Just Her Luck [Lucky, Montana] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)
Page 1
Lucky, Montana
Just Her Luck
Riley O'Connor has been on the run from her past, but when her luck turns south she ends up in a small town just outside of the Canadian border. She is not used to allowing others to take care of her, however, Riley must face her demons and rely on two strangers. Will she try and run again, or stay and fight for the life she has created for herself with the men she has fallen for?
Cooper and Cash Jackson live a perfect small-town life, but when a small broken woman enters their world with her past following right behind her, the men stick together to try and save her. When an attack on Riley happens, they discover someone within the town is actually behind the attacks. Cooper and Cash are faced with the question of who they can trust to keep her safe.
Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Western/Cowboys
Length: 40,504 words
JUST HER LUCK
Lucky, Montana
Beverly Price
MENAGE AMOUR
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Amour
JUST HER LUCK
Copyright © 2013 by Beverly Price
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62242-619-5
First E-book Publication: March 2013
Cover design by Christine Kirchoff
All cover 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
Dear Readers,
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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.
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This is Beverly Price’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Price’s right to earn a living from her work.
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www.SirenPublishing.com
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DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to my mom and red wine, as both have allowed a way to express my imagination.
Along with my husband, who has been so patient throughout this process. You are my rock, my sounding board, and most importantly my panic!
JUST HER LUCK
Lucky, Montana
BEVERLY PRICE
Copyright © 2013
Chapter One
Riley was on her last leg. She had not had a good night’s sleep in over six months and was running out of money, and she was so hungry. Gas station food was cheap and worked well enough to keep her from starving, but, man, was she hungry for a real meal. Maybe she would have time to try to find something to eat that was cheap tonight before she slept. Probably not. She needed to conserve money and get the heck out of Dodge. She just wished things would go back to how they were before. She was never a really hard person to please. She went to work, came home, and that was it. Nothing fancy for her, even though she lived in Los Angeles her whole life. She did not have any family, as she was an only child to a single mother who passed away when Riley was nineteen, and now at twenty-six she had no one to call her own.
Relationships were few and far between throughout her life. She learned a long time ago that she was the only one she could trust. This was a trait she had picked up after watching her mother fall for man after man while growing up. Riley’s mother only loved two things in life, herself and the security of a man. Unfortunately, the men her mother picked up were all too happy to stay until they tired of her and left, leaving Riley to care for her as if her mother was the child and she the adult.
Making the last stretch into Montana, she figured if she could make it to the next big town and get some sleep, she would make her move from there on her next plan of hiding. She needed to get out of the country, and going to Canada was her only hope.
She was never one to cause any trouble, but when she started to notice money was disappearing from various company accounts set up at the bank, she started to question it. She would take notes on when money would be deposited and when it was withdrawn to certain accounts. She thought it was odd, considering these accounts were set up so authorized personal only could withdrawal and deposit. The company accounts had automatic withdrawals and deposits set into place, so only the owner of the company was authorized to make any changes. However, the owner had not signed in to make these authorizations. However, she did more digging into the new accounts the money was being deposited into. The company was not aware of these transactions. The original amount remained, but large deposits were done twice a week, then moved into another account in an offshore bank account. This was done through various transactions. Riley soon discovered it was a Mexican drug cartel, specifically the lord himself, Caesar De Carlo.
The next day she presented the FBI with the evidence she had found, the FBI took hold of her notes and was in the process of placing her into protective custody. That same day she discovered a bounty was put out for her, as she could testify about money laundering throughout the bank. She was to be placed into custody the next day. She never made it that far. When she was leaving her small one-bedroom apartment, the fire alarms went off. She knew something was wrong. The FBI agents never showed up or called her to tell her where to go when she was ready to leave. Looking out her third-story window, she took notice of the black SUVs out front and large men shouting at each other. They had found her. She did the only thing she could think of, and that was to run. She grabbed the small bag that had the petty cash she stored in her freezer. She left behind her credit cards and cell phone as Riley knew they could be traced. Without looking back, she ran to down the emergency stairs and kept
going.
Riley had to create a fake name and figured keeping her first name would be easy and she could just change her last name. She had been born Riley O’Connor, but now she was simply Riley Connor. It was an easy fix for her to do, but she still needed to be cautious on how often she gave it out. She eventually caught the bus to Portland, Oregon, where she worked as a waitress for a couple of weeks to save enough cash to purchase a cheap used car. The key word was cheap, a blue Gremlin. She got what she paid for and now she was paying for it. The heater was dying, and it started when it felt like it. But it was hers, and she didn’t have money for a new or better one. Her last night in Portland, she went to her little motel she rented weekly when she saw them. They had found her and were waiting. She just drove right by and left everything there but what she happened to keep packed in her little car. She decided then she was heading to Canada. Going over the mountains had put a large strain on her poor little car. Night was coming up, and she needed to find a safe place to park and sleep. It looked like a long stretch of road, and Riley knew that she would start to tire, so she leaned over to turn on the radio. When she looked up, a deer suddenly ran across the road. Trying to avoiding hitting the deer, she swerved, and then everything went black.
* * * *
Cooper Jackson was making the drive back from the city where he needed to pick up some supplies not found in town. Lucky, Montana, was a small community and everybody looked out for one another. He would never trade it for the world. Running a ranch gave him a purpose and a scene of belonging to the town. Once he was over the mountain and heading down the long stretch of road on the other side, Cooper knew he was almost home. Listening to a country station, he drove as he was in a trance, not paying any attention was he went on his way. As he passed the Lucky 32 miles sign, he happened to notice dust and smoke coming up from the side of the road. Someone must have run off the road. He decided to stop as he had his truck and could help pull them out if they needed. Getting out of the truck, Cooper walked over to see if he could help. As he got closer, he noticed a small blue car was smashed up against the side of the ditch and the airbag was inflated.
Man, that car was totaled, and the smell of gas was everywhere. Hoping no one was hurt, he called out. When no one answered, he carefully went over to look at the driver. What he saw caught him off guard. A small auburn-haired woman was slumped over against the side window with blood running down her forehead. Cooper reached into his pocket for his phone and then called 911. He was informing the dispatcher of his location and about the woman in the car when he smelled smoke. He looked over at the car, and smoke was starting to billow out of the engine. She must have done some serious damage. With the smell of gas lingered in the air, Cooper knew he had to get the woman out of the car and quickly as it could go up in flames at any point. He tried to get the door open, but it was jammed. He ran around the other side and was able to crawl across the passenger side and pull the women out that way. Man was she tiny and light. She looked like she hadn’t eaten anything in weeks. Trying to be as careful as he could, he picked her up and ran up to the road to wait for rescue crews. He did a quick scan of her body to see the extent of all her injuries. He could see she had a nasty laceration on her head and bruising on her chest from her seat belt. Thank god she wore that. He looked down and noticed her wrist was swollen. She probably broke or sprained her wrist trying to take control of the car. Everything else looked okay.
Cooper held her in his arms, pushing the hair out of her face, and noticed how pale she looked. She must have lost a lot of blood. He took off his shirt and placed it on the cut on her head, hoping to stop the bleeding. When he covered the cut, she let out a painful moan. Her eyes started to flutter open, and she looked at him. She must have been startled as she tried to get out of his arms. “Whoa there, darlin’, you need to stay still,” he said as he ran his hands over her hair, trying to comfort her. He knew she had to stay still to make sure no more damage was done. She had been lucky she was not killed, but she needed to be checked out.
Riley didn’t know what was going on. The last thing she remembered was driving down a long stretch, playing with the radio, then a deer. “Oh my god, I crashed,” she said as the memories started coming back. Trying to gather her thoughts, she looked up and saw she was being held, and she didn’t know this person holding her. All she knew is she had to get away. She tried to get up but his arms held her down. He was gently rubbing his hands down her hair. Riley felt dizzy and leaned back on his lap. Trying not to throw up on him as the world was spinning around her, she took slow, deep breaths. Trying to think of something to say, she opened her mouth and was cut short by the sounds of an approaching emergency vehicle. The paramedics rushed over and started asking her questions about the date, where she was, and her name.
The paramedics loaded her up onto a stretcher, and the only thing she saw was a concerned look on her rescuer’s face as the doors shut.
Cooper gave a report to the police while the paramedics loaded the women into the back. He kept his eyes on her as she looked frightened and alone. Something pulled at him. He wanted to run up to her and comfort her again and make it all better. He did not want to leave her alone. The paramedics told him that she was being transported to the hospital in the city. Once he finished, he would head over there to make sure she was okay. When he arrived at the hospital, he found she had already had a CAT scan and was waiting for the doctor. She was awake now and talking.
When Cooper walked into the room, he was met with the prettiest blue eyes he had ever seen. She looked like a little nymph or pixie of some sort. She had the most delicate features. Her eyes pierced him, and she had a small upturned nose that accentuated her full, pink lips. She smiled at him, and he was a goner. This broken stranger had piqued his interest. His cock was getting hard just thinking about her smile, and he had to readjust his jeans. The hospital gown she was wearing let him see how well-endowed she was up top, even though her long auburn hair covered a good view of her bare shoulders. At the accident site he did not have time to admire her like he did now, but man was she hot.
Riley smiled at her rescuer and tried not to blush as he was looking at her like he wanted to eat her. She had never had anyone look at her like that before. She cleared her throat as she spoke. “I want to thank you for helping me. I don’t know what happened, but I am sure glad you were there.” Riley could not keep her eyes off him. He was ruggedly handsome and had a real earthiness about him. His brown curly hair hung slightly in his face, and she wanted to run her hands all over it and see if it was as silky as it looked. Even though she was injured and she hurt like hell, she felt her pussy weep with excitement. It was a good thing she wasn’t wearing any panties, or she would have to change them. Riley had not been laid in a long time. Yeah, she had had sex, but she bet this cowboy could take her for a good ride. She felt her nipples start to pebble, and she tried to correct that by pulling to covers up higher. “I didn’t even get your name. I’m Riley,” she said as watched him walk over to her and take the seat next to the bed.
“I’m just glad you’re up and movin’, darlin’. You gave me quite a scare. I’m Cooper, but most people call me Coop,” Cooper said, knowing his country voice rang through as he spoke. Cooper felt excitement when he reached over and took her hand to help reassure her. “Where were you heading, Riley?”
Trying to figure out how much to tell her handsome rescuer, she decided to keep it simple. “I was on my way to Canada, but was going to stop at the next town for the night. Do you know how my car is, or where my stuff is?”
“Sorry to break this to you, but your stuff was in your car, and well, it went up in flames right as the paramedics left. I was able to get your purse for you, but that’s about it.” That was all he was able to say as he watched the pain run across her face like he’d just shot her dog. The doctor came in and told her she needed to stay the night and get a brace on her wrist as she had a bad sprain. The doctor asked if there was anyone he coul
d call, and she told him she had no one. That got Cooper. He could not image life without his family. Even though they drove him nuts, he was grateful nonetheless.
The doctor left, and the nurse ushered him out as she cleaned up Riley and put a brace on her wrist, along with giving her some pain medication. Cooper walked back into the room, and she was sleeping. Not wanting to disturb her, he sat in the chair and just held her hand. He had already spoken with the doctor about letting him stay with her for the night. The doctor was reluctant, but he told a white lie that he was her boyfriend. He wasn’t now, but man, he wouldn’t mind getting to know her better, inside and out. Cooper had to readjust his jeans again and was grateful that he was not into underwear as that would only get in the way. It was going to be a long night.
* * * *
Riley woke up as the sun was coming into her room for the second day in the hospital. A soft snore brought her attention to the side of her bed to where Cooper slept next to her in the chair. His head lay down on her bed. Instincts took over, and she ran her hands through his hair. It was as soft as it looked. His hair was full and silky and all man. She didn’t even realize he had woken up until he spoke. “Darlin’, that feels great, but you need to stop or I might do something you’re not ready for.” Riley stopped her movement when he raised his head.
Cooper had woken up to the softest hand running through his hair. A small act, but it felt really intimate to him. When he spoke, she stopped her movement as he raised his head. He looked up to those eyes to see shock. He was not sure how she would take it, but he wanted nothing more than to lean up and kiss those pouty lips.