by Anna Hard
His pale green eyes assessed me from beneath the shade of his hat brim. Then Mr. Brutal, in the same manner as his predecessor, the man I’d accosted thinking he was my stepbrother, let his gaze drift boldly over my body. A glint of what I could only term as a slightly wicked smile turned up the corner of his mouth. Sure I’d covered the man with a sticky, cold drink, but it did not give him the right to be an asshole.
“Oh, great, you too,” I said. “What is it about the men in this airport thinking they can just openly check me out? Although, I do apologize about the shirt,” I added quickly.
His gaze held mine for a long, tense moment. I fidgeted on my sandals and wondered if I should just dash off and save myself any further torment.
“Well, sweetheart, if you don’t want men checking you out, then I suggest you hide those fantastic tits of yours under a sweater or something, cuz that tight tank top is just inviting guys to look.”
I balled my fingers in a fist, and my teeth ground together in anger. “If you weren’t standing here covered in my smoothie, I’d slap you for that rude comment. But I’ll just have to walk away satisfied in the notion that I’ve ruined what looked like a perfectly good shirt. It’s mango, by the way, and frankly, I think it suits you.” With that, I turned away and hoped to hell that that stupid stepbrother of mine would show up soon and get me out of this airport.
Chapter 3
Luke
There were only two pieces of luggage left on the carousel from the California flight. Most of the other passengers had met their friends and family and gone home. The crowd had thinned to just a few stragglers. Maybe Linda’s daughter had decided not to come after all.
I texted Drake. “Hey, bro, do you remember what the hell stepsister number four looked like?”
My brother texted back. “Was she the one with the red hair and high pitched laugh?”
“No, that’s number two. Four was chubby with braces, I think. She would have been at Dad’s last wedding.”
“Shit, I don’t even remember that one. There’s been too many. Are you at the airport?”
“Yeah, but I’m not sticking around much longer. I think she decided not to come. Later.”
My shirt was sticking to me with mango scented glue, and plenty of people had had a good laugh as they walked past me. The smoothie culprit stepped out from behind the carousel with her purple rolling bag and her exceptional body. Curves in just the right places and a long sleek pair of legs to go with them.
She was staring absently out the window of the terminal, so I allowed myself a second to imagine those smooth thighs wrapped around me. She bit her lip in worry as she pulled out her phone to check for messages. Shit, the hell with those legs around me, I wanted those luscious lips around my cock. She was fiery too, like the kind of girl who knew how to have a damn good time. My kind of girl.
I was done waiting for Linda’s daughter. She could take a taxi or something. I glanced around one more time, and the hottie with the great lips did the same. It seemed her ride was late. Who would be stupid enough to leave a girl like her standing around an airport terminal with those amazing . . . My thoughts froze, and I stared at her. There was something familiar about her button nose profile. As if she sensed me watching her, she turned her round blue eyes my direction.
Her mouth dropped and mine followed.
“Fuck.” I walked over to her. “McKenna?”
“Luke?” Her long lashes drifted down as she stared at the stain on my shirt. She smiled up at me with a blush that only made her that much more beautiful. “Oops.”
“Yeah, oops. At least you only poured mango down my shirt. I’m the one who commented on my stepsister’s tits.” I looked down at her body again. Even knowing who she was, I had no self-control when it came to a sweet set of curves. My gaze lifted to her face. “What happened to the braces and the—” Once again couldn’t keep my eyes off her body.
“The puberty pudge?” she asked. “It disappeared with the braces. Plus, I grew three inches in one summer.” She peered up at me. “You were eighteen at the wedding, but it seems you grew too.”
“Little bit.” I was having a hard time focusing on the conversation.
The girl, hell, woman standing in front of me just couldn’t have been the snot-nosed brat at the wedding. I scrubbed my face with my hand suddenly feeling a little off. ‘Your stepsister, McKenna, will be spending a few months of summer with us’ Dad had told me in passing the morning before. I hadn’t given it even an ounce of thought. But I hadn’t expected this. She might as well have hung a sign on her ass that said, completely fuckable, because my cock was already thinking of her in those terms. Damn, I was going to have to risk my life and spend a lot of time in Chloe’s bed. Otherwise, I was going to go fucking nuts.
I reached for the handle on her bag.
“Nope, I’ve got it,” she insisted. “Just show me the way.”
We walked out to the parking lot. “Uh, sorry about your mom,” I said, finally realizing that I was being a damn heel.
She shrugged lightly, but I could tell there was more sadness there than she wanted to let on. “Thanks. She had that heart condition, and I guess I always figured she’d die young. We weren’t very close, but you probably already figured that.”
“Considering she’s been living with my dad for six years, and I didn’t even recognize you when you were standing six inches in front of me trying to wipe a smoothie off my chest, it’s sort of obvious you two didn’t talk much.”
She laughed quietly. It was a sad sound that reached up and pressed on my chest. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had that feeling, that pressure of feeling bad for someone. But then, she was my stepsister, after all. Fucking hell. What a day. I wasn’t related to this girl any more than I was related to the sexy girl with the sweet smile who served me coffee at the donut shop, but there was that weird sense of propriety that told me I was supposed to treat her like family.
We reached the jeep. She wouldn’t let me help her as she lifted up the luggage and swung it into the back. Her short, snug shirt lifted up with the movement, exposing a creamy stretch of ivory skin on her back, along with a dragonfly tattoo that started on her hip and disappeared somewhere below the top of her low cut shorts. My imagination and my cock stirred into action trying to assess exactly where the long tail of the ink insect ended. Had to be somewhere below her panties. Yeah, treating her like family should be no problem. I was fucked.
We climbed into the front of the jeep. The mango smell had evaporated and now, the only fragrance in the car was McKenna’s shampoo or soap or perfume. Whatever the hell it was, I liked it.
“So, are you the brother who rides bulls?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m the crazy one. Although Drake used to compete too. Took a few too many spills. The doctor told him to quit or plan to be a vegetable by the time he’s forty.”
“And you?” she smiled my direction. Self-preservation told me to just keep my eyes on the road. Those lips were going to haunt my dreams tonight for sure.
“I guess I’m better at holding on,” I said. “Dad said you might stay a few months?”
She tucked her blonde hair behind her ear. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“Why should I mind? The house is bigger than a city. We’ll probably never cross paths.” Those words were more for me than her. “I’m usually out with the horses.” Her face lit up. “I take it you like horses.”
She nodded. “I’ve only ridden them at those crummy little rental places but— shit this is embarrassing.”
“After our first meeting at the airport, I think we’ve probably already gone past the embarrassment thing.”
“True.” She glanced at my shirt and was obviously holding back a laugh. “Anyhow, I used to walk around with this book under my arm, it was called The Album of Horses
. I had every breed memorized. And now this tale gets even more humiliating. One day, my dad took me to this farm just to look at the horses. They were throwing out an old, faded halter. I pulled it out of the trash and nailed it to my wall. It was the closest I’d come to actually having a horse.” She covered her face to hide the blush. I noticed a chain of bruises around her wrist. “Oh god, how pathetic does that sound?” she asked.
“Not pathetic. Sweet.”
She looked at me with an ‘oh, come on’ expression. It was a damn cute look.
“All right, a little pathetic. Well, we’ve got thirty horses, so I’m sure you’ll get your fill of them during the visit.”
“I’m so excited about that.”
“Did your mom know about your obsession with horses?” I asked.
“When I was little,” her tone softened some, “and when she was still around, I used to carry a stuffed animal pony with me wherever I went. His name was Arrow, and he slept with me. She knew I was crazy about them.”
“Sorry but our horses sleep in the barn.” I’d never been fond of Linda but knowing that she’d been living on a ranch with dozens of horses and that she’d never invited McKenna out to stay, made her that much less likable.
McKenna reached for the radio. The bruises circled her thin arm. I took hold of her fingers. My first big mistake because the one touch caused every cell in my body to react. The second big mistake followed before I could stop the stupid ass half of me from coming out. Without putting a fucking ounce of thought into my head before speaking, I blurted something that was typically Luke Maverick. “Looks like you like it rough, huh?”
She pulled her hand away and crossed her arms to hide the bruises. Her long lashes blinked feverishly as if she was pushing back tears. I wanted to kick myself in the ass.
“Sorry. That was just plain stupid,” I said, but it was too late for an apology.
She turned to stare out the side window. I’d gotten it all wrong. Those bruises weren’t from too much fun. Some asshole had hurt her. My fingers tightened around the steering wheel, and I wanted badly to throw my fist at the fucker who had done it to her. This whole stepsister thing was messing with my head big time, only my urge to protect her had nothing to do with brotherly love.
Chapter 4
McKenna
I’d felt a little disappointed yesterday when Luke had just dropped me at the front door. He tore off in his jeep as if the devil was chasing him, and I hadn’t seen him since. I’d had to walk into the house alone. But his father, John, had made me feel immediately welcome. He was angry at both sons for missing dinner, but it had given us the opportunity for a nice, long chat. John had told me some nice stories about my mom that had made me smile. I’d gone to bed feeling a little depressed but woke to marvelous sunshine.
The Maverick estate was a giant expanse of buildings, or wings. The main house, where I was staying, was John’s section, the center house. Apparently, each of the brothers had his own wing. My room in the center house was bigger than the entire house I’d grown up in. I’d nearly gotten lost on the way from the bathroom, also massive and luxurious, to the small sitting area that had quickly become my favorite spot in the room. It had an extremely comfortable velvet couch, complete with fluffy down throws, enough pillows to bury myself in and an incredible view of the stables. I even had my own personal refrigerator that had been jammed full with goodies that I actually loved, like lime yogurt, fresh strawberries and, of course, ice cream.
Even though Luke and I had gotten off to a rough start, his dad had been extremely kind and made me feel comfortable. I sensed that he was truly heartbroken about my mom’s death and while I hated to see him suffer, I was glad that he had loved her. My mom had never been an easy person to love. Now that I was there in the house that she’d been mistress of for the past six years, I could suddenly feel her around me. It made me sad. I would have given anything to have had a better relationship with her. ‘Your mom was just too darn young when she had you’ my dad had always told me. For some reason, he’d always felt the need to make excuses for her not being there for me. But my dad had more than made up for her absence with his constant love and attention.
A loud yell rang up from below, and I walked over to the window. A cloud of dust had been stirred up in the round pen adjacent to the stables. Luke was riding, or more accurately, flying through the air, on a black horse. Somehow, he managed to keep his hat on his head and his bottom on the saddle. A few men, ranch hands it seemed, were hanging on the railing watching him ride.
I’d come here to see horses, and even though Luke seemed to want nothing to do with me, in fact, I seemed to repel him, nothing was going to keep me from visiting the stables. I yanked on my jeans, t-shirt and high top tennis shoes.
John was standing at the counter giving instructions to the cook when I stepped into the kitchen. It was a vast room of granite and gleaming stainless steel. Bigness was definitely a way of life in Texas, especially when money was no object. The Mavericks had been an oil family from way back, or at least that was what my mom had always bragged. Apparently, the great grandpa had made enough money to keep the entire family living in luxury for generations.
John had one of those big faces that could morph into different expressions from one second to the next. With sunlight from outside glinting off the shiny steel of the appliances, he resembled a jolly Santa. He handed me a cup of coffee.
“Now, Pierre is a Paris trained chef, so just tell him what you want for breakfast and he’ll fix it right up for you. Then, I highly suggest a swim in the pool. It’s been heated to just the right temperature.” His round, Santa-like cheeks sagged some with a frown. “Your mother used to float in that pool for hours.”
I placed a hand on his arm. He forced up a grin. “Anyhow, why don’t you eat something and get changed into your suit.”
“I had a yogurt and banana from my room refrigerator this morning, so I’m fine.”
He laughed. It was big, rumbling sound and I liked it. I liked the man. If nothing else, my mom had had great taste in men. My dad was a perfect example of that. “Yogurt and banana? Why that’s a snack. But I guess for a skinny little thing like yourself, it’s all you need. Then you can head straight out to the pool.”
“Actually, I was hoping to visit the horses first.”
“Really? You like horses, do you?”
“Very much.”
His gray brows bunched together. “That’s strange. Your mom never mentioned it.”
I shrugged. “Maybe she’d forgotten.” It would have been easier for her to forget that I was a girl than that I had a huge obsession with horses. I’d spent my entire childhood dreaming and talking about them.
“I’d walk you out there, but I have some calls to make. There are still some arrangements to finalize.” His sad tone returned.
“I’ll be fine on my own, and please, let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”
“You go out and have a good time. I think Luke’s out there breaking one of the colts. If you’re lucky, you might even see him get bucked off. Would serve him right for just dumping you at the doorstep like an abandoned kitten yesterday.”
“John, please don’t fret about that. I’ve felt extremely welcome since I got here. And, thank you for letting me stay until I get my feet under me. I’ve had some bad luck back home, and I’m in desperate need of a new job. And a new life, for that matter.”
He put his giant arm around me for a quick hug. He smelled of pipe tobacco and cologne. It was a nice combination. “You stay as long as you like. My house is yours.” The father was far more likable than the son. That was for darn sure.
I headed out into the sunlight. It wasn’t quite as steamy as it had been at the airport, and I was thankful for that. My hair had curled into long, wild ringlets, my Woodstock look as Dad used to ca
ll it. There just wasn’t any use in straightening it in this humidity. A breeze pushed the smell of green grass off the pastures and the wonderful aroma that was uniquely horse drifted toward me. There were three horses standing in a nearby paddock. They all looked up but continued to munch on their mouthfuls of grass as I walked past.
The horse Luke was riding had slowed down some, but all four of its hooves were still jumping off the ground at once, as if it had springs on its feet. The ranch hands laughed and talked as the sweat-lathered horse half-trotted, half-bucked around the pen. It snorted loudly from its spread nostrils. Luke was concentrating on hanging on, but he rode the energetic horse around with cool confidence.
I walked up to the pen and smiled at the ranch hands. They tipped their hats in return.
Luke reined the horse around and peered up from under his hat. His gaze landed on me. That was when the horse decided to go straight up in the air. Luke flew out of the saddle, his hat going one direction and his body going the other. The horse went an entirely different direction altogether.
Luke grunted as his body slammed against the dirt. The ranch hands climbed over the bar of the pen and caught hold of the horse before it stomped on the man lying stretched out on the ground. I slid between the metal piping and raced over to Luke. There was a bloody scrape across his chin. His long, black lashes fluttered open. He stared up at me with pale green eyes. Angry pale green eyes.
I jumped back as he sucked in the breath that had apparently been knocked out of him when he hit the ground. “Fuuuck,” he grunted.
My shoulders relaxed. He was conscious and obviously lucid enough to find the right cuss word for the situation. I knelt down next to him. “Anything broken?” I asked.
“Yeah, my pride,” he snarled. “Hat,” he demanded.
