Stepbrother Obsessed (Love for the Holidays #10)

Chapter 1

1

Kristie

I gaze at my half-sister fondly.

Milly has always been the cutest thing, even if she’s nineteen now.

She’s blonde and curvy, with an upturned nose and a wide smile.

I still remember when that smile had a big gap in the front because she got into a fight with one of the mean girls at school.

Evidently, Veronica Janjigian was taunting a young man with Down’s syndrome, and Milly wasn’t having it.

My eleven-year-old half-sister threw herself at the teenage girl, resulting in a defensive punch to the face by Veronica’s boyfriend.

But Milly didn’t give up!

My half-sister morphed into a frenzied sprite, and threw herself aft the hulking young man, uncaring that he had seventy pounds on her.

Her fists were flying as she screamed a warrior-like, “Hi-YAH!” Then, said football star was on the ground, clutching his nose as blood streamed down the front of his jersey.

But my sister’s fierce show of bravery came with a price.

First, the Down’s syndrome boy didn’t understand anything that had happened, and went into hysterics, resulting in an ambulance being called and sedatives administered.

Plus, Milly’s two front teeth lay scattered on the ground.

Yes, the football star knocked out an eleven-year-old’s teeth, and our dad was livid when he found out.

But all’s well that ends well.

No charges were pressed, although the athlete was benched for the remainder of the season.

Milly had bridges installed, and soon, her smile was as good as new.

Best of all, the young man with Down’s syndrome become my half-sister’s new buddy.

They were inseparable for years, until Freddie died recently of pneumonia-related causes.

My half-sister was inconsolable after his death.

“Freddie needed me,” Milly whispered, her cheeks pale and eyes oddly dry at the wake.

“What will I do now?”

“Freddie’s in a better place,” I whispered back, squeezing her hand.

“He’s safe, and he loves you, Mills. He’s looking down at you from heaven and smiling. You’ll be fine.”

My words were true too because after Freddie’s death, Milly became close with Freddie’s older brother, Ryan.

They fell in love, in fact, and Ryan says he “knew” Milly was the one because of my sister’s steadfast devotion to his younger brother.

No one outside of their family had ever taken much interest in the boy with Down’s syndrome, and her care and concern were proof of her good heart and kind nature.

By contrast, Milly says that she knew Ryan was the one when he programmed a special video game for Freddie to play which was a combination of Pac-Man and Donkey Kong.

The two kids are disgustingly in love and announced their engagement a few months ago.

“Are you sure?” I asked slowly when Milly told me.

“I know you’ve known Ryan for a long time, but you haven’t dated for long. Maybe three months?”

Milly laughed.

“We’ve only been dating two months, Kris, but when you know, you know! Ryan loves me so much, and I love him too. Besides, we want to get married young to start a family asap. We miss Freddie, and having a baby will help fill the gap in our hearts.”

I paused because there are a million things to say in response to a statement like that.

But then I reminded myself that my half-sister is a grown woman now.

Sure, Mills is funny, flighty, and fancy-free, but she’s also smart, intelligent, and a legal adult.

She can make her own decisions, and it wasn’t my place to say anything about her decision to tie the knot.

“Okay,” I murmured. “I like Ryan, too. I mean, I’ve only met him a few times, but he seems wonderful.”

“He is wonderful!” Millie exclaimed over my phone screen, blonde curls bobbling.

“He takes such good care of me, and I love him to pieces. But we don’t want to wait, so the wedding will be soon, Kris. Say you’ll come back for the ceremony. I want you to come, and you haven’t been back to Austin in so long! I need you here.”

I smiled half-heartedly.

“I’ll try,” I said in a wan voice.

“Flights are really expensive, and I don’t know. I want to save money.”

“Oh pfft !” Milly said carelessly, waving one hand in the air.

“Ask Nick to pay for a ticket! That guy has money coming out of his ears these days. I hear his investors love him and are going to give him even more stock options. It’s insane.”

About a million thoughts popped into my head at the mention of our older brother, but I merely smiled again.

“Sure, maybe I’ll drop him a line. Anyways, I need to get to my yoga class, so I have to run, Mills. Send me the deets and I’ll check my calendar.”

With one last wave, I clicked off the phone before sitting limply in the silence of my bedroom.

My heart rushed and my head pounded, but that always happens at the mere mention of Nick Bradley.

Or should I say Dr. Nick Bradley, MD, founder and CEO of a successful medical device company?

A wan smile curves the corner of my lips because the truth is that I’ve had a crush on my stepbrother for ages, even though it’s wrong and taboo.

It’s a dark secret that I’ve harbored for years, and unfortunately, even a passing mention of my stepbrother still makes the blood rush in my veins as my thighs pull together, an ache forming deep in my belly.

It’s embarrassing, really.

Who develops a crush on their brother ?

But it happened, and I can’t help the way I feel because Nick Bradley’s always had an insane power over me.

As far back as I can remember, he’s been a looming presence: handsome, intense, with a powerful, magnetic personality radiating dominance and masculinity.

I looked up to Nick as a little girl, and somehow along the way, that childish reverence morphed into a crush of the most ginormous proportions.

But yes, we’re technically family, so he’s off-limits and out of bounds.

Again, it’s downright embarrassing that I even feel this way because I was around ten when my mom married Nick and Milly’s dad, Steve Bradley.

It was a huge step up for me and Jennifer, both emotionally and financially.

Up until then, we’d been living with relatives for years, and it was only too clear that said relatives resented our presence.

I suppose we were the poor relations that everyone speaks of, but in our case, it was actually true.

My dad passed when I was young, and Jennifer never got further than a year of community college.

She had a job as an admin assistant at a local college, but it didn’t pay much, so an apartment of our own was out of the question after my dad passed, and we were dependent on the grudging hospitality of Aunt Rosa and Uncle Dick.

But when I was around ten or so, my mom married Steve and our situation improved enormously.

Just having an actual place we could call “home” was a blessing.

There were no longer any resentful side-eyes from Rosa and Dick, nor pointed comments about things like accidentally parking in the wrong spot, or forgetting to water Rosa’s zinnias.

My mom and I finally had a place where our presence was welcomed, and not just tolerated.

It was a huge weight off our shoulders, and we both breathed a sigh of relief.

Plus, there was a lot more space.

While Steve doesn’t live in a palace, he’s a successful surgeon and able to afford a large home in a nice cul-de-sac.

There were enough bedrooms for all of us, as well as a living room, dining room, kitchen nook, and family room.

There was even a pool with a garden out back, and the mortgage had long since been paid off.

As a result, my mom was able to let go of her money fears, and the look of exhaustion lifted from her features for a little bit.

But our newfound peace wasn’t meant to last forever.

Jennifer got sick about a year after marrying Steve, and at first, she assured me that it was nothing.

“Your cough sounds bad, Mom,” I murmured in a small voice, my eleven-year-old self shooting her a worried look.

“It sounds like it’s getting worse, not better.”

Jennifer managed a wan smile, her features haggard and hair oddly limp, before caressing my golden tresses with a pale hand.

“No, it’s fine, honey. I’m driving the cough down and out. I know it sounds strange, but that’s how you get rid of these things. Besides, don’t worry about me, sweetheart. I’m married to a doctor now, so Steve will make sure I come out of this a hundred percent healthy.”

But my childish instinct had been right from the start.

Jennifer wasn’t just fighting a cough.

She was fighting the Big C, and in the end, there was nothing that her husband, nor any doctor, could do.

Within a year, my mother was gone, leaving me to live with the Bradleys.

“You’ll be fine,” Jennifer reassured me in a whisper on her death bed, her thin frame gaunt and desiccated.

“I’ve asked Steve to look out for you. You’re my daughter, and I trust him.”

My panic was approaching a breaking point.

“But Mommy, I don’t know these people! Don’t leave me!” I cried in a panic, tears pouring down my cheeks.

“Don’t go, Mommy, please!”

But my rising distress only caused the nurse to usher me out of the room, and soon, Jennifer was in the ground and I was left to live with people I hardly knew.

I was withdrawn, shocked, and stunned, all at the tender age of eleven.

I don’t remember that much about the ensuing months.

The Bradleys were kind enough, I suppose.

Steve was still working long hours as a surgeon then, and Nick was already in college and prepping for medical school.

Neither man was around, leaving me and Milly to our own devices, and I suppose it was Milly who saved me, the same way she leapt to Freddie’s rescue.

My half-sister has always been spunky, determined, and utterly irrepressible.

She’s Huckleberry Finn mixed with Pippi Longstocking, and her bubbly manner helped me pull me out of my depression.

With her coaxing, I came out of my shell, slowly but surely, and Milly and I have been more than friends since then – we’ve become real sisters.

Which is part of the reason why I’m back in Austin for Milly’s wedding.

She begged and pleaded, and ever the softie, I relented.

I splurged and booked a plane ticket and hotel room for the wedding, even as my heart hammered crazily in my chest. Will he be there?

Will Nick be a guest?

One of the groomsmen, even?

Of course he will , the voice in my head whispered.

He’s the brother of the bride, silly.

There’s no way he’s going to miss the event.

The knowledge only made my heart race faster, my thoughts whirling at a million miles an hour.

My packing went into a frenzy, and at the last minute, I threw in some racy lingerie as well as a few revealing bikinis, telling myself that it’s part of my job as a model to look good at all times, even for a family event.

There will absolutely be cameras present, and it’s my duty to build my personal brand.

But inside, I know the sexy outfits are in case I see my dark, handsome stepbrother again.

I want to look ravishing for Nick Bradley .

.. even though he broke my heart and left me shattered.