Morgan, Nicole - Love Knows No Boundaries (Siren Publishing Allure)
Page 1
Love Knows No Boundaries
Isabelle first fell in love with Sean when she was fifteen years old. Six years her senior, he saw her as a gawky teenager. While at college, Isabelle has found the perfect boyfriend. Justin is patient, kind and a complete gentleman. Sean’s feelings for her have changed, and he is tired of sitting by while she is with another man. Driven by desire and love, he does everything within his power to win the woman that he loves.
Justin, the once-perfect boyfriend, begins to fall apart at the idea of losing Isabelle. In a moment of rage and desperation, he does something horrific, effectively changing their future forever.
Will Sean’s love be enough to get them through the pain? Or will Isabelle walk away from Sean forever? And does love truly know no boundaries?
Sensuality Rating: SIZZLING
Genre: Contemporary
Length: 63,997 words
LOVE KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES
Nicole Morgan
EROTIC ROMANCE
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Erotic Romance
LOVE KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES
Copyright © 2010 by Nicole Morgan
E-book ISBN: 1-60601-898-1
First E-book Publication: August 2010
Cover design by Jinger Heaston
All cover art and logo copyright © 2010 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
Dear Readers,
If you have purchased this copy of Love Knows No Boundaries by Nicole Morgan from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.
Regarding E-book Piracy
This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.
The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.
This is Nicole Morgan’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Morgan’s right to earn a living from her work.
Amanda Hilton, Publisher
www.SirenPublishing.com
www.BookStrand.com
DEDICATION
I wrote Love Knows No Boundaries because I wanted to tell a story that showed how some love cannot be forced, predicted or chosen. Fate is what brings the gift of love into our life, whether it’s for a moment or an eternity. It’s what we do with that love that can make the difference between what we want and what we end up with. Finding love does not guarantee a happily ever after, but how you nurture it will help determine whether Love Knows No Boundaries.
I dedicate this book to everyone who has found love, fought for it, protected it and cherished it. My wish is that everyone reading this book either has or finds that special love that truly knows no boundaries.
LOVE KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES
NICOLE MORGAN
Copyright © 2010
Chapter One
August 2008
Isabelle walked up the stairs from the basement and quietly opened the door to the kitchen. She had been waiting patiently for hours. Now she scanned the darkened room and alerted her ears for any signs of movement. Whew! He was gone. It sure had taken him long enough. She ran back down to the basement and grabbed the duffle bag that she had stowed away earlier that day. Carrying it up the stairs, she could hardly contain her giggle. He had ignored her for so long, for so many years. Pretending that she wasn’t a woman, always seeing her as just a little girl. Well, that was about to change.
She leisurely walked the first floor of the small bungalow and wondered what it would be like when this became her home with Sean. It was a nice home — small, but nice. Eventually, though, they would need to find a place with more room. There was no way they could raise a family in a one-bedroom home. She was about to head up the stairs to put her plan into action when she spotted a picture in a small silver frame perched on top of his television. She knew what it was. She’d seen it before and the sight of it made her angry.
She picked up the picture frame and held it in her hands, wincing at the memory of the day the photo captured. She had just turned sixteen and was barely beginning to develop curves. Looking at the photo now she remembered how awkward she really had looked in her bony body. She unconsciously rubbed a hand down her chest. She had definitely filled out. The girl in this photo was just that: a girl, a child. But now she was a woman. No one could look at her and deny it, not even him. ”Was this how he fought his attraction toward me?” she thought. ”By keeping a photo around of me at my most awkward stage?” She sighed, refusing to let her thoughts deter her from following through with her plan. Setting down the small frame, she vowed that after today he would have no choice but to see her as a woman.
She proceeded up the stairs and walked into his bedroom. She set the small duffle bag down, opened it, and began to meticulously set the items she had brought on the bed. There was a pair of pink fuzz-lined handcuffs; the clerk who sold them to her had assured her that they could only be opened with the key. Next was a white teddy made with satin and lace that she had tried on in the store and fallen in love with. She smiled as she lifted it and held it to her body. It looked like something a virgin bride would wear on her wedding night. At least half of that would be true, anyway. She might not be a bride, but she was definitely a virgin. Sure, she’d had plenty of opportunities in high school, but none of those boys had ever interested her. She only had eyes for Sean since the day she met him.
Their relation by marriage never bothered her. Since the first time she saw him, she knew he was the one she was destined to spend her life with. Unfortunately, he didn’t see things the same way, which was why she had been forced to go to such drastic measures. But after the disaster last May, on the night of her senior prom, she was
left with no alternative.
It still hurt her to think of how he had turned her away that night. She knew it came from his anger toward her deceit. She had been desperate, though. She wanted him to take her to her prom so badly that she had gone to him in tears and begged him. She cried as she told him she would be the only girl without a date. He hadn’t completely bought the story that she hadn’t been asked by even one boy. But she knew he could never stand it when she cried, so she used it to her advantage. After many tears, he reluctantly gave in and agreed to escort her.
Unfortunately, she had underestimated the gossip factor. Once they were at the formal dance, the rumors spread quickly about the older man that she had chosen as her date after turning down nearly two dozen offers. To say he became angry with her was an understatement. No, he had definitely not liked being lied to at all. But she had tried to make him understand. A girl’s prom night was an important rite of passage in her life. She hadn’t wanted to spend it with some ordinary boy who just wanted to slobber all over her. She had wanted to spend it with him, the only man she ever loved. She could still remember the look of shock on his face when she told him. And then she had leaned in and kissed him.
She sighed at the memory of that first kiss. He had kissed her many times in polite friendliness, but never had they kissed like that. She had used his shock to her advantage. When his mouth had dropped open at her declaration of love for him she dove right in. She instantly teased his tongue with hers. It seemed as though he remained frozen in shock for an eternity, but it had only been seconds. She felt something inside him snap. He grabbed onto her, grabbing a handful of her hair, and began kissing her with so much passion it had almost scared her. She hadn’t been prepared for the sensations his kiss caused inside her. It overwhelmed her, forcing her to draw away from him.
That had been a disastrous mistake. He had looked at her and she saw the anger in his eyes. He accused her of toying with him, of making him a pawn in her childish games. He berated her for lying to him and then throwing herself at him only to pull away. A real woman, he had told her, would not have pulled away. A real woman would have taken what he was giving. She had tried to apologize and kiss him again, but his anger exploded into a volcano of fury. He screamed at her and called her a tease, telling her that she was too immature to deal with what she had started.
When he saw the confusion in her eyes, he made her understand. He grabbed her hand and placed it against the hard flesh that stood beneath his trousers.
“Can you handle this, little girl?” he asked her with a mocking tone. Her eyes had widened when she felt the bulge. It was the first time she had ever felt one and she wasn’t prepared for the size of it. As she sat there on the stone bench of the hotel courtyard with her hand firmly placed against him, she hadn’t said a word. She became frozen, whether from fear of the unknown or just plain fear itself she wasn’t sure. But that had been her second mistake. He had stormed off, turning his back to her and tossing her his car keys.
She hadn’t seen him since. He was conveniently never home whenever she phoned. He always seemed to have other plans every time there was a family get-together. He had even missed the Fourth of July barbeque that the family held every year. She knew he was hiding from her.
Was he still angry with her? Probably. She knew now that she had acted impulsively and immaturely. But she was more grown up now. She had spent the last three months reading as many books and magazines as she could find about making love. Some of the things she had read shocked her, until she imagined them with Sean. Then they had excited her.
Well, he won’t be able to hide from me now, she thought. Not after what she had planned. She had loved him for three long years, since she met him at the rehearsal dinner of their parents’ wedding. Three years since his father had married her mother. It was time to take all of the knowledge she had gained in reading about sex and show Sean just how much of a woman she truly was. And how she wanted nothing more than to make him happy.
She walked to the bathroom, hoping that a quick shower might help relax her nerves. After turning on the nozzle and allowing the water to warm up, she stepped in the old claw-foot bathtub and relished in the feel of the hot, steamy water beating over her skin. She imagined just for a moment that the beads of water pelting her skin were actually the caress of Sean’s fingertips. She moaned. She had already tried self-exploration to help prepare herself for him. If she was shaking like a leaf the first time they made love she would just be a child in his eyes all over again. She couldn’t allow that to happen. No matter how much the fantasy of Sean touching her naked body excited her, she had to hold herself back. She wasn’t alone in her bedroom now, with no hope for release. She was in Sean’s house and soon she would be in his bed with him. And that was better than any fantasy she could ever dream up.
* * * *
Sean walked back into his house, cursing his buddy Jake for canceling at the last minute. He set the basketball on the baker’s rack next to the garage door and kicked off his shoes. He had been looking forward to the workout of a good one-on-one basketball game. His frustration had been growing over the past couple of weeks. She had called him again last night. He hadn’t answered, of course. She had resorted to using pay phones, thinking that if he didn’t know it was her he would answer. But he knew it was always her.
She had to stop this. His father and stepmother had told him they were trying to convince her to go to college in the fall, but she had shown no interest. She had told them there were things she needed to work out that were much more important than an education. He wasn’t stupid; he knew that thing was him.
It had been hell on him these past months, trying to keep his distance from her. He hated the fact that one kiss had made him see her in such a different light. She was so damn sweet and sexy. He had a feeling that she was even more desirable than she had realized. Hell, he’d had to blacken the eyes of many of his friends over the past year as her body had blossomed into what it was today. Even though the comments his friends made were innocent jabs, they still made him angry. He didn’t want men looking at her like that. It was bad enough that he had spent the past few months thinking of her like that.
He shuddered. He felt utterly disgusted with himself. She was his stepsister, for God’s sake. His eighteen-year-old stepsister. He was turning twenty-five next month. Who gets turned on by his eighteen-year-old stepsister? The sick and twisted answer was very simple: He did.
They weren’t raised together. They had never lived together. If their parents hadn’t fallen in love they wouldn’t even be related. But it was still wrong. Wasn’t it? Yes. It is wrong. ”Don’t think about her that way,” he chided himself.
He was about to reach into the fridge for a cold beer when he was startled by the sound of pipes rattling overhead. His shower? Someone was in his house. He cautiously walked up the stairs with the intention of surprising the intruder, but he stopped outside of his bedroom.
He looked at his bed and saw the satin teddy and the handcuffs and knew that whoever the intruder was, she couldn’t be all that bad. Deciding to wait the person out, he sat on the bed. He picked up the handcuffs and began playing with them. He was wondering who it was. A past fling? Maybe his one night stand from last weekend? But then he heard whistling and he knew exactly who it was. His hands clenched on the handcuffs, turning his knuckles white.
She finished with her shower and was walking back to the bedroom. While she attempted to tuck her towel around her breasts she resumed her whistling, completely oblivious to her surroundings or to the fact that Sean sat on the bed staring at her, holding her pair of fuzzy handcuffs.
“Isabelle. Care to explain to me what you’re doing here?” Sean snapped the words out at her.
She was so startled that she screamed and dropped her towel. Their eyes met then. Neither one of them moved, they both stood frozen. Her face, which had instantly turned pale from her fright, was now turning several shades of pink. She wanted to say somet
hing. She knew she should say or do something. Otherwise he would think she was still just a scared little girl who was playing games with him. But the words wouldn’t come.
His impatience was evident.
“Izzy? I’m waiting.”
Say something. You’re standing here naked, for crying out loud. Say something, anything
“Jesus, you just gonna stand there? Say something, damn it!” he shouted at her.
Why was he so angry? Was he still mad about prom night? No, it was something else. Something in his eyes was different. She had never seen them so striking. The chocolate brown of his irises, which normally looked decadent, now glimmered with something else. Something she didn’t recognize.
Sean got up from the bed and came toward her, his anger clearly portrayed on his face.
“Why are you doing this to me?” he asked as he raised the handcuffs and dangled them in front of her face. “Do you think this is a game?”
“What? No, no I swear. Sean, please don’t be angry with me.” Finally. It was about time she said something.
“Don’t be angry? Are you kidding me? You’re playing games with me, little girl. How am I supposed to react?” His face loomed over hers.
“I am not playing games with you. Damn you, Sean. I’m standing here naked, for Christ’s sake.”
He looked down at her and the arousal that was already building inside of him suddenly burst inside. Every part of him ached to touch every inch of her. He looked at her lean, curvaceous body and involuntarily licked his lips.
She watched him as his eyes studied her body. Heat singed her skin with every second that he stared. She stood still and waited for him to decide what he was going to do next. Her plan had changed by his unexpected arrival home. She was not going to be able to handcuff herself to his bed, wearing only the teddy—after she had hidden the key, of course. He was going to have to choose now. Please let him choose me, she silently prayed.
He muttered a curse and brought his gaze back up to her face.