Page 40 of Faking with the Bad Boy Billionaire

"We shall see about that." Lana smiled and then walked to her car.

"We will follow you home." Steven smiled at her use of the word home. "Just remember that Lana is also following me, so you can't drive like you did in high school."

"I was a perfect driver in high school." Steven walked away and took the lead.

Once at the house, Josephine was caught off guard by a beautiful woman directing everyone on where to go. Steven walked up to her and hugged her tightly. Josephine felt a lot of jealousy at the moment of intimacy. When Josephine exited the car, Steven and the woman walked up to her, "Josephine, this is Stacey. She is my number one in all things business, but she also wanted to take the lead on this for us. She thought it would help make the transition easier if she were here to direct them on where to go."

Josephine felt immediate relief at knowing who the woman was. "Stacey? So nice to meet you." Stacey did not take her hand. She hit it away and went in for the hug.

"I am a hugger. I also told him that he needed to work on this much quicker than he did. He was a big ball of nerves over the whole thing." Stacey smiles at him, and Josephine laughs.

"Stace, I was just fine." Stacey smacks his chest.

"Sure ya were big guy." Lana walks up and raises a brow at the woman standing next to Steven.

Josephine caught the look of intrigue and rolled her eyes, "Lana, Stacey. Stacey, the overprotective friend, Lana."

Stacey shocked Lana and hugged her, too. Lana pulled back with a weird look on her face. "Nice to meet you. I think."

Steven went around us to get Lucas out of the car. Stacey gushed over him for a few minutes and then directed everyone inside. She showed everyone around where everything was set up to make the first night more homey.

"Stacey, you are welcome to stay for dinner." Josephine did not know where the invite came from, but she immediately liked Stacey.

The first night at the new house became a family dinner. Josephine realized that with Steven came an army of people to help her, watch out for her son, and care for them both. Stacey seemed to be the number one person who wanted everyone's happiness to be a priority. Lana also took to her quickly, and she does not like new people. She tended to push them all away out of a need to protect them.

Steven made it clear after dinner that the ladies needed to leave, and while they grumbled, they never stopped making plans for Lucas. They had a bunch of ideas and decided to discuss them over drinks. Josephine considered joining them for a girl's night out, but Steven stopped her quickly. He said quick goodbyes and practically shoved them out the door.

"Well, that was rude. We should be getting Lucas to bed, though. So, maybe it was for the best." Josephine did not want to admit to him that he was right, but she did not want to leave Lucas on their first night in their new home.

"That was not the only reason I wanted them to head out." Steven picked up Lucas and took his bottle into the new nursery. Josephine ran to the master bedroom and stripped down as soon as she could, ready to celebrate their first night in their house together.

Chapter twenty-four

Steven

Stevenrealizedquicklythathe was happy. He was happier than he had ever been in his entire life. He found his new routine to be the best thing he had ever experienced, outside of nights in bed alone with Josie, of course. He would work out of the club four days a week, and the other two he spent working were sitting across from Josie in their joint office. He got to watch her work and learned all of her little quirks.

He learned that she chewed on a pen if she was nervous about a deal, he learned that she was excited when she tapped her foot, and he learned to steer clear of conversation when he tapped her nails on the desk in a specific pattern. Every phone call, she was angry; something else would catch his eye. Her chest would rise and fall rapidly compared to her normal breaths. He would sit there and watch her between his calls and emails, waiting for her to stare at him and point to the computer.

He enjoyed the days when he worked at home because he could spend his lunches with his son. He enjoyed cooking for more than just himself. He was so used to being alone that meals became repetitive. Now, he has the two most important people in the world waiting for him to finish up some new cuisine every night. There were nights when Lucas won and got the standard macaroni and cheese with chicken nuggets. Steven tried to sneak some broccoli or green beans on the plate, but macaroni and chicken nights were meant for something other than veggies.

He loved dinnertime with them. Josie loved everything he cooked, but what he loved more than watching her enjoy her dinner was the time they all spent in the living room together. It was gated off so that Lucas could run back and forth freely. He would push his little cars around the carpet while a movie he loved played in the background. Steven did not care if it was the millionth time he had to watch something; if his son was happy, he was delighted.

This was his world right here- this woman and their son- everything he ever could have hoped for and more. He was sure he was about to pull Lana, Stacey, and his seldom-heard-from sister into it. He would keep her so busy and distracted over the next few days that she would not know there was a plot to propose. He wanted to make his family whole in every way possible.

Steven made up an excuse to Josephine about running to the store when really he was running to his sister's house. He knocked on the door, and she opened it, surprised he was on the other side of it.

"It's not a holiday. What are you doing here?" Steven rolled his eyes at his sister, Jules.

"Nice to see you too. I have a few surprises for you." Jules raised a brow and directed him inside. He took in the homey décor and the simplicity of her home compared to his.

She cleared her throat and directed him to the couch. "What are these surprises?"

Steven pulled his phone out and showed her a picture of Lucas and Josephine. "I have a kid. With Josie."

"Josie. As in my once best friend who broke your heart after prom, you landed with Mace, Josie." Jules looked downright pissed.

"I thought she did not want me after prom; it turns out she saw me with Mace, and Mace said some things that led her to believe I did not want to be with her." Steven was looking at his feet, so he almost missed the look of confusion on his sister's face had he not looked up at the last second.

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