Secret: A Military Stepbrother Romance Read Online Free Page A

first family. 
     
    I cringe, feeling my cheeks go red as the reality hits me again. Family ; the man from that night is not only here , he’s my new stepbrother. Alec has Dexter hauled back from his brother, a stern finger of warning in his face as he hisses at him to “act like a man.” I look up, and instantly regret it as I lock eyes with Hunter. Hunter who’s smoothing out his black suit as he looks right at me, a grin stretched across his face.
     
    Because this is funny to him. Because our history and its potential to absolutely shatter this office and the country it represents in light of what’s to come is amusing to him.
     
    Why the fuck did I agree to this? I mean, I’m twenty-three years old; I’m an adult. I should have just gone and joined my friends for the trip to Europe or something; something normal law-school drop-outs do. Not dress in Presidential looking dress-skirts and jackets with pearls looking like a Kennedy and smiling on the freezing cold lawn of the damned White House. 
     
    I cross my arms over my coat and shake my head at my mother. “I still don’t know why I have to be here .” 
     
    “You’re here , young lady, because we need to contain this.” 
     
    Ever the politician.
     
    “My upcoming announcement with Alec is going to rock this office enough, Madison. I can’t have you running around out there being in tabloids as my wayward, college-dropout daughter with a drinking problem to boot, too. You’ll stay here , until after the announcement.”
     
    “Wonderful. I’m a prisoner.”
     
    She rolls her eyes. “Don’t be dramatic. I’m keeping you in line and keeping us both out of the papers. You’ll stay here in D.C. at the White House for the semester.”
     
    “Under armed guard I assume?” I say sarcastically. “A whole wing of security following me everywhere I go?” 
     
    “Oh, just the one, actually.”
     
    The room goes a little quiet as I jerk my head back to my mother. “What?”
     
    She smiles broadly at me, like she’s about to deliver some good news. “Look, I get it, honey; I really do. You’re twenty-three, you’re an adult, and you don’t want your every move shadowed by a bunch of strange older men in suits, I get it.” 
     
    Something inside of me pricks up, like a sort of sixth sense. “Why do I feel like there’s a ‘but’ here somewhere?”
     
    “You’re only getting one agent, actually. One who we know you’ll get along with, one who is up to the task of protecting your well being, and one who-”
     
    “ Who? ”
     
    My mother flashes a smile at me — that big, warm politician smile that got her elected — before she suddenly turns to Hunter. “Someone close, and someone who can be trusted with family affairs.”
     
    Oh my God .
     
    The suit, the earpiece, the knowing grin, the smug look of amusement; it’s all falling into place.
     
    It’s all falling horribly into place.
     
    “Alec and I feel that Hunter is the perfect man for the job of keeping an eye on you.”
     
    It’s like everything's in slow motion as I whip my head around to look at him; him , the man with the piercing blue eyes, the smug look of arrogance on his face, and those sculpted arms crossed over his chest.
     
    Him , the man who’s now in charge of “keeping an eye on me.”
     
    Him , the man who made my body move and feel like never before. Him, the man out of a dark fantasy, who was supposed to stay there in the shadows of “that one crazy night.”
     
    My protector, and my wicked, dirty little secret.
     
    My stepbrother.
     
    I think I’m going to be sick. 
     
    It’s the last thought I have before I shove past him, blow out the door away from my mother yelling at me, and run headlong towards the bathroom.
     
    This is a catastrophe.
     
    A national catastrophe.

CHAPTER FOUR
     

     
    “You don’t seem very happy to see me, Madison”
     
    “Fuck! ” Madison jumps as she steps out of the hallway bathroom right into me