My Stepbrother's Secret Baby: A Billionaire Stepbrother Romance (11 page)

BRENNA

I grabbed my luggage from the carousel and headed outside to the pick up lane at JFK where Trenton’s car was waiting for me. His driver popped out and opened the door for me as he hoisted my luggage into the truck.

Immediately greeted by the familiar scent of Trenton’s vetiver cologne, I was shocked to look over and see him sitting there, dressed in his signature suit and wool coat combo, chatting on his phone. He hung up the second I climbed in.

“Hey, stranger,” I said, unable to hide my smile. “You wanted to pick me up?”

“I took a half day at work,” he said. “It just made sense for me to accompany my driver.”

“Sure,” I razzed him.

“I thought I’d take you out for lunch and some shopping? Get you some new maternity clothes?”

“Really? That sounds great, Trenton,” I said. “I’m on board.”

We lunched at Tavern on the Green where I wolfed down half our appetizer, my full entre, two glasses of sparkling water, and half an Italian dessert.

“They don’t feed you on the planes anymore?” Trenton asked.

“Not anything that would fill up a pregnant lady,” I said with an eye roll. “They pretty much feed us rocks and sticks.”

He chuckled as he watched me inhale my massive feast. I didn’t care though. I was starving. That baby was growing like crazy.

“Ready to shop?” he asked as he paid the tab a bit later. We headed outside and climbed into his car, where we drove for a while and were then let out in a cutesy little shopping area.

“I didn’t know this part of the city existed,” I said.

“I know this city like the back of my hand,” he boasted. “I know every nook and cranny.”

“I see that.” We strolled side by side into a little maternity boutique where I was immediately drawn to rack upon rack of maternity jeans in the back of the store. My jeans were too tight, and I’d been looping a hair tie just to get them to stay put lately. I pulled jean after jean in my size and carried them off to the fitting room. After picking out a few pairs and grabbing a few maternity tops, we checked out.

“That was quick,” Trenton said. “I barely got any work done while you were shopping.”

“I thought you took a half day?”

“What else was I supposed to do while you were looking at clothes?”

“I forgot. You pay people to shop for you.”

I jabbed him playfully with my elbow as he carried my shopping bags for me and we walked to where his car was parked.

“Really, Trenton. Really?” a woman’s voice called out from out of nowhere. Appearing out from underneath an awning we’d just passed was the same woman who’d approached me on the street a few weeks ago, telling me that Trenton still loved her.

“Tierney,” Trenton said.

So that must have been her – the woman who made him into the monster he claimed to be. It was starting to make sense finally.

“So you really did get some girl knocked up? Gee, Trenton, she looks to be about ten years younger than you,” she scoffed. “Way to be shallow.”

“Were you following us?” I interjected, suddenly worried I had a stalker on my hands.

“When are you going to wake up and smell the roses, Trenton?” she asked, ignoring me. “You still love me. You were knocking this chick up while you were screwing me in my hotel room.”

She watched my face, expecting fireworks, but we both just laughed. If she only knew. I was well aware of the situation. It was quite humorous watching her make a fool out of herself as passersby stared.

“I don’t have time for this,” I said with a yawn to Trenton. “Can we head back? I’d like to catch a nap this afternoon.”

“Of course,” Trenton said as we kept walking away from Crazy Town.

“I was pregnant once!” she shouted after us. Trenton stopped in his tracks. “With your baby, Trenton.”

He turned to face her as she walked towards us.

“That summer,” she said. “I got rid of it and that’s why I couldn’t see you anymore. It had nothing to do with my daddy.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked.

“We were just a couple of kids,” she said with tears in her eyes. “We had our whole lives ahead of us. We were born of privilege. It just wasn’t the time.”

“I don’t think that was fair for you to decide that for the both of us,” he said, intensely glaring at her.

“I was doing what I thought was best at the time,” she said, defending her actions.

“I thought you were a lot of things, Tierney,” he seethed. “But this is just the icing on the cake.”

Trenton turned to me, and I realized I was shivering. That February day was ice cold and the wind ripped right through my coat.

“You’re shaking,” Trenton said as he turned to me. “Let’s get you home.”

Trenton didn’t so much as say goodbye to Tierney, but he didn’t have to. His feelings were crystal clear that chilly Friday afternoon. She’d wronged him in more ways than one, and there was no coming back from that.

“We find out what we’re having at the end of the month,” I said to him in the car, trying to lighten his mood. “You do want to find out, right?”

He nodded, which didn’t surprise me. Trenton Ellsworth was a man who did not appreciate surprises.

“Any guesses?” I asked. “I’m thinking boy.”

“Girl,” he said. “Just my hunch.”

“Wanna make a bet?” I said, patting his thigh. He’d been staring out the window ever since we left. His mind was definitely somewhere else.

We entered his penthouse a short time later and he retreated to his bedroom to change into something more comfortable, as did I. When I returned, he was curled up by the fire, nose in a book, with a glass of Chianti on the table. Next to the wine glass was a glass of sparkling water for me.

We could deny it all we wanted, but we sort of did have a relationship. It wasn’t conventional by any means, but something was developing. We still had six more months to go, though, so I wasn’t going to push anything. Whatever was meant to happen would happen. I was quite sure of it.

TRENTON

One month later …

I sat in the chair next to Brenna as she lay on the ultrasound table. The sonographer came in and dimmed the lights as Brenna lifted her shirt up to reveal her growing bump.

The screen flickered black and white as the sonographer squirted jelly onto her stomach and moved the transducer around.

“Okay, you guys ready to find out what you’re having?” the sonographer asked. “This is my favorite part!”

We both nodded, and of course the sonographer had to measure every little bone and body part before she got to the good part. My heart pounded in my chest. I hated surprises. Hated. I had to know what we were having.

I didn’t have a preference, I just had to know. Boy or girl, this little one was going to be loved. And they were going to inherit the family business. And they were going to be beautiful inside and out. And they were going to know their father. That’s all I knew.

“Ready?” the sonographer asked with a cheesy smile on her face. I was about ready to tell her to hurry the hell up if she didn’t stop delaying things.

Without even thinking, I reached up and took Brenna’s hand. I suppose I needed comforting. I was never good with anticipation.

“It’s a … “ the sonographer said, “GIRL!”

I let it sink in and hit me for a minute before smiling. I knew it. My hunch was right.

“You were right, Trenton,” Brenna said, squeezing my hand. “You nailed it.”

“Wow,” I said, watching my daughter moving around on the screen. She was quite the wiggle worm already.

“Oh! I can feel her move!” Brenna laughed.

The tech cleaned off Brenna’s stomach and left the room as Brenna got herself back together.

“So now we can decorate the nursery,” Brenna said. “Any themes in mind?”

“Ballerina,” I said without pause.

“I love that,” Brenna said. “I’m so glad we’re on the same page. Now, will she have two nurseries or one?”

I hadn’t thought about that. We were sharing joint custody, but I supposed the nursery needed to be wherever Brenna was. But I hated the idea of my baby being in the next apartment over.

“You want to move in with me?”

“I kind of already am living with you,” she replied. “Nothing between us except your secret door. I spend most of my time over on your side anyway.”

“There’s a room two doors down from mine,” he said. “And a room between that one and mine that could be a nursery. She could be between us.”

“Oh, okay,” Brenna replied. “I hadn’t thought of that, but that would work.”

I stayed quiet as we rode home, letting it all sink in. It felt real before, but now it really felt real.

“We haven’t talked about names yet,” Brenna said that night over dinner. “Did you have anything in mind? I’m not very creative, hence the accounting major.”

“I like Chance for a middle name,” I said. “It’s fitting, don’t you think?”

Her full lips twisted into a smile. “It is. What about Anastasia for the first name? It’s a take on my mother’s name, Anne.”

“Anastasia Chance Ellsworth,” I said out loud. “I like it. It’s settled then.”

“Five more months,” she said excitedly as she reached over and instinctively grabbed my hand. The urge to kiss her in that moment consumed me, and without giving it much thought, I leaned over and pressed my lips against hers. And much to my surprise, she kissed me back.

Traveling down the streets of Manhattan, kissing the mother of my daughter, I realized that against all odds, I’d fallen in love. Real love. Unconditional, raw, unfiltered love. We’d seen each other at our best and our worst. We put aside our differences and our past and found a way to be happy together. I wasn’t happy before I met her. She wasn’t happy before she met me. Somehow we’d completed each other.

“What’s this?” she asked softly as she came up for air.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “But I kind of like it.”

“Me too,” she said, leaning in for another kiss. “A lot.”

The driver dropped us off in front of my building and it was all we could do to keep from not humping like bunnies in the elevator on the way up. By the time we arrived in the foyer, we were already stripping down. Breathless. Hot. Wanting.

I scooped my pregnant love up into my arms and carried her to my bed. I had to go easy on her now, as much as I wanted to go buck wild with her.

One longing look from her was all it took to know that this was right. This was meant to be. I laid her gently onto my bed, crawling in next to her. My fingers traced her soft skin as my hands stopped along her curves and rested on her full belly.

“Brenna,” I said, mustering all the courage a man would need in that type of situation. “I think I’m falling in love with you.”

Her silence scared the living shit out of me, but eventually she replied, “Me too.”

“I’d been fighting it,” I said. “Like a fool. Denying my happiness. And yours.”

“Me too,” she replied much to my relief. “I didn’t think it was realistic. I thought it was just hormones or wishful thinking.”

“This is real,” I said, rubbing my hand on her belly. “And so is this.” I placed my hand over her heart and kissed her mouth once more, unable to get enough of her taste on my tongue.