Lips Are SEAL'ed (BBW Contemporary Military Stepbrother Romance) Read Free

Not being able to have children of her own was a big deal. She wanted to be a mom more than anything in the world. Knowing she couldn’t create life made her feel like she wasn’t a full woman any longer. It was the whole reason she stayed away from men. She hadn’t found one she was willing to take a chance on.
    By the time Andy, the little boy who cried for over half the day every day, left Charlie was exhausted. It happened all the time. She’d get tired out of nowhere and then panic, but she had to stop worrying about the cancer coming back and live because if it did come back she didn’t want to have any regrets.
    Jessie and Stacey met her at the door.
    “So who was the angry hunk that came by earlier?”
    “Ash.”
    “Who’s he?”
    “A friend.” She certainly wasn’t going to explain him.
    “He’s hot and was super determined to see you.”
    “He’s on leave from the military. He just found out that I was sick.”
    Stacey paled. “He didn’t know about the cancer?”
    “No, I never told him. He didn’t need to be worrying about me while he was deployed.”
    “Wow. Well, have a good night, Charlie. See you next week.”
    “Yep.” She walked out to her car and smiled. She didn’t like how excited she was to see him. The more she tried to tell herself that she didn’t want a boyfriend—that she didn’t want anyone to suffer because of her, and the fact that he was family—the more she did want him. She had chosen not to write him for that reason. She knew she would have crumbled and cried to him had she kept in contact after he left. She realized now she should have written him some, but promised this time when he left she would. Every soldier needed to get letters. It was something to look forward too during the chaos.
    The drive to the family home seemed to drag. She didn’t even bother going home to change first. She parked in the driveway and made her way inside with the gift she had carefully picked for him. She remembered him telling her he loved reading poetry, and she had found a special edition of Hemingway. It was in great condition and something she had thought about. She hadn’t even known he was coming home. She’d bought it for his birthday and was going to have Diana send it with her gift. Instead she’d get to give it to him. It had been in her trunk for weeks wrapped up tightly. She just hadn’t gotten around to giving it to her stepmother.

Chapter 4
    Ash
    I sat with Ma and Ted, waiting for Charlie. Ma had caved and told me she had planned a homecoming party, but then realized I probably wasn’t in the mood to party, so she decided to have an intimate family dinner first and before I left she planned to do something big. It was a last minute change, apparently.
    When Charlie came in, she frowned and set something on the counter. “What happened?”
    Ma smiled and shrugged. “I cancelled the big party until we send him off again. I figured a family dinner would be more appropriate.”
    “I see,” she said and shrugged picked up what she had put on the counter. “Well here’s your birthday gift. It’s a bit early, but I want you to have it now.” She handed me a neatly wrapped gift.
    “Thank you, Charlie.” I opened her gift and gasped. Yes really, and then I gasped again when I opened the cover and realized it was a special edition. “Are you freaking kidding me, I’ve been searching for this. I have all the others.”
    “You do?”
    “Yeah, this one has been a bitch to find.”
    “Oh well I found it months ago, and I was hoping you’d like it. I remembered you telling me he was your favorite.”
    “Damn straight.” I stood up from the table and pulled her into a hug. I didn’t care about our parents being around. They might as well get used to us being together because if I had my way after tonight she’d be mine. I wasn’t a patient man, and I felt no need to play games. Life was too short. I saw that on a daily basis, and after finding out about her