Hooked: A Stepbrother Romance Read Online Free PDF Page B

camp.
    I’ll learn.
    I won’t let anyone else down, not again.

I leaned back with a stretch as Johnnie came back to the counter, my food finally ready. Not that I minded the delay. It’s not like a small-time diner could reasonably expect a huge order first thing in the morning, and I had nothing better to do this early.
    Waiting around for freshly baked muffins seemed like as good an idea as any.
    A lot of muffins, I realized sheepishly as I eyed the stack of boxes in Johnnie’s thick arms. It had made sense at the time, but maybe I’d gotten a little carried away when I bought a dozen of every flavor.
    In retrospect, some muffins probably weren’t going to be very popular. Unless I had stumbled across an unlikely enclave of banana bread lovers in the middle of Colorado, I was probably going to end up with leftovers.
    Well, stranger things have happened.
    Like, say, me being nervous about teaching rugby to a bunch of troubled youths, even though I’d done it a million times before.
    By the time I made it to the center, I found Theo already waiting inside. He waved when he saw me, helping me with the door.
    “Thanks.”
    “Welcome,” he answered, and then sniffed the air. His eyes went wide when he realized what I was carrying. I nodded towards the end of the hall, silently suggesting he run along and share the good news.
    Breakfast was an important meal, but the look on Theo’s excited face before he zoomed away really drove home how much more important it was now. It drove home something I’d known all along; this center was a good place. Hell, if I’d listened to the people who worked here when I was Theo’s age, it would’ve saved me a whole world of trouble.
    Of course, without that trouble I would have never been shipped off to England, never learned that I was a natural at rugby. I’d have probably ended up in prison or something, and never been able to come back here.
    Funny how these things work out. Who would’ve guessed? Certainly not me.
    Of course, I also hadn’t guessed just how difficult this was going to be for me. Over the past decade, I’d helped plenty of people and places. I’d never imagined how different it would feel this time. Being back here was surreal enough, but seeing my stepsister running around in those tight shorts, seeing them ride up her sweet little ass for hours on end….
    Well, I was starting to question just how altruistic my motives really were.
    More than the way her body looked, though, was the way her face looked. The way it lit up when Shauna scored her first try during our first mock game, the way she beamed enthusiasm back at Theo when he smiled.
    Yeah, I was getting something out of this. A hell of a lot.
    I’d been elated after our first day of practice, celebrating in the nearest thing to a pub I could find. The beer hadn’t been great, but I’d had worse. By the time I got back to the hotel, I was a little tipsy. Didn’t stop me from enjoying another of the gifts she’d given me, though.
    The abso-fucking-lutely incredulous stare of disbelief when she realized I was actually good at this. Of course, she’d had no idea about my previous experience. No idea that this wasn’t my first rodeo. No idea I’d gone to the center myself, no idea that I’d coached people in the same position many times before.
    Not that I’d had much choice, at least originally. My coach back in England had insisted on it. According to him, it didn’t matter how old I was physically, mentally I was still just a shit-headed teen and maybe being around a bunch of other shit-headed teens would bring me to my senses.
    Of course, he’d been right about everything. All that responsibility in my hands had made me finally grow up, and now I was a half-decent coach myself. Working so closely with Emilia was going to be a little awkward, but dammit, these next couple of months were going to be fun .
    Finally arriving at Adam’s office, I saw that he and Emilia were already hard at