Smash_ A Stepbrother MMA Romance(77)

I wasn’t obsessed with Reid or anything. In fact, he was actually already a cocky asshole, even back then. But it was hard not to notice him winning local climbing competitions at only sixteen and breaking local records at seventeen. It was hard not to stare at the guy that everybody wanted to be around.

My life was easy back then, before Reid changed everything. I wasn’t exactly the most popular girl in the world, but I had my close friends and I had my schoolwork. I was going to college and everybody said so, even though I’d be the first person in my family to do it. That expectation kept me busy. Where a lot of girls my age were spending their weekends out by the gorge watching the boys ride their dirt bikes or shopping at the mall, I was in the library for hours, memorizing and studying my ass off.

I was a total geek. There, I admitted it. It wasn’t exactly a secret or anything, but I’m not really proud of my total lack of fashion sense back then and those thick-framed glasses (nerdy before nerdy was cool). But that was me, plain old Rebecca, smart and uptight.

All of that changed eventually, though. My mom died when I was a baby, so I never really got to know her, and it never looked like my dad wanted to remarry. Until one day out of nowhere he announced that he was engaged, and my world shifted dramatically. One conversation and the whole axis of my existence tilted wildly.

It was hard not to notice Reid “Climber” Conway. He was handsome in a boyish way. His grin was heartbreaking and sexy, and he exuded a confidence I didn’t even know people could have. There was something deeper to him, though, something he didn’t show people very often. It was like he expected the world to be exactly the way he wanted it to be, and usually the world made it happen for him. He showed me glimpses of that depth over the years but never really let me all the way in. As far as anyone was concerned, Reid Conway was going places.

He was also my stepbrother.

I’d been away from Ridgewood for way too long.

As I lugged my suitcase down the escalator and out into the rainy afternoon, I breathed deeply the pine-scented air and smiled. Although I had spent most of my time lately in New York attending Dartmouth College, Ridgewood, right along the border of Canada and Washington State in the US, had always been my home.

There was something about it. Small towns had a charm, really managing to suck you in and never let you leave, no matter how far away you got. Even though it practically rained every other day, it was still one of the most beautiful places I knew. We had mountains off to the north and the east and huge swaths of forest all over the place. The main employers were the lumber and paper mills, although even they had begun to downsize over the years.

Still, as I stood there on the curb of the tiny regional airport, it felt like nothing had changed. Getting from New York out to Washington was an arduous and long process, especially considering I had two layovers, one in Chicago and one in Seattle. I hadn’t been able to make the trip too often over the last four years because it was too expensive, and our family was a little hard-up ever since my stepmom had been diagnosed with cancer.

That was the hardest thing, being away from my family while someone was sick. Every time I begged my dad to let me move back home, he kept assuring me that everything was fine, that I should concentrate on school. He was always trying to protect me. Fortunately, a year almost to the date, Cora had gone into remission. It had been a long and difficult fight, but she had won.

And I was home to finally spend some serious time with them. School was over with, I had graduated with honors, and I had a spot in a fully-funded graduate computer science program in Texas for the upcoming fall semester. My time back home was limited, but I was excited anyway.

I craned my neck, looking down the street, watching for my dad’s old beat-up Jeep. I hadn’t been home in almost a year and was anxious to get back.

I checked my watch and frowned. He was fifteen minutes late, which wasn’t like him. I pulled out my phone and checked my messages, but there was nothing.

Frustrated, I sat down on a bench and waited.

As much as I loved being home, there was one major roadblock to really enjoying myself every time I visited. He was arrogant and attractive and loved nothing more than to tease me until I turned red. It was completely inappropriate, and yet I couldn’t help but love it. We had a history, me and him, despite our status as stepsiblings.

Almost as if sensing where my mind was going, I suddenly caught sight of my dad’s car. I stood up, eager to see him.

As it pulled up in front of me, my face fell.

“Hey, Becca. Looking good as always,” Reid said, grinning.

Reid laughed as I frowned. “Where’s Dad?”