Smash: A Stepbrother MMA Romance (Includes bonus novel Rock Hard!)

by Hamel, B. B.

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2015 B. B. Hamel.

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  Keep reading for the full text of Rock Hard, included at the end!

  Chapter One: Alexa

  It all started with a mistake.

  A big, stupid mistake, but I couldn’t help myself. Not when he grabbed me by the hips and steered me through the doorway, whispering, Come on, be my fake bride. I want to consummate this trip until you can’t stop screaming my name. I was powerless when it came to him, and he knew it. We barely knew each other, but I’d learned enough over the last few days to know that he got what he wanted. I didn’t even bother saying no anymore, because I knew that saying yes would feel so much better. He had deep blue eyes, a perpetual five o’clock shadow, tattoos all over his body, and muscles that just didn’t quit.

  Frankly, he was the most attractive man I’d ever seen, let alone touched, and he definitely knew it. Cole was cocky, too cocky, but he had the swagger to back it up.

  Come here, girl, he whispered in my ear. You’re going to be my bride of paradise. I’m going to sink my cock deep into that pretty little pussy of yours, right after we say these words.

  We didn’t understand what was really happening. The staff didn’t either, but what did they care? They didn’t know what we really were to each other. We were just some stupid tourists, a little drunk on wine, a little drunk on each other. When we asked for the deluxe ceremony, they figured we understood what we were really getting.

  They figured we really wanted to be married. Legally married, not just as some stupid joke.

  We stood there in front of the priest as he spoke in Thai, a language neither of us knew. The air was thick and humid, even at night, and Cole held my hand the whole time, his eyes drilling holes in mine. We were in paradise, one of the best vacations of my life, even if my best friend had ditched me on the second day for some lawyer she’d just met. I wasn’t going to let it ruin my good time.

  It was all fun and games until I met Cole. Then it was much, much more.

  Later, much later, his strong body pressed up against mine in the cool white expanse of my bed, our bodies sweating, pleasure rushing through my skull. Is that how you like it, little wife? he whispered into my ear.

  Yes. Please.

  His fingers moved down between my thighs and did things I’d never felt before.

  “Are you kidding me?” Lacey said, exasperated. “Your dad got married again?”

  “Yeah, and this time he didn’t even bother telling me about it.”

  I stood with Lacey in line at Starbucks, my backpack heavy from my last day of class. Finals were over and done with, which meant I was headed back home for the summer.

  Junior year was finished. I was pretty sure I already had senioritis.

  “Typical Frank. Always thinking with his dick.”

  “Gross,” I said, laughing. “He’s still my dad, you know.”

  “Sorry, but it’s the truth. Your dad is the biggest horndog I’ve ever met.”

  “Okay, that’s enough.”

  “I know it’s hard to hear, Alex, but it’s the truth. Your father is a grade-A player.”

  I sighed, shaking my head. Nobody likes hearing about their parent’s sex life, but unfortunately, in this instance, everything she was saying was the truth. My dad, Frank Miller, was on his third marriage, plus however many girlfriends he’d had over the years. He seemed to constantly go from one “true love” to the next with no real regard for anyone else around him. He insisted that it was different this time, that things were going to last for a long time, but he almost always said that.

  I was pretty used to it, though. These new women appeared in my life like a hurricane, trying to be my friend, sometimes trying to be my mom, but they never lasted long. Frank didn’t have “commitment” or “monogamy” anywhere in his vocab, no matter how hard he tried otherwise.

  “Yeah, well, I haven’t even met this one yet,” I said.

  “Seriously? He got married again and didn’t even invite you to the wedding?”

  “Supposedly it was a low-key thing. She’s this high-powered CEO of the company that just bought him out.”

  We got to the front of the line and ordered our coffee. As we moved over to wait for the drinks, Lacey gave me a look.

  “Her company bought his, and now they’re married? Seems pretty weird.”

  I sighed, nodding. “Yeah. It’s some big scandal in the business community or something.”

  “Classic Frank.”

  “What I don’t understand is why this woman would want to go through all this for him. Don’t get me wrong,” I said quickly, “I love my dad. But who’s worth that much trouble?”

  “What a cynic.”

  “Like father, like daughter, I guess.”

  Lacey laughed as our names were called. We gathered up our caffeine-and-sugar beverages and headed out into the warm afternoon.

  I really wasn’t looking forward to going home for the first time in a long time. In years past, going back to my dad’s house in San Francisco was usually pretty great, but for some reason I was dreading meeting his new wife.

  I’d heard bad things about her. They were both CEOs of up-and-coming tech firms, and Cindy was supposedly something of a hard ass. Everything I knew about her was either from the mouth of a PR firm or from some gossip rag online, but so far nothing seemed to really paint her in a flattering light.

  And yet when Dad called me to tell me about the nuptials, he sounded really happy. For the last few years, his life had been all about work and more work, with the occasional girlfriend of course. But that never seemed to make him happy, just more and more stressed. He needed something in his life to brighten up his days, and if Cindy was doing that for him, well, then I couldn’t get in the way of it.

  Still, I didn’t have to be excited to meet another woman that was going to want to be my replacement mother. Or maybe this one was going to want to be my best friend instead. You could never tell until you met them which direction they’d take.

  “You’ll be home this summer, right?” I asked her.

  “Of course. What else would I do, pay rent?”

  I laughed. “Solid point.”

  “Between prostituting myself for cash and living with my parents for a few months, I choose parents.”

  “Not an easy choice, though.”

  “Not at all.” She paused, looking thoughtful. “You get to make your own hours as a hoe. On the flip side, free food is a big bonus.”

  We both laughed, and I shook my head at her. I was pretty sure she was genuinely considering becoming a prostitute to avoid going home.

  Lacey and I had been best friends all through high school. I moved around a lot when I was younger, because my dad got jobs all over the country. Eventually, though, he wound up at his company Blingo, and we stayed put in San Francisco. I met Lacey my second day of school, and we had been inseparable ever since.

  “Well, you know where to find me if you ever need to escape the oppression,” I said.

  “Please. You’ll come crawling to me first I bet.”

  “How long before I’m knocking on your door? A day?”

  “Four hours. Tops.”

  The University of California at Berkeley’s campus was more or less empty by the end of the school year, and we didn’t have any trouble finding a prime spot to sit down and watch what few students were
left walk by.

  “You know,” Lacey said after a few minutes of relaxing silence, “you haven’t mentioned your little problem recently.”

  I frowned, sipping my coffee. I hadn’t mentioned it because I was sick of thinking about him. Even though I hadn’t seen him since we’d gotten back from vacation, he hadn’t been too far from my mind at pretty much at all times. Cole the fighter, the cocky asshole, the gorgeous stranger.

  And my husband, of course.

  Technically, at least.

  “Wish I had an update for you,” I said. “Just counting the days until I can legally pronounce him dead.”

  “Seriously?”

  “No. I wish. I can just push the divorce through without his consent at that point.”

  “How long?”

  “End of the summer.”

  “Have you told your dad yet?”

  I snorted. “Yeah, right. And disappoint him? No, thanks.”

  “Still, he could probably help you. I bet he has contacts and stuff like that.”

  “Maybe, but at this point, why bother? It’s almost over.”

  Lacey nudged me, grinning. “You sure you want to divorce him? I mean, I remember what he looked like.”

  I thought for a second. Flashes of Cole’s body as he walked from the ocean, dripping salt water, his eyes looking at me both playfully and intensely.

  “Yeah, I’m sure,” I said, not sure at all.

  “What a shame. Waste of prime real estate, if you ask me.”

  “Who knows if it’s a waste? He’s gone and I’ll never see him again.”

  Which was exactly how it was supposed to be. But one stupid night, half drunk on wine and half drunk on each other, we had stumbled into this Vegas-style marriage chapel. Normally, the marriages were just for fun, a kind of fake ceremony to make couples feel good about themselves.

  But we ordered the “deluxe” package. Cole said that if we were getting married, then we were doing it right, and how could I argue with him?

  What we didn’t know, of course, was that the Deluxe Package meant we were marrying legally. The staff probably did try to explain that at one point, but we were either too giddy to listen or just too stupid.

  And so when I got home and tried to register to vote, I got a nice little surprise. In the field for “Marital Status” in the official records website I was browsing, I saw a nice big fat “M.” After a bunch of phone calls, and at least two total meltdowns, I found out that I had been legally married in Thailand to one Mister Cole Redson.

  Of course, once I figured it out, I tried to track him down. I tried everything, but Cole Redson basically didn’t exist. I knew he was an MMA fighter, but there were no records of him fighting under that name. I found an old address, but he had moved away from that place a long time ago. I decided not to do too much research about him, because I could tell I was already starting to obsess. I decided I needed to just get the divorce pushed through, with or without him.

  Cole Redson had just disappeared. He’d swept into my life during a stupid spring break to Thailand and then had disappeared again, leaving me a married woman and a wreck.

  Fortunately, though, all I needed to do was prove that I had tried everything to find him, wait the required amount of time, publish a notice in the newspaper, and then I’d be rid of him. No more husband, no more problems.

  “I still can’t believe you actually married him,” Lacey said, probably for the millionth time.

  I gave her a look and she grinned at me. “What? I’m just saying.”

  “I know. You’ve been saying it for almost a year now,” I grumbled.

  She cackled again and I sighed, dipping my head. I knew I deserved the jokes. Frankly, I felt like a total idiot. I mean, how did you end up married without even realizing it? And to a total stranger, apparently one that didn’t even exist?

  How stupid did I have to be?

  “Anyway,” Lacey said, sipping her drink. “This summer won’t be a total bust, you know? I am making it my mission to get you back on the whores.”

  I looked at her. “It’s ‘horse,’ not ‘whores.’”

  “No. In this instance it’s definitely ‘whores.’ You need to get laid, and soon.”

  I smiled and shook my head. Lacey could think like a guy sometimes.

  “I don’t need to get laid, Lace. I’m just in a dry spell.”

  “Yeah, a year-long dry spell. Come on, it’s time to make moves. Your husband isn’t really your husband.”

  She was right and I knew it. Still, the last year had been busy. I’d switched majors the year before, and so I spent both my semesters overloading my schedule to make up the required credits.

  Plus, I felt strange putting myself out there again. The last time I went for a stranger, I ended up married to a guy that may or may not exist. The frat boy douches and college hipsters just didn’t do anything for me, or at least not enough to make me want to step outside my shell.

  But my divorce was coming up soon. By the end of the summer I was going to be single again, at least legally speaking.

  Cole wasn’t my husband. He never was. How could he be my husband if I didn’t even know where he lived?

  “We’ll see,” I mumbled.

  “We will see. All those guys you’re going to bang.”

  I rolled my eyes as she laughed at her own joke.

  I wasn’t looking forward to going home, but maybe it would be good for me. U.C. Berkeley was nice and all, but it wasn’t home.

  Maybe I just needed a relaxing summer to get back to myself.

  A few days later, my cab pulled up outside my house. Dad wasn’t home, of course, because he was working late. But he promised he’d be back soon, and with my new stepmother.

  I unpacked and lay around my bedroom, glad to be home. As much as I was dreading it, as soon as I walked into the familiar foyer, I felt instantly better. There was just something about home that could make things a bit better.

  As much as I wanted to deny it, Lacey was right. I was in a rut, but I was also still hung up on him. I probably could have found a faster way to get divorced, but I just didn’t feel all that motivated. Sure, I went out and met people all semester, but nobody felt right, not since Cole.

  I just couldn’t stop thinking about the first time I met him.

  It was night at the resort, and Lacey had already disappeared with her lawyer guy, or maybe he was a movie producer. Either way, I decided to walk down the beach.

  The moon was bright and full, which should have helped with my visibility. Instead, I was too busy looking up at the beautiful view to notice the huge rock down at my feet.

  As I hit the sand face-first, he appeared.

  Cole. Tall, covered in tattoos, grinning this knowing smile like he could tell what I was thinking about him. He appeared at my side, his strong hands on my arm.

  “Are you okay?” he grunted in my ear.

  “What? Oh, yeah, totally fine,” I stuttered as I got to my feet.

  I was so fucking embarrassed. When was the last time I had actually tripped on something? It was like out of some horrible romance novel where the girl was just a dumb, empty klutz and was obsessed with her shiny boyfriend. It took me a second before I really got a good look at him, but when I did, he took my breath away.

  “Careful out here,” he said softly. “Those rocks are vicious.”

  “Uh, yeah. Sorry.” Why was I apologizing?

  Probably because he made me feel like I couldn’t speak in complete sentences. His cut jaw and laughing blue eyes were enough to send me into spasms, but his tall, muscular frame and tattoos just made him all the more delicious.

  It was completely unreal.

  “What are you doing out here alone?” he asked.

  “Friend ditched me, so I’m going for a walk.”

  “Mind if I join you?”

  “Yes.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Okay then.”

  “I mean,” I said quickly, “yes, please join me.�
��

  He laughed and offered me his arm. “For protection from large rocks.”

  I smiled and slipped my hand around his ripped bicep. Holy shit, is it the ocean or am I already soaked? I thought.

  “I’m Cole,” he said as we started to walk.

  “Alexa.”

  “Do you make it a habit to walk alone on strange beaches?”

  “Ah, it’s not a strange beach. We’re in a resort.”

  “True. Still, you managed to land face-first.”

  I could feel myself blushing. “I’m really not a klutz.”

  “I bet.”

  “It’s just this place,” I said quickly. “It’s really beautiful.”

  I could feel his eyes staring into me. “Yes. It really is.”

  I couldn’t remember anymore what we talked about after that, but we did talk for a while. Eventually we ended up in this little outcropping of trees on a hammock, our bodies shoved together.

  I didn’t think I’d ever felt more tension in my body before or since. And of course it was right around the moment when I was about to throw myself at him that Lacey found us and dragged me off.

  But after that first night, I kept seeing him around. It seemed like everyone was his friend, everyone knew Cole.

  And then after everything that had happened between us, he disappeared into thin air. My husband, the stranger.

  I sighed, stretching, when suddenly I heard the front door open.

  “Great. Show time,” I muttered to myself.”

  “Honey?” Dad’s voice called out. “Are you home?”

  I opened my door and headed downstairs. “Hey, Dad!” I called out.

  “Alexa.” He smiled hugely and hugged me as soon as I found him in the kitchen. “Glad you’re home.”

  “Me, too, Dad.”

  Once he let me go, I saw her standing over by the table, smiling. I recognized her from the pictures, but she was even more stunning in person. Cindy had long blond hair, bright blue eyes, and was dressed expensively but conservatively.

  She didn’t look like Dad’s usual type. She was age appropriate, for one, and she wasn’t showing more skin than she was covering. Instead, she exuded grace and poise, even from the very first second we met.