A Baby for My Billionaire Stepbrother by Cassandra Zara Read Free Book Online Page A

polished floors and wiped down the walls. When my roommate, Nicole, got back the day before classes, she was delighted with the apartment but seemed disturbed when I told her I had done the cleaning all on my own.
    "But why?"
    "To distract myself," I admitted. She gave me a curious look, but didn’t probe any further.
    Finally, the morning came when classes started again and it was time to get back on campus. I felt I had done as much as I could to wash my Christmas break from memory and was feeling upbeat about what the second half of my freshman year had to offer.
    I had a nine-o’clock lecture in Tisch Hall. I was up at seven to shower, do my makeup and hair and pick out the right outfit—a dark pair of tough-weave denim jeans that fit my thighs and butt snugly and a camel sweater with a soft plunging neckline. I wore a pair of white boots with a matching white peacoat, knitted cap and scarf over it for my wintry walk to class. After I ran out of things to clean, I had allowed myself to give in and go shopping to kill the time.
    I was still waiting for dad to see the statement...
    Dressed, feeling fresh and looking forward to another semester in my new life, I left and started my brisk walk toward Tisch Hall. It was still dark outside, the sun low and hidden under a steel-gray sky of clouds. Half way there I decided it was too cold to make it in one shot, not with the wind cutting around the buildings, and turned into the yellow warmth of a coffee shop to get something warm.
    I ordered my usual cinnamon latte, and while I waited in line to pay, I dug through my purse to find my punch card. I was pretty sure I was due a free one after this.
    "That’ll be four-twenty-one," the cashier said.
    "One second, I have a card to stamp," I said, rushing now to find it in the mess of my purse. There was already a line and everyone was tired and grumpy with lack of sleep behind me. I found myself wishing I had spent some of my break organizing my purse instead of the apartment, but finally I spied the corner of the white card and pulled it out.
    Only it wasn’t my coffee card.
    ––––––––
    T O ALLIE
    FROM JAMES
    Merry Christmas!
    IOU one present
    ––––––––
    I stared at it just long enough to register what it was, then crammed it back into my purse along with the thoughts of James that it immediately summoned.
    I handed the girl a credit card instead.
    "Can’t find it?" the girl asked as she swiped my card.
    "No, it’s lost in there somewhere, though."
    "Should I stamp a new one? Or you want to come back later. I’ll remember you."
    "Sure, no. A new one is okay," I said, distracted. I took my receipt and my coffee and fled back into the cold, wanting to be in motion, as if I could keep ahead of my thoughts if I walked fast enough.
    But by the time I found a seat and the the professor started his lecture I couldn’t think of anything else but my jumble of desires and fears. They clung around the place in my brain where James lived. Once I let myself think about him again I realized that the entire break I had been hoping, somewhere in the back of my mind, that he was going to reach out to me. That he would show up on my doorstep, his face pinched pink with the cold, the snow flakes sticking on his messy hair and broad shoulders, a confession of desire on his lips. Or even better, a wordless embrace and a crushing kiss...
    I took out the IOU from high school again, running my fingers over the card as the closest thing to a plan formed in my mind since I had fled Bloomfield for New York.
    You do owe me, you bastard.
    I put the card away carefully, shouldered my bag, and excused myself as I moved towards the aisle and left. I would get notes from someone later.
    But I had somewhere else to be just now.
    ***
    I didn’t call my best friend, Tessa. I didn’t tell my roommate, Nicole. I just went back to the apartment, packed an overnight bag, and took a cab to Grand Central Station. There were trains