Andie was a mess. She tossed and turned all night, writhing in her sleep as dreams of Eric doing deliciously inappropriate things with her wracked her mind.

Behind closed eyes she could almost feel the rough palms of his hands cupping her swollen breasts. She could feel the pure ecstasy that tormented her as he rolled her nipples between his thumb and forefinger before closing his mouth over one of the hardened peaks.

Andie flopped to her belly, her conscious in and out of sleep as her room filled with blue. The sun was rising behind a veil of grey clouds, providing her the opportunity to slip back into the fantasies of her darkest desires.

Once again, Eric was touching her. This time, he traveled down her body, his mouth leaving a scorching trail between her breasts. His fingers tickled the inside of her thighs, easing them open with his masterful hands. She obeyed. She would always obey. She was driven by her absolute desire for him; the desire that stunned her upon their very first meeting when her mother, and his father, first introduced them as teenagers. Andie wasn't much older now, and Eric was still such a stranger to her, but there was no reasoning with her lust. She was drowning in it and Eric was the only life line within sight.

Overheated, Andie kicked the sheets off, her mind reminding her of the promise Eric made. She was going to be spanked again this morning.

Recalling how he had informed her of her second punishment, Andie moaned softly to herself and gripped the sheets in her fist while her stomach flipped.

He had such a way with words, Andie thought to herself. He never said anything profoundly erotic, but Andie was beginning to discover that she was made of different things, and what turned her on was Eric's dominance.

God, he'd make a terrific dom, Andie's voice echoed inside her head as she recalled every single erotic Romance novella that she'd ever read. If he knew about that world, he'd absolutely bloom. He could rule the whole kingdom if he wanted to. He had that aura about him.

Andie sighed as she imagined Eric entering her room at any moment to deliver her spanking, only to decide at the final minute that he would seduce her instead. The idea was ridiculous, almost laughable, but what she wouldn't give to feel his mouth on her...

Swat!

A smack to her panty-clad bottom made her gasp, and her eyes flew open.

"Rise and shine..." Eric hummed from above where he stood at the side of her bed, looking down at her in a navy blue long sleeve and dark denim jeans. He was a little blurry to Andie's sleepy vision, but never the less beautiful.

Behind drooping eyeslids, she watched him bend down to circle her ankle in his long fingers and slowly drag her towards the edge of the bed. Her breath hitched in her throat. The rest of her body followed, limp as a rag-doll. She whined half-heartedly as he sat down and tugged her hips over his left thigh. She was barely awake as he pushed her nightshirt up the small of her back and then bared her bottom.

She couldn't tell if she was truly awake or asleep as Eric's hand squeezed the flesh of her backside, pulling a low moan from her lips, one that she hoped Eric didn't hear if this wasn't a dream.

The next smack that landed on the curve of her right cheek confirmed that she wasn't dreaming. All night she had dreamt of Eric spanking her, and it never really hurt.

These swats definitely stung a bit.

Eric fell into rythym quickly, swatting her right cheek, and then her left, and so on.

On her tender bottom which was already a little sore from last night's spanking and paddling, Andie felt the burn immediately, and her fussing began no more than ten swats into her punishment.

Her eyes had closed again. She was so sleepy. But the spanking kept her aware and awake, despite the groggy cloud in her head.

When one particularly sharp swat landed near Andie's thigh, she squealed, and threw one hand back to cover the offended area.

Eric tutted disapprovingly from above, which did something strange to Andie. Her belly flipped. And then the spanking paused long enough for Eric to demand both of her wrists, which he clasped between his long fingers and held at the small of her back.

Where did he learn about that, Andie breathlessly wondered to herself? Her heart fluttered and while biting her lip, she carefully tested her binds, pulling and twisting ever-so-slightly.

"You're feeling a little naughty this morning, aren't you?"

There he went again; making her insides flip upside down with his silky words.

Feeling exhausted from the tortures of her dreams and the tortures Eric was laying on her right now, Andie moaned helplessly and dropped her forehead into the warm sheets of her bed. The spanking proceeded, and she gave into it. She gave into her punishment, to the feelings that had threatened to consume her all night, to the deliciously dark part of her that she had to constantly remind: 'It's our step-brother...he's sort of family...we can't...'

She gave into all of it.

And it was then that something started to unravel inside her. Something big and beautiful and scary was building, stealing her breath and rippling through her limbs, all the way to her toes and fingers.

Eric's punishing hand fell again and again and again, pushing her closer and closer towards the very warm and very bright thing. She couldn't breath, she couldn't open her eyes, she couldn't move. She was stuck, teetering at the edge of a very tall precipic, until...

A hoarse cry tore through Andie's throat and she almost didn't recognize it as her own. Light exploded behind her eyes and a grenade exploded deep within her belly and the fire of it spread across every nerve ending in her body.

She buzzed like an overworked battery; buttery ecstacy melting through every fibre of her being.

"Andie...?" Eric's wary and uncertain voice penetrated the gentle ring in her ears, forcing her eyes open and slamming her back to the reality of her current position.

"Oh my God," Andie breathed, absolutely horrified with herself.

Eric wasn't spanking her anymore. In fact, his hands weren't touching her at all. They were hovered above her as if he were afraid of touching her.

Fumbling and clumsy, Andie crawled from Eric's lap, standing in front of him on shaky knees. Her breath labored heavily in her chest, her face flushed and her body warm. She fidgeted with her fingers, unable to meet his gaze. She'd give anything for the floor to open up and swallow her.

Swallowing hard, she forced her eyes upwards, only to find that Eric's eyes weren't on her's. They were focused on her panties which lay discarded on the floor. She hadn't even been aware that they had fallen off. Blushing brightly, she bent down to retrieve them, nearly falling over in her attempt to quickly slip them on.

"I-I didn't mean..." she stammered, her voice high and nervous, trembling with the aftershocks of the mindblowing ecstasy Eric had given her. "I'm sorry," she gasped, panicking with absolute humiliation. She didn't even realize she had been crying until she felt a cascade of warm tears pour down her cheeks.

Oh my god, how mortifying this was. How did that even happen? Why did that even happen?

"I'm sorry," she said again, her body trembling, her chest heaving. "I didn't mean to."

Eric blinked at her, slowly, as if he hadn't quite processed the thing that just occurred. But it was Andie's broken voice that rushed the process and sparked his brain into action.

Rushing to take her hands in his, he held onto her tightly. "Hey, hey, hey," he soothed. "It's OK, Andie," he spoke to her earnestly. "It's OK, just breathe for me. It's OK, just calm down, take a deep breath..."

Shakily, Andie did as Eric instructed.

"There you go, good girl... See, it's OK. There's nothing to be embarassed about. It's OK, Andie." His hands smoothed up and down Andie's trembling arms, and she nodded along at his words, even though she looked less than convinced.

Smiling weakly, Eric continued to comfort Andie, even as he spoke: "Listen, I have an in-person meeting with my advisor today. I have to drive a ways out of town, but I'll be back by late afternoon at the latest, alright?"

He was leaving, Andie thought to herself? After what just happened...? But she could only nod numbly along.

"Why don't you finish up your homework so that you can enjoy the rest of your weekend, and... maybe call Morgan, make sure she's OK... alright?"

Nodding again, Andie stepped back as Eric rose from her bed. He took a deep breath as if he had something else to say. But then he turned on his heel, and, without another word, left.

Andie blinked after him, her voice twisting as her tears returned. Her shaky knees carried her the three steps to her bed where she sat down at the edge and covered her mouth with her hands. Her muffled cries wracked her body and she felt that there was truly nothing worse than this feeling of utter humiliation. Eric felt it to, otherwise he wouldn't have left as quickly as he did.

He was embarassed for her, and likely grossed out beyond believe that his step-sister responded to him in that way.

Shifting her hands from her mouth to her eyes, she bent over her knees and tried to block out the memory of what had just occured. To think that she made him uncomfortable was almost too much for her to bear.

The day dragged on at a miserable pace. Andie showered and dressed and cleaned her room, but only an hour past by. She tried to sit down and focus on her school work, but her mind continued to return to the moment she'd never live down, as long as she lived.

She tried calling Morgan's home phone, but nobody answered. She texted Morgan's cell, but no response came there either. She almost considered walking to Morgan's house, but it was cold outside. And if Morgan wasn't answering her phone, it likely meant that John had taken it, which meant he'd probably turn Andie away if she tried to pop over for a visit.

So, the day dragged and dragged and dragged.

By 4:00PM, Andie started to anxiously watch the clock in anticipation for Eric's return. By 5:00PM she was pacing across the living room floor. By 6:00PM she was drafting 'are you OK?' texts to Eric's cell that she never sent.

It wasn't until an hour and a half after that, nearly 8:30PM, that Eric finally walked through the front door, looking weary, and...regretful? Andie rose from the couch as he entered, watching him intently as he avoided looking at her while closing the door behind him.

Andie was expecting him to be a little standoffish with her, and even a little weird. But he was acting like he was the one who did the weird thing this morning—not Andie. Did he blame himself?

Worried more than ever, Andie approached, all but forcing him to acknowledge her presence.

"Eric? Is something wrong?"

The door shut behind him, but Eric's hand didn't release the door knob for a long moment. When he did, he turned around to face her, sighing all the way while his eyes worked from the floor slowly up to her eyes.

"Listen..." he began tentatively, stepping forward once before pausing to clear his throat and return his eyes to the ground. His voice was deep and gravelly, and he looked absolutely miserable.

"What is it?" Andie pressed gently, crossing her arms over her chest as she felt a sudden chill in the air.

Sighing, Eric massaged his forehead as if he were incredibly tense. "My advisor thinks I stand a good chance at receiving an internship."

"Oh," Andie sighed, not expecting that. She felt a little releived, but not entirely. "Okay, where?"

Eric lifted his head to look at her, really look at her, and it startled Andie. His blue eyes pentrated her's, and she felt pried open by his gaze, as if he could see absolutely everything inside of her.

A bad feeling shuddered through Andie, and a pebbling of goosebumps prickled across the skin of her arms.

And then he spoke and confirmed her worst nightmare.

"It's in New York."

The breath left Andie's lungs.

"You're... leaving?"