Stepbrother: Instant Spark (Stepbrother Billionaire Romance) (Stepbrother Romantic Suspense) Read Free Page A

everyone is always quick to tell you to stop searching. That’s it. Your time is done. But let me tell you something; you never stop craving companionship and love, no matter how many times it goes wrong. I know my son, Peter, was shocked to hear that I was getting married a third time, but if there’s one lesson in life I would want him to live by, it would be this: Life is too short to live by a rulebook and love is always worth the risk. I married Ellen today because I would risk anything for those beautiful eyes and that wonderful smile to be the eyes and smile of my wife. Let’s raise a glass to Ellen - my beautiful wife.”
    Lucy felt the color drain from her own face as she suddenly realized why Peter had looked so shocked. She’d just had sex with her new stepbrother.
     
    *****
     

“The honeymoon was just wonderful , darling,” Ellen gushed excitably. Lucy and her mother were once again having their weekly brunch at their favorite bistro and it was their first chance to catch up since the wedding, which Lucy had left pretty quickly after the revelation that Peter was her stepbrother. “Walt and I just loved the cruise. We met a lovely couple. I’m sure we’ll see them again.” The newlywed woman came to a pause in her narration when she realized that Lucy didn’t seem to be listening and she put her cup down slowly and tilted her head to one side in concern. “What is it, darling? You seem to be miles away.”
    Lucy sighed heavily. Ever since the wedding she’d been plagued with memories of that afternoon in the hotel room and what troubled her most about the recollections is that they still excited her. She felt like she should be horrified to know that she had slept with her stepbrother, but every time she thought about how he had pulled her sleeves from her shoulders and let her dress drop to the floor, she shuddered with excitement and felt her heart beat faster. For the first time in her life, a man had gotten under her skin and Lucy just couldn’t get him off her mind. Why was it that every man she’d ever met in her life had bored her and been forgotten, but she couldn’t forget about the one man in her life who was taboo?
    “I’m just thinking about how I regret not getting to know Walter a bit more before the wedding,” she told her mother. “I still know hardly anything about him. I met his son at the wedding. I didn’t even know he had a son.”
    “Oh, Peter and his father aren’t close,” Ellen said breezily. “They had a big row after Walt got married to his last wife and things have been tense ever since, although Walt says that he’d finally seemed to have gotten over it. Apparently, he called his father the other day to catch up and it was amicable. He seemed to like you a lot. That’s something, at least. You made an impression on him, it seems.”
    “Did I?” Lucy said in a voice that she hoped sounded nonchalant, even though she could feel her cheeks flushing. “We hardly spoke.”
    “Well, I think you would both get on very well,” Ellen told her. “You’re both very stubborn. Or ‘independent’, as you’d call it. Peter’s done very well for himself, apparently.”
    “Hardly surprising, considering how wealthy his father is.”
    “He had a head start, it’s true, but Peter’s largely a self-made man. His company is completely separate from his father’s. Walter doesn’t keep him.”
    “Really?” Lucy said with surprise. “I’d just assumed that he’d have been living off his father.”
    “No. Walt says Peter’s always been one to do things himself. I’m sure he could teach you a lot about business to help you with your own company, if you’re still insistent on being so self-sufficient.”
    “Why do you always say it like it’s a bad thing? We’re not in the sixties anymore, Mom. Women do things for themselves now, you know.”
    “So you keep telling me. So, do you like him?”
    “Peter?”
    “Yes.”
    “Sure. I mean, we didn’t speak