Safe and Burning with Ecstasy [The Heroes of Silver Island 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)
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The Heroes of Silver Island 3
Safe and Burning with Ecstasy
Someone is out to get Delilah Faith Cassidy, but she doesn’t know who or why and the police don’t believe her. When everything she owns goes up in flames, she flees Chicago and heads south. Frightened, confused, and determined to stay alive, she boards the excursion boat to Silver Island, only to find herself in bigger danger when she meets firefighters Blaze Vardry and Kalvin Fitzpatrick.
Blaze and Kalvin have done everything together since their days in the fire academy. They moved to Silver Island where ménage relationships are accepted in hopes of finding that special woman they can share forever. One look at Delilah and they know they’ve found her.
But the flame that ignites between them isn’t the only one burning on the island. Trouble is turning sparks into infernos, and Delilah is in the center of it all. Blaze and Kalvin have to trust their hearts, ignore their suspicions, and find out who is after Delilah before they lose her forever.
Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Romantic Suspense
Length: 58,943 words
SAFE AND BURNING WITH ECSTASY
The Heroes of Silver Island 3
Tonya Ramagos
MENAGE EVERLASTING
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting
SAFE AND BURNING WITH ECSTASY
Copyright © 2014 by Tonya Ramagos
First E-book Publication: January 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.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
Dear Readers,
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
About the Author
SAFE AND BURNING WITH ECSTASY
The Heroes of Silver Island 3
TONYA RAMAGOS
Copyright © 2014
Chapter One
“You better have a damn good explanation for worrying me to death!”
Delilah Cassidy smiled despite the anger in her best friend’s tone as she answered her cell. She slowly weaved her way through the people walking on the sidewalk, amazed by the number of women walking hand-in-hand with a man on either side. She had left Chicago three days ago on an undetermined path that had led her to Silver Island, a privately owned spot of land off the Gulf Coast of Silver Springs that catered to the ménage way of life. She’d boarded the final excursion boat out of Silver Springs just before sunset yesterday, checked in at the island resort, and hadn’t left her suite until now.
“Is ‘I needed some time to get away and think’ a good enough answer?” Even hundreds of miles away, she could see Ashley Valentine roll her big blue eyes. Her friend wouldn’t buy it, but it was the only answer she was willing to give right now.
“Not when it took you three freaking days to call me. And what’s with the new number, anyway?”
Probably a silly precaution. Delilah chalked it up as one of the many she’d taken since leaving Chicago. She’d bought a disposable phone, ditched her car at a northbound rest stop somewhere in Missouri, hitched a ride with a truck driver heading south, dyed her eyebrows and naturally long blonde hair black, and registered under a different name at the island resort.
“I changed phones.” She purposely kept her answer vague. She chewed her bottom lip and then asked, “You didn’t give the number to anyone, did you?”
“Of course not! The message you left on my voicemail this morning gave me explicit instructions not to.”
Delilah tipped her head back, squinting her eyes behind her shades as the bright light of the sun still managed to penetrate the dark lenses, and exhaled a relieved sigh. “Thanks.”
“Dee, the cops are looking for you.”
Delilah’s heart gave a vicious bump against her rib cage. She lowered her voice, not wanting anyone she passed to overhear her side of the conversation as she continued down the sidewalk that led her down a street lined with novelty, clothing, and sandwich shops on one side and what appeared to be business offices on the other. “I figured Officer Dodds would have more questions for me.”
More questions? No, they were likely the same questions he and the fire investigator had been grilling her with over and over since her house and jewelry store had caught fire barely two weeks apart.
“Oh, he’s got a butt load of questions for you now. They found your car.”
Even though Delilah had expected that, her stomach turned. She’d figured it wouldn’t take long before a state trooper came across her deserted car at the rest stop, ran the plates, and traced it back to Chicago. She’d loved her white BMW convertible and had hated abandoning it to whatever culpr
it came along. It was decidedly the stupidest precaution she’d taken, next to hitching a ride with a total stranger, but every gut instinct she possessed had told her to do it.
“Did they tow it back to Chicago?”
“What was left of it. The car was torched, Dee, just like the store and your house.”
Delilah froze, only absently feeling the bump to her shoulder as someone behind her veered around at her sudden stop. She gripped the cellphone tighter, her fingers turning numb. Even with today’s temperatures already climbing into the nineties, she felt chilled to the bone. “Are you serious?”
“That’s why I’ve been so frantic.” Ashley’s voice wobbled. “Officer Dodds showed up at my apartment yesterday. He told me about the car and that you weren’t anywhere to be found. I was terrified something had happened to you!”
“I’m sorry, Ash. I didn’t mean to worry you. I just…” Delilah briefly closed her eyes as her mind reeled. Apparently abandoning her car hadn’t been such a stupid precaution after all.
“You knew you were being followed.”
Though Ashley’s tone made her words more of a statement than a question, Delilah answered anyway. “I didn’t know for sure, but I suspected it. I was following my instincts, going with my gut. Someone set fire to my business and my house, Ashley. I sure as fuck didn’t do it, even though that’s what Officer Dodds and the fire investigator seem to believe.”
The authorities thought she had done it for the insurance payouts, even though she had more money in her bank account than she could ever spend in one lifetime. Her parents had been filthy rich, some of it passed down from her mother’s side of the family and the rest built from good investments in the local oil industry of Montana. The facts that she couldn’t name anyone who could possibly have a vendetta against her and that she had been seen leaving both places mere minutes before the fires had been called into the fire department wasn’t helping her case at all.
“Did he say anything about the note?” She’d moved in with Ashley after her house caught fire. Less than twenty-four-hours later, she and Ashley had returned to Ashley’s apartment after going out to dinner to find a note shoved under the front door. The note had read, I’ll get you next time.
“Only that there weren’t any fingerprints on it except yours and mine and the signature analysis didn’t turn up anything.” Silence traveled over the cellular waves for several heartbeats before Ashley spoke again. “You should’ve stayed here, Dee. Officer Dodds is finding it awfully convenient that you up and left town the day after we found that note. He’s talking about issuing a warrant for your arrest.”
Someone muttered a polite, “Excuse me,” as they walked past Delilah and she decided she could be courteous enough to get out of the middle of the sidewalk. She turned, spotted the wall separating what appeared to be a bookstore and some kind of adult shop, and moved to lean against it.
“I’m surprised he hasn’t thrown me behind bars already.” She wanted to take that as a sign that at least a part of him believed her. “I couldn’t stay at your place, Ash. Someone has set fire to everything I own and that note was a clear indication whoever it is isn’t done. I couldn’t take the chance that your apartment would be the next place to go up in flames because of me.”
Ashley sighed. “I know, but how is going into hiding some place up north going to help? Where the hell did you go, anyway? Freaking Alaska?”
Delilah hesitated. “Somewhere safe.” She looked around at her surroundings, at the people passing by and the various display windows of the businesses that lined the street. She hoped she’d found somewhere safe. If the cops were looking for her up north then, with any luck, so was the person who was after her. That part of her plan should have bought her a little time, not that she was entirely sure what to do with it. The gut-wrenching feeling of being followed had left her once she’d gotten in that big rig headed south. It was back, though. The moment Ashley had told her about her car being torched, the knots and fear had returned with a vengeance. Her instincts were telling her she wasn’t being followed, but a danger that had nothing to do with going to jail was getting closer by the second.
“That tells me a lot,” Ashley grumbled.
Delilah leaned the back of her head against the wall behind her. “That’s all I’m going to tell you for now. It’s best that way. I don’t want you having to lie for me.” It was bad enough she was having to tell lies to anyone and everyone she came across. Lies only dug holes deeper. She’d always heard that and she believed it.
“Fine.” Ashley didn’t sound too happy. “Just so you know, the money you left on the kitchen table will still be there when you come back.”
“I left that for you. Consider it a month’s salary.” It had been the least she could do. She would’ve left more if she’d thought Ashley would take it.
“Yeah, about that,” Ashley said slowly. “I was in an interview when you left that voicemail this morning. I, uh, got another job.”
“That’s great, Ash!” Delilah meant it. Losing everything she’d owned in such a short period of time had been bad enough, but knowing the loss of her business had also put her best friend out of work had been the worst. Ashley didn’t have anyone in her life save for Delilah. The woman didn’t have any family to speak of and her friends were ones she’d made after meeting Delilah. “As your former boss, I can attest to the fact that any employer would be lucky to have you.”
Delilah often thought back to the day Ashley had ventured into her store, Delilah’s Designs, as a customer. A sole proprietor at the time, Delilah had been running the handcrafted jewelry store herself. She’d mulled over the idea of hiring an employee to help oversee the shop, but hadn’t come to a decision until she’d met Ashley. She had enjoyed the one-on-one interactions with her customers and the warm, fuzzy feelings she’d always gotten in the pit of her belly as she’d watched patrons peruse her store. Still, she’d found spending all her time doing that had caused her to be less productive at creating new jewelry to fill her shop.
Ashley Valentine had been a treasure-find as both an employee and a friend. At five foot seven with long blonde hair and blue eyes, people tended to think she was Delilah’s sister. Though she hadn’t had any true qualifications beyond knowing how to operate a computer and cash register, she had an eye for beauty, a real feel for business, and a personality that reeled in the customers and stroked open their pocketbooks.
“You won’t say that when I tell you who I’ll be working for,” Ashley said, her tone turning dry.
Delilah briefly closed her eyes again as disappointment twisted with understanding in her veins. “Molly Poindexter.” The woman had been Delilah’s biggest competition and had attempted more than once to steal Ashley away. She’d been the only name Delilah had been able to give to the authorities as someone who hated Delilah enough to want to hurt her. Still, she didn’t think Molly would go so far as to set fire to Delilah’s Designs, and the woman’s alibi had checked out.
Ashley sighed. “I’m sorry, Dee. I didn’t want to take the job, but I’ve got to have something until you get the store open again.”
If Delilah’s Designs is ever open for business again. “I know. It’s okay.”
“Some of us weren’t lucky enough to be born with a fat bank account.” Ashley’s tone turned teasing, but Delilah didn’t miss the hint of jealousy that outlined her words.
Delilah didn’t point out that she hadn’t exactly been born with a fat bank account. She’d been born into a lavish lifestyle, well taken care of, and spoiled beyond her imagination. She’d also been taught to work and to save. Her bank account hadn’t been much larger than the average nineteen-year-old American girl’s until her parents had been killed, leaving her everything they’d owned.
“I’ll quit,” Ashley added quickly. “I even told Molly I would. As soon as Delilah’s Designs is back in business, I’ll be there with you again.”
That made Delilah smile, even though she knew Ashley
couldn’t see it. She waited for a break in the pedestrian traffic and pushed herself away from the wall. “My loyal friend till the end.”
“You’re damn right.”
“I’m going to go for now, Ash. I love you.”
“I love you, too. Stay safe and keep in touch, okay?”
“You bet.” Delilah snapped the flip-phone shut and shoved it in the pocket of her shorts as she started walking again. She took four steps and found herself gazing through the display window of the bookstore.
Pleasured Minds.
She chewed the inside of her cheek as she angled her head and read the store name stenciled among an array of stars, half-moons, and open books on the front door. She could deal with a bit of pleasure amidst all the chaos and anxiety clambering her mind, though she wasn’t positive she would find that in a book. Then again, she had spent the majority of last night reading every piece of literature she could find in her suite at the Silver Island Resort. Between all the brochures and takeout menus, she figured there couldn’t be much more the island had to offer that she hadn’t learned about. Maybe tonight she should curl up with a book and a glass of wine instead.
She took a couple of deep breaths to soothe the tension in her back and pushed open the door of the shop. A silver bell jingled in welcome as she stepped inside. Scents of cinnamon, lavender, and something sweeter mingled with the faint aromas of French fries and other appetizing treats. It was an odd combination that gave her an even odder at-home feeling. She pulled off her shades and hooked them though the loop on her purse, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the change in lighting.