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

much, like I said, but he seemed...nice.”
    “Good. I’m glad you get along. So, what else is new?”
    “I’m going to a convention down in New York next week. It’s a three-day event. All the top designers will be there. It’s going to be great.”
    “In New York? Where are you going to stay?”
    “I don’t know. I’m sure I’ll find some hotel somewhere.”
    “No need. Peter has an apartment in New York. Penthouse.”
    “Good for Peter.”
    “Now, now, darling, don’t be so sharp. Let me talk to Walt. He’ll give Peter a call and we’ll set it up. Who knows? If he’s free he might even go to the city himself and show you the sights.”
    “Oh no, Mom,” Lucy objected quickly. “I wouldn’t want to bother him. I hardly know him, after all.”
    “Nonsense!” Ellen scoffed. “He’s family.”
    Lucy felt her stomach flip at the reminder and she blushed again, knowing what they’d done. It was impossible for her to think of him as her stepbrother when her whole body tingled every time she thought of him.
    “Really, Mom. I’ll stay in a hotel. There’s no need to bother Peter.”
    “Really, Lucy!” Ellen scolded impatiently. “What is this? I thought you’d said you were happy for me and Walt.”
    “I am.”
    “Then why are you being so difficult? You’re going to be seeing a lot of Peter, so you may as well get to know him. Besides, I don’t like the thought of you in the city on your own. I’d feel much better knowing that Peter was looking out for you.”
    “Mom...”
    “Lucy! Let me call him. It makes no sense for you to spend all that money on a hotel and then have to walk to and from the convention or flag down a cab by yourself. It’s dangerous for a single woman in the city.”
    Lucy didn’t know what to say. Of course it made sense for her to stay with Peter. He had a place there and he could show her the sights and watch out for her, but Lucy didn’t want to put temptation in her path by staying with her sexy stepbrother. She didn’t want to fall into that kind of taboo behavior and she knew that if she was close to Peter again, she wouldn’t be able to resist. But how could she explain that to her mother without also letting on that something had gone on between her and Peter?
    “Fine,” she sighed. “Call him.”
    It was her hope that Peter’s thoughts would be much along the same line as her own and that he’d make some excuse as to why she couldn’t stay. He’d say he was busy at work or out of town. Lucy didn’t know what to feel then, when Peter told her mother that it was absolutely no problem for her to stay and that he’d love to show her the sights.
    “So it’s all sorted then!” Ellen said cheerfully down the phone when she gave Lucy the news a few nights later. “He’ll be expecting you on Friday.”
    It was Wednesday already and in the next couple of days, Lucy couldn’t stop thinking about Peter and feeling nerves twist her stomach at the thought of seeing him again. She kept swinging between terror that she’d let herself give into him and repeat that afternoon in the hotel, and hope that she would. She’d never been so obsessed with a man before.
    When Friday rolled around, she found herself dressing in the kind of outfit that didn’t quite say ‘not interested’. She wore a tight-fitting black pencil skirt and a silky black camisole with a light wraparound cardigan. She pulled sheer black tights over her slim, shapely legs and pressed her feet into little kitten heels. She wore crimson lipstick on her lips and brushed mascara over her eyelashes. She stood back and looked at herself in the mirror and knew that she’d draw his attention. She almost considered changing into something less alluring, but she told herself that she was too late for the train to change her mind now. She picked up her little suitcase and headed for the subway.
    Arriving in the city, she was surprised to find Peter waiting for her on the platform. She looked around