Broken Rules: Rules Series, #1

By Hanleigh Bradley

He's seductive, downright naughty and yet somehow still a perfect gentleman. A one night stand with CEO bad boy and all round "manwhore" Landon Peters will change Aurora's life, if she'll take a risk and break some rules.

Expectations. Rules. Perfection.

Aurora's lives her life by someone else's rule book until one night she meets Landon Peters, the unprofessional, sexy as hell, British billionaire CEO. He's seductive, downright naughty and yet somehow still a perfectly English gentleman.

Together they begin an adventure of rule breaking, undeniable chemistry and hot sex. It's a whirlwind of giving and losing control.

But what happens when the rules are broken and shocking secrets are revealed? Will this London Socialite and British Bad Boy be able to put their broken rules aside or will everything erupt in scandal?

Broken Rules is a billionaire romance from USA Today Bestselling Author, Hanleigh Bradley.

"A Brilliant, hot, steamy and thoroughly enjoyable read." - Bloggers Down Under

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hanleigh Bradley
• Release date: Apr 28, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386925989

Hanleigh Bradley

British Author Hanleigh Bradley writes Contemporary Romance about British twenty somethings in London.

Book preview

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Copyright © 2015 by Hanleigh Bradley

www.hanleighbradley.com

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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 permission in writing from the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

This book is licensed for your personal use only. Please respect the author’s work and refrain from sharing it with others. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

The characters, organisations and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

This book is written in UK English as the author is a British author. You may notice the occasion variation in spelling and grammar if you are used to reading in American English.

Contents

Dedication

Epigraph

Dear Reader,

1. Aurora

2. Aurora

3. Landon

4. Landon

5. Aurora

6. Aurora

7. Landon

8. Landon

9. Aurora

10. Aurora

11. Landon

12. Landon

13. Aurora

14. Aurora

15. Landon

16. Landon

17. Aurora

18. Aurora

19. Landon

20. Landon

Preview

Preview

About Hanleigh

Thank You!

Hanleigh's London Saga

For the readers I've yet to meet, who've yet to read my words. I dedicate my very first book to my future readers. I hope that this is merely the first of many books of mine that you will read and truly love.

There are faint red marks on her wrists. I kiss them as if it will erase them but secretly I’m proud, proud to have marked her.

Some primal part of me feels as if I’ve claimed her now.

She’s mine.

Dear Reader,

Every single one of us has a list of rules we refuse to break, even if we don't realise it. But sometimes the people we meet—and fall in love with—have a way of challenging that.

In that moment, we have a choice; keep the rules and stay safe or take a risk because to love is to live and a life without love is meaningless.

Hanleigh

Chapter one

Aurora

'I'm back!' I hear my best friend call down the phone at me as soon as I answer her call. Her voice has a ring to it; almost like she’s singing the words at me.

She’s driving. I can hear the sound of the engine in the background as she speaks to me through the car’s sound system.

'What do you mean you’re back?'

I’m confused. She can’t possibly be back. It’s the middle of November. She should be sitting in a classroom, learning all about… well, whatever artist types learn about at University.

She’d been so excited when she left at the end of the summer to go to Brighton for her masters. She’d been like a small child, her eyes dancing with all the possibilities that her future held as she packed up her car and drove away.

'I’ve come home,' Tallulah replies quickly. Too quickly.

Home? Why? What on earth is she talking about? She can’t come home. What is her brother going to say?

'What about your course?' I ask because it’s not like Tallulah to quit anything, least of all her education. Not when her elder brother had worked so hard to help her pay for it. Heck, he’d risked his life to get her on that course.

'I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to even think about it.'

I can’t help but feel worried. It’s not like Tallulah to not want to talk about a problem. A quiet Tallulah is usually a bad sign. Something has gone wrong. And it’s bad. Really bad.

'What’s wrong, Lou?'

I know I probably shouldn’t ask but I can’t help it. She’s my best friend and I feel responsible for her. I’m her family. Almost all she has, except for her brother, Nathan.

'Absolutely nothing.'

She’s lying.

I can hear it in her voice. The singsong lilt has gone; her voice is timid and slightly cracked. It’s very unlike her but I won’t press her.

I know better than that.

She’ll talk to me when she’s ready. She always does in the end.

'So, I was wondering, did you ever replace me?'

'What do you mean?' Replacing Tallulah would be impossible. There’s no one in the world like her.

'In the flat,' Tallulah explains, 'has someone else taken my old room?'

I chuckle.

'No one could ever replace you, Lou. The room is still yours, if you want it.'

The truth is I haven’t even thought about getting someone to take Tallulah’s room. It’s not like I need the rent money and I always wanted her to have somewhere to stay when she visits.

She’s family and this is her home. She’s sometimes more like family than my own flesh and blood.

'Great! I’ll be over in twenty minutes.'

Tallulah hangs up without a goodbye.

I’m sitting in the living room of my three-bedroom flat. The one my parents insisted on buying for me when I started university.

It’s a beautiful apartment; far too nice for typical student living. We’re just around the corner from Battersea Park in an affluent area of London.

Not that far away from my parent’s townhouse. Not that they are ever there. They spend most of their time in Surrey.

The sliding doors are open, letting in a gentle breeze from the terrace, surprisingly warm considering it’s the beginning of November.

The room is open plan with a large sitting area in the centre, a kitchen alone one wall, partitioned off from the rest of the room and a dining area to the side. The television is on mute and there are study books and lesson plans all over the coffee table.

I studied English for my degree and had just started my training to become a teacher a month ago.

Glancing at my watch, I wonder if I can finish my year eleven Frankenstein lesson plan before Tallulah arrives. I sigh with defeat before gathering up all the pieces of paper and notebooks.

Although there is probably enough time to get it done, I’m not convinced that I’d be happy with the finished product. Knowing me, I’d end up doing it again tomorrow anyway. Ever the perfectionist.

'Calling it a day already? You’ve only been at it for half an hour.'

Cameron chuckles as he walks into the room wearing his gym shorts and a green t-shirt that shows off just how defined his muscles are, with just the hint of a tattoo visible under his left sleeve.

He’s somewhat flushed and his dark hair is slightly damp from sweat.

Making his way into the sleek kitchen area that although clearly expensive, looks more like a student kitchen than anything else in the flat, he opens the fridge.

There are dirty dishes in the sink and a pile of letters on the side left unopened, not to mention silly magnets on the fridge.

Pulling out a cartoon of milk, he pours himself a glass because he knows I hate it when people drink from the bottle. Only of the many Stone family rules I’d grown up with.

'Tallulah called,' I reply as I turn to face him. 'She’s back in town so she’s moving back in.'

'When?'

Cameron gives me a blinding smile.

'In about fifteen minutes.'

I grin back at him. Inside, I’m jumping up and down and doing a little dance with excitement, but Cameron doesn’t need to know that.

I’ve had a bit of a crush on him ever since I first met him in the very first month of my degree when he moved into the flat. His bone structure is practically perfect and he has the most incredible blue eyes. Even though I’m ridiculously excited about my best friend coming home, I keep myself from any sort of overly demonstrative displays of enthusiasm.

'No way.' Cameron takes a seat on the edge of the sofa looking thoughtfully at me. 'What about her course?'

'She didn’t say.' I frown. 'She didn’t want to talk about it.'

I wonder if she’ll transfer. She wouldn’t just drop out… Tallulah would never do that, I worry internally.

'That’s not like Lou.'

Cameron’s voice is laced with a concern that matches my own. In many respects, he’s become like a big brother to Tallulah and me. One that I think we’ve both needed from time to time.

Tallulah lost her parents when she was nine years old and her brother, Nathan, had been eighteen. He’d jumped into the role of guardian without any trepidation regardless of how young he had been or what it meant he would miss out on.

However, while Tallulah had gained a responsible parental figure in her life, she’d lost her fun-loving big brother, a gap Cameron was more than happy to fill for her.

Cameron had no siblings at all and so he’d quickly taken us both under his wing when he moved in. Although I knew very little about his family, I’d met his mum once or twice.

She was nothing like Cameron. She was a very shy, retiring sort of person, almost fearful.

I’d had countless questions after the first time I met her but I hadn’t voiced them. Cameron didn’t talk about his family and so to bring it up at all felt like an invasion of his privacy. I’ve always considered myself the fortunate one of our little trio, but truth be told I have my own family issues.

I shake my head, trying to shake off my unease.

'I’m sure she’ll tell us eventually. How was your run?'

'Great. Thanks.' Cameron’s grin is infectious. 'I need to get all my gym stuff out of Tallulah’s room before she gets here or she might just kill me.'

'You’ve been using my room as your own personal gym? Seriously?' A sarcastic voice calls from the hall, as we hear the door being pulled firmly closed behind her. 'What’s wrong with you? It’s going to smell like disgusting boy sweat. EWW!'

'Hey!' I jump to my feet and grab Tallulah as she enters the room. 'I’ve missed you!'

Looking her over, I know something is definitely wrong. She’s thinner than last time I saw her; her clothes are fitting somewhat looser. She must have gone down at least a dress size, if not two.

There are bags under her eyes that normally wouldn’t be allowed to grace her face. But other than that, she’s still the same old Lou; blonde, bubbly and perhaps completely mental.

'I’ve been gone a month.'

Tallulah hugs me back before falling down onto the sofa in a flop, her straight hair over her face. She blows it out of her eyes before smirking at us both.

She’s always been almost childish in her mannerisms.

'It was a long month.' Cameron is laughing. 'I think we need to celebrate. Perhaps we should go to a bar, do some tequila shots, cocktails, a few beers for me. What do you think? I mean, you’re clearly not studying Rory.'

He winks at me in a way that could make any girl swoon.

Tallulah doesn’t respond. She’s looking at the screen of her phone, scowling.

I push my curiosity aside and reply to Cameron, Alright. I like the sound of that.

Wrapping an arm around Lou’s shoulder, I perch next to her on the arm of the sofa.

'What do you say Lou?' I ask.

She looks up at me like a deer caught in the headlights before catching herself.

'I’m in if you’re in.' She’s smirking now. 'You’re the perfectly behaved one. Not me.'

'Ha ha.'

I pout jokingly but secretly I’m thinking just how right she is.

Everyone calls me perfect; the perfect daughter, the perfect student, the perfect friend. Practically perfect in every way; I might as well be fricking Mary Poppins.

I was brought up on a list of rules longer than the Empire States Building is tall and I don’t remember the last time I broke one. I even live in this flat because it’s what my parents expect me to do.

I’ve got the list of rules memorised; no small feat considering the length of the list.

Don’t drink to excess and never get drunk, perhaps the most ironic of the rules considering my mother’s secret drinking problem.

Don’t do drugs; not even just to try it, just don’t do it. I