Secret: A Military Stepbrother Romance (22 page)

Yeah, that guy pretty much handed her the election with that one. She sent him flowers when she won.

But it’s a look that’s somehow both witheringly sharp and disappointed at the same time.

“I— I lost track of time,” I say, wincing at how lame it sounds.

“It’s fine, Madison, just have a seat please.”

Hunter, who’s somehow managed to both beat me here and end up looking like he had a personal stylist make him look great on the way down from my room, smirks at me as I walk red-faced to my seat across from him. 

“Nice to have you, Maddie,” he says with a big grin and a knowing wink.

His father turns and scowls at him. “Watch it, Hunter.”

“Dude you got here like five seconds ago,” Dexter says, twirling his fork in his hand.

I shrug apologetically at Alec when he turns and smiles at me. “Sorry, really,” I say.

“It’s quite alright, Madison,” He says with a genuine smile. “This place confuses
me
with all the scheduling and the time tables!” He winks conspiratorially at me, and I instantly feel a little sigh of relief roll through me as I take my seat.

Of course, it’s a temporary relief. Because I’m still sitting at the dinner table trying to smile at the whole family with Hunter’s fucking
cum
still sticking to my skin under my hastily thrown-on dress. I’m also
praying
that I don’t look as sex-tousled as I feel with my hair up in a quick ponytail and the feeling of heat still radiating through my face and pooling between my legs.

God, I can’t believe we just did that
.

I can’t
believe
that I freaking
let
us do that! But there’s a worse part than the fact that I’m sitting here, at dinner, with my whole family, with my stepbrother’s cum still on my skin.

The worst part is that in
spite
of all that, in spite of the shame and the embarrassment, and the nagging feel of how wrong this all was, I can’t deny that I’m still
glowing
about what just transpired upstairs. 

Yeah, I might be sitting here  with Hunter’s cum still warm against my skin, but I
love
that it’s there. And I’m
achingly
wet, even as the food begins to come out of the kitchen as the memory of what we did still glows hot in my mind.

God, what sort of pervert does that make me?

“So, why the big show about all of us eating together?” Dex says, ever to-the-point as he shoves lasagna into his mouth. 

His father glances at my mom, who looks like she’s about to say something before Alec puts a hand over hers on the table and turns to smile broadly at the rest of us. “We— we have an announcement.”

Jesus, another one?

“Didn’t we do this already?” Hunter says, smiling away in his seat with that charming, blue-eyed soldier boy look he turns on for the world. It’s his good-boy-next-door look, the one that looks wholesome, and charming, and cultured.

It’s the look that covers up the devious, raw, unbridled animal inside; the Hunter
I
know.

Alec shoots him a look that says he sees right through that Hollywood smile of his, but my mother just laughs, as if Hunter’s just made the
cutest
little joke. 

“Well, Hunter,” she says, chuckling and putting her fork down. “It
is
about the engagement, actually.”

“We’ve decided we’re going to tell everyone,” Alec says, squeezing my mother’s hand.

I frown. “Right, yeah we’ve been over this.” There’s a little nagging feeling in the back of my head, but I ignore it as narrow my eyes at my mom. “You’re telling everyone later this summer, when—”

“We’re going to tell them now, actually,” she says evenly.

My jaw drops, and I see Hunter jerk his head around as that little smirk on his face drops.

“
Seriously?
” Dexter says, dropping his fork.

“Yes, Dexter,” Alec says, turning to grin at my mom as he squeezes her hand. “We’re quite serious.”

My mom smiles at the three of us. “We’ve done some quiet polling, and the PR team says it shows a
lot
of positive response.” She turns her gaze to me, and her looks softens. “And I can’t wait anymore, honey,” she says quietly. “I’m tired of the secrets.”

Ugh, tell me about it. I just masturbated for my stepbrother while he came on me.

Yeah, let’s
talk
about secrets, shall we?

I swallow as I shake my head, trying to process this all. “Wait, so, what does ‘now’ mean?”

“It means tonight, actually,” mom says, taking a deep breath.

“Wait,
what
?”

“At the press conference, honey,” she says with an excited grin on her face. “That’s why we wanted all three of you here for dinner, so we could tell you before we told the press.”

I let the fork drop from my hand. “You’re kidding me.”

“I’m not, honey,” she says quietly. “And we want you guys there when we tell the world about our new family.”

I feel the floor start to spin a little under my feet as I slowly turn and let my eyes focus across the table at Hunter. Hunter who looks about as surprised as me, but somehow manages to arch a salacious eyebrow at me as he lets the corners of his lips curl up in a wicked,
knowing
grin.

“When we tell the world.”

The
whole world
is going to know now. The entire world is going to watch on television tonight, or read in tomorrow’s paper that my mother and Hunter’s father are going to get married. 

Wonderful, now the whole world is going know that Hunter Ryan is my fucking
stepbrother.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The press conference is slated for about two hours after dinner, which is enough time for me to
flee
the dining room as soon as I’m done and rush up to my room. I don’t know
where
Hunter’s stupid little secret passageway into my room is, but I shove both armchairs against the bookshelf just to be sure. 

“Okay, I have to tell you something,” I say shakily into the phone.

“Oh my
God
, are you pregnant?”

I frown, wrinkling my brow as I reach into the bath to start the shower. “What? No— Jess I’m being serious.”

She laughs. “Sorry, I’ve been binging ‘Teen Mom’ all week. It’s the only channel that comes in English down here.

I roll my eyes, “Why on Earth are you watching television, dummy? You’re in fucking
Argentina
, go outside or something.”

“I
was
outside all day modeling that new line, and now I want to watch T.V.,” Jess says primly. “Judge-y much?”

I snort, “
Fiiiine
, watch your stupid shows.”

“I will,
thanks
,” she says with fake indignation, making me grin. “Wait, so what’s this big news?”

I know it’s supposed to be a big secret, but the hell with it. The whole world’s going to know in a few hours, and I’ll be damned if I let my best friend hear about it by way of an Argentinian newspaper tomorrow morning instead of me. 

“It’s about my mom.”

“Damn, is
she
pregnant? Dude,
that
would be news.”

“Baby-brain, will you let me finish?”

She laughs, “Sorry, go.”

“My mom’s getting married.”

Jessica whistles slowly, “Holy shit, Mads.”

“
Yeah.
”

“To? Wait, can you even tell me or am I going to get black-bagged for hearing this?”

“It’s going to be on the news in about hour, if you can manage to not tweet about your life for sixty whole minutes.”

“Exceptions can be made; shoot.”

“You know her Secretary of State?”

“Mads, how many times have you seen me
ever
watch the news or know anything about politics, aside from your mom running and all that?”

I grin, “The tall, silver-haired handsome guy that sometimes stands next to her at public things?”

“Shit!
That guy?
” Jess whistles. “Way to
go,
Ms. Adams!” she laughs. “Wait, so why are you so glum then? Is he a dick or something?” She mutters something, “I
knew
he was a dick, all those handsome political types are.”

“No, no, he’s actually awesome.”

“So…what gives?”

“Well— Okay, seriously— This… You really can’t spill this on twitter.”

“Mads, I’m
not,
okay?”

“His son is in the Secret Service.”

Jess snorts, “Man, talk about apples and tree—” She cuts off abruptly, “Wait— You mean — oh
shit
.” She starts to laugh, “Wait,
your
Secret Service guy?”

“Yeah,” I say glumly.

“His son is
Hunter
? S
uper hot
Hunter?”

I can feel my cheeks blush, “Jess, gross, he’s not hot.”

“
Uh
, yeah, girl, he is. Like, on any scale, that guy is hot.”

“Jess he’s my
stepbrother
; eww?”

“Not yet he’s not! And besides, who fucking cares if he is?”

“What, you don’t see how weird that would be?”

“Uh,
no?
” she giggles. “So what are you so bummed about if you’re somehow immune to your stupidly hot new stepbro’s charms?”

“Well, I mean, he’ll be the President’s
stepson
, which takes him off the Secret Service,” I say quickly. “It just sucks for him, because he worked hard for it, and sucks for me because I have to get someone new for the detail.”

“Someone not nearly as hot, you mean.”

I roll my eyes. “You’re impossible.”

“And you’re in denial about how much you wanna bang your hot stepbrother.”

“I’m hanging up now, okay?”

She laughs, “Go get pretty for T.V., I’ll see if I can go find an English news station and watch.”

“Not a word, okay?”

“Chill, your dirty little secret’s safe with me.”

“Jess—!”

“Byyyye.”

*****

“All you have to do is sit up there and smile, okay?” Emma smiles as she holds my shoulders and looks into my face while the prep crew finishes up with my perfectly coiffed hair. 

My makeup is
perfect
, and my demure and conservative skirt suit — like
all
the other ones I end up wearing to everything like this — is fit and smoothed to perfection. Even the way I’m supposed to smile — “not
too
toothy, okay?” — has been micromanaged and
perfected
for the camera.

Because we’re the
perfect
American family; the perfect
first
family.

Emma peers into my face and smiles reassuringly. 

“You’re going to be fine up there, Madison,” she says, patting my arm, as if the reason for the tenseness writ across my face is the fact that I have to be on international television in ten minutes.