Read Online Hard: A Military Stepbrother Romance by Lara Swann - Free Book Online

of disappointment Kaylee didn’t quite hide. She’d
been enjoying my complaint laden haranguing as much as I had. I raised an
eyebrow at her and smiled.
    “Not
quite the evil step-mother you were hoping for?”
    She
gave me a quick punch on the shoulder and then sat up, stretching and reaching
for more suncream.
    “Nah,
you know I wouldn’t wish that on you.”
    I
eyed her and then rolled back onto my back, not liking the strain on my neck
from trying to follow her movements.
    “The
new stepbrother on the other hand…”
    She
gasped and turned to me again, suncream forgotten.
    “She’s
got a son too?! You didn’t tell me that!”
    I
laughed at the excitement in her expression, but couldn’t blame her - this was
probably one of the few interesting updates on my life I’d ever given her.
Considering that tales of academic work, medical school and science problems
bored her to tears.
    I
hadn’t been entirely sure I was going to mention Seth, but not mentioning him
would have just raised eventual questions, and anyway - best way to get over
this whole thing seemed to be to acknowledge that he was there and refuse
anything more than that. Despite my best effort, my body sparked again at the
thought of him, and my memory of last night still seemed able to make my blood
pulse, but I pushed that away - hard.
    “Well,
he’s an arrogant son of a bitch, so I wasn’t sure I wanted to.”
    That
only sparked her interest, as I’d known it would, and I sighed inwardly.
    “Cursing?
From the calm, collected Bella? This requires an explanation!”
    Then
she giggled and interrupted herself with a darting glance.
    “You
know you just called your step-mom a bitch, right?”
    I
snorted and shook my head. She was right - I wasn’t so good with bad language.
It was something that only really seemed to come to the fore around Seth…
    “Ah,
there’s not much to say, Kay-Kay. He’s a Navy SEAL with a bad mouth and the
arrogance to match. Drives me up the wall.”
    “ Really? A Navy SEAL?”
    The
light in her bright blue eyes stirred me a little but I just shrugged.
    “You
should give him a chance, Bella - you only met him last night. Maybe he was as
pissed off being there as you were. And he has to have something in him if he’s
in the elite forces.”
    He
had something alright.
    And
I had no doubt she was right about him being pissed off at the whole situation.
Didn’t change anything.
    “Nah
- he was in school with me. He’s a no-good asshole and he spent the night
needling and provoking me. I’m staying well clear of that.”
    She
sent me a curious glance that almost had me squirming for a moment, but then
shrugged and turned back to the suncream.
    “If
you say so, babe. Well I’m here anytime you want to cry your heart out over it
- but if you ever get to meet some of those SEAL friends of his…just don’t
forget about poor old me, heh?”
    I
gave her a grin and shook my head in mock exasperation, but her attitude lifted
my spirits at least. If there was anyone who could reduce an infuriating,
provocative bastard to a hot piece of ass, it would be Kaylee.
    We
were as different as sun and moon, but I think that was part of why we got on
so well - she’d always given me a new crazy way of looking at things. And a
peek into a more wild side of life that I couldn’t help finding fascinating -
even as I remained very glad to look on it safely from afar. Looking back on
it, it had been a miracle my Dad had approved of my involvement with her - but
then, she’d charmed him as easily as she’d wrapped her own father around her
finger.
    She’d
been one of the best things about this place, ever since that first innocuous
day when she’d bounded up to me at school, aged eight.
    “Maria
said you don’t have a Mommy. Me neither - let’s be friends!”
    And
like so many times since, I’d looked at her in shock - and then we’d done
exactly what she’d suggested. It helped that her father owned a place only a
few