woman, her lips pressing against his, her tongue shyly touching his as he took command of her mouth. He growled and she made another soft sound and his hand moved down to grind against her mound, finding her damp through the cloth.

He knew he should slow down but this might be the only time she ever let him have her. After all these years, he was desperate. He broke away. "You're on something, right?"

"Uh, what?" Dazed, heavy eyes met his.

"I'm clean but I need to know if you're on something." He wouldn't mind making her pregnant but telling her that would probably have her running for her bedroom.

"Yes." She blushed again.

He pulled down her underwear so it fell to her ankles and cupped her, holding her gaze as his fingers touched her slick folds and then delved deeper. She made a growling sound of her own now, gripping him tight. Close, he was so close, ready to be touched off into an explosion.

"Hold on to me, baby," he whispered, lifting her high against the wall. Her legs wrapped around him. He was shaking as he took himself in hand, one arm supporting her weight as he positioned his penis and thrust into her.

It was...Oh, God...

But Di's fingernails stabbed into his shoulders so he looked into her indignant eyes and he guessed he had been clumsy like a bull was clumsy, oh, shit. His woman in his arms at last and he--

"How does that feel?" he made himself ask.

"Big. It feels big."

"Oh." He held her suspended, not hammering into her the way he wanted. "How long before it doesn't feel 'big,'" he whispered. "Di, please, baby."

"Uh..."

He reached between them, his arm burning from taking all of her weight but he found her and her eyes flared wide. He wished he was on his knees, that it was his mouth touching her. He loved to do this for her, loved to see her shudder as he touched her. "Big is bad," he whispered in her ear.

She laughed and he grinned back at her. "Big is a lot to, ah, accommodate."

But as he continued to play, she shivered again, and it was like her body was holding tight, living for every touch.

She squirmed, pushing down and he pushed up, meeting her while holding her wide gaze. Oh, yeah.

"You're my woman now," he said.

"Luka, you can't--" Her tone was meant to put him in his place. Luka the kid, Luka who is misguided. Fuck that.

A bead of sweat ran down from his hairline. He needed her to shatter for him. He needed her soft and wet and complaint and not telling him he couldn't, they couldn't--

When she was in pieces, he could get into her bed.

She ground against him when he pushed up. It touched something off so he was pounding in and she clawed his back. He grunted, hands digging into her hips. She'd have bruises in the morning; she might want to put this aside but her body would remember him.

"Can't--"

"Oh, yeah, you can." Relentless. They slid down the wall and her hands scrabbled against it. He pressed his fingers against her, tapping like relentless rain, her eyes going wide so he was swallowed in them as she came. He felt her contracting around him, brought down, brought down to his level, to his hands stained with engine grease, to the dirty things he wanted to do to her.

He came in a scalding rush, marking her, wishing he could inscribe a symbol on her soul. Meant to be from the first time they'd met. Mine.

He held her, feeling every part of her was his.

But then while he still trembled, arms burning, Di stiffened, vibrating horror. He could almost hear her thoughts, what had she done? He was her little step brother and she had let him fuck her. And more than that, he had made her come.

"Di--"

She scrambled off him. He caught her, held her gaze.

"It'll only happen again."

"No, it won't."

"Yes."

He let her go, watched her snatch up her dress. Her door slammed a second later.

He guessed he wasn't going to be invited into her bed. Not tonight anyway.