Hard: A Step-Brother Romance by Sosie Frost Read Free Book Online

crippled and broke him.
    He
said he was on leave. I guessed I believed him, but why would a Navy SEAL want
to live in a Versailles inspired mansion north of Atlanta when he could be out
saving the world from extremists, dictators, and the computer nerds who hosted
websites that pirated movies?
    “How
did you get in here?” I demanded.
    Zach
caught me looking at him. He grinned. “Through the patio.”
    He
did it on purpose. “Not into the kitchen, smart-ass. Into the house!”
    “The
underground garage.”
    I’d
pitch the nearest mixing bowl at his head. I spun to face him, wishing he’d put
on a shirt and regretting once licking every taut muscle on his chest.
    “That
isn’t what I mean…” My rage blitzed into a sharp huff. “There’s an underground parking garage?”
    “Two
levels. Only one’s underground. But the elevator takes you to the roof where
the tennis courts are.”
    I
stared at him. He arched an eyebrow. Tennis courts?
    For
as much as I wanted to squeal in delight for my newfound palace, Zach Harden was
still half-naked and dripping in my brand new kitchen.
    Well,
one of my kitchens. But I liked this one. I’d probably use it the most. Which
meant I preferred it puddleless .
    “Why
are you here?” I tossed a tea-towel at him. It hardly covered his palm let
alone the rest of his six-foot-four, monstrous bulk. “How’d you get in?”
    “I
have a key.”
    “Impossible.”
    He
brushed the towel over his muscles. His tempting, sea-foam eyes studied me,
made greener only by the stacks of cash that insulated the walls of my new house.
“My name is on the deed too. I live here.”
    “You
do not.”
    “Just
moved in.”
    I
heard a fizzle. I hoped it was the last shred of my patience burning up and not
a snap of an aneurysm.
    “You
can’t move in here,” I said. “I told you. You are not welcome in my house.”
    He shrugged
and foraged in my fridge. “You don’t have to invite me in if I have a key code.
I’m not a vampire.”
    Not a vampire? He’d
bit me enough during our night together. A couple discreet hickeys proved
otherwise. I slammed the refrigerator shut and leaned against the steel doors. Zach
only smiled. I began to loathe those dimples.
    “This
is ridiculous,” I said. “You didn’t even know my father. You can’t live in his house.”
    He
shrugged. “Actually, I did know him.”
    “You…did?”
    “I
met him a couple times. Nice guy. We had a bit in common. He was in the service.
Marines.”
    I
didn’t know that. It didn’t matter.
    “One
conversation doesn’t entitle you to half of his life. This isn’t your house.
You’re inheriting money that…that…”
    “Belongs
to you?”
    Oh,
Christ, he made me sound like a money-hungry gold-digger. It wasn’t like that
at all. Dad took care of me in material ways, and Momma taught me resilience
and strength. I didn’t need billions to make me happy.
    I
didn’t even know what I needed.
    Why
the hell didn’t Dad ever tell me he was in the service?
    Why
didn’t he tell me he had a secret family with a lady he married a month before he died? Then again, would I have even listened to a word he said?
    “Look,”
I sighed. “You know this is wrong. My dad updated his will, but he didn’t think
he’d die so soon. This is a mistake.”
    “He signed
it, witnessed it by his attorney, and had it notarized. It’s hard to argue it.”
    Well,
I was trying, wasn’t I? “Why are you wet?”
    He liked
that I studied his muscles, glistening with water droplets. “Swimming. There’s
a great pool out back.”
    A pool.
Fantastic. And he had been in it. Exercising in the clear pool. Letting the sun
warm his lightly bronzing skin. I imagined him diving through the water as it caressed
a body so powerful and fierce he’d cut through the ripples like a sword through
silk.
    Momma
was too terrified of water to let me swim. Now all I could imagine was slipping
beneath the surface with a skilled military man who probably worked