Welcome to the Family

Summer. Finally, the fucking summer. Nicholas Radin was flying down the highway, doing well over the speed limit and no doubt a target of any police that may be lurking about given the convertible blue BMW Z3 he was driving. But the sun was out, the top was down, for almost three full months, he was free of school, free of deadlines and thesis papers and all the goddamned writing and research that went into getting an advanced psychology degree.

Thanks to all the work he was buried in he hadn't been home since the end of last summer, missing every possible holiday whether major or minor, along with some birthdays and, apparently, some other events his dad was planning to surprise him with when he got home. Richard, his father, refused to tell him over the phone, though he suspected it was news of a new promotion - although what you became after the Chief Financial Officer for a major multinational corporation, he had no idea - along with a new raise and, eventually, an even bigger house. It seemed an unnecessary expense, given the size of their current house and the fact that his dad was rarely there as it was, but since Nick's mom had died when he was eight, his dad didn't have much else besides Nick to spend money on. Sure, they had a summer house, a ski cabin, and other random and expensive toys, but it was all stuff that just sat 90% of the time waiting for them to show up, use it for a week or two, and then leave to go use some other expensive toy for a bit.

Still, whatever the news, it would be nice to see his dad. He probably wouldn't admit it, at least not freely, but he did miss the old guy when he didn't see him. He smirked at that thought, glancing at his eyes in the rear view mirror. His dad, now in his late 40's, looked almost like he could be Nick's brother more than his father. Maybe it was genes, maybe it was just having more money than they knew what to do with, but the men in his family seemed to age incredibly well. Both he and his father had light brown, almost blond hair, and both were pretty tall, although at 6'3" (1.9m), he came out about two inches taller than his dad. Both men were in good shape, although his dad only played regular tennis while Nick had been rowing for a number of years now, so he was in pretty exceptional shape with the muscles in almost the entirety of his body well defined. He had some friends at home he planned to meet up with occasionally and do some rowing with, and he'd be making good use of the rowing machine and other workout equipment in the basement over the summer, but he was even taking time off from actual competition. The coming year was going to be a difficult one, and all he wanted this summer was to relax, unwind, maybe meet a girl to spend some quality time with, and just exist for a while.

And the time to start doing that was about to be upon him. The trip down the last mile of their two-lane, wooded road was a quick one, and in no time he was pulling into the circle drive of the large house. He glanced at the time and, noting it was only 3:30 in the afternoon, didn't expect his father would be home yet. It would at least give him a chance to unpack a little and settle in some, maybe get in a quick workout before his father came home and the excitement of this mysterious news descended upon them.

Turning off the car, he stepped out and stretched, feeling the hours spent driving in his legs and back, and then took a deep breath of the clean, crisp air. The land their house sat on was huge, with large open fields surrounded by thick woods, and the air out here always seemed so fresh and never ending, like he could breath it in forever and never need to exhale. It was refreshing.

Grabbing his back from the back seat of the car, he let out the deep breath and pushed his sunglasses up onto his forehead as he headed for the front door...

When she had met him, 25 year old Ava had been a modest C cup, escorting under the name of Honey.

"I've never done this before." Richard had breathed in the same way that many men had lied to her. His lack of self assurance given his obvious success was disarming however. By their third encounter he was hooked on her. Richard booked 'Honey' for the whole overnight and most of that consisted of a meal out and the theatre. He was good company and easy money and Ava quickly relaxed around him.

"I'm actually quite lonely." He told her, explaining how he had lost his wife and how he had failed to make subsequent relationships work because of his hectic work schedule and the frequent travel it required. "I'm going to Singapore next month, on business" He told her. "You got a passport?"

Ava feigned family problems with her booker and accompanied Richard to Singapore, where they spent three weeks behaving like newlyweds. He was charming, sincere and undemanding. Despite herself, Ava developed quite the soft spot for him, cosseting and spoiling him. When they returned home he announced that he didn't want to let her go.

"Would I be totally insane to give us a shot... a real shot?"

Probably... but I'd have to be insane to turn you down Ava thought.

Richard wanted her to stop escorting, so he rented a beautiful penthouse apartment for her and provided a generous allowance. Ava was able to groom herself for him like an A list star, she was always at his beck and call and Richard swiftly became smitten. It was easy to pretend she loved him because he was a genuinely nice guy. Did she want to escort all her life or settle down with a handsome, charming and successful man who travelled the world and never once reproached her for the way they'd met? Ava wanted to believe herself in love with him and she was so practised at play-acting by that time that for a while she even deluded herself.

When he proposed to her she accepted happily, even though by that time she knew that all she felt for Richard was affection and duty. Ava was sick of being the whore, the mistress and she was enamoured of the idea of becoming Mrs Richard Radin. His home badly needed a woman's touch and so would he as his years advanced. They were lying together in his plush bed in the afterglow of gentle lovemaking when Ava quietly asked how Nicholas would react. There were pictures of him all over the house, as well as shots of the family together before Nicholas' mother had passed. Richard pulled her close and murmured that Nicholas was a good boy who would want to see his father happy.

Richard said he had invited Nicholas to their wedding but it had clashed with an internship of his. Ava had seen no card or gift from him but she held her peace. If Richard was disappointed he gave no sign and when Ava mentioned his son he was unconvincingly jovial.

Now the academic year was over and Nicholas was due home. Richard and Ava had been an item for six months and married for three. She had turned 26 in that time but Ava was a petite thing at 5ft 3 and she looked far younger. Her tits had been Richard's gift to her on their engagement, when he could be confident that only he would enjoy them. Ava had allowed Richard to dictate what he wanted and now she had these huge boobs that pained her back if she wasn't wearing a supportive enough bra. They were the best money could buy but they were still big and heavy. Richard loved sliding his cock between them.


Ava had been shopping that day and she was in the master bedroom trying on her latest gift for her husband, it was a hot little one-piece that she teemed with sheer hold up stockings. Ava stepped into a pair of heels and preened in front of the mirror.

The front door opened and closed. The security alarm was disabled, Ava heard the code being punched in. It had to be her husband and his timing was perfect. Ava ran a fingernail over her clit and stalked out towards onto the landing.

"What are you doing home at this hour Richard?" She purred, sashaying into view at the top of the stairs, her back arched and her ass high.

Ava flicked her hair and her dark eyes focused on figure downstairs in the hallway.

"Nicholas! Oh God!" Ava scampered out of sight with far less grace and tottered back into the bedroom on her heels. She stripped off her lingerie as fast as she could and pulled on regular undies, jeans and a sweater. It took everything she had to make herself go downstairs and greet him. Ava smiled sheepishly at the lad, who she found raiding the fridge.

"Hello Nicholas, I am Ava."

It was obvious that she expected him to know who she was.

Nicholas didn't call out, since he didn't remotely expect anyone to be there, and so he was surprised when he heard footsteps coming towards the top of the stairs. Flipping up the flap over the security keypad, he turned and opened his mouth to greet his dad, and was instead met with a scantily clad and rather large breasted woman who seemed as surprised to see him as he was to see her.

A million questions would normally come to mind in this situation - things like, Who on earth are you? and Did you just say my dad's name? - but instead, it was as if a cork had been pulled in his brain and all the thoughts were slowly being drained out. His eyes bugged out a bit, both at the sight of the barely-dressed woman and at the rather inviting shape of her, and as turned and ran off, displaying a finely toned ass in the process, the only thing Nicholas could say, and almost entirely to himself, was, "...the fuck?"

Once she'd been gone for a moment and his mind had time to refill with anything approaching constructive thoughts, he shook his head and laughed a little, slowly piecing together the idea that she was there for his dad, probably some new arm candy he would rarely, but occasionally, spend some time with before she got tired of him never being around, and he got tired of her complaining about never being around and they went their separate ways. He'd learned long ago not to get too used to them because they didn't stick around long, and so after the initial shock of her greeting wore off, he was slightly more annoyed than anything else that his dad apparently wasn't home, and she'd probably want to get to know him and increase her chances of sticking around longer with The Guy With All The Money.

Tossing his bag onto a small bench in the entrance hall, he wandered into the kitchen and pulled open the large, stainless steel fridge, his eyes aimlessly wandering over what was found inside. Grabbing an orange from a shelf while absently thinking to himself Why are they always so much better when cold?, he closed the door to the fridge as she appeared once more, this time wearing actual clothes... though, let's face it, when your breasts were as large as hers, no amount of sweater was going to be hiding them.

She introduced herself and he nodded, heading towards the trash can in the corner to drop the peel into as his fingers dug into the orange.

"Hey Ava, I'm Nicholas. I hope dad told you I'd be coming home..." he chuckled again, able to focus more now in his mind on the look on her face upon seeing him and less on the way her body was exposed, "Sorry to disappoint, but you'll figure out if you spend enough time with him that he's home late far more often than he is early." His fingers continue to work the peel off the orange, dropping bits into the trash can in front of him as he spoke to her, and for the first time since she'd come into the kitchen he turned his gaze back on her as he asked, "So how long have you and my dad known-" his words were cut short as the large rock on her ring caught the sunlight in the room and drew his attention, and his fingers froze on the orange as things fell swiftly into place in his mind.

"Is that a wedding ring? Did you... did he marry you?"

Ava thought she was going to giggle aloud as she watched Nicholas trying valiantly not to stare at her tits. It was tempting to fold her arms across her chest and see how hard he tried not to look. Ava quickly realised however that her son in law had no idea who she was and all thoughts of teasing vanished.

'Did he marry you?' Was he fucking kidding?

"Yes." She replied simply, her tone cooling. "Three months ago. Your father told me he had invited you. Did he really not say a word?"

Anger flared beneath Ava's incredible tits. Did this mean Richard was ashamed of her? He had made her into a fucking barbie doll and yet he hadn't the stones to tell his own son he was marrying her? Nicholas hadn't even known they'd been dating. How could Richard be so spineless? Maybe the marriage wasn't a big deal to him, maybe he didn't even consider her a permanent fixture. Doubt clouded Ava's mind but aside from her obvious shock, she let none of it show on her face.

"Well this is awkward." She raised a well groomed brow and then smiled at Nicholas mischievously. He looked so like his father but younger and hotter. She wondered if he was toned beneath his shirt.

Ava Radin that's your fucking son in law! Behave.

"Well it looks like we'll have to get to know one another without his help. Richard has told me a lot about you. He has missed you a great deal this year." Ava tried to make it clear she wasn't just brainless arm candy and that she expected Nicholas to respect her as his father's wife. "Consuela isn't working today, can I fix you something?"

It was surreal, treating a young man her own age like a surrogate son but Ava could see no other option.

Three months ago? Once again, the words he said when he first saw Ava (much, much more of Ava, in fact) were whispered across his lips, and again said mostly to himself. "...the fuck?" He shook his head in silent answer to her question, and forced his eyes back onto the orange in his hands, which almost had the full peel removed. He forced his fingers to start working again, his mind rushing to catch up with what was happening around him. The realization that his relaxing summer was probably in danger of significant changes hadn't even occurred to him yet.

"No, he..." his words trailed off, brow furrowed as he dropped the last of the orange peel in the trash can and turned so he was facing her, leaning back against the counter. His gaze moved back to her, and despite the insanity of the situation he now found himself in, it was still a struggle to keep his eyes above her neck. His fingers dug into the orange, pulling it into pieces.

"If he did, I didn't see it. I guess if he's told you a lot about me then you know I'm in school, so we don't talk much when I'm gone. I guess you know how busy he is, and between school and rowing there's barely time to sleep, much less to catch up on what's going on around here. Although there usually isn't this much to catch up on... Three months, you said?" The pace of his speech was increasing gradually with each new word, and he barely stopped for breath as his lips kept pace with the rapid-fire rambling going on in his mind. "That would've been, like.. May, I think? April? Something like that. I was in the middle of a huge research paper then, so he probably knew I wouldn't be able to come even if I had wanted to. Not that I wouldn't want to, I mean, he's my dad, right? Of course I would. Although I wouldn't expect..." and finally, his words trailed off, stopped altogether, and he popped a slice of orange in his mouth, watching her silently as he ate it.

"Huh," he finally said after swallowing, "Ava, right? I'll just.. have a cup of tea, I guess. If you're making some. I'd imagine he still keeps some green in the house." He popped another orange slice in his mouth and looked at the floor near his feet, chewing thoughtfully. After swallowing, he shook his head again, still processing, and simply said, "Three months. Wow."

Another slight shake of the head, and he lifted his gaze back to her, studying her for a second before he hopped up so he was sitting on the edge of the counter. "So, I guess we'd better start with the elephant in the room, yeah? How old are you? Please say at least you're older than me..." The last was said with a slightly raised eyebrow, and he bit into another slice of orange as he waited for the answer.

Ava turned away from him and filled the kettle, suddenly colouring. She had known Richard had a young son but she hadn't considered the possibility that he might actually be older than her. Ava hadn't felt at all weird marrying a man so much older than she was, right up until Nicholas walked through the door.

"I'm twenty-six." She replied, rummaging through a cupboard for the green tea. She deliberately kept her distance from Nicholas while she made the drink for him. "How long are you home for?"

Shit. Now he'll think I don't want him here.

While he was determined to look her in the eye, Ava only glanced back in return and never at his face. There was something about watching him devour juicy pieces of orange that she found unsettling. His strong jaw moved up and down and there was a sheen of juice on his lips, so like his father's but younger and plumper. Ava made herself a tea as well.

"How are your studies going?" Ava gestured to Nicholas and indicated that he should sit down at the breakfast bar. It did not occur to her that his doing so would lower his eyeline, bringing it level with her breasts.

He exhaled slightly as she said she was older than him, a little relieved that she was at least not his age or younger. Two years wasn't much, but sometimes you had to work with what you were given. As she looked through the cupboard for tea, he allowed himself a chance to actually look at her without the shock of being greeted by her semi-nude, or the risk that she'd catch him looking. It was obvious her breasts were both large and spectacular - although perhaps not entirely hers? - despite the sweater she wore, but from behind he discovered that her jeans also clung to a rather shapely and firm ass, as well. Despite the shock and, well, strangeness of it all, he had to admit that his father had some pretty great taste in women.

As he started on the second half of orange pieces she asked how long he'd be home for, and he arched an eyebrow slightly, wondering if she thought he'd be getting in the way. Clearly she hadn't thought he'd be home at all, given the way she was dressed when he arrived, and perhaps she'd grown used to only her, his dad, and the small house staff being around. If she thinks she's going to move in and force me somewhere else for the summer, he thought as he watched her, she's going to be sorely mistaken.

He attempted to keep his voice friendly, however, as he answered, "All summer, actually. I'm looking forward to some relaxation, unwinding a bit, you know?"

He nodded his thanks as she set his tea on the breakfast bar for him and he slid off the counter, crossing to the bar and lowering himself into the seat, eating the last of the orange as he did. Lifting his mug then, he took a sip of the still-steaming tea and, looking over the rim as he did, he discovered he was basically staring straight at her breasts. An interesting dilemma came to life in his mind, and he found himself torn between wanting to look at her body, perhaps even take it, and reminding himself that this was his dad's new wife he was looking at.

Without his father around, though, it was hard to really feel that was true. She just seemed like a hot woman his age, in his kitchen, without that added context. Probably not the first impression a new stepmom - which, he mused, she technically was - wanted to make. A hard one to erase once it's there, though.

At her question, he lowered the mug back onto the bar and lifted his eyes up to her face.

"Oh, you know," he said, shrugging a little, "Pain in the ass, consuming my life, ridiculously stressful... pretty much the usual." He paused to take another sip of tea, but his eyes remained on her. "I feel like you already know so much more about me than I know about you. What do you do?" He grinned slightly, although not entirely humorously, after the question, "Or what did you used to do, I guess?" He had a feeling that, whatever her previous job, she was no longer there now.

Ava sipped her tea and tried to focus as the scalding water slipped down her throat. This was something she couldn't tell her new 'son' about. It hadn't even occurred to her to agree a cover story with Richard for when Nicholas inevitably showed up and started asking questions. Now she was going to have to wing it and Richard was just going to have to back her up when he got home.

"I was a model." She lied. "Mostly catalogue work." She exhaled in resignation and and grimaced apologetically. "I feel I have to tell you that these-" she gestured at her boobs, "were a gift from Richard. I was more... in proportion when I was working. Now the kind of modelling work I could get is not the kind of stuff I would be prepared to do. Richard doesn't want me to work and I'm fine with that. I have spoken to him about letting me take on more within the home but he has had his staff some years and I'm not about to do anybody out of a job. I do help organise charity events with the wives of Richard's friends and well... looking like this is time consuming as well as expensive."

Ava chewed her lip and reviewed what she'd just said. Maybe she'd said too much but the guy was an adult and he wasn't stupid. She wasn't about to pretend to be more than arm candy. Hopefully there was enough truth in what she said to mask the lies. She sat down opposite Nicholas and forced herself to keep talking.

"Anyway, I want you to know that I don't expect you to behave any differently because I'm living here now. Please feel free to come and go as you please, have your friends over, whatever you want. If you want to throw a party, talk to your father about it but I'm sure we can arrange to be somewhere else. I'm very aware that I'm a stranger in your home. I'd like to get to know you but at the same time, I don't want you to feel obliged to humour me."

kellyz_craic said:

Ava sipped her tea and tried to focus as the scalding water slipped down her throat. This was something she couldn't tell her new 'son' about. It hadn't even occurred to her to agree a cover story with Richard for when Nicholas inevitably showed up and started asking questions. Now she was going to have to wing it and Richard was just going to have to back her up when he got home.

"I was a model." She lied. "Mostly catalogue work." She exhaled in resignation and and grimaced apologetically. "I feel I have to tell you that these-" she gestured at her boobs, "were a gift from Richard. I was more... in proportion when I was working. Now the kind of modelling work I could get is not the kind of stuff I would be prepared to do. Richard doesn't want me to work and I'm fine with that. I have spoken to him about letting me take on more within the home but he has had his staff some years and I'm not about to do anybody out of a job. I do help organise charity events with the wives of Richard's friends and well... looking like this is time consuming as well as expensive."

Ava chewed her lip and reviewed what she'd just said. Maybe she'd said too much but the guy was an adult and he wasn't stupid. She wasn't about to pretend to be more than arm candy. Hopefully there was enough truth in what she said to mask the lies. She sat down opposite Nicholas and forced herself to keep talking.

"Anyway, I want you to know that I don't expect you to behave any differently because I'm living here now. Please feel free to come and go as you please, have your friends over, whatever you want. If you want to throw a party, talk to your father about it but I'm sure we can arrange to be somewhere else. I'm very aware that I'm a stranger in your home. I'd like to get to know you but at the same time, I don't want you to feel obliged to humour me."

Click to expand...

He took another sip of his tea after asking his question, and over the rim of his mug his brow furrowed. Maybe it was nothing, but there was a slight hesitation before she answered that didn't seem right. Or, maybe he was a psych major that had spent far too much time analyzing people, and couldn't stop doing it even when it came to his dad's new wife. But still... something seemed off. It was nagging.

This was momentarily tossed aside, however, when she spoke of the "gift" of her breasts, and he nearly choked on his tea. Try as he might, Nicholas couldn't stop the laughter that rose in his throat, and he thumped his mug down on the table - spilling a bit of tea as he did - and just let the laughter out. There was simply no reply in his head for what she just told him, although he did wonder if she'd caught his gaze when it had drifted below her neck, and so he was thankful when she moved on. It was, perhaps, nice of her that she didn't want him to behave any differently with her there, but it seemed ultimately futile. Still, he supposed he should try...

But, with the laughter subsided, that nagging feeling was back. There was just something... off. He hit on a thread of it, and almost couldn't help but to start pulling and see if things started to unravel. But he had to be more discreet, in case he was wrong. He hadn't thought about it when she first said she was a model, but now it stuck out like a sore thumb: Where on earth would dad meet a model at? He was a financial guy. He handled the books, made sure they weren't breaking any financial laws, and made big decisions with millions of dollars of company money. There's no reason why he'd have any contact with any models. It's not like he was going to the parties that someone looking like Ava was likely to hangout at. Interesting...

He'd realized that a silence had fallen between them, and between the way she initially greeted him, their close proximity in age, and the information about her purchased tits, he had little doubt it was a silence that was awkward for both of them.

Clearing his throat, he moved on as if the last few moments hadn't happened, "So, I was thinking about going for a swim, since it's so nice out. You're welcome to join me if you're not busy. I'll be out back in, like... five or ten minutes?" He took a long drink of his tea, which had thankfully cooled enough to allow for such a thing, and then stood from his seat. "I'm going to run upstairs and change," he said, pushing his chair back in against the bar, "Hope to see you out there." And with a smile, he slipped out of the kitchen, grabbed his bag off the bench in the entrance hall, and was gone up the stairs.

Ava watched Nicholas leave the room and she just stood there for a moment, conflicted. On the one hand, he had invited her to swim. He was her stepson now and she had to make an effort to welcome and get to know him. On the other hand however, there was the tiny matter of modesty to consider. Had Nicholas asked her to swim so he could check her out? He was a young guy and Ava knew what she looked like. He had been civil to her even though he had known nothing about the wedding and only Richard could be blamed for not telling his only son that he was getting hitched. Ava didn't think there was an ulterior motive but there certainly would be one if she went out there in the kind of swimwear she had upstairs.

Ava went up to her walk in closet and sifted through the tiny bikinis she usually swam in. There was no way Nicholas was seeing her in something like that... even if it was a little too late to conceal her assets from him. Ava selected the bottom half of a black bikini, that at least would cover most of her ass. She then pulled a vest top over her tits and decided not to go into the water. She could sit poolside, keep her distance and still make Nicholas feel welcomed.

Pacing irritably around as she found a towel, sunglasses and so on, Ava snatched up her phone and fired off a curt text message to Richard.

"Nicholas has just shown up. Doesn't even know we married. WTF sweetie?"

She went out to the pool and actually bit down on her bottom lip at the sight of Nicholas' strong body slicing through the water. It stung that she could have seduced and married that fine specimen of manhood and still have the luxury lifestyle she had now. Nicholas was swimming away from her so Ava took advantage and ogled his ass until he reached the far edge. By the time he looked around though, she was walking over to a shaded sun lounger with a tray holding a couple of iced teas. Ava didn't want to sit and apply sun lotion in front of her stepson, so she opted instead for the shade and a paperback novel. She smiled politely at him and settled herself.

He did want to swim, sure, but it was mostly a ruse. He had to get out of there and give himself a moment to follow the thread of an idea he'd grasped, and he couldn't exactly do it sitting there in the kitchen with her looking at him. Closing the door to his room behind him, he pulled his laptop out of his bag and set it on the desk, removing his shirt and tossing it on the bed as he waited for it to start up. Once it did, his fingers began to move swiftly over the keyboard, trained to type quickly by writing paper after paper in as little time as possible.

There would be a marriage announcement somewhere, and in it he'd be able to find her maiden name. He couldn't think of a way to ask her what it was without it seeming awkward, or suspicious, and so he figured this would be safer. Once he'd found it, it was off to Google, and he started to search for any information he could find about her. Thankfully, Ava was not the most common first name in the world, which helped the search go much quicker.

While the various searches loaded, he changed into some trunks and stepped into a pair of flip flops. When he sat down in front of the laptop again, he couldn't believe what he was confronted with. Thanks to the handy folks at the Internet Archive with their Way Back Machine, he found himself looking at an ad for an escort, named Honey, but the face staring at him in the picture was clearly Ava. She was right, her body was much more proportional when she was a nice C cup, though it certainly wasn't bad to look at now, either. Hard to look away from, in fact.

Pausing to consider his options, he frowned and grabbed his phone, dialing the number listed in the ad. When someone on the other end picked up, he said he was looking for some companionship for next week, and inquired if Honey might be available. He feigned surprise and disappointment when he was told she'd left them recently - the woman's voice lowered just slightly to a conspiratorial tone as she said, "I think she married herself a millionaire" - and Nicholas thanked her and said he'd browse the website for another option and call her back.

Disconnecting the call, he sat the phone on his desk next to the laptop, and turned his eyes back to the smaller-breasted Ava looking at him from the screen. A model? Catalog work? Hardly. It seemed his new stepmother was, in fact, two things: A liar, and a whore.

And probably waiting for him downstairs by now.

He left the laptop open, forgetting to close it more than intentionally leaving it up, and headed downstairs. He grabbed a towel on his way out, and was surprised to find she wasn't by the pool when he came out. Maybe she wasn't coming out. Maybe she was panicking and calling his father. Maybe she was packing because she knew he'd figure it out eventually. Either way, he planned to continue on as if everything was fine.

Stepping out of the sandals, he tossed his towel over a lounge chair by the pool and dove in, swimming laps while he waited to see if she'd be coming out. At some point she'd showed up while he was swimming, and he moved over to the end of the pool she sat closest to, standing up in the water as he considered her sitting in the shade with her book. She did have one hell of a body, it was impossible not to admit it. He wondered how she would've looked dressed like that without the new tits she'd been given, and if she'd be almost spilling out of that top in the same way. Doubtful, it seemed.

He smiled when she looked to him though, and despite all the thoughts running through his mind after what he'd discovered in the last few minutes, his tone was friendly when he asked, "Not going to swim?"

"Oh no." Ava replied, keeping her voice light. "I just straightened my hair this morning. If I go in the water it will curl."

She curled on her side facing the pool and flipped to the bookmark in her novel. It was trashy chick lit but she could never get enough of it. The book was very steamy in places and Ava found herself picturing Nicholas when the two protagonists inevitably wound up locking lips. Ava sipped some iced tea and very deliberately flipped back through the book to a non erotic section. She'd read it only yesterday but it would help her keep her composure. There was something just very wrong about reading a sex scene in front of her brand new stepson.

Ava heard her phone beep and picked it up.

"Damn. Planned to talk 2 u abt that b4 Nick showed up. B home by 6."

Ava arched a brow at Richard's typically curt reply. At least he was going to get his arse home early this evening. Usually he didn't leave the office till after 6pm. It irked her irrationally that he was prepared to drop everything for the prodigal brat, when she often sat alone until 9 or 10 waiting for him to show up.

When Nicholas next surfaced from swimming Ava waved at him.

"Your father's going to get home as soon as he can. Should be back by 6."

Ava got up, relieved to have an excuse to go into the house and put some decent clothes on.

"Since there's no staff today, I'm going to go make a start on dinner. What do you say to chicken and chorizo paella? We have wine but if you want beer you'll have to shopping."

As he swam his mind worked, turning over what he'd discovered about Ava - he did wonder how she'd react if he just popped out of the water and called her Honey, and the idea made him grin slightly - and trying to figure out what to do with that information. There were too many options, and nothing yet that would help him narrow them down. He'd have to keep thinking about it. Given the hours his father worked, he had little doubt that they'd be spending plenty of time alone together over the summer, so whatever he figured out would be easy to put into action.

Stopping at the end of the pool she was at after he'd gone a few more laps, he couldn't help but to look at the shape of her body as she read her book, the curve of her hips rather enticing, but he didn't let his eyes linger on her body long, not wanting to be caught looking at her. His brows rose as she looked to her phone, and he blinked in surprise when she said he'd be home by 6. Home by 6. Normally, he didn't even think about leaving the office until 7 or 8. He assumed she must've told him of the surprise Nicholas found when he came home, and he couldn't help but grin slightly at the idea of his dad being in trouble with his escort trophy wife. Lucky for him, though, he figured she probably wouldn't be too upset, lest her luxurious life be snatched away and she be forced back into being a whore by the name of Honey again.

As Ava got up from where she was curled by the pool, Nicholas put his hands flat on the edge of the pool and lifted himself out of the water with strong arms. He walked over to where his towel was, and started drying off as she mentioned dinner, his wet shorts clinging to him and dripping around his feet.

"Sure, yeah, sounds good. Wine will be fine, too," he said, putting the towel around his neck and stepping back into his sandals to follow her into the house. "I'll run up and change real quick and come help you with dinner."