Forbidden: A Stepbrother Secret Baby Romance by Vesper Vaughn Read Free Book Online Page A

tired."
    I place the back of my hand onto his forehead. "Are you getting sick?"
    He squirms away from me. "No, I’m not getting sick."
    "But you napped earlier today. You never nap,” I point out. “And now you’re still tired?”
    Paul shrugs. "It wasn't the greatest quality of sleep. I could hear everyone downstairs along with your mother screaming at people in her room. Something about hair? Lipstick? I'm not sure."
    I laugh at the memory. "Yeah, she made one of the makeup people cry."
    Paul looks uncomfortable standing there with nothing to say to me. "Well. I'm going to hit up the shrimp cocktail and head upstairs. See you in a bit?"
    I nod, reaching out to kiss his hand. But he walks away before I can reach him. "Don't let my mother see you taking food upstairs. She'll kill you!"
    Paul turns around and gives me a rare smile. "I am the chosen one, Tessa. I'm sure she won't mind."
    I stick my tongue out at him as he turns his back. He’s right: in my mother’s eyes, he can do no wrong.
    I manage to find pregnancy-friendly cocktails (bacon-wrapped dates) that are so good I devour six before I find my secret chair. I sit down on it; it creaks under my weight. In one hand, I have a glass of sparkling apple cider. In the other I have a porcelain plate loaded up with biscotti, smoked salmon on toasted baguettes, and roasted gruyere-filled apples; tucked under it is a starched white linen napkin. The plate is heavy in my hand as I take the cloth napkin and spread it over my ample bosom and stomach like a picnic blanket.
    I sigh, happy to be away from the room of noisy people and my mother flitting around from one person to the next. She’s wearing her Socialite Mask. The food is intensely good. I have to stop myself from moaning out loud. After I polish off everything on my plate, I put my aching feet up onto the edge of the cement planter filled with a riot of bougainvillea. The sound of the crashing waves not too far in the distance immediately fills me peace. I want to take a nap here in this dark corner; the gentle buzzing of conversation behind me, the ocean before me, and nobody around. As I close my eyes to drift off, I hear footsteps approaching.
    I listen closely to make sure I don't recognize the manic tapping of high heels that indicate my mother, mid-meltdown, searching for me. Thankfully, the footsteps are dull and decidedly male.
    "Hello?" I call out into the darkness. A face appears around the corner, alight in the glow of a phone screen. It's Jax. "Oh," I say involuntarily. "Hi." I feel a stab of annoyance. Why can I not utter anything other than monosyllables in his presence?
    Jax looks up and freezes at the sight of me. He puts his phone down and his face is once again cast in shadow. "I didn't know anyone was back here," he says, taking a step backward as if afraid I’m going to bite him.
    "I'm hiding from my mother," I confess. "She confiscated all of the chairs." I hesitate for a moment. "You can stay here, if you want. Nobody else has come back here so I think you're safe if you're trying to hide, too." I say the last bit without entirely meaning to. I am annoyed that he has lied to me and I'm none too ready to give up my hiding place. So why did I ask him to stay? I feel a tug below my navel and pinch my arm.
    Step. Brother.
    He is my step brother.
    Jax rocks back and forth on his shoes for a moment as if trying to decide. "This is normally where I go when I visit my father. This is kind of my spot, actually. So if you really think about it, I’m the one who should be giving you permission to sit here.”
    Rage prickles through me. He doesn't sound like he’s kidding. "I'm pregnant and exhausted, excuse me for taking up your space," I retort. What’s his problem? "And by the way, I don't appreciate the fact that you lied to me earlier today. What the hell was that? What's wrong with you?" My words are returning to me and my rage is complete and hormone-fueled. I am embarrassed about earlier but