Grace’s Sweet Surrender (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

Grace’s Sweet Surrender

After feeling unloved and rejected in every aspect of her life, Grace Adams takes a job working for successful businessmen Hunter Owens and Brody Michaels.

Hunter and Brody are best friends that own a local restaurant and bar together. After finding out she has nowhere to live, they offer her room and board. In exchange she maintains the house for them. They instantaneously fall head over heels for her the moment Grace walks into their lives.

All they have to do is prove to Grace that they will do anything to have her.

Will Grace finally submit her heart and allow herself to be loved by Hunter and Brody, or will her past catch up with her and ruin everything?

Genre:
Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre

Length:
30,961 words
 

Erika Reed

MENAGE AMOUR

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com

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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

IMPRINT: Ménage Amour

GRACE’S SWEET SURRENDER

E-book ISBN:
978-1-61926-948-4

First E-book Publication: August 2012

Cover design by Jinger Heaston

All cover art and logo copyright © 2012 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
 
Grace’s Sweet Surrender
by Erika Reed 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 Erika Reed’s livelihood.
 
It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Reed’s right to earn a living from her work.

Amanda Hilton, Publisher

www.SirenPublishing.com

www.BookStrand.com

I would like to acknowledge my friend Kati for her help and input on this book. I don’t know what I would have done without your advice.

I also want to thank my family, friends and of course my husband for their continuous love and support in my writing.

GRACE’S SWEET SURRENDER

ERIKA REED

Copyright © 2012

Grace Adams didn’t understand how her life had spiraled so out of control on her. As she sat in her car out front of the B & H Bar & Grill staring at the “Waitress Wanted” sign on the front of the restaurant. She had only planned to drive through the town of Burley long enough to have lunch and be on her way again. She looked over at her adorable companion sitting in the passenger seat next to her. Duke was her loving and faithful dog. “I’m going to go inside now, Duke. I need to get a job so I can feed us. It’s just you and me now.” Grace patted the dog’s head and then cracked the windows for him before she exited the car.

Grace had just walked out of a bad relationship and was ready to begin with a new start. She had told herself that she wouldn’t allow a man to control her any longer
.
She made a promise to herself she intended on keeping.

When she was ten years old, her mother’s boyfriend Walter tried to crawl into her bed one night. Grace’s mother, Polly, was too drunk and passed out on the couch to do anything about it. After slipping away from Walter as he was passed out in her bed, she found her mother on the couch unresponsive. Grace then went to the phone in the kitchen and called 911. The police and ambulance showed up at the same time. She watched as the paramedics tried to help her mother. Walter was found in her bed still passed out. He told the police that Grace was lying about him trying to touch her. The officer put Walter in the back of the police car, and she watched as they brought her mother’s body out of the house covered with a blanket.

Grace would never forget that day as long as she lived. She was placed in Child Protective Services. Grace’s mother had no family to speak of. She never knew who her real father was. Her mother told her she didn’t know who her daddy was. Grace knew her mom brought strange men around all the time. Once in Child Protective Services, she was shuffled around from foster home to foster home for years. Grace never could open up to the families that took her in. She always felt out of place.

When Grace turned eighteen, she was on her own. She had gotten a job as a waitress in a diner and saved every penny she earned. She had her own one-bedroom apartment in a rough part of town.

She didn’t mind working at the diner. Her tips were fair, and they paid the rent. She never tried to find a job in those two years. Grace had figured without a college education that was all she had a choice of. One day while working at the diner, a man came in and sat in her section at the counter and waited for her to place his order. He was good-looking. “Hi there, pretty lady. Grace is it?”

“Yes, sir, what can I get you today?” she said while holding her pen and pad.

“Well, Grace, how about a cup of coffee and maybe later I can get your phone number so I can get to know you better,” the guy said with a smile.

Grace thought he seemed nice enough and handsome. “I’ll get that coffee for you, sir, but I’m sorry, I don’t date customers.”

“Aw, come on, gorgeous, give a guy a break. My name is Ray, and I promise I don’t bite,” he said with a wink. “Unless you want me to. I’ll come by after your shift, and we’ll go out for dinner and get to know each other.”

Grace didn’t know many people. She kept to herself. She worked the day shift at the diner, and after work she usually just went home and watched TV or read a book. Maybe she should give it a try and go out on a date with Ray. He seemed very friendly, and she hadn’t been on a date in such a long time. Why not throw caution in the wind and go on a date with an attractive man for once. What could it hurt?

She decided to go out with Ray that night. He treated her like a true lady. He held the car door open for her after he picked her up from the apartment. He took her to a nice restaurant for dinner and kissed her good-night on the cheek before she entered her apartment. One date led to a few more, which led to spending all their time getting to know each other more and more. Ray was very sweet to her in the beginning of their relationship. He took her to dinner all the time, brought her flowers when she was working, and even surprised her with a small mixed-breed puppy he had found wandering the streets one day. Grace had fallen in love with the dog and named him Duke.

Ray ended up moving in with her, and she was happy the first year they were together. Then Ray began to change in the year they lived together. He started to get angry over little things and raised his voice to her frequently. It didn’t take him much to set his temper off. Grace was walking on eggshells every day.

One afternoon after she had come home from a hard day’s work on her feet, Ray started in on her. “Grace, I’m tired of that flea bag dog of yours chewing up my shoes. If you don’t do something about him, I’m going to get rid of that dog,” Ray said while throwing another pair of torn shoes in the trash.

“I’m sorry, Ray. I’ll keep a better eye on him. Please don’t get rid of him. Duke is the only animal I’ve ever had,” Grace said while crouched down on the floor, petting the dog.

Ray went to the refrigerator and grabbed a beer. He then sat in the chair at the table and glared at her. “Oh by the way, I need that engagement ring back I gave you. I need the money, and I plan to hawk it down at the pawn shop.”

That was the only thing that was of any value she had to her name. “You can’t sell my ring. Sell something of yours, Ray. Maybe you should get a job. Then maybe I won’t have to pick up double shifts at the diner to pay the rent.” Before Grace knew it, Ray got out of his chair and backhanded her across the face so hard she fell to the floor. He then proceeded to kick her in her stomach as she was curled in a ball. Ray then hauled her up by her arm and grabbed both of her arms and began shaking her forcefully.

“Listen to me, Grace. I don’t need to explain myself to you or anyone for that matter. You’ll do as I say, and you won’t talk back. Now take off that
goddamn ring
and give it to me now! I don’t know why I ever asked you to marry me. I guess I just felt sorry for you. I have slept with women
ten times
hotter than you, and these women are better in the sack than you’ll ever be.”

Grace had a feeling Ray was cheating on her, and now she knew the truth. She slowly slipped the ring from her finger and handed it to the man who she thought she was going to marry. Grace knew right then and there she would never let another man lay a finger on her. She wasn’t going to be a weak and vulnerable woman any longer, and Grace wasn’t about to let any man treat her like that ever again.

After Ray had left to go out with his buddies for a usual night of drinking at the bar, she made a decision. Grace wasn’t going to try to hide another one of his bruises that bastard left on her ever again. That was the night she packed what she could and left that miserable, good-for-nothing bum and vowed to never look back.

“Have you had anyone inquire about the waitress job yet?” Brody asked Hunter while drying the glasses behind the bar.