by Lucy Kelly
“Yes. I only have one question,” said Charl.
“Yes?”
“What are sick clothes? You have special garb for when you are ill?” asked Charl.
“Of course. I wear my softest t-shirt and either sweats or yoga pants, depending on the weather. These sweats are my cool weather sick clothes, and you can build me another fire in the fireplace,” she answered.
The brothers agreed. Then she shooed them out of the room so she could clean up the kitchen. She insisted it wasn’t strenuous, and it was still her house. She was happy they were going to be working outside, and she would be alone for most of the day. She needed the time to come to grips with everything. She was acting like nothing unusual had occurred, but inside she was still really, really confused about her future.
She was going to spend some quality time with her computer searching Google for information on the ancient Sumerians. Karlo and Charl each gave her kisses before going outside. They were finally going to take a look at the shuttle.
Chapter Thirteen
Karlo and Charl went into the hay barn. They didn’t see the ship. They didn’t see anything. The barn was empty.
“I’m guessing you don’t have your remote?” asked Charl.
“No, I don’t. Marla grabbed my emergency kit because it looked like luggage to her. She closed up the shuttle and the security system must have been set for automatic stealth mode. I told you I was lying half in and half out of the door. That was the only reason Marla was able to find me and help me,” said Karlo.
“Why haven’t you checked out the shuttle before now?” asked Charl.
“Until I got my memory back, I didn’t know there was a shuttle,” Karlo answered.
“Okay. Well, it looks as if we’re going to have to do this the hard way,” he said, before stepping into the barn.
Both of them knew they couldn’t use their eyes. The technology of the shield would fool their eyes, changing their perspective. Instead of walking in a straight line from the barn door to the large hole at the back of the barn, they would be walking around the shuttle and out the back.
Stepping inside, the brothers put their backs to the wall on either side of the door. Reaching out, they grasped hands. Closing their eyes, they each took one step forward and then another and another. By keeping their eyes closed, the visual distortion of the stealth shield couldn’t trick them. Now they only had to worry about special distorting waves. By taking slow measured steps along with stretching their bodies out while maintaining contact, they had the best chance of finding the shuttle. After an hour of trying, they still hadn’t found it. The interior of the barn was just too big.
Karlo finally thought to ask Marla where in the barn the shuttle rested. She had seen it before the stealth shield went up. Leaving the barn, they started back to the house. Karlo looked up and started laughing. They were halfway to the house when Charl broke down and asked Karlo what was so funny. Still chuckling, Karlo pointed to the weather vane on the roof. Charl’s pants from the night before were hanging there.
As Karlo entered the house to find Marla, he looked back and saw Charl standing with his hands on his hips and a baffled look on his face. It would be his problem to figure out how to get them down. Karlo went in to question Marla again about the night she found him.
When she told them how close it was to the hole in the back, they decided the best way to find it was to go around the barn from the outside and come in through the hole. Marla had told them there was barely enough room to pass on the right side so what they did was stand shoulder to shoulder while touching the barn on the right. Then with arms linked, they slowly pivoted around the opening. This time, they touched the shuttle right away.
At least, Charl did; he was standing to the left of Karlo. Once he was in contact with the hull, keeping his eyes closed to avoid the visual distortion, he moved along to the hatch. It took some fumbling, but finally though, he was able to access the exterior hatch control panel. Working entirely by touch, the entire front of his body pressed against the shuttle, he got the panel open and then keyed in the sequence to shut down the stealth shield and open the hatch.
Stepping inside the shuttle, he waited for Karlo to join him.
“First things first, we need to find the remote,” Charl said.
They were worried about having to repeat their work. At the same time, they needed to keep the shuttle hidden from the locals.
Karlo went to the cabinet where the remote was kept. “It’s gone. Hend probably took it. Let me check the emergency parts storage to see if there is another one. Since the shuttle can hold a two man crew, there should be two remotes.”
“While you look, I’m going to grab some diagnostic tools and start running scans,” said Charl.
As the brothers worked on the shuttle, Marla sat at her desk getting caught up on the paperwork of her ranch. Every half hour or so, either Karlo or Charl would come back to the house on some pretext or other. She knew they were simply checking up on her. A part of her worried about her health, was it really so fragile now? She confronted Karlo about it the next time he came in.
“You keep checking on me. Is my health more precarious than you said?” she asked him.
“You’re going to be fine. We’re just reminding you we’re here. We aren’t leaving you. And if we can get in a few kisses, then it’s a bonus,” he said as he bent over, caging her into her chair. He leaned forward and, touching her with only his mouth, he stole all her senses. After kissing her until she was a puddle of goo, he stepped back with a smile and walked out of the room.
Marla waited until her heart settled down and stopped beating so hard. She was still deciding what to do about her relationship with Karlo…and his brother. Were their species really compatible? They must be if there were descendants of theirs mixed into the population.
Shaking her head, Marla turned back to her computer. She had switched screens when she’d heard Karlo open the door. Now she switched and went back to reading about the ancient Sumerians. She wasn’t stupid; Karlo and Charl had glossed over how long it had taken their ship to get to Earth on their quest to find the lost queen of HeVan. She had already looked up information on space travel and the distance to the nearest solar system. She wondered if they had hibernation chambers on their ship like on Alien or warp speeds like Star Trek. Maybe it was both.
She made notes and slowly compiled a list of questions. How the brothers answered them would help her decide what she was going to do. Of course, she hadn’t forgotten about her predicament with her ownership of the ranch.
She left a message for Mr. Edwards with his admin. She wanted to know if those two men had gone to see him. She also wanted to know if he were going to be able to get her proxy marriage to Jake annulled. If she did, would she still marry Karlo?
The one thing she was sure of, kisses aside, she was sleeping alone until she made up her mind. She wasn’t about to let Karlo and Charl seduce her into doing what they wanted. Not until she was ready.
Chapter Fourteen
The days passed, it had been nearly a week since Karlo had regained his memory. Marla was still sleeping alone. It was Friday and she was ready to take a chance. She didn’t want to leave Earth, and she believed Karlo and Charl would find another woman when they heard her decision.
She was selfish though, she wanted a special night with both of them before she told them. She’d made reservations at the best restaurant around and was planning an evening of seduction for Saturday night. Both Karlo and Charl spent time with her every day. They hugged her and kissed her and generally kept her in a constant state of semi-arousal.
The healer and his wife, along with a group of other Nephilim, would be arriving on Sunday, so tomorrow night was their last night alone. Both the old bunkhouse and all the rooms in the main house would be full. Well, they would all be full if she kept insisting Karlo and Charl not share a room with her.
She had decided to have an affair with her alien hunks. T
hey had to stay on her ranch until the shuttle was repaired. At least she’d have that time with them. After that, they could leave and continue looking for female Nephilim descendants to take back to HeVan with them.
Part of her mind was angry for wasting this past week. She knew she had really needed that time to come to terms with everything. How many people could handle meeting beings from another planet and have a sexual relationship with one? It was definitely something to tell her grandchildren about…or maybe not. They’d probably call her crazy and stick her in the old folk’s home.
After lunch, the guys had gone back to do more work on the shuttle and she was still taking it easy in the house, when she heard the delivery truck arrive. Well, it looked like zero hour was here. The new king-sized bed she’d bought online was sure to be all the proof her guys would need to know her decision. Now the trouble would be getting them to hold off until after dinner.
Stepping outside the house, she saw Karlo and Charl coming over from the hay barn to see what was up. Which reminded her, the field that burned wasn’t her only hay field. She had other crops she needed to bring in. The problem was, did she have enough room in the barn with the shuttle in there?
She saw Karlo confront the driver and hurried to interrupt.
“What do you want?” she heard him ask belligerently as she stepped up. Knocking him on the bicep with the back of her hand, she turned to the driver.
“Hi, you have a delivery for me?”
“Yes. Uh, my other guy couldn’t make the truck. I’m going to need some help with the unloading,” the driver said.
Karlo turned to Marla. “Is he the one?” he asked, his voice still hard.
“Huh? What are you asking?”
“You said you had a fantasy about the delivery man. Is he the one?”
Blushing beet red, she spoke quickly and furiously, “No, he isn’t. And I don’t appreciate you embarrassing me like this either. You two help him; it all goes upstairs in the master bedroom. I’m going to visit my alpacas.”
She quickly walked away. She knew she didn’t want to speak to either of the two brothers right now. She might just change her mind about tonight, too! She couldn’t believe Karlo had asked her about that. She fumed all the way to the pasture where the alpacas were grazing. She was still there an hour later, long after she’d heard the truck leave.
She felt someone coming up behind her and turned her head. Charl stopped next to her. “Neither one of us has forgotten what you said. We are both still jealous of this delivery man you spoke of. And if the man…Monk were to come, we would happily convince him you are ours. We will not share you with anyone else.”
She smiled for a moment. “You only want to share me with each other, right?”
“Yes. Since you bought that large bed, I believe you’re ready for us to share you.”
“I had made some plans. I’m just not sure you both deserve them.”
“What can we do to make it up to you?” Charl asked, reaching out to take her in his arms.
Marla wound her own arms around Charl’s neck. “For the rest of the weekend, the two of you have to do everything I ask. No arguments, no discussion, and no complaining. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” he said. She still didn’t understand they were willing to follow her for the rest of their lives. She would learn.
“All right, this is going to be fun. Come on; let’s go back to the house. I want to make sure you put everything right where I want it.”
Jumping up, she kissed his cheek then moved back and started walking back to the house.
She spent the next hour having them move out the old furniture. The master bedroom hadn’t been used since her grandmother was alive. Her grandfather had moved to the downstairs bedroom after his wife’s death because he said it was easier on his legs. Marla always believed it was because he couldn’t stand sleeping in their bed without her.
They were moving the old double bed out and the new king-sized bed in. Luckily, the room was quite large. She had them move furniture around for over an hour. The deliveryman had taken the old mattress away with him. She had them take the old headboard and baseboard and put them in the attic. The new bed had a wrought iron headboard and baseboard with scrollwork resembling vines and leaves painted green and gold.
The duvet was dark green velvet with a tracery design in dark purple and bronze. She had bought one small round accent pillow in carmine red for a pop of color. She didn’t change the dressers and other furniture. They were all antiques that had been in the family for generations. They went well with the new items.
She’d purchased all new linens because none of the sheets in the house would fit such a large bed. Marla used it as an excuse to get covers and sheets and other pillows and linens she’d always dreamed of. If she had the guys move the bed and dresser around the room more than once, part of it was design and part of it was punishment. They didn’t complain even once.
“Okay, that’s perfect. We’ll leave it like this. Now I need to go into town. I have an appointment with Mr. Edwards and we also need groceries. Karlo, since you were such an idiot earlier, you can stay here and keep an eye on things. Charl, you can come with me to carry all the grocery bags. We’re going to really stock up so we have enough supplies for all your friends. If they eat the way you do, we might have to clear out the store,” she said, only half joking. They really did have big appetites.
Karlo walked to where Marla was fluffing up one of the pillows. “I’m sorry I acted like I did. I was so jealous. I can’t promise I won’t behave like that again. I can only promise to try. Will you forgive me?” he asked.
Marla put the pillow down and turned to face him. A quick look around and she knew Charl had left them alone to make up. Looking into his face, she saw more than guilt. She saw pain in his eyes.
She put her knee on the bed and toed off her shoes; she lay down and patted the bed next to her. When Karlo was lying down facing her, she brought her hand up and cupped his cheek. “Why are you hurting?”
“I feel as if I’ve lost you. We were so close and now you’re so far away,” Karlo said.
“You’ve both been giving me time. I needed it. I think I’ve actually taken it all really well. So you don’t get to be hurt about that. You say you would do anything for me. I needed time and you gave it to me.”
“I never said it would be easy, though. It’s not. It’s very hard not being able to hold you in my arms all night.”
Moving her hand from his face, she drilled a finger into his chest. “Neither of you has been keeping your hands to yourself. I get more kissing, fondling, and hugs than I ever did before. Both of you are not exactly keeping your distance.”
He gave her a fake pout. “We are Joined. We can’t stay away from you completely.”
She just laughed in his face. Pushing at his shoulder, she had him roll over onto his back. She followed until she straddled his hips, his cock instantly went from half hard to stiff as a pike. She slowly leaned over and placed her lips against the lobe of his left ear. She then kissed and nibbled her way over his chin and neck to the opposite ear. After having been without her for so long, he nearly came in his pants when she bit down gently.
He felt warm breath tickle his ear before she whispered. “Okay, I forgive you.”
She sat up. “I don’t want to be late for my appointment with Mr. Edwards. See ya,” she chirped, climbing off him and getting up from the bed to put her shoes back on.
“You’re leaving now?” Karlo asked. “I thought we could christen the bed.”
“Sorry, Mr. Edwards and I are specifically working on the annulment this afternoon. It’s important. So I gotta go. Remember, Huey and Louie, those two assholes have been gone since last week. New assholes could arrive at any time to cause trouble. I’m counting on you to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
With a little wave, she left the room. Karlo had risen to watch her leave. When the door closed behind her, he fell back on the bed with a
groan.
Charl appreciated being able to spend the long drive into town with Marla. It was his first opportunity to spend more than fifteen minutes alone with her. So he spent the drive learning as much about her as he could. He also shared a lot of himself and his history with her. She was laughing at one of his anecdotes when they parked in front of Mr. Edward’s office.
They were shown right in.
“And who’s this?” asked Mr. Edwards, after he greeted Marla.
“This is Karlo’s brother, Charl. Charl, this is my attorney, Mr. Edwards,” said Marla, introducing them. The three of them all sat and Mr. Edwards came straight to the point.
“Marla dear, after going over all the facts, I believe the best way to proceed is to apply for a Declaration of Invalidity.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s what the State of Colorado calls an annulment. When your marriage is annulled or declared invalid, it will be as if the marriage never existed,” he said.
“What’s involved? Will we have to go to court?” Marla wanted to know.
“We have to fill out a form. There are only seven reasons why a marriage can be annulled in this state. The fourth reason is where one of the parties entered into the marriage based on a fraudulent act or representation of the other party. I’ll need you to make a formal statement, which my secretary can notarize. We’ll file that with the form.
“The difficult part will come after that. Mr. O’Brien will have to be served papers informing him of your attempt to have the marriage annulled. He will then have twenty days to make a response,” said Mr. Edwards.
“I don’t want him to be aware that I know about the marriage. So long as he’s in the dark, he’ll think he’s got this ace up his sleeve. Hopefully, that will keep him from hiring more goons to cause problems on my ranch,” she said, sitting back in her chair and crossing her arms over her chest.