Stepbrother Bad Boy's Baby Boxed Set(6)

His grin softened, and he nodded in acknowledgement. "Yeah, you're right about that. And of course, she has the world's best daughter too. Thank you again for coming early, honey."

"No problem. Uh John, I don't want to touch on a sensitive subject, but when is Julian arriving?"

John chuckled sadly. Julian was Johnathan's only true weakness. For years, he'd endured hatred and spite from his only son and heir because of the lies his first wife had brainwashed Julian with. I'd seen some of the letters and e-mails John had gotten from Julian over the years, he never threw out any of them. Despite all the pain and the angry words, John treasured anything his son sent him, to the point he even still wore the cufflinks he'd gotten from Julian for Father's Day when Julian was five years old. Despite it all, Johnathan refused to tell Julian the truth about his mother, not wanting to shatter his relationship there as well. "He told my office assistant that he'd be arriving two days before the ceremony. If he shows up, it would be great."

"He won't stand with you, will he?"

John shook his head, and pulled me in for a hug. "It's okay. I know you'll be there for Sandra, and that's important too. I got your uncle Keith to stand in as my best man, and there's a few guys I know from business and around the area who said they'd be groomsmen."

"Okay. Well, it looks like your wedding planner has sat in the sun stewing long enough. I'll let Yuki take me upstairs to unpack, and let you get back to what you were doing. Seriously Johnathan, it's great to be here. Thank you."

"No, thank you sweetie."

Johnathan went back to his work with Roberta the wedding planner, while I turned and left with Yuki.





Chapter 4





Julian





The Castelbon Manor looked pretty much like the last time I'd seen it, six years prior when Johnathan had let me throw my twenty first birthday party here. I mean, how much can you change a place that was built in the eighteen hundreds anyway? All I knew was that when Johnathan finally kicked the f*cking bucket and the property passed along to me, I was planning on burning the place to the ground and pissing on the ashes.

Getting out of the BMW I rented for the three days I was planning on staying there, I pulled my sunglasses down to look around better. Yep, still a country style shithole. "God I hate this place."

I was halfway to the front door when it opened, and Yuki, my dad's house manager came out. As hot as she is, I was surprised to find that my father hadn't hired her strictly for her bedroom abilities. She was into women, after all. I'd even met her girlfriend, and had to admit that was a scene I wouldn't have minded being a fly on the wall to watch. Now, six years later, she was still pretty hot, even as she approached forty. "Mr. Castelbon, how was your trip from Los Angeles?"

"Same as it was six years ago," I replied. "You'd think that Logan would be less of a hell-hole to fly into after all these years, but nope. Give me LAX any day of the week."

"I see. Your father is in his study, would you like to say hello?"

I looked at her like she was crazy. "I think I'll check out my room first. Same place?"

"Of course, sir. However, the room next to yours is now occupied. Miss Aksoy is using the room."

I put on what I hoped was my most charming smile. "Really? Well, I look forward to having a chance to get to know Krystal. Johnathan says that she's quite a nice girl. Have you had a chance to get to know her?"

"A little," Yuki replied evenly, "but my brother found out more last night. She choked him unconscious doing some sparring. As little as she is, she apparently knows how to handle herself."

I was impressed, and got the message. Krystal Aksoy was not a girl to f*ck with physically. Then again, that wasn't my plan anyway. "I see. Well, I'm off to my room, I'll probably catch a nap. If Johnathan wants to see me, I'm sure he knows where to find me. Oh, and could you have someone bring my bags to my room?"

"Yes sir." Yuki turned and walked off, probably to tell my father that I was here. Either that or to talk shit about me behind my back. Perhaps even both.

My room was pretty much like I'd left it, although Yuki had taken down the Playboy posters on the walls. Considering I'd f*cked two of the girls in said posters, at the same time I might add, I wasn't all that interested any more anyway. Stretching out on the king sized bed, I thought about my plan. Knowing that Krystal was able to defend herself put a bit of a hitch in my plans. I'm no slouch when it comes to throwing hands, but my original ploy of using a bit of physical intimidation wasn't going to work. It was a favorite ploy of mine, you'd be surprised by the number of women who want a man who can just physically dominate them.

I considered trying the whole "I'm really a nice guy, just misunderstood," routine, but dismissed that one almost as soon as it came into my head. That stopped working about when I was twenty three and got arrested by the LAPD for what I think was the fifth time. Since then, it was bad boy city for me.

"Hell, maybe that will work," I said to myself, kicking my Nikes off and fluffing the pillow behind my head. "Lots of girls like the chance to try and rehabilitate a bad boy."

With that in mind, I pulled my baseball cap off and tossed it across the room, where it landed perfectly on my dresser. It had been a long flight from LAX, and my body was tired. I figured a nap couldn't hurt, and maybe a better plan would come to me in my sleep.