Beyond Her Wildest Dream Read online

  For the first time in just over two years, Lexis wished she didn’t have to work so she could spend time with her new boyfriends.

  As she stepped into the shower, she pondered over the boyfriend title. None of the guys were boys in any way shape or form, and it just didn’t feel natural to think of them as her boyfriends. They were her lovers and her Doms. That sounded more grown up and way better than boys.

  She washed her hair and body before rinsing off and stepping out to dry off, then brushed her teeth with a new toothbrush and carefully brushed her hair. Peering into the mirror, she pushed the strands of hair near her wound away. The sight of the stitches was ugly, but she wasn’t so worried over the threads. What concerned her most was the bald patch that doctor had created so he could suture her up. When she realized how vain she was being, she grimaced. Lexis hadn’t really worried over her appearance much since her sister had died. She’d always made sure she was clean and tidy, but since she didn’t have much money, she never had any spare cash to splurge on luxury items like nice new clothes and lingerie or makeup. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d been to the hairdresser’s.

  She’d been thinking about finishing her physiotherapist course online, but that was out of her reach financially, too.

  Maybe one day soon she’d find a better job that paid higher wages and she’d be able to achieve her goals. Her mom and sister wouldn’t want her giving up or putting her life on hold more than she already had.

  Lexis felt better about herself now that she was with Preston, Jonah, and Adam. They were good for her self-confidence in her femininity as well as other aspects she hadn’t known needed bolstering.

  She just hoped that they were feeling more than just attraction toward her, because she was starting to feel more and more for them with each minute she spent in their company.

  “Breakfast is ready, sweetie,” Adam called out, just before he appeared in the doorway to the bathroom. “I’ve brought you something to wear.” He held up a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt.

  “Thanks.”

  Adam stepped back as she walked toward him, holding out the clothes to her. “As much as I’d love to hang around and watch you dress, it’s not a good idea. If I see your sexy naked body again, you’re going to end up late for work.” He gave her a heated smile, spun on his heels, and disappeared.

  Lexis had to push the arousal heating her blood to the back of her mind. She dropped the towel and was glad to see a pair of knit boxers among the clothes. After pulling them on and rolling the waistband down so they’d fit better, she donned her bra, the T-shirt, and then the sweatpants. They were so long she had to roll the legs up so she wouldn’t trip on them and, again, roll the waistband down so they wouldn’t fall off her hips. She pushed her feet into the flat shoes she always wore to work and grimaced over their worn condition. Since there was nothing she could do about her shoes right now, she shrugged thoughts of them off and headed toward the kitchen.

  “You look like a little girl playing dress up in her daddy’s clothes.” Preston chuckled.

  Lexis blushed and shook her head.

  “Come and have a seat, love.” Jonah patted the stool next to him at the kitchen counter.

  Her stomach grumbled when she smelled the bacon and eggs, and she quickly took her seat.

  “What would you like to drink?” Preston asked.

  “Coffee, please.”

  “Milk? Sugar?”

  “Just black, thanks.”

  “Eat up.” Adam pointed at her plate.

  She picked up her knife and fork and dug in. The scrambled eggs were light, fluffy, and seasoned to perfection. They were also loaded with cheese, just the way she liked them, and she couldn’t help moaning.

  A blush rose up her cheeks when she noticed all three of the men watching her. She’d been so lost in savoring the taste she hadn’t realized that Preston had placed a steaming mug of coffee in front of her. After chewing and swallowing, she sipped the dark brew and sighed. The coffee was just as good as she got at the diner.

  The men sat at the counter with her and ate their food. None of them spoke until their plates were clean. Lexis was surprised that she ate so much but figured she’d worked up an appetite after all the carnal exercise she’d had the night before. When she drained her cup, she stood and began to gather the dishes. Jonah, who’d taken the stool on the other side of her, clasped her wrist. “Leave them, love. Adam and I will deal with them. You go to your apartment with Preston.”

  “Thanks for breakfast, guys. That’s the best bacon and eggs I’ve had in a while.”

  “Even better than the diner?” Preston raised a skeptical brow.

  “Almost.” She giggled.

  “I love that,” Preston said.

  She frowned. “What?”

  “The sound of your laughter. Your whole face lights up and your eyes shine with happiness,” Preston explained.

  Lexis blushed as butterflies took flight in her stomach. She’d never expected Preston to say something so sweet when he was usually so authoritative and in control. She wondered if the serious visage was just when he was in Dom mode. Either way, her heart warmed and chased away a little more of the cold emptiness she’d been living with.

  “Are you ready to go, baby?”

  “Yes.”

  “Have a good day, love.” Jonah stood and pulled her into his arms. “Don’t work too hard.”

  She snorted. As if she had a choice, and there was the fact that her mom and her big sister had instilled good work ethics into her. She went by that adage that if you were going to do a job, then you were going to do it properly. She might only be a waitress, but she took pride in earning her money by working hard. He loosened his embrace, leaned down, and kissed her on the lips, then passed her over to Adam.

  “See you tonight, sweetie,” Adam said as he hugged her against his muscular frame. She squeezed him before going up on tiptoe and pressing her lips to his. He took control from her, kissing her until she was breathless and aroused, but was pleased to see that she wasn’t the only one affected by their passion.

  “Let’s go.” Preston laced his fingers with hers and guided her out of the house. She felt as if she was floating on cloud nine. She hadn’t been sure when she’d see the guys again, but Adam had put her worry over that to rest.

  She hadn’t felt this happy in a long time. Her heart was so full, she wanted to laugh and spin until she was giddy.

  Preston helped her into the truck, closed the door, and hurried to the driver’s seat. Once they had their seatbelts on, he started the engine and reversed out of the garage and out onto the road. “Which way, baby?”

  As she directed him to her apartment, she cringed inside. The men had such a large, nice modern house, and she was about to take Preston to her dilapidated dump she called home.

  She just hoped he didn’t take one look and leave without a backward glance.

  Lexis shook her head. Preston, Adam, and Jonah weren’t snobs. She didn’t think they’d judge her just because she had less money and material things than they did. However, she was still nervous about him seeing where she lived.

  Twenty minutes later, Preston parked his truck outside the weed-infested cracked pavement and turned the ignition off. “Which apartment is yours, Lexis?”

  She’d been staring at her home trying to see it from Preston’s eyes and hadn’t even noticed he’d gotten out of the vehicle and was standing in front of her open door. After sucking in a deep breath, she released her seatbelt and took Preston’s proffered hand. “It’s the one on the left at the end.”

  Once he closed the door and locked it, she led him toward the front door to her home. There was no one about since it was still early, but she knew from experience it wouldn’t be long before all the noise began. There was a couple living in the apartment next to hers, and whenever she was home all she ever heard from them was arguing. He was an alcoholic, and though she worked part time at the local supermarket, s
he didn’t earn enough money. He was always blaming her for the lack of food, their shitty home, and anything else he could think of. Lexis had no idea why she stayed with him, but she didn’t know what her circumstances were. The only consolation as far as she was concerned was that he didn’t hit her. At least she didn’t think he did.

  She stopped at her front door, inserted the key, unlocked, and opened the door. The sofa bed was still set out from the last time she’d used it, but thankfully, she had time to make the bed so it didn’t look messy. The kitchen was tiny, and the combined laundry and bathroom was just as small. Nevertheless, it didn’t matter how big her home was since she was the only one living in it.

  “Make yourself comfortable.” She pointed at the bed as she hurried over to the single door closet at the opposite side of the room where she hung her minimal wardrobe. “I’ll just get changed and we can be out of here.”

  Lexis grabbed her uniform from the hanger, reached up to the top shelf for some clean underwear, and glanced back over her shoulder at Preston. He was leaning against the closed front door with his arms crossed, and though his expression was stoic, she could see the muscle in the side of his jaw flexing.

  With a disappointed sigh, she hurried toward her tiny bathroom to change. She wished she knew what Preston was thinking as he gazed about her home, but since she wasn’t a mind reader and she wasn’t going to ask him to tell her what he thought of her apartment, she turned her thoughts to work.

  Since it was Saturday, another busy day for the diner—in fact everyday was always busy. Just some more than others—she was going to be rushed off her feet, but she’d do what needed to be done to keep the roof over her head and food in her belly and earn her way.

  No one else’s opinion and nothing else mattered.

  * * * *

  While Preston had known Lexis wouldn’t have much money, he was shocked at the rundown state of the apartment building. Obviously, maintenance had flown out the windows years ago. The kitchenette—the space was so fucking small, two people would be bumping into each other. So, as far as he was concerned there was no fucking way he’d call the area a kitchen—looked as if it hadn’t been updated since the 1970s. The countertop was only the width of one cabinet, and it was lime green. The stove top was one of the old four burner electric appliances. There was only a single sink with a small window above it, and the curtains were a faded café style, which he suspected had once been yellow and white. The living room combined as a bedroom and was only big enough for the sofa bed to fit with a narrow pathway around it.

  The paint was peeling from the ceiling and walls, but when Lexis had opened her closet door, he’d seen a can of unopened paint on the floor.

  She obviously had plans, but maybe she hadn’t had the time or the energy to get the job done.

  The concrete pavement to her door had been so cracked and undulating it was fucking dangerous. The outside of the façade was brick, but the cement grout had long since started cracking and falling out. The foundations were shot to hell, because there was a four to five inch wide fissure running from the top of the brick toward Lexis’s front door. In fact, he was worried as hell that the whole place was going to come tumbling down at any moment.

  Preston didn’t care that Lexis didn’t have much money or that she lived in an old apartment building. However, he cared like hell that her health, her life was in danger.

  There was no fucking way he was going to let her live here another day, let alone have her sleeping under a roof that could come crashing down on top of her and kill her instantly.

  As soon as he’d dropped her off at work, he was going to come straight back here, pack up all her things, and move her into their home.

  Preston straightened when she opened what he presumed was her bathroom and emerged dressed in her uniform with her hair up in a bun at the back of her neck. She’d skillfully covered the stitches and the patch where the doctor had shaved her hair off. He glanced at his watch and saw they only had fifteen minutes before her shift started, but luckily, that was more than enough time to get her there on time. “Are you ready, baby?”

  “Yeah.” She walked toward him and hissed when she knocked her knee on the corner of the sofa bed, but continued moving until she was standing in front of him.

  “Did you hurt yourself, Lexis?” Preston knelt down to peer at her knee, which was already red and would no doubt have a bruise in an hour or so.

  “It’s fine.” She met his gaze, waving off his concern while blushing.

  Preston stood and tugged her into his arms. She sighed as she hugged her arms around his waist, leaning against him. He kissed her on the top of her head before releasing her, turning, and opening the front door. He narrowed his eyes at the flimsy lock, which would barely keep a determined child out let alone someone intent on despicable deeds. Seeing how easy it would be to break in as well as the danger the building posed clinched it for him.

  He was definitely coming back and collecting her stuff soon after he’d driven her to work.

  The building should have been condemned years ago, and he was going to make sure it was. While he felt bad for the other people living here, it would be safer if they weren’t. The owners and manager would just have get them to another safer apartment block where they wouldn’t have to worry about being seriously injured or killed.

  “What time do you finish, baby?” Preston asked after they were back on the road.

  “Five.”

  “You’re doing a ten-hour shift?”

  “I promised Marcus I’d cover for one of the other girls who has to leave early,” she explained.

  Preston grunted. He wasn’t happy about her working such a long day while she still had stitches in her head, but he couldn’t take over her life and tell her what to do all the time. Unless, of course, they were in the bedroom.

  If Lexis was up for it, he had plans to go to the club again tonight. That meant that he and his lovers would need to go shopping for her so she had the appropriate clothing to wear.

  They’d gone easy on Lexis so far since she was so new to BDSM, but he wanted to push her boundaries and see what she could handle.

  He had visions of her up on the center stage, naked and tied to the St. Andrews cross, but he wasn’t sure she was ready for that yet.

  While he was an experienced Dom, he wasn’t about to push her beyond her limitations and lose her forever. If he did that, he had a feeling Adam and Jonah would never forgive him. And Preston knew he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself, either.

  She fit with all three of them perfectly, and he wasn’t about to do something to fuck everything up now.

  Chapter Twelve

  Jacob situated himself in the twenty-four hour internet café just before the sun started to rise. Since the place was almost empty, he was able to choose the perfect spot to sit so he had a bird’s eye view of the diner diagonally across the street. While he took the opportunity to familiarize himself with the area on the internet, he didn’t see the bitch arrive, but when he looked up next, he saw her moving about the diner as she served the breakfast customers.

  He couldn’t help but be entranced by the graceful, feminine sway of her hips or her amazing smile. She was way more beautiful than her older sister had been. His cock began to throb and fill with blood as he imagined fucking her before decorating her sexy body with his artwork. He could imagine all those lines seeping red against the alabaster of her flesh. His dick leaked pre-cum as he envisaged the light in those blue eyes fading away as she took her last breath.

  Jacob shook himself out of his daydream when the door to the shop opened and he glanced up. His breath caught in his throat when he saw the young woman walking to the counter. She wasn’t as sexy as Alicia’s sister or as slim, but she’d do as a substitute if his plans went awry.

  Jacob had no idea what time the slut would finish her shift at the diner, but if she was anything like her sister had been, she was conscientious. Thank fuck there was a restroom
and a couple of vending machines. As much as he’d liked to go across the road and order something to eat from the diner, he wasn’t going to risk it. He still wasn’t sure if the cunt had seen him as he crept away after murdering her sister. If she had, she was likely to call the cops, and he’d be locked up behind bars before he could take his next breath. There was no fucking way he was going to let that happen.

  Maybe he could get the girl or one of the other teenagers surfing the web to get him something decent. He shook his head. That would just be drawing attention to his face, to himself.

  Jacob needed to stay in the shadows as much as possible.

  He was muscular, but he was of average height and was pretty ordinary in the looks department. He liked that he was nondescript, because that made it so much easier to blend in to a crowd.

  The best thing he could do was sit tight and bide his time.

  Hopefully, his patience would pay off sooner rather than later.

  * * * *

  Lexis was so tired all she wanted to do was have a shower, have something to eat, curl up in bed, and sleep. She’d been jittery all day long and had no idea why. The hair on the back of her neck had stood on end on and off while she’d been working. She’d felt as if someone had been watching her periodically, but whenever she’d look about, no one had been paying her any attention.

  When she’d seen Adam and Jonah waiting in the truck a few parking spaces down from the diner, her stomach had fluttered with excitement. She’d thought about all three of the men throughout the day whenever she’d had a spare moment, which hadn’t been often. When she’d realized she’d been daydreaming about them and reliving the amazing night she had with them, she knew she was already in way too deep. Though she was scared to feel so much for three men she’d known for such a short time, Lexis knew there was no turning back. Not that she would have even if she’d wanted to, but she suspected that if she did decide to call it quits with them, she’d never be the same. Her heart filled with warmth every time they entered her mind, and she became aroused.