Chapter Sixteen
After Sebastian had fled from her, Melanie covered herself up and then lay down by the campfire in total confusion.
It was clear now that it was Alex she had feelings for. It was also clear that Sebastian was a snake in the grass, albeit one who knew how to set her alight with desire. Alex, meanwhile, was holding back, maybe out of fear of losing his inheritance. But Sebastian, as sneaky as he had been, didn't seem to care. Maybe he had a plan never to be discovered. Either way, he was willing to risk everything for her.
God, if only they could have been just one man.
The sound of footsteps in the forest made her sit up, fully alert, straining to see which of the brothers had returned. She longed to tell Alex of her true feelings for him, but what if was Sebastian? Did she want more? God no. No. Please, not with him. Could she be able to resist if he came on to her? If he pleaded his love? What if Alex failed to reciprocate her feelings?
She lost her breath when she saw both brothers appear together in the moonlight.
One of them had a serious bruise over his left eye, near the temple. Hopefully, it was Sebastian.
They had been fighting again over her. She hated violence but couldn't help taking guilty pleasure in the fact that these two prime males were willing to struggle for her. Her heart was beating fast again.
It was less than one hour since one of these men had brought her to the brink of ecstasy before she had banished him into the forest. Now she was even hungrier for love, intimacy, closeness, and bone-shaking, toe-curling, knee-knocking sex than ever before.
Hold on Melanie, hold on. She struggled to compose herself.
"What's going on?" She said breathlessly.
"Don't be alarmed, sweetheart." The one without the cut said.
"I'm not anybody’s sweetheart." She replied. Not yet, at least. She wanted truth first. Then they could think about sweethearts and romantic moonlit walks.
"Of course not. Melanie, we're here because--"
Alex interrupted.
"First things first, Melanie. You need to have an idea who's who."
She nodded her head. She was fed up with wondering about that.
"Turn around." She said.
"You mean show our asses to you?" Sebastian said in exasperation. "What good would that do?"
"It'll show me which of you two rocked my world on the sand here an hour ago."
One brother smiled and the other flinched.
Melanie regretted her words instantly. She wanted more alright, but Sebastian didn't need to get the crazy idea that she had or ever would forgive him for his lies. Even if they were all designed to get him closer to her. Even if he was willing to lose a billion dollars to be with her.
The smiling one turned around, placed his hands on top of his head, and waited.
"Be my guest." He said.
The other did the same, but in stony silence.
Melanie had a good idea who was who already.
The shadows of the forest and the campfire flames played tricks with the sculpted bodies of the brothers. They looked like Greek gods posing on Mount Olympus, waiting for the Aphrodite to approach them. Melanie's legs shook as she came to her feet.
This was what she had been waiting for: the truth.
At last she would speak to these men together, knowing fully who and what each of them were.
Her delicate feet padded along the soft, warm sand and in just a few strides, she was behind the statuesque men. Melanie first came to the one without the cut and stood behind him. He was a ball of masculine tension, rippling with male energy. The blanket that covered her fell to the sand as she reached her arms around to his abdomen. Her bare breasts came close to his back, brushing against him lightly. His hard muscles against her nudity instantly brought her nipples to attention. Nothing about this man suggested he had unleashed his desire onto her not one hour earlier. This had to be Alex. He was still a volcano of repressed hunger. Her hands slid down his abdomen and found the top of his jeans.
She wanted him more than ever. He had resisted her and then run away when he began to lose control. Would he do the same again? If the idiot hadn’t been such a damn gentleman, then it would have been him she had given herself to, and not his crazy, hot as hell brother.
She wouldn’t let him off so easy this time and she didn't care that his brother was beside him. Maybe it would make a man of him. Maybe he wouldn't dare run from her like a coward again if his twin brother was standing next to him.
Her fingers slowly undid the top button of his shorts and then drew the zipper down. She could feel his erection already straining.
She ran her hands around to the back of his shorts making sure to just lightly brush the base of his cock, reassuring herself that he was hard, before sliding the shorts and cotton underwear about halfway down.
His perfect ass sent a shudder of pleasure through her. The crescent-shaped mark made his butt even more perfect in the moonlight, if that were possible.
She jerked the shorts back up again, causing him to release a short groan as his balls were squeezed.
"Happy?" He growled.
"Not yet." She whispered.
"I guess you don't need to check the other one now." He added.
"I don't think that would be fair." She said.
"Yeah, let Melanie do what she needs to do." Sebastian grinned. "Why should you have all the fun?"
Alex growled his discontent while Melanie lined up behind his kid brother. Everything was the same about him, but different as well. His long hair hung a little wilder, his muscles were equally well-developed. Every raw sinew on his powerful back rippled in the moonlight, but there was no tension. He was relaxed. When she came in close to him, his powerful body responded not with walls of resistance and barely controlled hunger, but with unbridled desire.
Against her will, she was thrilled to the core. Melanie could never have believed that two men so similar in looks could excite her in equally powerful, yet so radically different ways. It was a dream and a nightmare at the same time.
She pressed her hard nipples to his back and ran her hands down his perfectly developed obliques to the top of his jeans. She could feel every muscle in his chiseled abdomen writhe as her hands went lower; his buttocks clenched against her thighs as she undid his button and slid the zipper halfway down.
Suddenly he dropped his hands from his head and covered hers with his own, pressing them softly against him.
"Hey, that's against the rules!" His brother protested.
"What rules?" Sebastian said. "I don't remember getting any rulebook."
"Come on Melanie, let's just get this over with so we can talk." Alex said.
Typical Alex, she thought, innocent and serious as an angel. The only words I want to hear from your mouth are screams for more sex.
She allowed Sebastian to push her hands a little lower, confirming what she already knew. His hard-on was already in place and either slightly more developed than his brother's or maybe he was just bigger down there. Maybe Sebastian was really the 'bigger' brother after all.
She pulled her hands back and Sebastian playfully caught them for a moment and then released, much to the frustration of Alex, who stood there simmering.
At last, she pushed his jeans down over his backside and saw that clean, beautiful, perfectly defined ass for the second time that night.
She was definitely wet now. Her breathing quickened and she stepped away from the two men, leaving the gorgeous ass partially exposed.
"Are you going to leave me hanging like this?" He asked.
"Come on Sebastian, just pull your pants up already!" Alex blustered.
Sebastian grinned over his shoulder as he slowly pulled his shorts up again.
"Are we done with this little game?" Alex prodded. His obvious jealousy and irritation was setting Melanie on fire in every place that counted. She sat down on the sand and leaned her arms back behind her.
"We're done." She said. "Why don't you guys sit down. You might be more comfortable that way, and then tell me what this is all about."
The brawny men obeyed, the muscles on their muscles flexing everywhere, even with such a simple action as coming to the ground.
“Okay Melanie, I'll start." Alex said angrily.
If I don't get you this time Mr. Angry Pants, I'll eat my Drummond Airlines flight crew hat. She thought. Sebastian just shrugged. He exuded the relaxation and confidence of the cat that had already got the cream. Whatever remained, he was willing share.
"Just in case it isn't perfectly crystal clear, I'm Alex. Okay? The older brother. I'm the one you bumped into on the way to the Drummond Airlines Executive Lounge."
The memory was still vivid to Melanie. She had confused him for Sebastian and she hadn't been very nice to him. Despite that, she had felt a difference and he had charmed the pants off her, notwithstanding the bad first impression his brother had made.
"From the moment I met you... " He looked down at the sand, suddenly shy and sincere. Melanie's heart began to melt as she watched this huge man bare his heart and soul, not only to her, but also in front of his twin brother.
"From the moment I met you, I knew you were the one." He looked up at her with frightened eyes. Melanie looked back at him from the depths of longing that had filled her since her first disappointment in love in high school. She didn't breathe a word.
"Being fabulously wealthy has its advantages, but helping you find love isn't one of them. I've been searching my whole life for someone like you and when I finally find her, it turns out I can't touch her…I can't touch you because--"
"Because I work for Drummond Airlines? Is that it? If that's the only problem I can just quit, right here and now."
"It's more than that, Melanie. It's our father, Alex Senior. It doesn't matter if you quit or not. You were once an employee so he will be against it and then we would both be excluded from the Drummond Corporation, the family, and of course, any inheritance. Neither of us would ever work in the airline industry again or in any area where my father has power -- and he is a very powerful man. I couldn't condemn you to that. God knows I wanted to be with you from the start, but then the last few weeks on this island have been driving me insane. Seeing you every day, growing more beautiful every hour, learning more about you, hearing every tone and nuance of your voice, coming close to you and drawing in your breath like my own... it's just unbearable and I don't know what to do anymore."
He looked down at the sand again. Melanie's mouth was open in shock. He had finally come clean, almost.
"What are you saying, Alex? What's unbearable?"
He mumbled something into the sand and Melanie came up onto her knees.
"Say it louder Alex. I can't hear you."
"It's love." He whispered. "I love you." He lifted his eyes to meet hers and they were filled with courage now. "I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you." Their gaze met and Melanie was lost. Here was the love she had waited for her whole life, and it was huge, hot, rippling with desire, and struggling to hold itself back from taking her right there and then on the sand.
A slow clapping noise made her glance away from her lover.
"Well done, big brother." Sebastian was grinning as he gave his slow applause. "Are you done?"
Alex nodded and then looked back down to the sand.
“Okay," Sebastian said, "I've got to admit he's good. He's my big brother for God's sake and I love him -- I always will. But it wouldn't be fair to any of us if I didn't speak my mind."
"Will you be speaking as Sebastian now or are you still pretending to be me?" Alex said in a low voice.
Sebastian felt his face go hot but his embarrassment was covered by the shadows. If Alex wanted to play dirty, then he could do that too. It was always the only way he could ever beat his brother at anything.
"I'm Sebastian." He said.
Alex snorted contemptuously and Melanie breathed a sigh of relief. Some truth at last. She had to admit he was beautiful, even for a liar. "I was born just seven minutes after Alex but it might as well have been seven years. Alex has always been ten steps ahead of me in everything."
"That's not true Sebastian, and you know it."
"I let you speak, didn't I?"
"I wasn't lying."
"Let him go, Alex. You had your turn. If you have any problem with what he says you can address it later."
The men nodded and Sebastian continued. Melanie waited to hear what he would have to say about his crude comments at the check-in desk, impersonating his brother on the airplane, about lying to her while she had amnesia, fooling her into getting naked for him, and then nearly fooling her into sex on the sand an hour ago.
"There's one big, big, big difference between me and my brother." Melanie waited to hear, her mouth half opened, staring at the little brother who was so obviously hot with unrestrained desire for her.
"I don't care about the money." He said. "I never thought twice." He was rocking her world again; her head was beginning to spin. "When I saw you, I walked right up to you and told you what I thought. I made sure you would be on our jet so I could have you to myself for nine long hours on the flight and then ten days together on Tahiti. If I couldn't make you love me in that amount of time, then it was never meant to be. But I knew it was."
Melanie held her hand up to stop him.
"Why did you pretend to be him? We almost made love on the plane. Why did you trick me?"
He stared at her for a long moment. Tension filled the air.
"Yes Sebastian, why the charade?" His brother added. Sebastian gave him a slow angry stare.
"I didn’t trick her."
"Bullshit!" His brother spat.
"Alex! Let him have his say."
The older brother ground his teeth.
"Thank you, Melanie." Sebastian said. "I never told you I was Alex. You assumed. You thought because I was being nice to you that I must be him. You called me Alex but I never, ever said I was him."
Melanie had searched frantically in her mind. She it did again as she sat alone on the sand that stark and empty morning.
My God, it's true! Her jaw had gaped and Sebastian smugly nodded his head.
"What was I supposed to do? I see my dream girl, my... my soul-mate, and in ten minutes my older brother who has beaten me at everything in my life from skateboarding to earning billions has stolen her away from me, just because I'm not as smooth as him." He looked pained, a lifetime of resentment and failure to live up to expectations etched on his face. "I couldn't let you go. When you kissed me on that plane, it was the real me, no matter who you thought you were with."
The three sat in silence, a tropical evening breeze swaying the trees in the forest.
"But like I say, there's one thing that sets me and my big brother apart." Melanie was transfixed. How could he make her go back and forth like this? He had fooled her, cheated her, lied to her, and now all she wanted to do was draw him to her, hold him, and believe in him.
"Do you remember what I said to you on the plane? I told you that I would resign from the Drummond Corporation. It was before we even kissed. Isn't that right?" He was telling the truth. Again. He was sexy when he was a lying snake, but coming clean here in front of her about his love and desire set Melanie in danger of losing control of herself.
"While big brother Alex is tearing himself in half wondering if he loves you enough to give up all that money, I never gave it a second thought. Hell, I could live right here with you on this island for the rest of my life and be happy every single day the sun rises."
Melanie longed to take him. She longed for both of them.
She would have to make a decision -- one that would rend her heart in two.
"Can I speak now?" Alex inquired.
Melanie nodded. "Then I get to speak again too, right?" Sebastian quickly added.
"Of course, of course, whatever. But look, Sebastian, Alex, I'm feeling very confused right now and I don't even know what it is you want from me. Why are you both here? Can you explain that to me?"
"It couldn't be simpler Melanie. I love you. That's why I'm back."
"So do I!" Sebastian said. Alex sent him a dark look.
"It's my turn." He said. Sebastian nodded. "My little brother is twisting my words. I don't care about the money at all. Not on my own account, anyway. I'm perfectly capable of living without it, but why should you suffer? Why should you lose your job and be poor? That doesn't make any sense at all, but that's exactly what Sebastian is willing to do to you. He's always just thinking of himself. He thinks he can live like a normal Joe after spending his whole life as a billionaire and that you'll be happy to struggle along with him, but I'm not like that. I’m rather you are happy even if… " he struggled with the words, "even if it means losing you." He turned his dark gaze to the sand.
"But I have an idea." He almost whispered.
"Last interruption." Sebastian interjected. "Just for the record, I want it to be known that this is entirely and completely his idea and that I don't agree with it, I'm not on board with it, and I don't even think he should suggest it to you." He zipped his fingers across his lips and then sat back to see how his brother could possibly come out with his ridiculous suggestion.
Alex turned all of his focus to Melanie and held her gaze for several long, intense moments. She felt inexplicably nervous. She couldn't imagine what on earth his idea was or how it could help to ease her confusion. She was scared but still longing to hear what he had to say and praying for some way out of her emotional confusion.
"I love you, Melanie." He said. "I'm sure of that. And I want you all to myself and forever." Her heart was melting inside of her. "I hope you feel the same way, too."
She longed to respond but couldn't move. What about her feelings for his brother? Could she deny those right here in front of him? Alex waited a little longer for a response from her, found none and then continued.
"But I want you to be happy, too. I need you to be happy or there's no point in any of this. So, here's my idea: our father will disinherit whichever one of us takes you. You will lose your job and any future prospect in the Drummond Corporation or the airline industry in the United States. However, the brother who loses you will keep his position and inherit his full share of the Drummond fortune. Do you understand?"
She nodded. "I understand that." She said. "But how does that solve anything?"
He was shaking with nerves. She couldn't imagine what it was that would make this extraordinarily confident man so twitchy.
"What if the man who was yours was also the man who inherited the Drummond fortune?"
She shook her head, bewildered.
"Oh come on," Sebastian interrupted, "just get to the point, will you?"
Alex opened his mouth but nothing came out.
"This genius," Sebastian continued, "this relationship Einstein right here wants to share you. Understand?"
"That’s not what I mean and you know it." Alex bit back.
Melanie shook her head, she was baffled, mystified.
"Just hold on a minute." She said.
"Right. That's what I thought." Sebastian said. "Look at her! She’s not confused because she doesn’t understand; she’s confused because she gets it and it’s totally crazy."
"It’s not as crazy as you think, Melanie. I swear it."
"Then why can’t you just come out with it? What he means is--"
"Shut up, I’ll tell her myself. Melanie, let’s say you chose him, for whatever crazy reason. I still don’t want you to be poor. I’ll see to it that both of you are taken care of, no matter what. It means that we could never speak to each other again, never even be seen in each other's presence."
Her mind was reeling. This was a crazy idea doomed to failure. It had to be Alex’s because he was the selfless one, the one willing to sacrifice. Sebastian was far too egotistical. If she chose Alex, Sebastian would be sure to betray them and they would be disinherited anyway. Then she would never see Sebastian again and she didn’t want that either. No man had ever touched her like he had before.
"Never." She heard herself say. "It’s crazy." She looked up into Alex’s pleading eyes. "I know you mean the best, but you can’t make me do that."
Sebastian's jaw nearly hit the sand. He stared at his brother, who shared his shocked expression. It was the last thing either of them had expected. This girl was throwing away a lifetime of guaranteed luxury and wealth.
"Do you know how crazy that is?" Sebastian was blindsided. "Do you know what you’re giving up?"
"Melanie, you’d never have to worry about anything ever again. No more struggling to make ends meet, no more flying back and forth from LA to Columbus on the redeye, no more worrying about whether or not the airline is going to make a profit or lay people off. You can do whatever you want: study, travel, do charity work or just kick back and enjoy life. Are you seriously turning all of that down?"
The two rich men, raised on luxury could not fathom the woman before them.
"It’s not the money." She said, still gazing at Alex.
"Hey, I’m here too!" Sebastian said. "If it’s not the money then what the hell is it, Melanie? Aren’t we good enough for you?"
"It’s not that either." She had said, feeling wracked with guilt and suddenly naked and exposed before the two most gorgeous men she had ever met.
"Then tell us." Alex pleaded. "Please, Melanie. What is it? If there’s a problem, we’ll make it go away. We’re Drummonds for God’s sake; we’ll make this happen. We’ll make you happy one way or the other. Just tell us what to do!”
God, he was so arrogant. Both of them were, even when they were being sweet. She was turned on and ashamed all at the same time.
"I can't decide." She said in a low voice, her eyes now diverted from Alex and looking to the sand. "I just can't. I feel so strongly for the two of you. How could I ever choose?"
Sebastian jumped to his feet.
"God damn it Melanie, I won't share you!" He shouted. Not with him, not with anyone. I won't do it. You have to make up your goddamn mind!"
"I'll do anything to make you happy, Melanie." Alex said softly. "Even that. If he won't agree to it, then he can keep my share of the fortune, as long as it’s me you want. If you choose him, I swear I’ll make sure he gets his share anyway. I don't care anymore. I've made up my mind. Now you have to make up yours." His wild, desperate eyes pleaded with hers.
"Take him if you want, Melanie. But you’re a fool if you do. I know him way better than you do. If we’re together then it will be just you and me -- no money -- not from him or anybody else. That’s the real choice you have to make. If you really don’t care about the money and if it’s me you want, just like you did earlier, then this is an easy choice to make."
Melanie was stunned. The depth of his feeling, his emotion, his passionate desire was something she had never known in a man. He waited a moment and when she said nothing he turned his back to them and melted into the shadows of the forest. Melanie rose to stop him.
"Don't." Alex said, gently taking her arm. "Let him go. He needs to be alone. He’s confused. He says he doesn’t trust me, but that’s not true. Melanie, I swear to you and a thousand people will line up to support it, I’m a man of my word. Choose him and your life will be wonderful. Choose me and -- I won’t lie to you, there may be problems, but I will hold him to his word. He’s my brother. He won’t betray us." Melanie turned her head and looked up to the kind, gentle and smoking hot ,sexy man next to her. His hand was warm on her forearm; his breath caressed her naked shoulders.
"Melanie. Please choose me. Stay with me." The plea was gentle but desperate. He removed his hand from her arm and she turned away from him. Her mind was too full of questions. She needed to be alone too.
Then she felt his strong protective hands on her shoulders and a soft kiss against her flowing hair. She turned to him and gazed up into the dark, intense pools of shadow around his eyes.
"I need you." He whispered.
She could resist no longer. Reaching up to wrap her arms around his strong neck, she pressed her sweet red lips to his. He allowed his mouth to open and their tongues met, exploring, longing for each other. She felt his hands come to her waist and then lift her into his powerful arms. She melted into them, the fire of her passion beginning to rise. His presence, so close was overpowering to her senses.
"I don't care what happens tonight." She whispered as he laid her down gently in the sand and brushed her long hair aside, revealing the pale silver of her flesh in the moonlight. She lay on the sand waiting, the heat of his desire burning down upon her.
"I want you." She said. His lips found hers again and then her neck, her breasts, her abdomen. Everything was so different to the hunger of his brother. Alex was surer, more restrained, more thoughtful. Yet behind the thoughtfulness was the certainty of a desire even more intense than that of the passionate and highly sexual Sebastian. In moments, she was naked, her body writhing in the sand and crying out to be loved, taken, and possessed. His lips and tongue lovingly explored every contour and line of her naked body, finding their way inevitably lower to the pouting crevice of her desire.
His mouth pressed to the mound of her pubic bone, his square jaw pressed against her well-trimmed bush. His strong warm hands pressed hers into the sand.
"Yes." she moaned, as his tongue went deeper into her wet valley, his lips now pressed against her in hot desire. The percussive shudders of screaming orgasm began to pass through her body. She opened her eyes and saw the thick mane of his hair between her thighs, felt him lave her, struggled against the pressure of his hands pushing her thighs apart.
A moan of absolute hunger, ecstasy and desire escaped her lips as she realized what was happening. Never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined even one of these men, let alone two of them desiring to make passionate love to her on the same night on a tropical island in the South Pacific. Two men swearing their love before her, raw in their naked lust and need for her.
She had chosen between boyfriends before, but never anything like this.
Alex's tongue pressed into her with more urgency, competing with his absent brother for her body. He began to work her clit forcing her willfully to orgasm, determined to drive any thought of his brother from her mind. But as the first surges of pleasure broke over her the memory of Sebastian's voracious lips against hers returned with vivid intensity. She struggled to reach out to Alex, to grip his tanned flesh but he held her down, as though he needed to restrain her to protect her from the explosions of her desire. His head came higher now to her breasts and greedily devoured them, allowing her searing mound a moment of recovery, a moment to regain its hunger for his merciless tongue. He lifted himself up to gaze into her eyes, breathless in his hot desire. His washboard abs hovered above her and she drank in the vista, exulting in closeness of the narrow space between them.
She raised her head to bite at his flesh, hungry to taste more of his beautiful body, but he was gone again, back to her aching mound, laving and cajoling with his tongue until the first true orgasm exploded through her. She gushed as Alex continued to draw ever more ecstasy from her aching body.
She was still shuddering, almost in pain as the she felt the powerful man turn her over. She was like a toy in his hands. He reached up to find her breasts, massaging, caressing, and then she felt him, finally, softly but powerfully invade her with his granite hard manhood. He was huge. His strong abdomen squeezed against her soft ass while his cock filled her hungry channel. His slow, controlled thrusts lifted her rhythmically from the sand and then he began to quicken his space, thrusting into her inexorably from behind. He was gentle at first but his urgency began to take over. She realized with trepidation, that the next series of orgasms would obliterate the memory of the last one. Thrills and waves of pleasure shot out through her inner thighs and down to her ankles, upwards from her mound to her stomach and breasts. In unison with his thrusting and undulating, he worked her throbbing clit with his right hand. Instinctively she reached down to find his struggling balls and squeeze him, goading him on. He had been resisting her for weeks, drawing away, escaping her desire for him but now she was in control, and there would be no going back for her captive lover. She squeezed hard on his cock with her aching channel and