Family Bonds- Hunter and Kayla (Amore Island Book 1)

by Natalie Ann

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “You look off for some reason and I can’t put my finger on it. Even with your roommates, there were glances passing between you all and I felt like there was something I should know and no one was going to share it with me.”

  Kayla was trying her damnedest to act like there was nothing going on. Amanda and Sidney thought she should tell Hunter tonight about the baby, but she wanted to wait. Even if she got pregnant the first time they had sex, that was only a month ago. She wasn’t very far along at this point. No reason to panic.

  Not that she wanted anything bad to happen, but she had to wrap her head around the news too.

  “They are just being silly. You don’t want to know the conversations we have and it was one of those afternoons.”

  “I can just imagine,” he said. “I’ve got a sister and I know she’d scream if you walked by her closed door when she had friends over.”

  He was buying what she was saying like a homeless man reached for a bag of beans in exchange for a penny. “We lost track of time. Sorry I wasn’t ready. I try not to be late.”

  “I remember you told me that. This is the first time you’ve been late and even then you weren’t. We had no set time for anything.”

  “That’s good. So we are going to another beach?” she asked, wanting to change the subject.

  “Yes. I’ve got a special dinner planned for us too.”

  “You do? Why bring up going to the bar?”

  “Because if you wanted to we could have changed plans or gone later. Now I get to keep my surprise. I thought you might like a surprise.”

  She forced a smile. “Surprises are the best.” Not!

  When they pulled down a dirt road, she tried to hide her confusion. “Is this a private beach?”

  “Yes and no. It’s part of the Casino, but Eli hasn’t expanded it yet.”

  “Your cousin Eli?”

  “Yep. He knows we are here, so no worries.” He parked his car and they got out, Kayla following him toward the beach where she saw a table set up under an umbrella.

  “What’s this?”

  “Dinner seating. Staff from the restaurant brought it down and set it up. An easy meal, as I didn’t want to push my luck. I owe Eli big for him allowing the staff to do this.”

  “That’s pretty special that your family will do this for you. Does he know about me? I mean like your parents?”

  “No. He knows I’ve been dating someone and that I wanted to have a special night. A romantic one. We are going to stay the night in the casino too, maybe go down and try our luck.”

  “I’ve never been to a casino before.” She’d never had the money to throw away on gambling. Her luck was bad enough in life, no use testing it on the little she had.

  “Then it’s going to be a great night for us.”

  He pulled the chair out for her when they got to the table. There was a bottle of champagne there and she had to come up with some reason to not drink it.

  When he went to pour her a glass she held her hand out. “I’m not a fan of champagne or wine. I don’t drink much.”

  “That’s fine,” he said, reaching for the bottle of water that was in a cooler he’d just opened. “I’ve got all sorts of variety here.”

  That was easier than she thought. “You aren’t going to have any? It shouldn’t go to waste.”

  “If you don’t mind, maybe I’ll have a glass. And we’ve got some light snacks here. Just fruit and crackers. Cheese. Dinner will be down in about thirty minutes.”

  “What did you order?” she asked, hoping her stomach played nice. What a way to ruin a great night.

  “A couple of strip steaks and garlic mashed potatoes. Some veggie. I told them to keep it simple. I know you like steak.”

  “I do. I don’t eat it often as it’s a little out of my price range.”

  The few times they’d gone out she’d gotten steak and ordered it from room service the other night too. He seemed to know her well. And she was hoping the protein would be good. Mashed potatoes should be plain enough and she was starving again.

  “No worries. I like spoiling you.”

  Comments like that piled the guilt on her and made her want to keep this secret forever, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to. Would he think she’d gotten pregnant on purpose? Even if Hunter didn’t think it, she was sure his family would.

  What a horrible mess this was going to be. When her stomach started to churn she reached for her glass of ice water he’d filled for her and took a few sips. The ocean breeze was definitely helping too.

  “It sure is beautiful here. I can’t believe we’re by ourselves.”

  “There are a bunch of people just over those bluffs. When dinner is done we can take a walk if you want before we go to the casino.”

  “I’d love that.” Almost as much as she found she was falling in love with him and wondered if everything was going to vanish in a blink when he found out about the baby.

  32

  Pretty Lucky

  Hunter rolled over and looked at Kayla sleeping on her stomach, one hand under the pillow, another hanging off the bed. She was naked underneath the sheets, the same as him.

  He didn’t think he’d have so much fun watching her playing craps last night. She was like a fish out of water on a grassy bank trying to find her way back into the pond.

  She was eager to learn, watching everything he did, kissing the dice, wishing him luck, and then taking her turn.

  He wasn’t sure he’d ever seen her so happy before on a simple night out. Eli had come over and met Kayla and they’d hit it off. Of course Eli hit it off with everyone.

  “I keep telling Hunter to come down and relax for a night and try his luck,” Eli had said. “But it seems to me he got pretty lucky already.”

  Kayla had blushed sweetly and he kissed her on the forehead and then pulled her next to his side.

  Anyone looking at them wouldn’t realize he was a Bond. He was there in jeans and a T-shirt, Kayla in jeans herself that she’d changed into after their walk on the beach. Plenty were dressed up in the casino, but just as many were as casual as them.

  But Bonds normally stood out on the island. He was sick of standing out everywhere he went.

  Even Eli was walking around in a five-hundred-dollar shirt, tailored black pants, and Salvatore Ferragamo loafers. But Eli had always been one of the flashier family members. He liked to say, “People are going to look at us regardless, might as well make sure we are pretty.”

  The first time he’d said that Hunter burst out laughing, thinking he was joking. He wasn’t. Eli was indeed “pretty” for a male. Even his brothers called him Pretty Boy growing up.

  When Hunter and Kayla returned to their room after winning a few hundred dollars, they’d tumbled onto the hotel bed and made use of their time alone. At midnight, they took a break and ordered room service, then went right back at it, finally falling asleep around two in the morning.

  She had endless amounts of energy and he often wondered if he’d be able to keep up with her. She picked on him about being older, but a few years didn’t make a difference. Well, more like six years, but still not bad. He didn’t think thirty-five was old.

  More like the perfect age—the perfect age to settle down.

  Thoughts he’d have to keep to himself, he was sure. At least for now. She seemed like she just wanted to have some fun, but then there would be times he swore he saw more in her eyes.

  Like last night. They’d had sex. Lots of sex.

  He’d never seen her so aggressive and giving at the same time. She wore him out about the same time as she ran out of her own steam.

  Then he’d held her close against his chest in bed, his hand rubbing her shoulder and back. He glanced down and caught a little bit of dew in the corner of her eye and asked, “Everything okay?” He still felt like there was more going on in her mind most times.

  “Of course. Sometimes I feel like I
need to pinch myself. I wonder if I’m Cinderella and at midnight I’m going to be covered in pumpkin guts.”

  “It’s real,” he said. Then they didn’t talk about it again.

  He got out of bed and went into the bathroom to shower and go into the living room to let her sleep while he made some coffee in the little kitchenette. Even though they’d fallen asleep so late, he wasn’t used to sleeping in. Nine was extremely late for him.

  Hopefully Kayla would be up soon, but since it seemed she never got a lot of sleep and had worked the night before, he’d go occupy himself with his laptop that he’d brought along. There was always work to do.

  Kayla started to cough in her sleep. She became acutely aware that it wasn’t coughing, but gagging.

  Oh no, she thought, she couldn’t throw up and have Hunter see her. How would she explain this to him?

  She threw the covers back and made a dash for the bathroom, just quickly noticing that Hunter wasn’t in the bedroom. Talk about lady luck being on her side.

  She flushed the toilet first and then turned the shower on, locked the door, and hoped that that was enough noise to disguise any other gagging or throwing up she might do.

  After several long breaths and cupping some cold water in her hands to drink, she managed to stop the rolling of her stomach. This was going to suck if it went on much longer. She couldn’t say she had a bug for months that only hit her in the morning. Any idiot would know what was going on and then want to know who she was dating.

  All hell would break loose after that.

  When she walked into the living room, she saw Hunter sleeping on the couch, his laptop on his lap, the screen saver on.

  She walked over and took it off his lap and set it on the table, then sat down next to him, running her hand over his shadowed jaw. She liked this rough and rugged facial hair on him and wished he’d keep it, but he only had it on the weekends.

  She didn’t know if it was an identity thing, or something his family frowned on as being unkempt. The few male relatives she’d met of his were all clean-shaven too.

  “Hey, you. Wake up.”

  He lifted his eyes slowly. “What time is it?”

  “Eleven. Sorry I slept so late. What time did you get up?”

  “A few hours ago. I must have fallen back to sleep when I was working.”

  “That’s what you get for working on the weekend when you should be off. Have you noticed that you don’t get a lot of calls when you take time off on the weekends?”

  She’d noticed that. That though he was always at the hotel and on call, he wasn’t bothered all that much.

  “I’ve got some good staff that take care of things. For the most part the business runs fairly smoothly. Are you hungry? I’m starving.”

  “You could have woken me up,” she said. “Or at least ordered food without me.”

  “I wanted to wait for you.”

  “Then yes, I’m hungry. I guess it’s lunchtime now.”

  “We can order breakfast food. Whatever you want. Room service or go down to the restaurant?”

  “How about room service?” she said, just in case it didn’t sit well with her. “I want to spend as much time with you as possible alone.”

  “You can stay with me more if you want,” he said.

  Kayla felt her eyes mist up again. Damn hormones too. Talk about a double dose of crap she had to deal with and try to make excuses for. “We’ll see. Baby steps.”

  “Okay. It’s a good thing I like babies.”

  Oh damn, her eyes filled to the brim, so she stood up and started to wrinkle her nose. “Good lord, I feel like I’m going to sneeze.” She walked to the sink and grabbed a paper towel, blew her nose and wiped her eyes.

  It was going to be a long nine months at this rate and she wondered how long she’d be able to skirt by without him guessing what was going on until she told him.

  She’d never realized she was as tricky as she was, but she got through the rest of the morning, breakfast of pancakes and eggs that stayed down just fine, and they were now on their way back to Hunter’s penthouse. She told him to bring her home, but he said it was early still and he wasn’t ready to let her go.

  If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was waiting for her to say something. But there was no way he could know what was going on. How could he when she just found out yesterday herself?

  She’d decided last night when they were walking hand in hand on the beach that she would wait to see a doctor first and then once she had more information, she’d tell Hunter.

  First order of business tomorrow was to call and see if she could get into the doctor on the island. There were two clinics that housed a few primary care doctors, obgyns, and pediatricians. That was one of the things Amanda told her.

  They were barely in the penthouse for twenty minutes when the elevator dinged and she looked over from the couch to see a woman walk into the foyer, make eye contact with her, and grin.

  “You must be Kayla.”

  “How many times have I told you to not just walk into the penthouse now?” Hunter said.

  “Do I ever listen to you? Or anyone? By the way, I’m Hailey, Hunter’s sister. Don’t worry, I’m not some ex that is coming to pay him a visit.”

  “Damn it, Hailey,” Hunter growled.

  Kayla stood up and walked over to Hailey. “Nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  “Nothing good, I’m sure,” Hailey said. “Hunter and I are nothing alike.”

  “I haven’t heard anything bad,” Kayla said. “But I can tell you’re the fun sibling.”

  “I like you already,” Hailey said.

  “Is there a reason you are here?” Hunter asked his sister.

  “I was here this weekend staying at Grandpa’s again. I stopped by yesterday and you were gone. I figured you were taking some time off the island but took a chance you’d be back by now.”

  “I’ve been on the island,” he said. “We spent some time at the casino yesterday and last night. You’d do well to support the other businesses on the island too.”

  Hailey snorted. “I represent half of the businesses on this island. That is support enough.”

  Kayla shouldn’t have been surprised to hear that. She knew Hunter’s sister was a lawyer and it made sense that she’d work for the Bond family.

  “Is there a reason you were looking for me?”

  “Actually yes. I was doing some work here and I’ve got papers for you to sign on the addition.”

  “I can go in the other room if you need to talk business,” Kayla said.

  “No, you can stay. I told you about my plans before.”

  He had told her how he wanted to put in a spa and some more amenities, but he hadn’t spoken of them again. She’d had no idea they were moving forward with it. They didn’t talk about work often and she suspected it was because she didn’t want to. When they were alone she tried to avoid bringing up the fact she worked for him.

  Or maybe it was him. Maybe he didn’t want her to know things that needed to be kept quiet. Which wouldn’t explain why he was saying something now.

  “What am I signing?” he asked Hailey.

  “I looked over a few of the building contracts and made notes of things you might want to look over. I can leave them with you and you can get back to me tomorrow. I’ve got to come back later in the week to meet with Eli on a few things and I’ll just drive down.”

  “I’ll look them over tonight,” he said, “then bring them to Boston tomorrow or have someone else deliver them. No reason to wait.”

  “That works,” Hailey said, pulling out papers from a briefcase she had and handing them over. “It was nice to meet you, Kayla. Maybe we can get together and have a family dinner soon. My mother would like to spend more time with you.”

  “Ah. That would be nice,” Kayla said.

  “You aren’t a very good liar,” Hailey said, laughing. “Trust me, I don’t blame you, but my mother and I are harmless.”


  “But your father isn’t very happy about our relationship,” Kayla said.

  “And you’re honest and upfront. Man, I like you a lot. Nothing like anyone else Hunter has been around.”

  Yep, there was a ton of guilt on her shoulders there, knowing she was hiding the pregnancy. But she justified it by saying she wanted to see a doctor first and get it confirmed. A week or so wouldn’t make that big of a difference, she was positive.

  And at least Hailey was tactful enough to not say Hunter’s exes, but rather who he’d had around in the past.

  “When Kayla is ready we’ll get together. No need to right now.”

  “Grandpa wants to meet her though,” Hailey said, pushing. “You know he’s fine with it.”

  Kayla was starting to feel like she was invisible while the siblings had a staring contest similar to the one she had with her roommates yesterday.

  “I’d like to meet your grandfather,” she said.

  “You would?” Hunter asked.

  “Sure. I know how close you are with him. I’m sure we can try to work something out but with my schedule and all.”

  “Maybe next weekend,” Hunter said. “Bye, Hailey. You can leave now.”

  “Boy, you’re rude. You never used to be that way.”

  “I’m only rude to those that deserve it. I’ll still never be as rude as you and you know it.”

  “Nope. You don’t have it in you. You try to, but we’ve all got your number.” Hailey turned to her. “He’s a softie but he tries to hide it.”

  “I’ll have to remember that,” Kayla said, but the truth was, she was hoping that was the case, as she’d need Hunter to be like a roll of Charmin when he found out she was carrying his unplanned baby.

  33

  A Messy Business

  Kayla walked into the doctor’s office in Plymouth the following Monday, gave her name and insurance information, took the clipboard and went back to the chair to fill out her paperwork.