Raging Hard: A Stepbrother SEAL Romance (With bonus novel Based!) (8 page)

She had no right to tell him anything. That was obvious. Except to Lydie, she was just joking around, and so that made it okay. She didn’t have any boundaries and thought that nobody else did, either. If she was joking, everything was okay, and it would probably be my own fault for getting annoyed at her amazing sense of humor.

I was starting to wonder why I was even friends with her at all. True, she’d been really good to me in the past, but these last two days had been nothing but misery from her. She seemed more interested in chasing boys than in being my friend, let alone a decent person. It was frustrating, because I could remember a time when Lydie was good to me.

We’d been inseparable for years. We met freshman year and had lived together as soon as we got out of the dorms. It was like love at first sight or something, and we just clicked. But the past year had changed Lydie, and for the worse. Although she’d been there when I really needed a friend, she’d suddenly become this new person that just wanted to party all the time.

I liked a good party, but not every single day of my life. Lydie couldn’t seem to see past her own stupid face anymore.

And then there was Nate. As soon as he had realized that I was a virgin, his jaw had dropped and he had looked at me like I had two heads. It wasn’t like I planned on keeping that from him, but then again, why was it his business? It wasn’t like I was going to fuck him anytime soon. He was my stepbrother. I couldn’t imagine losing my virginity to my stepbrother of all people. That’d be so wrong.

Still, I hated being looked at like that, especially by him. I wanted him to want me, I realized, even if it was totally messed up. I wanted my stepbrother to whisper dirty things in my ear. But suddenly, thanks to Lydie being a huge whorebag, I was this alien monster that’d never been touched.

He probably thought I was some weird cat lady or like an overly emotional clinger or something. But the truth was, having sex had just never felt right. While all my peers were busy humping anything they saw, I kept holding out hope for someone decent to go through that experience with.

Maybe that was naïve. Admittedly, I’d grown up a lot since then. I didn’t think losing my virginity was going to be some earth-shattering experience, or really any huge deal at all, but still. I wanted at least a decent guy for my first time.

I sighed and leaned back, closing my eyes and letting the slight rocking of the boat relax me. I tried not to think about what was going on between Lydie and Nate, but I couldn’t help myself. They were drinking and laughing, and I knew Lydie would practically grab his dick and never let it go until he fucked her if she got the chance.

I held out for an hour. For an entire hour, I left them alone and stewed in my own anger. I was pretty proud of that, because I really wanted to spy on them from the beginning.

But after that hour, I couldn’t take it anymore. I kept picturing Lydie’s fake laugh and the way she put her hand on a guy’s arm. I couldn’t imagine Nate would fall for that crap, but then again they were drinking and Lydie was practically offering to suck him off right then and there. I slowly got up and crept over toward where they were hanging out. I peeked over the edge.

They were still sitting in the same spot, and Lydie was laughing. She took a shot and Nate said something that got lost in the heavy wind.

“No way,” Lydie said. “I want to show you something.”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“Come on.” She stood up a little unsteadily and took his hand. He stood up, a strange look on his face.

And then she led him down below deck.

I felt unreasonably angry as I stormed back over to my spot. But what could I do about any of it? I couldn’t run down there and stop it, because that’d be crazy, and I didn’t want to be Nate’s crazy, cockblocking stepsister. But I also didn’t want him to catch whatever herpes Lydie definitely had.

And I also wanted him all to myself. Which was crazy, because I definitely was never going to sleep with that macho asshole. Still, the idea of Lydie down there, wrapping her gross lips around his cock, made me pissed.

I stood up suddenly and walked fast down to the main deck. I made my way over to the bar and grabbed a bottle of tequila, pouring myself a shot.

I wasn’t much of a drinker, but maybe it would help. I tossed it back.

“Tough day?”

I looked up, surprised. “What are you doing here?”

Nate shrugged, coming up from below deck. “Your friend was wasted so I put her to bed.”

“Put her to bed?” I repeated stupidly.

“Yeah, as in I tossed her onto one of the beds and told her to sleep it the fuck off. She tried to pull my shorts off, but I told her I’d rather fuck a dead whale. I think she puked after that.”

I stared at him for half a second and then broke out laughing. That was pretty much the most incredible image I could possibly think up. Relief washed over me in a huge wave, and I suddenly felt bad for feeling like a total psycho.

“That can’t be true.”

“Total truth, princess.” He walked over and took the tequila bottle from me. “Drowning your sorrows?”

“I don’t have any sorrows.”

“You looked pretty pissed when she blabbed about your little secret.”

I clenched my jaw. “So we’re talking about this?”

He looked at me for a second and then grinned. “Have you ever been fishing?”

“Fishing? How did we get from my virginity to fishing?”

“Come here.” He took a swig right from the bottle and then walked over toward the back of the ship. I followed, curious. “Sit,” he said, pointing at a chair overlooking the ocean.

“I’m not a dog,” I muttered as I sat down.

He disappeared for a minute or two before reappearing with two large fishing rods and a tackle box.

“Are you serious?” I asked him.

“Used to do this in the Navy,” he said. “Spent some time on a destroyer, this enormous fucking boat. We’d fish off the back for hours. Granted, the people I fished with were way uglier than you, but it was still fun.”

“Uh, thanks, I guess.”

He went to work setting up the rods. When he finished, he handed me mine. “Know how to cast it?”

“Not really.”

He stood behind me and put his hands over mine. “Here, I’ll show you.”

He proceeded to move my hands and arms, showing me how to set and cast the rod. It was such a cliché from a bad romantic comedy, but I had to admit that I loved his warm, hard body pressed against mine. I felt my wetness return in spades, and that only made things way more confusing.

I cast my rod out and he moved away, giving me space to breathe again. He sat down next to me in the other chair and cast his own rod.

“What now?” I asked.

“Now, we sit here and not catch any fish.”

“Why is this fun again?”

“Usually, me and the guys would make fucking bad jokes until we got yelled at by our commanding officer.” He picked up the tequila bottle. “Instead, we have tequila.”

I laughed as he took another sip from the bottle and handed it over to me. I took my own little sip, enjoying the warm bite of the alcohol.

“Do you spend a lot of time on boats?” I asked him.

“Surprisingly little, considering I’m in the Navy.”

“What’s it like? Being in the military, I mean.”

He was quiet for a few minutes, looking out over the ocean. “Tough question to answer,” he said finally.

“You don’t have to.”

“It’s good. I like fighting for my country. I like fucking fighting, period, actually. But there’s a lot of boring shit, a lot of uncertainty. Tough to put down roots and all that crap.”

“I can imagine. You’re basically on call, right?”

“Not right now. I’ll be called back up eventually, but I have some time off.”

“Why?”

“Got shot on my last mission.”

I took a sharp breath. “Shit, sorry.”

“It’s okay. Part of the gig. I’m fine now.”

We were silent again for a few minutes, just us and the boat bobbing up and down.

“Sorry about Lydie,” I said finally.

“Why are you sorry?”

“She can be obnoxious.”

“Like when she told me you’re a virgin.”

I turned red. “Yeah, like that.”

“Surprised me.”

“Why?”

“Because of the way I got you off behind that club. Didn’t seem like a virgin.”

“Yeah, well, that was a one-time thing.” I crossed my legs, hoping he couldn’t somehow sense how wet I was already at the mere mention of what had happened.

“Was it? Shame. You may be a virgin, but I’m pretty sure you’d be a freak in bed.”

“I’m not a freak!”

“You definitely are,” he said, teasing. “The way you rubbed that wet little pussy up against me? The way you moaned for it? You’re a freak, Claire, pure and simple. I know a freak when I see one.”

I felt my blush grow deeper as another thrill ran up my legs, my pussy growing soaking wet all over again. I was glad I was wearing a bathing suit underneath my clothes at least.

“You barely know me,” I said.

“That’s true.”

“So you don’t know what I’m really like.”

“I do know. I’m a good judge of people, believe it or not.”

“You seem to get along well with Lydie,” I said pointedly.

“She’s harmless. And a little stupid. But you should reconsider telling her secrets in the future.”

“She wants to fuck you, you know,” I said quickly, not really knowing why.

“No shit.”

“No, I mean, since she first saw you.”

“Not interested,” he said, like that was the end of the conversation.

I sighed and looked away, not wanting to press. I felt crazy for even bringing it up in the first place. I was acting like some dumb jealous teenager when really I had no interest in pursuing him at all.

We were quiet like that for a few minutes, enjoying the slight motion of the boat. Nate took a long drink from the tequila but otherwise kept his eyes glued out on the bay. I kept stealing little glances at him, wondering what was going on behind those strange, mysterious eyes of his, but I didn’t feel like being a pushy weirdo.

“Your dad do this a lot?” he said suddenly.

“Do what?”

“Get married.”

I laughed and shrugged. “Yeah, I guess he does.”

“My mom too.”

“Does that bother you?”

He snorted. “Couldn’t give less of a shit. Usually makes my life harder for about a month until she moves on to something else, though.”

“Yeah. My dad does the same thing. Wants us to be a new family, goes overboard pushing for it, then is all depressed when it doesn’t work out.”

He grinned at me. “I’d love for us to be family.”

“I’m sure that’s what you want.”

“I do. It’d make fucking you all that much sweeter.”

I made a face. “That’s a little gross.”

“Gross? The fact that it’s forbidden makes it that much fucking hotter.”

He had a point there, but I wasn’t about to tell him that. “Yeah, well, it’s forbidden for a reason.”

“Yeah. Because you’re a virgin.”

“No, because we’re related now.”

“Doesn’t matter to me. Life’s too short to get hung up on that bullshit.”

“Being related is bullshit?”

He gave me another one of those delicious smiles. I wanted to go over there and bite his bottom lip. “We’re not related, girl. You know that.”

“Tell that to society.”

“Fuck society. I put my life on the line for society all the time. Least it could do is let me fuck the pussy I want to fuck.”

Suddenly, I felt something tug at the end of my rod. “What the hell?” I said.

Nate was on his feet. “Pull up!” he shouted.

“Do what?” I replied, panicking. I felt another tug, more insistent.

“Damn it,” he said, grabbing my hands. He yanked the tip of the rod back and something suddenly began to tug at it like crazy.

“Is that a fish?” I said, incredulous.

“Hell yeah it’s a fish. You seriously never been fishing before?”

“No. My dad never let me. I always had to watch.”

“Poor you.” He laughed in my ear, the sun shining down on us. I felt his body close against mine. “Start reeling it in!”

I began to reel, the line coming in slowly. Nate pulled the tip up as I reeled, giving me slack to yank the fish in.

“That’s it,” he said. “Like that. Not too fast. Don’t want to scare it.”

“I’m sure it’s plenty scared.”

“Sure, but it’s not fighting for its life yet. Can’t let it see the knife.”

He was so close to me, his breath hot in my ear. I could smell his manly scent over the ocean brine, and it made my head a little dizzy. His arms were strong as they moved the rod, our bodies rocking in parallel. The heat and smell made me dizzy with desire, wave after wave of exciting pleasure ringing through my stomach, filling my limbs. It was stupid and insane to want him to keep being so close, but that was the truth: I wanted it.

“Here it comes!” he said, laughing wildly.

I could see some splashing maybe ten feet away from the boat.

“It’s huge,” I gasped.

“Probably a shark.”

“Shark!”

“Calm down,” he said, laughing even louder. “It’s not a shark.”

He kept yanking and I kept reeling. Suddenly, the line went taught as the fish thrashed, and then the weight was completely gone. The fish stopped fighting and disappeared under the water.

“Fuck!” Nate said. “Fucking shit! The damn line broke.”

I kept reeling it in until the end of the line appeared, sheared off.

“Oh,” I said lamely. “Did he get away?”

“Ah shit.” Nate pushed me lightly. “He got away because you’re such a terrible fisherman.”

“Fisher lady,” I corrected him. “You’re the one that’s supposed to be teaching me.”

His face was inches away from mine. I could have licked his lips if I wanted to, and I did want to, badly.

“You’re a slow learner. There’s other stuff I want to teach you, though.”

“Oh yeah? What do you think I can learn from you?”

“Plenty. I can teach you to take a cock like it’s nothing. Teach you to slide up and down its length until your legs give out. Teach you how to bend over and please a real man while making yourself come hard.”