Swagger: A Stepbrother Romance (16 page)

Chapter 1

"Yes, I promise to be nice to him, Mom," Gabriella King said, rolling her eyes in frustration. She had just spent the last thirty minutes on the phone assuring her mother that she would indeed
play nice
with her slightly older stepbrother Anthony when he came home. It wasn't as though they were teenagers anymore, and she hadn't seen him in five years so she was confident that they could put past differences aside and be civil to each other for one night. Although she had to admit, even after all these years she was still hurt and confused about what happened, or didn’t happen on prom night, whichever way you wanted to look at it.

"Your stepbrother is a hero. He helped rescue
–
"

"Yeah, I get it, Mom!" Gabriella cut her mother off. She swore if she heard one more story about how great her older brother the Marine was, she'd fucking lose it. "I gotta go check on supper. Bye, Mom."

Without waiting for her mother's response she hung up the phone and walked into the kitchen. Her brother joined the Marines when he was nineteen and now at the age of twenty-four he was coming home. After spending all those years overseas, helping to keep their country safe, they would finally see him again. Yeah, she got that. And she appreciated and respected him for his bravery. She admired him even, but the fact that their parents were
always
bringing it up and praising him constantly was really beginning to annoy her. Each time they brought him up her mind would go back to prom night, pondering the “what ifs.”

She couldn't remember the last conversation she had with either her mother or her stepfather that didn't circle around to how
wonderful, honourable and courageous
her brother was. Sure, she was twenty-three and still trying to figure out what she wanted to do in life, but was that so bad? She worked as a waitress at the local bar and grill, and it was an honest living. She even had her own apartment and paid her own bills. She had decided to work there until she was able to figure out what to do with the rest of her life. Bottom line was, in their little family he was the
hero
and she was the
disappointment,
and it was an open wound for her that never seemed to heal. Probably because of all the salt being thrown into it on a regular basis.

"
He helped rescue
–
" Gabriella mimicked her mother and immediately felt petty for it.

He had been the star in high school: quarterback of the football team, and the reason most girls in school had been her friends. In retrospect, she always knew their friendliness was not genuine, they were being nice to her so they could come to her house, hoping that they would get the opportunity to talk to him. To make matters worse, after the incident prom night her crush on him had gotten stronger, which had made his leaving so abruptly even harder to handle. After all, he
was
one of the hottest guys in school, what girl wouldn’t have a crush on him? But she knew there was more to Anthony than just charm and good looks – a lot more. She had fallen for him hard and fast, and had endured years of watching him date bimbos with big boobs and double-digit IQs. Gabriella had managed to camouflage her desire for him with hostility – until that night.

And now, on his first day back home after five years – for some insane reason he kept refusing to come home and barely spoke to her on the phone when he called and she was home, parents yes, her no
–
she was going to have to be the one to feed and entertain him for the evening since their parents were still away on vacation and she was housesitting. "Maybe he'll show me all of the medals he was given, that'll eat up a few hours," she grumbled to herself.

Slipping on a pair of oven mitts, she opened up the oven, pulled out a cooked to perfection turkey and set it on the countertop. As she turned off the oven she glanced up at the analog clock on the wall, featuring a rooster on the face. Three minutes after seven. A grin touched her lips as she took satisfaction in knowing that her perfect stepbrother was now officially late for supper.

Ha! I thought military men were supposed to be prompt!

The thought of him being late had just crossed her mind when the doorbell rang.
Fuck!
Pulling her oven mitts off and tossing them onto the counter by the turkey, she rushed to answer the front door, hesitating a moment to peer at herself in the foyer mirror. Sapphire blue eyes stared back as she inspected herself and fluffed up her long blonde hair.

She was wearing a simple blue sundress that matched her eyes, hugged her ample breasts and dipped low, giving a nice view of her cleavage. The flowing skirt fell to mid-thigh and as usual she was barefoot. Although she didn't want to admit it, she wanted to impress him; to have him lust after her again. Deep down the crush she'd harboured for him never died, despite how over the years they’d
both
claimed to dislike each other.

Taking a deep breath she grabbed the doorknob, turned it and flung the door open to reveal Anthony wearing his dress blues with a duffle bag at his side. Her eyes widened as she peered upon him. He looked mouth-watering and her body immediately reacted to him. He'd always been broad-shouldered, but now he was built like a tank. His massive stature seemed to eclipse her tiny 5'2 body. He'd become one of the best-looking men she'd ever laid eyes upon. He had always been a good-looking guy and perhaps some of his now rugged good looks could be attributed to his uniform and the sexy, alpha-male demeanour he had gained.

In that moment, she found herself completely smitten by him, unable to utter a single word.
Does Anthony even know he's that hot? Pfft, of course he does.
His steel grey eyes did a slow survey of her body, causing an unwelcomed stirring between her legs. When his eyes caught her bare feet with ruby-painted toenails he flashed her a dimpled grin.
My God, even his smile is gorgeous!
She growled at herself for allowing the thought to pop into her mind. He was still her pain in the ass older stepbrother, and she had to remind herself of that, nothing more than that. He’d made that perfectly clear he wasn’t interested when he left for the Marines without discussing what happened between them, or what had been close to happening.

"So are you going to invite me in?" he finally asked, cocking a brow up at her and motioning toward the inside of their parents' house.

Wiping away the look of awe that she was sure was on her face, she replaced it with one of indifference and stepped aside, motioning for him to enter. "Suit yourself. Dinner is ready."

Grabbing his bag he made his way into the house. "You actually learned how to cook!" He feigned shock as he removed his cap and grinned down at her.

She gave him a condescending smirk and brushed past him, heading toward the kitchen. "Yes, and it's getting cold ’cause someone was late," she called over her shoulder at him. Feeling his eyes on her, she made a conscious effort to put a little extra sway in her hips for his benefit.

"It was only five minutes!" he called out in an arrogant voice.

"Late!"

She grinned as she heard him mutter a curse under his breath. "I'm gonna go change, this uniform is fucking hot. I’ll be right back. Plate it up for me."

****

As Anthony stripped out his uniform and quickly into a pair of jeans and t-shirt his mind couldn't keep off of how much Gabriella had changed over the years. She had always been a cute girl
–
in a dorky sort of way. Perhaps that was why he’d crushed on her despite her being his stepsister, hell, maybe even because of it. However, she seemed to have really filled out in all the right places over the years. Just the sight of her barefoot and her gorgeous body in the little sundress had given him an instant erection. Of course, it had been five years since he'd had sex with anyone besides himself so perhaps that was part of the reason. Sure, there had been opportunities from time to time, but none he was all that interested in pursuing.

And what was with that sexy little sway in her hips as she walked away from him? Was it for his benefit? Oh, he hoped so, but knew better. He'd been a major asshole to her when they were teenagers, playing pranks, picking fights with her and overall just a huge pain in her ass. And the way they’d parted ways, him telling her to get out of his room and not talking to her again, yeah, he was positive that hadn’t gone over well. Part of the hostility was due to the fact he resented his father for remarrying so quickly after his mother’s death. He hated the fact that his father was forcing another family into his life, and even worse he'd found himself attracted to Gabriella from the day she and her mother moved into the house.

Of course, with him being a horny teenage boy, his father made it clear that she was strictly off limits to him. Since he couldn’t be with her the next best thing was to make her life miserable and ensure that no other guy came sniffing around her. As far as he had been concerned back then, if he couldn't have her, no other guy could. Even now, when their parents told him last week that she'd broken up with her boyfriend, he'd taken satisfaction in the knowledge. No man would be good enough for her in his eyes. Except him.

He cringed. No doubt she still hated him. At least he assumed so anyhow. Their conversations whenever he'd call were short and strained. And the greeting she'd given him at the door was about as cold as they came. Yup, some things never change.

After he finished changing, he trotted back down the stairs to the delicious aroma of a home-cooked meal. God, he'd missed that. His stomach grumbled as he hit the bottom stair and made his way into the kitchen. He stopped at the entryway of the kitchen and reclined against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched her a moment.

Gabriella was busy plating the food, humming softly as she went about her business. A smile touched his lips just from watching her. He shouldn’t have stayed away so long. In retrospect, he knew he’d overdone it staying away, but he had his reasons.

Considering the fact that he may be around her for a while he decided it was about time they finally buried the hatchet. If that meant apologizing for all his dirty little deeds to her and discussing what happened prom night, then so be it. They were both adults now and there was no reason why they couldn't have a fresh start.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Anthony asked as he walked up behind her, just as she was turning with a white porcelain gravy boat in hand. Startled by him she yelped, jumping back and in the process spilling a good portion of the gravy down the front of her dress.

Eyes narrowed, she glared up at him with the open hostility that he remembered from their teenaged years. Anthony had to fight to keep a chuckle from escaping, due to her heated expression, as he reached behind her and unrolled a handful of paper towel. "I'm really sorry, Gabby."

He was... sort of. Her expression of restrained anger was so amusing it was almost worth it. He immediately remembered another reason why he used to tease her so much. She was fucking sexy when she was angry.

She snatched the paper towel from him. "You can help by sitting your ass down and letting me get dinner on the table," she growled through clenched teeth. She turned to the sink, wet the paper towel and attempted to remove the greasy substance from her dress.

****

They ate in silence, with Gabriella shooting annoyed glances across the table at her brother from time to time. She knew she shouldn't be angry with him, it had been an honest mistake on his part, but she couldn't help it. Besides, at least if she was angry with him it would deter her thoughts from how sexy he looked and how much she'd like to see his amazing body minus the clothing.

Anthony would periodically look up at her and open his mouth to say something. She'd glare at him and he'd go back to eating silently. Apparently having had enough of the silent treatment, Anthony tossed his fork onto his near-empty plate with a clang and stared across the table at her.

Gabriella's head jerked up and her eyes caught his, as she raised a questioning brow at him.

"Why do you hate me so much, Gabby? After all these years. Why?"

A growl formed in the back of her throat as she placed her utensils down on the table before her. Crossing her arms over her chest, she sat back in the wooden kitchen chair. Years of anger boiled up inside and she began to rant, her words spilling from her mouth like verbal diarrhoea. "Well, let's see. Our parents take every opportunity to stress how fucking wonderful and heroic their son is. How proud of you they are, while in the same breath scolding me for wasting my life as a waitress, flaunting my tits for tips."

He shrugged. "Sorry for doing my fucking job, Gabby," he responded, sarcasm dripping from his tone as he picked his fork back up and shovelled another spoonful of mashed potatoes into his mouth.

Her anger flared as she continued. "Added to that, let’s not forget that you treated me like shit when we were kids. Teasing me. Pulling pranks. Chasing away any boy who even showed a remote interest in me…"