Beyond Compare (The Beyond Series Book 4)

by Ashley Logan

  I hand him whatever tool he asks for, trying not to blush every time his thighs tense, his butt clenches and his pelvis lifts. When he finally comes back out, he has a sexy smudge of grease on his forehead, and I am very close to that spontaneous combustion point. Looking at me sideways, he shakes his head and grits his teeth.

  “Chores,” he says firmly, hanging the little trolley on a hook at the end of the next row. Closing his toolkit, he grabs my hand and pulls me to my feet. Bringing the drop cloth with me, I beckon him closer. Eying me warily, he lowers his head and I wipe off the smudge before kissing him quickly on his amused lips.

  Nudging me ahead of him with the end of his toolkit, Lennox keeps his eyes on my ass as he directs me where to go. Smiling to myself, I put a little more sass in my step. Muttering under his breath, his eyes keep returning to me as he tightens the leaky join on a pipe halfway down row F, that I’d noted earlier.

  Grunting once in satisfaction as he completes the task, he closes the toolkit and has me follow him to the tiny office area hidden behind yet another wall of greenery, where he checks the day’s orders and taps at a scale drawing of the warehouse layout pinned to the cork-board which is set amongst the plants on the wall.

  Squinting at it, I wonder how I could get lost. It really seems very straight forward and logical in its progression.

  “I’m sure it only feels like a maze if you’re in a panic to leave it,” he says, guessing at my thoughts.

  Blushing a little, I give him a shy smile of admission.

  Moaning softly he brushes his thumb over my warm cheek and shakes his head. “You’ve broken me, Katarina. Even an innocent blush is getting me hard,” he says, pulling his thumb back and exhaling roughly. Closing his eyes, his shoulders rise noticeably with the depth of his next breath. “Once Lima Bean’s off to school, I’m not going to be able to stop myself,” he warns me, his eyes serious.

  “Promise?” Flashing him a teasing grin, I escape the small space as he releases a deep, rumbling growl.

  Running my fingers over the young spinach, I pluck off a leaf and chew it as I take a moment to really familiarize myself with the space.

  “Come on you,” he says, swatting my ass on his way past. “Stop eating the merchandise.” The grin he gives me over his shoulder fills my heart.

  “Hey Kat,” Kimber says, looking up from the cereal that she’s eating next to the register.

  “Hey, Kim-bones,” I reply, stalling by the big plastic curtains as Lennox strides across the store to unlock the door and flip the sign to OPEN.

  “You stay over?” she asks, doing little to hide her smile as she watches her dad for a response.

  “You can wipe that smile off your face, Lima Bean,” he says, pointing at her grin on his way back. “You’re too young to be that happy about what that would mean for your old man.”

  Rolling her eyes, Kimber sighs. “Relax Trees, I know all about... pollination,” she says with a giggle.

  “What are they teaching you at that school?” Lennox says, narrowing his eyes.

  “I’ve been raised by two single guys. We had that talk, and I watch TV!”

  Glowing, I’m sure, what is a brilliant red, I clear my throat. “Actually I arrived this morning to deliver cake and help your dad with his chores.”

  “Someone say cake?” Linc asks, on his way through the curtain strips with two boxes of onions.

  “It was on the counter upstairs, so I hid it,” Kimber replies, watching him with eagle eyes as her cereal spoon stops part way to her mouth.

  Chuckling, Linc sets down the boxes and begins restocking the onion display. “I’ll find it when you’re at school.”

  “I know,” she says with a shrug. “I already took my share.”

  “Your share?” Linc and Lennox say at the same time, making me giggle.

  “Mmhm,” she says with a satisfied nod. “I’m the whole reason Kat made another cake, ergo, I deserve a portion. An ample portion. In fact, you’re lucky I was generous enough to leave you as much as I did.”

  Staring at her blankly a moment, both men crack up.

  “Ergo?” Lennox cries, at the same time as Lincoln claps his cheeks in horror with a very mocking, “Ample?”

  Shaking his head, Lennox chuckles again. “What the hell are they teaching you at that school? Do I have to make a phone call?”

  Giggling, Kimber wipes her full mouth as she starts to dribble milk.

  Enjoying every second of being amongst the family interaction, I lean against the door frame, taking them all in. “I’ll drop another cake around when I do my rounds,” I say when they finally quit joking around and Lennox tells Kimber to hurry up with her cereal or she’ll be late. “With your dad’s help, I made a dozen, so I’m sure I can leave another here.”

  Kimber and Linc groan. “You didn’t let him touch the ingredients, did you?” Linc asks, watching Lennox fold his arms over his chest. “Oh God, she did,” he tells Kimber. “Enjoy your ample portion of baking powder cake.”

  “It’ll be fine,” I say in Lennox’s defense. “There was no baking powder in the recipe, or even on the counter when we made the cakes. He mashed bananas and measured flour. It’ll be fine,” I repeat, watching Kimber’s expression turn from disgusted to moderately hopeful as she glances at her father.

  “I hope so,” she says with a sigh, before drinking the last of the milk from her bowl. “I’ll take one for the team and sample it when I’m upstairs,” she adds, with a shake of her head, as if eating cake for breakfast is suddenly a chore. Sighing again, she walks past us with her bowl.

  “That kid,” Lennox says with a chuckle as he shakes his head and follows her. “Make sure your homework’s in your bag, Sprout.” He disappears up the stairs and I turn to Lincoln.

  “Over early huh?”

  “Yeah. Had to sort something out. It couldn’t wait.”

  Lincoln watches me a moment, then keeps stacking onions. “I saw the shirt and wondered. Everything good now?”

  I nod. “Everything’s good.”

  “Well, good then,” he says with a smile. “About time you guys got together.”

  “Glad you think so,” Lennox says, pushing the plastic curtain aside and throwing Lincoln a purple backpack before he slides his arms into a freshly pressed shirt. “Kimber wants you to walk her to school today, Champ.”

  “Kimber does, huh?” he says with a chuckle as the girl herself arrives through the curtain, chewing.

  “Cakes good,” she confirms, licking icing from her fingers. “Thanks Kat.”

  “You’re welcome. Told you it’d be fine. I did listen about the baking powder disability.”

  Lennox growls at me and Kimber giggles. “Bye Dad.”

  “Bye Sprout,” he says, bending down to give her a hug and a kiss. “Have a great day. Learn stuff, but not too much of the weird shit, okay?”

  “‘Kay Dad. And don’t worry, I won’t tell Ms. Carlyle you said she teaches us weird shit.”

  “Good girl.”

  The bell jingles as they head out the door and Lennox stands a moment, watching them with a smile. His pride is evident in everything from the sparkle in his eye to the strength of his stance, and it’s sexy as all hell. Sighing, he turns to find me staring; drooling probably.

  Not breaking eye contact, his hand moves to the door, turns the lock and flips the sign to CLOSED. Striding across the store, he collects me on his way through to the back.

  Before I can say a thing, Lennox has me against the wall, kissing my lips, my face, my neck...

  “I can’t take it when you look at me like that,” he says, making short work of the buttons on my jeans and slipping his hand inside. “All fucking morning,” he moans and his erection jerks against my side as his fingers stroke me, and dip lower to test the waters. Swearing when he feels how wet I am, he moans at the same time as I do.

  “I want to be inside you. All the time.”

  “I want that too. Do it.”

  Cursing again, he
shrugs out of the shirt he hasn’t even buttoned yet and throws it over a nearby ladder before undoing his jeans, shoving them down and doing the same to mine.

  “Fucking winter boots,” he mutters, turning me to face the wall. Lifting my hips, he slides himself inside and his hand resumes its work on my clit.

  Rearing back into him, I give myself over to the sensation of solid Lennox Green pressed against my back, filling me, and driving me to the edge with his rubbing and nipple-twisting while he grunts hot and filthy things in my ear before kissing my neck and scuffing it up with beard-y goodness.

  “Lennox! I’m gonna come!”

  “Mmmm,” he agrees on a pleasurable moan. “I can feel you getting tight around my cock. Come for me now and I’ll have time to do it all again.”

  Crying out, as he holds me to him, I tense and twitch in his arms, wracked by strong contractions.

  “I fucking love the way you yell my name. Can you feel me getting harder inside you?”

  I can only reply in moans and contractions because I can feel him swelling.

  “I want to see your face when you fall apart this time, Katarina,” he says, pulling out and spinning me back around as he assesses the jeans and boots situation. “How flexible are you?” he asks lifting me off the ground. “Scrunch your knees up and open wide for me.

  Doing as I’m told, I’m rewarded by compliments and a string of muttered coarse language as he thrusts into me deeply and I beg him to do it again. Shuffling forwards, Lennox props me against the wall and slams into me as I rake my fingers down his back and cry out for more.

  “I’m going to lose my fucking mind with you doing that babe,” he pants, changing his angle and hitting that sweet spot inside each time, making my insides start to clench as he thrusts me to the brink. “Oh beautiful girl, here you go again and you’re taking me with you!”

  Driving into me again, he sets me off; spiraling out from my center. I feel him spurt inside, my body pulling it from him with every delicious spasm. Leaning into me and the wall, Lennox catches his breath between the soft kisses he plants along my collarbone. “You respond to everything I do,” he mutters in amazement. “I can’t get enough of you,” he moans, trailing his hands down my sides and gripping my hips firmly. “I thought you were perfect before you let me in, but now... oh beautiful girl, what am I going to do with you? How will I ever get anything done?” he cries, taking my mouth in a sweet, but dangerous kiss.

  Withdrawing with a sigh, he lowers me back to the ground and pulls my pants up for me before doing his own. “You’d better head upstairs and put yourself back together before I...”

  “Fill me with more of your... love?”

  “Mmm,” he agrees, kissing my forehead. “If I didn’t have work to do, I’d spend my day filling you with love just to watch it run down your gorgeous legs.”

  A shiver runs down my spine and I cinch my thighs together and move towards the stairs to his apartment. “That is both incredibly filthy and fucking hot, in equal amounts.”

  With a grin, Lennox gives me a wink as he pulls his shirt on and starts buttoning it. “You inspire me.”

  “Are you calling me filthy and hot?”

  “Fucking hot,” he corrects me, still wearing his sexy grin as he rolls up his sleeves. “Do you have to go home, or can you just meet Scarlett here?”

  “There are eleven cakes in my kitchen. At least there was when I left,” I add, wondering if any of my roommates would eat cake for breakfast. Benji definitely would, and maybe Reeni. “So once I clean up... your love, I’ll head home and do my own chores.”

  “Come say goodbye before you go?” he asks, tucking in his shirt and kissing my forehead before moving slowly back towards the warehouse.

  I nod. “See you in a few minutes,” I call over my shoulder as I head upstairs.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  There are in fact ten and a half cakes left in the Beyond kitchen. Shaking my head, I leave two and a half cakes on the counter and cut the rest into easy-share slices. Filling a large tray with the slices, I wrap them securely with cling-film for delivery to the shelter. Writing a quick note for Alexa, who said she and Damon would take them, I put one of the whole cakes into a tin as Scarlett arrives in the kitchen wearing her coat, hat and backpack. Our sturdy re-usable shopping bags dangle from her elbow and the smirk on her face needs no explanation as she eyes the cake in my hand.

  “The sex is so good he gets two cakes in one day?”

  Narrowing my eyes at her, I set the cake back on the counter as I open the door of the fridge to hide behind. “How do you know he gets two?”

  “Cake-math,” she replies, still grinning as she watches me pour a glass of milk. “You made twelve. Gave one of them super fancy frosting - which I no longer see here, so I’m guessing Mr. Green already got his special delivery - with extra treats,” she whispers, before pointing to the half-eaten cake on the counter, about to divulge the culprits. “Benji demolished that half, with a little help from Reeni, and myself - great cake by the way - and you’ve left another for morning tea and sliced the rest up for the shelter, while packing this one up unsliced to take with us to Green’s.”

  “You are scarily observant.”

  “I know,” she confirms, still grinning. “So it was two cakes good, huh?”

  Blushing, I keep quiet by drinking my milk.

  “And dirty,” she gasps. “Good for you!” Giggling, she nudges me with her elbow. “Come on. I want to go tease him too.”

  Putting my glass in the dishwasher, I fix her with a hard stare. “Do you have to?”

  “Ah, yes,” she says, laughing at me as she moves back through the living room and throws me my coat. “Lennox Green turned our Angel-pussyKat into a sex-demon-lioness. He needs to be congratulated.”

  “Just... shh. Okay? I don’t need you guys all in my business putting pressure on our relationship when it’s only in its infancy.”

  “Infancy?” Scar laughs out loud. “You two have been circling this for like, two years before the man pounced. Your relationship is at least a toddler.”

  Tossing the end of my scarf out of my way, I tie my laces. “Then it’s a fragile, complicated toddler, with other kids to think about, so just...shh. Okay?”

  “Fine, fine,” she says, raising her palms. “Minimal teasing.”

  Grumbling at her, I stand, button my coat and grab the cake from the side table. Checking my phone again, I put it in my pocket.

  “That’s about the hundred and third time you’ve looked at your phone this morning,” Scar says, starting down the stairs. “Is Mr. Green sending you naughty texts, or is it that he’s not and you want him to?”

  Sighing, I follow her downstairs. “I’m waiting on a message from Andy.”

  Stopping on the bottom step, Scar turns to look up at me, a frown on her face. “You’re dating both?”

  Shaking my head, I see her shoulders relax.

  “Good. I was starting to think I didn’t know you at all,” she says, opening the next door for us both. “You really shocked us with the whole I slept with his father thing,” she continues. “And while we don’t know the circumstances, it doesn’t really align with what we know of you. Now I don’t want to speculate-”

  “Seriously?” All she does is speculate. Sighing, I shake my head. “Just to clarify, it was under strange circumstances, and was completely out of character, and I don’t need you to try and understand something I did in the past. You know me now, and you know me well. Okay?”

  “Okay,” she says, bumping me with her shoulder in a friendly way as she offers me a gentle smile. After half a block, she clears her throat.

  “Yes?” I ask with a roll of my eyes as I smile at her.

  “You know how I know you quite well?” she asks.

  “Yes?” I say, looking at her sideways.

  “You seem nervous.”

  “I am.”

  “About seeing the bear-man?”

  “What? No. He’s great.�
�

  “So it is the Andy message,” she deduces in her detective-like tone.

  Shaking my head, I laugh a little. “You could just ask actual questions instead of round-about ones.”

  “Where’s the fun in that?” she cries. “Fine. What will his long awaited message be about?”

  “A time that suits to meet with him.”

  “Meet with him?” Scar says, wrinkling her nose. “Why?”

  “To break his heart by telling him about Lennox, and then convince him to keep my secrets from the kids while inviting him properly back into their lives, without letting him know that I screwed his dad while he was gone.”

  Nodding slowly, Scarlett raises her eyebrows and puffs out a plume of hot breath. “Yup. That explains your current state of tense edges.”

  “I’m not that tense,” I say as we approach the door to Green’s. “I’m actually looking forward to getting it over with. I just hate waiting. Andy said he’d probably get a break for lunch, but I’m waiting for confirmation of the time.”

  The bell jingles as Scar pushes through the door and Lincoln greets us from behind the counter in a cheery voice. Recognizing my cargo, he quickly slips around the register to offload the cake from me.

  “You are too good to us, Katarina,” he says, eying the other customers. “I’ll take this upstairs in a minute. We already polished off the one you left this morning.”

  “You guys have a cake problem.”

  “We’ve got it under control,” he swears, hand over his heart. “It’s only banana cake. We can say no to any other kind. But sweet banana - she calls to us.”

  “What does she say?” Scar asks with a giggle.

  “That’s between us and the cake,” Lennox says, coming through the curtain with an armful of boxed vegetables, stacked up to his chin. Turning his head to kiss my forehead as he passes, he stashes the cartons under the end display. “Linc, run that cake upstairs before you give in to the sweet temptation,” he warns, turning back to me, his heated gaze making my cheeks warm.

  “You’d know all about that, huh?” Scarlett jokes, cuffing him lightly on the arm.