The Widow's Dom

By Lila Fox

Nick and his friends were alpha Doms home from war, trying their best to find a place in the U.S. where they could fit in. A relative invited them to their town, and what they all saw was encouraging. It would be a great place to build his dream of having a ranch. The thing that would make his life perfect was a woman, but he had no time, and women were scarce. That changed the instant he saw Janessa.

Janessa was living her life the best she could after losing her husband. She was finally at a place where she could smile every day and wanted to live life. When she met Nick she knew he wasn’t the type of person she was used to, but damn if he wasn’t exactly what she needed—a Dom. She’d always known she was a sub but couldn’t do anything about it. Until she got her own Dom.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Evernight
• Release date: Apr 21, 2023
• ISBN: 9780369507938

Book preview

Published by EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ® at Smashwords

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2023 Lila Fox

ISBN: 978-0-3695-0793-8

Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

Editor: Lisa Petrocelli

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

THE WIDOW’S DOM

The Doms of Madison County, 1

Lila Fox

Copyright © 2023

Chapter One

Janessa had her hands deep in the soil of her garden. The sun was out. Her sons were healthy and happy, and her dog, Luna, was napping alongside her.

It was one of the days she had awoken with energy and a new outlook on life. These kind of mornings had been happening a lot lately, and it told her she was finally ready to take off her wedding ring and move on with her life. It had been close to two years since her husband, Kevin, was killed by a drunk driver on his way home from work.

The first couple of months, she felt like she lived in a state of haziness and could remember very little besides taking care of the farm, her kids, and all the things that went along with burying a loved one.

She thanked God for the farm and her boys. Fortunately, they were both adults, so she didn’t have to worry as much as if they were young children. They kept her going day after day when all she wanted to do was stay in bed. After graduating from college, her oldest boy, Chad, decided to live in the nearest city, but it was within an hour of home, so he was there a lot. Her youngest, Shane, hadn’t wanted to go to college and still lived on the farm just on the other side of the property. His dream was to build his own ranch on the land. He had always dreamed of training cattle horses and put all his energy into that. It was amazing how much he’d gotten done in such a short time.

When she married Kevin, he lived on the farm his whole life and had gotten the property after his parents passed away. Neither of them had siblings, so it was just the two of them until they had their boys.

The farm was on five hundred acres, so Janessa had gifted Shane fifty acres to build on. They both loved it because he was close by but was living his dream and had privacy. Since Chad preferred to live off the farm, she’d given him the equivalent of what the land she’d given Shane was worth, so it was even. Chad was thrilled because it helped him buy a condo in a great part of the city.

Fortunately, her husband had been wealthy to start with because of his family and being president of a local bank. She found out he’d also taken a million-dollar life insurance policy out on himself to ensure his family would always be cared for. She had oftentimes wanted him to be more affectionate or dominant, but she never had to worry about him taking care of her. The times they spent apart, even when he was home, she found things to do, and the boys helped, too.

Because of the money, she never had to work a day for the rest of her life, but she loved what she did as an editor. It kept her busy, so she didn’t feel as alone without Kevin being present in the house. He could lock himself in his den, and she’d be fine.

When the boys were young, she looked for something she could do to make money without leaving the house. The job of an editor for an Internet publishing company was offered to her, and she took it because it was exactly what she needed. Since she’d done very well in her college English classes, she didn’t think she’d have a problem with it.

The first year had been hard and slow because she was just learning what the publisher wanted, and the publisher was testing her to see how well she did. Now, she could spend as much time as she wanted and was given the best contract jobs.

Janessa sat back on her heels, looked around at her home, and felt a bubble of happiness that she’d been so lucky to end up with the man she had, and now the home.

Now she wanted to open herself up to the possibility of having another relationship. She was only forty-five years old. She was too old to have children but young enough to meet a wonderful man to spend the rest of her life with. She just had to get up the guts to actually put herself out to find one.

Hey, Mom, Shane yelled from the back door.

I’m over here, honey.

She stood and pulled off her gloves as she walked toward her son.

Your phone was ringing. It’s your friend Natalie.

Thank you. There’s sandwich meat in the refrigerator.

Shane rolled his eyes. I can feed myself, Mom.

Hey, bud, moms get to keep caring for their children, no matter their age, so suck it up, kid.

Shane laughed. Fine, I’ll go make a sandwich.

Thank you so much for your kindness. She rolled her eyes, making him laugh. She put the phone to her ear. Hi.

Hey, girlfriend. What are you doing tonight?

She snorted. Same as I did last night and the night before last.

No, you’re not. Lewis and I will be there to pick you up at seven. We’re going to the Nixon’s barn dance.

Oh, I don’t know…

Janessa, you can’t say no. You promised me last week, Natalie said.

Damn, she had promised her friend she’d go with her to the next party. This was a good step in the right direction of meeting someone. Okay, fine.

Good. We’ll see you at seven.

I can drive myself there, Janessa said.

No. I want you to be able to have a few beers. We’re going to have so much fun. Sandy and Dennis will go early and get a good table. Oh, and don’t eat, they’ll have BBQ.

All right. I’ll see you soon.

See ya.

Janessa turned off her phone and patted her dog’s head. Well, Luna, I’m actually going out. It’s not a date, but it’s to a barn dance with my friends. It shouldn’t be that hard, right?

She looked at the time. She had about three hours. She thought she might as well pamper herself with a long bath and deep-condition her hair to make it healthy looking. Come on, girl. Let’s put the garden tools away.

A few times in the next hour, when she started to chicken out, she had to remind herself that she’d gone to this barn dance every year and would know most of the people there, so it wouldn’t be a big deal. She needed to take this first step to move on with her life.

Chapter Two

It had been so long since she dressed up that it seemed foreign to her.

The nice jeans and shirt she wore were a little big since she had lost weight in the last two years. The pretty white lace top made her tan skin glow, and the dark jeans still hugged her hips and ass but were loose at the waist. After she pulled on her nicer cowboy boots and a rhinestone belt, she put some lotion on her face and then a little blush. Besides that, she added a bit of eye shadow, mascara, and lip gloss, which she usually never wore.

Before going downstairs, she put on earrings and a locket her boys had given her a few Christmases ago. She stared at her wedding ring for a long moment, took a breath, pulled it off, and set it in her jewelry box. She felt incredibly naked without it because it was the first time she had it off in the last twenty-five years.

After a few deep breaths, she brushed her dark hair out, leaving it to fall down her back. It had been quite a while since she had it trimmed, so it was long enough to fall at her hips. She put a few curls on the ends and then pinned the front back so it didn’t get in her face.

Janessa looked in the mirror. It’s as good as it’s going to get.

She was just making sure the house was locked up when she heard a vehicle pull up. She peeked out the kitchen window to see Lewis’s truck.

You be a good girl, she told Luna, then locked the last door before walking toward them.

Oh, Janessa, you look beautiful, girl, Natalie said. She tapped her husband. "Don’t you