County Sheriffs 2: Conquering Lovers (Siren Publishing Menage Everlasting) Read online

  County Sheriffs 2: Conquering Lovers

  Isabella Fuller’s sister, Maria, was the serial killer's first victim, and Bella is riddled with guilt and grief. She was supposed to have met Maria for a drink after work, but ended up being late due to circumstances beyond her control, and she never sees her sister again. It doesn’t help that Maria’s last boyfriend blames Bella for Maria’s death, too.

  When she finds out Brett only dated her sister to get to her, Bella is horrified. And when he assaults her, Bella’s guilt won’t allow her press charges. But then she’s rescued by two handsome deputy sheriffs.

  Dawson Campbell and Kent Evans know Bella is the woman they’ve been waiting for, but when they ask her out on a date, she refuses. However, good and bad circumstances throw the three together, time and time again. Bella can’t refuse when the deputies ask her to be in a relationship with them, but when evil gets her in its clutches, she isn’t sure she’ll see the men she’s fallen in love with ever again.

  Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Romantic Suspense, Westerns/Cowboys

  Length: 59,374 words

  COUNTY SHERIFFS 2:

  CONQUERING LOVERS

  Becca Van

  MENAGE EVERLASTING

  

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting

  COUNTY SHERIFFS 2: CONQUERING LOVERS

  Copyright © 2016 by Becca Van

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-68295-617-5

  First E-book Publication: December 2016

  Cover design by Les Byerley

  All art and logo copyright © 2016 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 County Sheriffs 2: Conquering Lovers by Becca Van 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 Becca Van’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Becca Van’s right to earn a living from her work.

  Amanda Hilton, Publisher

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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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

  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

  Landmarks

  Cover

  COUNTY SHERIFFS 2:

  CONQUERING LOVERS

  BECCA VAN

  Copyright © 2016

  Chapter One

  Dawson Campbell glanced over at his best friend and deputy colleague as they strolled down the main street of Cody. Keeping the women of their town safe was paramount since there was a serial killer on the loose in their vicinity, but Dawson knew none of them would be able to lock the fucker up before another innocent woman lost her life. He hated feeling so fucking useless, but there was nothing he, Kent, or any of their other friends could do until they knew who they were looking for.

  It was hard keeping his frustration under wraps when all he wanted to do was hunt the sick psychopath down and put him behind bars where he belonged. Other than a Caucasian male in his mid-twenties to early forties, they had no idea who they were looking for. For all Dawson knew, the killer could be someone they interacted with each and every day.

  Every man who passed him and Kent as they wandered down the street had him taking second and even third glances. His stomach was knotted, and no matter how hard he tried to keep his emotions under wraps, it was getting harder with every hour that passed.

  “Want to grab some lunch?” Kent asked.

  Dawson met the gaze of his friend, who then nodded toward the diner. He inhaled deeply, which made his empty stomach growl and his mouth begin salivating. “Yeah.”

  Before they reached the door to the diner, Dawson heard someone yelling, spun, and, after a cursory glance at the minimal traffic, took off at a sprint across the road toward where he could hear a man screaming. Kent’s pounding footsteps were right behind him.

  “You’re to blame for all of this, you bitch.”

  Dawson growled when he heard the slap of flesh meeting flesh. He turned the corner to the alley and stopped just before barreling down the scruffy-looking man standing over the woman who was now crouched close to the ground with her hand over her face, tears in her eyes and streaming down her cheeks, sobs coming out of her mouth.

  Dawson had the asshole in an arm lock seconds later, and after grabbing his cuffs from his belt, he secured the bastard with his arms behind his back.

  “Are you all right, miss?” Kent moved in closer to the woman as Dawson pulled the fucker back a few steps, away from the cowering woman, before shoving him into the opposite wall face-first and beginning to pat him down. He read the bastard his rights and then spun him around before shoving his ass to the ground.

  “Stay there!” Dawson ordered as he turned to find Kent helping the blonde-haired woman back to her feet.

  “I’m okay,” the woman said in a quaveri
ng voice and removed her hand from her face.

  Dawson sucked in a loud breath when he saw the red marks on that soft-looking creamy skin. The lady’s face was already swelling and beginning to bruise.

  “What’s your name?” Kent asked.

  “Isabella Fuller.”

  Why is the name Fuller familiar? Dawson frowned.

  “Isabella, do you want to press charges for assault?” Dawson asked after glancing at the prick sitting on the ground with his head hanging down.

  “No.”

  Dawson ground his teeth together and rolled his lips inward. The urge to yell at her and ask her “why the hell not?” was so strong he had to turn away. He walked back over to the asshole and squatted down in front of him, and when he spoke, he kept his voice low so Isabella wouldn’t hear what he said. “We don’t need her to press charges to arrest you. My partner and I could lock you up and throw away the key until you go to trial. Want to tell me why you hit a defenseless woman?”

  Dawson tugged the fucker to his feet when he didn’t answer. After searching his pockets and pulling his wallet out, Dawson checked the bastard’s ID. Brett Taylor was a local resident of Cody and twenty-six years old. He reeked of booze and body odor, which told Dawson that the idiot had obviously been on a bender that had lasted for days. He glanced over his shoulder toward Kent and Isabella.

  “He hit you. Are you going to let him do that to another unsuspecting woman? What if he decides to beat on a poor defenseless kid?”

  “He won’t,” Isabella replied with so much conviction Dawson almost believed her. There was something else going on here, and he intended to get to the bottom of it.

  “Ms. Fuller, I’m going to need you to come back to the station with us to answer a few questions,” Kent said emphatically.

  Dawson was surprised when she didn’t argue, but nodded instead. If she wasn’t going to press charges, there was no need for her to go with them. However, he wanted to know what the fuck was going on. She was glancing at the asshole constantly, and there was guilt and sorrow in her eyes.

  Kent swept his hand out for Isabella to precede him, and Dawson grasped the small chain on the handcuffs so the fucker couldn’t get away, if he decided to make a run for it.

  Ten minutes and a brief explanation later, he passed their perp over to Clay and Spence before following Kent and Isabella into the only unoccupied room they had, which happened to be the kitchen. Dawson hurried over to the fridge, grabbed an ice pack from the freezer, wrapped it in a clean dish towel, and then moved back to sit across from Isabella, passing over the ice. “Put that on your face. It’ll help keep the swelling down.”

  Kent moved around to Dawson’s side of the table. “Can I get you anything to drink, Ms. Fuller?”

  “Please, call me Isabella or Bella. Water would be nice, thanks.”

  Kent walked over to the fridge, grabbed three bottles of water, and then handed them out before sitting next to Dawson.

  Bella. Dawson liked the shorter version of her name. It suited her somehow. He came back to the present when she cleared her throat.

  “How do you know Brett Taylor?” Kent asked.

  “He was my sister’s boyfriend,” she answered before glancing away when tears formed in her eyes. She blinked a few times before meeting Kent’s and then Dawson’s gaze.

  “Was?” Dawson asked as gently as he could.

  “My sister was murdered just over four months ago.”

  Dawson’s brain lit up when the lightbulb inside it flicked on. Fuller was a common name, but after he heard what Bella had just said, Dawson saw the photos of the serial killer’s first victim flash before his eyes. “Maria Fuller was your sister.”

  Bella swallowed audibly and then opened her mouth, but quickly closed it again before nodding. “Brett blames me for my sister’s death, and rightly so. I’d planned to meet her that night. We were going for a girls’ night out, but I never made it to the pub. I had a flat tire and would have changed it myself, but there was something wrong with the jack. It wouldn’t work. I had to call a tow and since the driver was already out on a call, I ended up being over an hour late.” She paused when her voice broke on a sob. “I looked for her everywhere, called her cell phone and her house. There was no answer on either phone. I couldn’t find her. She was found dead the next morning.”

  Bella dropped the ice pack she’d been holding to her swollen, red cheek and then buried her face in her hands and began to cry.

  Dawson couldn’t stand hearing so much pain coming from such a caring, petite woman. He shoved his chair back, stood, and then walked around the other side of the table and sat beside her. He caressed up and down her back, trying to offer her some semblance of comfort, but he wasn’t sure he was helping at all when her shoulders shook as she tried to stifle her sobs.

  “It wasn’t your fault,” Dawson said. “Unfortunate circumstances made you late, but you couldn’t have known what would happen, Bella. Stop carrying around guilt that isn’t yours. Place the blame where it’s supposed to be, at the feet of her killer.”

  All of a sudden, Dawson had his arms full of soft, warm woman. She’d launched herself from her chair and onto his lap. He wasn’t sure she even knew where she was, but he didn’t care. He wrapped his arms around her and held her while she cried her heart out. Kent rushed from the kitchen but was back moments later with a box of tissues he placed on the table within Bella’s reach. He then moved over to the coffeepot and started a fresh pot.

  Bella slumped against his chest for a moment, as if totally exhausted, before she sat up straight and wiped her face with her hands. She looked up and met his gaze, and then looked down. Her face turned pinker when she realized where she was, and she scrambled off of his lap.

  “I’m sorry,” she murmured as she moved around behind him and then snatched the box of tissues off the table.

  Dawson wanted to get up, go over to her, and pull her back into his arms, but he remained sitting where he was with his back to her, giving her the time she needed to compose herself. She blew her nose and took a couple of deep inhalations before coming back to sit down.

  “So the boyfriend blames you?” Kent asked after placing the full coffeepot as well as mugs, milk, and sugar on the table.

  “Yes.”

  “He has no right to.”

  The tension left Dawson’s shoulders when she nodded. “I should have been there for him, but I was mourning, too. If I had, he might never have started drinking.”

  Dawson shook his head. “You don’t know that. Stop taking his problems on board. For all you know, Brett was probably already drinking.”

  Kent poured the coffee into the mugs before handing them out. Bella took a couple of sips of water before she reached for the coffee and sniffed the aroma. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome, Bella.” Kent doctored his coffee with sugar and then pushed the bowl toward Bella. “Do you want milk?”

  “No, this is perfect, thanks.”

  “I wouldn’t say that until you’ve actually tried it,” Dawson said with a smile, hoping to lighten the mood. “His coffee usually tastes like shit.”

  “At least it’s not thick enough that a spoon can stand up in it,” Kent shot back with a grin.

  Bella took a sip, and though she tried to hide her grimace, she wasn’t successful.

  “That bad?” Kent asked as he added another two spoons of sugar to his own drink.

  Bella shook her head, frowned, and then started nodding.

  Dawson sniffed at his coffee and then took a cautious sip. He surged to his feet, rushed to the sink, and spat the liquid out. “What the fuck did you do?”

  “I read the packet and followed the instructions.”

  “You couldn’t have.” Dawson winked at Bella when he saw her smiling in his direction. “That tastes like tinted hot water.”

  Bella snickered as she stood and grabbed the pot of coffee before walking over to the sink and dumping the contents of said pot and her mug. “
I’ll make you a fresh pot.”

  “You don’t have to do that,” Kent said.

  “I know.” Bella shrugged as she grabbed the packet of grounds and read the instructions. Dawson and Kent watched her intently. He could tell by the way his friend was eyeing her that he was just as attracted as Dawson was. Dawson wished they’d met under different circumstances because he really, really wanted to ask her out, but it wouldn’t be appropriate since he was at work. But then he remembered that Clay and Spence had met Misha under similar circumstances, and they hadn’t let the job get in the way of their personal life, or vice versa. Maybe he could have what he wanted after all, but not today. He and Kent were going to have to contrive a way to meet Bella after hours.

  “That’s a bigger spoon than the one I used.”

  Bella glanced at the sink. “Is that the one you used?”

  “Yeah,” Kent replied.

  “That’s a teaspoon.”

  Kent frowned. “I know that.”

  “The instructions say to use a tablespoon.”

  “Where does it say that?”

  Bella moved closer to Kent. She held the packet up and pointed with her fingernail. “T-b-s-p means tablespoon. T-s-p is the abbreviation for a teaspoon.”

  “Why the hell don’t they just print the full word?”

  Bella nibbled on her lip as if trying not to smile. “It would be easier if they did.”

  “Even I knew what they meant,” Dawson said.

  “Then why the hell is your coffee always too strong to drink?”

  “I like it that way.”

  “You’re lying.” Kent pointed at Dawson. “You always add milk and sugar when you’ve made the coffee. When Misha makes it, you drink it black.”