Family Bonds- Drew and Amanda (Amore Island Book 2)

by Natalie Ann

  “Why has it taken you two days to start giving me shit about this? You were at the table when Mom came over like a general in charge, issued the order, then marched away.”

  “Because I didn’t know if you’d actually follow through with it or I would have.”

  “I repeat, you were at the table when Mom invited her to dinner. Actually, it wasn’t an invitation. It was more like a command. You know that. You see it all the time. Do you honestly think I would have not shown up and been the bad son?”

  “I wouldn’t have done it. I would have made some excuse. Shit, you started dating her to get out of that whole auction and yet you brought her to dinner. Mom is going to be all over Coy and me now.”

  “Not my problem,” Drew said. “And you walked away from the auction just fine. You worried over nothing.”

  “I’ve got to give free labor now,” Bode said.

  “Would you rather have had a cougar like you thought Amanda was hitting on you all night and trying to coax you into bed?”

  “I guess you’re right. There was a message for me yesterday to call the woman who paid for me. Just saying that makes me cringe. I called her back and left a message. I hope it’s nothing horrible.”

  “I’m sure it’s not. It’s just a few hours. Everyone knew that going in. I suppose I should touch base with Grace for Amanda. Or give Amanda Grace’s number so they can figure that out.”

  “Dude,” Bode said, getting up and shutting the door. “That was major points. I bet you got laid something fierce Saturday night.”

  Normally Drew and his brothers joked about sex all the time. When they were getting it, when they weren’t, who was good, and who wasn’t.

  This time he wanted no part of that. “None of your business.”

  “Ah shit,” Bode said. “You’re serious about her, aren’t you?”

  “Maybe,” he said back.

  “You don’t think she’s like all the others, do you?” Bode asked.

  “No. I hope not. It doesn’t seem it. Why does it have to be so hard? Why do we always have to worry about this?”

  He hated that he always thought every woman wanted his name or his money. And those that his mother tried to set him up with thought they had the in or the stamp of approval and that only made it worse when he or his brothers brushed them off.

  “Because we’ve gotten burned one too many times. You aren’t still thinking of Cassandra, are you?” Bode asked.

  He hadn’t in a long time even though at times it was hard. “No. I try not to think of her if I can avoid it. I’ll never make the same mistake twice.”

  “We all say it yet I keep seeming to find one after another,” Bode said. “Maybe I should just leave the island to find someone. Take a couple of months off and be a bum somewhere and hook up.”

  Drew laughed. “I’d hunt you down if you left me here by myself to run things. Besides, you go nuts if you take a week off. What the hell are you going to do for more than that? Half the time you take a few days off to just work on your house. When was the last time you sat on a beach with a beer in your hand?”

  Bode started to walk toward the door. A sure sign Drew hit a nerve. “You’re the one that likes vacations. Not me. I’ve got work to do. You try to find any way to avoid work.”

  “Ass,” Drew said back.

  19

  Dreams and Aspirations

  “Are you sure you don’t want to come to my parents’ for Thanksgiving?” Drew asked her Friday night. They were at his house and she was going to cook him dinner. He’d wanted to go out, but she’d rather stay in and relax.

  “I’m sure,” she said. “Sidney is all by herself and I won’t leave her. I like cooking Thanksgiving. Though it’s only the two of us so I just do a small turkey breast and the sides. But it’s great for leftovers.”

  “Bring Sidney too,” he said. “The more the merrier. My mom is cooking this year, but they alternate houses with my Uncle Mitchell and Aunt Janet. Eli’s parents.”

  All the more reason not to go in her eyes.

  They hadn’t been dating long enough to warrant a holiday dinner. Sunday dinner meeting the parents was one thing. Holidays with extended family...no way.

  That was too fast too soon.

  “Sidney isn’t one for big gatherings like that,” she said.

  “She works in a bar.”

  “Serving strangers. She isn’t going to be closed in with them with no escape.”

  “What’s Sidney’s deal?” he asked. “She’s quiet like you. She has no family to spend time with? What about Bri? Though I’m not about to invite Bri to come.”

  “Bri is going to her mother’s off island. Sidney has family but no one around here. She has to work later Thursday night anyway. Wednesday the bar will be packed. Thursday she’ll get up late, she and I will eat an early dinner and then she’ll go to work around three for the crowd at the restaurant.”

  “Then you can come and have dessert with us,” he said. “We’ll eat around two and dessert comes out around four. You’ll be by yourself. I don’t want to think of you alone.”

  Crap, she’d put her foot in her mouth there. “I’m alone a lot at night. Kayla will be with Hunter’s family. It’s fine. I like to sit and relax. I’ll watch a Christmas movie and have some hot cocoa under the blanket.”

  She’d been doing that alone for years. Even having roommates she didn’t do much for any holiday.

  All those dreams and aspirations she’d had of a family one day just might never come true. She had to be content with her own routine, rituals, and traditions now. Even though she was dating Drew, she wasn’t ready to change or do anything different.

  She wasn’t assuming her life was going to change that much. She gave up making assumptions years ago.

  “Maybe I’ll come over and watch a movie with you,” he said. His eyebrows were lifting and he was challenging her. Would it hurt to compromise a little?

  “That would be your choice,” she said.

  “Then make sure you’ve got two cups of cocoa ready.”

  She walked over and gave him a kiss. “Thanks.”

  “Why are you thanking me? I should be thanking you for letting me spend the holiday with you.”

  She supposed she didn’t realize how much it might mean to him. “I like my tradition. It lets me keep it yet still share it.”

  “It sounds like a fun tradition. Did you have any others when you were a kid?”

  “Not really,” she said. “Early on we’d get Christmas pajamas when Charlotte and I were younger. Open them on Christmas Eve to wear to bed for Santa to come. Then we outgrew Santa but still got the jammies. I liked making Christmas cookies, but no one else did.”

  “Not even your mother?” he asked.

  “She wasn’t much of a baker. She did like to cook.”

  “Then you must take after her,” he said.

  “Not really.” Thank God. “She taught us some things, but our tastes were different. She was more upscale in her cuisine and preparations. I’m more homey.”

  The last thing she wanted to do was talk about this, but she couldn’t figure out a way to change the subject without being snotty about it. Or mean. Or even raising any red flags in front of a charging bull.

  “You don’t want to talk about this, do you?” he asked.

  So much for trying to camouflage that. “Not really. It’s old news. But since you started this conversation, what about you? Any holiday traditions? The Bonds pretty much run this island so there has to be some kind of traditions in your family.”

  “I don’t know about running the island,” he said, laughing. “Can I help you with dinner? We can drop that topic for now.”

  “I’ve got it. Have a beer and pull up a seat. It won’t be much longer.”

  She had a pot roast going with potatoes and carrots. More of a rustic meal. Her mother would never cook anything like this for the family. Roast beef, sure, with herbs and spices.

  Pot roast? No way.
>
  “If you don’t mind,” he said. “It gives me a chance to tell you what is going on with work.”

  “Oh,” she said. “Did something happen?”

  They didn’t normally talk too much about his job. She didn’t ask because she didn’t want him to think she was nosy. She didn’t offer much about hers either other than the girls wanting to know the details of her relationship.

  Drew seemed almost hurt that she said she wouldn’t share and she wasn’t sure what that was about but brushed it off. It’s not like she didn’t admit she was dating him, it’s just it wasn’t their business that he was sweet and treated her well. Or that he was magnificent in bed.

  She wouldn’t share that with Kayla or Sidney, and she sure the heck wouldn’t share it with her coworkers.

  “Nothing happened. Nothing bad. You know we’ve got multiple offices right? Not only on the island but off. We’ve got a few in Boston, a few on the Cape and others throughout Massachusetts.”

  “I knew you had more offices, but I guess I didn’t realize how many. Wow. You and Bode manage them all?”

  “Yes and no. My family owns them and right now I oversee most of them from a real estate perspective. We own a lot of rental properties and Bode oversees the work, purchase, and maintenance on them. We kind of divide and conquer at an upper level since my father retired. He sits on the board and makes decisions but doesn’t do much of the day to day stuff like Bode and me.”

  The Bonds were wealthy. There was no doubt. Not that all of them were. Some were just everyday middle class like her, but not Drew’s family.

  “That sounds like a lot of work to me,” she said. “Do you need to visit those offices?”

  “I do. I don’t get out to sell as much as I’d like. I did it for years because I should know and understand the process. I have my license, but Bode and I are really the ones overseeing most of it now. My father does for a few things, but he’s stepped back. He and my mother deserve time to enjoy their lives now.”

  “Coy wanted no part of the business?” she asked.

  “He never did. My parents would never force it. Eli and his brothers, they all went into the family business some way or another. My uncle Mitchell never pushed either. Coy always was different.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with being different,” she said. She would know, she didn’t conform to anything her parents wanted.

  “No. He’s happy and that is all that matters. But anyway, I’m going to have to start doing some office visits and meeting with agents. It’s hard to get them all together. That never seems to happen no matter how hard we try. We will have one big Christmas party soon for them. We do it the first week of December so it doesn’t interfere with the staff’s holiday plans.”

  “One party? Here on the island, I’m guessing? How many people is it?”

  “It’s probably over a hundred employees that will show up. Not all do, though we encourage it. We block off hotel rooms for the night at the Casino for those that want to stay.”

  “Do you pay for it all?” she asked thinking they might but not being able to fathom that.

  “We give a discounted rate. Very discounted, for the rooms,” he said, laughing. “The whole party is at the casino restaurant in the banquet hall. Anyway, I’m getting off topic. I’d love you to be with me for it.”

  “I’ll make sure I can,” she said. This wasn’t much different than the fundraiser in her eyes. Still nothing like a family holiday.

  “Good. Back to my point originally. I’ll be traveling to the mainland for a few days. I try to do it all at once if I can, so I stay there a couple of nights. I’ll visit all the ones on the Cape first. Then go to Boston and then on to the rest of the places. I wish you could go with me.”

  Whoa, moving fast again. She got a little bit of a flutter in her stomach. “I’m sure my schedule is packed. Or I’ll have things scheduled well in advance that would make it hard for me to walk away for several days at once.”

  “I figured. But I’ll give you the dates anyway. If you think you can swing one or two days, I’d love to leave the island with you and just be in our own world.”

  “You’ll be working though,” she said.

  “If you can swing the one in Boston, maybe you can sightsee?”

  “Let me know the dates,” she said. “Kayla isn’t working as much. I might be able to convince her to go over one day and she and I can shop for the baby. Or is that not what you had in mind?”

  “I’ll take it,” he said. “I don’t expect you to stay by yourself the whole time. But I’d like to have the night to ourselves and maybe one day where I can play hooky. Or one afternoon.”

  “I think I might like that too.”

  20

  Seeking And Finding

  Drew knocked on Amanda’s door at five on Thanksgiving night. The wind was blowing and his hands were full.

  She opened it right away with a blanket around her shoulders and a cup in her hand that she held out to him.

  He started to laugh. “I love it. I’m cold and can use it, but my hands are full.”

  “Switch,” she said. “What’s in the box?”

  “Dessert. My mother wouldn’t let me leave without bringing some over to you. I told her you cooked today and didn’t need any food for leftovers. If I didn’t sneak out when I did I’m sure she would have packaged it up anyway.”

  “That was very sweet of her. You can tell her thank you.”

  “I will.” He leaned in to kiss her. “Happy Thanksgiving. Did you enjoy your dinner with Sidney?”

  “I did. She’s got to work until midnight. Bri won’t be back until Sunday I think. She took a few days off.”

  “So the house will be quiet?” he asked. “You said Sidney works Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday every week.”

  “She does. I’ve got to work on Saturday too. I did manage to not schedule any appointments for tomorrow. No one was jumping and I decided to just block it off.”

  “Even better,” he said. “We can spend it together.”

  He was hoping they could have the time, as he was sure she was working on Saturday. “We can. Did you have any ideas? Not shopping,” she said. “I don’t do Black Friday shopping for anyone.”

  She was grinning and he was happy to see it. A week ago when they’d had that conversation about family traditions he knew he was rushing things with her but she answered him. He wanted to know more about it but couldn’t figure out how to find out.

  He wasn’t going to do a background search on her like some of his relatives had done to people they were dating.

  A background check wouldn’t tell him if she was after him personally or just his name. His gut was telling him she was different than everyone else and he was going to listen to that.

  But he knew she had secrets. Didn’t they all? Though nothing in his life was that bad.

  Having a shitty failed relationship wasn’t a secret. Not that he thought of it quite like that. Many went through what he did, but maybe not to the same extent.

  If his family didn’t talk about it, it was out of respect for how he’d felt when it all blew up in his face. They were being considerate, not secretive.

  “There isn’t much in terms of Black Friday shopping on the island. Some of the shops have sales, but if someone wants to really get deals they need to go off the island or stand in line at one of the supercenters on the island. No, thank you,” he said.

  Maybe when he had kids someday he’d have to do that for toys. No, no way. He’d order what he needed.

  And those were thoughts he shouldn’t be having this early with anyone.

  His mother must be rubbing off on him.

  “Tell me about it. How was your holiday with your family?” she asked, taking the box of desserts and bringing them to the kitchen. He was following her, and the minute the box was on the counter, he had her in his arms hugging her tight, his mouth slanting over hers.

  “It was good, but I missed havin
g you there.”

  “Really?” she asked. “It sounds like you had a lot of people to talk to and stay entertained. I like it quiet here.”

  “It was lively like it always is,” he said. He couldn’t remember ever having a quiet holiday in his family. He wasn’t sure it was even possible to do that as a Bond.

  “Do you want some cocoa now?” she asked. “Or coffee? I was teasing about the cocoa.”

  “Coffee is good. Or better yet, we’ve got the house to ourselves, right? Maybe we can sneak into your room.”

  “We can do that too,” she said.

  She still had the blanket draping over her shoulders and he leaned down and picked her up and put her over his shoulder, the blanket falling on them both.

  Once he was in her room, he dropped her on the bed, his body coming down on top of hers, his mouth covering her lips, his tongue seeking and finding.

  “We’ve got too many clothes on,” she said, her hands roaming under his shirt, pulling it out of the waist of his jeans and over his head.

  “Yes, we do.”

  They were attacking their remaining clothing, articles flying all over the room like things out of a twister.

  “I can’t seem to wait,” she said. “We need to hurry.”

  “I find it funny that you were so skittish and now you want to race to the end all the time. Maybe I need to take my time and savor you.”

  “Then get to work,” she said.

  “Demanding too. Even better.”

  She was on her back and he slid down between her legs and put his mouth to her most private and sensitive skin going at her as greedily as he had the pumpkin pie earlier.

  Her body was sweet and firm and juicy. He could stay here all day and all night and never get enough. Not in a million years.

  His arms went under her hips lifting her up higher and closer to his mouth, holding her in place, and devouring every part of her.

  She started to quiver under him, her legs shaking, her voice getting louder. “That’s it,” he said. “Let me know how much you like this.”