Hard: A Step-Brother Romance Read Online Free

darkest
aqua-marine icing gel they could find.
    Sorry
For Your Lots Loss
    It
worked for our purposes.
    Champagne
wasn’t appropriate, but neither was the extended family dropping wedding gifts
by the casket like Dad was some sort of Egyptian Homeware Pharaoh taking
toasters and expresso machines to the afterlife.  Just another headache to send
back with ridiculously involved explanations. Yes, we’re having a funeral…I
guess you can bring your +1 if you really want .
    About
the only thing that kept me level-headed and calm during the whole ordeal was
the one completely wild and unpredictable night I had earlier in the week.
    Zach
Harden.
    Oh,
sweet merciful Jesus, he was a beautiful mistake .
    I knew
he would be a perfect blending of pride and shame. I realized it as soon as he
flashed that bad boy grin. I felt it in my core when our hands brushed. The
mistake seared forever into my memory the instant our lips touched in that bar.
    We
crossed six blocks to his apartment in record time, collapsed on the bed, and our
instincts took over. Our night was one animalistic, wild experience so crazy I
didn’t recognize half of the things I demanded of him. Kiss me here. Touch me
there.  Fuck me where ?
    When
I was little, Gran used to swoon and beseech Jesus’s mercy when she came across
something that offended her sensibilities. I wished I had the luxury of
fainting to avoid thinking of the contorted and sinful acts we committed.
    Instead,
I had to look myself in the mirror and admit—yes, I did love every
minute of it, even if I could never tell another soul what a freak I was.
    At
least my first and last one-night stand was the best night of my life. And
thank God it’d be thelast time I saw him.
    I
didn’t get his number. I could never face him again. Not after what we did. How
he took me. How I reacted… multiple times, hoarding orgasms like I
stockpiled canned goods for an apocalypse.
    I
exhaled. I didn’t have time to worry about my wild indiscretions…of which there
were many . The wake concluded, and my relatives claimed their
centerpieces—won from a very morbid game of who has the birthday closest to
the funeral . My feet ached, but I had one last errand before I could plunk
them down in a bubble bath.
    I
buzzed over my apartment, grabbing a respectable skirt, sensible pantyhose, and
a modest blouse. They cloaked me like a schoolmarm but the outfit did not
reveal that I was a wide-eyed harlot who let a stranger have his way with her.
    Three times. Or was it
four?
    Well, one of those ways couldn’t be classified like the others.
    But
people couldn’t tell that a nice young lady did those sorts of things.
    …Could
they?
    It wasn’t
like I was wearing a sign that read Ask me where I put a stranger’s penis. No one ever had to know. Still, I styled my hair in a low ponytail to manage
the curls that took too much influence from my newfound free-spirit. Then I changed
into a pair less-racy panties. Once I felt innocent enough, I head to the last place I wanted to go so soon after the funeral.
    The
family lawyer’s office.
    I was
only twenty-one. Sometimes I forgot it, especially after taking care of Momma
when she was too traumatized by her and Dad’s separation to function. I loved
her to bits, but I’d never let a man rip out my heart like Dad did to her.
    All his
money and gifts didn’t help heal me or Momma. I saw how it ruined a good wife,
and I experienced how it hurt a daughter. I wanted nothing to do with Dad after
he left us, and where did I end up?
    Front
row and center to his will, earning a posthumous apology from a cold letter.
Too little too late. My family wasn’t just broken. We voided the warranty.
    “Come
on in, Shay.” My father’s accountant shook my hand. William was an older man
with a waistline that grew as quickly as the hair in his eyebrows. He sported a
gold Rolex on his wrist. No doubt one of Dad’s gifts. “Thanks for coming on
such short notice. The sooner we get this