Brain Development Enterprises Ch. 10

Oh crap... My eyes locked on Aaron.

It was his post-BDE scent, but it was so different from my own. I'd thought that my natural musk had a powerful effect, but now I realized that Aaron's had been strong enough to ensnare even me. Until I actively noticed it, I'd been following Aaron's whims instead of mine. I had just been sitting and watching, weak and passive, as my women were taken. And I realized, as my will and righteous anger rushed back, that I'd been doing everything wrong since the beginning. It took my seeing McKenzie with another man, and doing nothing to stop it, for me to understand what I had to do. For me to understand what was necessary.

I straightened in my chair.

I couldn't beat Aaron Burns by being Aaron Burns — the man who would take things just because he wanted them, who would flaunt his influence and throw around his new power like a toy. In other words, I couldn't beat Aaron by being just how BDE had trained both of us to be. I could predict his moves because I knew how he thought, but I could already see I would never out-alpha a man who was two months deeper into his development.

I pushed myself to my feet.

I would have to beat Aaron by being me — the man who was a little less dominant and a little more honest, who would be thoughtful and strategic and use his strength to target his enemy's blind spots. Because the most Alpha thing I could do, I realized, was the one thing I hadn't been doing. It was to no longer need to try and prove what I was worth. It was to no longer need anyone else's affirmation or presence. It was to not need other people, even if I wanted them around. Because truly, I didn't need Barbara. I had McKenzie. I had Adrianna. And even if all of them were gone tomorrow then I would still have myself. At the end of the day, my own self-sufficiency and independence was the most powerful trait I could have.

"Barbara. Listen to me."

I said my wife's name quietly and calmly, with a new type of assurance. My suit pressed against my muscles as I moved, and it felt like armor around my torso. My confidence began to flow back, and it felt bulletproof. Even without much effort, my voice rumbled with force, and both Aaron and McKenzie turned to look my way. Aaron's expression was almost laughably surprised, but I ignored them both, focusing on the words I had to speak.

"Yes, John?" The blonde's voice was smooth and calm, but I could see that there was more attention in her eyes now as she looked up at me. Like those sparkling blue orbs were seeing me truly for the first time in the evening.

"I can't chase after you anymore."

Her eyes glanced away in discomfort before refastening on my face.

I shrugged and spread my hands. "I can't need you that badly. It's not good for either of us. And I especially can't chase you when I already have exactly what I want right in front of me." I tried to shoot McKenzie a look but her hazel eyes didn't meet mine. I couldn't worry about that. "Barbara," and I met my wife's gaze. "Make your own decision. If you can. If you're truly happy with... with someone else," I managed not to look at Aaron Burns when I said it. "Then I will go my own way and not bother you on yours. But if you want to come back..." and now I did look slowly over into her boss's face. "No one will be able to stop you."

Aaron Burns had much more direct fuel than I did for his persuasive abilities. But he was straightforward. He only knew to take and take, because that's what BDE had taught him. And he was surprised. Because up until this moment he'd underestimated me. This was the only arrow in my quiver. The only glimmer of a way out that I could possibly see.

What if the even more powerful tactic was to let go? What if I could flex my dominance by releasing my need for control and showing that I would succeed whatever happened? That's confidence, right? That's dominance? I hoped it was. Because I knew that at this point Barbara and McKenzie would end up with whoever won our invisible duel of wills.

It was a far more primal contest than I'd realized. We weren't just two men with a woman between us. We were two budding chieftains struggling for control of our tiny kingdoms. And the one who lost would be kicked to the curb, alone and broken.

Barbara's face was conflicted as I looked down at her and she looked up at me. Her hands in her lap were rigid with tension and her lips were pressed together in a thoughtful curve. She wet her lips, started to say something, glanced at Aaron Burns, and then let her mouth fall shut.

She shook her head, blonde hair swaying. "I won't leave Aaron," she said, and her face was set in an expression I recognized. It was Barbara's 'I've made my decision' face.

I swallowed. And there it was. My final gambit. Defeated.

I could have pressed the issue. I could have gone for it all and used whatever means I had to try and convince her to return. But that wasn't the point.

I had said I would respect her decision. And a Man honors his word. It's what makes him strong.

But I still felt dull and empty. Everything I'd gone through tonight. Dealing with Aaron's smug attitude. Seeing how the other man had used his unlocked talents to transform Barbara from a dynamic woman into dull-minded plaything. Watching my wife's lover make out with my date. All of it. It was all for nothing.

"I wasn't aware you were a player," Aaron Burns said, and I looked up again. His tone was almost musing, and his lean face twisted into what I could only describe as a hungry expression while his eyes roamed across my face. "But in our game, we play for keeps."

I felt my heart seize up but I forced myself to breathe easy. "Kenz?" I said gently. "I think we did all we can. It's time to leave." I didn't want to go. I didn't want to leave my wife behind. And I didn't want to deal with the possibility that I might have lost McKenzie as well. But there was nothing more for me to do here. I just had to get out while Aaron Burns was still on his back foot.

My stepdaughter brushed back dark hair from her light brown eyes and her gaze slowly turned my way. She seemed to hesitate a second, then the teenager shook her head slightly. Her eyes cleared and her full lips turned up into a lovely smile.

"Of course, Dad," she said, and she shrugged free of Aaron's arm.

It was almost worth losing Barbara to see the expression of shocked dismay on Aaron Burns's face as McKenzie walked the four steps to my side and leaned casually against my shoulder.

"But..." the man spluttered. "You... I..." It was as if he couldn't compute the idea that he had been played, that a woman might be able to resist his charms.

McKenzie tossed her head, dark hair tumbling. She fixed him with a teasing smirk, but said nothing.

I ignored the soaring relief in my chest and made sure it didn't show on my face. Ignoring Aaron now, I turned myself one last time to my wife. She looked up at me with those blue eyes but I couldn't let myself fall into them. "I may not need you Barbara," I told her simply. "But I do want you. McKenzie and I... we'll be at home if you want to come back to us."

Then I turned and walked away with my stepdaughter in tow.

Behind us, Aaron and Barbara watched us go. I could feel their eyes digging holes into my back. Aaron's eyes were lasers that wanted to cut me down where I stood. But I imagined that Barbara's gaze was almost wistful.

* * *

"Did I do well, Dad?" McKenzie's voice was anxious as we slid into the Tesla. She glanced over at me as I hit the ignition and the vehicle vibrated to life.

I didn't glance over as I responded. "Honestly?" I said. "You scared the hell out of me, angel." I let out a soft huff of a nervous laugh and I forced myself not to think about what we were leaving behind as I pulled out of the parking spot. We slid forward between rows of cars.

In my peripheral vision, McKenzie ducked her head. "Sorry," she said, grimacing. "I had to sell it."

I blew out a breath. "You definitely sold it." I tried to keep the tension out of my voice. There was a momentary lull. Then, my curiosity rose and I glanced over. "Was it hard?"

McKenzie shrugged. "Was what hard?"

I gestured with one hand, keeping the other lightly on the wheel. "You know..." I wasn't sure how to vocalize all of the concepts and theories and strange realities that were whirling through my mind. "Resisting him? Was he..." I paused again. "Especially persuasive?"

"Ah." McKenzie hesitated a moment, and then nodded briskly. "It was hard. As soon as he started talking to me at the bar it was pretty much impossible to ignore him. Like I said before. It was as if he was this magnet and I was just being drawn closer and closer. My thoughts started to go slow, kind of like when you speak in that certain way with me or Adrianna. And I just wanted to be close to him and listen to what he was saying."

"How did you break through it?" I asked, surprised.

My stepdaughter was blushing cutely when I glanced over. "I thought of you," she said. "Of how nice it feels when you hold me. Or when you lie with your head in my lap. Or how awesome it feels when we make..." she trailed off. "When we... have sex."

There was another pause, and then the teenager leaned across the center console to kiss me on the shoulder. "You know I'm not ever going to leave you, right?" she asked softly. She didn't lean away, and there was something in her voice that made me realize it was more than just a profession of loyalty.

McKenzie was trying to tell me something else.

I raised my eyebrows and glanced down into her face. My stepdaughter's eyes were wide and her face was strained. "I trust you," I told her.

She nodded and rested her forehead on my shoulder. We pulled out onto the road. It would be about 20 minutes or so to drive back home. I wondered how it would feel to arrive, to step back through my front door knowing that my wife would never be here again. To know that my family was broken, and that it was my fault because I wasn't strong enough.

Then I realized McKenzie had been silent, resting against my side, for five or six minutes while I'd been wrapped in my thoughts. I shrugged my shoulder to get her attention.

She lifted up her face and pulled back into her seat, dropping her head against the headrest.

"What is it?" I asked after a moment. "There's something you wanted to say." I tried to sound gentle, but I was on edge.

McKenzie shrugged, looking out the window as dark shapes blurred past. There was nothing to see out there, but I knew she was thinking.

I waited patiently, then after another few minutes I leaned forward to speak. That was when she said it.

"I love you."

Thu-thump. Thu-thump.

I could suddenly hear my heart beating very loud in my chest, and I focused all of my concentration on keeping the Tesla driving straight. McKenzie was looking over at me and I wasn't looking back, not because I didn't know what she was saying but because I realized the gravity of it. And I knew, also, that out of all the things I could say in this moment there were only a few right things to say.

"I love you too, darling," I told her lightly, eyes on the road. I was playing for time, but my stepdaughter shook her head.

"You know what I mean," she insisted. "Not just as a father figure or a provider. More than that. I love you..." It was obvious she was struggling, not quite sure how to say it and fighting the discomfort of revealing so much. "As a man... As a lover..."

I was almost surprised at how vulnerable my stepdaughter looked. She was watching me closely, her expression strained as she lay all of her cards down on the table. There was no going back from this declaration, because once they're out on the air you can't take those three little words back.

"As a partner..." McKenzie murmured.

I realized, as she looked pleadingly at me from the passenger side, that McKenzie had been feeling this way for more than a short time. Our past few weeks together had been like an accelerated deep dive into a romantic relationship. We lived together and slept together, we talked about our problems and we had been through emotional drama. It was like, by accident, we'd jammed months or years as a couple into an incredibly brief span.

I could only suspect, later, that being in love with me was why McKenzie had been able to resist Aaron Burns. Why she'd been worried about sharing me with Barbara. But in the moment I was too busy thinking about a different epiphany. I knew there must be reasons I shouldn't feel this way, but I couldn't fool myself. By now, the fact that McKenzie was my stepdaughter barely flicked across my consciousness. I was in love with this girl, too. Everything that I'd wanted, I had with her.

I was silent as we pulled off the main street and back into the suburbs. We had a couple more turns, and then we would be home. We were still driving between dark houses and trees, but there was moonlight and the street was empty and calm. The Tesla made almost no noise as we slid along, close to the ground.

McKenzie wanted me to talk. She wanted me to answer. She didn't expect me to deny her declaration, but there's always that little fear in the corners of your mind that tells you the other person doesn't feel the same way. Only she didn't say anything. She just watched me with wide eyes as I kept my own eyes ahead and maneuvered us up into the driveway.

I parked the car and started to get out.

McKenzie reached out and grabbed my cuff as I moved, tugging me to a halt. When I looked over she scowled worriedly. "Come on, John..." she said, her voice rising and filled with tension. "Just say something."

Now I couldn't keep the grin from jumping from one side of my face to the other. I rolled my eyes and the energy of my inner Alpha Male flared. "Of course I love you, Kenz." It felt so easy to say, sinfully easy. The words rolled from my tongue without hesitation. I don't know how many times I'd said them before, but they meant something different this time. This time they meant that I wasn't just her stepfather. I was her Man.

My stepdaughter scowled harder and her fingers curled into a loose fist. She punched me in the arm. "Jerk," she muttered. Blowing out a little huff of air, she slid from the car and out the other side, starting to circle in front of the hood.

Grin still plastered to my face, I chuckled and extracted myself from the car, hurrying to get in front of the teen. "Hey, McKenzie..." I said, holding up my hands to stop her.

"What?" she pouted, narrowing her eyes at me and folding her arms. She was just a few feet away now, so even in the dark I could see the twinkle in her eye, the smile that she was trying to keep off of her lips.

"I love you, too." It was the second time I'd said it that way, and McKenzie couldn't help herself.

The smile broke out across her lips and then she was springing forward and throwing her arms around my neck and kissing me. We were stumbling and heading for the steps and the porch. Then up the stairs we went and the car went dark in the driveway as I fumbled in my pocket for the front door key.

And then we were inside.

* * *

My jacket hit the floor of the entry. My hands were on McKenzie's back and side and hips and her lips were hot and searing into my own. Her breath touched at my face and throat when she gasped. I felt the desire rising inside of me, through my body, lighting like newspaper at the touch of a match. I had never been more turned on. I'd never been more into anyone than I was into my 18-year-old stepdaughter at that moment.

She pulled back long enough to reach up and tug at the knot of my tie with deft fingers, biting her lip and glancing up into my face with smoky eyes. Her dark hair fell across her forehead and tumbled over her shoulders and the soft purple of the dress.

I moved closer again, my hands cupping her cheeks. My tie slithered around my neck and then fell into a pile at our feet.

We went up the stairs, McKenzie's dress bunching at her hips as her long, athletic legs wrapped around my waist. Her mouth was on my lips and cheeks and jaw as I cleared the last step and moved down the corridor into the master bedroom. Her hands clutched at my broad back as I strode to the bed and knelt on one knee, lowering the teenager to the mattress. There was only the light coming in from the moon and the streetlights outside, so the sheets were a shining background to the darkness of her silhouette.

"McKenzie," I said, kneeling over her. I felt the throbbing, pulsing desire that filled me, the heat that painted lines where her fingers had brushed across my body.

"Yes?" Her voice was husky and low and her fingers were on the front of my shirt, pulling at the buttons.

"I think we can make this work." It was the final brick, the last domino that tumbled down, the last puzzle piece clicking into place.

"We will."

There was a confidence to her tone that made my heart rise, just like my pulsing manhood was rising in my slacks. I felt the familiar, uncomfortable, pressure of being restrained, and my hands left the bed. They went to my belt and then they were stripping it off and tossing it away.

"McKenzie," I ordered, undoing my slacks. "Take off that dress for me." I didn't need to use my primal charisma to supercharge my words. My stepdaughter was already wriggling in a thoroughly distracting way, contorting to unzip her dress and get it off her stunning body.

"Yes, Daddy," she murmured, and there was a flash of that enticing smile that drove me wild.

I growled, lust roaring up into my chest. I shoved my pants and boxer briefs down and away and off, kicking them aside. My length sprang free, straight and hard as a steel beam. I felt the tightening energy in my body, the growing tension in the air that made it hard to breath.

Before me, the teenager was kicking the dress away, leaving her naked in only a pair of lacy lilac panties and a matching bra. The fabric of her lingerie looked so delicate and inviting I couldn't help myself.

"Wow..." I muttered, my hands tracing up her thighs.

My stepdaughter shivered and moaned at my touch, her hips writhing. Her eyes never left mine. I pinned her to the bed with my dark gaze, my mouth playful but my expression controlled. I grabbed one tanned leg and tugged her toward me, my stepdaughter grinning up at me as she slid closer down the bed. Then, I smirked, and with a grunt I grabbed her other ankle and flipped her onto her stomach.

McKenzie's hair flew through the air and tumbled across her back, the mattress bouncing her body and making her perky teen ass jiggle invitingly. She gasped at my sudden movement, and then purred as she realized my intent.

My hands were on her hips, pulling her back onto her hands and knees, one hand moving across the globe of her ass, squeezing the taut flesh. I felt my pulse race with arousal and my cock trembled between my legs as I held myself in check.

"Are you ready, angel?" My voice was now a low rumble, deep and full and strong.

"Please, Daddy..." she murmured.

"Good." My fingers hooked in the waistband of her panties and pulled them down her legs. I gently guided them free of her feet and then caressed up her calf, settling into my position behind her. My body was aching for her, wanting more, but I let the tension build higher and higher. It was palpable. McKenzie's inner thighs were wet with her juices and my cock was throbbing, the head beginning to drip with precum. "So am I."

My hips moved forward and I slowly slid inside of her, my girth spreading McKenzie open around me. She was as hot and tight as I remembered, but something about this time felt different and unique.