Dare: A Stepbrother Romance Read Online Free PDF Page B

I’m not sure exactly where. Do you want some coffee?”
    She went to stand up, and I waved my hands at her. “It’s okay, I’ll make it.”
    Once I had a steaming cup of joe and a croissant in my hand, I joined her at the table.
    “There’s something I’d like to discuss with you,” she said before taking a sip of her own drink.
    “Uh-huh?”
    “It’s about my land.”
    The land she was referring to had belonged to Mom’s family for several generations now, and it had been passed down to her when she became the only remaining family member alive, aside from me. It was a huge expanse of land east of where we lived, and she’d held onto it for two main reasons: sentimental value, and the fact that the land had been essentially worthless up until a year ago. If it had been worth something, she might have considered selling it to help keep us afloat after my Dad disappeared, but that hadn’t been an option.
    Several real estate moguls had begun developing the area around it, and we’d been told her land was probably worth a small fortune by now. She still hadn’t sold it, though. It was a beautiful place with a forest on the far side and mountains beyond that, and the only structures that stood on the whole area were a cluster of small wood cabins that had been built by her family years ago.
    A while back, a friend of hers had asked to borrow the cabins every summer to set up a small summer camp for underprivileged children, and she’d allowed it on one condition – that we got to help out. As a result, we often headed over there for a few days in the summer with snacks, supplies and a boatload of fun activities for the kids to do. It wasn’t your usual summer camp that lasted for several weeks and had counselors; the adults that worked there did so on a volunteer basis only, and it only ran for a couple of weeks. It was a lot of fun, looked great on my college applications, and honestly, the best part was that it just felt good to do something nice for the community. Call me clichéd, but seeing smiles on the faces of those kids made it all worth it.
    “You’re not selling it, are you?” I said anxiously.
    She laughed. “Of course not! I’d never sell it. No, it’s about the camp.”
    “Oh?”
    “Well, a couple of the volunteers can’t start on the day we wanted, so we’re short on adults to supervise. I was thinking that maybe you and Drew could head up there next week and help out? It’d only be for a day or two.”
    The thought of having to go camping with Drew made me want to tear my hair out, but I was willing to bet he’d say no to the whole thing anyway. It’d probably just end up being me who went up there to help out.
    “Sure, I’ll go,” I replied.
    “Thanks, honey.”
    I nibbled on my croissant for a moment before looking up at her again.
    “Mom…” I said, my voice hesitant. “There’s something I wanted to talk to you about as well.”
    “What is it?” she asked, her eyebrows knitting together in concern.
    I bit my lower lip before continuing. “Sorry to change the subject, but it’s just…I was just wondering if this marriage to Tony is actually legal. You know, because they never actually confirmed that Dad died and all.”
    She smiled. “Of course it’s legal, sweetie. Do you think someone who has as many lawyers as Tony has would get married without checking first?”
    A blush crept across my cheeks. Of course. It was a stupid question. It was clearly too early in the morning for my brain to be functioning properly. Mom reached across the table and put her hand over mine.
    “Your father’s been missing for a little under seven years, and usually the time it takes to have someone declared dead in absentia is exactly seven years,” she said. “But they make exceptions for situations known as ‘imminent peril’. Things like plane crashes, when it’s assumed the missing person probably died. And the boating incident your father got himself into was classed under