Stepbrother Bad Boy's Baby Boxed Set(41)

"I can do that," I said, giving his hand a squeeze. I wanted to kiss him. Hell, I wanted to be kissed by him, but I understood. Instead, I got out of the car, and came over to shake hands with Yuki. "Yuki, it's good to see you again so soon."

"It's good to see you too, Krystal. I was surprised when Sandra said you'd be coming again so soon." Yuki, as always, looked professional and beautiful in her normal work clothes of black slacks and a blouse. Today it was a pale peach, although she had foregone the jacket to allow for the weather. In winter though, she looked more like an executive than a house manager, which I guess she was. "Mister.... sorry, Julian, it's good to see you too."

Julian came around to shake Yuki's hand. He then surprised us both by bowing very deeply in the Japanese style. "Yuki," he said simply.

Yuki bowed in return, then chuckled. "Who taught you how to do that?"

"Would you believe a guy I know in Los Angeles? There's a lot of Japanese people out there, you know."

"Yes, I know," Yuki deadpanned. She broke out in a smile, and patted Julian on his massive shoulder. "Let me get your car moved and parked while you two go inside. I'll have your bags taken to your rooms."

"Actually, I have something for you first," I said, opening the trunk of the car and pulling out a paper bag. "I figured I would let you wrap it for your uncle."

Yuki opened the bag and took out Chef Morimoto's jacket, her jaw dropping and tears coming to her eyes as she read the script. "Krystal," she whispered, folding the jacket up and placing it neatly back in the bag. "Thank you. This is beyond wonderful."

There are times when it sucks to be rich, and this was one of those times. I could tell Yuki wanted to give me a hug, and I would have been more than happy to get one from her. But, she was the employee, and came from a very hierarchal society, even if she was American now. Employees don't do that with employers. Still, I could tell her meaning, and I nodded, smiling. "Good. I hope your uncle likes it. So, where are our parents?"

"They're in the study," Yuki replied. "John is working from home today, and Sandra has decided to start assisting him. It's quite intriguing to see when the time allows.”

"Thank you," Julian said, and the three of us headed inside. Yuki peeled off to get the rental car and our bags taken care of while the two of us headed upstairs. We found John and Mom in the study like promised, reading over a pile of documents.

"They're expanding in their European division," John said, pointing at one piece of paper. "With their growth there and the potential in their Asian division, I think they're going to be fine."

"Maybe John, but I'm still worried about their tie-ups in Russia and Greece. A lot of companies made a lot of money in the BRIC countries when times were good, but are finding it tough to pull out now that the growth isn't being sustained and the corruption of those nations starts sucking them dry like a vampire."

"Well, I see you're on your way to making your next billion dollars," Julian said after knocking on the door. "Think I might be able to get in on it?"

John set his pen down, rising slowly to his feet to come around in front of us. Julian walked towards him, and the two met in about the center of the room. I swore time stopped and everything went quiet as the two Castelbon men faced each other. Julian spoke first. "Hi, Dad."

"Hi, son," Johnathan replied, his face starting to crack. I couldn't see Julian's face from where I was standing in the room, but the embrace the two men gave each other was impossible to miss. They held each other like that for what seemed an eternity, while Mom and I stood transfixed. When they stepped back, both of their cheeks were a little wet, and I could see Julian do his best to casually wipe his face to play it off.

"Sandra," Julian said, turning to Mom. "It's good to see you again too."

"Come here, you big lunk," Mom replied, getting out of her chair to give him a friendly hug. "God you're big. You promise you're not eating Krystal out of house and home?"

Oh, he's eating me out all right, I thought naughtily, a smile coming to my face. In fact, I love it when he does. "I'm glad to see you're happy about this too," John commented as he came and gave me a hug, totally missing the reason for my smile. Not that I would tell him, even after we told them about Julian and I. There are just some things you do not tell your mother and stepfather.



* * *



Julian



After we exchanged hugs all around, Krystal and I sat down on the leather couch in the study. Dad rang for drinks, and Yuki herself brought it in, with steaming mugs of Earl Grey tea along with a sugar bowl and creamer. "Here you are, enjoy," Yuki said, disappearing silently.

I watched her go, and knew without a doubt that our rental car was already parked, and our bags were upstairs in the same rooms we'd used last time Krystal and I visited. Turning back to Dad and Sandra, who were sitting side by side on the other couch, I reached out and took a cup. "She hasn't convinced you to go with green tea all the time yet, Dad?"

"You know how it is," John said as he spooned an ungodly amount of sugar and a heavy dollop of cream into his mug and stirred. "I'm not saying I can't enjoy it after dinner or iced after I get some exercise, but for afternoons like this, nothing is better than a good British tea."