Dare to Surrender Read online

  Dare to Surrender

  The Dare Menage Series, Book 5

  Jeanne St. James

  Copyright © 2018 by Jeanne St. James

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Editor: Proofreading by the Page

  Cover Art: April Martinez

  Beta Readers: Author Whitley Cox, Rita Cerdeira, & Krisztina Holló

  www.jeannestjames.com

  * * *

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  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Disclaimer

  The Dare Menage Series

  About this Book

  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

  Epilogue

  If You Enjoyed This Book

  About the Author

  Also by Jeanne St. James

  Forever Him Sneak Peek

  About Forever Him

  Forever Him - Chapter One

  FREE Erotic Sampler Book

  Warning: This book contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language and may be considered offensive to some readers. This book is for sale to adults ONLY, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers.

  DISCLAIMER: Please do not try any new sexual practice (BDSM or otherwise) without the guidance of an experienced practitioner. The author will not be responsible for any loss, harm, injury or death resulting from use of the information contained in this book.

  Keep an eye on her website at http://www.jeannestjames.com/or sign up for her newsletter to learn about her upcoming releases: http://www.jeannestjames.com/newslettersignup

  The Dare Menage Series

  The Dare Ménage Series:

  (All can be read as standalones)

  Double Dare

  Daring Proposal

  Dare to Be Three

  A Daring Desire

  Dare to Surrender

  About this Book

  One woman, two men, a fierce attraction and a danger that could destroy them all...

  * * *

  Olivia Holloway’s life has never been easy. On her own at sixteen, she’s fought to survive ever since. When she finds herself in a dangerous situation that even she can’t handle, she has to break down and ask for help. She reluctantly seeks it by showing up at her estranged brother’s law firm. However, it’s not her brother, Trey, who steps in, it’s the firm’s private investigator, Elliot Stone and his husband, Grant Lane. They agree to hide her at their home to keep her safe after she witnesses a powerful Senator commit murder.

  * * *

  Together for a decade, Eli and Grant’s marriage is solid and they’re still deeply in love. But when Olivia shows up at the firm they both work at, Eli feels a pull toward the woman he can’t deny. Only now he needs to convince his husband that bringing her into their relationship will not destroy what they have but only enhance it. However, will Grant agree?

  And will the trouble that’s following Olivia put them all at risk?

  * * *

  Note: This book in the series can be read as standalone. It includes an HEA ending. It is intended for audiences over 18 years of age since it includes MMF scenes between all three characters.

  Dedication

  I don’t always do a dedication, but I wanted to do one for this book.

  * * *

  When I began writing Eli, Grant and Olivia’s story, I had no idea that Eli would speak French. I usually find things out about my characters at the same point in the story that you readers do. My characters talk to me, and most of the time they laugh in my face if I try to actually plan their story.

  * * *

  So in this story, Eli suddenly starts to speak French and Grant loves it. It’s hot, right? The only problem is that I don’t speak ANY French. Plus, I needed a good reason for Eli to speak French in the first place! But I digress...

  * * *

  The point of this long-winded dedication is: I wanted to say thank you to my friend Rita Cerdeira who speaks fluent French! (Phew!) She corrected all of Eli’s bungled French (or more like mine).

  * * *

  So thank you, Rita. And Eli and Grant thank you, too! <3

  Chapter 1

  Olivia could hear nothing but the pounding of her heart in her ears. She stared at the large gold letters on the wall above the reception desk... Ward, Jordan, & Holloway.

  The receptionist’s lips were moving but Liv had no idea what the woman said.

  She needed to turn and hightail it out of there before she got caught. This was a bad idea. One of way too many she’d made in her life.

  Her stomach churned, and her mouth felt like it was packed full of cotton.

  She closed her eyes for a moment, as a wave of panic washed up and over her. She could fix this herself. She’d been surviving on her own most of her life.

  She never needed anyone to save her, and she didn’t now.

  Right.

  She stiffened when she felt something, or someone, large and very warm at her back. She shook her head in an attempt to clear it and finally heard, “Are you okay?”

  So, unless the receptionist had a deep, masculine voice, it wasn’t a woman. A shiver ran down her spine.

  When a large dark hand landed on her arm, she could only stare at it. She blinked. Why was this person touching her?

  Then fingers wrapped around her chin, lifting her face and her gaze. She stared into very, very dark eyes. Eyes full of concern and... something else.

  She wasn’t used to the concern. That look seemed foreign to her. And the other? She had no clue why he would look at her like that.

  “What?” she whispered, almost as if trapped in a fog.

  “Are you okay?” The man snapped into motion, leading her over to a nearby chair and pushing her gently into it. “Cassie, grab a bottle of water.”

  From the corner of her eye, she saw the receptionist move at a hurried pace.

  “Are you okay?”

  Why did he keep asking her that?

  “Yes,” she murmured, her tongue thick.

  “Are you here to see someone in particular?”

  Liv watched his dark lips move. They were full and looked nice. And his teeth were really white. Nice people had nice lips, nice voices, and nice teeth.

  Why did she care if he was nice?

  “Yes.”

  “Who? Who do you have an appointment with?”

  Liv shook her head slowly. “I don’t.”

  “Then who are you here to see?”

  She sucked in a shaky breath. “Trey.”

  “Trey,” he echoed softly.

  “Yes, Trey Holloway.”

  He tilted his head, his gaze searching her face. “Does he know you?”

  What a weird question. “I hope so. He’s my brother.”

  His dark eyes narrowed, and he only left her long enough to grab the bottle of water from Cassie, the receptionist. He cracked the seal on the lid and opened it, handing the bottle to her. �
��Drink.”

  “I’m not thirsty,” she said, her tone flat, even though she felt parched.

  “Drink anyway.”

  Liv lifted the bottle to her lips and sipped at the cool water. She blinked again and glanced up at the man towering over her. “Who are you?”

  “Eli.”

  “Eli,” Liv repeated, frowning, still feeling as if in a daze.

  “Elliott Stone.”

  That was a nice name for someone with nice features. Some men didn’t look right being bald. He did. His head was perfectly smooth and nicely shaped. Bald fit him. “Elliott,” she repeated.

  “Yes. Let me get Trey for you.” He stepped back and turned to leave.

  “No!”

  He stopped, his back straightening. He was tall. Dark. And oh-so handsome. But, right now, none of that mattered.

  Nothing mattered but why she was here.

  Though, she should really leave before her brother was dragged into her mess. Especially since she hadn’t seen him in sixteen years.

  Because of that, he might not be happy with her. She had disappeared without a trace. No calls, no letters, no emails. She had gotten lost. Completely disappeared. And left him behind to deal with what was their nightmare of a childhood.

  So, it was a bad idea for her to show up here in her moment of weakness.

  “No. I’m just going to leave. I’ll catch up with him another time. I thank you for your kindness.” She pushed to her feet and beelined toward the lobby elevator.

  He snagged her elbow as she passed and swung her around until they came face to face, his eyes dark and searching. “Whoa. No. You’re not going anywhere.”

  She jerked her elbow, but his grip was tight enough that she couldn’t pull free. “You can’t tell me what to do.”

  “The hell I can’t,” he mumbled close to her ear. “You know why? Because I’ve worked here for a while now and never knew Trey had a sister. And now I’m wondering why I never knew that. So, to satisfy my curiosity, I’ll escort you back to his office.”

  “Get your hand off me,” she snapped, still tugging her arm.

  “You didn’t say please.”

  Right now, she didn’t think he was so nice. “Please,” she said with a forced nicety.

  “That’s better. But no.”

  She looked in panic toward the receptionist who just gave her a blank stare in return, like the woman was used to seeing large men dragging women through the lobby. Liv couldn’t imagine it happened on a regular basis. But she’d seen a lot of crazy shit in her life, so nothing would surprise her.

  “Let’s go,” he said, a determined look on his face.

  Liv tried to dig her heels into the nice carpeting, but he was too big and too strong to resist. She hardly got a glimpse of the various offices they passed until he abruptly stopped in front of another woman. A secretary maybe.

  “Trey in?”

  The woman’s eyes bounced to Liv before landing on this bossy Elliott, giving him a big, flirty smile.

  Whatever.

  “He’s not in his office. He’s in a meeting.”

  “A real meeting or a meeting.”

  Liv had no idea what he was getting at, but it made her glance up at him. He ignored her.

  “Uh. I would hope just a regular meeting since Grant’s in with them. Because if it’s not a regular meeting, you may have to step in.” Then the secretary giggled.

  Which was strange. Liv had no idea why what she said was funny.

  Elliott frowned, and his already dark face got darker. “Then it’s a regular meeting.”

  “If you say so,” she murmured, then gave him another bright smile. “Large conference room.”

  Elliott, Eli, or whatever, gave the woman a sharp nod and dragged Liv down another hallway to a long room made up by a wall of windows. Several people sat around a long oval conference table and as he approached with his hand firmly on her elbow, all heads swung toward them.

  He must have communicated something silently through the glass because a large black man got up and opened the door just as they hit the threshold.

  “What’s going on?” the large man asked, frowning.

  Ignoring him, Elliott dragged her into the room, asking Liv’s brother, “This belong to you?”

  With wide eyes they stared at each other.

  “I think so,” Trey murmured, studying her hard.

  “You think, or you know?”

  Trey Holloway stood and looked at her from head to toe. “Yeah. She’s my sister. Damn.”

  “I found her skulking around the lobby in a state of panic,” her captor announced to the room of strangers.

  Her gaze shot up to him. “What? I wasn’t skulk—”

  “Quiet,” this Elliott said sharply, cutting her off.

  “Eli, you want to let her go?” the fourth man at the end of the table asked, slowly rising to his feet.

  “She might run.”

  “What?” Trey asked, his eyebrows shooting to his hairline.

  “She tried to take off.”

  “Why?”

  Eli shrugged his broad shoulders and glanced down at her for a moment before saying, “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask her.”

  Liv frowned. “I’m right here. I can hear you and I’m quite capable of answering.”

  Eli shrugged again and finally released her elbow. As she rubbed it, her gaze drifted over everyone in the room.

  Her brother looked good. Mature. Important. But then, he’d been a star quarterback for the Boston Bulldogs and helped them win the Super Bowl Championship a couple of seasons ago.

  A woman with long strawberry blonde hair watched her with curious eyes. When she stood, Liv couldn’t help but notice the sexy way she was dressed. Pencil skirt, stockings, and heels that were high, not as high as stripper heels, but they made her legs look endless. Liv’s gaze landed on her chest. She certainly had plenty there. The woman moved next to Trey and placed a hand on her brother’s back.

  Liv found that curious.

  And when the woman said something softly to her brother, he seemed to snap to attention like he’d just woken up. As he moved forward, Liv thought he was going to grab her into a bear hug, but then he froze and looked at her cautiously.

  “Olivia, what are you doing here?”

  Coming here was not a good idea. “What? I can’t stop in and say hello to my brother?” Her teasing fell flat.

  “It’s been sixteen years.”

  And there it was. The one sentence that brought all the guilt she’d been carrying around with her to the forefront. Heat rushed into her cheeks as all eyes pinned on her. “I… uh…”

  “Baby, maybe we should clear out and let them have a moment.”

  Liv spun to the man at her right. He was also tall, but not as tall as Eli. He had a nice tan, and very kind, warm hazel eyes behind glasses that made him look highly intelligent. But she wondered who he called baby, since the only other woman in the room had now clung to the only other black man in the room. The one who seemed to be in charge. Liv found it strange that the woman took liberties like that with both men.

  “Grant, they may need me,” Eli answered him.

  This Grant called Eli “baby?” Elliott Stone did not look like someone who would let another man call him that endearment, especially in a professional setting. Weird.

  “I’m sure if they need you, they’ll let you know.” Grant looked at Trey, who only nodded in answer. “See? We can wait in my office until they’re done.”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Eli,” the man said firmly to her former captor with an undertone that clearly meant not to question him.

  Eli nodded and then sighed. He leaned toward Liv. “We’re not done.”

  Liv pulled all the bravado she could gather and said, “Oh, we’re done,” matter-of-factly.

  His wide lips flattened, and he reluctantly followed the other man, who Liv assumed was another attorney since he wore a suit, out the door. They shut it b
ehind him.

  Then there were only four. Her, her brother, and the other two.

  “Why now?” Trey asked.

  She wondered why the other two didn’t excuse themselves. She purposely avoided looking at them when she asked, “Can we speak privately?”

  His eyes flicked to the large black man, then the blonde woman before saying, “No. Anything you have to say can be said in front of Rayne and Gryff.”

  Rayne and Gryff.

  “They’re my partners,” he clarified, then added, “in all things.”

  In all things? What did that mean?

  The man who had to be Gryff said, “We can give you two a few moments alone, T.”

  “No, stay. I want you to stay,” Trey answered. Without turning around, he reached his arm back and they touched hands briefly, then dropped them.

  “So again, why and why now?” Trey asked.

  “No hug for your baby sister?” Liv asked, which even sounded lame to her ears. She was stalling.

  Something flashed behind his eyes. “Really? You disappear at sixteen, show up sixteen years later and I’m supposed to act like it was just yesterday that I saw you? You left me behind.”

  Liv closed her eyes and inhaled a shaky breath. “I know.”

  “Not even a peep. Not once. Not when I graduated high school. Not when I went off to college. Not when our lovely mother died. Not when I was drafted into the NFL. Not when I won the fucking Super Bowl.”