Plenty of Trust [Plenty, FL 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Lara Valentine

  Plenty, FL 4

  Plenty of Trust

  Ava Bryant moved to Plenty to start a new life. She’s been avoiding relationships. She has a lying, cheating ex-husband as proof of her lousy taste in men. She’ll be just fine on her own.

  Brayden Tyler, Falk O’Neill, and Josh Ryder moved to Plenty to start a new life, too. One look at Ava and they want her in that life. She’s been burned but agrees to give them three dates to prove they’re good men and can be trusted.

  Ava’s not sure being with them is a good idea. They’re too handsome, too sexy, and too alpha. When she starts dating them, it’s all too good to be true. But the men haven’t told her they have a secret from their past. A secret that won’t seem to go away. When the past comes to Plenty, can they keep Ava safe in their strong arms? Or will the secret rip the lovers apart, just as they’ve found happiness?

  Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre

  Length: 60,904 words

  PLENTY OF TRUST

  Plenty, FL 4

  Lara Valentine

  MENAGE EVERLASTING

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting

  PLENTY OF TRUST

  Copyright © 2013 by Lara Valentine

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-62242-891-5

  First E-book Publication: May 2013

  Cover design by Les Byerley

  All art and logo copyright © 2013 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

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  PLENTY OF TRUST

  Plenty, FL 4

  LARA VALENTINE

  Copyright © 2013

  Chapter One

  “I am not going to ask three men to dance.”

  Ava Bryant shook her head. “No way.” These women were not going to talk her into something she would most certainly regret, if not tonight, then tomorrow when her pomegranate martini wore off. It didn’t matter that the three men in question were the sexiest, hottest men she’d ever laid eyes on. She wasn’t going to do it.

  She was having a girls’ night out at Party Like a Rock Star, a local nightclub on the edge of town, with Cassie, Jillian, and Becca. She loved these women like sisters, but they were out of their minds at the moment.

  “C’mon, go ask them to dance. You know you want to,” Jillian urged. Jillian was auburn-haired, green-eyed, and the most daring of the group. She and Cassie had moved to Plenty a little over a year ago and had quickly been snapped up by handsome, sexy men. Cassie was married to Zach and Chase Harper, local businessmen, and Jillian was married to Ryan and Jack Parks.

  “No. I don’t ask men to dance. I’m an old-fashioned kind of girl.”

  She really was the old-fashioned type. Despite living the past several years in Chicago, being married to a rich, successful surgeon, and attending cocktail parties on Lakeshore Drive, she really was still the little girl from Bloomington, Illinois.

  Cassie signaled for another round. Her blue eyes sparkled. “You can be old fashioned up to a point. But they’ve been chasing you since you hit town six months ago, and you’ve been running away. Now they’ve decided to give you some breathing room, which is nice, but you need to let them know you’re interested.”

  “I’m not interested.” Maybe if she said it often enough, she would come to believe it.

  Becca laughed and rubbed her swollen belly. She was a pretty, petite blonde who was very pregnant and absolutely glowing.

  “Liar, liar, pants on fire. You’re very interested. You can’t let one mistake put you off men for a lifetime.”

  Ava would hardly call her disaster of a marriage a mere mistake. It had been a failure of epic proportions.

  “I’m not interested in a relationship with three men. How can one woman keep three men happy? I couldn’t keep one man happy, apparently.”

  Jillian slammed her glass down on the table. “Stop that shit right now. Your husband was an asshole. A real shit. His problems didn’t have a damn thing to do with you. The men in Plenty know how to treat a woman. One thing I’ve learned is the men here really respect women. Those men over there wouldn’t be tomcatting around behind your back.” Jillian glanced at the table where Josh Ryder, Brayden Tyler, and Falk O’Neill were sitting mere yards from their own. “What exactly are you not interested in? How handsome they are? How successful they are? How they give back to the community? What is it that turns you off?”

  “Technically, they’re not from Plenty. They’re from New York.” Ava took a fortifying sip of her martini. She knew Jillian well enough by now to know she wasn’t going to let this go.

  “So, okay, I’m interested. They are handsome and all those other things. But I’m not looking for a relationship. I’m fine on my own.”

  Cassie giggled. “You’re crazy, Ava. You can’t have a relationship with a vibrator. They’re fun, but they don’t hold a candle to the real thing.”

  Perhaps she was crazy. Any other woman would have welcomed the attention of these men. They were nice, smart, handsome, and solid business owners in Plenty. At one time in her life, she would have counted herself luc
ky. Well, she wouldn’t have known what to do with three men back then, but any one of them would have been a catch. Ava smothered a laugh. Who was she kidding? She didn’t know what to do with three men even now. They oozed testosterone, sexuality radiating from every pore of their tanned skin. She’d be a fool to try to satisfy them.

  But it was tempting. They were like catnip to a cat, each one of them handsome in their own way. Josh with his tousled blond hair and soft brown eyes, Brayden with his dark brown hair clipped short and his unusual silver-gray eyes, and Falk with his golden-brown hair that just brushed his shoulders. His eyes were a dark blue, almost violet, with thick dark lashes that looked almost ridiculous on a man.

  “I’m not planning on having a relationship with my vibrator, but if I did it would always call when it said it would and tell me I look pretty.”

  “You are pretty and I hope that’s not a comprehensive list of what you look for in a man. It doesn’t seem very complete. Maybe we should make a new list.”

  Becca’s phone rang and she rolled her eyes. “I swear these men are going to be the death of me. Hold on, and then we can make that list. I love lists. Hello, honey!”

  Ava couldn’t stop her smile. Becca was married to two of the most wonderful men in the world who adored and doted on her, especially now she was carrying their child. Mark and Travis were good and decent men. Ava should know. She had been Mark’s nurse for the last several years in Chicago and had moved down here at his request to continue her work.

  “I’m fine, Mark. Yes, the baby and I are just fine. I’m drinking juice and checking my ankles for swelling. So far, so good. Yes, I talked to Justin about the noise, although the baby is asleep in a sea of fluid so I don’t think he can hear it, babe.”

  Justin owned the nightclub and was a good friend of Becca’s. She nodded and listened, giving the women a long-suffering look. Her men were extremely protective.

  “I love you. Very much. I need to get off the phone now. Jillian wants to do shots off the abs of some cowboy. Bye!”

  Jillian dropped her head in her hands. “Shit, Becca. I’ve barely been married and you’re going to get me in big trouble. If Mark mentions that to Ryan and Jack, they’re going to come here and drag me bodily from the building.”

  Ava chuckled. She loved being part of this tight-knit group. “Becca can blame it on pregnancy hormones. I think Mark will know Becca’s kidding, though.”

  “I hope so. You know how Ryan and Jack can be.”

  Cassie sipped her martini. “Zach and Chase aren’t much different.”

  Jillian shook her head. “Zach is the picture of cool control.”

  Cassie’s eyes softened. “He can lose control. He can show emotion. It’s just harder for him. He saw so much horror in Afghanistan.”

  Her gaze swung back to Ava. “Getting back to you, my friend. Those men have been following you around town with their tongues hanging out. Have a little mercy, and at the very least go talk to them. If you don’t, I’ll just go over and invite them to join us. For the rest of the evening.”

  “Is that a threat? I’m from Chicago and we don’t take kindly to those.”

  A smile played on Cassie’s lips. “I’m from Chicago, too, so take it any way you want. I’ve got practically the entire town at my back. Everyone is rooting for you all to get together.”

  Ava groaned. “I’m still getting used to living in a small town where everyone knows your everything. I’m used to being a face in a crowd.”

  The women laughed and Becca raised her glass. “Welcome to Plenty, Ava. Where everyone knows your name, address, phone number, and romantic entanglements. Oh, and keep your drapes closed.”

  * * * *

  Josh peeled the label from his longneck and tried not to look obvious about watching Ava Bryant. She was fucking gorgeous with her long, dark hair, bright green eyes, and full, lush lips that begged to kissed. She was also giving him and his best friends the brush-off of their lives. Ava acted as if she wanted nothing to do with them. He knew it was just an act. He could see the heat in her expression when she was near any of them. She wasn’t too convincing about her lack of interest.

  “Why are we sitting here with cold beers and hard dicks? Let’s just go over and talk to her, for fuck’s sake.”

  Josh shook his head. “Shit, Falk. She doesn’t want to talk to us. And my dick’s not hard, asshole. I have some self-control, even if you don’t. I’m just trying to respect her wishes. She’s scared to death of getting involved. Her ex-husband must have done a real number on her.”

  Falk gave him a hard look. “It was a figurative hard-on, asshole. I’m a man of action and sitting here like some hard-up high school kid watching the popular cheerleader at the big game is not something I fucking enjoy. If we want her, let’s go get her. We’ve been pussyfooting around for months. I’m tired of this. What do you think, Bray?”

  Brayden Tyler leaned back in his chair. Brayden didn’t always have much to say, but when he did, he didn’t waste words.

  “Life’s too fucking short to keep lusting after her and then going home to rub one out. If we want her, we need to pull up our balls, act like men, and go after her. Show her we’re not like her ex. She has trust issues we’ll need to overcome, but it’s nothing we can’t handle.”

  Josh leaned forward, his arms resting on his splayed knees. “I don’t like the fact that we’re keeping a secret from her. We’re planning to ask her to trust us, but we’re not trusting her. It seems wrong.”

  Brayden frowned. “It is wrong. But what choice do we have? I don’t want to drag her into our pasts. We’ve been cleared of any wrongdoing. And for good reason. We didn’t fucking do anything illegal. I wish I could say the same for some of our coworkers, but I can’t. Hell, some of our friends didn’t believe we were innocent. I’m not sure we can ask Ava to trust us quite that much at this early stage in our relationship.”

  Falk grimaced. “Roger called me again. I didn’t pick up. He left another voice mail saying he needs to talk to us.”

  Josh groaned and shook his head. “When was this? We’re supposed to tell each if either Roger or Troy tries to contact us. Fuck, we know what they want. The Feds seized their assets and they’ve probably run through all their cash.”

  Falk held up his hands. “Earlier tonight. I hadn’t had a chance to tell you yet. And I didn’t fucking answer. If it’s someone I don’t know, I let it go to voice mail. That’s our rule, right?”

  Brayden shook his head and stared sightlessly out at the dance floor. “Right. I can’t believe they’re trying to contact us. Fuck, they skipped bail and are on the run. Why do they think we would help them?”

  There was a long silence before Josh spoke, his shoulders slumped. “Because they think we’re as guilty as they are. They think we got away with it.”

  Brayden’s hands tightened into fists. “We didn’t do a fucking thing. We’ve been investigated so thoroughly the Feds know what my favorite sexual positions are. We came here to start a new life, dammit. That’s what we’re going to do. And we’re going to do it with Ava.”

  Falk nodded. “I agree. I don’t want our past to interfere with the future. We think Ava might be the one. I want a chance to get to know her and see if she is. But, I want us to agree now that we will tell her about New York. As soon as we think she trusts us enough, we tell her. Agreed?”

  Josh nodded grimly. “Agreed. She has to want us, and that includes New York. Brayden?”

  “Agreed. I wish we could tell her now, honestly. I don’t feel good about this. She’s so skittish, she’ll use any reason to build walls between us. But if we tell her we were investigated for insider trading, she might think we actually did it. She doesn’t have the highest opinion of men from what I’ve seen.”

  Brayden lifted his beer to his lips, but paused. “How about we start our campaign right now? She’s coming back from the bar. Ask her to dance, Josh, then bring her back here. She’s most comfortable with you.”

 
; Josh craned his neck to find her in the crowd and felt the rush of arousal that had become so familiar whenever Ava was around. She was tiny but with slamming curves that made a man’s mouth water. Those curves were highlighted tonight in a silky green wraparound dress that ended midthigh. His gaze followed those shapely legs down to her sexy high-heeled, matching sandals. He could already imagine those legs wrapped around his waist, those heels digging into his ass as he fucked them both to oblivion.

  He pushed through the crowd, determined to talk to her. Brayden and Falk were right. They wouldn’t get anywhere waiting for her to come to them. They would be old and gray, and wouldn’t be able to get it up anymore. They certainly wouldn’t be of any use to her then.

  Her eyes widened as she realized he was heading straight for her. She froze, bringing Becca to a halt, also. He gave them his most charming smile.

  “Becca, Ava, how are you ladies this evening? Having fun?”

  Becca gave him a knowing smile. “Yes, we are. Country night is just as fun as eighties night. Do you like country music, Josh?”

  He answered Becca, but kept his eyes on Ava. She was chewing on her lower lip at the moment, with a crinkle forming between her beautiful green eyes.

  “I can live with it. How about a dance, Ava?”

  “Um, well, I’m here with the girls tonight.”

  She looked nervous and very cute. Becca grinned at him before turning to Ava. “Go ahead and dance. Have fun.” She sighed. “Hell, I have to go the bathroom again. God, I wish this little boy would find somewhere to sleep besides on my bladder.” She turned back to the ladies’ room. “I’ll see you back at the table.”