Isabella's Submission [Fate Harbor 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Read online

  Fate Harbor 4

  Isabella’s Submission

  A dedicated teacher of homeless children, Isabella Camarena’s life is interrupted by a midnight call threatening her students. Isabella speeds across state to save a family of kidnapped migrant farm workers, but is soon in over her head helping a family lost to the world of human trafficking.

  During an undercover assignment at Isabella’s school, former Special Forces Army Rangers Leif Johansen and Caleb Samuels met Isabella. After the assignment ends, they continue volunteering there, to pursue a relationship with Isabella, only to discover she’s missing.

  After a harrowing rescue, Leif and Caleb bring Isabella home with them to recuperate. She reluctantly agrees so that she can stay close to the rescued children.

  Amid the struggle to ensure the safety of the families, Leif and Caleb are determined to win Isabella’s heart. Despite her fierce independence, Isabella is naïve to the ways in which they want to love her. Can these former Rangers help Isabella embrace her submissive nature?

  Genre: BDSM, Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre

  Length: 89,077 words

  ISABELLA’S SUBMISSION

  Fate Harbor 4

  Caitlyn O’Leary

  MENAGE AMOUR

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Ménage Amour

  ISABELLA’S SUBMISSION

  Copyright © 2014 by Caitlyn O’Leary

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-63258-328-4

  First E-book Publication: September 2014

  Cover design by Harris Channing

  All art and logo copyright © 2014 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 Isabella’s Submission by Caitlyn O’Leary 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 Caitlyn O’Leary’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Caitlyn O’Leary’s right to earn a living from her work.

  Amanda Hilton, Publisher

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  www.BookStrand.com

  DEDICATION

  It is my great pleasure to thank Jenna Perlin, Lynn Davidson, Deb Hinton, and Karen DiGaetano for reading this manuscript and providing insights and comments that made this a better story. Their kindness and support also feeds my soul!

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  ISABELLA’S SUBMISSION

  Fate Harbor 4

  CAITLYN O’LEARY

  Copyright © 2014

  Prologue

  She never ran yellow lights. She always stopped, but this was for a good cause. She prayed that she wasn’t going to be pulled over. Even though, to her amazement, four more cars followed her, she still worried that she would be pulled over. She always stopped for a yellow light. She was so going to be late and everyone would worry that the children wouldn’t have a lunch. Why was Mr. Johnson sick today, and couldn’t pick the food up in his truck as usual? Why did there have to be a shortage of food at the food pantry? Why was there such a long line at the grocery store deli? Why was it so hot outside? Why was the sky blue?

  She pulled into the school parking lot with two minutes to spare. How was she going to get everything to the lunchroom? Somehow she would manage, she always managed. She opened the back door of her economy car and pulled out the sandwiches, fruit juices, desserts, and string cheese she’d bought with the last bit of money in her checking account.

  The bagger had put everything in a huge box for her, and two bags with handles. She should be able to manage it in just one trip, if she wasn’t wearing her heels. She took them off, wrapped them in a towel she had in her car, and carefully placed them in the box so they wouldn’t touch the food. Glancing over the parking lot, she saw the two men who had been repairing the playground for the last week. She was always looking at them. She knew she was staring. Never had she been so fascinated with a man. Men. How could she be fascinated with two men?

  She admonished herself to focus on the task at hand. The asphalt was hot, and she was probably going to shred her hose in her stocking feet, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was getting the food to the children. Most of them had come to school without breakfast. The lunch that the school provided was often their first meal of the day. Her arms trembled as she made her way across the parking lot. She had briefly considered parking closer to the building but that was against the rules. She had already run a yellow light, so she was most definitely not going to park anywhere but in the designated parking space. Isabella had broken enough rules in her life. She didn’t need to add any more sins to her slate.

  “Da—” She caught herself before she cursed aloud. She was careful not to even swear in her mind. Her parents had not cursed, and even as a teenager she had not gotten into the habit. She admired her mother and father. They were
amazing and loving people who had rarely made requests of her, rather they just acted as strong role models. Isabella had been happy striving to be like them as she grew up. Even now, six years after their deaths, she still tried to live up to their standards, even though there had been that dark time when she had failed miserably.

  “Holy moly!” she cried out, rushing faster, trying to save her feet. She saw some parking lot lines painted onto the asphalt. She made her way that direction, knowing it would be cooler on her feet. She concentrated on putting one foot exactly in front of the other to minimize the pain on her foot soles, while still hurrying.

  Maybe I should have parked closer to the building.

  “Isabella, what in the fuck—”

  “Grab it!”

  As the box began slipping from her hands, it was easily caught by the man named Caleb Samuels, who was now in front of her smiling. The two bags that she had hanging on her wrists were still fine, but they were causing almost as much pain as the hot ground was on her feet. Caleb held the box with one hand, and with the other he unwrapped the bags, and within seconds he was holding those as well. Now that Isabella was no longer weighted down with food, she started taking little hops in order to get away from the heat of the pavement. Her eyes were beginning to water from the pain. She didn’t want the handsome man in front of her to notice her weakness, so she lowered her eyes and tried to keep her squirming down to a minimum.

  “Christ, woman, are you out of your mind? What are you doing without shoes on? Your feet will blister on this asphalt!” Isabella spun around to be confronted by an angry Viking.

  Leif Johansen had to be six foot four if he was an inch. His white-blond hair, blue eyes, and high cheekbones were the stuff of dreams…her dreams. But he always seemed to have a stern expression, except when dealing with the children—then it would soften. Right now he seemed downright angry, and Isabella wished she was anywhere but forced to face him.

  “The children needed their lunches.”

  “They didn’t need their teacher to burn herself in the process.” Before she could even respond, Isabella found herself swept up in the big man’s arms. She was actually being held by a man! Her entire brain shorted out. If not for her short-circuiting, she would have protested as he carried her toward the small, dilapidated building that housed the Cesar Chavez School. Being carried was undignified, she thought, as she marveled at this man’s strength. She assured herself that the flutter of nerves in the pit of her stomach was due to her fear of falling, and had nothing to do with the feel of all the muscle that she was currently nestled against. Yeah, right, Isabella, and you’ll also be able to afford something besides Top Ramen for dinner before your next paycheck!

  As soon as they crossed the threshold into the building, she expected to be put down. Instead, Leif Johansen continued to carry her past the room that tripled as the gymnasium, auditorium, and lunchroom.

  “Why aren’t we going with Mr. Samuels?”

  “How bad do your feet hurt?” Now there was a question she didn’t want to answer, especially when Leif Johansen was looking so fierce. Great, she had a Nordic warrior who was mad at her, literally holding her captive, and parts of her seemed to like it! Isabella shoved those thoughts deep down. They did not belong in a good woman’s consciousness, and like swearing, she was not going to put up with them.

  “Mr. Johansen, please put me down.” She wished that she sounded a little more firm, more like Mrs. Pierson, but she never did when she was trying to speak up for herself. This little idiosyncrasy was just one more quirk in the nature of Isabella Camarena.

  “I will as soon as we get someplace that I can take a look at your feet.” He walked so quickly, she found that she was pressed even closer to his chest, or maybe he was just holding her closer. She wasn’t sure which it was, but it was making even more butterflies take flight inside her tummy. She looked up at him through her thick eyelashes. Instead of appearing angry, he now looked grim. Even with that expression he still looked good. Stop it! She closed her eyes, and then found herself picturing Caleb Samuels with his smooth black skin and warm green eyes that always seemed to be dancing in her direction.

  Before she had a chance to realize it, she was carefully placed atop her desk. It rocked back and forth under her weight.

  “Damn it, is there nothing in this place that isn’t ready to fall apart?”

  “Mr. Johansen, do not swear. There might be children about. Also, this is a very good school, and the teachers’ desks are satisfactory to their task. It is the children’s desks that matter.” Isabella’s tone was the one she used when taking a child to task.

  “I guess she told you, Leif!” She looked up to see Caleb Samuels strolling into her classroom. He was toting a cooler that she had seen the men bring with them every day to store their lunch. In his other hand, he held her shoes.

  The men had been coming to the school for the last eight days on a volunteer basis to do repairs. She didn’t understand their motivation, but she thanked God for their generosity and competence.

  “There was no point in bringing her the shoes. You should have brought the first aid kit.” Although his voice was even, it was clear he was not pleased with his friend. Caleb laughed.

  “The kit is in the cooler, and our Miss Bella would have been asking for her shoes if I hadn’t brought them, now wouldn’t you?”

  Isabella couldn’t find her voice, because Leif Johansen chose that moment to gently take her right foot into his big hand. He stroked the fingers of his other hand down the sole of her foot and she gasped.

  “Hurts, doesn’t it?”

  “It’s not too bad,” she said through the pain. His eyes captured hers.

  “Don’t ever lie to me again. Are we clear, baby?” Her jaw dropped open and she was amazed that the swirling butterflies didn’t come flying out. She nodded. The big man inserted his fingers into the holes in her stockings and ripped them, so that soon her foot was bare.

  “You’re not thinking that through, man,” Caleb said as he set down the cooler and pulled out the first aid kit. Leif looked her up and down as Isabella realized she was beginning to think of the men by their first names.

  “Shit, you’re right.”

  “Mr. Johansen, I told—”

  “There are no children around. Caleb already shut the door, and lowered the shade.” Once again he looked at her foot and her leg as it led up under her skirt. She squeezed her legs tightly together. She thought for just an instant that she saw his lips twitch upward, but then he looked over his shoulder at his partner. “Go and lock the door, Caleb.”

  “I’m on it.”

  “That’s not proper, Mr. Johansen. Mr. Samuels, do not lock the door. The children should be able to return to the classroom when they wish to do so.” Isabella watched Caleb’s smooth movements as he made his way to the door and locked it. He turned back to her and winked.

  “We’ll turn around and you can take off your nylons, Isabella. Then we’ll apply the antiseptic and bandages,” Leif said as he gently released her foot against the side of the desk.

  “I’m not wearing nylons, it was too hot today. I’m wearing thigh highs.” Both men stopped as they were turning around. Caleb slowly turned back toward her, as Leif continued turning toward the classroom door.

  “I like thigh highs, Bella. Thanks for sharing.” Madre de Dios, now both men were causing butterflies to form, but this one made her smile. Just a little. She shook her head at him, just as she often did at one of her favorite students, little Victor. She twirled her hand at him in a commanding gesture, and he turned his back. She looked at them, and noticed that they both stood ramrod straight. She remembered that when Olivia Prescott had volunteered here as a substitute teacher she had said that both men had retired from the military, which probably explained their exemplary posture.

  Neither of the men seemed like the type to peek at her as she raised her skirt to take off her stockings, but still she couldn’t bring herself to take
the chance. The safest option was to walk around to the back of the desk and hike up her skirt there. As she was lowering herself off the desk, the one short leg hit the ground.

  “Isabella, get back up on the desk.” She stared at the short white-blonde hair on the back of Leif’s head, looking to see if he sported an extra set of eyes.

  “Bella, we’re not going to look, and you don’t want to upset the Major. Take off your thigh highs, and we’ll put on the antiseptic. You want to be ready for the kids when they get back from lunch, don’t you?” She looked at the back of the perfectly smooth shaved head of Caleb Samuels, realizing that both men were very aware of their surroundings. During the time that Olivia worked at the school, she had been in some sort of trouble, and Leif and Caleb had served as her bodyguards. Now Isabella understood how effective they must have been in that role.

  “Sweetheart, I’ve already seen what a looker you are, without having to invade your privacy. I’ve noticed your great legs, your gorgeous brown eyes, and creamy caramel skin.” Isabella sat there stunned. It sounded like the man thought she was attractive. She knew she was just her normal, plain, boring brown self. He was just a flirt trying to make her feel good, so she put his words out of her brain and concentrated on the task at hand.

  She tried reaching up under her skirt, but found it impossible. Finally, she just pulled it up and quickly yanked off the stockings. As she pulled her skirt back down, both men turned around in perfect accord. She didn’t know how they could have heard her, but they obviously had. Her amazement must have shown on her face, because Caleb gave her one of those charming smiles. She imagined that it was a grin that had gotten him out of all manner of trouble throughout his life. Leif, meanwhile, marched over to her and gently lifted her foot. He was still holding the antiseptic that he had taken from the first aid kit before telling her to take off her stockings.