BIG: (A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance) by Emme Rollins Read Free Book Online Page B

and carefree. My God, that smile. He stood, gathering his hair back into an elastic band, sunlight dancing off his short sideburns, making them glow dark-blond. His black, long-sleeved shirt clung to the muscles of his shoulders and upper arms like a second skin.
     
    Annalesa slowed her pace, not wanting to interrupt them, but Ric glanced her way and waved, stopping only to pick up an enormous assault rifle from the ground by his kit bag. As he approached, her slack-jawed staring at his alpha gear had turned into a grimace at his weapon.
     
    “Please tell me that’s just a paintball gun?” She’d seen the orange tip—a sign that the gun was no longer actually firing live rounds. The thing looked like it weighed as much as she did!
     
    “It is.” He laughed, bending to kiss her cheek. “You’re nearly an hour early. We were about to do an assault simulation.”
     
    “I thought I’d get in a little target practice before we hooked up. I’m rusty.” She glanced around, frowning, hands on her hips, and wrinkled her nose at him. “But the range seems to have moved.”
     
    “Sorry, forgot you haven’t been here in a while.” Ric grinned. “The range is where the conference rooms used to be. Dad expanded Ryker’s private security wing, so we built the kill house for urban assault training. Private security is now Anders Arensen’s baby. You remember Anders, right?”
     
    And there he was—the older man who had said something to make Ric laugh.
     
    Annalesa put her hand out as the man with the silver-blond hair joined them. His hair was so close-cropped she could see the pink of his scalp.
     
    “Good morning, Commander Arensen.” She did remember him, now.
     
    “Just Mr. Arensen.” He shook her hand—a confident, firm grip. “I’ve retired from the Forsvaret.”
     
    “Still with NATO?” she asked, trying to remember what her stepfather had said about the man.
     
    “Yes, I’m still the liaison. It’s good to keep the company’s ear to the ground.” He let go of her hand, giving her an appraising look. “Do you like my kill house?”
     
    “It’s... beautiful.” She blinked at the fat, squat building. What, really, could you say about something called “a kill house?” She didn’t like the way he claimed ownership of it though—even if it was his “baby.”
     
    Arensen gave a short laugh, turning to clap Ric on the shoulder. “And what do you make of your brother’s incredible transformation?”
     
    “I didn’t recognize him,” she admitted honestly.
     
    “You won’t recognize him in the field, either,” Arensen assured her, squeezing Ric’s big shoulder in his hand. “He’s been working with our operations team for two years. We’ve got him up to mission-capable standards.”
     
    Ric looked quite proud of that fact and she smiled her congratulations at him. She felt proud of him, although that seemed to matter to him far less than the older man’s opinion. Annalesa told herself she was being ridiculous, but she didn’t like the way Arensen seemed to claim Ric’s success as if it were his own.
     
    Ric had been the one doing the work, after all, and she didn’t like to think of him training with a man who looked like he’d step on a kitten if it got in his way. But maybe she was judging the man too harshly, she told herself, as Arensen turned back to Ric. Clearly the older man felt he’d done his duty in being polite to her and began barking out instructions for the upcoming simulation.
     
    “Keep a better eye on your six,” Arensen admonished. “I can’t count the number of times you forget to watch your own damned back, Ryker, for fucksake—”
     
    “That’s because I’m busy watching yours.”
     
    “I don’t need mine watched,” Arensen snapped, although he was wearing a half-smile, half-scowl on his face. “Who’s training who here?”
     
    Annalesa stepped back, giving them space as they sparred in a series of masculine half-insults while