Chapter 1: Friday morning: Sonia’s coming home

Scratching the back of my neck in agitation, I paced my office as I had done for the last half hour. I was collecting my cousin Sonia from the train station today. She was coming home from University for the summer, and I didn’t know quite how to feel about that. On the one hand, I was excited to see her; on the other hand, I dreaded it.

There had always been a soft spot in my heart for my cheeky little cousin. We got along well and were close. However, the last time I saw her, almost a year ago, my feelings changed. That was when I noticed that she wasn’t a little girl anymore, and that was the issue.

Thankfully, we weren’t blood-related, or I would be completely sickened by the change in my feelings. Nevertheless, I shouldn’t have feelings for Sonia that were anything but familial, but I did, and I didn’t know how to deal with that.

The change had come on all of a sudden. We were swimming with Sonia’s brothers in the pool at the hotel our family own in Surrey when she emerged out of the water in front of me, dripping wet and looking like frigging Aphrodite. The air was knocked out of my lungs as I gaped at her with a mixture of awe and lust.

My cock jerked to attention at the sight of her in a shiny gold one-piece costume that cut high in the leg, low at her cleavage, and hugged her curves, revealing them in a way I had never noticed before. I was completely stunned at how utterly gorgeous she was.All I could manage to think was, When did she grow up? and, Hot damn! Then I gulped and turned away quickly before either she or, even worse, her brothers could see the evidence of my desire.

The memory had been replaying itself regularly since, driving me crazy. It had also been the source of many a night’s self-pleasure. In fact, it had been doing its bloody loop through my mind again since last night. I had already sated myself several times and taken two cold showers. None of which had made the damn thing stop. I wasn’t sure if anything, short of me making love to the real thing, would ever make it stop. However, nothing could ever happen between us, and therein lay a very big and very uncomfortable problem.

My mother married Sonia’s uncle, and he adopted me, so we were cousins through marriage and not blood. A relationship between us wouldn’t be incest, and legally wasn’t a problem. But morally? I wasn’t so sure. After all, she grew up with me as her big ‘cousin’, so the way I fantasised about her just seemed so wrong.

Her brothers would kill me if they knew how I had been thinking of her, and I was sure Sonia would be disgusted, too. Even if she was interested in me, and I doubted that would ever be the case, there was our age gap to consider. I was nearly thirty, and she was twenty-three.

Also, I knew she was innocent. She had been too well-protected by all of us over the years not to be. To be honest, I had made sure that while she was at University, any male interested in her was scared off by her bodyguards pretty damn quickly. I was their boss, and they had been under strict instructions to ensure nobody touched her on pain of death. I would kill any man who touched her. And therein lay another problem. I was possessive, and I had no right to be. I pretended I was giving that order because I knew her brothers wouldn’t be happy if she dated anyone, and that was likely true, but none of them had actually said so. No, that was me, all me.

I was also a man who had certain needs and hadn’t been able to sate them elsewhere since seeing her come out of that damn pool. I wasn’t short of female admirers. I was rich, dangerous, and, I had been told, handsome. A powerful combination for a lot of women. I had tried to be interested in someone else, but I had barely even been able to give any of the women who had flirted with me more than a second glance. No other woman matched up to the fantasy that was Sonia.

So, I was bloody horny as hell. It was torture, but at least while Sonia was miles away at University and out of reach, not having her had been just about bearable. I had my fantasy to keep me warm at night. I had no idea what I was going to do when she was here in all her glorious flesh, and I couldn’t have her. I had a feeling that the next few weeks were going to be utter hell.

I glanced at my watch. It was time to go get Sonia and relieve my men for a well-deserved break. They had been with her constantly while she was away studying. Lucky bastards! Not that I would have been able to cope if I had been in their shoes. I wanted her so badly it hurt. How I would keep myself under control and my hands to myself, I had no idea.

Nothing could happen. I had to remember that. I had to keep my head. I couldn’t be around her too much. I would have to keep my distance and avoid her as much as possible.

As I headed to my SUV, I was determined to keep myself under strict control and treat her as I always had before she revealed herself to be Aphrodite. I was a grown man; I could keep my libido in check. How hard could it really be? I was a Bratva soldier, after all. Not just any soldier either; I was the head of the family’s personal security and known for being cool-headed. I was used to keeping my emotions tampered down and my thoughts well hidden. Surely I could manage to keep myself under control until these inappropriate feelings for her eventually passed? And as long as I didn’t do anything stupid, they would pass. I was sure of it.

By the time I got to the station, I had convinced myself that I would be able to cope easily. Then I saw Sonia, and my heart stopped. I swear it skipped several beats before it started pounding loudly in my chest. My breathing hitched, and I gulped. Shit. I was so screwed!