Authors: Marla Monroe
Tags: #Romance
His cock was already hard as a rock, and they were strapped in, ready to land. This sucked. He glanced over at Keith, his best friend. By the look of the expression on his face, he wasn’t in much better shape.
“See you on Alpha, man.”
Keith grinned. “See you then.”
After what seemed like forever, he finally settled down enough to fall asleep in the strapped-in position. He sighed, closed his eyes, and drifted off.
The more Keith read, the angrier he got. They’d lied to them about the entire thing. As soon as they had landed, they were routed through decontamination then given packets to take to claim their transports and supplies. As they disembarked, there were several people from previous shuttle trips handing out pamphlets with “additional information they needed to read.” The two men sat in their transport waiting their turn at the supply line and read.
“Did you see the part about their fucking saliva having acid in it? What the hell kind of place did they send us to?” Tripp banged a fist against the side of the transport.
“And we’ve got to keep our wife safe while she works and we work in different places. What in the hell are we going to do when we have children?” Keith asked.
“I don’t even want to think about that right now. Some of the information in here suggests that putting up a fence is advisable as soon as we get here. I say let’s get fencing material to start with.”
“Good idea. I’ll add that to our requisition. Hold on.”
Keith typed into the handheld computer what they wanted and pressed enter. It would update their list and give them enough material to get started. They would need to come back and get more once they knew how large they were going to make the fenced in area. It would need to be big enough to encompass the garden area and most of the back yard. A kid would need room to run once they got old enough to.
He shuddered again at the thought of children and some of the creatures listed in the pamphlet. Maybe he was making it out to be worse than it was. After all, in the Old West, they had scorpions, snakes, wolves, and Indians to worry with. There really wasn’t that much difference. He kept telling himself that over and over.
Somehow, it wasn’t sinking in. He turned to Tripp and noticed his buddy was looking a little green as well.
“Let’s hope there is enough fencing for everyone. I bet we’re all thinking along the same lines with being prepared.”
“I just hope we make it to the house alive with all these damn creatures running loose out there waiting on us.”
“Maybe it’s not as bad as they are making it out to be,” Keith said.
“Your mouth to God’s ears. I don’t want to raise a family with acid-spitting monsters hiding under every freaking bed.”
“Not to change the subject, but what do you think about Piper?”
“She’s hot. You know how I feel about her.”
“Do you think she’s going to do well out in a wilderness-type situation? She strikes me as being more of a city girl.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean, but she’s been taking classes for the last six months. Surely she will be able to handle whatever comes up.”
“We better hope so, because we’re going to be working from sunup to sundown on our work days.”
“At least we have a week to get settled in before we have to start working. That will give us time to get the garden in and the fence started.” Tripp watched as Keith maneuvered the big transport into the warehouse. They were next in line to load up.
Keith thought about how sweet Piper’s kiss had been at their ceremony. She seemed like such a nice woman. He hoped she wasn’t as naïve as she appeared to be. They were pretty out there when it came to sex. It would really be an issue if she were inexperienced in sex other than the actual act. He and Tripp liked to experiment and couldn’t wait to take her together. Waiting for their wife to catch up with them would be a disaster.
He hadn’t even voiced his worries on that score with Tripp. His best friend was the more intense of the two of them and would dwell on it too much if he did. Keith was more laid-back. He could easily see himself in the role of confidant to their new wife with Tripp being the “go-to” guy and disciplinarian. It didn’t bother him. He would spend plenty of quality time with their wife just like Tripp would. It didn’t have to always be a together sort of thing. They would each need alone time with her.
“Check that bill of lading and be sure we got everything we asked for.” Tripp interrupted his thoughts.
“Got you.” He did a list comparison and found that they had everything they asked for plus two things added by their new wife. He grinned. Already shopping and they hadn’t even made it to their new house yet. He shook his head.
“They have everything. Looks like Piper found a shopping kiosk while waiting for us. We also have on board a food dehydrator and a case of something called posh.”
“What the hell is posh?”
“Get out your pamphlet and see if it talks about it in there? I skipped over the cooking part.”
“I’ve got to drive. You read and tell me about it.”
Keith shook his head and pulled out the pamphlet once again. He thumbed through the pages until he got to the part about cooking and natural plants available to them. He made a face at some of the suggested plants and located posh.
“Says here it’s a plant like a squash that tastes nutty and is crunchy. Looks like you can cook with it a lot of different ways. Get ready, Tripp. We’re going to be having it a lot it looks like.”
“Well, we live on a cattle ranch. We should be able to have beef just about anytime we want it.” Tripp headed straight to the terminal to pick up their luggage and their wife. Keith could tell that he was ready to get this day over with, and they still had to unload everything before they could call it a day.
“There she is. You can’t miss her. God, she’s beautiful.” Keith pointed her out to Tripp.
Tripp grunted and parked the transport. Keith jumped down and went to meet their wife. She was obviously happy to see them because she pulled him in for a hug and a tonsil-teasing kiss before turning her attention to Tripp. Tripp was prepared and prolonged the kiss even longer. He grinned at the slightly drugged expression on Piper’s face when Tripp finally let her go.
“Um, I’ve got everything right here. You might want to count and be sure you have all your things. I had to get them to search for one of my trunks.” Piper indicated their luggage.
They each looked over their gear and found that it was all there. They hadn’t thought about losing any of it. He was glad Piper had warned them. Keith couldn’t help but admire her body once again. All those fascinating curves and he was anticipating his first feel of her breasts. He hoped like hell they were real. They looked real, but one never knew anymore. Implants were so well done now.
“Are you staring at my breasts? Grow up, Keith.” She laughed and shook her head as she waited for them to load up the luggage.
Tripp popped him on the back with a smile and grabbed a trunk. He grinned back like an idiot and handed him the next one to load on the transport. Twenty minutes later, they had everything loaded and locked down.
“Let’s get you on board, Piper. Remember, don’t get up or down from a transport unless the engine is off.”
“I remember.” She climbed up with Tripp’s help and sat down in the middle of the bench seat.
She started messing with the safety harness, and Keith took over, showing her how to strap in effectively. Several times while he was adjusting the straps, his hand scraped across her breasts. He fought to keep from smiling. They were real. He’d bet his belt buckle they were.
“What are you grinning about over there, Keith?” Tripp closed the doors on the transport and fired up the engine once again.
“Just thinking about what the place is going to look like. Do you have the GPS set on the coordinates?”
“All plugged in and ready to take us home.”
“I sure hope we have a real house. I’m not much good at housekeeping in a tent or a lean-to.” Piper spoke up.
“Supposed to be a brand-new house just built this year.” Keith hoped he was telling her right.
“Wonderful. No caked-on dirt or grungy mold and mildew to worry about.”
Keith frowned. He sure hoped she wasn’t going to be one of those neat freaks that couldn’t abide a speck of dust or dirt anywhere. They worked on a ranch for Christ’s sake. There was going to be dust and dirt everywhere they went.
Tripp had a worried expression on his face as well. He’d evidently picked up on the same thing that Keith had. The idea that the government would pair up a germophobe with two cowboys was ludicrous, but perfectly possible when you looked at how they had paired them up. Filling out a questionnaire and then feeding those answers into a computer couldn’t be perfect. Hell, it might even turn out to be a disaster. It wouldn’t be the first time the government had screwed up.
* * * *
How long will this ride take?” Piper asked, looking out the window at the strange but interesting landscape around them.
“We’re about three hours from the city by transport and around thirty minutes from our closest neighbors by horse. Don’t know who they are yet, but the main house is an hour from us by horse as well.” Tripp filled her in on the area.
“Our house and our nearest neighbors are the farthest point west for the ranch. We’ll be watching out for the west herd and meet up with the central ranch hands when it’s time for rounding them up for something like tagging or inoculations.” Keith picked up.
“Do you know if any of the other families have been here very long and if they have children? I’d really like to meet the others and see if I can learn anything.” She pulled out a pamphlet and held it up. “Did you two get one of these from one of the locals? It’s downright scary reading. I sure won’t be reading it right before bed.”
Keith looked at it and nodded, producing one of his own.
“It definitely isn’t comforting for new arrivals to get as they walk off the shuttle.”
“I’m glad they gave them to us so we know what to expect,” Tripp argued.
“Oh, I agree with you, Tripp. I just can’t help but wish they had shared that with us several months back so we would be prepared, and have some ideas on how to handle everything,” Piper quickly added.
She settled back against the seat and thought about her men. They were both tall, dark, and handsome in her book. Tripp’s shaggy hair barely brushed his shoulders. He had a small goatee that she was sure would tickle in various places on her skin. His generous mouth and tasty lips were sensuous to say the least. She loved his dark eyes. They were deep pools of obsidian. He stood around six feet five inches and was about thirty years old.
He appeared to be the more serious of the two with an intense stare that she was sure could see all the way inside to her heart. It was a little disconcerting. She figured he would be the one to put a stop to her more adventurous side. She frowned. They would have words on a regular basis if he tried to curb her equally strong opinions.
Keith could almost be Tripp’s twin, though she knew they weren’t related at all. He was about thirty years old as well and only an inch or so shorter than Tripp. Both men were muscular all over, especially through the chests and arms. Where Tripp’s dark eyes were jet-black, Keith’s appeared to have a backlight to them. They almost glowed. His face seemed to hold a perpetual five-o’clock shadow even at ten in the morning. His hair was much longer than Tripp’s. He had it tied back at the nape of his neck with something like string. Her fingers itched to turn it loose.
His warm smile and easy manner said that he would be the one to go for her antics. He would be a partner in crime if she managed to find a crime to get into in this godforsaken place.
Physically, they were perfect as far as she was concerned. It was how they were mentally and emotionally that worried her. She had no idea how they would see her carefree attitude and slightly oversexed libido. Would they be turned on or disgusted to have a wife like her?
She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she nearly missed the strange-looking insect like creature that ran at them from the left.
“What the hell is that thing? Is it trying to hit us?” Tripp swerved out of the way, but not before it rammed into the passenger side door.
“It’s one of those fucking mantis creatures from the pamphlet. It didn’t mention that it would attack transports.”
“I don’t believe it. The thing is still coming!” Tripp swerved again and managed to miss it. “Hold on. I’m going to ramp up the amps on this thing.”
They shot forward, and the mantis slowly disappeared from sight. Piper could barely breathe around the thumping of her heart in her throat.
“Hey, are you okay, Piper?” Keith asked.
“Yeah, that was amazing. That thing was the ugliest-looking creature I’ve ever seen. It looked like an insect and a sloth or an anteater all mixed up.”
“That thing was fast! I don’t want it after us when we’re outside.” Tripp pushed back his hair.
“Well, we hurt it when it hit us, because he had goo oozing from him in places,” Piper said.
“We’re not far from the house now. Let’s hope it can’t track us. I’m not sure what sort of weapons will work on something like that.” Tripp slowed the transport down.
“There had better be enough for me to have one. I’m an excellent shot.”
“We’ll see what we have once we get settled in.” Keith squeezed her knee.
She sighed and hoped that wasn’t a brush-off. She really was good with guns, and she wanted to be able to watch out for herself, especially when they were out working. She would have to be out in the garden most of the day once it was up and growing. Surely they wouldn’t leave her with no way to protect herself.
Piper leaned forward as the house came into view. It was large and looked like most of the older homes back on earth. It wasn’t all steel and metals. It was wood and brick. They had to have brought it with them on the shuttle. There was no way they already had trees here that looked like the ones on earth. All she had seen were funny-looking greens, blues, and yellow ones.