McKenzie Cousins Box Set One
Books One to Three
Lexi Buchanan
Contents
McKenzie Family Tree
1. One Month Ago
2. Present Day
3. Garrett
4. Sirena
5. Garrett
6. Sirena
7. Garrett
8. Sirena
9. Garrett
10. Sirena
11. Garrett
12. Sirena
13. Garrett
14. Sirena
15. Garrett
16. Sirena
17. Garrett
18. Sirena
19. Garrett
20. Sirena
21. Garrett
22. Sirena
23. Garrett
24. Sirena
25. Garrett
26. Sirena
27. Garrett
28. Sirena
29. Garrett
30. Sirena
Epilogue
31. Prologue
32. Michael
33. Brooke
34. Michael
35. Brooke
36. Michael
37. Brooke
38. Michael
39. Brooke
40. Michael
41. Brooke
42. Michael
43. Brooke
44. Michael
45. Brooke
46. Michael
47. Brooke
48. Michael
49. Brooke
50. Michael
51. Brooke
52. Michael
53. Brooke
54. Michael
55. Brooke
56. Michael
57. Brooke
58. Michael
Epilogue
59. Prologue
60. Tanner
61. Charlotte
62. Tanner
63. Charlotte
64. Tanner
65. Charlotte
66. Tanner
67. Charlotte
68. Tanner
69. Charlotte
70. Tanner
71. Charlotte
72. Tanner
73. Charlotte
74. Tanner
75. Charlotte
76. Tanner
77. Charlotte
78. Tanner
79. Charlotte
80. Tanner
81. Charlotte
82. Tanner
83. Charlotte
84. Tanner
85. Charlotte
86. Tanner
Epilogue
Dear Reader
Other books by Author
About the Author
Copyright © 2020 by Lexi Buchanan
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Published by HFCA Publishing House
http://www.lexibuchanan.com
http://ronajameson.com
McKenzie Family Tree
Elias and Pippa McKenzie
Lucien & Sabrina (Entice #4)
Alexander (Kissing Cousins #4)
Olivia (A Cowboy for Christmas #8)
Michael & Lily (Seduce #1, The Wedding #1.5)
Michael Jr (A Business Decision #2)
Charlotte (Secret Kisses #3)
Sirena (Baby Makes Three #1)
Joshua (A Secret Affair #9)
Sebastian & Carla (Rapture #2)
Madison (If Only #5)
Dylan (One Christmas #10)
Ruben & Rosie (Delight #3)
Ryan (It Started with a Kiss #12)
Sofia (A Bakers Delight #7)
Jaxon (The Pregnant Professor #11)
Ramon & Noah (Cherished #5)
Paige (Princess & The Puck #6)
Rachel (Kissing Cousins #4)
1
One Month Ago
Sirena
Surrounded by my family and yet I still feel so alone. I close my eyes tightly as tears threaten to fall. I’ve cried a lot recently and it’s not all down to the pregnancy hormones that currently play havoc with my health. At twenty-five, my life hasn’t turned out exactly as I’d hoped it would.
Growing up, all I ever wanted was to have a marriage like my grandparents—like my parents. Except I’d been so desperate to grab on to that dream that I hadn’t stopped to really look at the man that I was tying my life to.
There’d been chemistry at first and we’d quickly married under the assumption that it would be easy, but Harry hadn’t been prepared to work for a happy marriage.
While I’m carrying his child, he’s been dropping his zipper for other women. When I’d first discovered what Harry had been doing, I’d been angry and upset, but then I’d felt nothing. I suppose that I’d accepted it to some extent, but I no longer knew the man that I call husband. He has become an ugly stranger compared to the man that I used to at least like.
The only reason I haven’t packed up and left our apartment is because of the child I carry. Now though, I have finally come to the conclusion that I’m no longer able to stay. Harry doesn’t really want our child or me. He just wants the bachelor life back that he’d relished before we’d married on a whim in Vegas.
My family was disappointed in me and when I really thought about it, deep down, I’d known that I’d agreed to the quick and sneaky marriage so that they didn’t have the chance to talk me out of it.
I’d acted stupidly and in hindsight, I wished that I hadn’t been so irresponsible and that my family had stepped in . . . now I was just over four months pregnant with constant bouts of sickness and no one to help me, no one there to ask me if I was okay, or if I needed anything. My mother and father were always concerned about me, but that wasn’t the same.
I want to be loved and cherished just like my father, Michael, does with my mother, Lily. My parents along with my aunts and uncles are all still in love with each other, and I want that more than anything. I’d always thought that I would have that and then I would have my first child that had been made with love. Looking back, I’m not even sure love had ever been involved, it was just infatuation.
My heart isn’t broken, but I do feel betrayed by the one person I should have been able to trust. Deep underneath all the hurt is the knowledge and regret that I’d known the minute I said ‘I do’ that I was making a big mistake. My tenacious nature has always gotten me into trouble and now I don’t know what to do.
There is a smile plastered on my face while I think about my miserable life and I have a feeling that I’m not fooling anyone—not my parents, my siblings; Michael, Charlotte and Joshua, nor our grandparents who currently celebrate their sixty-eighth wedding anniversary. That’s what total love and commitment is, and I want that . . .
2
Present Day
Sirena
“Michael do you have a minute?” I ask my brother with a wry smile on my face. My brother looks at home sitting behind the huge desk in the McKenzie Holding’s building in downtown Lexington. He became CEO along with our sister—his twin—Charlotte, and our cousins, Alexander and Olivia, when our father and uncle Sebastian had semi-retired. I smile at the thought because neither of them have fully retired and not a week goes by without them being in the office breathing down Michael or Alexander’s neck.
It irritates Charlotte and Olivia no end because they leave them alone and personally I think it’s because they both have a wicked temper.
Michael has always been the more sensitive and he’s always the one I go to fo
r help or advice and I know that he will always be in my corner regardless of what I have to deal with. He reminds me of our father in that respect. Michael has broad shoulders and the McKenzie dark hair, and with the dark scruff covering the lower part of his face, the girls go crazy. He’s never short of company, but I know he isn’t happy. He isn’t fooling me.
As I’m trying to read his mind, Michael looks up and smiles. “I always have a minute for my sister,” he replies, smoothly. “Come and sit, Sirena. What’s up?”
Moving forward, I sigh in relief as I take the weight off my aching legs. “I’ve had enough, Michael.” My chin trembles and I know that my tears are going to be falling soon. “I’m not sure I can do this.”
“Oh crap.” Michael jumps up and crouching in front of me takes hold of my hands. “I think Mom might be better at this.” He winces and truly looks pained.
My brother’s panic makes me laugh as the tears finally start. “What am I going to do?” I wail and Michael looks to the door, probably contemplating his escape or praying for help.
“Oh stop.” I tug my hands free. “You’re my brother and should be used to us girls by now. You’re also a guy and I need someone to explain Harry to me.”
Michael sighs and moves to sit beside me. “Harry is an asshole who doesn’t deserve to share the air you breathe.”
I hiccup and silently cry into my hands. After a few minutes, Michael gently tugs them away and gives me a sad smile.
“Listen to me.” Michael starts wiping my tears with his fingers but then gives up and grabs some Kleenex to finish the job. “You are one of the strongest women I know, Sirena. I also think you know what you have to do and if there wasn’t a baby involved, then you’d have already done it.”
“I just want a man to love me like Dad does Mom. I want him to cherish me and to want to take care of his child and me. I want to be able to return that love tenfold so that he never has to doubt how much I love him. I want that.” I dab at my eyes. “And instead I’m married to a womanizing asshole who doesn’t remember he’s married and that his wife is pregnant with his child.”
My brother tightens his jaw in anger on my behalf, but right now I want a solution to my dilemma—do I stay with asshole Harry and try to stick it out until at least after the baby is born, or do I tell him that I’m leaving and will be in touch with him once our baby arrives? Harry probably wouldn’t even notice if I just moved out without saying a word.
“I’ll support whatever decision you make. Just tell me what you want me to do?” Michael brushes the hair back from my face and smiles. “I have the house by the lake if you want to go there.”
“Really?” I let the idea take hold.
At five months along I shouldn’t need medical attention for a while and my next OB appointment isn’t for a few weeks. “I like that idea.” I smile softly.
“Thought you might.” Michael’s gaze flickers between his desk and me. This tells me he’s busy and that I’m holding him up, but in my distressed state, he’s being too nice to kick me out.
“I’ll go.” I hold my hand out so that Michael can lift me from the chair.
He grins widely at the sight of my struggle that I laugh. “Don’t you dare say anything!” I glare playfully.
“I wouldn’t dare.” He chuckles. “Look sis, if you can get packed up in time, I’ll come by after work and help you move.”
Reaching up, I tug my brother’s face to mine and press a kiss to his whisker-covered cheek. “Thank you.”
Michael wraps his arms around my shoulders and pulls me against him. His chin rests on the top of my head. “I love you. You have to promise that if you need anything that you’ll call, otherwise I’ll take you to Mom and Dad’s instead.”
“Funny man.”
“I mean it, Sirena. You’re five months pregnant so it’s not just you I’m worried about.”
I raise my face to Michael’s and place one last kiss to his cheek. “I know and I promise.” Moving toward the door, I turn and glance back at Michael. “Can we keep this between the two of us for now.” I wave my hand, motioning to him and then back to me.
“Not for long though,” he partly agrees with a nod. “Mom will be asking questions soon, and when she doesn’t get an answer, I’ll have to deal with Dad.”
“Give me a few days and I’ll call them . . . I’ll see you later.”
“Take care, sis.” He waves me out of his office.
With Michael’s promise to help me move out weighing heavily on my thoughts, the last thing I expect is to find someone else walking down the corridor toward the elevator. Although McKenzie Holding’s is a large international architectural and construction company, they like to keep the head office quiet and serene without clients running in to others especially for those clients who require utter most secrecy.
Reaching the elevator, I glance at the man from the corner of my eye and smile when he catches my gaze. His scent, soft and woodsy, floats toward me as he holds his hand out to indicate I’m to enter the elevator first.
He’s older than me, perhaps in his forties with light brown hair that holds a hint of grey around the temples. His smile and the amusement in his blue eyes cause me to forget my problems as I sink into his gaze.
“Lobby or parking garage?” he asks with a brow raised.
“Lobby.” I sigh, wishing that I’d driven because my body aches.
The doors slide closed and the tall man beside me turns, offering his hand, “Garrett Hudson.” He smiles brightly and my heart stutters, my eyes widening in surprise at the flare of unexpected attraction I feel.
I hesitate and reply, “Sirena Bennett,” shaking his outstretched hand.
3
Garrett
The minute her hand slides into mine my heart quickens, and noticing her stomach is swollen in pregnancy doesn’t dim my attraction to her.
She has a head of dark hair that cascades down her back in loose curls. The beautiful skin of her face is lightly tanned and bare of cosmetics. The green eyes that are caressing over my features remind me of the emerald jewel. She’s exquisite and so much younger than me that my heart aches. In a way it’s also a reminder that I’m being ridiculous.
Sirena still has her hand inside of mine when she clears her throat, a slight blush coats her cheeks, but she makes no move to remove that hand. “You had a meeting with McKenzies?” she enquirers.
I smile and reluctantly release her hand. “I did. Alexander McKenzie.”
“My cousin.” She smiles.
“You’re Michael and Charlotte’s sister, right?” I ask, but I already know the answer considering I’d overheard her conversation with her brother.
My heart has ached for years waiting for the same thing that Sirena had sobbed to her brother about. Someone to love me and to give me the family I crave. My bank balance has always gotten in the way of my want.
“That’s me.” Sirena smiles, but it slips and then disappears altogether when the elevator comes to a screeching stop. “Oh God! This isn’t good.”
“Don’t panic,” I glance at her and then to the panel at the side of the door, “please. I’ve got this.” I try to reassure her as I place my briefcase on the floor and grab the emergency phone. “They’ll have us out of here real soon,” I try to calm her, hoping that I’m right.
The minute someone answers I quickly explain our situation. “They’re working on it.” I look at Sirena and notice that she’s rubbing her back and trying to hold her panic inside. “Do you need to sit?”
She looks at me, her anxiety clear in her beautiful eyes.
“I think I better.” She glances at the floor and looks around so I follow her gaze and wonder what she’s looking for because the floor of the elevator isn’t all that bad. I guess we should be thankful for small mercies.
“Sirena, are you doing okay?” I ask and feel my heart constrict when I notice the tears on her face. “Tell me how to help you.”
She bites her lip and looks so forl
orn and embarrassed that I’m tempted to take her into my arms and hold her close. My fists clench to keep them at my side as I await her response.
“I’m not sure how I’m going to get down there.” She caresses her belly, and I understand the problem at once.
“Let me help you.” I smile to put her at ease and wait for her to acknowledge my offer.
Sirena nods and a small smile appears on her face.
Stepping closer, I slip one arm behind her back and take hold of her arm with my other. “Go slow,” I advise.
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