Expecting my Billionaire Stepbrother's Baby (a Stepbrother Romance Novel) Read Free Page B

and batted her eyelashes up at her tall son.
    Drake closed his eyes for a moment and let out a long sigh. “I’m not going to win, am I?”
    “Nope,” she replied.
    “For what it’s worth, Drake, I promise I’ll take very good care of her, of my little niece,” I added, knowing I needed and wanted this more than anything. It would be better than another crappy and pointless customer service job. At least I’d be making a difference looking after Leah.
    His stormy grey eyes regarded me as he weighed up his decision. I don’t think he’d ever looked at me for that long before, and his stare made my skin prickle. My throat thickened, and I needed to swallow. I couldn’t break eye contact, and I didn’t want to. The world around us seemed to fade into obscurity; we were in our own bubble. I could tell he wanted to resist his mother’s wish and say no to the proposal. He didn’t want to trust me, and that was fair enough – I hadn’t been very present lately, but I needed this.
    “Give me a chance, please?” I asked quietly, barely saying the words out loud.
    The dark storm in his eyes cleared, and he looked down at his resting daughter cradled in my arms. “Ok, you get one chance. Only one.”

3
    Three
    L ater that same evening , after the guests had all left, I followed Drake to his apartment in the city. I prayed my clunker of a car would last a little bit longer as I kept Drake’s rear lights in view.
    I squinted to focus upon his car up ahead as the traffic in the city increased. His sporty little number, comically fit with a baby seat in the front for Leah, weaved effortlessly in and out of lanes. I was barely keeping up. All I needed was something to go wrong and to lose him before I even started my new job. I had one chance, and I was determined not to screw it up.
    Once we’d parked in the underground garage beneath Drake’s building, I wandered over to his car feeling a little apprehensive. This would be the first time I’d lived with a man who wasn’t my father. Although Drake was my step-brother, we’d slept under the same roof only a couple times around the holidays when Barbara and my father were first married. I was attending university then, and Drake was an independent businessman living his own life. This would be a whole different ball-game.
    Drake scooped up the baby bag and Leah in her car seat. She looked so good in his arms, protected and safe. What I wouldn’t do for him to make me feel the same way, but I was a bag of nerves.
    “I could’ve started tomorrow, you know?” I said. I’d even suggested this earlier, but Barbara would have none of it.
    “No time like the present,” she’d said. Barbara had most likely been thinking the same thing I had – if we gave Drake any time to consider the arrangement, he would’ve backed out for sure.
    “You’re here now. Might as well get on with it,” he said and handed me Leah’s baby bag. Without another word, he strode away towards a bank of elevators, and with a quick swipe of an electronic key card, the doors swooshed open instantly. Drake stepped in and turned to face me.
    “Wow, that was quick,” I said as I caught up to him.
    “It’s a private elevator. Remind me to get you your own key card. Oh, and hand over your keys,” he requested.
    I hesitated. “My keys?”
    “Yes, your car keys. Get in. Or shall I leave you down here for the rest of the night?”
    “No, I’m coming, sorry,” I replied and stepped forward. Drake swiped his card at the panel, and the doors closed. The private elevator was small; it was a tight fit with just the two of us, and I thought to myself it was a good thing I wasn’t claustrophobic.
    I tried to keep close to the side, but no matter how I positioned myself, my bare arm inevitably grazed the material of his suit jacket, sending shivers down to my core. The enclosure felt like it was heating up, and beads of sweat ran down my back. The last time I’d been this close to him, trapped