by Tara Rose
The Doms of Sybaris Cove 5
Part-Time Lover
Kai Thilenique has a safe, comfortable part-time play and lover arrangement with Dom Jagger Durante. Until he asks her to let Ian Raleigh top her in play as well one night. Both men want more from her than a part-time lover, but Kai is afraid to let her true feelings show.
Jagger and Ian were both burned once by the same woman, but Kai is not that woman. They’d rather share her than lose her. But there’s a complication. Their families hate each other.
As the evidence for a recent string of fires and murder against Kai’s family mounts, she pulls away from the men even more. How could they want her when her own family is responsible for this tragedy that affected everyone on the island?
Can Jagger and Ian convince her that their love for her has nothing to do with her family members? Or will a decades-long feud between cousins tear the triad apart forever?
Genre: BDSM, Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre
Length: 42,906 words
PART-TIME LOVER
The Doms of Sybaris Cove 5
Tara Rose
MENAGE EVERLASTING
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
ABOUT THE E-BOOK YOU HAVE PURCHASED: Your non-refundable purchase of this e-book allows you to only ONE LEGAL copy for your own personal reading on your own personal computer or device. You do not have resell or distribution rights without the prior written permission of both the publisher and the copyright owner of this book. This book cannot be copied in any format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another through upload to a file sharing peer to peer program, for free or for a fee, or as a prize in any contest. Such action is illegal and in violation of the U.S. Copyright Law. Distribution of this e-book, in whole or in part, online, offline, in print or in any way or any other method currently known or yet to be invented, is forbidden. If you do not want this book anymore, you must delete it from your computer.
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
If you find a Siren-BookStrand e-book being sold or shared illegally, please let us know at
[email protected]
A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting
PART-TIME LOVER
Copyright © 2014 by Tara Rose
E-book ISBN: 978-1-63258-573-8
First E-book Publication: November 2014
Cover design by Harris Channing
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.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
Dear Readers,
If you have purchased this copy of Part-Time Lover by Tara Rose from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.
Regarding E-book Piracy
This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.
The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.
This is Tara Rose’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Tara Rose’s right to earn a living from her work.
Amanda Hilton, Publisher
www.SirenPublishing.com
www.BookStrand.com
DEDICATION
To Pete Townshend, Jim Jacobs, Warren Casey, Elvin Bishop, Don Black, Stevie Wonder, Bob Seger, Buddy Buie, Robert Nix, and Dean Daughtry. Thank you for writing such wonderful, inspirational songs.
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
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
About the Author
PART-TIME LOVER
The Doms of Sybaris Cove 5
TARA ROSE
Copyright © 2014
Chapter One
Kai Thilenique didn’t usually lose her cool with patients, but she had come dangerously close this morning. This had been the weirdest day already, and it wasn’t even noon. The man she was currently trying to help stay in position for a simple shoulder X-ray had given everyone a hard time since walking into the outpatient department at Sybaris Cove Hospital.
From what Kai could gather, that was because his physician had sent over the wrong order days ago, and it had taken them this long to get the correct one. That wasn’t something the radiology department had any control over, but the man didn’t care. He wanted to blame everyone he came into contact with this morning.
But her heart went out to him as she tried one more time to help him get in place on the table for his X-ray. He was in obvious pain. She knew who he was, but professional ethics kept her from saying so. A series of fires had been set recently on the construction site for what was supposed to be a resort named Palace of Eris. This man had been among the lucky victims, in that he hadn’t lost his life in that mess, as too many others had.
She finally snapped the film, then listened to him bitch and moan about how difficult it was to stay still for that long, even though it had taken less than one second to actually take the picture. When you hurt, even a few seconds was a lifetime.
She offered him a hand as he crawled off the table. Thank goodness he hadn’t noticed the surname on her badge, or he might connect it with her Uncle Jesse. He co-owned the construction company that was building the resort, along with his brother. Thanks to the recent news stories, a great many island residents were now too familiar with her uncle and his family. She and her Aunt Wendy, Jesse’s wife, weren’t the only Thileniques on Sybaris Cove, but any curiosity from this patient would lead to questions she couldn’t answer.
After she checked the film to make sure it was clear of artifact, she told the patient it was fine. “We’ll send the results to your doctor.”
“And how long will that take?”
“About five seconds, once the radiologist reads it. They go over electronically.”
“And when will the radiologist read it?”
Kai turned aside as his gaze drifted toward her badge. “We have two who read them, and they usually get to them within forty-eight hours unless it’s a life-threatening emergency.”
When she glanced into his face again, he looked like he was about to say something, bu
t then he simply asked how to get out of the department. She led the way, turning her badge around quickly so that if he looked again he wouldn’t see her name.
There were less than twelve thousand residents on the island, and everyone knew everyone else by sight, at least. Normally, it didn’t matter if she helped a neighbor or friend with an X-ray, but since the fires had been deemed arson, and the police were no closer to catching the person who had set them, she didn’t want to make chit-chat about the incident while at work.
After she’d escorted the man back to the lobby, she told her co-worker, Donny, that she was taking a quick break. She needed fresh air, and they had no one currently waiting for films. Once outside, she walked away from the employee entrance and stood looking out over the lake. On the other side was Phoebe’s Playthings, the sprawling conglomerate owned by the Raleigh and Durante families.
Standing this close to the lake always reminded her of Jagger Durante, and whenever she thought about him, her mind raced toward their next play date together. Although Kai had been seeing Jagger for close to three months now, she was no longer sure doing so was a good idea. And that would suck, because she really liked him and they always had a great time together.
Kai smiled as she watched Patti Zach, her best friend and a physician’s assistant in the Urgent Care Center, stroll toward her. Patti always made her feel better about everything. “They let you out?”
Patti laughed. “For fifteen minutes only.” She held up a sandwich. “And this is lunch. Want some?”
“No. I’m only out for a moment myself. We have a slow day for a change.”
“I think that’s because everyone is glued to their TVs. The fires made the national news.”
“I saw that. What a fucking crazy mess this is now.”
Patti swallowed the bite of her sandwich she’d taken. “So tell me the truth. Do you think Asa set those fires?”
Asa Durante, one of the current CEOs of Phoebe’s Playthings and cousin to Jagger’s father, Davis, and to Jesse, Davis’s brother, was the unofficial prime suspect in the fires that had been set last Saturday. Jesse and Davis co-owned JD Construction, but it was only Jesse who hated Asa, and vice versa, for reasons few of the Durantes or Raleighs knew.
Kai knew one of the reasons. The incident had happened years ago and she was sick to death of the two still fighting like children over it.
“I have no idea, but I sure as hell hope not. I may not agree with everything my aunt and uncle have done over the years, but they did raise me as one of their own. Asa is family by marriage only. He’s not my blood, but they are.”
Patti gave her a sly look from underneath her lashes. “And neither is Jagger, of course. Is that what’s eating you about all this? How Jagger will react?”
“Partly. He’s taking Asa’s side, of course, as I would expect him to.” But Jagger didn’t know the history between Jesse and Asa. She’d blurted it out to Leta Da Costa a few days ago in a moment of weakness. That was a mistake she now regretted. She’d also told Leta to tell the entire island if she wanted to. That had been her second mistake. Her big mouth was going to get her in huge trouble one day.
But Leta wasn’t a gossip, so Kai knew she wouldn’t tell anyone. It was the fact that Kai had lost her cool and said to go ahead and let everyone know that had her upset. She shouldn’t have done that. It wasn’t her story to tell.
“Have you two discussed the fires?”
“Only on the phone. I’m supposed to go to a play party with him on Friday.” A great many of the island residents lived a BDSM lifestyle, and those who didn’t left the ones who did alone about it. It wasn’t that way on the mainland, as her aunt had often told her.
“So, what’s bothering you?”
“I feel odd about all this. Like I’m straddling the fence here. Asa is their cousin. Both Jagger’s father and my uncle.” Davis had never jumped on the Asa bandwagon, but Davis and Asa didn’t have the volatile history that Jesse and Asa did. They at least still spoke to each other.
Patti snickered. “I’m sorry. But every time you mention your uncle Jesse and Jagger’s father in the same sentence, all I can think of is that, technically, you’re Jagger’s cousin.”
Kai gave her a droll look. “By marriage only. You know that.”
Patti put up her hands. “I know, I know. Your aunt Wendy’s brother was your father. But still…I get this image…”
“Patti, come on. I’m trying to be serious here. I should have loyalties to both sides, shouldn’t I?”
“Well, I don’t know. Just because your father’s sister married a Durante doesn’t mean you owe them anything.”
“Maybe not, but now I’m having sex with a Durante.”
“So are a lot of women on this island.”
“You’re not helping here.”
“Okay. I’m sorry. But is it really that much of a dilemma? I mean, do you have to choose a side? Jagger isn’t asking you to, is he?”
Kai snorted. “You haven’t had many dealings with the Durante or Raleigh families, have you? Taking sides is expected. Loyalty is demanded. And once you’re on the shit list, you’re on it forever.”
“I’ve heard that. But I also didn’t realize things were that serious between you two that it would matter whose side you chose.”
Kai winced inwardly. She shouldn’t have said that, even to Patti. “They’re not. We’re play partners and we have sex afterward. Usually. Not all the time.” Oh, shut up already!
“Then it sounds like you have nothing to lose.”
Only my heart. Kai would never admit this to anyone, but her feelings for Jagger went way beyond play partners with benefits. She knew he wasn’t looking for a serious relationship. He’d been burned—badly—and now gave new meaning to the term gun shy. “You’re right. I should stop worrying about it.”
Patti glanced at her cell phone. “Sorry, hon. I have to get back. Call me later. We’ll talk about it. Okay?”
“Okay.” After Patti left, Kai walked along the path that bordered the lake. George Raleigh was out on his sailboat, which he usually was. He was retired, and spent a lot of time on the lake, even when the weather turned cool. Not that it ever got very cold on an island in the Gulf of Mexico.
She’d only met George Raleigh once and had liked him. He was one of William’s sons, and was also one of the few living children of the original four who had stolen this island from the natives. Kai chuckled to herself at the use of the word. Jagger hated it when she said that. His ancestors hadn’t stolen the island, he insisted. They’d bought it from the natives, who were all escaped convicts in hiding.
What a clusterfuck. It really was a crazy, convoluted history, but she found it fascinating. Especially considering her family was descended from those natives. William and Robert Raleigh were brothers who came to the island in 1945 with rum-running money. They took advantage of the status of the natives and began buying up land, promising them peace and order to the chaotic mess it was when they found it.
But once they brought over their friends, cousins Agapito and Iago Durante, the four not only kept buying land from the natives, they did so for pennies on the dollar and with the threat of turning them in to the various governments looking for them if they didn’t sell it to them. The natives became servants and poorly paid employees of the four, who used the island for their private playground and more illegal activity.
Somewhere along the line, a curse was placed on them and their male descendants. No one knew who cursed them, or what was conjured to do so, but all four original descendants died strange deaths when they each tried to leave the island. One of their male children also died while trying to leave, so now the Durantes and Raleighs believed the curse was real, and they stayed on the island.
Jagger told her they all talked about pooling their resources to try and lift it, but it was talk his grandfather and father had heard, as well. There were clues to the curse. Jagger had one he hadn’t yet shown her, but she knew it existed. Bu
t even those were only bits and pieces. None of them had been able to find told the whole story.
Kai found it creepy but interesting, and had even begun digging into her family’s history in an effort to help Jagger, but she’d hit dead ends. The natives hadn’t kept written records since they didn’t want anyone tracing them back to the countries looking for them.
She glanced at her phone. It was time to return to the department. She’d need to make a decision about Friday soon, but for right now, she had to get her mind back on her job. As she walked into the hospital, a text from Jagger came through, so Kai ducked into the bathroom to read it.
I can’t wait to see you Friday, sexy. Wear the dark-blue plaid schoolgirl outfit, and don’t forget the saddle shoes. I’m going to make you scream and come so many times you won’t be able to walk or talk.
She moaned softly as erotic images danced through her head. The man knew how to use toys and a vibrator. Not to mention he could fuck for a long time. He had amazing control. And when she was tied to a bench or a St. Andrews cross, blindfolded, and he did his thing to her body, she was butter in his hands.
Kai was hooked and she knew it. There was no freaking way she’d be able to walk away from Jagger. He was a drug, and she had to have him. This was her problem to deal with now. Balancing him and her own family’s needs. She’d have to find a way to do that, because when she read his text messages and looked into those unusual gray eyes of his, or heard that tone in his voice, she could no sooner walk away than cut off an arm.
* * * *
