Stepping Over the Line: A Stepbrother Novel (Shamed) Read Online Free Page B

matter how desperately I wanted him to be my sole property, he could never be.
    And so I’d been pissy with him in the car—not because I’d resented picking him up, but because I’d been out of my mind with not just wanting him, but needing to talk to him. How had I landed in this unimaginable place? In love with my stepbrother, yet on the threshold of marrying another man? I loved Chad, but not like I loved Garrett—never with the all-consuming need and longing that had clearly, quite literally, driven me out of my mind.
    Finally consummating my every fantasy with Garrett hadn’t only been morally reprehensible, but just plain stupid. How had I thought just once would be enough? If anything, since being with him, I now had emotional and physical proof of the wild suspicions I’d fought most of my life to hide. Yet for all of my determination to be done with my feelings for him, he might as well have been a glass jug with a skull-and-crossbones poison emblem blazed across the front.
    Only wait—that symbol was out of vogue in the medical world, as it was seen as not threatening to impressionable young minds, but tempting—like a pirate. Which, in the case of my forbidden love for Garrett, made perfect sense. Lord knew I wanted to be plundered.
    God, I was a mess!
    I cupped my palms to my forehead, praying for peace. Clarity.
    Instead, I fought a fresh round of nausea.
    Chad, his father, brother, and Daddy were playing eighteen holes at the club before this afternoon’s barbecue that Mom’s BFF, Vivian, was hosting to celebrate our engagement. I should have been glowing—ecstatic about the outpouring of love from friends and family. But how could I be happy about starting my marriage with a lie?
    A knock sounded on the bedroom door.
    If that was Garrett…
    What?
Would I run to him? Explain everything before flinging myself against him? Beg him to spirit me away?
    I left the washcloth on the counter, forced a deep breath, and opened the door to thankfully find my mom.
    “Where’d you dash off to?” she asked.
    I explained in G-rated terms that her stepson had needed a ride.
    “That was good of you to pick him up. Your brother does have his wild side.”
    Just what I needed to hear. I shrugged before sitting on the still unmade bed.
    Mom shut the door, then joined me. “When were you planning to tell me you’re pregnant?”
    I gaped in shock, but then the hormonal relief of having at least part of my secret exposed brought on instant tears. I hugged her, sobbing like I hadn’t since my dachshund Ollie had died back in tenth grade. Wild, drunken sex with my stepbrother had brought on temporary amnesia in regard to my bachelor’s in chemical engineering and shiny new med school degree. I’d been stupid for not using protection with Garrett, and, even worse, for purposely not using a condom with Chad. What was wrong with me?
    “Aw, sweetheart, why are you crying?” Mom smoothed her hand up and down my back. “A baby is a wonderful blessing. If you’re anything like me, the morning sickness will pass, and then the rest will be a blur of shopping and showers.”
    “Mom, I start my residency in September. I’ll barely have time to take a shower, let alone come home to be the guest of honor at one.”
    “Pish. We’ll figure it out.” She tucked my flyaway hair behind my ears and kissed my forehead. “Granted, this baby could have come at a more convenient time, but you and Chad have been together awhile now, so I can’t say I’m surprised. Your residency will work itself out, and if you need to, you’ll file for some sort of leave, and then get back to it after the baby’s born. I’ll come for visits, and so will Chad’s mom—”
    “Suzette knows?” I drew back in horror.
    “Honey, we might be old, but neither of us were buying that story about how you and Chad were so in love you couldn’t wait to get married. Usually, folks don’t insist on getting hitched under such a tight deadline unless