Mold Me [Dungeon Masters 4] (Siren Publishing Menage Everlasting) (11 page)

Callum led Phoenix into the bedroom they’d prepared for their woman, the one they’d always intended to share with her. The bed was a king-size one and Callum had made it up today with the deep purple sheets and pillow cases they’d bought especially for Phoenix. This room was originally the master bedroom, and neither he nor Callum had used it. They each slept in their own rooms, Callum next door to his office, and Lachlan at the back of the house, overlooking their orchard.

“Oh, I love the colors.” Phoenix sat on the bed then stretched out flat, facedown. “Just give me a minute to rest and then I’ll take a shower.”

Lachlan smiled at her and wondered if they should take her shoes off. She’d left her feet hanging off the bed so her shoes wouldn’t dirty the quilt, but still…

He heard the faintest, tiniest snore and looked up at Callum. His friend was trying hard not to laugh. “I’ve heard of speed reading, and speed skating. Even speed dating. But this is the first time I’ve ever known there was speed sleeping.”

“We’d better take her shoes off and put the blanket over her.” Lachlan spoke as softly as Callum.

Lachlan removed her shoes and placed them neatly under the chair where Callum had laid her small suitcase. He and Callum rolled her gently onto her side and wrapped the top blanket around her, then turned the light off and left the room.

“We’d better leave the hallway light on, though, in case she’s confused about where she is when she wakes up,” said Callum.

Lachlan agreed. “She transitioned from walking and talking to sound asleep in about one second, maximum.”

“Don’t worry. Likely she’ll talk in her sleep as well.”

“I expect you’re right.”

* * * *

Callum woke during the night and tiptoed down the hallway to peek in on Phoenix, but she was exactly as they’d left her, wrapped in the blanket and laying on her side. He listened hard, calling on all his werewolf senses, and smiled when he heard a tiny sigh. For a moment he’d been worried that she wasn’t breathing. But it seemed she was just very tired, and a tidy sleeper who didn’t toss and turn and wreck the bed.

Smiling he returned to his own bed, planning some of the things they could do when she woke up. He’d start by cooking her a big breakfast. Likely she’d be hungry after her long day.

He woke at six as usual and checked the blogs and websites he administered, but there was nothing needing his urgent attention. His cell phone would have beeped and woken him if any of about twenty key inflammatory words had been used in comments on the blogs. Shortly after seven he was showered and dressed and began pulling ingredients out of the refrigerator and preparing breakfast.

He’d scrambled eggs, fried crispy strips of bacon and hash browns, warmed up a batch of cinnamon rolls, and was just adding a gallon of orange juice and three glasses to the table when she appeared, still dressed as she’d been the night before.

“Have I got time for a shower, or should I eat first?”

Lachlan appeared in the doorway behind her, his hair still damp from his shower. “How about we all eat first? Then Callum and I can organize what you’d like to do today while you take your shower.”

“Good. That smells really great. I remember you said last night that you can cook. It certainly lives up to the advertising.” She picked up a cinnamon roll, held it to her nose, and inhaled the scent, making him laugh.

“Most people eat them instead of smelling them,” he teased her.

“Don’t rush me.” Her words were mumbled because she’d already taken a bite. Once again he laughed. Her hair was escaping from her braid, which made him long to brush it away from her face, but instead, he concentrated on eating his own breakfast.

“Would you like to see around the farm this morning?” Lachlan asked her.

“Yes, I would, please. What animals do you have? Do you grow any crops or your own fruit and vegetables? Is there a lake? Can we walk or is the farm too big? Oh, do you have horses we can ride? Or a tractor I can ride on? Oh, oh, do you have dirt bikes or those four-wheeled things. Um, quad bikes?”

Callum started laughing. He’d already forgotten her first couple of questions and wouldn’t be surprised if she had as well. Lachlan was just sitting there looking stunned, but Callum loved the way she was so interested in everything. Even if she did talk a lot.

“What’s so funny?” Phoenix stared at him.

“You didn’t give anyone a chance to answer you.”

“I can see I need to buy that ball gag right away,” added Lachlan.

“Are you going to answer my questions or not?”

“I can’t even remember what half of them were.” Callum was still struggling not to laugh. Then his jaw opened in amazement as she repeated the questions in exactly the same order as she’d asked them. He turned to look at Lachlan, who appeared to be stunned by her questions.

Lachlan recovered faster than Callum. “We only have cattle so no horses to ride. No tractor, dirt bike, or quad bike either. We have an orchard of fruit trees, but don’t have a vegetable garden or other crops. There’s water in each of the large fields but that’s for the cattle to drink. There isn’t a lake to swim in or go canoeing on.”

Callum noticed Lachlan hadn’t mentioned about their running track so he didn’t refer to it either. “We have favorite places we like to walk to. We don’t usually walk the fence line or anything like that.”

“I’d like to see your favorite places, please. I’ll have a shower first, though. Thank you for breakfast, Callum. It was delicious.”

Callum loaded the used dishes into the dishwasher, but once he heard the shower water running he said softly, “Showing her our running track might be a way to gently introduce her to that other matter we urgently need to discuss.”

“It’s very much a case of playing it by ear. We need to judge her responses as we progress. We can’t risk alienating her. But I agree. It has to happen soon, and having her here is the perfect opportunity.”

* * * *

Phoenix happily put on her jeans and athletic shoes. She was quite content to dress nicely for work, and to wear anything other than good clothing to visit her parents would have greatly upset them. They’d have been horrified if she’d arrived wearing jeans. But to relax and go walking on a farm, casual clothes were needed. She was also pleased she’d thought to throw some clothing into her little carry-on bag. She’d thought maybe she was overstepping the mark. That if her meeting with her parents took too long, Callum and Lachlan wouldn’t be interested in having her visit the farm. But she’d hoped they could spend today together and was really excited that’s what was happening.

Even if she had fallen asleep in her clothes last night. She must have been even more tired than she thought. Certainly not knowing what the problem was with her mom and dad had been emotionally draining as well as worrying. But now that was all sorted out. They’d be at the airport ready to start their vacation while she was looking forward to this day with her men. Well, she assumed it was all day. They hadn’t said. But they also hadn’t hinted the look around the farm needed to be quick.

She’d just take what was offered. It was nice to relax and talk with them. And some hot sex later might be good, too.

She bounced back into the kitchen. “I’m ready. Where are we going first?”

Both Lachlan and Callum stared at her, looking so totally delicious she was ready to forget about sightseeing and move straight back to the bedroom. This time with both of them in the bed with her. Lachlan’s hair and eyes were both black, but in the early morning sunlight she noticed for the first time that Callum’s hair and eyes were actually dark brown, not black. She’d always seen them indoors in the evening before, and had just assumed Callum was as dark as Lachlan. But he wasn’t. His coloring was very dark but still brown. That was one fascinating thing she’d learned already today.

They left the house through a mudroom packed with coats and boots, and walked past a barn and then down a gravel track to some trees. As they got closer she realized it was their orchard.

“We planted the trees over three years, so they’re at different stages of growth, but they all bear fruit now. The apple trees are on this side of the orchard and the peach trees are on our right.”

Phoenix didn’t know much about gardening, but the trees looked strong and healthy to her. “Yum, imagine growing peaches. I’d never stop eating them. Although, I suppose you grow them to sell and don’t eat them really.”

“Both. We can plenty for ourselves to eat all year round, and sell the rest at a local farmer’s market,” said Lachlan.

“That makes sense.” She walked slowly though the plantation, enjoying being among the sweet-smelling trees, and noticing the occasional piece of fruit sill hanging there.

“I should have bought a bag with us and we could have picked them,” said Callum.

“Why don’t you go back and get a bag. Lachlan and I can pick them while you do that.”

“Do you mind? We didn’t bring you here to work,” said Lachlan.

“It’s not work. It’ll be fun.”

Callum ran back toward the house and Phoenix walked on through the orchard, holding the bottom of her sweater up like a kid and carefully piling fruit into the bag she’d made.

“Your sweater will be dirty,” said Lachlan, although she noticed he’d done exactly the same thing.

She shrugged her shoulders. “It’ll wash.”

By the time Callum returned they had enough fruit to almost fill the three bags he’d brought with him. They left the bags at the end of the orchard to collect later, and walked along a narrow dirt track that was just wide enough for her feet, and headed up a small hill.

It wasn’t much higher than the surrounding fields, but Phoenix did get the sense of being able to look out at their land. “Show me which is your land and which is your neighbors’.”

The men drew lines in the air following the fences which were the borders of their property. “I see. You actually have two fences. An inner one and an outer one. Is your land like that all around or just this bit?”

“It’s right around it. We have an electric fence so the cattle don’t stray. They know not to go too close to it,” said Lachlan.

“But wouldn’t a regular fence work as well? Why are there two fences?” It didn’t make sense to her.

“Animals like to lean on fences. After a while the fence falls over and they walk away and get lost. That’s why farmers are always fixing their fences. But the cattle know not to lean on an electric fence, so the outer fence lasts much longer,” explained Callum.

“I see. But if you had the electric fence as the outer fence wouldn’t that work even better?”

“For a start the outer fences were already here when we bought the farm. But also, this way, if some child touches the electric fence, they’ve already had to climb into our property through the outer fence to do that, so they must know they’re trespassing. We also have signs on the electric fence saying it’s activated,” said Lachlan.

“That property there, the one immediately behind us, is up for sale. The sale board makes it clear they’re hoping a developer will buy the property and build family homes. They’ll be on large allotments. There won’t be dozens of them, but still it’s worrying us that soon there’ll be a lot more people who might choose to trespass on our land, eating our fruit, and frightening our cattle. Maybe exploring in our barns and even in the house while we’re gone.”

Phoenix had never thought about that. A city person could lock their apartment, garage their car, and their property was safe. Well, pretty safe. But except when it snowed, the animals were all out in the fields, walking free and eating grass. To lock them in barns all year around would be both cruel to the animals and expensive as well. And there was no way to lock up crops.

“What do your other neighbors think? Are they worried, too?”

“Most of them are concerned. We’d all hoped it would just be bought by another farmer. Ideally by one whose fields border it to add to their property, but none of us can afford it,” said Lachlan.

“Because the price is high so they can entice a developer? Likely it cost a bit to get all the permits and approvals they’d need to have it rezoned as housing.” She nodded, understanding the logic. Obviously the sellers wanted to get the best possible deal for their property.

“Not tract housing, but houses on large allotments, yes.”

Phoenix looked at the men. They both seemed very concerned, and rightly so. It was a worry.

“Can we walk though there and look at the house and land? I’d like to read the signs, too, please.”

“They have a security fence around the property. It’s been empty a long time. It was the subject of a disputed will. But we can drive around to that road and the front of the house if you’d like,” said Callum.

“Yes, please, I would.”

Phoenix couldn’t imagine herself coming up with a solution to the dilemma, but anything that worried two such strong and capable men had to be a major problem. So she’d look and learn, and see if she could think of any way around the problem. She was a fresh mind, a new set of eyes. Maybe she could think of something different they could do.

Lachlan was touched that Phoenix wanted to help them. As an admin in a publishing company he didn’t imagine she’d have any expert knowledge to advise them, but she was a clever woman, a quick thinker, and some different ideas might come to her. He really should talk to his neighbors again, he supposed. None of them was interested in the idea of the area becoming housing. All of them wanted to remain on the land and none of them was so rich they could consider buying the extra land for themselves.