Free The Billionaire's Step - Complete Series (Forbidden Billionaire Stepbrother Romance) by Michaela Adams Page A

available pair of legs.
                  But then she remembered his sincerity at the Musee d’Orsay. She remembered his kindness and his intelligence as they had strolled the halls of the museum. Could such a man also be so callous as to toss a lover after one night?
                  He’s the Model Millionaire, dummy , Cora realized with an internal groan.
    How many countless newspapers and magazines had she seen with Julian’s arm around a beautiful nameless woman? Just like the papers that held Cora’s pictures from last night. And how many times did Cora see Julian with those same women again?
                  Zero.
                  As the plane revved up its engines and began its take off procedure, Cora felt the slow trickle of icy doubt fill her veins. If all he wanted was sex, surely she was adult enough to understand that. Cora understood, probably more than Julian, the baser nature of people—particularly men.
                  But it wasn’t for a lack of understanding that Cora felt her heart ache. It was because she had also thought last night as more than just sex. She had felt a warmth and a kind of truth in Julian’s arms that rang very deeply in her heart. She was sure that it had been mutual. The feeling had been too real, too potent for both to not have felt it together.
                  And yet….
                  With the plane safely in the air now, Cora unbuckled her seatbelt and slumped back in her leather-cushioned seat. All morning, Julian had barely said more than a dozen words to her. She doubted he’d say anything during the fli—
                  “You said that you grew up in Mexico,” Julian’s voice suddenly cut through Cora’s gloomy fog.
                  Snapping her head around, Cora stared in surprise at Julian.
                  Although he looked as if he was lounging in his seat, his long legs crossed casually at the ankles in front of him, there was a tenseness in his shoulders that was quite apparent to Cora. He was looking directly at her, almost studying her.
                  Feeling a little bit confused and nervous, Cora nodded. “Yes, southern Mexico.”
                  Julian’s eyes didn’t waver. “And you said you came to the States a few years ago. To Arizona first.”
                  It was slow but now the wary nerves of her spine began to prick up in awareness. Cora knew she had to be careful. Whenever it came to her past, she always had to be careful. Luckily, she had never had much problem with nosy employers or landlords. She hoped her luck would continue here.
                  “Yes,” she said in a measured tone. “I came to Arizona and was there for two years before moving to New York.”
                  Julian interlaced his fingers and laid his hands on his belly and leaned his head back against his seat, perfectly emitting the look of a man having a casual conversation. But Cora wasn’t fooled. She saw the sharpness in his eyes.
                  “I would imagine it quite difficult to make it from Mexico to the States on your own. Did your family help you? Your father? Your mother?”
                  Cora shook her head. “I saved up money and worked very hard to make it to Arizona. Coming to the States was something that only seemed to appeal to me. No one else in my family cared to come.”
                  “And I take it from you said before that you don’t keep in regular contact with your family,” he said.
                  “Not particularly, no. We’re all adults with our own lives now,” Cora said, trying hard to sound natural. “I think it’s normal for distance and time to make communication a little less frequent.”
                  Feeling her palms itch and wanting the conversation to end, Cora used