My Stepbrother's Secret Baby: A Billionaire Stepbrother Romance Read Free Page A

two.”
     
     
     

FOUR
 
     
     
    TRENTON
     
     
     
    By two-thirty I was growing unusually anxious. At any minute Brenna would be walking up to my floor and asking my secretary for directions to my office. I sat in my chair, smoothing my navy silk tie flat against my ripped chest, and waited patiently.
     
    “What if she doesn’t show, sir?” Rolland asked as he paced the room. I had to stop and ask myself who was more nervous: me or Rolland.
     
    “She’ll show,” I said like the confident asshole I knew I was. “Believe me.”
     
    “Mr. Ellsworth,” my assistant’s voice came over the intercom. “I have a Miss Winters here to see you.”
     
    “Send her in, Michelle,” I replied. “Rolland, if you’ll excuse me.”
     
    Rolland scrambled out of my office and bumped into Brenna in the hall as he held the door open for her. She walked in, shoulders held high and lips covered in shiny lip gloss. She did care.
     
    “Brenna,” I said, welcoming her in. “Have a seat.”
     
    She clutched her leather bag to her side as she hesitantly took a seat across from me. She removed her fur-trimmed parka and crossed her long legs, which were still covered in jeans from her shift at the coffee shop.
     
    “I honestly didn’t know you worked at the coffee shop,” I said as I sat down across from her. “It was a chance encounter.”
     
    She rolled her eyes. “Right.”
     
    “I’m glad you decided to come,” I said, locking my blue eyes into her chocolate brown gaze. “I have a bit of a proposition for you.”
     
    “And what’s that?” she asked, eyeing me with an air of skepticism about her.
     
    “What if I said you’d never have to work retail or food service for the rest of your life,” I said. “So long as you live. That you’d be very comfortable and never have to want for a single thing in your entire life.”
     
    “Sounds like a fairy tale,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Not realistic.”
     
    I laughed. “I’m looking for someone to…provide a service for me. And in exchange for that service, they will be compensated very well. As well as some other perks.”
     
    “What…kind of service?” She was intrigued.
     
    “Surrogacy,” I replied point blank. “I need someone to carry my child.”
     
    She shifted uncomfortably. “They have services for that type of thing.”
     
    “Yeah, but someone like me needs to do this on the down low,” I said. “I can’t be seen walking into a surrogacy agency, and I certainly can’t risk someone selling a story to a tabloid for a quick buck.”
     
    “So why me?” she scoffed. “You don’t know me from anyone else walking down the street.”
     
    My lips twitched. The truth was, I didn’t exactly know why I wanted her. I just knew there was something about her. She had a familiar look about her, like an old friend from long ago. And she was was hot. That was obvious. No, not hot, beautiful. We’d make some fucking beautiful babies. With her milky skin and my bone structure. My height and her Kim Kardashian curves.
     
    “You seemed like you might be in a position to help someone like myself,” I said. “You work two low paying jobs, but I can tell just by looking at you that you’re intelligent. It’s in the way you carry yourself.”
     
    “Okay, so I’m smart and I’m broke,” she said with a shrug. “How does that make me fit to be your surrogate?”
     
    “You’re beautiful, Brenna,” I said, watching as she squirmed uncomfortably with my directness. “We’d make beautiful babies. You’re young. The picture of health. And I doubt you want to grind coffee beans the rest of your life.”
     
    “This is just temporary,” she said. “I’m saving up to finish my degree at Columbia. I have two semesters left.”
     
    “Well lucky for you, I can help you pay for school,” I said. “That is…if you’re willing to help me out.”
     
    Her eyes fell towards the ground as she looked deep in thought. “I don’t