The Slow Seduction of Bella Ch. 01

Author's Note: This is the first chapter of a new series I plan to write. Not sure how long it will be or what the outcome will be. I'm just going with the flow on this one. Happy reading! All characters featured in the story are over the age of 18.

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The day that my wife Bella met my brother Rob was the day that everything changed between us. Bella and I had been together for five years and married for three of them. We met when she was an intern at a marketing firm where I replaced her previous boss who was fired by HR after he was found to be guilty of embezzling some money that went unaccounted for in the books.

Bella was one of the most beautiful women I had seen in my life. She had long brunette hair and doe brown eyes that lit up whenever she smiled. And boy was her smile breathtaking. As were her other assets. She had breasts on the larger side and her body was curvy and vivacious all at the same time. She was undoubtedly the most gorgeous woman in the office but she was very modest about it. I wasn't thinking about starting a relationship with a subordinate so I put aside my attraction for her and focused on the job at hand.

Our relationship had been very strained at first. Bella had been honest with me in our first meeting and told me that she felt the marketing strategies were the reason the business was struggling. Their last boss had no idea what he was doing and had set unrealistic expectations when it came to performance and procedures. While I agreed with her, some of the procedures were in place for a reason and I wasn't willing to just throw them out willy nilly on her intuition. As much as I liked her, she was just an intern at the time.

So I quickly shot her ideas down and we got off on the wrong foot. At the end of the day, I had realized my mistake and called her back into my office and told her that a lot of points she made, while not all of them, were valid. A week later I invited her to go to a seminar in Seattle with me that I promised would be life-changing. I told her if she managed to make a few good impressions there would be a possibility for promotion in her future.

Of course, Bella had accepted. She was like any strong independent woman and wanted to advance her career. She not only impressed me, but the other marketing associates fell in love with her as well. Even some of the more snobby ones that had taken me years to impress. I was five years Bella's senior so it was quite impressive for such a young girl like her to make such long strides so quickly in the field. I knew I had made the right decision putting my faith in her.

I could not deny that Bella was a beautiful woman. She was drop-dead gorgeous. We made a picture-perfect couple. After the trip to Boston, we went back home to California and I promoted her to marketing strategist. Our first kiss happened when we were working very late one night to impress a rather stuffy client that we seemed to be losing. She managed to turn it around and in celebration, we ended up kissing. It had been explosive.

One thing led to another, and we became a couple. We dated for a year until I proposed to her when we were out for a romantic dinner in celebration of her getting a job in Seattle that we both could not resist her accepting. As much as we loved California, we were perfectly inclined to move and make new friends and start a new life together in the city we fondly called "The Coffee Capital of the World".

Our wedding day was when Rob made his first appearance. I had briefly told Bella about him, but for the most part, my brother and I were estranged from each other. We were close when we were kids but went our separate ways after high school. I went to Boston to attend college for marketing and he had gone to Seattle to get his business degree.

Rob was very successful and owned his own accounting software business company based out of the city we moved to. It had been small at first, but he had caught a big break when he had gotten the interest of Microsoft and had formed a partnership with them. From there, business was booming and Rob only made appearances on holidays and special occasions because he was too busy with his growing company to see us otherwise.

My wedding was that of a special occasion where he decided to show up out of the blue. It made sense seeing as it took place in the same city his ever-growing business was in. Bella's jaw had dropped when she had first seen him. He was tall at 6'4 with an athletic build whereas I was only 6'0 and more stocky than muscled. His hair was a shade darker than mine but his eyes were just as emerald green and bright. We were similar in looks but he was taller and had more of a playboy look about him that women seemed to fall for left and right.

The bridesmaid's jaws were hitting the floor as he sat down in the front of the church to attend the wedding. Bella and I recited our vows and we were soon married. I introduced her to Rob, who whistled inappropriately and complimented me on landing such a hot one. Bella seemed put off by his behavior and seemingly found him to be disgusting.

I thought nothing of it and life went on. Rob went back to Seattle and Bella and I went on our Honeymoon to Hawaii. It was romantic and some of the best sex of our relationship and I still look back at those late nights where our lovemaking went on into the late hours of the morning very fondly.

Two weeks later, we returned to our new home in the Emerald City. Bella and I started our new jobs. Life got a little hectic for us but our relationship remained solid. We still made time for each other on weekdays and weekends when we could. Whether it was just to watch an episode of our favorite show, or have a candlelit dinner together. Our sex life remained phenomenal. We talked to each other in length every day.

The only time we saw Rob was when we visited my parents who had moved to Seattle to be closer to all of us. We had dinner with them during the holidays and then went our separate ways. We didn't have lengthy conversations with my brother during those times. He was always boasting about his software and how successful it was and bragging about his accomplishments in life. Bella would say every time that we were forced to put up with him that he seemed like a real piece of work who was extremely full of himself and I couldn't agree more. He had let his talents give him a big ego.

It was Christmas three years later that Rob decided to unintentionally invade our personal lives. Bella and I decided that we wanted to host a Christmas party with the whole family in our home instead of at my parent's house to give them a break. My Mom and Dad were thrilled at the notion and thanked Bella profusely for proposing it. I was very impressed with her initiative to make my parents happy.

Bella's parents had divorced shortly after we met a few years ago but there was a lot of strain on the relationship between all of them, as her Mom and Dad were now seeing different partners. It was my understanding they still claimed to love each other but their marriage had come to a stalemate. Recognizing it was never going to progress, they filed mutually for divorce.

Despite all that Bella invited them if they could make it out to see us. I had only met them a few times over the years and they seemed like nice enough people, but I also had to take Bella's feelings into account and be the understanding husband at the same time. So their visits were few and far between and when they happened they left Bella emotionally exhausted.

Naturally, we discussed not inviting Rob but had decided that since he was asked to come throughout the previous years to the dinners we shouldn't leave him out of it just because we did not want to deal with his arrogance. He was bound to hear about the event from other relatives and they would have found it very rude we didn't extend him an invitation. It would raise more questions than we wanted to answer.

Dinner was absolutely lovely. Bella made a pot roast big enough to feed the Salvation Army. She also whipped up some cheesy garlic mashed potatoes that made everyone's mouths melt. For vegetables, she prepared carrots, green beans, and broccoli. It couldn't be a Thanksgiving-like dinner without cranberry sauce, stuffing, and several choices of pies for dessert.

Her cooking was a hit. We owned a modern and spacious five-bedroom house because eventually, we wanted to have children. Everyone fit comfortably in our enormous dining room. Even Bella's parents made an appearance and somehow things managed to go very smoothly. The family was getting along and having a grand ol' time.

Eventually, the majority of our guests made their excuses and left until there were three. Rob explained he'd had had one too many glasses of wine and as Bella cleaned up the table he asked me to spend the night to sleep it off. I reluctantly agreed without even having talked to Bella about it, as it was a sudden proposal that caught me off guard. Lucky for me, her anger dissolved quickly when I told her I just kind of panicked on the spot and agreed to let him stay.

By then it was nearing 11:30 pm when she finished putting all the food away and wiping the table spotless. We all three decided to retire to the living room despite how late it was.

"Who wants to watch a movie?" Rob asked, with a charismatic smile on his face. There was no denying he was a good-looking man, but I could tell the way that Bella acted around him that he made her very uneasy.

"It's late..." Bella protested.

Rob laughed. "What are we, ninety-year-olds? Come on, Bella. Mark, back a brother up. It's Christmas Eve. I think you can afford to spend a little quality time with your younger sibling, can't you?"

I was suspicious by Rob's behavior that he wasn't as drunk as he had originally claimed to be. Was it all an act just so he could spend the night here? But why? Then I realized I was probably being way too paranoid. I shrugged off the wary feelings. Rob seemed desperate for the company so we both relented. "Alright, sure, Rob. What do you want to watch?"

"How about The Neverending Story? It's on Hulu."

"Sure," I said, shrugging my shoulders. Why not? It was our favorite movie when we were kids. It wouldn't hurt anything, right? If I had known then what I know now I would have shoved Rob out the door and never agreed to him staying the night in our house.

Bella sat down on our loveseat and before I could sit next to her, Rob beat me to it. "Hey, bro, can you make us some popcorn?" He asked as he got nice and comfy beside my lovely wife.

Of course, he wanted popcorn after having a huge Thanksgiving meal on Christmas. "Yeah, whatever." I reluctantly agreed. I turned on my heel, leaving them alone as Rob navigated the TV to find the movie.

When I came back with the popcorn, Rob had made himself comfortable on the loveseat and had prepared the movie for viewing. His arm was on the back of the couch and his fingers were inches from Bella's shoulder. Their knees were touching but she seemed okay with it, so I let it slide. I handed them a larger bowl that they could share and had made a smaller one for myself.

Bella was dressed in a skirt that went just above her knees. She wore a button-down green blouse that complimented her eyes. Over the blouse, she had on a light pink sweater that was open in the front. She looked pretty comfortable seated next to Rob despite her earlier protests that she didn't want to be anywhere near him with a ten-foot pole.

The movie started and I sat solo on the couch. About twenty minutes or so into the movie, Bella shifted uncomfortably and seemed slightly distressed.

Before I could ask what was wrong, Rob asked first.

Bella sighed. "Oh, it's nothing. It's just, I slept on my side wrong and now my shoulders and neck are pretty stiff and they hurt."

Rob seemed to perk up at this. "Oh? Well, you're in luck. I took a few classes in massage therapy, so I can give you a shoulder rub that I guarantee will get rid of the pain in no time. That is if hubby agrees it is okay."

Bella looked to me for permission and I just shrugged. "I don't see why not." I was indifferent at this point. I didn't think that Rob was trying to hit on Bella, rather that he was being helpful. I could not have been more wrong. The man was as slippery of a snake as they come.

Rob got down on the floor and spread his legs, indicating Bella should sit between them, so she did. She scooted back so that she was close to him but not quite pressed into him, which was a good thing, because I was a bit leery of what Rob was up to at this point. But I had every faith in Bella not to succumb to his playboy ways.

"Can I take your sweater off?" Rob asked, and Bella nodded approvingly.

Rob slowly peeled the sweater off of her shoulders and tossed it over his head behind him onto the couch. The popcorn had gone cold and was long forgotten and half-eaten. He then removed his button-down shirt and placed it over her sweater. Underneath he wore a white tank top that accentuated his biceps and showed off his athletic physique. He wasn't an overly huge, burly man at all, rather lanky but he had a six-pack from doing reps in the gym and an impressive set of muscles on him. He had more of a nerdy hunk look going for him than anything else.

"Do you think you could tie up your hair?" Rob asked, with a smile. "It will make things a lot easier for me."

"Oh. Of course!" Bella readily agreed, returning his charismatic smile as she stood up. She opened up a drawer next to the couch I was seated on that had some of her spare hair ties in it. "Never know when these are going to come in handy," she joked, with a cute little snort that made us both grin.

She tied up her hair into a ponytail and as she did I noticed that her innocent eyes were roaming over Rob's robust form. It seemed like she was noticing for the first time that though he had the personality of a cocky geek, he was quite fit as a fiddle. I think this is the moment she realized how attractive she found him. She had told me at our wedding reception dinner that her friends all thought he was a total hottie and were drooling and fawning over him, but she didn't find him to be all that good-looking compared to me. Seems tonight her opinion on that matter had somehow changed.

Bella's stare lingered a little longer than I'd like but I realized that I was doing my best not to play the role of the possessive husband. Rob was still my sibling, and I would hope for Bella's sake that she had no intentions of ever going there with him no matter how alluring she spontaneously found him.

Bella sat back down between Rob's legs now that her hair was out of the way and he could work his magic on her. And work his sorcery he did. His sizable hands began massaging and kneading first her neck and then her shoulders. This went on for a while while the movie resumed. Occasionally, Bella would let a low uncontrollable moan when Rob worked out a kink that had been bothering her the better part of the day.

"Do you guys have any massage oil?" Rob suddenly asked.

Bella had to think about it for a second. "Oh! We do. It's in the downstairs bathroom cabinet. Can you get it for him, honey? His hands are helping me relax and my shoulders are still so stiff. My neck is fine now, I think he can make the rest less uncomfortable too. Please?"

I mean, how could I say no to that cute face? "Of course, sweetie. I'll be right back." I shot Rob a warning look that told him he had better behave or else. If I came back to shenanigans he was going to be in deep shit! He might have appeared to be stronger than I am, but I had no issues verbally putting him in his place if he tried anything untoward with Bella.

I found the massage oil pretty quickly. It was chocolate flavored and smelled and tasted pretty good. We had used it on a couple of occasions when we were feeling adventurous but there was plenty of it left for a shoulder massage.

I heard quiet voices when I approached the living room so I backed up and found a spot where I could look into the room and be unseen by the two of them.

Rob had maintained his massage of Bella's neck while they waited patiently for the oil. His fingers were kneading and the two were quietly having a conversation. They both were smiling as they chatted it up. Bella's eyes were closed as she focused on the touching and Rob's deep voice. I could not make out what they were saying from my vantage point but I managed to get a little bit closer, still unnoticeable.

"How does that feel?" Rob asked, his tone sounding low and husky.

"It feels really good. You really can work wizardry with those strong fingers of yours," Bella gushed, a broad smile on her pretty face.

Rob chuckled. "Thanks. The massage classes were pretty great, they taught me a lot. I also give amazing foot ones as well. Just sayin'."

Bella laughed, a rather loud, almost flirtatious sounding laugh that made my stomach twist into knots. Were they seriously flirting right now with their witty banter? I don't know why but I was intrigued and wanted to hear more.

"Honey! I'm having a little trouble finding the massage oil! Are you sure it's not in the upstairs bathroom?" I called out, making it sound as if I was further away in the house than I was.

Bella's voice sounded a bit annoyed. "I'm sure! Look harder, please!"

I heard an apologetic chuckle seconds later. "Sometimes Mark can't see things that are right in front of his face," Bella murmured. It didn't sound like an insult, and I was sure she didn't mean it in a bad way.

Rob was smiling. He looked happier than I had seen him in a long time and it warmed my heart. Until what he said next. "Yeah. But he sure got lucky when he found you."

Oh, yuck. I made fake vomiting motions. Was she going to fall for this douchebag? Right under our damned roof? She had better not! Was Rob towing the line? At what point did I say enough?

"I think that is the sweetest thing you have ever said to me, Rob," Bella countered, with a light airy laugh.

Rob laughed alongside her. "Well, it's true. I'm not exactly very lucky in the dating department these days."

"Oh, come on, Rob, I find that hard to believe. At our wedding, my girlfriends could not stop going on and on about how handsome and hot you were. Oh my God, they were practically stomping at the bit. Maybe you just haven't found the right gal yet. She'll come to you one day, I'm sure."

Rob nodded, staring into Bella's eyes. "That's sweet of you. My brother is very lucky to have a woman like you, you know."

Oh, that's it. I had to intervene. Sort of.

"Honey! I still can't find it! I'm checking upstairs!" I called out and walked to the stairs to make it sound like I was stomping up them. Only I doubled back and went back to my special spot.

Bella let out a loud sound of annoyance. "Oh my God, he is driving me up the wall right now!"

Rob chortled. "Don't worry, he'll find it. It's just going to take him a bit longer than we expected it to."

Bella stiffened when Rob's long arms suddenly came around her body and his dexterous fingers began to unbutton the front of her blouse.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Bella questioned, with a raised eyebrow. Yeah, you tell him, girl! What was he doing?

"Bella, for god sake, I'm not going to give you a massage through your shirt. That would be silly. Besides, you're wearing a bra and you don't have anything I haven't seen before."

That seemed to shut Bella up. I watched as Rob leaned forward and that caused his stubbly cheek to rub against hers. She stiffened as his facial hair tickled her bronze skin. His fingers slowly and methodically started to unclasp her shirt starting at the bottom of her blouse. She let out a low sigh and it seemed like she was in a trance as she suddenly leaned back into him and scooted her butt closer to his groin. What the hell?