Hard: A Military Stepbrother Romance

by Swann, Lara

  Then I stopped, frozen as I stared at the figure standing there in the small bay the water made.

  That wasn’t Kaylee.

  He turned to look at me and I screamed, running down the rise at full pelt, everything within me exploding at the sight.

  God. Fuck. Ohh, damn.

  His face flickered with laughter as I barreled into him, his body absorbing the impact easily as his arms wrapped around me and squeezed tighter than I thought possible.

  “Seth. Oh god. Damn. Fuck. You didn’t tell me…”

  Then he was kissing me and all the thoughts left my mind, the two of us all over each other as we couldn’t touch and feel and taste enough. Every part of my body tried to meld with and touch his, my heart racing as our tongues twisted and devoured each other.

  Oh god oh god oh god.

  “Seth. Seth….Seth…fuck.”

  He laughed roughly under me, his hands touching and exploring every aching, waiting part of my body.

  Please god, oh fuck…

  I jumped up, my legs wrapping around his waist as he held me easily, his thick body supporting me while I tried to look and take in every part of him at the same time as touching and covering him with kisses. He was trying to do the same and it was impossible, the desire raging through both of us all-consuming as we tried to make up for all the lost time.

  “You’re back? Are you back? Tell me you’re back.”

  He laughed again, catching my hair and holding my head back to look into my eyes with his own beautiful gray gaze.

  “I’m back, baby. I’m back.”

  “You fucking asshole - you didn’t tell me!”

  The words were a laughter, a light breath as I kissed him again, moaning and complaining and feeling every part of him around me. His eyes were almost innocent when he looked up at me.

  “I thought you liked surprises. Big gestures. That kind of thing.”

  “Asshole.”

  I muttered it again, but couldn’t stop touching him. That was obviously mutual, and his hands slid to his belt, undoing it with the same deft ease he showed in everything.

  “Seth!”

  “It’s a private beach, baby.”

  I was longing for him, wasn’t sure I could even think until we did this, my pussy soaking and waiting for him as it had been for so long, but still…

  “For all the guests.”

  “There are no other guests.”

  “What?”

  His mouth nibbled and licked at my neck and I moaned.

  I had no idea how he knew that, but I didn’t care anymore. His hand rearranged my skirt around him and pushed aside the thong I was wearing, my entire body seizing as his rough finger stroked past my entrance.

  “Oh god, Seth…”

  “I need you, baby. I’ve thought of nothing else, all the time I was gone. I fucking need this.”

  “Me too. Fuck, Seth, I want you.”

  He pushed into me a moment later, lowering me easily onto his hard length and then everything was finally complete and right in the world.

  The best dildos and vibrators in the world couldn’t compare to this. To his hot, pulsing cock inside me, surging and thrusting with the strength only a Navy SEAL could offer.

  I was already so wet and desperate for him, and every touch and kiss set my body on fire as I moaned and cried out with abandon, letting him drive us further and further towards that edge.

  “You’re mine, Bella. You’re…fucking…mine.”

  Faster than I would have believed possible, we were both there, and I clenched hard around him as he pushed past that sweet, fierce climax, all the need of the last ten months exploding within us. His cock pulsed hard and I felt the hot seed spread through me as I gasped and tried to catch my breath, his strong arms still holding me with no obvious effort, and my legs unwilling to abandon their death-grip around his waist.

  The way the heat and need was coiling within me, I wasn’t even sure what I felt was precisely relief…it felt like I wanted it again. And again. And again.

  It felt like I’d never get enough of him, not if he was here attached to me every moment of every day.

  And since he wasn’t…we had so much to catch up on.

  But he lowered my legs down and took me back into his arms, holding me close as we murmured how much we’d missed each other. I accepted the brief reprieve, but hoped it was going to be just that - brief.

  “So how was it, baby? Were you okay?”

  It was an impossible question.

  How had missing him for the last ten months been?

  Terrible. Impossible. Completely infuriating. I’d missed him every moment of every day, with an ache that had never subsided.

  But at the same time, I’d survived. It had been fine. I’d laughed and lived and had fun. And every moment with him now was taking the difficulty and the pain away, until it already felt like a distant memory. Like he’d always been here. Always would be here.

  “I thought about you the whole time, every day…I missed you more than life itself. But…it was okay, baby.”

  He smiled at me and nodded, kissing me again.

  “I wanted nothing more than to come home to you. The whole time. They always said…the other guys - they always said what drives you is the thought of home. I never really understood that until I met you. My home. I’m back, baby. And I’m going to show you everything I thought about while I was gone.”

  The lust and depth of his tone made me shudder as I pressed against him, kissing and nibbling at his neck, inhaling that beautiful masculine scent as I finally relaxed against him.

  “Becky and the others helped a lot. And Ryan came home, Seth. Five months ago—”

  “I know, baby. I was so relieved. Are they okay?”

  I laughed, thinking of Becky’s reaction, but nodded.

  “They are - she threatened to chain him to her bed for the rest of time, but they’re happy. The kids escaped the worst of it, too.”

  He chuckled, eyes dancing.

  “I imagine he didn’t object too much to that idea.”

  I slapped his chest lightly, then squeezed him again.

  “You’re back. You’re real.”

  “I didn’t just prove that to you?”

  His raised eyebrow had me looking archly at him.

  “I don’t know, Seth - maybe you’ll have to try again.”

  He grinned and swept me up in another kiss that left me breathless, before looking seriously at me again.

  “It was really okay?”

  Scowling, I poked him and nipped at his lips briefly.

  “It was fine, baby. Actually gave me a chance to focus on work for once. And I got an offer - they want me back after the internship ends!”

  He squeezed me tight again, crushing me to him in a way I never wanted to end. I felt on top of the earth.

  I had everything I’d ever wanted - the beginnings of a successful career, and a home with the fiercest Navy SEAL I knew.

  The one who set my heart alight and my body on fire just from being around me. Who drove me crazy with lust and need and unrepentant teasing.

  The one with a sweeter side than he let on.

  It was perfect.

  “I even made up with my father, you know.”

  He stepped back again, tilting his head as he tried to take in my expression, but there was nothing there to worry about. Things were good.

  “He apologized, actually. Took him a damn long time to do it, but he did. Claimed he wasn’t sure he could be happy about what we were doing, but that he remembered a time when he would have done the same. Time is a useful thing, I guess. And after I stopped listening so carefully to him, it turns out he finally started hearing me.”

  He’d stayed away for a while - both of them had as Cora followed his lead and brandished her own upset at the way we’d walked out on her big day. But interestingly, the moment Seth had been deployed, she’d been the one to call - long before my father was ready.

  I t
hink she cared more than Seth knew, and though her marriage to my father didn’t sound entirely stable, I couldn’t help hoping that regardless of what happened between them, maybe at least her relationship with her son could be rebuilt.

  Those familiar thoughts disappeared a moment later as I noticed the happiness and pride sweeping across Seth’s face, making me happier than I could have ever imagined.

  “Well, it looks like you have everything sorted without me then. Maybe I should go away more—”

  “Don’t you fucking dare!”

  I kissed him before he could finish the sentence, pulling him to me with a hard insistence.

  When we finally broke the kiss, he chuckled again, his eyes alight with laughter and…something more.

  A smile spread across his face, the same cocky one I’d always hated adoring, but with a lightness behind it that made my heart skip.

  “Glad you feel that way, baby.”

  And then before I could work out what was happening, he was down on one knee, his large hand flicking open a ring case.

  “Because I want to make you mine forever. I love you, Bella. My Belle. I always have, and I’m never going to let you go. Marry me.”

  The last was more demand than question, but that only made my heart beat faster as I took in the sparkling diamond-and-emerald ring.

  Everything inside me exploded with happiness and desire and want.

  I opened my mouth to reply but the only thing that came out was a small scream as I launched myself at him, wrapping around that thick, ripped body as I kissed him all over, again.

  “Yes…god, yes…oh damn, yes…”

  He was laughing as he kissed me back, his arms around me once again until I finally calmed down - physically, at least - enough for him to slide the ring onto my finger. He closed his hands around it as he looked at me.

  “My Bella. Always.”

  I nodded and tucked myself back into his body, letting his arms hold me as we kissed for what felt like forever.

  THE END

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  About the Author

  Lara Swann writes hot, sexy romance with a touch of humor and a lot of passion. She has a thing for wounded alpha heroes and the fiery women who steal their hearts.

  Her relationships are funny, sexy and spicy, and she gets as many thrills in pitting her characters against each other as she does when they eventually come together in an explosion of heat.

  When she isn’t living in one of her many fantasy worlds, she attempts to focus on her respectable day job in a large, too-expensive city and dreams of a lake house in the country.