Bound by Fate by Lee Rush/Black Velvet Seductions/ebook



Annie and James meet online in a chat room where they find they have similar interests. Over time they become intimate in their conversations and start playing out their fantasies online. Annie and James decide to meet in person at a restaurant. They talked through the evening until the restaurant closed. Leaving the restaurant they go to James’ friends’ house where he is staying. Here they physically play out their fantasies for the first time. As time goes on and they see more of each other and feel more for each other. Unexpectedly James ends their relationship. He won’t speak or write to Annie. This devastates Annie. She tries to put her life back together without James in it.



Two years later Annie is at a jazz festival, which James had told her about earlier when they were still together. Trying to decide where she would like to eat Annie stops briefly and finds herself in a middle of a scuffle. She is pushed from behind and loses her balance and falls to the ground hitting her head losing consciousness. While falling, she thinks she sees James out of the corner of her eye. Regaining consciousness Annie finds herself in the hospital with a very bad headache. The doctor tells her that while there appears to be no concussion, she is well enough to leave but only to the care of her friend. That friend turns out to be James. Annie doesn’t want to go with James after the way he treated her in the past. She reluctantly agrees to leave with James just to get out of the hospital. To avoid being hurt again Annie tries to keep some distance between James and herself. James thinks he understands why Annie is being aloof but is still frustrated by the circumstances that originally got in their way. He feels the problems that drove him away originally are still there, so he fights his feelings for Annie. Annie never knew what drove James away in the first place. She just remembers that it almost destroyed her when he left without a word. Annie feels that since she has to stay with James only a couple of days she can cope with the situation for that length of time. James takes care of Annie while there is the chance that she has a concussion from the fall. They still find an attraction for each other and start to pick up the relationship where it was before it ended. They find the easy friendship and love that they shared before is still there. While spending some quiet time together the phone rings and James goes to answer it to find it is the doctor calling to check on Annie and give her a clean bill of health. This leads to James, once again, trying to push her out of his life by coldly telling her that it is time for her to leave this reawakens all the pain and anguish that Annie had suffered the first time around. Annie goes to pack up her clothes to leave. After a while James thinks it has been too long so he goes look for her. He finds her partially filled suitcase but Annie is not around. James hears the shower running and finds her sitting under a stream of ice cold water sobbing. Finding her emotionally distraught James decides to talk to her instead kicking her out. As they talk James finds the complications that kept them apart are not there anymore and he asks why he was not told. Annie says he made it clear that he didn’t care so she felt he wouldn’t be interested in knowing. James tells Annie that he loved her then and still loves her now. After some discussion they decide to start over and try again.





This is an interesting book. You start to feel Annie’s emotional anguish and pain at James’ seemingly arbitrary and capricious behavior. It is worth the time to read. Some of the sexual fantasies some readers might find objectionable. All in all the book ends with a silver lining. LW

This is very definitely for eighteen plus! So be warned.