An Unbreakable Bond Read online

  An Unbreakable Bond

  A Modern Romance

  by

  Kalia Lewis

  An Unbreakable Bond

  Kalia Lewis

  Copyright 2012 by Kalia Lewis

  Cover: Licensed photograph

  Editor: Louiza Le-Rose

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without signed permission in writing from the copyright owner and publisher of this ebook.

  This ebook is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  License Statement

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Prologue

  Ten Years Ago

  Every woman deserves a happy ever after with a prince charming – no kissing of frogs allowed. That was the motto that Annabelle Summers was standing by and anything else was just not happening! According to her, Cinderella should not have to run away at midnight and cope with the stress of waiting for her prince to have a light-bulb moment. No, this Cinderella was too impatient for that.

  Listening to the church bells chime the midnight hour, the deed was done and there was no going back. She’d finally grasped the meaning of what all the sniggers, whispers and secrets between women were about. Before, she may have nodded her head and said, “Yeah, yeah, and yeah.” Pretending she knew exactly what they were talking about. Now she could honestly say she understood. There was nothing better than finding out something first-hand, and boy, had she found out! A whole dollop of truth had just landed in her world and she couldn’t believe how good it felt.

  Shifting slightly, she tightened her thighs more securely around the most delicious body that was pinning her down to the hard floor. A little sigh of contentment escaped her. Never in her wildest dreams - and she was a huge dreamer - did she ever think it would turn out like this. The best part was now having a treasure trove of memories stored in a mental file marked, ‘Cinderella bagged her Prince!’ From this point on she could leisurely replay them over-and-over in the privacy of her own mind. Tomorrow, he will be leaving, but she’d finally got what she wanted and no-one could ever take away what had just happened between them.

  Hopefully, tonight wouldn’t mark the end of this six year tale, but a new chapter of it. Secretly, she’d loved the object of whose body was intimately entwined with hers since she first laid eyes on him. Although, to be fair, the last three years is where it really heated up into some serious pangs of lust. At what point she’d crossed over into love is a bit hazy, but tonight it had finally reached the crescendo of chapter one. At nineteen, Annabelle Summers had just lost her virginity to Tristan Hemsley-Ford – the most attractive man on the planet!

  She remembered the exact moment when it all began. It was as though he’d appeared overnight, like a god falling from the sky into the midst of her small village. The contrast of her dull life before knowing Tristan and the colour in her world since he arrived were about as opposite as night and day. To her, he was her Princely gift from the heavens. Although having a god fall into your village is not exactly an everyday occurrence in the countryside. She was pretty sure that someone somewhere had laid the wrong co-ordinates! But hey-ho, their loss, her gain!

  The second he walked into her family greengrocer’s shop she knew that he was going to be her Zeus and she his Hera. Well, without the infidelity bits. Immediately, as she’d stood staring at him from the salad aisle she’d felt an electrical zing between them, bouncing off the Cos lettuce as it crossed the room and hit her full-on in the chest, but in the exact same moment that it happened, he chose to shutter it.

  Being three years older than her, he soon became an endless round of painful teasing in the backside. It meant that growing-up and going through puberty under his scrutiny was about as joyous as having her teeth pulled. She did not need him to make fun of the changes to her body, so she covered them up with baggy clothes.

  The amount of times she’d stood in front of the mirror and bounced words off her image to see which best described her body shape was countless. In the end she decided curvaceous fit the bill perfectly. It did not mean she was fat. No, it meant she had intelligent fat cells which knew how to position themselves in all the right places. It was this very same intelligent fat that had nicely filled out the tight fitting Grecian gown that she’d squeezed herself into. The effect it had on Tristan played a major part in why she was lying here with him. If she were honest with herself, this night was more than just a seduction with her curves, it was more than just a mere sexual conquest; it had made the last six years feel complete.

  Tristan wasn’t only a god on legs to her, he was also hypnotic. He’d managed to charm most of the village with his good looks and enigmatic personality. In college, he was the most sought out person and he and her brother Wade had struck up an immediate friendship. They’d become inseparable, with Tristan following Wade’s example and treating her like a kid sister.

  What frustrated the hell out of her was his inability to look past the baggy clothes and her tomboy image and see the real her. Nor could he drop the adopted role of big brother. Being the butt of his jokes wasn’t funny at all and sometimes she would resort to the only thing left, physical violence. Of course, like most sibling rivalry, they would end up in a tussle on the floor, with her begging for release. She never won, but secretly it gave her such a thrill to have his body that close to hers. There was no way he felt anything like a brother! Sometimes, on really rare occasions when they were alone, he would soften like melted wax, caress her cheek and call her, ‘Ma Belle’. These moments were like fireworks in the night sky and his face would morph into an intense longing, and just when she thought something could happen between them, he would shutter himself and begin to tease her again.

  Over the years it felt like she was riding an emotional rollercoaster, watching him as he matured from a good-looking, gangly teen, into a tall, handsome heartbreaker of a man. Many girls came and went, but in-between his dramas, when he was single, he was almost approachable and civil. There was the one time when he even asked her for advice and that was a pretty powerful moment, but still, she’d stood on the sidelines and been a spectator of the show. Watching girls come and go, drooling and crying and she knew that many had seen the posts of his bed.

  The hardest part had been the last three years when he and Wade had left for University together. During the holidays when they returned they would go on a binge and spend most of their time hitting the city. There is nothing quite like a village for gossip and many times she caught the tail end of some exploit or another, usually involving an escapade with a girl.

  This evening though he was completely hers. Okay, so she may have planned her whole transformation from a shapeless,
baggy form into a seductress to dupe him into giving her this one night. If she’d waited any longer for him to notice her, she would be old and grey. The planning of this moment had taken three months to perfect, but now it was happening and she couldn’t help feeling a small flame of hope. What they had just done had been amazing. She was confident that even he would find it difficult to walk away from that kind of sizzling explosion. All these sensations may be new to her, but some little inner voice told her that it is not like this for everyone.

  This moment was real. The heat from his body seeping into hers was real. Running her fingertips down the muscles of his back caused delicious tingles to move through her body. There is a connection here that goes beyond lust. Maybe, just maybe, this could be the beginning of something good?

  The object of her sleepless nights stirred on top of her and muffled something against her neck, so she nuzzled in even closer. The hardness of the floor was killing her back, but there was no way she was going to move and disturb this wonderful feeling of sweet victory. She was exactly where she wanted to be and not even an invasion of cavalry could shift her.

  Hang on a minute; did he just say what she thought he said? Untangling her arm she pushed at him. “Did you just say what I thought you said?”

  Abruptly, he pulled away from her and sat up. Cool air replaced his body heat and it brought her back to reality like a slap. The look he gave her wasn’t of the same bliss she was feeling, No, that look was definitely of the disbelief variety and it was making her very nervous. A few minutes ago her world had disappeared into a timeless vortex and now she was falling head first from a great height and back into the room. The sound of music and chatter from the ball below could be heard as it wafted in through the open balcony doors.

  Tristan took one look at the gorgeous girl laid out naked on the floor. A feast for his eyes with her petite heart shaped face, framed by auburn hair and pouty lips, which were currently being gnawed at by her front teeth, but it was the worry reflected in those green eyes with peculiar golden flecks that hit him the most. Shit! He was such a loser! This was low even for him. It was like taking something pure and putting his filth into it. “Christ Annabelle, we shouldn’t have done that.”

  Yep, he did say exactly what she thought he’d said and it hit her like a blow to the gut. “How can you say that?” Awkwardly, she sat up next to him. There’s nothing like being naked in front of someone who obviously has rejection on their mind. Now self-conscious, she glanced about the room for her clothes, but she couldn’t seem to make out her dress amongst the debris, so for some modesty and self-protection she pulled her knees up under her chin and firmly wrapped her arms around them and replied, “You weren’t saying those words twenty minutes ago!”

  His head snapped round to look at her and his cobalt blue eyes were almost black with anger. “Twenty minutes ago you were throwing yourself at me asking me to kiss you! Why didn’t you tell me you were a virgin? If I’d have known we wouldn’t have gone that far!”

  She gulped. Colour was rising into her cheeks and she bent her head so that he couldn’t see her guilt. She knew that if she’d told him at the outset he wouldn’t have gone through with it. How many seductresses did he know who were virgins? Everything she’d done this evening, from the killer stilettos to the long white dress and false nails were all meant for seduction. There was no way he was leaving for the States tomorrow without her having had just one bite. Why not, every other girl within a twenty mile radius had taken a nibble – why not her? “Losing my virginity was no big deal okay?” Who was she trying to kid – it was a huge deal! “If it weren’t you it would have been someone else, so don’t start to feel as though it was meant to be special or anything!” Her throat had gone dry and she could feel her bottom lip wobbling. To cry now would reveal her inner turmoil. It wasn’t meant to end this way, with him regretting it and her acting like some damsel in distress.

  Tristan shook his head. “No…big…deal? Look, I’m so sorry. This shouldn’t have happened. Not like this anyway.”

  He tried to touch her shoulder, but the heat of his fingers seared her skin and she couldn’t take the pity in his eyes, so she pulled away. “But, it did happen.”

  He sighed, “I know.” Tomorrow, he was leaving to begin his five year corporate training plan, dictated by his father. Everyone knew about it and up until this moment he’d resigned himself to his destiny, but right now confusion was veiling it. “My future is pretty set for the next few years, so I don’t know when or even if I’ll ever come back here.”

  “What exactly are you saying?” She couldn’t bring herself to look at him, she was too afraid of what she might see.

  Pulling her chin around so that she couldn’t avoid him, he replied, “I’m not good enough for you Annabelle, you deserve someone better than me and a long-distance relationship won’t work. In knowing my father’s plans I won’t have any spare time to give to you or to us.” He watched as her stormy green eyes darkened and he felt her chin stiffen.

  “You’ve always been such a puppet to daddy haven’t you? Can’t you even think for yourself just this once?” His father always seemed to be the proverbial dark cloud on the horizon, stampeding on any joy Tristan experienced. She sneered. “Anyway, who said anything about having a relationship? I just wanted to rid myself of my virginity, okay!” Wow, that was mature! She pulled away from his grip and dropped her head to rest on her knees. Pain was closing in on her and a sob threatened to burst forth, she didn’t want him to see how much this meant to her.

  “Right, so you got what you wanted and just used me at your whim,” he replied sarcastically. “Glad to be of service. At least I know there’ll be no hard feelings when I say this was a mistake and I have nothing to offer you.”

  That felt like a kick to a tender spot, she flipped up her head and met his wary gaze – she wanted to hurt him, so she smarted back, “Me, used you? Do you know what gets my goat Tristan? Is how you strut around here like a peacock, having conquest after conquest, but after having little Annabelle, you decide she’s a mistake!” That tender spot just got bigger. “Well, smile Tristan, at least I don’t have to look upon your face after tomorrow and be another love-sick cast off!”

  Anxiety was bouncing in waves between them, then it hit her like a ton of bricks, there was no future for them, no long-distance romance and no happy ending.

  He raked his hands over his face and sighed heavily. “What do you want from me? I’ve said I’m sorry. Look, this is not just about the sex; it’s also about who you’re related to.”

  Shoving at his shoulder in frustration she clumsily got up on her knees and searched for her underwear. “Oh, I see, now all of a sudden you’ve developed a conscience about who you sleep with?” She found her panties, or what was left of them. Shame began to seep into her heart and she tossed them quickly into her handbag.

  “Annabelle, you’re not thinking straight. If Wade finds out what we’ve done, not only do I stand to lose his friendship, but he’ll go nuts.” He was now putting on his trousers and shoes. “In his eyes, you’re definitely off limits.”

  “Well, it’s your lucky day, as I’m the one conquest of yours that my brother will never find out about!” She threw the crumpled dress over her head in a rage. “God, you really know how to make a girl feel cheap!”

  “Cheap? Why are we in this whole situation? You’re the one who made it happen and now I have to face your brother as though nothing is different and I haven’t just taken his sister's virginity!”

  They were stood face to face, him shirtless and breathing heavily and she with bed-hair and not quite as groomed as when she entered the room, but in this moment she didn’t care. She threw his shirt at him. “It’s all about you isn’t it? All about what will upset your little world? You’re so selfish Tristan and I’m glad that you’re leaving, as right now, I couldn’t care less if I never saw your face ever again!”

  Roughly, he pulled on his shirt and did up the only rema
ining button. “Good! Because you’re a manipulating bitch! You came to my leaving ball, manoeuvred me into this room and then threw yourself at me! What was I supposed to do?”

  A fierce heat crept up her neck and across her cheeks as his words sunk in and the memory of ripping off his shirt popped ungraciously into her mind. “You could have said no,” she muttered weakly. Without a doubt she knew she was the instigator and guilty party, but her excuse was that she’d loved him for so long. If she had read what had happened tonight in a book, she would probably say that her character was insanely obsessed, but what else was she to do? When she heard that he was leaving to go back to Texas she’d panicked and out came her inner schemer. If she were to stay behind in this little inconsequential village, then at least let her have something to treasure. At the moment though, Tristan was doing a good job of making sure all she remembered was her feelings of shame and being defiled.

  She squared her shoulders in defence and pinched her thigh to prevent herself from blubbering all over him in desperation. Sadly, she watched him as he raked his hands through his hair. She could feel his regret.

  Staring at a point on the wall above her head, he asked, “Are you on the pill?”

  “What?” Where did that question come from?

  “Annabelle, it’s a simple question?” Gravely, he shook his head. “This is the first time I've gone without using a condom, so are you taking any precautions?”

  “No.”

  “Shit!” Picking up his jacket, he roughly stuffed the bow tie from his tux in his pocket before slinging it over his shoulder. “Look, Wade knows how to get hold of me if there are any complications.”

  “Complications..?” Something wasn’t registering through the fog in her brain. They’d gone from full throttle arguing to worrying about the consequences. She shook her head. “I’ll be fine. It’s the wrong time of the month.” What exactly were the right and wrong times of the month? She wasn’t sure, but she needed to appear to be in control of the situation.