by Milly Taiden
Between Ice and Frost
Paranormal Dating Agency
Milly Taiden
Latin Goddess Press, Inc.
Contents
Between Ice and Frost
Untitled
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
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Epilogue
About the Author
Also by Milly Taiden
Also by Milly Taiden
Also by Milly Taiden
Also by Milly Taiden
Also by Milly Taiden
Between Ice and Frost
PARANORMAL DATING AGENCY
NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR
MILLY TAIDEN
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Raven Casino loves solving mysteries. So it was only natural that she take to the Alaskan wild to find her missing friend, Juliet. She is ready to take on the world to figure out where Juliet could be. But she wasn’t expecting to meet not one, but two hunks in the icy small town of Antler, Alaska. These two were so sexy they radiated enough heat to melt the polar ice caps. Hot damn!
Frost and Ice were hired to make sure Raven was safe, but the minute they saw her, they knew she was the missing piece to their triad. Now to explain to her that she was meant to be with them both. Shared by both. And not freak her out. That was going to be harder than stopping her from getting herself killed in their little town.
There’s something going on in Antler and Raven’s out to find out what they’re hiding. With a missing friend and clues at every corner she turns, she’s taking this bull by the horns. The fantasies with Frost and Ice are a side effect of being so close to them, but she’d get over it. Right? Uh… When she solves a puzzle that’s bigger than she realized, it’s going to take two very alpha dragons to keep her alive long enough to get her freak on.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are fictitious or have been used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real in any way. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Published By
Latin Goddess Press, Inc.
Winter Springs, FL 32708
http://millytaiden.com
Between Ice and Frost
Copyright © 2018 by Milly Taiden
Cover by: Willsin Rowe
Edited by: Tina Winograd
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Property of Milly Taiden
July 2018
Created with Vellum
—For ALL happily ever afters. Love is love.
1
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Raven Casino frowned at her cell phone and sat back on the expensive leather sofa.
“Honey, if you stare at that any harder, it’s gonna catch fire. You look pissed as hell,” her mother told her.
She turned her frown at her mom and quickly smoothed her features when her mother pursed her lips. “This is the second day in a row Juliet hasn’t answered my emails or text messages. She never goes this long without getting back to me and it’s really worrying me.”
“She’s all the way up in god knows where in Alaska. She probably has horrible service. Or she could be snowed in under horrible weather.”
“She’s working in Antler, Mom. Yes, there is bad weather, and the town is small, but she has a great setup up there. Her company has an amazing cabin for her to stay in, including satellite internet and phone. I mean, she hasn’t had any problems until now.”
Her mom picked up her tea and sipped, folding her legs primly in her expensive Gucci suit. “She had better be safe. She said she’d help with the charity ball coming up. Her company is also donating a lot of money to the charity this year. Someone needs to represent them.” Her mom reached down and rubbed a hand on the back of her ankles.
“Oh, for god’s sake, Mom. Take the damn shoes off,” she growled.
Her mom gave her a horrified look. “Are you crazy? No. They just need to be broken in.”
“Or they just need to break your neck. How in the hell you wear those death traps is beyond me. Five-inch Louboutins are fine for the office or even your galas, but not to sit with me. It’s ridiculous.”
She bent down and pulled the shoes off her mom’s feet, noticing the redness around the back of her heel and by her toes.
Her mother gave a sigh of relief. “Maybe for a few minutes while I have my tea.”
Raven shook her head. “I still don’t know how Dad sees you in pain and lets you walk around in those shoes.”
“Your father is a smart man and knows there are two things he will never argue with me about: my opinions as Chief Financial Officer of the company, and what I wear. Whether it’s my handbags, my clothes or my shoes, none are up for debate.”
“Stubborn woman,” she mumbled, rushing to a closet to get a spa tub foot massager. She filled it with warm water from the bathroom and then carried it back to her mother, placing it by her feet.
“Oh, sweetie,” her mom smiled. “Thank you. You’re the most thoughtful daughter ever.”
She dropped in lavender oil and Epsom salt and turned the massager on.
“Yeah, yeah. I know. Let’s see if we can get that swelling down.”
“By the way,” her mom grinned, “you get your stubbornness from me.”
She rolled her eyes and blew a corkscrew curl away from her forehead. “Yeah, I know. Dad’s told me a bunch of times.”
Raven sat, picked up a water bottle, and chugged. “I’m really worried about Juliet.”
Her mom moaned and leaned farther back in the plush white sofa. Raven loved her sofas. They went with an all-white theme for her home. It was a little weird and sterile and she hadn’t heard the end of it from her mom when she first told her, but once her mother saw how beautifully it all came together, she’d admitted it looked amazing. There was such a peaceful feel to Raven’s home. She’d given up being at the office two days a week to work from her home office just to enjoy her new house.
At thirty-five, she’d always worked for her parents and did a ton of traveling for their massive real estate conglomerate. But now that she’d bought her first house and settled in, she found she wanted to start a family. Maybe she should stop ignoring all the men her parents tried to set her up with. She scrunched her nose. Those guys were so boring.
“Stop wrinkling your face like that, love. You’ll look older than you are. And you’re too beautiful for that. I don’t want to have to buy you Botox for your next birthday.”
“Mom!”
“Well, it’s true. Who in their right mind hasn’t
used Botox at your age? It’s unheard of.”
She often wondered if the rest of the world had this type of reality. Coming from a family that was incredibly wealthy was nice, but there had to be oddities her family did that others didn’t.
Like her mom waking up in a power suit and having a makeup artist at her home to do her face before the sun was even out.
First, it was the personal training sessions, which she loved making Raven attend since she lived next door. Then, it was the chef that prepared the healthiest of meals. Personal shoppers, dressers, makeup artists. Her mother’s house was fully staffed with enough people, it felt like a party going on all day, every day.
Juliet had been the only friend who had understood money didn’t make Raven. She didn’t wear makeup. She wore business casual to work, much to her mother’s dislike, and she refused to get her super curly hair professionally straightened with a bunch of chemicals.
Raven had made her own choices in the world she’d been raised in. Other than her tonsils removed as a kid, she hadn’t had any surgeries. And certainly not plastic surgery. Once again, much to her mother’s unhappiness. No, she would not get a Brazilian booty lift. No, she did not need implants, her C-cups were fine. And she was okay not having a six pack of abs. She worked out. Heck, she was pretty much forced into it daily. Ate healthy and took care of herself. She didn’t need what society deemed to be a perfect body. She was happy.
“Honey, why don’t you call her boss and ask if there is something wrong with their connections to Alaska?”
“I already did,” she admitted. She scrolled through her phone, mentally willing Juliet to send her a message. “They said everything was fine and they hadn’t heard from her either.”
“Then they need to send someone to check on her, no?”
She shrugged. “It’s not that easy. Her boss said it would take a week before they could make that decision. She could be sick in a hospital or something. If they don’t hear from her in two weeks, they’d send someone out by the end of the month. So it’s almost three weeks before someone goes to check on her.”
“That’s ridiculous!”
“I know!”
“What’s she even doing out there?”
She let her shoulders drop, knowing her mother barely listened to her anyway. “She’s evaluating the size of some icebergs for the National Snow and Ice Data Center.”
“Did she get the core samples or whatever the last time she was up there?”
She nodded. “I think so. She didn’t mention much about it.” What could’ve happened to keep her best friend from calling back? Maybe she should go herself.
“You have that look on your face,” her mother stared at her with narrowed eyes.
Uh-oh. “What look?”
“The one that says your dad and I should hire bodyguards to make sure you don’t get into any trouble.”
“Come on,” she snorted and waved at her mother dismissively, quickly glancing down at her white top and picking non-existent lint from it.
“Oh no, missy. Don’t come on me. I’m your mother. I know you. You had that little private group in school that tried to figure out who did things to get justice for everyone.”
She grinned at the memory. Elementary school had been fun. “That was a long time ago.”
“We had to get a lawyer then,” her mother said matter-of-factly.
“Mom, I don’t get into trouble,” she said and glanced up to meet her mother’s gaze. “I’m a different person now.”
“Who was the one who set up an elaborate hoax client account to figure out who was stealing from Cecily’s company?”
Cecily, her mom’s best friend and owner of a chain of spas, had discussed her issues in front of Raven and she’d immediately gone into action.
“Yes, but it got her niece caught.” Sad that it was her relative stealing from her all along.
“But it also almost got you shot by the crazed woman when she fired her.”
She shrugged. “She was doing things wrong. Maybe I’m a little impulsive, but I hate it when people take advantage of others or commit crimes that hurt innocent lives.”
Her mom cocked her head. “I really think you should have gone to law school instead of getting a marketing degree. It would be better for you.”
She thought about it often—going back to school to be a lawyer. Not like she had anything going in her life. Why not? Maybe after she figured out where her best friend was. Until then, Juliet was the most important person on her mind.
“Anyway, when are you going to let me and your father set you up with someone?”
“Mom, don’t start that again.”
“Just hear me out,” she continued. “I met the loveliest woman at the last ball Cecily hosted for her children’s charity. Her name is Gerri Wilder.”
She groaned and leaned back on her seat. “Whatever you’re thinking, don’t do it.”
“Gerri owns a dating agency! I think it’s like a sign or something.”
She laughed drily. “Or something.”
“One date. Just one.” Her mom gave her the sweet smile she used to get her way. “Please, darling. I would like grandchildren one day.”
“Ugh,” she sighed. “Fine. I know I’m going to regret this.”
Her mother squealed. “You won’t. Have a little faith, darling.”
Sure. She could have faith. And maybe she’d find the perfect man. She snorted. That never happened. Before she met another boring executive, she needed to figure out what happened to Juliet.
2
Gerri Wilder picked up her ringing phone with a smile.
“Amanda Casino, so nice to hear from you.” She greeted her new friend. “I’m surprised you have time to call with your crazy schedule.”
“Gerri,” Amanda said cheerfully. “I got Raven to agree to let me use your services.”
“And she’s aware she’s going to be set up?”
“Yes…I made sure I said you owned a dating agency.”
Gerri grinned wider. “Did you tell her they were paranormals? Shifters?”
Silence. “No. I figured it’d be a great surprise for her.” She giggled. “I mean, those guys are hot. I’m excited at the prospect of my child marrying one of them.”
“What about two?”
“Huh?”
Gerri laughed. “What if she gets two?”
“Oh my,” Amanda said softly. “If she’s that lucky, I’ll cheer her on.”
Now this was the type of mother Gerri liked to work with. No wonder she and Amanda Casino had gotten along so well from the first meeting.
“Where’s Raven now?”
“She’s jutting around Alaska searching for a friend,” Amanda told her. “Frankly, I hate the idea of her being so far away from us and me not able to send her help if she needs it.”
“I might be able to help. I know some men that are part of a security company in Alaska.”
“You have no idea how much that would ease my mind. Can I hire them to guard her? I’m scared she’ll get into trouble.”
Gerri wrote Raven’s name, then below to the left wrote Ice, and to the right, Frost. She then drew lines to create a triangle between the three. “Don’t worry about anything. Raven will be in good hands. Trust me.”
3
Ice glared at the computer screen. His dragon wanted to destroy the damn thing and forget all about the stupid forms they wanted him to fill out.
“Stop looking at it like it ate your dinner,” Frost, his partner and fellow dragon, told him.
“I hate all this bureaucratic crap. We saved that stupid man’s life,” he growled. “Something he fought the entire time we were trying to keep him safe.”
Frost nodded. “I know, but if we don’t fill these out, they might believe his dumbass story and we could be sent to do more of those annoying babysitting jobs.”
Ice growled again. Louder. He hated this. Hated being in the city. Hated the people. The noise. “I’m due for
a vacation. We should go home.”
Frost met his gaze, their dragons in sync due to the fact they were not only ancient ice dragons, but they were linked, destined to form a triad when they met their mate. “You want to get away from the chaos of city life?”
No way to lie to Frost. He never had, and he wasn’t starting now. He was not just his best friend since childhood, they’d shared everything their entire lives, including women. It was natural for those meant to be part of triads. Some women found it sexy, while others thought it strange. A lot were under the misconception he and Frost were related, but they weren’t. Not by blood. They had a special connection brought on from being born on the same day at the same time of the same year. It linked them to form a triad. Too bad they hadn’t found their mate. Not in the hundreds of years they’d been roaming the earth.
“I need a break from this. If they need us for a real emergency, they know where to find us. One week, Frost. That’s all I ask.”
Frost tossed a balled-up paper at him. “Fine. But you have to explain to our boss why we’re leaving in the middle of the investigation into our case.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Happily. If we don’t go, I’m liable to find that asshole that made our lives a living hell for two weeks and freeze him until next summer.”
