Hooked: A Stepbrother Romance by Iris Parker Read Free Book Online

try.
    Three weeks of learning to accept each other.
    Three weeks of gawking at Emilia in the far field, coaching her tight little ass off.
    She avoided me whenever possible, of course, and both of us were extremely busy managing our respective teams. We barely said two words to each other in a day.
    It should’ve been easy for me to keep up the lie, the one I’d been struggling with for so many years. But no. The truth was rapidly rearing its ugly head.
    I had a thing for my stepsister.
    Bad.

    I hate it here.
    The other day, he actually had the nerve to call her my sister.
    A sister. Out of thin air. Just because he said so.
    We’re not even related, not really.
    I fucking hate it here, and I fucking hate her.

After three weeks of sustained sleep deprivation, my body had decided it’d had enough. I had blissfully overslept, waking up at the decadently late hour of eight in the morning. It wasn’t exactly spoiling myself, but it was a good way to start the day. Even better, Simon hadn’t made a single appearance in my dreams last night.
    Neither in nightmare nor erotic dream.
    Talk about a change of pace , I thought, shivering as I remembered the last time he had shown up in my sleep. My lips had been wrapped tightly around him, showing that there was now a grain of truth to the rumors he’d started so long ago.
    After pilfering a coffee from Adam’s office at the rec center, I reviewed the list Simon had left for me. It detailed every piece of gear we’d need for our first game this afternoon.
    So far, collaborating with him had been easier than I expected. He was strangely courteous and friendly with me, even the couple of times we’d been alone and there was no need for him to put on an act. On the field, I’d been observing him closely, and found that he was surprisingly charming and even-tempered with his players.
    The whole thing had seemed fishy as hell in the beginning, but now I wasn’t so sure. The lightness of his blue eyes when he smiled felt so sincere , real and warm enough to give me goose bumps when I thought about it.
    Which, I admit, was way too often.
    Once I arrived at the small storage room I used as an office, I clicked my desk fan on and opened the window to get some much-needed fresh air into the stifling, still heat of the cramped space. Outside the building, I could faintly hear Simon’s voice coming from the dirty and run-down patio area.
    “No, I don’t think I’ll be able to make it tonight. But we’re still on for the game this afternoon, right? Okay. Great. I love you, too. Bye.”
    I planted myself against the wall and froze, trying to be still and unseen as he walked by the window with his phone still in hand. My heart was pounding through my chest as I tried to reassure myself that there was nothing I could’ve done to avoid the eavesdropping. It had been an honest mistake, and not something that any reasonable person would get upset over. Even so, a dark, painful twinge lingered in my stomach, sending waves of guilt and fear through my body.
    Still plastered against the wall, realization crept up on me.
    Simon was seeing somebody .
    Simon was seeing somebody, and I cared .
    I shouldn’t have cared. At all. If anything, I should’ve been grateful. Sometimes love can make even a total bastard grow up, and maybe that’s exactly what had happened to Simon.
    Why did I feel so small, so short of breath? Why was I dizzy?
    I could hear his footsteps outside my office, in the gym, coming closer.
    I needed to regroup, fast.
    “Hey,” he began, peeking his head through the door.
    “Come in,” I squeaked, regretting the words immediately as his large body filled up all the space of the tiny room. I was suddenly, painfully, acutely aware of every little thing. The warmth of his body radiating off him in waves, the scent of his aftershave, the way he was dressed. With an old pair of jeans and a grey linen shirt, his muscles bulged and rolled beneath the fabric. He looked gorgeous,