Playing to Win Read online

  

  Slick Rock 24

  Playing to Win

  Cindy Dodge is shy, lonely and has dreamed of having men of her own to love ever since she was old enough to understand what a ménage relationship was. However, because she’s shy, she doesn’t think that will ever happen.

  Shane, Grant, Jake, and Curtis Kenny moved to Slick Rock after winning the bid to build Safe Haven. As soon as they meet Cindy at the diner, they’re entranced. When she shows up at the shelter for victims of abuse, they’re excited, but that quickly changes when she refuses an invitation to dinner.

  The Kenny men come to the rescue when Cindy is hurt while being mugged and then again when she has an accident and breaks her wrist. Keeping the four men at a distance soon becomes a thing of the past and she agrees to be their girlfriend.

  Unexpected danger sees her in peril again and since no one knows she’s even missing it’s up to her to escape, but this time she isn’t sure she’s going to win.

  Genres: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Romantic Suspense, Western/Cowboys

  Length: 68,098

  PLAYING TO WIN

  Slick Rock 24

  Becca Van

  

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  Playing to Win

  Copyright © 2019 by Becca Van

  ISBN: 978-1-64243-912-0

  First Publication: July 2019

  Cover design by Les Byerley

  All art and logo copyright © 2019 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.

  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 or print book being sold or shared illegally, please let us know at [email protected]

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  My name is Becca Van. I live in Australia with my wonderful hubby of many years, as well as my two children.

  I read my first romance, which I found in the school library, at the age of thirteen and haven’t stopped reading them since. It is so wonderful to know that love is still alive and strong when there seems to be so much conflict in the world.

  I dreamed of writing my own book one day but, unfortunately, didn’t follow my dream for many years. But once I started I knew writing was what I wanted to continue doing.

  I love to escape from the world and curl up with a good romance, to see how the characters unfold and conflict is dealt with. I have read many books and love all facets of the romance genre, from historical to erotic romance. I am a sucker for a happy ending.

  For all titles by Becca Van, please visit

  www.bookstrand.com/becca-van

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  PLAYING TO WIN

  Prologue

  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

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Epilogue

  PLAYING TO WIN

  Slick Rock 24

  BECCA VAN

  Copyright © 2019

  Prologue

  “No, don’t hurt me. Please?” Cindy sobbed, turning her head, trying to avoid the blow to her face, but since she was tied to a chair, there was no way she could avoid the fist coming toward her cheek. The pain. She’d never felt so much pain in her life.

  She bolted upright, tears rolling down her face as she panted and glanced about the room.

  While it took her only moments to realize that she was safe and sound in her own bed, that fact didn’t stop her heart from pounding hard and fast or slow her rapid breathing rate. She was soaked in sweat, and from the looks of the covers and sheets on her bed, she’d been lost in the nightmare and trying to fight her kidnapper off.

  Poor Violet had been imprisoned in a cult, but she was strong and had managed to escape, but the asshole cult leader’s son had been crazy obsessive over Violet and raping her. The prick, Virgil, had followed Vi to Slick Rock and nabbed Cindy to get to Vi, and it had almost worked. If it hadn’t been for Violet’s men—Wilder, Cree, and Nash Sheffield, who were also deputies—Cindy and Violet might very well be dead.

  Swiping angrily at the tears on her face, she kicked her legs to free them from the tangled sheet and shoved them aside. After swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she flicked on her bedside lamp.

  Sometimes, Cindy wondered if she’d made the right decision when her mom and younger sister had moved to Denver, but she’d opted to stay in her hometown of Slick Rock. It had been nearly a year since she’d been abducted and used as a pawn to draw Violet out, but she still had nightmares constantly. Although they weren’t as regular as they’d been when she’d first been kidnapped, they still plagued her often.

  Her mom hadn’t wanted to leave Cindy behind, but she’d convinced her that she’d be fine. Her mother had seemed relieved when Violet and her deputy sheriff husbands had promised to keep an eye on her and make sure she was safe.

  Cindy had always loved Slick Rock and still did. She’d watched the women around town laughing and smiling with their men and had hoped to have a ménage relationship of her own.

  However, she wasn’t sure that was ever going to happen. The small rural town was becoming more populated each year, but none of the men living here and in the surrounding county had made her sit up and take notice. Sure, she’d gazed at a lot of handsome men, but she’d never felt even the slightest of sparks.

  She’d spent the last three and a half years working her ass off to get through her online college courses and earn her post-undergraduate degree in special education, with plans to teach the deaf and hearing impaired, but she hadn’t been able to get a teaching job. She’d applied at the local schools for employment, but there were no spaces available. While she loved working at the diner with Delta, who was deaf just like Cindy’s sister, and Enya as well as Violet and Jaylynn, she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life waitressing.

  Cindy wanted to utilize all the special education she’d studied so hard for. She’d even managed to complete the tertiary education early, but it didn’t seem to matter.

  Shoving to her feet, she pushed her thoughts aside and entered the small bathroom of the one-bedroom apartment she was renting and stared at herself in the mirror.

  She snorted when she saw the messy tangle her hair was in, but then she looked at herself critically. There was nothing special about her in any way, shape, or form. She had light brown or dark blond hair, which reached to the middle of her back, and brown eyes. She was also on the small side. In fact, she wished she were way taller than her height of five-one. Maybe if she were, she wouldn’t be mistaken f
or a kid and she’d be taken more seriously.

  Turning away from the depressing sight, she walked to the shower, turned the taps on, and stripped out of her damp nightshirt and panties.

  She had a morning shift at the diner and needed to get ready for work. The diner was now open from five in the morning until ten at night, and she’d heard that Delta, Enya, and Violet were thinking about keeping the place open twenty-four hours a day.

  Not that it would affect Cindy in any way. If her employment situation didn’t change soon, she was going to have to pack up and move. She had a degree and had every intention of using it even if it meant leaving everything and everyone she loved behind.

  Nevertheless, she missed her mom and sister and couldn’t wait to see them again.

  Cindy decided to give herself another month, and if things didn’t change, she’d move to Denver.

  She just hoped she didn’t end up regretting her decision, but she had a feeling she would.

  Chapter One

  “I fucking love this place,” Curtis said.

  “We all do, Curt,” Shane Kenny, Curtis’s eldest brother, said. Shane glanced at his other brothers, Grant and Jake, to see that they were taking in everything as they headed toward the diner.

  He and his brothers had moved to Slick Rock about five months ago. They’d read a write-up in a paper about how the small town was booming and the construction workers couldn’t keep up with the demand for new land developments and the building of houses. At first, Shane hadn’t wanted to move, but as he’d read the article and caught sight of a small picture, he’d gotten on board with his brothers’ enthusiasm. The photograph had made him smile when he’d seen the three familiar faces of the Sheffield brothers. They’d served together in the Marines.

  Shane was glad that he’d still had Wilder’s cell phone number and had contacted the man immediately. He’d never heard Wilder sound so happy, and when Shane had found out that his fellow soldier and his brothers were happily married and involved in a ménage, he’d been intrigued.

  One time he and his brothers had shared a woman while on furlough. It had been so damned erotically exciting, they’d discussed having sex with one woman again, but they’d never found anyone they were all attracted enough to. He and his brothers had had a lot of women throwing themselves at them, but Shane didn’t want to have meaningless sex anymore. He wanted a long-lasting, loving relationship, but he and his siblings hadn’t found the right woman. Yet.

  He wasn’t giving up hope, though, because he had a feeling deep in his gut that the one special woman for him and his brothers was just around the corner.

  He just hoped they didn’t have to wait too damn long because none of them were getting any younger.

  There was plenty of work for him and his brothers, which was good, and now they had their own home, an older-style house they’d worked their asses off to renovate in two weeks. It had been hard work, but the end results were well and truly worth it. They’d also managed to buy twenty acres of land close to town and had plans to develop it into smaller house blocks in a few years. It looked as if he and his brothers had moved just at the right time, too. Nonetheless, right now they were working on building the hall and smaller homes surrounding the larger building at Safe Haven, a shelter where abused women and children could go to get their lives together while being safe from their abusive partners, parents, or family.

  The mayor and the locals had decided that no more housing developments would be sold or developed, other than the land they’d just bought, since the citizens didn’t want their town getting too big. By the time he and his brothers had finished selling off the houses they were planning to build, Slick Rock would have a population of around twenty to thirty or so thousand people. None of the locals wanted ranches to be pushed out because everyone knew that ranching was the backbone of the country. If there weren’t ranches, the people living in the US wouldn’t have food to eat.

  While the acreage Shane and his brothers had snapped up was still mostly paddocks, it would be subdivided and urbanized eventually, unless their plans changed.

  He and his brothers were happy to be a part of building Safe Haven since it was a worthy cause. The main hall building had just been completed, and they needed to start on the housing. There was so much to do, and he suspected they wouldn’t be finished working for the charity for years.

  Shane was going to make sure Kat and Niki, the founders of Safe Haven, were happy with the work he and his brothers did. They’d all taken courses while in the Marines, making sure they had skills to fall back on as soon as they’d decided to retire from service.

  He was so glad they had because when he, Grant, Jake, and Curtis had finished the last building, they would have enough money to retire on. Not that any of them had any plans of retiring early. Shane would go crazy if he didn’t have anything to do and so would his brothers, but they could keep working in house renovations or fitting out stores or other construction work if they decided that the twenty acres shouldn’t be urbanized.

  He pushed his thoughts aside when his stomach growled. He’d been working all morning and was more than ready for lunch. Wilder had told him that his wife, Violet, and the two other women who owned the diner together were whizzes in the kitchen. The reviews he’d seen online about the diner were rave, and he couldn’t wait to sample the food.

  He couldn’t wait to fill his belly.

  * * * *

  “Cindy, do you have a moment?” Kat asked.

  Cindy met Kat’s gaze, nodded, and then smiled at Kat’s sister, Niki. “Hi, Niki, Kat. How are you?”

  “We’re great,” Niki said.

  “We heard on the grapevine that you have a specialized teaching degree,” Kat said. “Is that true, and if it is, what did you specialize in?”

  “Teaching the deaf.”

  “Does that mean you have an undergrad degree?” Niki frowned. “You don’t look old enough.”

  Cindy tried to keep the scowl from her face and respond politely. She really liked Kat and Niki. Both the women had been to hell and back because of their mob boss father and his cronies, who thankfully were no longer alive and a threat.

  “Whenever I wasn’t working here, I worked hard studying. I got my degree in under four years. Why are you asking?”

  “We’d like to hire you,” Kat said.

  Cindy blinked at her and, when she noticed she was gaping, quickly shut her mouth. “Are you serious?”

  “As a heart attack,” Niki answered.

  “You want me?” Cindy pointed at her chest.

  “We do.” Kat smiled. “We have a few kids staying at Safe Haven with their moms. One of the girls is deaf, and we’d like you to come and teach the kids.”

  Cindy frowned. “What about the school we have in town? Won’t the principal and the mayor be angry if you start educating the children?”

  “No.” Niki leaned forward, took the pot of coffee from Cindy’s hand, and placed it on the table. “Why don’t you sit down for a minute? The lunch rush is over, and everyone in here has food and coffee.”

  Cindy nodded and sighed when she sat. Her feet were killing her since she’d been on them for close to seven hours. She slid into the booth opposite the two sisters.

  Kat cleared her throat. “The local school is full right now. Any children we have at Safe Haven need more attention from educators because of the things they’ve been and are still going through. We’ve already been in meetings with the school board, the principal, and the mayor this morning, and they’re all happy for us to bring in a teacher so the children staying at the shelter can still learn so they don’t get behind on their education. The mayor even suggested that maybe, eventually, we could build another school on the property. We think it’s a great idea, but we’re going to make sure the school is as far away from the shelter as possible since we don’t want any of the people staying there to feel uncomfortable.”

  “Wow, I can’t believe…” Cindy glanced toward the kit
chen serving window and smiled when she saw Delta gazing her way. Delta smiled back and then turned away. “I’d need to give notice,” she said, meeting both women’s eyes, one after the other. “I don’t want to leave Delta, Violet, and Enya in the lurch.”

  “Loyal and compassionate,” Niki said. “You’ll be a great asset to the shelter, Cindy.”

  “Thanks.” Cindy glanced away when she blushed. “When would you want me to start?”

  “Again ASAP,” Kat said. “You talk things over with your bosses.” Kat dug into her purse and then handed over a business card. Niki did the same. “Our cell phone numbers are on the back. Give one of us a call to let us know when you’ll be available.”

  Cindy nodded, took the business cards, and put them in her pocket. The smile on her face was so wide her cheeks were hurting. She couldn’t believe that things were starting to turn around for her. “You have no idea how thankful I am to you both for this opportunity. I thought I was going to have to move to be able to use my degree. Now I can stay right here in Slick Rock.” She shoved to her feet and grabbed the coffeepot. “I love this town and never want to leave.”

  “We’re with you on that, Cindy. This is the type of town I want my kids growing up in. I know that if anything ever happens to me, everyone else will help to look after my children,” Kat said.

  “Are you pregnant?” Cindy asked.

  “Not yet, but I’m hoping I will be soon,” Kat answered.

  Niki patted her belly and smiled. “I am.”

  “Congratulations.” Cindy clasped Niki’s hand. “I’m so happy for you.”

  “Thank you.”

  Cindy turned when she saw some of the customers heading out after lunch. “I’d better get back to work or my bosses are going to fire me.”