Falling for the Other Brother Read Free Page B

wattage. Feeling a bit foolish for her lack of participation in the conversation, she prepared to say goodbye.
    Instead, Trevor surprised the life out of her by inviting her to dinner the following night.
     
    * * * *
     
    Now, five months later, they were dating exclusively and had keys to one another’s condo. The sex was amazing, the conversation flowed, and their relationship didn’t seem to suffer during each of their frequent absences for work. In fact, Trevor was pretty much perfect in her mind. Except for one major detail.
    He laughed at the idea of ever wanting to have kids.
    And her biological clock was more like Big Ben right now.
    Was it selfish to want to break up with the perfect guy just so she could—what?—search randomly for Mr Ready-to-be-a-Dad?
    Of all the crappy timing …
    “Tick-tock,” she muttered, tears pricking her throat.

Chapter Three
     
     
     
    Erica managed to ignore Trevor’s ringtone until it went to voicemail yet again, trying unsuccessfully to tune it out by reviewing her notes for the voiceover she was about to record.
    You are such a coward.
    She was, and she knew it. But for the life of her, she couldn’t bring herself to begin the we’re-in-different-places conversation with Trevor, even though she’d rehearsed it at least a hundred times.
    Every time Trevor went out of town on a shoot or publicity gig, she told herself she would break it off as soon as he got home. And every time he returned, she saw that brilliant, familiar smile directed at her and wimped out.
    Coming up on six months of dating, she could feel herself getting in deeper and deeper. In fact, without the obstacle of her obsession with having a child and his adamant—yet honest, she grudgingly admitted—refusal to go there, she might have even been considering popping the question to him at this point. They were obviously well-matched despite the age difference, and there was love between them. Not the passionate, dramatic love of cinema, but a steady, pleasing, and somehow more real feeling love than she had ever imagined.
    Waging an inner war and losing to her curiosity, Erica finally caved and listened to the two-day series of voicemails from Trevor.
     
    “Hi babe. Been a long day here, and no cell reception where we were, so finally have a chance to check in. Hope you’re doing good. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
     
    “Hey, it’s me. It’s beautiful here, you should really come along with me one of these times. Meanwhile, it looks like I might be home a couple of days early. Something’s come up, and luckily the stars aligned and I was able to convince the photographer to wrap my part of the shoot today in one really long day rather than having to hang around until Wednesday. So I’ll be seeing you soon. Love you.”
     
    “Hi. Hope everything’s okay. I keep missing you. Anyway, I’m flying stand-by and looks like I’ll be getting on this flight, so I’ll be home late tonight. Can’t wait to see you. I have a surprise for you, too, and also something to ask—something I’ve been thinking about for a while now.” He cleared his throat. “So…I’ll see you tomorrow.”
     
    Erica paused with her finger on the key to erase the last message and instead hit replay, listening with growing concern. A surprise? And something to ask?
    Oh crap. Was he going to pop the question?
    Breaking into a sudden, sickening sweat, she tried to think of what else he could have possibly meant by that sort of uncharacteristically hesitant mention. Trevor was nothing if not confident. But the nervousness in his voice had come through loud and clear. Whatever it was, it was big.
    Pulling the Scarlett act again, she firmly turned her mind away from Trevor and back to the job at hand.
     
    * * * *
     
    After spending the rest of her day being surprisingly productive, buried in the depths of her to-do list, Erica finally gave up on working when she found herself drifting off for the third time in as many emails.