by Diane Leyne
Satisfaction, Texas 3
Uncovering Satisfaction
Nicola "Nick" Marlow is an agent on leave after a devastating ending to her last undercover assignment when a friend asks her to come to Satisfaction to get to the bottom of a series of incidents that may just close the Whips and Spurs forever.
Micah Durrance owns the public saloon and private BDSM club and is getting desperate. His best friend, Sheriff Dace Lowe, is stumped too, and when a friend recommends Nick as a top-notch investigator they both jump at his offer.
Micah and Dace are surprised when Nick turns out to be Nicola, and shocked when she decides to go undercover as their sub. For real. Feelings escalate quickly as do the incidents as Nicola becomes a target. And what will happen when it’s all over? Is it all just a job to Nicola, or will her heart get broken when it’s time to leave?
Genre: BDSM, Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre
Length: 44,823 words
UNCOVERING SATISFACTION
Satisfaction, Texas 3
Diane Leyne
MENAGE EVERLASTING
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting
UNCOVERING SATISFACTION
Copyright © 2014 by Diane Leyne
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62741-487-6
First E-book Publication: March 2014
Cover design by Les Byerley
All art and logo copyright © 2014 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
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www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
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DEDICATION
Wouldn’t it be nice if places like Satisfaction really existed, places where people could love one another without judgment? Of course, the crime rate seems a little high there, but no place is perfect.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
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
About the Author
UNCOVERING SATISFACTION
Satisfaction, Texas 3
DIANE LEYNE
Copyright © 2014
Chapter One
“Noooooo!” The cry of denial was followed by a scream so long and loud that Nicola woke herself up, her heart pounding, her body drenched in sweat, her covers tangled, and Pete and his mother, Sue, both still quite dead.
It was all Nicola Marlow, known on the job as Nick, could do not to wipe the brain and bone off her body. Rationally, she knew she was in her own bed, or rather the apartment the company had provided while she finished her reports and saw the company therapist, and not undercover in the compound of some very bad people.
She looked at the bedside clock. 4:00 a.m. The nightmares were happening just like clockwork. 4:00 a.m., when the henchmen, for want of a better term, had dragged Pete, Sue, and Nicola herself out onto the lawn and only she, Nicola, was brought back inside, but rather than a welcome guest who warmed the bed of one of the trusted lieutenants, she was a prisoner. Hell, maybe she always had been and they had only let her think she was in the circle of trust, as much as a dumb slut could ever be. In reality, they had been stringing her along, giving her enough rope to hang herself. She’d thought she was so smart, but in the end, two people had died because she’d let her own overconfidence and arrogance make her overlook her training. Her bosses and her coworkers tried to tell her that she’d done nothing wrong, but with every fiber of her being, she knew it was her fault.
She’d been so damned sure she could get them out and get the evidence that was needed to break the cartel, but instead she’d only been able to do half the job. Hell, not even half. One quarter. One tenth. One percent.
Her bosses had tried to tell her that she’d made a difference and other people were alive because of her, but she didn’t know these others. She knew Sue and Pete. Pete was twelve years old and hadn’t even had a chance to live. Sue wasn’t even thirty. She’d been sixteen when she’d gotten pregnant by the hot young boy down the street who’d turned out to be the son of a drug-dealing scumbag who’d spirited Sue and his grandchild-to-be back to the compound where she’d lived ever since, and where she’d died. Pete had died, too, trying to protect his mother, and Nicola had ended up covered in both their brains and their blood. She’d wanted to die then and there, but she also didn’t want the bad guys to win. She still had the information that Sue had provided in exchange for safe passage for her and Pete. She’d wanted the cartel ended, and Nicola had tried but failed to give her that.
Everyone at work tried to tell her she’d done some good. The cartel had been involved in a plot to kidnap Jess Archer. Thanks to Nicola, the authorities been able to delay the bad buys just enough that Jess’s men, Murphy and Cole, had been able to get to her and sav
e her from her crazy ex. The cartel helicopter had been closing in and still had the opportunity to scoop up Jess and her drug-sniffing dog. Lance, her ex, had just been a means to an end and they had no issue leaving him behind. They did want Jess and the dog, but with Nicola’s information, they’d been able to convince them that landing in Satisfaction would not be a good idea. It had been a close call, but Jess and her dog were living happily with her rancher and blacksmith. Nicola, on the other hand, still woke up screaming at night.
The shrink said she needed time and hadn’t cleared her to go back to work. What she needed, though, was her work before she lost her confidence completely. Her cuts and bruises had healed, but the damage to her psyche lingered. If she didn’t go back undercover now, she knew she never would.
Quin understood this. They’d both been loners who had hated working with partners, not like Tait and Aaron who did everything together. When she and Quin had been paired up, neither of them had been happy about it, but company policy was that no one worked alone. Luckily, they’d been a good fit and had understood each other’s need for independence. When she’d had a chance to infiltrate the cartel, even Quin had cautioned her, but he’d ultimately supported her decision, and when things went south, he had gotten her out.
She’d promised Sue that if she brought her information on the inner workings of the cartel, she’d get her and her son out and bring down the cartel. She hadn’t succeeded at one of her objectives. Quin told her she’d given the cartel a black eye, but she owed Sue a death blow. She wouldn’t stop until they were all taken down, but she couldn’t do that unless she could get back in the field, and she couldn’t go back in the field until the shrink cleared her.
She was going stir-crazy in El Paso. She’d considered heading back east to her own apartment, but that held just as many bad memories. She got up, logged into her computer, and looked at the e-mail from Quin again.
That was some town he’d moved to. First there had been the whole drug cartel and potential kidnapping thing, and then Quin had gone undercover as a hit man to find out who was trying to kill a prominent local rancher by the name of Murphy Smith. The guy had no luck. It was his girlfriend, Jess Archer, who had almost been kidnapped by the cartel. The company hadn’t been sure at first if those two cases were related, so they had sent Quin in undercover. He’d cracked the case and then done something that had shocked Nicola to the core.
He quit. He had chosen to make a life in Satisfaction, Texas with a woman he’d fallen in love with. His best friend, Blake, also loved her, and the three of them were now living happily together and talking about starting a family. They had even had a commitment ceremony. She’d seen the photos, but she hadn’t been up to going.
She wasn’t sure what was in the water down in Satisfaction, but part of her wondered what it would be like to have not one but two men devoted to her, to be able to lose herself in their lovemaking. Hell, she’d kill for one man to fuck her into oblivion so she could just let go of everything, quiet her brain, and chase away the nightmares. She’d gone out more than once with the goal of picking up a hot guy and going back to his place to let him fuck her brains out. The third time she’d even made it back to his bedroom, but she hadn’t been able to do it. She’d walked out as he’d called her a cocktease and every other name he could think of, and she hadn’t argued. He was right. She’d led him on and then bailed. She deserved his abuse, his disdain.
She hadn’t gone out again, looking for oblivion in a man’s arms. She was horny as all get out, but she satisfied her own urges, which wasn’t all that satisfying. She wanted to feel a warm male body against hers. She wasn’t a virgin. She was an adult, but deep down, she knew that as much as she needed to get laid, anonymous sex just wasn’t going to cut it.
She’d gotten drunk one night, trying to find peace that way, but she really hated hangovers. Besides, the booze had just made the nightmares worse, so she didn’t repeat that mistake. She’d stayed home, wallowing in ice cream and bad movies, but when her pants got tight, she didn’t reduce her ice cream intake. Instead, she started exercising obsessively and was now in the best physical shape of her life. She had abs. But she didn’t have peace, or her job.
She became a hermit, only going to her mandatory counseling sessions, but she couldn’t open up. She just endured them, telling them what they wanted to hear. Deep down, she knew she’d lost her confidence. Why let some stranger find out just how damaged she was if she couldn’t do the job anymore? Better to just quit and move on, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She felt like something was unfinished. She had more to give, but the only person she had to prove her fitness for duty to was herself. If she couldn’t believe in herself, how could anyone depend on her in the field? So she brooded. And ate ice cream. And worked out. And she met with the shrink once a week, but she held all her hopes and fears inside, waiting for a sign that moving on was possible.
The shrink wasn’t fooled and hadn’t cleared her for undercover, but she’d held out some hope. She’d agreed that Nicola could start back at an office job in a month, but until she was ready to talk, really talk, she couldn’t go back in the field again.
She reread Quin’s e-mail. There were more goings-on in Satisfaction. Maybe he’d made it up or at least exaggerated, but there seemed to be a problem. Vandalism, mischief, poison pen letters, stuff she thought was pretty typical of any town or city in the world, but he seemed to think there was a pattern. The local lawman, the sheriff, a title she found amusing and very Old West, seemed to think they were connected with a place called Whips and Spurs, which was a combination old-time saloon in front and BDSM club in back.
She wasn’t surprised that someone might not be happy to have a BDSM club in town. On the other hand, the ménage lifestyle seemed to not only be tolerated but also accepted. As cases went, it wasn’t much. But she could go in undercover. She could work again. She could feel alive. Even if the case ended up being nothing more than a couple locals with sticks up their butts, at least she could get her feet wet. She would be able to see for herself if she could do it again. If she couldn’t lose herself in her undercover identity and solve a small-town mystery, then she had no business working for Southport Security and Protection. She’d walk away rather than stay in a desk job, so close to the action yet so far away. On the other hand, if she could do it and prove to herself that she still had what it took, then she’d throw herself into the damned counseling sessions with the same fervor she did everything in her life until she could be declared fit for duty.
She looked at the e-mail again. It wasn’t much of a job, given her skill set and experience, but it was better than another tub of Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey. Frowning, she opened up another file on her laptop. It was where she kept the photos Quin had sent her of his commitment ceremony with Jules and Doc. No matter how progressive Satisfaction was, one woman couldn’t actually marry two men. The commitment ceremony was the next best thing. She clicked on one in particular. Quin was surrounded by his four groomsmen. Was that what they were called? Whatever. That’s what they were, minus the wedding ceremony. She knew Tait and Aaron. They were best friends who also worked for SSP. It was rumored that they liked to share women. She frowned and then laughed. Did only perverts work for SSP? Was that a requirement? And how had she passed the test, then? She was practically a nun or something.
It was the other two men who had caught her attention, though. She looked at the caption again. Micah Durrance, brother of the bride, and his best friend, Dace Lowe, Sheriff Dace Lowe, as she now knew.
She clicked ahead to another picture. It was Micah, Dace, and a blonde woman with a pixie cut sandwiched between them. She almost deleted that one, but they looked so happy and made her stomach do funny things, so she did what she did every time she looked at that photo. She quickly scrolled through the rest of the photos. There weren’t many. She’d deleted all the ones without Micah and Dace in them, she realized. Why had she saved those ones? She hadn’t ever
even met them, but she’d fantasized about them. She’d even used those photos when she was alone with her vibrator. Maybe meeting them wouldn’t been a good idea. Or maybe it would be a great one? She had no idea. But she had stared at those photos and imagined it was her and not the woman in the blonde pixie cut in the photo who was sandwiched between them.
Without giving herself time to think, she quickly e-mailed Quin.
Hey, Q. I’m not going to say you’ve got me intrigued. On the other hand, I think it might be just what the doctor should have ordered. I’m going to have to meet with the Micah Durrance guy who is, more or less, I guess, your brother-in-law, and, of course, the sheriff. If you trust him, then I guess he’s probably worth trusting. That said, I do have to meet them both before I can say yes to taking their case. Cody’s offered me the use of his bike. I’ll take a quick road trip to Satisfaction. If I like what I hear from them, I’ll pack up and move down for a few weeks, since you said you could line up a place to stay. In the meantime, I’ll just do a little research. Can you send me more info on what’s been happening?
* * * *
Three hours later, she got a reply, which shocked her to the core. Quin had always been a night owl, and he was never up at 6:00 a.m. unless he was watching the sunrise after a late, late night. But apparently life on the farm or ranch or whatever it was required different hours. She had to admit that the last time she’d seen him, he’d never seemed happier, and she’d both envied and hated him for it. He had love and a life and a new job that he loved. He’d grown up on ranches, and it was in his blood. She had nothing except her job, the one she was going to win back if it killed her.
