Protecting Lexi (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)
Protecting Lexi
Alexis Brooks is a successful business owner of a woman’s lingerie store who happens to witnesses a murder in a back alley one night. After she identifies the killer, the murderer threatens her life, and she must go into protective custody. She has agreed to the protection of two brothers that happen to be retired Marines.
Ex-Marines Kane and Max Walker are always willing to help a damsel in distress. They promise to protect Alexis on their ranch after they were informed the murderer has escaped from jail. They will do anything to keep her safe until the man is captured.
Can they keep her safe and convince her they want her to stay with them forever, or will she just walk away from them and return to her life in the city?
Note: There is no sexual relationship or touching for titillation between or among siblings.
Genre:
Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Western/Cowboys
Length:
43,488 words
Erika Reed
MENAGE AMOUR
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Amour
PROTECTING LEXI
E-book ISBN:
978-1-62241-707-0
First E-book Publication: November 2012
Cover design by Harris Channing
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
Protecting Lexi
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
I would like to acknowledge a few people for helping me with this book. A special thank-you goes out to Chris R. and Ivan Rivera for answering all of my questions I had when writing this story.
PROTECTING LEXI
ERIKA REED
Copyright © 2012
“If you don’t need me anymore this evening, Alexis, would you mind if I left for the night? I have a date with Tim in an hour, and I’m hoping to have enough time to go home and change before he comes over.”
Caroline was her store’s manager. She was bright, beautiful, and very friendly with all the customers, male or female, that came into her highly esteemed woman’s lingerie apparel store. Alexis knew when she hired her that Caroline was going to be a good manager for her store. She knew style and fashion and had an eye for the sexy things woman desired to wear. Alexis had always wanted to open a second location. She just wasn’t sure where. She knew Caroline would be an exceptional manager in this store as she left her to get the other location up and ready. She was well trusted and very intelligent.
Caroline’s taste was suited to the younger, more risqué as well as hip style, whereas Alexis was drawn to the chic and sophisticated, over-thirty style for women still who want to look and feel naughty under their clothes. Together they made a great team when it came to their different taste in fashion. As a testament to their success, the store’s online inventory was frequently on backorder due to high demand. Yes, Alexis had finally done what she set out to do in life. She had opened a successful business and was very proud of it and of herself for doing so.
“Hello! Earth to Alexis…Are you still with me?” Caroline said as she waved her hand in front of Alexis’s face.
Alexis laughed and shook the cobwebs away before saying, “I can lock up. You don’t need to stick around any longer. I’m just about done here anyways. I just have to put the receipts and the money from the register in the safe before I leave. Go have a good time.”
Caroline grabbed her jacket off the counter along with her purse. “Tim has a cute friend I would love to set you up with. All I have to do is make a quick phone call to Tim. His friend is really cute. I can guarantee it. I’ve met him before. I think you two will get along exceptionally. Do you want to make it a double date tonight?”
“I don’t do blind dates, Caroline, but thank you anyways. I am going to go get a bite to eat and then go home and sit in front of the TV. I have some programs I recorded this week that I plan to finally watch.”
Caroline gave her a sigh before saying, “Alexis, you need to get out more. You’re still young and beautiful, and you need to get out and have some fun once in a while. You don’t date anyone that I know of. Come out with me tonight. I can cancel my date with Tim, and we can make it a girl’s night.”
“Oh, Caroline, you are such a sweet friend to think of canceling your date with Tim for me. No, you go, have a great time on your date. I want all the juicy details when you come in tomorrow,” she said as she pushed Caroline toward the front door of the shop.
Caroline turned before she walked out and said, “Well, if you change your mind, call me.”
Caroline was right, she needed to get out more. Her social life sucked. Owning her own business selling sexy lingerie was lucrative, but she never made the time to go out and meet people, or date for that matter. She put all her time into Sweet Surroundings. When she wasn’t working, she was shopping. Now that her business was thriving she spent more on the things she had always wanted. She loved to go shopping at the Jimmy Choo and Prada shoe stores. Those were her weaknesses. Alexis loved to look her best. She had a decent body, and her legs looked great in a five hundred dollar pair of heels.
Alexis Brooks always felt sexy under her dresses and business attire, but she had no one to show her sexy line to in the bedroom. She was a thirty-two-year-old woman who didn’t go out on dates much and wanted to meet someone but hadn’t been successful in that department so far. She wasn’t getting any younger. Alexis wanted a family and children someday, but she knew her biological clock was ticking and time was running out.
She wanted so badly to call Caroline back to tell her that she had changed her mind and was willing to go out on the blind date with her. She didn’t want to go on another date where it possibly led to a handshake at the end of the night.
Alexis was about to close up and walk out the door with her purse when she noticed that the trash needed to go out. She didn’t want the store to smell like day old Chinese food when they came in the next day. Alexis grabbed her keys and locked the back door behind her. As she got close to the trash bins, she heard two men talking in the back alley. The voices grew louder, and it began to sound like they were arguing with one another.
She stuck her head around the corner, careful not to be seen, and couldn’t believe what she was witnessing. One man had a gun pointed at another man’s head. The other guy was on his knees with his hands in the air.
The man with the gun said, “Give me your money and your watch! And don’t try anything funny, or I’ll shoot your ass.”
“Please, I have a wife at home. Please take whatever I have on me. Please don’t hurt me. I’ll give you anything you ask for. Please, I have a baby on the way,” the man said as he slowly handed the robber his wallet and watch.
“I don’t give a shit about your life. Just give me what I want so I can get the fuck out of here.
Now!
” The robber kept looking around, making sure no one was nearby.
Alexis was frozen. She couldn’t believe what was happening before her eyes. She slowly began to walk backward when she heard the shot and saw the man fall to the ground.
Oh, my God. He shot the man.
Before she could turn around and start running for help, she ran into the trash can. That noise alerted the robber.
“Who the fuck is there?” The man with the gun started walking toward her.
She could hear the footsteps approaching closer as she ran toward her car. She tripped on her heels but made it inside her car. She locked the door and turned on the ignition as fast as she could. She looked in her rearview mirror to see the man watching her car go down the street. Alexis drove straight home. She was so scared. She didn’t know what to do. Alexis just wanted to go home and lock herself inside where she’d be safe until she went to the police.
* * * *
Lenny bent over and picked up the purse the woman had dropped before she took off in her car. He took a look around the alley to make sure no one else saw what he did before heading back to his piece-of-shit truck. As he sat in the cab, he looked in her wallet. He took the cash out before taking out her driver’s license. He was going to pay Ms. Brooks a little visit. Hopefully she was scared enough to go running home before she went to the police. With any luck, Lenny would be able to make sure she never made it to the police.
“Alexis Brooks. Well, well, well looks like you and I will be able to meet formally face-to-face after all. It seems we have a few things to discuss between the two of us. I’m going to make sure you never breathe a word of this to anyone.” He started his truck and took off out of the alley before the police showed up.