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

seeing her tonight - to explaining myself and at least setting
things straight between us. It sucked balls that this was how I’d seen her, but
that didn’t mean I couldn’t set the past right.
    Perhaps
that was all that was left to me now, and once I was done I could finally put
this obsession to bed. I’d hurt her once - I’d seen that in her expression
tonight - and we were brother and sister now. I wouldn’t hurt her again - but
after all this time apart, I needed a few moments with her in private.
    I
finished dinner with a few questions to Terence, asking him about his business
and acting like I was thinking about anything but his daughter’s fair, pretty
skin writhing underneath me. He seemed only too happy to comply, regaling me
with tales of the tech industry and how his company was poised on the edge of
overtaking some new innovation. It sounded mind-numbingly boring to me, but he
was obviously pleased with it.
    When
we were finally done, my mother offered to take me up to the room she’d had
prepared for me. The idea of staying here now twisted my gut in knots, but I’d
agreed - and even as frustrated as I was, I could see this was good for her, so
I didn’t say anything. I could always change my mind another day. For tonight,
there was the promise that Bella would be only a few rooms away - and the
burning need still to see her. So I took my mother’s directions and even
managed a moderately polite goodnight.
    Then
I set off in search of Bella.
     

Chapter Three
    Seth
     
    Resting
my shoulder against the side of the door, I knocked and waited as I heard my
new step-sister moving inside and coming to answer. The rooms were stupid big
in this place.
    As
soon as she saw me, her expression closed-off and I could see the obvious
temptation to slam the door in my face. Not giving her a chance to think about
it, I gave my casual smile and walked easily past her and inside.
    “Hey!”
    As
she spun to face me, I couldn’t help how much I adored the way outrage had
always puckered up her pretty, delicate features.
    “What
the hell do you think you’re doing?”
    So,
yeah, not welcome.
    It
was expected, even if I wished it was undeserved.
    I
just raised my eyebrows and gave her a long look, wanting the door closed
before I said any of what I’d come for.
    “I
thought you’d prefer to talk in private, hmm?”
    She
caught my meaning immediately, flushing and closing the door with a quick
glance outside before coming forward to glare at me. Such strong, passionate
eyes when she was riled up. I couldn’t help enjoying it just as much as I had
at eighteen, my body’s reaction showing me that the time apart hadn’t done
anything to diminish her effect on me.
    I
cursed the fact she was off-limits yet again - this would be so much easier if
I could just push her up against the wall and show her just how much I’d missed
whatever that brief thing between us had been.
    God
damn.
    I
ignored that and took a breath, finally having her alone and in relative
privacy and wanting to at least explain the last three years…and try to discuss
the mess we were in now.
    “About
before—”
    Her
eyes flashed and back straightened, that stubborn set of her chin making my
body heat all over again.
    “You
can’t tell anyone about that - my father would never forgive me!  As far as I’m
concerned, it never happened.”
    That
was all it took to turn my conciliatory plan to anger, my mouth opening
instinctively, unable to accept that she cared more about what her father
thought than what had happened between us.
    “Still
chasing Daddy’s approval, I see.”
    Her
body tightened but despite that small indication, she stayed where she was, in
full disdainful control.
    There
were a few officers who would have been impressed…
    “It
was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made - don’t make it worse now, asshole.”
    Damn
it, but this woman knew how to provoke me.
    My
good intentions disappeared in the face of anger and need, and