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

in opening Cora up to him but now with her situation being more dire and immediate, he wanted to make sure she knew who she could depend on. He wanted her to know she had protection.
                  As the elevator opened on the ground floor, Julian strode out with a determined and set face.
                  Ready or not, Karen, you’re going to be meeting the real Julian Benedict tonight.
    And he’s been waiting a long time for you.

Eight
                  “More wine?”
                  Cora’s head snapped up from her decadently plated, half eaten salmon and Dijon mustard sauce.
                  Julian lifted the bottle of red wine a little higher, in question. Cora gave a quick nod and he poured her another inch of wine.
                  Since picking her up and arriving at the restaurant, Julian could tell Cora was nervous. He wasn’t quite sure why though. He knew she had been confused the last few days by his behavior towards her. To be fair though, he had also been quite confused as to how to behave around her as well.
                  But there something more than just confusion. He could see from the way she nervously chewed her bottom lip and darted her eyes about that there was something else worrying her.
                  Had she somehow come to the same conclusion he had? Did she know why they were having dinner?
                  Only one way to find out.
                  Julian pushed forward his nearly empty plate. “Do you remember when we were leaving Paris, I mentioned my father?” he started, slowly gauging her reaction.
                  Cora looked surprised by his choice of topic but nodded in response.
                  Julian continued. “He was quite a brilliant engineer. Created patents for a lot of inventions that actually helped start JB Enterprises.”
                  Cora’s brow creased quizzically. “But I thought you started JB Enterprises.”
                  Julian indulged in a wry smile. “I did,” he said. “But I started my company on a lot of patents my father had created but had never implemented. He died only a few years after his second wife left him.”
                  “I’m sorry,” Cora murmured, a look of genuine sympathy on her face. How Julian longed to pull her into his arms and kiss her. Regardless of how distant he had been with her, he had not for one minute forgotten the passion that they had shared together in Paris. Nothing about Cora’s past had changed his feelings for her. If anything, they had only heightened them.
                  Trying to remain focused, Julian nodded his acknowledgment of her condolences. “He didn’t handle heartbreak well. He let himself wallow and really just unravel. For several years, I was quite sure that every time I would come home from school, I would find him dead from alcohol poisoning.”
                  Cora made a sound of sympathy. His heart tightened to see how real her concern for him was. After the hardships she had endured, she still had the capacity to hold empathy for others. It made it hard for Julian to really focus on what he wanted to say. It was as if the weeks of self-imposed distancing had finally come to a head. All he could think about was holding her, kissing her—just being with her.
                  “I-I understand the hardships a parent can cause,” Cora said softly, completely surprising Julian. Was she about to reveal herself to him?
                  “I’ve had a hard relationship with my mother for many years,” Cora continued, dragging her fork through the Dijon mustard sauce. “Because of our troubled relationship, there were a lot of times where I felt…alone.”
                  God, Julian just wanted to slap Gloria for the pain she had caused her own