Abandoned but Not Alone Read online

  Abandoned but not Alone

  By Theresa L. Henry

  Copyright © 2013 by Theresa L. Henry

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored or shared in any form, including but not limited to: printing, photocopying, faxing, recording, electronic transmission, or by any information storage or retrieval system without prior written permission from the author and copyright holder; excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. References may be made to locations and historical events. However, names, characters, places and incidents are the products of the authors imagination and/or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business events or locales is either used fictitiously or coincidentally. All trademarks, service marks, registered trademark, and registered service marks are the property of their respective owners and are used herein for identification purposes only.

  Adult Content: Contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language. This book is for sale to adults only. Please store your files responsibly, where they will not be accessible to under-aged readers.

  Published by: Theresa L. Henry

  Cover image: © Les3photo8 | Dreamstime.com

  This book is dedicated to all my friends and family. Thank you all. xx

  A special thank you to the following ladies: Debbie Webb, Debra Lewis Brown, Joan Reid and Marie Healy.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  With her breakfast complete, Aviva thought it the perfect opportunity to make herself scarce. With a bit of luck on her side, she wouldn't run into the Queen of Wax and she could spend the day by the lovely pool she'd spotted instead of having to endure another day at a spa. It seemed every time she met up with Hope she got dragged off to another spa.

  Maybe if Hope couldn't find her she would give up looking and leave without her. This house was enormous so there had to be plenty of places to hide. Thinking her plan a sound one, Aviva left the dining room in search of a hiding place. Sneaking out the front door she hurried down the steps and headed for the back of the house.

  “Aviva!”

  Startled by the sound of someone calling her name, she looked over her shoulder to see Hope standing at the top of the stairs. 'I am invisible, she can't see me, I'm a figment of her imagination, I'm getting the hell out of here because if I have to spend the whole day in another one of her spas I'll go mad'. Aviva had no intentions of flying thousands of mile from New York to California to spend the day in another of Hope's woo-woo music spas, with women who looked like mannequins scaring the lights out of her with their clangers or whatever they were called, oh yeah, cymbals that was it, being clicked over her head every few seconds. She didn't hate spas per se; she just didn't like the ones Hope insisted on taking her to. Starting off at a brisk walk which soon turned into a run Aviva attempted a getaway; if Hope wanted her to go with her so badly, she would have to catch her.

  “Aviva, stop being so silly, our appointment’s booked for ten-thirty and I don’t intend to be late.” She heard her but she didn’t stop; no response necessary, continued motion spoke for itself.

  “Girl, don’t make me have to chase you down! You don’t even know where the hell you’re going. You are going to the spa with me. You are going to have done to you, everything I’m having done to me, so you might as well give it up! I said stop the damn running – now!” Stamping her feet Hope came to a sudden halt. She didn't pay Hope any mind, she knew better, the Queen of Wax wasn’t above using tantrums and blackmail to get her way.

  What really scared her was the leisurely way in which Hope gave chase, she sort of just strolled along in a long legged gait, while Aviva felt as though she were giving this running lark all she had, and Hope was still gaining on her. She didn't feel so good, this running business wasn't all it was cracked up to be; who the hell wanted to run unless it was absolutely necessary, oh my bad, this was necessary. Chancing one more look over her shoulder she saw that the Queen of Wax hadn't given up the chase.

  Whipping her head forward, she turned the corner, arms and legs still pumping; standing in the middle of the driveway was a man, in fact he was one of the largest men she had ever seen in real life, ‘the dude is huge!’ As the thought registered in her mind it gave her an idea. Running for all she was worth, Aviva made a beeline straight towards him. Reaching the stranger she flung out her arm, making contact with his abdomen, sliding her palm across his hard belly to gain purchase as she skidded to a halt directly behind him. In her most polite voice she ordered the man not to move; then plastered her much smaller frame behind his back while attempting to control her breathing. She had read about that once; something about letting your mind do the talking, maybe not talking, she didn’t want to be discovered. That was it, let the breath flow from you in perfect harmony with everything around you, listen to it, embrace it, be as one with it. Aviva thought she couldn’t help listening to it; she sounded like a braying donkey that had been running around a house after having too big a breakfast. Standing perfectly still, she once again attempted to clear her mind – it wasn’t working, she was distracted. Before she could help it, words popped out of her mouth.

  “Bloody hell, it's a good thing you’re an adult and can feed yourself, in this economic climate your parents would be in all kinds of trouble trying to feed you!”

  A strange rumbling started within the mountainous man as he slowly turned his head to look over his shoulder. His head continued its downward motion until they made eye contact. When he spoke, Aviva felt his voice rumble throughout his body zinging through her own.

  “Well hello, how’s the weather doing down there?”

  For the life of her, she didn’t understand a word he said. In that moment all she was capable of doing was staring bug-eyed at his gorgeousness, her lips forming a perfect O. He was just so… Her heartbeat already running on overdrive went crazy. Man Mountain’s eyes began to change color from what she had originally thought were a dark green to black with an undeniable look of interest. As though in slow motion, he began to turn.

  Transfixed by the intensity of his eyes, Aviva felt herself being pulling forward by an invisible cord she was powerless to resist. Her eyes began to flutter, closing, images of his muscular arms wrapping her in a cocoon of warmth as his lips descended towards hers, taking what he wanted, taking her…

  “Aviva!” Shaking her head, her eyes popped open emerging from her daze, registering the sound of Hope’s exasperated voice calling her name. Grabbing onto the man, Aviva again ordered him not to move and to turn around and not look at her. He didn't comply quickly enough for her liking, so she pinched him – hard. There wasn’t much spare flesh to get hold of, but she managed it, her actions if not her words gained his full cooperation; the man’s head spun around facing forwards. Still plastered against his back Aviva held her breath and waited for the dangerous Queen of Wax to pass them by. No such luck.

  “Girl, stop being so foolish, I can see you.”

  ‘How does she do that?’ Aviva thought. She had been almost certain Hope hadn’t
seen her slide behind the man’s back. Looking down she saw he stood with his legs braced apart, exasperated she ordered in a whisper, “Close your legs – right now!”

  The rumble resumed, was he for real, he was laughing at her again and he wasn’t closing his damn legs. As a matter of fact, he stood his ground in exactly the same position and folded his arms across his chest. “Blinking man”, Aviva mumbled under her breath just loud enough for him to hear that she was speaking about him specifically and not men in general. Well at least he wasn’t looking at her any more, too little too late, Waxy had arrived.

  “Hi sweetie,” Hope said reaching up to give the man a kiss on his cheek.

  “Hi Hope, you lost something?”

  “Yeah, I did, and she’s standing behind you. In all my life I have never seen anyone run so fast and cover so little ground. I can't lie, that was probably the most pathetic run I’ve ever seen.”

  Irritated, Aviva poked her head from her hiding place and enunciated through tight lips, “I could still kick your ass in a foot race if I only had one leg and my hands tied behind my back.

  With the two of them laughing at her comment, Aviva had had enough, fully emerging from behind the man's back she stood facing them, hands on her hips, annoyed. Well she wasn’t really annoyed but they didn’t need to know that. Pulling herself up to her full height of five feet four, she looked down her nose at them. Using her best upper crust British accent filled with condescension she looked them up and down. “As you both find me so amusing, it will be my pleasure to remove myself from your childishly amused company immediately.”

  Her words didn’t have the desired effect, seeming only to heighten their hilarity. Sticking her nose even further in the air, she executed what she hoped was a ladylike turn meant to show her complete and utter disdain of the situation and in the process make her escape. After only one step she was snagged around her waist by a pair of very large hands lifting her off the ground, ruining her exit line. Back peddling in thin air, and no doubt looking ridiculous, Aviva tried to hold in her laughter; when she couldn't she decided to ham up the situation even more.

  “Sir, unhand me, this instance.”

  By now Hope and the giant had tears of laughter in their eyes as well as their big old teeth on display, which were so white they nearly blinded her, Aviva thought nastily. Unable to hold in her own laughter a moment longer, she did what she had wanted to do since she first spotted Hope giving chase – she laughed: she bent over like a floppy puppet, feet still off the ground, hands dangling and laughed right along with them at the ridiculousness of the situation.

  “Girl, where did you learn to run like that, I thought I was gonna pee my pants.”

  The huge man added with a shake of his head, just in case she didn’t feel silly enough. “It looked like some kind of crazy funky chicken dance – but wrong – very, very wrong.

  Somehow, Aviva managed to stop laughing; again with her best British accent in place she intoned, “that particular run took many weeks to perfect I will have you know. It is called, Aviva running from a chicken that had chased her until she was backed up against a wall.” She went went on to inform them she was lucky to be alive. Said chicken had somehow known she was from 'England' therefore she had no right to tell it to ‘shoo’.

  Looking at them under her long lashes she informed them in a small pathetic voice, “It’s true, I swear it, I was seven and I thought I was going to die by chicken. You know what they say about your life flashing before your eyes just at the point of death? Well it happened to me. That chicken had me backed up against the wall so fast, all I could do was scream and pray my granny heard me before it was too late, and that I didn’t die from a chicken attack. I tell ya, that Sunday’s rice, peas and chicken were the best I ever tasted.” Aviva smacked her lip as though in remembrance of the best meal of her life, which started another round of laughter.

  “Girl you are something else, and you can stall all you like, you’re still going to the spa with me.”

  “But I already went, so there's no need for me to go again.”

  Aviva knew she was fighting a losing battle, Hope only cared about three things, fashion, body hair and Hope, and not necessarily in that order. “By the way, I always meant to ask, what is this aversion you have with body hair? Do you and the thousands of men and women like you think that body hair under one’s armpits, on one’s legs and surround one’s unmentionables aren’t there for a reason? Well, to be honest; I’m not really sure why females have hair on their legs…now think about it…I’m not even sure why men have hair on their legs. Do you have hair on your legs? No probably not. You look like the kinda guy that would shave his legs.” Aviva finished, looking at the nameless man’s legs concealed by his jeans…jeans that hugged his muscular thighs, clinging in all the right places, displaying his huge… Aviva gave herself a mental slap averting her wondering eyes, hoping she hadn’t been caught checking him out.

  Looking at the huge man as though he should have the answers to her questions a sudden image of him standing in the shower shaving his legs popped into her mind. The image was so graphically ridiculous she gave him a curious look; unable to clear the picture from her mind she shook her head in an attempt to clear the sight from her mind. The man let out a bark of laughter, looking at her as though she were a new entity. He was almost certain she hadn't realized she had just spoken her thoughts aloud. It was turning out to be quite a morning.

  “Honey, you and I both know there are only four places you grow hair, and he doesn’t need to know about any of them.” Hope lifted her head in the direction of the man listening closely to their conversation with a curious lift of an eyebrow. “You know this spa day isn’t about hair removal…well maybe a little. I’ve seen better groomed eyebrows on a yeti.” Aviva came up spluttering at this last quip, for once completely at a loss for a quick come-back.

  Looking her up and down with interest the man raised one eyebrow; eyes fixed on her as though expecting her to elaborate on Hope’s statement about her hair growth. She thought being able to raise a single eyebrow was something she wouldn't mind learning; she also thought it was totally cool and told him so. He thought the small woman’s ability to change the course of a conversation was nothing short of amazing and very endearing. His musing brought another smile to his face. Having released her moments before, his fascination took over, and he took a step towards her. Their eyes met and the man’s eyelids lowered, a look of resolve prominent in his regard of the woman before him. She was funny, outspoken and the four places she grew body hair were intriguing and sexy as hell. He counted three places from which hair grew. The fourth had now become his personal quest of discovery.

  If the look in her eyes was an indicator, he had just telegraphed his thoughts and was damned if he cared. He wanted her to know what he was thinking, what he was feeling – he wanted to touch her again. He had only managed to get a quick look at her as she approached him, as the chicken run had distracted him. Now that she was standing in front of him he wanted to get in closer so he could draw in the fragrance of her body that had wafted past him as she hid behind him, and again as his hands had gripped her around her waist, preventing her escape. He could still feel the touch of her hands as their palms had passed across his body in her attempt to hide from Hope, still feel the indent of her feminine waist as his hands had encircled her tiny form.

  As certain as he had ever been of anything in his life, this little woman was going to play an important part in his life. Her touch had gone straight through him and lodged in his gut, oh yes, she was going to be a part of his life for a very long time to come. He was unsure of his certainty but he didn’t question the feeling; it just felt right, she felt right. His mind made up; he lowered his eyebrows in determination and took a step towards her.

  Unable to pull her gaze away from what looked very much like determination reflected back at her, he took a step forward. Aviva tingled with anticipation of what would happen when he fina
lly covered the distance separating them. Preoccupied with her thoughts, it was easy for Hope to shoot out her hand and grab her wrist – the spell was broken.

  “Okay, little miss thing, I got you now. You’re coming with me.” Opening her eyes wide, baring her teeth and looking as fiendish as she could, Hope murmured, “it’s show time!”

  Ensuring her grip was true; she pulled Aviva towards the bright red convertible parked in the driveway. As they moved forward she kept up a token struggle of resistance while howling, “No, no, please – not the beauty salon – not the spaaa.” Looking over her shoulder, eyes beseeching, Aviva made one last pitiful attempt to elicit help from the giant. “For the love of God, save me from the beauty salon, please, I beg of you, save me from the…spaaa.”

  He didn’t know when he had last had so much fun. Hope opened the passenger side of the car and pushed the smaller woman into the seat before closing the door. Aviva made no attempt to extricate herself to gain her hard fought freedom. Hope calmly strode around the front of the car, opened the driver’s door, got in and slammed it shut. She then leisurely pulled and engaged her seatbelt into the locking mechanism. Inserting the key into the ignition she engaged the engine, bringing the powerful little sports car to life.

  At the sound of the engine turning over, Aviva pulled herself onto her knees, turned around to face the man and reached out both her hands towards him in supplication. “Don’t let her take me, please – I beg of you, don’t let her take me” gulp “to the spaaa!”

  As the little car began moving towards the exit of the estate, Aviva and the man made eye contact for a brief moment, but it was enough for Aviva to feel the intensity of his gaze. He pivoted as he watched her with a promise in his eyes, making no attempt to suppress his laughter as she moved further away. His last view of the little woman was the cheeky wink she threw his way as she disappeared from sight.

  The last thought in Aviva’s mind as they turned the corner that took the giant out of sight was; the man even had dimples. There really ought to be a law against anybody being so out and out fine!