by Jane Jamison
Men for Hire: Firemen 1
Burnin’ Love
Fiery redhead Daisy Winters is always ready to help someone in trouble. When she runs into Melissa, a pregnant girl on the run from not only an abusive gay lover, but her baby’s daddy, she goes into help mode.
Paul Winchester and brothers Wade and Troy Chambliss are part of a newly formed Firemen for Hire team. They have no problem fighting fires, but keeping Daisy and Melissa out of the fire is a lot harder than battling any inferno.
But fire isn’t the only kind of heat Daisy stirs up. They can feel the heat for her in every inch of their bodies. It’s a burnin’ love that threatens to consume all of them.
Just when they think the danger has passed, Daisy and the men are thrown back into the fire. Can the men save the woman they love without getting burned alive?
Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre
Length: 53,048 words
BURNIN' LOVE
Men for Hire: Firemen 1
Jane Jamison
MENAGE EVERLASTING
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting
BURNIN' LOVE
Copyright © 2013 by Jane Jamison
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62740-798-4
First E-book Publication: November 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
Dear Readers,
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DEDICATION
Dear Reader,
The Men for Hire series was created to include books about men of varying occupations whose primary goals in life are to help women in need. Daisy Winters, owner of Miss Daisy’s Bed and Breakfast, was a secondary character in that series who simply demanded—along with some of my readers—to have a book of her own.
Burnin’ Love (Men for Hire: Firemen Edition 1) was a natural combination of the “men helping women” theme and Daisy’s own story.
I hope you enjoy the book!
Jane Jamison
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Epilogue
About the Author
BURNIN' LOVE
Men for Hire: Firemen 1
JANE JAMISON
Copyright © 2013
Chapter One
Daisy Winters strolled down the street, pausing every so often to glance into a shop window. Although many of the stores were enticing, she didn’t go inside to check out anything she saw. After all, she really hadn’t come to Tulsa to shop, although she planned on doing a bit of that, too. Her main objective was simply to get out of Destiny for a while.
Destiny, Oklahoma was her favorite place in the entire world, but a person had to get a break every so often. A break that included getting away from the bed and breakfast that she owned. She glanced at her reflection in one of the windows.
Her red hair and Asian looks threw a lot of people when they came to Miss Daisy’s B&B. They always expected to find an elderly Caucasian gray-haired woman running the place and baking cookies for all her visitors. They would’ve been right if they’d come to the place when her great-grandmother was running it. But aside from her name, she wasn’t anything like her great-grandmother.
She tugged on her leopard-print T-shirt. It didn’t matter much what the weather was, she tended to stick to animal print shirts, skin-tight black leggings and ankle-high black boots. Why wear anything else when she looked so damn hot in her regular outfit? Besides, comfort, not fashion, was her priority.
Still, she reassessed her looks with a more critical examination. If she could change anything about herself, it would be her body. She wasn’t skinny, but she didn’t have the curves that would give her the voluptuous womanly appearance that she envied. Her friend Alex Martin had that kind of body and it hadn’t taken her any time at all to fall in love with a couple of hot men from the Cowboys for Hire organization. She leaned closer to the glass. She did have a lot of assets, however. Her eyes were lit up and her skin was a lovely olive color and unblemished, so she really didn’t have much to complain about.
“Maybe a different haircut would give me a fresh look.” She fingered the tip of her dyed red hair. She’d worn her hair in various ways over the years, from short and spikey to as it was now, longer and in a blunt cut that skimmed her shoulders. Variety was the spice of life and Daisy loved spice. Along with her daily hot toddy. That would never change.
In fact, she could use a hot toddy right about now. She turned on her heel and started back to her car. Once she got back to the home she’d rented for the next week, she’d fix herself a generous cup of hot honey tea spiked with a heavy dose of good old bourbon.
The sound of someone crying caught her
attention and she stopped, scanning the street around her. She didn’t see anyone, but the sound was getting closer. She waited to see if the person crying would come her way.
Hopefully, then she’d know what she could do to help, if anything.
A young girl whipped around the corner of the building, her long blonde locks flying out from her body as she ran. Tears streamed down her face, but it was the fear in her eyes that had Daisy holding up her hands, ready to get the girl to stop. Whatever was going on was bad, but the girl didn’t look like she had any control over where she was headed. She was in flight mode and probably not thinking clearly. In that condition, she could easily rush out into the middle of the road without checking the traffic.
“Hey, hold up.” Daisy caught the girl’s arm as she dashed past her.
The girl swung around and tried to yank her arm free. “No! Let me go!”
But Daisy hung on. “I will as soon as you stop and take a breather. Running like a crazy woman isn’t going to help.”
The girl’s wide blue eyes darted behind Daisy then finally landed on her. “Please. I have to get out of here.”
At least she’d calmed down a little. But she still kept checking the area behind Daisy as though she expected a wild animal to leap out of nowhere and attack her.
“What’s wrong? Why are you crying? Did someone hurt you?” She had many more questions, but she didn’t want to overwhelm her.
The girl swallowed and wiped away the tears, making tracks through her makeup. “It’s Charlie. I have to get away from Charlie.”
If Daisy could’ve made only one guess, she would’ve bet that the girl was running from a man. She’d seen more than her fair share of women throughout the years that had made their way to Second Chance Ranch and the Cowboys for Hire teams because of a man.
“Calm down.” Daisy took a look to see if anyone was coming around the corner. If Charlie wasn’t already on them, then it was a good chance that she’d gotten far enough away to lose him. “You’re safe with me.”
The girl’s incredulous expression showed that she couldn’t imagine how a short, petite Asian lady could ever keep her safe. But Daisy was used to people underestimating her. “Come on. Let’s duck into this store and you can tell me all about it. You’ll be safe inside with me.”
The girl came willingly enough. Daisy gave the woman behind the sales counter a quick reassuring smile, then tugged the girl farther back into the store. Using a display rack to shield them from the woman’s curious eyes, she took both of the girl’s arms and met her gaze.
“Okay, now, let’s start from the top. And remember to breathe.” She rubbed the girl’s arms, trying to soothe her. “My name’s Daisy Winters. What’s yours?”
As Daisy had half-expected, the girl clammed up. She trembled and kept glancing toward the front of the store.
Daisy gave her a comforting smile. “It’s okay. I’m here to help and if I can’t help you, I know people who can.” It seemed that introductions would have to wait until later. “Is someone after you?”
The girl bit her lower lip and nodded.
She was going to have to pry the information out of her. “Are you afraid that this someone is going to do physical harm to you?” It was a stilted way of asking the question, but she’d learned that sometimes the best way to get to the nitty-gritty of a situation was to come at it sideways.
She tried not to groan when the girl shook her head. Although she doubted the girl was mute, she had to go about questioning her in a delicate way. Or at least as delicately as she knew how.
“Okay. So this person’s not going to hurt you physically.” Sometimes it helped not to refer to the attacker as a man. Calling him “this person” put distance between the frightened woman and the man just long enough for the girl to calm down. Once she was calm, she’d give better, clearer answers.
The deep breaths she took encouraged Daisy, telling her that she was on the right path. “How about mentally? Is this person trying to control you?” She’d purposefully asked two different questions so the girl couldn’t simply nod or shake her head.
“Charlie doesn’t want to let me go. I can’t do anything by myself. I can’t leave when I want to.”
Aw, shit. It’s about a controlling boyfriend for sure.
She’d seen enough of those kinds of guys in her lifetime. Thankfully, none that had anything to do with her. She’d had a relatively uneventful life before taking over the B&B. Although she dressed a bit wilder than the rest of the citizens of Destiny, she liked the laid-back, non-dramatic life. A drama queen she wasn’t.
“Was Charlie chasing you?”
“Y–yes. To make me come back.”
“Do you live with Charlie?” It was like playing Twenty Questions, except not as fun.
“Uh-uh.”
“But Charlie’s bothering you, pressuring you, showing up at your home?” Now that she’d calmed down, she could use the attacker’s name. Little steps helped a lot when dealing with young girls stuck in a horrible situation.
Still, she needed to be careful. As much as she didn’t want to put answers into her mouth, Daisy couldn’t think of another way to get the information she needed. Since the girl had been harassed by Charlie, Daisy didn’t want to come across as too insistent. It might frighten her off. Or worse, send her straight back into Charlie’s arms.
She started crying again, the rush of words chopped up between her sniffs. “Charlie’s too possessive. I wanted…break up with…but…wouldn’t stop coming around…found out John and I are…a baby and…crazy.”
It was enough info for Daisy to piece together a good scenario of what had happened. The girl’s boyfriend found out that she’d cheated on him. To make matters worse, she was pregnant, and if Daisy had to hazard a guess, she’d say it was the lover’s and not Charlie’s baby. All the girl needed now was to have human traffickers snatch her, sell her baby and then send her to some third-world country to become a sex slave. Then, to make matters worse, she’d end up on the Jerry Springer show.
“All right. Now we’re getting somewhere. Let’s try again, okay?” She turned the girl loose and stuck out her hand. “I’m Daisy Winters and you’re…”
“Melissa Myers.”
They were definitely making progress. “Nice to meet you, Melissa.”
She caught the store lady peeking around the edge of a nearby display case. “How about we go into that diner across the street? We can talk there and figure out what you’re going to do next.” She shot the lady a stern look that told her to butt out. “Away from prying eyes and ears. Sound good?”
Melissa nodded and let Daisy lead her out of the store. She had to tug her across the street because Melissa wanted to hug the walls of the storefronts, trying to hide herself in the corners and shadows. But Daisy didn’t think Charlie was going to show up. He would’ve done so by now. And even if he did, she’d do whatever she had to do to keep Melissa safe.
Inside the café, Daisy ushered Melissa to a table, then ordered two teas for them at the counter. She only wished she could’ve added a shot of whiskey to hers, but the place didn’t have any liquor. The calming effects of the booze might’ve helped Melissa, but since she was preggers, that ruled out that method of relaxation.
Daisy settled into the seat opposite Melissa and placed one of the cups in front of her. “Here’s the deal. If you’re being harassed by Charlie, then we need to either get you to the police to make a report or—”
Melissa’s terrific gasp had Daisy taking her suggestions in the opposite direction. “Okay, no cops. For now, at least. Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. I–I can’t. If I did, then Charlie would go ballistic. I’m not sure what would happen then. No, please. I just need to get away so I can think.”
“I can understand that.” Daisy took a sip and glanced at Melissa’s cup to encourage her to take a drink. After she did, Daisy tried again. “Do you have any family you can call? If they’re around here, I can drive you
over to their place.”
Tears began to well up in Melissa’s eyes again. Talking about her family had struck a nerve.
“My family disowned me when I got involved with Charlie. They didn’t approve of our relationship.”
Daisy bit back the urge to remind her that her family had probably been right. Right about their assessment of Charlie, but wrong in the way that they’d let their feelings known. No doubt their disapproval had sent Melissa straight into Charlie’s arms—and into his bed.
She wasn’t sure why she felt the need to ask. Just something about the situation seemed off.
“Melissa, is Charlie older than you?”
The girl blinked her big blue eyes. “Uh-huh. How’d you know?”
“Just a hunch.” She’d seen enough older guys take advantage of young girls. Not that it was always the case, but it seemed to be that way a lot more than Daisy liked to think.
“I just want to get away and think without Charlie bothering me.”
“Then let’s figure out a safe place for you to go.”
The girl had a sweet, oval-shaped face that could’ve adorned the cover of any teen magazine. But the look she gave Daisy held the suspicion that no young girl’s face ever should. “Why do you want to help me? You don’t even know me.”
“I don’t have to know you to help you. A blind man can see that you’re in trouble. And if I can help, I will.”
“It’s just that simple?”
“Yeah. It’s just that simple.”