I was sixteen when my father married Jessica's mom. She was only twelve at the time and wasn't much more than an annoying addition to our household as far as I was concerned. She was a shy child, and I was reaching the age where I was out of the house most of the time, so we barely spoke those first few years. If someone told me then that she would grow into the woman I loved and married, I would have laughed in their face.
By the time she was reaching adulthood, our relationship became closer, much like any family living in the suburbs of the American Midwest. While we were only a family in the sense that our parents were married, we came to care for each other, just as any brother and sister would.
Jessica's eighteenth birthday fell in early June, right before her high school graduation. I was twenty-two at the time and was home early from college so I could be there for her big day. As a gift to celebrate her ascension into adulthood, and my success at school, our parents gave us matching cars and offered to pay for whatever college she wished to attend. Life was good. Just a few weeks later, events would transpire that would change our lives forever.
On that day, mom and dad were out for a day trip. I was in our driveway, washing my new Mustang, when a police car rolled up to our driveway. I don't fully remember their exact words, but they told me both of our parents had died in an accident only a few miles from our home.
The news struck me with a giant thud.
I remember arguing with them, insisting to them that they must be mistaken. I told them I saw them leave only an hour before. It was then that Jessica appeared. Where I had reacted with anger and disbelief, she understood the gravity of the situation immediately. I will never forget her pained and hysterical screams at hearing the dreadful news.
The next few days were a blur of pain and sorrow. Only then did Jessica and I find out just how alone we really were. We had no other family. Neither of us had grandparents to comfort us, no aunts or uncles to give us words of support in our time of need. Oh, our friends did come by, offering support at first, but as the days went by, they too slowly faded into background.
I suppose it was understandable that they wouldn't want to share our grief, but still, there were very few there to help us deal with our loss. At the funeral, only a few our parent's friends and coworkers came to pay their last respects.
Mom and Dad were wealthy enough and made plans for our security in the event something ever happened to them. As a result, Jessica and I inherited a great deal of money. Enough to be sure that we would want for nothing, but they could not have predicted how much we needed the love which they could no longer supply us.
On the night that our new lives began, I was lying on my bed, feeling the weight of my grief. It was the Fourth of July and the neighborhood was preparing for their Independence Day celebrations. The whole idea filled me with bitterness. Independence was the last thing I wanted to celebrate.
Jessica had been showering in the Jack and Jill bathroom we shared. After the water ceased running, I could hear her crying softly. It was a sad and lonely sound that penetrated my own morose feelings and brought out my concern for her. I knocked on the door and softly called her name.
"Jessica, are you okay? Do you need anything?"
I waited for a few moments, but was answered only by more quiet sobs. I opened the door and saw Jessica curled up in the corner with a thick towel wrapped around her slender frame. She looked up at me with pain in her face and wet tears filling her reddened eyes.
"I miss them so much James, I miss them so much."
"I know. I do to." I didn't know what else to say.
All I could do was come over and sit next to her on the tiled floor. She leaned into me, and I put my arms around her for comfort. We stayed there for a long while, holding each other and remembering better days. Eventually she stopped crying and relaxed fully against me with her head buried in my shoulder.
“I'm so afraid of being alone. Promise me you'll always be there for me James. Promise me..."
“I will Jess. We are still family as far. Never forget that."
She felt very weak in my arms. Not wanting to leave her on the cold floor, I gathered her up and carried her to her bed. When I laid her down, the towel around her loosened, exposing her hips and thighs. I couldn't help but notice how beautiful Jessica was.
At barely over five feet tall, she has the most incredible green eyes I have ever seen. Although I confess I had fantasized about her over the last couple of years, I never thought to pursue any of those desires.
Still, there were times that I would see her in a skimpy bikini, tight shorts, or a thin top with no bra underneath. At those times, I would find myself stealing glimpses of her and noting how her body had developed. Nevertheless, I viewed her as my sister, despite the fact we weren't truly related.
Before our parents died, such thoughts had been nothing more than innocent fantasy. At that moment though, looking down at her long and toned legs, and her wonderfully curvaceous hips, I was taken aback by how alluring and sexy she had become. For her part, Jessica didn't seem to notice she was partially exposed.
When she rolled over onto her back I caught a glimpse of her wispy pubic hair peeking out from under the towel. I tried to look away, to make it seem as if I hadn't been starring at her. All at once, I was embarrassed and ashamed. 'Good Lord,' I thought, 'this is Jessica I'm looking at!'
Hurriedly, I shifted my gaze to her face, trying to fall back into the brotherly role that defined our relationship over the last six years. I hoped desperately that she hadn't noticed my weakness, or the erection that was growing inside my sweat pants. I started to turn away, intending to leave the room and to escape the illicit temptation I was feeling when she took hold of my hand.
"James, you don't have to go. Please stay, I can't stand being alone right now."
When she took my hand, her towel opened almost to her breasts, but still she acted as if she neither noticed or cared. I was caught completely off balance and didn't know how to react. Part of me wanted to bolt from the room, to forget the thoughts I was having, but a growing desire to see where this played out demanded I stay. I found myself standing there, lusting for my step-sister and feeling very much ashamed for having such thoughts. When she tugged on my hand and pulled me onto the bed next to her, I didn't resist.
Jessica rolled onto her side and spooned against my chest with only that damn towel and my own sweat pants separating us. Pulling my arm over her, she laid my hand between her breasts. To my shame, I was as aroused as I had ever been. She was a vulnerable, stunningly beautiful young woman and my body no longer cared if we were once expected to live as brother and sister. I was as hard as I could possibly get.
Up to then, I had been keeping my hips away from her. That's when she scooted closer to me and pressed her perfectly shaped ass right against my cock. For several, long moments, neither of us spoke. Slowly, Jess lightly moved herself against my erection until it was pressed firmly into the crack of her ass. Even as naive as I was, I knew that there was no way she didn't know what was happening. I was so frightened that our relationship would be destroyed by a foolish impulse, that I didn't dare move a muscle.
Fortunately, Jessica suffered no such qualms. Feeling the trembles passing through me, she decided to make her intentions clear to even my confused mind. She opened the towel and placed my hand directly on her breast.
"It's okay James, you can touch me. If you want..."
I didn't know what to say. Before this night, she had always been a sister to me. Now, feeling her silken skin under my fingertips, I knew our relationship had fundamentally changed. I began gently fondling her breast. I watched breathlessly her as nipples hardened into thick nubs as I rubbed my palm over them, their dark brown color standing out starkly against her alabaster-white skin. I played my fingers up and down her body, keeping my touch light, fearing she might reject me if I pushed her too far.
Shifting onto her back again, she silently held my gaze. In that singular moment, we dared to push ourselves beyond the boundaries of our artificial family and into the realm of lovers. I leaned down and my lips found hers in the most amazingly passionate kiss I had ever experienced. In that instant, Jessica ceased to be my step-sister and became my lover. I wanted her desperately.
In the back of my mind, I worried about why she might have decided to cross this unspoken line. My concern was that she was offering herself to me only because of a feeling of insecurity and loss. I had to say something to let her know I could love her as a brother and that she didn't need to make me her lover to keep my devotion. I did want to make love to her, but only if she was absolutely sure this was what she wanted.
"Jessica, I love you. You know that and I always will. You don't... we don't have to do this, I'm not going to leave you alone."
She ran her hand over me, feeling my hardness through the soft material of my sweat pants. Holding me in her small hands and exploring my length, she spoke in a nervous whisper.
"I've never touched one before." she whispered as she sat up on her knees, still gently stroking me through my pants. Then she looked up at me again.
"A lot of boys have asked me out, James, but I never wanted any of them. None of them interested me. You have had my love for as long as I can remember. I never really knew what that meant, but I do now. You’re the only man I will ever desire, the only one I could ever truly love."
I was touched to the core by her sentiment and wrapped my arms around her nude form. I realized that my love for her had never been so powerful.
She rested her head on my chest.
“I've saved myself for the right man, James. Now I know that man is you, even if you were once my brother. But you aren't anymore.
