Monroe, Marla - The Ranchers Take a Wife [Men of Space Station One #1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (7 page)

“I won’t. Be careful.” She waved at him as he left.

Left to her own devices, she wondered around aimlessly for several minutes. Then she decided to learn where everything in the kitchen was and see if they needed any laundry done yet. The kitchen was a dream. She’d never have believed she would have something so nice to cook in.

After learning where everything was kept in there, she checked out the laundry room and found that there wasn’t enough to make a load, so she slipped outside to check out the garden they said they had planted for her.

Newly turned earth smelled wonderful. She turned her face up to the sky to take in the rays of the sun. It might not be the same sun, but it was a sun, and it wasn’t going to give her some disease like the one where she had come from. It felt wonderful to be outside and draw in a lungful of clean air.

The little garden they had planted was actually a nice size. She wasn’t sure how large it needed to be to feed them, so she would have to wait until the vegetables began coming in. She had noticed there were stacks of canning supplies on a shelf in the laundry room. The pantry had plenty of room for canned goods. She couldn’t wait to start putting away fruits and vegetables. Homegrown and home-canned were always best.

The grass there seemed to have much larger blades and grew thicker. She felt like she was walking on carpet instead of just grass. She hadn’t noticed anything all that different about the garden itself, but nothing had grown yet.

She explored the rest of the area and found strange plants everywhere. She was a little afraid to touch them in case they were poisonous. Surely they would have warned her, though, if they were. Still, she would ask when they got home.

Home. This was her home now, too. She smiled to herself and walked back to the front of the house where there was a porch and rocking chairs. She sat in one of them and rocked, thinking about the differences so far that she had found between the planets.

She knew that winters were harsh here, but she’d grown up in Montana, so she knew about that. What she didn’t know was the land itself. She couldn’t wait to ask the men more about the planet. The information they had been given had been sketchy at best. She knew there were dangerous animals in the outlying areas. She didn’t know what they looked like or what to expect from them.

Her thoughts turned to the men themselves. They had been so good to her already. Would that continue, or were they simply being on their best behavior until she was settled? Would they turn into typical male chauvinists, thinking women were for working in the house and sex and nothing more?

And how did they really feel about her? Were they disappointed in her and wishing they’d been chosen by Rachel? After all, they’d kissed Rachel before they had kissed her. Had they hoped Rachel would claim them?

Lacy was making herself sick thinking about it. She needed to concentrate on making them happy so they wouldn’t regret not having Rachel as their wife.
Maybe one day they will fall in love with you, Lacy. Maybe one day you really will be a family.

She sighed and climbed out of the rocking chair to go inside. She checked her watch and realized it wasn’t working right. There were twenty-six hours in a day here. She needed to get used to that. She pulled off her watch and tossed it in the garbage can in the kitchen and checked the real time on the kitchen clock made especially for the planet. It was close to supper time now. She expected them to stay out until nearly dark.

When they showed up at the back door to the laundry room, it was just before dark, as she’d expected. They pulled off their boots and left them at the back door to keep from tracking dirt inside.

Cam grabbed her as soon as he walked into the kitchen and pulled her in for a quick, hard kiss, then patted her on the ass and headed for the stairs.

“Going to shower before supper,” he called back to her.

“Me, too,” Phillip said after kissing her on the cheek.

Twenty minutes later, they were all eating at the table. She listened as the men talked about the crops and problems with the irrigation equipment.

“We’ll be able to stay in with you for the next several weeks with quick checks on the equipment. Once the plants get a little bigger, we have to add fertilizer, but that will only take a few days,” Cam told her.

“Come winter, we’ll all be stuck inside for several months straight,” Phillip added.

“What about supplies? When do you go and get them?” she asked.

“We usually go once a week or every two weeks to town to pick up what we need. During the winter, we live off what we have here. We usually try to stock up a couple of weeks before we expect the first real snow.” Cam helped her clear the table.

After the dishes were done, they sat on the couch with her stretched out between them. Her head was in Phillip’s lap, and her feet were in Cam’s. They talked about everything from the fact that there were no birds there to what the strange plants in the yard were called.

“You can pretty much handle anything in the area around the house. The purple-looking flowers grow wild and are safe to touch, pick, or eat. They don’t taste very good, though.” Phillip made a face.

“I wasn’t planning on eating them. I just wondered if they were okay to cut and bring in the house.” She laughed.

“Yep, and there are some yellow plants that are just outside the yard that are safe as well, but don’t go out there without us with you. The animals here are all wild and dangerous. There is a small dog-looking thing that will come up looking for food sometimes. Stay well away from it. It’s not cute, and it sure as hell isn’t a dog. It has two sets of razor-sharp teeth that can snap through bones.” Cam massaged her feet as he told her about the animal life.

“So, what time do you guys get up to eat breakfast?” she asked.

“Usually about six, but we won’t be getting up early in the morning. Well, we won’t be getting out of bed early in the morning,” Phillip said with a sly grin.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, forgetting she was in his lap.

He groaned and pressed his swollen dick against her cheek.

“Oh, sorry.” She smirked at him.

“You will be as soon as I get you upstairs,” Phillip teased.

“I’m really scared.” She rolled off their laps and raced for the stairs.

They were fast on her heels. She slipped in the hall and nearly fell. Cam caught her before she hit the floor. When they reached the bedroom, instead of attacking her sexually, Cam fussed at her.

“Don’t ever run up those stairs again, young lady. You could have fallen and broken your neck.” He frowned at her and walked out of the bedroom.

Lacy’s mouth hung open at his chastising her. She heard his heavy tread as he stomped down the stairs.

“I was just playing. Why is he angry with me?” Lacy asked, feeling tears burning her eyes.

“I know, baby. He was scared you would fall. There’s no doctor for over two hours from here. You scared him, is all. Leave him alone for a little while and he’ll get over it.”

“I didn’t mean to.” She sniffed and sat on the edge of the bed, the mood broken.

“Shhh, don’t cry.” Phillip sat next to her on the bed and hugged her.

“I’m not. I think I’ll take a shower.” She stood up and walked to the bathroom.

She expected Phillip to follow her, but when he didn’t she realized he had been worried as well, but he hadn’t said anything. She’d never had anyone worry so much about her. Well, not unless you counted the doctors and scientists making sure those who didn’t show signs of the disease were kept in the bunkers.

She turned on the shower and stripped before stepping under the stinging spray of the water. Maybe she’d traded one prison for another. Maybe this wasn’t going to be like a family as she’d dreamed after all.

Chapter Six

Cam walked outside on the front porch and leaned against the railing with his hands. When Lacy had taken off running up the stairs all he could see was her sprawled at the bottom, broken and hurt. It had scared him to death.

He shouldn’t have yelled at her, but he had been upset. He should have held her and made her promise never to run up or down the stairs, instead of biting her head off. He felt ashamed for how he’d treated her. He needed to get hold of his fears. Ever since they’d found out just how dangerous the planet could be, he had worried for any woman who they ended up with. How could they impress on them the importance of being careful and not straying from the yard?

And what happened if the animals started getting ambitious and began moving in closer to the house? Maybe he was just borrowing trouble. As the oldest, he felt like it was up to him to be sure they all stayed safe and healthy. Still, he’d gone about it the wrong way with Lacy. He needed to apologize.

Cam sighed and pulled away from the railing to go back inside. He locked the door behind him and turned off the light in the living room as he passed and climbed the stairs. When he walked back into the bedroom, he found Phillip pulling off his clothes, but no sign of Lacy.

“Where is she?” he asked.

“She’s taking a shower. She didn’t ask me to join her, so I figured she needed to be alone to calm down.” Phillip looked at him. “You were rough on her. She wasn’t expecting you to yell at her.”

“I know. I need to apologize. I overreacted, I know. But when she ran up the stairs, all I could see was her falling down the stairs and breaking something.”

“It scared me, too,” Phillip admitted.

“Still, I shouldn’t have reacted like that. There were better ways to tell her not to run like that.”

“Why don’t you join her in the shower and tell her?” Phillip pulled back the covers on the bed and sat on the side of the bed. “She’s had time to calm down now.”

“Ah, hell. Was she crying?” Cam asked.

“Just before, but she didn’t cry in front of me.”

Cam nodded and pulled off his clothes. He walked naked into the bathroom and slipped into the shower behind Lacy. She was massaging shampoo into her hair. He took over. After jumping, she removed her hands and let him do it.

He leaned in and whispered in her ear, “I’m sorry, baby. I overreacted. You scared me running up the stairs like that.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think anything of it. I’ve done it a thousand times at home.”

He could hear the watery sound of tears in her voice. It pinched something inside of him.

“It’s okay. I should have just told you not to do it again, but I jumped on you instead.” Cam continued to scrub her head then slowly moved down her neck to massage her neck and shoulders.

He turned her around and kissed her softly on the lips before walking her backward until the water cascaded over her head. She rinsed her hair. Cam walked her back again until the water was no longer spraying her in the face, and bent to take her mouth in a desperate kiss. He tried to put all of his feelings into that kiss.

He wanted her to know she was special to him and he worried about her. He licked along the roof of her mouth and explored her teeth and cheeks before sucking on her tongue. She moaned, and he lifted her leg to wrap it around his hips and guided his hardened cock into her tight cunt. Her eyes flew open when he shoved himself halfway in, then pulled out and slammed all the way inside of her.

She held on tight to him as he began to pummel her with his cock. One hand held her ass cheek tight enough that he was sure she would have a red spot. The other hand held her leg to his hip. In and out, over and over, Cam pierced her body with his rock-hard dick. He grimaced each time he bumped her womb.

Her climax rolled over her. She cried out and clamped down on his dick until he came, shooting streams of hot cum deep into her womb. He leaned in and bit her shoulder and sucked. He made sure there was a mark there. Why he had wanted to mark her, he didn’t know, other than he needed to know she was his and Phillip’s and that she was safe.