Page 13 of Secret Babies For My Brother's Best Friend

He shrugged. “He’s a kid. What’s the challenge?”

“And that’s why I can’t wait to see you when Julie gives birth,” I chided, bumping shoulders with him. “You’re going to finally see that it’s more than kicking a ball around every two weeks.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” He broke a tuft of grass and tossed it at my head. “So, what did you want to talk to me about?”

He knew me too well. But it wasn’t something I could just come out and say. I was always honest with Christopher, but I wasn’t going to be honest with him about fucking his younger sister. For a second, I was sure he could see it in my eyes—he always had a funny way of reading my mind—and I quickly looked at something in the distance.

“Just catching up,” I replied. “How’s Julie, by the way? She must be close to having the baby now, right?”

I could feel him staring at me. But if he thought anything was wrong, he didn’t admit to it.

“The wife’s great, thanks for asking.” That response told me he was playing along with my avoidance tactics. That was good enough for me. “And no, she’s not close to popping just yet. We have a few months to go.”

I nodded thoughtfully, practically crawling out of my skin to get to my next question.

Clearing my throat, I asked, “And Scarlett?”

Her name hung in the air between us for much longer than I could bear it. I fought the urge to pluck it up and shove it back into my mouth, pretending it never happened. He had to know. He was being too quiet. How would I explain the worst betrayal I’d ever committed?

And yet, even with the guilt slowly starting to eat at my insides, I couldn’t feel all the way bad for what happened. Not when being with her that night in Shanghai was one of the best nights of my life. Not when I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her.

“Scarlett?” Christopher finally spoke. “What about her?”

I schooled my features, and once I was sure my face wasn’t going to give anything away, I turned back to face him. “How has she been after the trip? Have you seen her?”

“Seen her? She practically lives with us after she got laid off,” Christopher said.

Some more guilt twisted in my gut. That time it was because of what she’d told me that first time in my office. It was my fault she’d lost her job. It was the reason she hated “people like me” she’d said. I believed her. At first. But when I was inside her and she was clinging to my naked body, it was difficult to find any hate in the way she moaned my name over and over again.

“Your sister’s a smart woman,” I said then. “I’m sure she’ll find something soon. I don’t know if she told you, but she was great in Shanghai.”

My words had more than one meaning, but Christopher didn’t have to know that. He could never…

He nodded and took another sip of his water. “Yeah, she still won’t shut up about it. You really did a number on her, man.”

My heart leapt to my throat, and I choked out a cough. “A number?”

“She was so mad at me for making her see you about that translation gig,” Christopher replied. “Kept going on about ‘your kind’ and how much she hated your guts.” He laughed then, shaking his head slowly. “Always so dramatic.”

I forced a fake laugh. “Women…” And then after a few seconds of silence, I added, “I feel bad about the acquisition being the cause of her losing her job.”

Christopher held up a hand to stop me. “Don’t even go there, Luca. It’s business. If it wasn’t Chord, that little tech engine would’ve been swallowed by some other corporation.”

“But still—”

“No, there’s no buts. She’ll be fine,” he cut me off. “The only thing I’m worried about is that if she loses that crappy apartment of hers, she’ll be living on my couch.” He laughed nervously. “That’s a little too much estrogen for me, if you know what I’m saying.”

I saw my opportunity, and I knew that if I didn’t jump at it, I’d regret it later. Christopher was my brother, and I felt terrible for lying to him about his sister, but he was practically serving her up on a silver platter. I would have to at least try…

“You know, I think we have a place for her at Chord.” I watched his face closely to see whether I’d made a mistake or not.

His expression started out pensive but slowly changed to an open smile. “A few weeks ago I would’ve laughed in your face. No way Scarlett would’ve been up for working there.”

“But…” I provided a gentle nudge, my hopes beginning to rise.

He shrugged. “Well, with the way she’s been acting since Shanghai, I think you definitely won’t get punched in the face if you try. At the very least.”

I chuckled softly. “That sounds like good odds where your sister is concerned.”

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