Trusting Chance [Fate Harbor] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Read online

  Fate Harbor

  Trusting Chance

  Josie Decker and Chance Reynolds knew each other years ago when they were in the same foster home, before Josie’s birth mother reclaimed her. Now, Chance and his best friend, Sam Booth an Afghan war veteran are living in Fate Harbor, Washington, when Josie reestablishes ties with her foster parents and opens a bakery in the quaint town.

  Chance realizes that growing up with her birth mother has left Josie with physical and emotional scars and a deep belief that she is unworthy of love. Fate Harbor is very accepting of triad alliances, and Chance believes that the relationship that will ultimately heal Josie is one that includes both he and Sam. Sam’s recent trauma, fighting for his country, has left him beyond hurt.

  Chance has despaired of saving the brother of his heart, but finding Josie again has given him hope, and a plan. Can the three of them make the perfect future together?

  Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre

  Length: 85,203 words

  TRUSTING CHANCE

  Fate Harbor

  Caitlyn O’Leary

  MENAGE AMOUR

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Ménage Amour

  TRUSTING CHANCE

  Copyright © 2014 by Caitlyn O’Leary

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-62741-610-8

  First E-book Publication: April 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 Trusting Chance 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

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  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 Ms. O’Leary’s right to earn a living from her work.

  Amanda Hilton, Publisher

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  www.BookStrand.com

  DEDICATION

  Thanks to my sister, husband, and aunt who continue to be my biggest supporters.

  Thanks to Deb and Maria for reading this book and providing great feedback!

  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

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  About the Author

  TRUSTING CHANCE

  Fate Harbor

  CAITLYN O’LEARY

  Copyright © 2014

  Prologue

  “Damn it, Betty, have you forgotten the forty grand you lost two years ago?” Chance asked.

  “Okay, so I trusted someone I shouldn’t have. Josie isn’t like that. Chance, you remember Josie. You loved her when you were children. You were heartbroken when her mother took her back and she had to leave. I know that I can trust Josie, and you should know that too,” Betty said, calmly defending her former foster daughter. She took his coffee cup and went to the counter to get him a refill. “Honey, you really drink too much coffee.”

  “We were talking about you being too trusting. I worry about you and Butch. I don’t want to see you taken advantage of, Betty. What happens if Josie found out you guys are loaded, and she is just reestablishing ties because she wants to bilk you too?”

  “Then I’ll probably give her some money, because she would need it for a good reason,” Betty said. Chance’s eye began to twitch. “Anyway, you know exactly how much Butch and I have, because you’re the one who handled all of our investments. We’re quite comfortable, and I thank you. You made sure all the people you love were taken care of, because that’s the kind of man you are.” She patted her foster son’s hand. “But you’re wrong about Josie. We’ve been talking on Skype for a month now, and she hasn’t asked for a thing. She’s grown into a lovely woman.” Now his other eye was beginning to twitch.

  After he left Betty’s house, Chance called the private investigation firm that his old company had used. He hired them to run a background check on Josie Decker. He intended to know everything there was to know about his former foster sister before her next Skype call with Betty Hutchins. He ended up missing the next two calls because he was out of town for meetings with his charities, but he had plenty of time to review the file on Josie. It was almost three inches thick.

  He was amazed at the contents. Josie had become a remarkable woman. She had raised her twin sisters almost single-handedly. The investigator that Chance hired had been unable to access the sealed records of her childhood. Nevertheless, the fact that she worked nearly seventy hours a week just out of high school so she could take custody of her six-year-old sisters was amazing. When the girls were eleven, Josie started night school and after six years was able to graduate with a degree in business, while still keeping the girls on the straight and narrow in a tough neighborhood.

  * * * *

  “Why don’t you introduce yourself? I’m sure she’d love to see the little boy sh
e played with,” Betty encouraged as she wiped down the kitchen counter after her last Skype session with Josie.

  Chance didn’t have a good answer for her. He had watched the last three sessions out of Josie’s line of vision. His excuse to Betty was that he just wanted to make sure that Josie was on the up-and-up. Of course, after seeing the file on her, he knew that she had nothing but good intentions toward Betty and Butch.

  He remembered being thrust into the Hutchins’s home when he was three, after his parents died. He cried every night for his mom and dad, and the only thing that made things better was the girl Josie. He couldn’t say her name, so he called her Zee. She held him and played with him, and somehow made those first few months bearable. How he loved his Zee.

  The first time he saw her again, he had the wind knocked out of him. She’d literally taken his breath away. He’d remembered her golden-brown eyes, but he’d forgotten her beautiful cinnamon skin. As a girl, her hair had been cut short, but now it was a mass of curls in full bloom that went well below her shoulders. What made her truly gorgeous was her expressive face that hinted something magical was about to happen. She was beautiful inside and out. His memories weren’t wrong.

  “Why don’t you admit that you were wrong about the girl, and that you think she’s a hottie?” Betty teased. She put out a tray of banana bread and milk. Chance went and sat down resignedly, snagging a piece of the warm treat.

  “You were right about her.”

  “Of course I was.” Betty sat down and gave her son a satisfied smile as they ate in silence for a while.

  “It sounds like you’re trying to get her to move here and start a business. That’s a big step.”

  “She’s ready for it. She has the smarts, determination, and the degree. Now all she needs are for the dominos to fall into place and she should be fine. She needs a new start. She’s been living her life for others long enough,” Betty said firmly.

  Chance couldn’t disagree, and the idea of having Josie Decker living in Fate Harbor was intensely appealing, not unlike Josie herself. “She’s got to believe she’s done it all on her own, or she won’t go for it,” Chance warned.

  “If we can’t pull that off, then they need to take away our membership to the Manipulators’ Club.”

  * * * *

  “I promise to introduce myself the first day she arrives, Betty. I just don’t want to do it over Skype, okay? Will you quit nagging me about this?” Chance pleaded for the eightieth time.

  “I should never have agreed to let you watch our Skype sessions,” Betty huffed. “But we have managed to coordinate everything perfectly between the two of us. I think today is the day we’re going to get her to agree. And of course I know you’re going to introduce yourself. Don’t think I don’t know what you have planned. You might think you are pulling one over on me, but I’ve got you figured out.”

  Chance looked over at his foster mother’s knowing face and felt a trickle of sweat slide down his back. “Just what do you think you have figured out?” he asked carefully.

  “Chance Reynolds, this is about more than just you and Josie, and don’t think I don’t know it. You’re trying to—” The Skype began ringing, saving Chance. Betty positioned herself in front of her computer screen while he leaned against the kitchen counter with his ever-present cup of coffee.

  “Betty, both Sarah and Rebecca got scholarships! Can you believe it?” Josie literally bounced, and for a moment her face wasn’t in the screen. She got herself together and positioned herself back into the center of the camera. “They both worked so hard. Sarah got an academic scholarship, and Becca got a scholarship in volleyball. Neither of them are full scholarships, but with the money we’ve saved and financial aid, they’ll both be able to go to school!”

  “So it’s just like you planned, they’ll room together at the dorms there in Florida, right?” Betty asked.

  “Yep, they’re so excited. I mean they say they’ll miss me, and I’m sure that they will, but this is it, it’s the start of their new lives. They’ve both worked so hard. They deserve this.” Chance watched Josie’s smile fade as she thought of her younger sisters leaving her.

  “Listen to what you just said,” Betty stated. “The same can be said for you. You’ve worked so hard. You deserve this. It’s the start of your new life. You’ve told me again and again that you wanted to start your own business. You didn’t want to manage someone else’s business. Now is your time, Josie.”

  “But Washington state is so far away,” Josie protested. “I can’t stand the thought of being that far away from the girls.”

  “I know, honey. But they have each other. If they need you, you can be on the next plane out. Now is the perfect opportunity for you. It’s like fate has taken a hand and is guiding you to Fate Harbor. Did you catch that pun?”

  Josie laughed, just as Betty intended.

  “I can’t believe that the Matushkas decided to retire and sell their bakery. Butch has been in negotiations with them for the last four months on your behalf. He’s gotten them to agree to a perfect price. You’ve got to take it, honey. He even talked to the local banker. You wouldn’t believe the interest rate he was able to get on a business loan. It’s meant to be.”

  Chance chuckled to himself at the thought of his foster father having negotiated anything more than a prime fishing spot on Lake Snomish. Butch Hutchins was many things, but a negotiator was not one of them. However, his foster mother Betty was quite the actress because she maintained a straight face as she worked to convince Josie that her future was in Fate Harbor. In the last month, as Josie’s sisters were getting ready for college, Betty increased the Skype calls to twice a week. Chance made sure to be at the house for each one of them, and he knew that once Zee’s sisters had been accepted into Florida State University she would move.

  Chance listened as Betty provided Josie with the contact information for the Matushkas and Evan Stuart, the local banker. He was satisfied that things were going along as planned. Ever since Josie reconnected with Betty and Butch Hutchins last year, Chance had made it his business to know Josie Decker. She craved a sense of family and security, the two things that she had sorely missed with her birth mother. Betty, Butch, and her sisters were the four people who represented those things, and Chance hoped that Josie remembered him as one of the people in that circle as well.

  “Josie, you’re going to make those calls, aren’t you, honey?” Again, Chance smiled at his foster mother’s tenacity.

  “What choice do I have, Betty? It’s fate.” Chance stifled an involuntary snicker, as the two women laughed aloud again.

  After the call ended, Betty turned to him, just watching as he finished his coffee. Finally he couldn’t stand it anymore. “What?”

  “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Chance saw both mischief and real concern on Betty’s face.

  “What did you always tell me when things got difficult growing up, Mama Betty?” Chance asked, using his childhood name for the woman who raised him.

  “I told you trusting chance was always the right decision for you.” She smiled fondly at the big blond man leaning against her kitchen counter.

  “That advice never let me down, Betty, and this time I think it’s going to make my wildest dreams come true.”

  Betty closed the laptop, got up, took the empty mug out of Chance’s hand, and put it into the sink. She turned and looked up at this man who made her so proud, and cupped his cheek. “I think you’re going to end up making a few people’s wildest dreams come true. You just let me know how I can help.”

  Chance smiled down at Betty Hutchins and grinned. “Well, now that you ask…” he began.

  The two conspirators spent the rest of the morning figuring out how to coordinate the next steps.

  Chapter 1

  Sam pushed the split wood off of the stump and bent to pick up another uncut log, gritting his teeth so he wouldn’t groan as a spike of agony drove through his temple. There was no such thing
as pain. The fresh air comforted him and washed through him, taking the pain with it. He’d been saying that to himself for the last hour, and it still wasn’t helping.

  After centering the log, Sam hefted the axe and struck the wood, splintering it down the middle, taking him to his knees as the pain radiated through his head. He didn’t remember dropping the axe, but both of his hands were holding his head, and the ax now lay on the fresh grass.

  “Sam, what the hell?” Sam thought he heard someone calling out to him, but he couldn’t make any sense of it. The pain was now radiating through his head and down his neck, through his shoulders to his back. He’d really done it this time. Through the haze, he realized he was lying on the ground, and for a moment he thought he was back in Afghanistan, but then he smelled the scent of evergreens. Shot, he’d been shot. No, that was a long time ago. He needed a shot, but he couldn’t get up. He was on the ground. He tried to get up, but he couldn’t. He just needed to rest. Finally, blessed blackness engulfed him as he passed out.

  * * * *

  Chance crashed to his knees beside the brother of his heart. Sam’s hands were still clenched around his head, but he was no longer making those horrific, keening cries. He was unconscious. Chance checked his pulse, and found it racing. Sam was dripping in sweat. He needed the shot of pain killer and muscle relaxant that he had been prescribed when he had really bad episodes. This was the worst episode of Sam’s that Chance had seen. What the hell had Sam been thinking, chopping wood?