Badass: A Stepbrother SEAL Romance (7 page)

“I’ve asked your mother to become my wife,” Dad said, looking first at Shane and then at me, “She has said yes, and—” I caught a flicker in Dad’s eyes that revealed that he was nervous about my reaction. “—and I hope you’ll be able to share my happiness.” He looked back at Molly and grinned at her, “
Our
happiness.”

I swallowed. My stomach was rebelling against it, but I knew what I had to do. No matter how I felt inside—and I was a complete and utter mess—I couldn’t hurt my dad. I had to be supportive, no matter what it cost me.

I reached across and patted his free hand. “Wow. Congratulations to both of you.”

Shane stood up from the table. His lips were tight and his eyes were angry.

Shane, the Navy SEAL.

Shane, my prospective stepbrother.

Chapter 12—Shane

Married? Cassie was gonna be my fucking stepsister? Fuck my life. No way, this was like one of those bad romantic comedies my mom used to force me to watch.

“Why would you want to get married? You’re going to move out here? What about your business in Montana? Our house?”

My mom rubbed her white pants and gave Henry a sharp glance. “Well we haven’t worked out all the details yet. But no, I won’t be giving up my business. We’ll be having a thoroughly modern marriage, with some long distance commuting built in. The important thing is that we love each other.”

I gazed at Cassie, her lips parted. She took a nervous sip of her drink. I had another use for her lips. Fuck, there I went again. I had to get the fuck out of here.

But I needed to talk to her now, alone. She was almost hiding behind her hair, which hung over her face like a curtain, as if she was desperate for a way out of this mess.

I waited until our parents were distracted and leaned down and whispered in her ear, “Meet me on the beach in five minutes.”

“I got to get back to work.” I glanced down at my mom’s blinding diamond, which clearly cost more than I made in a year risking my life to fight terrorists. Was this what she wanted now? Designer clothes, flashy jewelry, mansions on the beach? What was wrong with her life, our life? Simple, hard working, filled with purpose and in harmony with nature. Mom was a fishing guide in Billings. Now she was going to fill her days spending this jackass’s money?

I threw forty dollars on the table. He wasn’t going to pay for my dinner.

“Shane—” my mom grabbed my hand.

I held my hand up to stop her. “Congrats, Ma. I’ll call you later.” Her eyes pleaded at me, as if to beg me to be nice to Henry, not to ruin her chance of happiness.

I gave him a curt nod. “Henry.”

“Cassie, it was nice to meet you. Welcome to the family.” My words dripped with sarcasm.

“You too.” She looked up at me through her eyelashes, like she had the night we met at the cove. But this time she wasn’t looking at me with lust, her eyes were confused, hurt even.

I walked toward the beach and waited on a nearby bench, out of sight of the patio. Cassie showed up a few minutes later.

I could almost see the outline of her thong through her dress, her nipple buds hard in the ocean breeze. I needed to feel her wet pussy clench around my cock.

I stood up and clutched her shoulders, pressing her body into mine. Her thin dress clung to her, and despite my anger, my only thought was ripping off her panties and taking her right there in the sand. She attempted to jerk away, her nostrils flared.

“From your reaction at dinner, you didn’t know about our parents’ bullshit, either, right?”

“I didn’t have a clue. But even if I had known, I had no way of contacting you. I gave you my number, but you didn’t call.”

“I was deployed. We can’t text during firefights, despite what you see in the movies.” But even if I hadn’t been deployed, I would never have called her. We were too different—way too different.

“For the record, Shane the SEAL, the only reason I agreed to leave the restaurant with you was to set down some rules.”

“Rules?” I laughed openly at her. “You’re giving me rules?”

“Yes. We will probably see each other at family events. You and me, whatever the hell that was, can never happen again. And Dad and Molly can never find out. Promise me you won’t say anything.”

I laughed. “Listen, sweetheart. If I want to fuck you, and you want me, which you do, nothing is gonna stop me.”

“Go to hell.”

But I wasn’t done talking to her yet. I grabbed her hand and pulled her along with me we continued down the beach.

“Dammit, Shane, the only reason I’m not running away from you is because I’m not leaving until you swear to me that you won’t tell your mom about that night. Or anyone else.”

I released her hand and playfully pinched her. “What makes you think I haven’t bragged about you yet? Our night was epic.”

“So the rumors I’ve heard about SEALs are true—you guys are a bunch of misogynist pricks who can’t keep your mouths shut.”

My Teammate Kyle noticed my return first. “Is this the redhead you won’t shut up about?”

I raised my eyebrows at him. “Sure is. Cassie, meet my buddy Kyle. Just found out that Cassie is going to be my stepsister.”

A look of horror flashed on her face.

Kyle let out a deep laugh. “Stepsister? That’s a good one, Instructor Tyler. Laughing my fucking ass off. Let me know how that works out for you.”

One of the recruit’s eyes lifted toward Cassie, a full body eye fuck.

“Hey Pinhead, are you checking out my stepsister?”

“No, Instructor Tyler.”

“You calling me a goddamn liar? Get in plank.”

The guy dropped into the sand. I grabbed a hose and blasted him with water. Fuck him, no one was gonna look at Cassie while I was around.

“If your body isn’t straight, put your ass in the air.” I yelled at the motherfucker. But I wished Cassie were the one writhing in the sand, her ass in the air as I took her from behind.

Cassie stood back, her shoulders dropped. I was probably scaring her but this was my job.

I dropped the hose. I had to get back to work. I turned around to her.

“I doubt they’ll get married. I know my mom—she’s too independent. Been single so long she won’t go through with it. It will implode and then we’ll never have to see each other again.”

Her eyes scanned the beach. “I don’t know, Shane. I mean my dad has never been serious about anyone except my mom. She passed away years ago. They seem pretty happy.”

My gaze followed hers out to the shore. Fuck, one of my recruits was in trouble. “Hey, don’t go. Wait here for a second.”

I ran down the beach; one of my men looked like a ghost. Lips chapped, biting his lip, clutching his body.

I pulled him out of the water, took my flashlight out and shone it in his eyes. His pupils weren’t focusing. Signs of hypothermia were setting in.

“How many fingers am I holding up?”

He didn’t respond.

I lugged him over my back and ran up the beach to a tub we kept to warm our recruits in. I immersed him. After a few minutes in the tub, his eyes started to focus.

I repeated my question. “Fingers?”

“Two, Instructor Tyler.”

“Get the fuck back down there.”

The guy scampered down the beach like Cassie’s hurt sea lion. I picked up the microphone. “You’re wet and cold—you’re going to be wet and cold for a week. You better all start laughing.”

The kid hooked his arms with his swim buddy and started cackling like the Joker. The laughter would warm up their bodies. I wasn’t a sadist—if these men thought ocean in the winter in San Diego was cold, they’d never survive the sub-zero temperatures when we did missions in Alaska.

I returned to Cassie. She was standing there next to the instructor truck, a surprised look on her face.

“I need to get back to work. I won’t tell my mom, but I’m not going to lie and tell you that I’m never gonna touch you again. When you’re ready for a second round, let me know. Bye, Sis.”

She stalked away from me, sand flying under her angry feet, and stormed back up the beach. My eyes lingered a little too long on her curvy ass. She’d looked so fucking incredible in her cotton dress, and I knew that every man on that beach wanted to fuck her, but they had thought she was mine. Which she had been, for a minute.

I wanted to carry her away and take her back to my place and fuck her brains out. The sooner, the better. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her since our night together. Was it really only because she’d been the last girl I’d fucked? I’d been stateside for almost two weeks now and still hadn’t gotten laid. I didn’t have relationships; I rarely slept with a woman more than once. A Navy SEAL never makes the same mistake twice—why was I breaking my rules for Cassie? I didn’t know—the only thing I was certain of was that I had to taste Cassie again. And nothing was going to stop me.

I didn’t have time to deal with this mess. Not now. Not when my men needed me.

The sun began to set. I spoke into the microphone. “Say goodbye to the sun, gents. It’s gonna be a long night.”

Chapter 13—Cassie

As I walked away from the sand-caked would-be SEALs on the beach and their asshole instructor, I didn’t know what to feel. The truth was that seeing Shane, walking beside him, listening to his low, sexy voice had brought that sexual yearning boiling to the surface again. There was an ache in my belly and that damn traitorous dampness between my legs.

What was wrong with me? I couldn’t allow myself to have such feelings. Not now. Not ever. Was I some kind of deviant or something? Shane was my stepbrother. Or he soon would be.

I couldn’t ever be with him again.

I couldn’t even permit myself to think about it. Dream about it. Fantasize about it.

I had to put the guy completely out of my mind.

Anyway, how could I be attracted to such a full-of-himself jackass? He’d been barely civil at the dinner, and the moment he’d gotten me out of sight of our parents, he had grabbed me and pulled my body against his. If he’d jammed his mouth down on mine right at that moment, I’d have kissed him back. Seeing him was like watching shards of lightning, up close, despite the danger.

A SEAL. He could probably kill me with his bare hands. He’d survived the training those recruits back there were enduring. And I’d heard—everyone around here knew it—that most members of every new SEAL class washed out. Quit. The instructors did their damnedest to make you quit. You had to be really tough and stubborn to graduate from that self-imposed torture class.

A lot of girls around here were hot for SEALs. Would drop their panties if one of them so much as grinned at her. I’d thought that was really asinine behavior. Like I’d never do such a thing. Oh no, not me!

God. No wonder I’d never heard from Shane after our night together. That must have been an easy hookup for him. Order a woman to fuck him and she’d be, “Yes, Sir, How Hard, Sir?”

Shit, shit, shit! Even before this latest mess, what must he have thought of me? Just another ho. Only this particular ho was about to become his stepsister. He probably figured my dad was just as empty headed and sex obsessed as I’d appeared to be. Why would he expect my father to treat his Mom right, when he clearly had such a shallow daughter?

And yet…and yet. Sex had felt so right between us. It had been different, special. It had felt as if we were meant to find each other and be together.

Yeah, right. Stop it, brain! Someone turn a hose of cold water on me.

By the time I’d gotten back to the hotel, my father and my new stepmother—I nearly gagged at the thought—were nowhere to be seen. Fine. I got in my car and drove back to my apartment. Somehow I had to learn to live with having a stepmother.

And a stepbrother I had fucked and, deep in the darkest part of my heart, wanted to fuck again.

Chapter 14—Cassie

December seemed to crawl along. Molly was staying for Christmas. And New Year’s. Damn. She was practically living here.

She kept trying to be friendly and I kept trying to tread the thin line between being tolerant and polite to her and fleeing the situation at top speed.

I didn’t want to hurt Dad’s feelings, but watching him planning his wedding to another woman really got my panties scrunched. Even if she hadn’t been Shane’s mother, it would have been hard for me. The only Mom I was ever going to have died when I was a freshman in college. My dad had been so broken up about it that I’d had to do most of the funeral arrangements myself. He couldn’t stop crying. I’d never seen my dad cry before. All I’d wanted to do back then was collapse and howl myself, but someone had to keep it together, and I’m not quite sure how that someone had turned out to be me.

Maybe I hadn’t forgiven him for that yet.

I don’t know.

Or maybe I couldn’t forgive the idea that he could be in love when my own grief for Mom had been made raw all over again. I couldn’t deal with the thought of him standing up in church with Molly and pledging to love her for the rest of his life. If he was so desperate for companionship and sex and stuff, why couldn’t he just bone her? That would be private and none of my business.

This past year, when I knew he was seeing her, I’d ignored it. Denied it. Who the hell wants to think about their father having sex? But now I couldn’t seem to
stop
thinking about it.

Especially since it was obvious that Dad was getting a whole lot more sex than I was. The only man I wanted was now forbidden to me.

Despite all my good resolutions, my stupid brain remained fixated on Shane. Every time I got myself off with my trusty BOB, all I could envision was him.

Not that Mr. Fuck Me, Babe even cared.

As it turned out, it wasn’t going to be a big wedding. They decided to do some intimate thing down in Baja… just the family. Dad and Molly were going to sail Dad’s boat from San Diego to Cabo in Mexico, have the ceremony at a little church where an old friend of Molly’s was now the priest, and then cruise back for their honeymoon.

The wedding would be right after New Years, before Dad and I headed back to school after winter break. Shane and I were expected to show up and Dad had offered to pay for our plane tickets. But I didn’t think Shane even knew about the plans. I’d overheard Molly, practically in tears on the phone with him, trying to get him to make a little time in his busy schedule to talk to her.