Free STEPBROTHER ROMANCE: My Stepbrother the Seaman (A Caribbean Cruise Romance) (A Steamy Forbidden Contemporary Holiday Romance Short Story) by Grace Valentine Page A

buddy.” Mitch said in a soft voice that wasn’t normal for the tall brawny policeman, but it was all that worked when Sabin cried for his mother. “Do you think your mother would want you to behave this way though, son?” Sabin shook his head and buried it into his father’s chest. “One day, you’re going to love your sister. I promise.”
    Mitch picked up Sabin and held him close. No one but Sabin knew why he hated Colette so much. He had warmed up to Rachel rather quickly, and Rachel was eight months pregnant with Colette when he met her. Rachel’s boyfriend took off, leaving her as soon as she told him that she was pregnant. Rachel and Mitch met when Mitch pulled Rachel over for speeding. They fell in love rather quickly. In Mitch’s mind, Colette and Sabin should have been just like any siblings, but the opposite had been true. Mitch also made the mistake of thinking that his son was too young to remember his mother. Mitch brought Sabin down to the play room that Colette was currently sitting in as her mother bandaged her wounded chin. Mitch sat Sabin down and Rachel did the same with Colette.
    “I’m sorry Lette.” Sabin said using his version of Colette’s complicated name.
                  Colette clumsily stood and walked to her step brother. She held onto him tightly and hugged him around his neck as she nuzzled her hurt face into her brother’s chest. Sabin hugged her back and the two sat down and began to play with blocks as their parents kissed both of them on the head. Mitch sat down again holding his wife’s hand, watching his son and hoping for the best.  
     

Chapter One
     
                  Colette thought to herself the thought that no wife ever wants think. She knew that she didn’t love her husband anymore. Michael O’Hare was not at fault and Colette knew that. After all, their relationship had been an example of everything not to do. They began their marriage with no money and no life experience. She was only eighteen when the handsome man that she did in fact love at the time, said his vows to her. Things had certainly changed in the two short years that Colette and Michael had been married. The disintegration of the once happy marriage hadn’t been loud, obscene or violent. It had only slowly died over a long period of time. In fact, Colette couldn’t quite put her finger on the exact moment that she fell out of love with Michael. It could have been when she looked at the hundredth negative pregnancy test, at least that’s when she realized that she didn’t really want to have Michael’s children. It may have been when she had found the sexual emails to his secretary. No, surely it wasn't then. A wife whom had loved her husband would have felt anger, betrayal or heartbreak having seen what she had. Colette had only though about what other people would say about his infidelity. It must have been a million tiny things that made her heart jaded to her husband. She no longer wanted to kiss him. She didn't even really want to look at him. Michael had become a roommate in Colette's frosty eyes and nothing more. He was simply a way to pay the rent. She began to cry, as her head hung over the letter that she was writing, proposing the idea of divorce. She wept not from a broken heart, but for her shattered dreams. She had made the bold and advised against choice to be Michael's wife instead of going after her dream as a painter. She had opted for a dish sponge instead of a paintbrush, and a baking dish instead of an easel. The regret hurt her as she knew that time was irreplaceable, and she had wasted so much of it. Colette signed the letter with 'Love, Colette'. Then she quickly used her pen to scratch out the word love, and replaced it with sincerely. She grabbed her two suitcases and tossed them in the trunk of her white Dodge Nitro before taking one last look at her marital home. Still, she felt nothing.
    The drive to Colette's mother's home was long but