Read Online Expecting my Billionaire Stepbrother's Baby (a Stepbrother Romance Novel) by Emilia Beaumont - Free Book Online
Authors: Emilia Beaumont
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Millar’s new nanny. You saw me leave before?” I added quickly.
“I see. I don’t have any mention of a new nanny. Well, I’m afraid I can’t let you up until I speak to Mr Millar,” he said, moving back around the desk.
“You don’t need to call him, you can see I have his daughter right here,” I said, frustrated, only now thinking two steps ahead. I didn’t want Drake to start asking questions about why I couldn’t get back into the apartment. The front desk staff obviously knew Christine well enough to let her up this morning, so if we’d gone out, I would’ve gone out with her, but now she wasn’t returning with me… I should’ve thought my little escapade through before running off in attempt to play detective.
“Sorry. I need to follow protocol. Just wait right there.”
I sighed and moved over to the small waiting lounge and checked on Leah. She was still fast asleep, bless her little heart. My foot jiggled with impatience.
“Miss? Mr Millar would like a word,” he said, bringing the phone over to me.
Bracing myself for the worst, I brought the handset up to my ear.
“Drake?” I asked.
“Vi, it should all be taken care of now. They’re going to give you a new key card, OK?”
“OK, thanks,” I said, expecting a barrage of questions from him.
“You sound nervous, what’s up?”
“No, I’m good. Better go, Leah’s waking up. See you later,” I lied, ended the call and quickly passed the phone back to the desk clerk before Drake could interrogate me any further.
Finally, the clerk handed over a plastic rectangle and showed me how to use it; it wasn’t rocket science, and after a couple of minutes Leah and I were gratefully back in the sanctuary of the apartment.
----
G etting Leah settled had been the easy part, now all I had to do was figure out what I was going to tell Drake. I paced the lounge, back and forth, wearing down the threads of the rug under my bare feet, debating if I should spill the beans about Christine and her tonsil-tennis buddy.
In one fell swoop I could get rid of Christine and have him all to myself again. He wouldn’t put up with her nonsense if he knew she was deceiving him.
He had a right to know didn’t he? But would he be mad at me for telling him? All these thoughts spun tangling webs in my mind; I really didn’t know what to do for the best. I was not a vindictive person; perhaps I hadn’t seen what I thought I saw. It might not even have been Christine… Now I knew I was lying to myself.
“Vi, are you OK?”
I spun around, breath caught in my throat. I hadn’t heard the elevator arrive or his silent footsteps.
Drake frowned at me and waited for my answer.
Furious at being scared like that and the giving in to the frustration that’d been piling up ever since he’d guilted me into staying, I did the only thing I could think of doing. I yelled at him.
“Are you serious? Of course I’m not OK! You left me here, with your ex bloody wife, expecting me to play house and after what we did last night!”
Right then, it was clear what I had to do. It was like a veil had been lifted. I’d been foolish to think this could ever work – sod waiting two weeks. I owed people money, but I couldn’t torture myself by staying there to get it. I had to leave; I’d find another way to sort my life out. Staying in bizarro land, with a step-brother I was falling for, was not the right place for me to be. It was doing neither me nor my mental state any good.
“What’s happened? Where’s Christine?”
“See! Even now that’s all you care about. Christine, Christine, fucking Christine!” I gritted my teeth and breathed in a wave of air through my nose, preparing for what I wanted to say next. “This was a mistake. I can’t stay here, watching you two get back together, giving her chance after chance… I know I said I’d stay, but I just can’t do it.”
Drake seemed taken aback by my outburst and moved a cautious step towards me. His
“I see. I don’t have any mention of a new nanny. Well, I’m afraid I can’t let you up until I speak to Mr Millar,” he said, moving back around the desk.
“You don’t need to call him, you can see I have his daughter right here,” I said, frustrated, only now thinking two steps ahead. I didn’t want Drake to start asking questions about why I couldn’t get back into the apartment. The front desk staff obviously knew Christine well enough to let her up this morning, so if we’d gone out, I would’ve gone out with her, but now she wasn’t returning with me… I should’ve thought my little escapade through before running off in attempt to play detective.
“Sorry. I need to follow protocol. Just wait right there.”
I sighed and moved over to the small waiting lounge and checked on Leah. She was still fast asleep, bless her little heart. My foot jiggled with impatience.
“Miss? Mr Millar would like a word,” he said, bringing the phone over to me.
Bracing myself for the worst, I brought the handset up to my ear.
“Drake?” I asked.
“Vi, it should all be taken care of now. They’re going to give you a new key card, OK?”
“OK, thanks,” I said, expecting a barrage of questions from him.
“You sound nervous, what’s up?”
“No, I’m good. Better go, Leah’s waking up. See you later,” I lied, ended the call and quickly passed the phone back to the desk clerk before Drake could interrogate me any further.
Finally, the clerk handed over a plastic rectangle and showed me how to use it; it wasn’t rocket science, and after a couple of minutes Leah and I were gratefully back in the sanctuary of the apartment.
----
G etting Leah settled had been the easy part, now all I had to do was figure out what I was going to tell Drake. I paced the lounge, back and forth, wearing down the threads of the rug under my bare feet, debating if I should spill the beans about Christine and her tonsil-tennis buddy.
In one fell swoop I could get rid of Christine and have him all to myself again. He wouldn’t put up with her nonsense if he knew she was deceiving him.
He had a right to know didn’t he? But would he be mad at me for telling him? All these thoughts spun tangling webs in my mind; I really didn’t know what to do for the best. I was not a vindictive person; perhaps I hadn’t seen what I thought I saw. It might not even have been Christine… Now I knew I was lying to myself.
“Vi, are you OK?”
I spun around, breath caught in my throat. I hadn’t heard the elevator arrive or his silent footsteps.
Drake frowned at me and waited for my answer.
Furious at being scared like that and the giving in to the frustration that’d been piling up ever since he’d guilted me into staying, I did the only thing I could think of doing. I yelled at him.
“Are you serious? Of course I’m not OK! You left me here, with your ex bloody wife, expecting me to play house and after what we did last night!”
Right then, it was clear what I had to do. It was like a veil had been lifted. I’d been foolish to think this could ever work – sod waiting two weeks. I owed people money, but I couldn’t torture myself by staying there to get it. I had to leave; I’d find another way to sort my life out. Staying in bizarro land, with a step-brother I was falling for, was not the right place for me to be. It was doing neither me nor my mental state any good.
“What’s happened? Where’s Christine?”
“See! Even now that’s all you care about. Christine, Christine, fucking Christine!” I gritted my teeth and breathed in a wave of air through my nose, preparing for what I wanted to say next. “This was a mistake. I can’t stay here, watching you two get back together, giving her chance after chance… I know I said I’d stay, but I just can’t do it.”
Drake seemed taken aback by my outburst and moved a cautious step towards me. His
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