“Lord knows you're smart enough, when you put your mind to it. And you've got the looks, too." Alex would never be a Hollywood superstar, Sarah thought. He didn't have the pretty-boy features everyone seemed to be looking for. His face was too strong, his nose too big. What he did have, though, was the type of rough-hewn attraction that aged well, like Paul Newman or Harrison

Ford.

She eyed his recumbent form appreciatively. Long, Lean, narrow-hipped and broad-shouldered, she thought he would be able to fill any role, from cowboy to army officer to the comic relief in a romantic drama.

His t-shirt had pulled out of his jeans, and she could see a strip of his flat stomach, and the brown fuzz where his navel hair led down to his groin.

She shifted in her office chair. She had woken up horny, and with no boyfriend, she had been forced to provide her own relief. Despite that, or perhaps because of it, she found herself looking at her older brother with a decidedly unsisterly gaze. She wondered what he looked like naked. Or even better, what he Looked like naked and aroused. With them each having their own private bathrooms, it had been literally years since they had seen each other nude.

God, I need to get laid. When you start to think about your brother, you know it's been too long since you've had a cock in your pussy.

Or your mouth.

“What about you?" Alex asked. "Are you ready to cut the strings, too?"

“Maybe," she admitted slowly, tearing her mind away from the enticing thought of her sexy older sibling. She didn't want to hurt her mother by delivering an ultimatum. But Rachel's insistence that they follow the same path she did was infuriating.

“I wish Daddy was around. He might be able to talk sense to her."

"Or he might not," Alex said. "Remember how much they used to fight before Dad moved out?"

"True," she admitted sadly.

“They get along better divorced than they did the last couple years before they split up. Except for last

Christmas." She sighed.

“You know, if we both went to Mom and told her that we were thinking about moving out, it might convince her to let us do what we want with our Lives. She'd be all alone in this big, empty house, with no one to blame but herself."

Alex sat up, his blue eyes troubled. "Emotional blackmail? I don't know if I like the sound of that."

“Well, it's either that, or go your route. How long would it take me to become a chef and have a restaurant of my own if I have to go to culinary school part-time? There are people paying off student loans who are in their thirties, Alex. I don't want to be in their shoes just because Mom was too damn stubborn to let us choose our own careers.

He stood up and chuckled.

“That's hard-core, Sis. You'd almost think your mother was some sort of hard-ass attorney or something. You play for keeps."

“Hah," Sarah said.