Forbidden Ties (Forbidden Ties Series Book 1) by Lauren Branford Page A

parent’s twin. I, unfortunately, look like my father with all of this thinning hair. Your cousin Cade, on the other hand, is looking quite different from Alice. The kid has grown a lot in the past few years. I guess that I shouldn’t call you guys kids, especially since now that you are both eighteen.”
                  “It’s fine with me,” I said softly as I gazed back to the window. “We haven’t even gone to college yet.”
    “True, true,” Tim agreed. “Just don’t speak to Alice about college; it makes her a nervous mess to think about Cade leaving the nest.”
    “You got it,” I promised. Alice was my uncle’s sweet wife who he married ten years earlier. Cade was her son from a previous marriage. My memories of him were not very fond ones. Cade would constantly torture me about my weight, hit me with sticks when our parents weren’t watching, and found new, terrible nicknames to call me nearly every visit. He was the top reason that I resisted coming to live with them.
                  “Here we are!” exclaimed my uncle as we entered the posh hillside town. There was a check in point at the entrance to the town, where several guard stood at the gate.
                  “Hello there, Mr. Worthington,” smiled a man in a crisp, navy blue uniform. “How are you this evening?”
                  “Doing well, Bernard,” my uncle smiled. “And you?”
                  “Fantastic!” the guard smiled as he waved us through. “Go right ahead and enjoy your afternoon.”
    The streets were immaculate with clean sidewalks that seemed to sparkle as we past them. Small shops popped along as we drove through downtown. Then, I noticed, above me was a sign: Welcome to Mayville .
    After a few more minutes of driving, we made our way up another hill to a menagerie of gigantic houses that spread out along the quite road. Each had perfectly trimmed hedges, enormous front doors, and several expensive cars in the driveways.
    As we pulled into the massive mansion that belonged to my uncle, I saw my aunt Alice waving to us as we pulled forward. I waved back with a smile, just as I saw the front door open. Suddenly there was a well-built man strutting toward the back of my aunt. He was well over six feet tall, with short, dirty blonde hair, and the most handsome face that I had ever seen. Just wearing a tank top, I could see his bulging muscles, huge hands, and masculine demeanor that took me by surprise.
    “Who’s that?” I asked my uncle.
    “See what I mean?” Tim smiled as me. “That’s your cousin, Cade.”
     

Open Doors
     
                  “It’s so good to see you!” screamed my aunt Alice as she jumped forward and wrapped her arms around me. I squeezed her back as her long braid of dark hair descended down her shoulder. “Look at you! You are magnificent.”
                  “Oh, thanks,” I blushed again, not knowing how to react to all of the compliments. I tried my best to keep my eyes off of the muscular man standing in back of her.
                  “I also heard that you were on your way to being top of your class,” Alice smiled.
                  “She gets her brains from our side of the family,” Tim nudged me in the side. “Though the gene skipped your mother.”
                  Alice shot Tim a harsh glance as if to warn him about the inappropriate nature of his joke. I decided to lighten the mood so that they wouldn’t have to walk on eggshells all of the time around me.
                  “She was a total mess sometimes,” I laughed. “She couldn’t even help me with my fourth grade math homework.”
                  “See, Alice!” Tim laughed. “She has our sense of humor, too.”
                  I grinned as feelings about missing my mother quickly resurfaced. Then, the towering man above distracted