Page 1 of Wet Summer

Chapter One

Drake

“Sir, we’re here.” I open my eyes and see my driver pull up to the front of my house. I hadn’t even noticed we pulled through the black iron gates and up the smooth driveway. I slept straight from the airport in after taking a ten-hour flight. One thing after another, this business trip made me regret my life choices. After acquiring property in Europe and losing deals to some competitors, I’d left with a headache and all I wanted to do was touch down on American soil.

As much as I wanted to be here it wasn’t like I had a reason to come home, anyway. I look at my family’s mansion, and it’s all mine. Three floors with ten bedrooms and every amenity possible. I loved the home, but it was empty.

My father had his own home because this was my maternal grandparents’ home, and they hated my father after the divorce even though it wasn’t his choice for the split. My mother wanted to end the sham of a marriage. Although they loved me, they blamed him for getting her pregnant, so he was never allowed back on the premises. They left this place to me when they died, so he comes by every chance he gets, but for some reason we haven’t had time for each other in months. Maybe it’s because we’ve both been insanely busy making deals.

“Bring my things inside,” I tell Sloane, my personal driver and security. “I’m feeling a bit stiff.” I rub my neck and take the stairs in a hurry.

“Yes, Drake. Would you like Ms. Amanda to bring you anything?” Amanda was my housekeeper and part-time chef.

“No. I’m going to go for a swim.”

“Okay.” When I enter the house, my housekeeper approaches me. “Mr. Daniels, your father stopped by earlier.”

That’s odd considering he knew I was out of town. Usually, he checks in with me first before just popping in. “Did he? That’s strange since he knew I was out of town. I’ll give him a call later. I’m going for a swim.”

“Um, sir.”

“It’s not a big deal.” I waved her off.

“He asked that you call him when you had a moment.”

“Is he ill?” I asked, hoping something wasn’t terribly wrong.

“No, sir.”

“Well, I’ll just go and swim. I need to unwind after that long flight.” I’m not in the mood to deal with his nonsense about getting married and having grandchildren. That was his latest gripe with me. After my mother died, it was like he took over her nagging about grandchildren. I’d lost my grandparents and mother at the same time six years ago in a tragic accident.

I toss open my bedroom door and strip out of my clothes, turn on the shower, and wash off the grit of the long flight before finding my clean swim trunks and heading out to the back pool area.

Immediately, I’m stopped dead in my tracks by the sound of music blaring from the patio. I’m glad I don’t go free balling in my pool because my housekeeper is around most of the time, but who the fuck is in my home?

At first, I spot the sound of the music coming from a speaker near the deck with a phone beside it, but then the next thing to catch my eye is the light splash from the water. Swimming the length of the pool is a woman in a bikini. Someone forgot to mention there was a woman in my home, and what a stunning woman she is. She might be hot, but she’s trespassing. I need to have a word with my uninvited guest. Walking across the length of the deck, I see a large fucker in a suit standing hidden on the wall’s edge with his eyes trained on the intruder.

I press the pause button on the phone to turn off the music. The fucker has the nerve to glare at me and give me attitude. “That was rude to turn off her music. Mr. Daniels will hear of this.”

I tilt my head at this big piece of shit and scowl. “Who the fuck are you, and what are you doing on my property?”

He looks past me which irritates me more than it should, so I follow his gaze and find the little fucking bombshell swimming to the edge of the water. She uses the ledge to lift her fantastic curves out of the water, giving both of us an eyeful of soaking-wet perfection.

“Hi, I’m Summer. You must be my new stepbrother, Drake.” My mouth falls fucking on the floor, but only in my head because I maintain my composure.

The sound of her voice catches me off guard, causing me to shake my head and try to erase it from my brain. There’s no way I can shake the way she looked, swimming across my pool in a tight bikini and now with her hands on hips, smiling up at me while delivering devastating news.

“Excuse me. I believe I misheard you.” I reach over and grab the towel off the rack beside us and hand it to her because I don’t like the fact that the meathead beside me, who is about twenty pounds heavier than me, is eyeing the water dripping down her juicy round tits like perfectly round melons.

“Yes, I’m your stepsister, Summer. Dad has us staying at his house here.”

“His house?”

“Well, I guess it’s the family home, but it’s gorgeous. I suppose this is an awkward introduction.” She wrings out her hair with the towel.

“Where’s my father?”

“He and my mother went on their honeymoon.”

---