Avalanche of Desire: A contemporary reverse harem romance (Brothers Freed Book 1) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Epilogue

  Brother’s Freed Book 2

  Contents

  Books by the author

  Other Books by Bea Paige

  Books by Kelly Stock

  UK English and Slang Key

  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

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Epilogue

  Brother’s Freed Book 2

  Author’s Note

  Avalanche of Desire

  Brothers Freed – Book one

  Copyright ©: Kelly Stock writing as Bea Paige

  First Published in Snow & Seduction Anthology: 21st November 2017

  Re-published: 26th February 2018

  Publisher: Kelly Stock

  Cover by: Andreea Vraciu

  Kelly Stock writing as Bea Paige to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any format.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Books by the author

  The Brothers Freed series (contemporary romance / reverse harem)

  Book one - Avalanche of Desire

  Book two - Storm of Seduction https://books2read.com/StormSeduction

  Book three - Dawn of Lovehttps://books2read.com/DawnOfLove

  Other Books by Bea Paige

  Sisters of Hex: Accacia (paranormal romance & fantasy / reverse harem)

  Out now:

  #1 Accacia’s Curse https://books2read.com/AccaciasCurse

  #2 Accacia’s Blood https://books2read.com/AccaciasBlood

  #3 Accacia’s Bite https://books2read.com/Accaciabook3

  Coming Soon:

  Sister of Hex: Fern (paranormal romance & fantasy / reverse harem)

  #1 Fern’s Decision https://books2read.com/FernsDecision

  #2 Fern’s Wings

  #3 Fern’s Flight

  For an up to date list of books by Bea Paige please visit: https://kellystockauthor.wordpress.com/books-galore/

  Books by Kelly Stock

  Who is Kelly Stock, I hear you ask? Well, she is me! Bea Paige is in fact my not so secret pen name. If you like Accacia’s Curse and want to give my urban fantasy series a read, then why not check them out?

  The Soul Guide Series

  Prequel to The Soul Guide - Secrets & Souls

  https://books2read.com/SecretsSouls

  Book one - The Soul Guide

  https://books2read.com/TheSoulGuide

  Book two – Tortured Souls

  https://books2read.com/TorturedSouls

  For an up to date list of books by Kelly Stock / Bea Paige please visit: https://kellystockauthor.wordpress.com/books-galore/

  UK English and Slang Key

  This book has been written by a British author who uses UK British spellings and slang. Please see a list below of those words and phrases that may be unfamiliar or confusing to non-native Brits.

  A&E – short for Accident & Emergency, US equivalent of ER

  ‘Bunged-up’ – when you have a cold or flu and you can’t breathe, sinuses / airways are full of fluid

  Eiderdown – A quilt, often filled with feathers

  ‘Full-stop’ – ending a sentence with the phrase ‘full-stop’ basically means you have never or will never do something. In this case - We didn’t do Christmas full stop.

  Holdall – same as a suitcase, a bag that carries personal belongings

  Paracetamol – British branded painkiller for headaches, aches and pains

  Plait - braid

  ‘Shed load’ – means ‘a lot’

  ‘Sterling job’ – sterling means very good in quality, so if you do a ‘sterling job’, you’ve done something well

  ‘Taking the piss’ – making fun out of something, someone

  Tannoy – a public address system

  For the men who exist inside my head,

  thanks for all the entertainment.

  Chapter One

  “Louisa! Get your arse down here, NOW!”

  Sighing, I pick up my bag and coat and head into the living room. Sitting on the sofa is my mum and snuggled up next to her a rather drunk Dom, or Fred, or whatever the hell this new client, I mean boyfriend, is called. “What is it, Mum?” I ask, trying not to notice that Dom has his hand up her top.

  “We need more booze. Do us a favour and go grab us a bottle of vodka from the off-licence.” Noticing the look of disgust on my face, she pushes Dom’s hand away.

  “Oy, not in front of Louisa. She’s a prude.” The sound of her laugh sets my teeth on edge.

  “I’m not a prude. I just don’t think it’s appropriate to be all over each other like a couple of teenagers while I’m in the room.”

  Mum looks at me, her eyes bloodshot. “You’re twenty-two, Louisa, isn’t it about time you got yourself a fella? Might loosen you up a bit.”

  “I don’t need a boyfriend. I don’t need loosening up. I need a mother who actually gives a shit about me. I need a mother who doesn’t spend her whole existence getting pissed and shagging the next bloke for a few quid!”

  Mum pushes Dom off her and attempts to stand, but she is so drunk she only manages to fall forward onto the coffee table, ending up on her arse on the floor. I stay where I am, too angry to help.

  “Don’t you look down your nose at me!” she screams from her spot on the floor. “You’re lucky you got a home to live in, girl. Now make yourself useful and go get me some fucking vodka!”

  I sigh and hold my hand out for the money whilst Dom heaves her off the floor. For as long as I can remember she has been a drunk. My real father left us when I was a toddler and her drinking has got steadily worse over the years. Her addiction isn’t helped by the fact that she always has a stream of so-called boyfriends who seem to encourage her bad habits; drinking and being a shitty mother are two of her worst. There was only one man who almost turned my mother around, but she ruined that relationship too, just like she ruins everything else. I am still in touch with Richard, he hasn’t abandoned me even though
he gave up on my mother five years ago. In fact, I am on my way to visit him now. He has a job opportunity that he thought I might be interested in, and given I am broke and in desperate need of cash, I agreed to hear him out.

  When I look at my mum now, sitting in her stained tracksuit, her blonde hair greasy and her skin tinged grey, I am reminded that I will never have the mother I always wanted. Before the alcohol ravaged her looks, she had been attractive, beautiful even. In her soberer moments, she would tell me that I looked just like her when she was my age and would brag that I was even better looking. I miss my lucid mum, but she isn’t around much anymore. Whether I like it or not, the woman before me is all I have.

  “Are you alright, Mum?” I sigh.

  “Now the fucking sympathy. Just take the money and piss off,” she screeches.

  Dom leers at me, his own eyes hazy and unfocused. “That’s a good girl. Do what Mummy says,” he titters, blowing cigarette smoke at me. I want to smack the look off his face, but I don’t. I take the money and leave.

  “Louisa, love, it’s good to see you,” Richard says as I enter the café, mum’s bottle of vodka in my hand. “That for Lorna?” he asks, pointing to the bottle.

  I place it on the Formica table and shrug off my winter jacket. “No, it’s mine,” I say sarcastically, pulling off my beany hat and scarf, my blonde hair tumbling free.

  “Stupid question.” He smiles kindly at me and I feel guilty for being such a bitch. “Rough day?”

  “You know what Mum’s like. She’s got herself a new boyfriend, and she’s worse than ever. She’s so pissed right now that I doubt she’ll even remember asking me to buy her this bottle of vodka.”

  Richard looks at me with a worried expression on his ruggedly handsome face. He is a couple of years older than mum, who’s forty-nine, though she looks far older. I never understood why Mum made him leave. He had been good for her, for us, and the only man who ever really gave a shit about her. Mum tolerates our friendship, when she is bothered enough to stay relatively sober, that is. Otherwise, she curses both me and Richard for all her problems. Most days his name is mud, just like mine.

  “If I thought I could help her get dry, Louisa, I would…” His voice trails off as the waitress arrives with a cappuccino for Richard and a latte for me.

  “Thanks,” I mumble.

  “Can I get you anything else?” the waitress asks.

  “That’s it for now,” Richard says. She leaves us in peace and I take a sip of my drink.

  “So, you said you might have some work for me?”

  “You know the offer still stands, Louisa,” Richard says, ignoring my question for the moment. “You can come live with me if it gets too much.” He pats my hand, and it’s all I can do to stop myself from bursting into tears. I don’t look at his face, I can’t. His kindness and his friendship have been the only things that have kept me sane these last five years.

  “She’s my mum, Richard. Despite everything she’s done to me, I can’t leave her.”

  Richard sighs. “I understand, Louisa, truly I do. But she’s a grown woman. She must take responsibility for herself. It isn’t up to you to fix her. You can’t do that, love.”

  I press my fingers against my eyes. “I know, but I have to try.”

  Richard gives me a moment to gather myself, then slides a holiday brochure onto the table. On the front of it is a picture of a ski slope with people dressed in colourful skiwear. They are all smiling. I look at him with a frown.

  “What’s this?”

  “This is what I was talking about. I’ve been working as the marketing director for a ski resort in Alpe d’Huez, France. My friend Bastien is running the resort. One of the chalet girls has had to go home, and he needs to replace her fast. He owes me a favour, so I called it in. I asked if he would hire you for the job.”

  My mouth drops open. “That’s the work you were talking about? But…”

  Richard holds his hand up. “Don’t rule it out just yet, let me tell you about it first.”

  “I can’t possibly go. You heard what I said about Mum. Besides, Christmas is three weeks away. You know what happened to Mum last year,” I say, shaking my head. I glance at the brochure again wishing, not for the first time, that I had a mother who isn’t a deadbeat drunk. I am tired of the role-reversal.

  “Hear me out, Louisa. That’s all I ask.”

  “Fine,” I say, but I know I won’t take the job. Every Christmas Mum loses her shit. Last year was by far the worst. She’d gone on a bender for a week and was taken to A&E after some little old lady found her unconscious at the local park, covered in cuts and bruises. The police thought she had drunk too much and passed out, knocking her head. But I saw the marks on her skin and I knew that more had happened to her. It was the only time I thanked God she was a drunk, at least she wouldn’t have remembered anything.

  “The job starts next week and will run through to the new year, longer if you want to stay until the end of the season. Flights are covered, and you will stay the whole duration in the chalet your guests will be holidaying in. You will need to provide breakfast and dinner for your guests, tidy their rooms, that kind of stuff. But between the hours of ten thirty am and five pm you’re free to do as you please. Most other staff spend their time skiing. Once the evening meal is finished and you’ve tidied up, the rest of the night is your own. What do you say, Louisa?”

  I look from Richard’s eager face to the brochure and back again. It sounds so wonderful. The thought of spending a whole month away from my mum and her shitty ‘boyfriends’ is so tempting. I’ve never been abroad before let alone out of London, so the thought of living in a beautiful wooden chalet nestled in the hills of some snowy mountain is like a dream come true. Yet I push the brochure back to Richard.

  “You know I can’t.”

  “Louisa…” Richard starts, just as my phone begins to ring. I look at the screen. It’s Mum. I swipe across and press my ear to the phone.

  “Where the bloody hell are you? Dom and I have been waiting for fucking ages. Bring us the damn drink you useless, good for nothing piece of sh...”

  I don’t bother to listen to the rest of the call. I hang up and grab the brochure from Richard, who is about to put it back in his bag.

  “What time’s the flight?” I ask.

  Chapter Two

  “Here are your tickets. Bastien has arranged for one of the other chalet girls to pick you up from Grenoble airport when you land. Her name is Shawna, I believe,” Richard says, handing me the documents I need to get on the plane.

  “Thanks,” I mumble, not able to express my true gratitude. To be honest, I am completely overwhelmed. The last few days have been a whirlwind of packing and making arrangements for my trip away. At first, when I told Mum of my plans she had been adamant that I shouldn’t go, that I was being a selfish brat, but when I explained how much money I would earn to send home to her she soon gave me her blessing. Frankly, I don’t care what she uses the money for. I just need to get away, if only for a short while.

  “You are doing the right thing, Louisa. It’s about time you think of yourself. I’ll pop in on your mum from time to time, okay. Don’t worry about what happens here.” Richard pulls me in for a quick hug before planting a kiss on my head. Overhead the tannoy sounds and my flight is called.

  “Thanks for everything, Richard,” I say, a lump forming in my throat.

  “You’re very welcome. Now go on, go. Have fun, Louisa.”

  “I’ll call in a few days to see how things are.”

  “I look forward to it,” Richard says, before walking away.

  I watch him leave through the sliding glass doors then pick up my handbag and luggage and make my way towards check-in, feeling equally excited and anxious. When I finally get to the front of the queue a British Airways attendant flashes me a beautiful smile. She is young, probably my age, and very pretty with dark hair, brown eyes and long dark lashes.

  “Are you checking in on your own?�
�� she asks.

  “Yes. I’m going to be a chalet girl,” I blurt out.

  “That sounds great, I always fancied a job like that with all those hunky ski instructors. How romantic, all that snow outside and warm, open fires inside,” she says, sighing dramatically.

  “Oh, I hadn’t really thought about that. I’m just happy to be getting on an aeroplane for the first time.” It’s true, I haven’t thought beyond the flight. If I’m totally honest, I am a little nervous, it being my first time flying. It didn’t help that just before I left, my mother decided to fill me in on all the plane crashes that have happened over the years.

  “Is that so,” the attendant says, considering me for a moment. “Well, it just so happens to be your lucky day. You’ve been upgraded to business class.”

  I look at her incredulously. “Wait, what? Oh no, it’s okay. I don’t have any money for that.”

  She grins. “Don’t worry, it’s a complimentary upgrade. Enjoy your first flight on a plane,” she says as she sticks a label on my luggage. “You can go through to the departure lounge now.”