The Step Don’t by Riley Hart and Devon McCormack

Good stepbrothers keep each other’s dirty secrets.
Great stepbrothers help each other explore them.

The Step Don’t, an all-new steamy, friends to lovers, forbidden, M/M romance from bestselling authors Riley Hart and Devon McCormack is now available!

ASH

All stepbrothers need Step Don’ts.
Colin and I have ours.
Like, don’t pit our parents against either of us. Don’t hog the TV. And definitely…
Don’t.
Keep.
Secrets.
These rules have done more than help us keep the peace between us.
After all these years since our parents got together, I can’t imagine my life without Colin.
To most people, he’s the hot, straight tight end for Peach State.
But to me, he’s my backward-cap-wearing, football-loving, piggyback-ride-giving best friend and fellow Alpha Theta Mu frat bro.
Life’s pretty incredible living together at the same frat house, but suddenly, I find myself keeping a particularly naughty secret.
I tell myself Colin wouldn’t want to know what his bi bro does in private, but then why do I feel like I’m committing a huge Step Don’t?

COLIN

There’s nothing I’m more of an expert in than my stepbro, Ash.
He’s a quick-witted, nerd-boy genius who’s always there to help a friend cram for a test or capture bugs for me when they invade my space.
He’s my favorite person.
Making him happy gives me a rush…but for the first time, he’s keeping a secret from me.
When Ash cops to his Step Don’t—his new extracurricular of doing dirty things on camera—I’m confused.
He is too, so we work together to figure out why this excites him so much.
In places we’re likely to get caught.
After all, what’s a little exhibitionism between stepbros?
I didn’t even realize I could be into guys—or be so intoxicated by these new experiences—but exploring my bisexuality with Ash is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
And with each touch, each time we up the stakes, I discover I want more than just Ash’s body.
I want his heart too, even though that surely must be the biggest Step Don’t of all.

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Last night was wild.

Like…Top Ten Nights of My Life wild.

After claiming victory at the TaskFrat Challenge, the Peach State frats met back at the Alpha Theta Mu house.

And we partied. Hard.

Which explains the headache.

How fucking tired I feel.

And why I’m struggling to open my eyes.

I finally manage to force them open, and I notice a bulge in the sheets beside me.

Someone’s sleeping in my bed.

Last night steadily comes back to me. There was the friendly girl I met when the party started—the one with the smile and hot ass. Then later, there was the blond guy with the chiseled jaw and the impressive biceps. Friends with someone in Delta Phi, the guy was practically on my tail all night—and at one point, he grabbed my tail, but after that, I can only remember up until flip cup.

Maybe after, the blond hottie and I came up to my room. I’m naked, so it’s possible we messed around, but with how drunk I got, I’m tempted to think we just passed the fuck out.

A pillow obstructs my view of that sexy jaw, but my dick’s already getting nice and hard at the thought that the guy might wake soon so we can finish what we started.

A smile tugs at my lips, but then I notice a shirt on top of the sheet.

Wait a second…

That’s not what he was wearing last night.

And this guy seems taller.

“You’re up, aren’t you?” a familiar voice says.

My heart sinks.

This isn’t my blond hottie from last night!

I groan as Colin removes the pillow that’s blocking his face.

My brother? Seriously?

“Hangover that bad?” he asks as all my excitement is sucked right out of me in a few cruel moments.

Colin’s light-brown locks lie flat from the backward cap he wore all night, his eyes squinty, the way they get in the morning.

“I can’t even convey how mad I am at you right now,” I say, glaring at him.

Colin’s eyes widen. “Me?”

“I thought you were a sexy man in my bed.”

“I am a sexy man in your bed.” He sports a cocky grin, but I’m so disappointed, it’s hard to even be amused by that.

“It doesn’t really work when the sexy man is your brother.” I sit up and snatch the pillow at his side, pulling it close.”

I know he’s hot. Since our parents first got together, I’ve seen firsthand how guys and girls fawn over him. The way they glance at that sharp jawline and grab at his thick biceps and chest. But that’s not gonna do me any good.

“Wait a second,” Colin says as he sits up, eyeing me suspiciously. “Did you think I was that blond guy you spent half the night with?”

“His name was…” I say in as obnoxious a tone as I can manage, but—

Oh fuck, what was his name?

So much for my attempt at being a smart-ass.

“That guy was straight, though, right?” Colin asks.

I have to keep from rolling my eyes. I swear, sometimes Colin is so oblivious. “I’m pretty sure he wasn’t feeling all that straight when he had his hand on my ass.”

“Oh,” he says, rolling his head back for a laugh. “I didn’t pick up on that at all. But, I didn’t with you either, so…”

“Yeah, I think I might have broken you as far as figuring out who’s queer or not.”

“Maybe you did. But don’t be an Ash-hole this morning.” Colin scoots close and throws his arms around me, pulling me in for a hug. He doesn’t normally wind up in my bed with my naked ass, but considering how close we are, it’s not really much of a thing for either of us.

“My bro’s sad he didn’t get some strange last night?”

“I feel like you’re weaponizing the slang I taught you.”

I nudge my shoulder against Colin, and as he backs off, I run my fingers through his bangs, messing them up in the front. That only makes him grin even more.

Even when Colin’s trying to get under my skin, he’s still the big, lovable Labrador he’s always been. Playful. Loyal. And loves to catch a ball—namely, a football, but really, any ball will do.

“You are just living for this, aren’t you?” I ask.

“Don’t be like that. You slept with Peach State’s star tight end. You know how many people would kill to wake up to this?” He casually flexes his admittedly bulky bicep, the way he might for a girl he’s trying to impress. “And the first guy to manage it? That’s bragging rights for the rest of your college career.” He’s got this wicked grin on his face, trying to get all his digs in while he can. “Seriously, though. I’m sorry you woke up thinking you were gonna get some dick, and it turned out to be your straight brother.”

“Stepbrother,” I say, which I normally use only when he’s teasing me like this.

Colin puts his hand to his chest. “Ooh, I felt that one.” He winks, making me laugh.

“Okay, I have so many questions about last night,” I say, “but I’m also fucking starving.”

“Come on.” He pats my thigh. “Let’s get some breakfast. At least you can put something in that horny mouth of yours.”

And again, he’s got me laughing, despite the combination of hangover and sexual frustration I’m currently suffering.

Colin rolls out of bed in just his briefs, grabbing his clothes off the bed and floor before he starts to head out.

“Hey!” I call after him, snatching his cap from between the sheets and tossing it to him.

He catches it. “Thanks, bro.”

I toss on some clothes and my glasses, working my way through the events of last night, trying to fill in the gaps, but some things just aren’t coming back to me. That’s what happens when you fuck with hippocampal circuitry.

I head down to the kitchen. Several of my housemates are eating in the adjoining dining area, while Lance—my buddy and Alpha Theta Mu president extraordinaire—sits at the kitchen island in a tank top, eating his usual Froot Loops, his gaze on the TV, playing some reality show I don’t recognize. As I near him, he turns to me, and his eyes light up. “Alpha Theta Mu TaskFrat victors!” he exclaims.

A few of the guys holler from the dining area.

Lance and I are both regular players in the Peach State TaskFrat Challenges—a year-round task-based competition between all the frats—because I do enjoy a challenge. And Alpha Theta Mu totally kicked ass last night.

“How you feeling this morning, bruh?” Payton calls out from the dining area, snickering in that way that assures me he saw some wild shit.

I fist-bump Lance before retrieving the container of grits from the pantry. As I start fixing a bowl, I ask him, “So…exactly how bad was I last night?”

“Why don’t you tell me what you do remember, and we’ll go from there.”

“Up to flip cup.”

“Yeah, why did the resident genius think playing flip cup with vodka instead of beer was a good idea?”

“Because the only thing that rivals my brains is my competitive streak—I thought we were good enough friends that you knew that about me.”

Lance chuckles. “That sounds about right. So you don’t remember dancing on the media console?”

The Step Don’t by Riley Hart
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ash is bi-sexual, Colin is straight. Step brothers for ten years. Best friends who live by the rules they created for each other. They are each others person and extremely codependent.

I liked the frat brothers. Their snark and the way they all cared for each other was sweet. Their family dynamic was interesting but also a bit confusing.

They were friends and step brothers for years but once they decided to get together it was rather quick. The book had a surprising lack of drama. I think that’s why the story just didn’t work for me. Maybe I just needed the angst that should of occurred with their particular situation. It seemed to easy.

I think the first book in the series was better. I like what these authors create together and will continue to read them. This book, while entertaining, just didn’t work for me.

Review Copy requested and reviewed on behalf of OMGReads.

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