Defender: A Stepbrother Romance (16 page)
Read Defender: A Stepbrother Romance Online
Authors: Kira Ward
Crawford
I
knew
the moment I saw her that it was a moment that would forever live in my memory. Her dark hair swept off her shoulders, her swollen body swathed in white silk. She was the most beautiful bride a man could imagine. Was it bad that all I could think about was how hard it was going to be to get her out of the dress? She shared my bed every single night, yet I still couldn’t get enough of her.
She smiled as she looked toward the altar, her lips widening when she met my eyes. If someone had told me a year ago, even just seven months ago that I would be standing there, I never would have believed them. Me, get married? Have a baby? No way. I was the guy who liked to pick the prettiest girl in the nightclub and dance with her just long enough to get her into the bathroom then fuck her bent over the sink. But that guy…he died a very swift death the moment Eden said she wanted me.
She was my dream come true.
The church was full. My mother was sitting in front of me, tears already falling over her rounded jaw. Kendra was beside her, holding her hand and feeding her tissues. Nearly everyone in town was in the pews behind her, friends from high school, my English teacher among them, as well as the clerk from the grocery store and the teenage pump jockey who filled my car with gas just that morning.
But they were all just background props as Eden began the final march of her single adulthood. I wanted to rush to her, pull her into my arms and refuse to let her go. No one had told me how nerve-wracking that part would be. What if she changed her mind at the last minute? What if she realized what a bad deal she’s getting and ran for the hills?
But her eyes never left mine. She walked slowly, more because of her swollen belly than the slow tempo of the wedding march. She reached out her hand for me the moment she was close enough, but then Dad turned her to him and whispered a couple of words in her ear before lifting her veil and setting it carefully in place.
When he handed her to me, there was pride in his eyes.
Finally, acceptance.
“I know you’ll be a good father,” he said to me the night before. “You’re kind and patient but smart enough to know when to be firm. That’s the part I was never very good at. But you…you’ll be everything to your child that I always wanted to be to mine.”
“You’re a wonderful Dad,” I replied. “I wouldn’t know how to be a father if not for you.”
He smiled that smile he often wore when he felt his esteem had been bolstered. “Just be who I couldn’t be to Eden. I’ve made some mistakes. Don’t repeat them.” He touched my arm lightly. “And take care of my daughter. She uh… loves you.” Even as he said it, I could still sense the slight discomfort in his voice. “Don’t ever make her feel that her love is misplaced.”
It took a while for him to come around. Slowly, we were able to visit the house without him running us out, then eventually we got through a few uncomfortable silent dinners together. When he found out that I had proposed, I suppose he realize that nothing was going to tear Eden and I apart. Our love was real, no matter how unconventional it may have been.
And he loved Eden unconditionally. No matter how angry he got, he couldn’t shut her out of his life forever.
It meant everything to me to have earned my stepdad’s trust. And to have his blessing after such a hard road meant everything to Eden. The day wouldn’t have been nearly as perfect if he hadn’t accepted our marriage.
All the darkness that had brought us together was finally behind us. As I took Eden’s hand in mine and turned to face the priest, we looked towards the future. I believed no matter what it held, we would always face it together.
Eden and I.
Mom & Dad.
Family.
That was all that mattered.
Kira Ward is an steamy romance author. To receive her unreleased books and updates free, join her mailing list here:
Stranded With My Billionaire Stepbrother
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013FDU62K/
My stepbrother has it all. He's smart, handsome, has a great body, and he's worth billions. He's every girl's dream and all our parents can rave about. After he bought our family a private island off the coast of Italy, it didn't seem like such a bad idea to get out of Texas and take a family vacation.
That good idea turned into a bad idea when we got aboard his private yacht and sailed into a hellacious ocean storm.
I'm thankful to be alive, but now we're stranded. Just the two of us. Alone on a deserted island.
No food, no communication, no clothes,
and we have no idea how to escape. As far as we know, no one knows where we are.
We have to learn how to survive and figure out how to get home, but the tension between us is growing each day. I can see the way that Alex looks at me with lustful eyes, and I can't help but steal glances of his rippling, tanned muscles when I have the chance. Something's got to give, and when it does, it's going to be
harder, stronger, and faster
than that epic storm that we survived.
Devil: A Stepbrother Romance
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0150BBYXU/
Mitch:
They call me "The Wrecker". And not just for the bodies that I'm wrecking on the football field, but for p***y that I wreck in the bedroom.
It wasn't always this way. A little more than 2 years ago, I was just your average guy but then I got into fatal car accident with a drunk driver. The doctors had pronounced me dead, but just as I was walking towards the white light, I was offered a deal by The Devil himself. He'd let me live and make all my wildest dreams come true.
The one caveat?
I could never love again.
I'd have to break the heart of every single girl that would ever fall for me.
It sounded easy enough at the time. But then Annie grew up, and damn... she's perfect.
Annie:
My stepbrother has changed.
When he got out of the hospital, he got ripped–I mean really ripped. Now he's grown cocky, arrogant, and he has all these new tattoos. I never noticed him before, but he's shaped into the hottest guy I've ever seen. It's too bad he treats every woman like they're just a piece of meat.
He's the star running back at UCLA, and he'll probably make it to to the NFL next year. He's that good.
I hate that he's my stepbrother, but worst of all... I think I'm falling for him.
He Wants It, He Gets It
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0111CSUL6
Emma Allred is usually polite and well-mannered, but when the rudest customer she's ever met walks into her diner, she can't help but lose her temper. A heated encounter turns into her worst nightmare when she finds out the jerk who she's thrown coffee on is none other than billionaire CEO, Dante Caito.
Hot, sexy, and demanding, Dante gets whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and he's not about to let little Emma get away without a lesson. Even if it means purchasing the diner so that she loses her job or buying out her apartment complex to demolish her home. He'll stop at nothing to get her revenge–simply because he can.
But Emma isn't about to back down without a fight. Just because Dante is worth billions, doesn't mean that he can ruin her life. Dante just might have met his match. There's something about Emma's fiery nature that draws him in... He finds himself determined to have his way with Emma, inside and outside of the bedroom.
And he will. Because when he wants something, he gets it.
“Stepbrother’s Rage”
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00W49VHFC/
"Nobody messes with my little sister..."
That's what my stepbrother always said after he'd leave a trail of destruction in his wake.
His rage was uncontrollable. If someone so much as looked at me wrong, they'd find themselves unconscious a few minutes later. It got so bad that my parent's insisted on him joining the military in hopes that he could get his anger under control.
It killed me when he left. We grew up together, laughed, and played together. I loved him dearly and I knew that he loved me. I just never pieced together exactly
how much he actually loved me.
When he came back home, things changed. He was handsome before but now he was ripped, and now I was a full-grown woman. What was this tension between us, and had he really learned to control his anger? I'd find out the sooner than later that a hidden desire was the source of my stepbrother's rage.
