by Cara Adams
So how could he make sure she said yes?
* * * *
“Trendy outfit!” teased Keisha as Dera raced inside the women’s barracks.
“You should have seen the socks I had to take off to run across the dirt,” she joked right back.
“Did you remember to put your cell phone in a bag of rice?” Qwera called out.
“Yes, Gowan did that for me. How long does it have to stay there?”
Keisha shrugged her shoulders. “I’d leave it there overnight,” said Qwera, poking her head out from behind the curtain that hid their beds from the living area.
“That sounds reasonable. We might as well give it a decent chance to work,” she replied, walking into the bedroom section and down to her own little space. Although the community hall was one big room, the werewolves had done their best to give each woman a small private area of her own, using closets, room dividers, chairs, bookshelves, and other furniture between the beds.
Dera had chosen her bed because of an old dressing table that blocked it off from its neighbor. It was just like the one her Nana had owned. Nana had died when Dera was only five but she could clearly remember Nana sitting her on her lap so she could watch in the mirror as Nana put on her makeup and brushed her very long hair. Nana had never had her hair cut in her life and her hair reached past her butt, although she always wore it tied up in braids wound around her head. Sleeping here gave Dera the comforting feeling of having her family close by her in spirit if not physically.
Right now, though, she grabbed a clean pair of jeans and a warm sweater to change into, plus socks. Hmm, shoes. That might be a problem. She’d been wearing her athletic shoes this morning, which was good because she’d have hated to get her boots wet. But the only other footwear she had were her heavy winter boots and a pair of black pumps which she had to keep nice for when she started working. Clumpy winter boots weren’t really appropriate for indoors though.
Dera shrugged then realized she’d just have to wear socks and hope people simply thought she was relaxing and staying indoors. Then she remembered many of the women here were in exactly the same position as she was. No one applies to be a mail-order bride if they’re dripping with money. Well, unless they really, really wanted to marry two men, she supposed. But from the talk among the women, none of them was rich, so likely they wouldn’t laugh at her.
By the time she had returned to the living area, several of the women were deep in a discussion about applying for jobs.
“Jackson Recruiting have a blanket advertisement for women for the hospitality industry. The problem is that it doesn’t give any details, and I don’t really want to tell them all about myself if it’s not for jobs I’m willing to apply for,” said Keisha.
“Sugar, where I come from the hospitality industry only wants one thing from women and it sure as shit isn’t waiting tables,” said Qwera.
“But Coopersville isn’t a poor town,” objected Tanisha.
“It’s got men in it, though, and there are always men willing to pay for what their wife won’t do. And mostly there’s good reasons why their wife won’t do it,” said Shakina.
“From what I heard, most men won’t wear condoms, and sooner or later that means trouble for the women.” Dera wasn’t game to say the words “sexually transmitted diseases,” but she knew the other women would understand. Being on the pill would prevent an unwanted pregnancy, but catching a disease would be bad news. Besides, they hadn’t come all this way to make a new life for themselves and then fall back into the kind of situation most of them had worked hard to avoid.
“Have any of you looked at the twelve-month maternity leave replacement job that Esther spoke about? Was it as the personal assistant for one of Kairu’s colleagues or something?”
“Someone Kairu’s company works with, I think. I’ve already applied for that job. It must be a reputable company or Kairu wouldn’t have told us about it, and I like the idea of only being contracted for a year. If I want to try something else then I can,” said Mailiki.
“I really hope you get the job,” said Dera, giving Mailiki a hug.
“I’ve never actually been a PA before, but I’ve worked in plenty of offices and I know I could do the job.”
Dera smiled at Mailiki and thought that her own main problem getting a job was the gaping hole in her CV. She’d had to quit work to care for her mother when her mom was so very sick waiting for her cancer surgery. Then she’d cared for her after the surgery. Her mom had recovered completely, but it’d been very slow. Only gradually had her mom regained her strength, begun to eat again, and finally gotten back on her feet, and started to walk around a little. By the time she felt confident about leaving her mom alone in their tiny apartment all day, over twelve months had gone by, and she didn’t even get any interviews for the jobs she was qualified for.
Thinking maybe she could be a translator was a new idea, which had only come to her when she’d been talking to three werewolf sisters, April, May, and June, who’d said Gowan was a translator. But it had to be audio translating since she wasn’t skilled at reading and writing Arabic. If that didn’t work out maybe she would go back to school and learn to read and write Arabic. Working as a translator would be much more fulfilling than flipping hamburgers for a living.
“If girls are so scarce in the werewolf pack, how come April, May, and June are sisters? That’s like, three girls in one family,” said Keisha.
“And what’s with their names? Are those the months they were born in or something?” added Qwera.
“April was born in April. Her parents were so sure she’d be a boy they’d only picked out a boy’s name, and when she was born, her mom said she liked the name April so that’s what she was named. I don’t know about her sisters, though,” said Tanisha.
When Nala spoke Dera was surprised. She was so used to seeing Nala in the group sitting silently, people usually forgot she was even there. “May told me when she was born her father didn’t believe the nurse who said she was a girl and he unwrapped her to check. She said everyone in the community bought her father a drink when he announced he had a second daughter and that her father was drunk for the first week after she was born.”
“Oh, my goodness. What happened when June was born? Was he drunk for a month?” asked Keisha.
Everyone was giggling, but Nala answered her seriously. “I don’t know, but it was her mother who named her. She said they had a theme going and she didn’t want to spoil it. April also said it was sort of sad growing up as they were often the only girls around. There’s a couple of women several years older than them, and then others quite a few years younger, but they only ever had each other to play with here on the farm. She was really excited about us coming to live at Cooper’s Farm and having other women to talk to.”
“I’m so glad they’ve welcomed us and accepted us. The whole community has been wonderful. I’m so lucky I decided to come here, and that I was chosen,” said Dera.
“Me, too. I never thought I’d pass the tests. I’m not a very adventurous sort of person,” added Nala in what Dera thought was a massive understatement. But then she mentally revised her opinion. Nala had come here just like the rest of them. She’d dealt with leaving her home and family and everything she knew behind to forge a new life for herself. She was every bit as strong as the rest of them, just not as noisy.
What she needed to do now was think about Maitho and Gowan. Her first date hadn’t turned out as she’d expected, but she’d enjoyed her time with the men. Unpacking and sorting the boxes had been both fun and useful, and she’d loved seeing all the old memorabilia. But the second date was going to be in the evening and for dinner. Which would logically lead to after dinner. Was that what she wanted? Did she want to go to bed with the men? Was she ready to step the relationship up into that territory? Or was it all too soon? She’d been watching them for weeks, but it would still only be their second date.
Would they even want to go to bed with her? The
y’d made no attempt to see her naked today. Were they perhaps still undecided about her, wondering if they’d prefer one of the other women? Fucking hell. She wanted them. She had for weeks now. She’d better make sure they knew it. So, if they wanted to kiss her—or more—she needed to show them she agreed with their plan.
But was not wanting to lose them a valid reason for sex? Everyone here was a free agent with the right to choose. Perhaps she should keep a little aloof? Leave all her options open? Damn, this was hard. Ugh! I’ll wait and see what happens and decide then.
* * * *
Gowan drove them to a neighborhood where a row of furniture stores faced a row of restaurants across a large parking lot.
“All those great, big, muscular furniture removers must get really hungry. Really, really hungry,” said Dera looking around.
Maitho laughed. “My guess would be they’re all thrifty types who like the idea of the parking lot doing double service, for furniture shoppers by day and restaurant patrons by night.
“Where would you like to go, Dera? Do you want to eat burgers, steak, Greek food, Chinese, or fish?” He watched as her gaze went from one restaurant to the next, slowly down the line and back again.
“I can’t remember the last time I ate fresh fish. Let’s go to The Sea Shanty.”
“Good choice. I love fish,” said Maitho, leading the way across the parking lot. Gowan smiled. Maitho liked food. He’d have been happy with whatever she chose. But it was interesting that she said she hadn’t eaten fresh fish in a while. He shrugged. They could talk about food inside.
Once they were seated and the server handed them menus, Gowan watched her face. Dera’s black curls bounced over her head as she looked this way and that, taking everything in. Her dark eyes sparkled with happiness and her lips were tilted up at the corners. He was surprised at just how happy she looked, but seeing her content made him happy as well. When she finally put the brochure down, he asked, “What did you choose?”
“It was very difficult, but I think I’ll eat the garlic prawns with chili and pasta. It was the chili that decided it for me. I love spicy foods. What about you?”
“The salmon. And you, Maitho?”
“Fish and fries. Potato is a vegetable after all.”
“Uh-huh. Tell us about your favorite foods, Dera.”
“I think I already said once, if it’s food, I’ll eat it. I’m not allergic to anything at all as far as I know, and I never get motion sickness or anything like that. I suspect I have a cast-iron stomach.”
“But what are your favorite foods?” asked Maitho.
“I don’t think I know. When I was little I was allowed to choose what we ate for dinner on my birthday, and there was always a cake as well, so I tended to pick something not very filling to be sure I could eat plenty of cake.”
Gowan laughed. “And what now? If it was your birthday, what would you say?”
“Oh, I’d get straight to the important stuff. Forget vegetables and we’ll just eat some chocolate cheesecake.”
Maitho laughed and began to tease her, but Gowan was content to watch her lovely face alive with good humor. She was so beautiful and he wanted her so much. He planned to seduce her tonight if he possibly could. Oh, not anything too scary and not really BDSM, maybe just some holding and cuddling, but he needed to put his mark on her somewhere. To claim her as his own.
He and Maitho kept her talking all through the meal, learning more about her likes and dislikes, although she mostly focused the conversation back on them. He hoped it was because she was interested in them and not just that she was being scrupulously polite.
“We have the bag with your clothing in it in the trunk of the car,” he said when there was a break in the conversation.
“Thank you. Did my phone survive? I really need it.”
He could see she was worried and watched her face light up with happiness as Maitho said, “Yes, it did. When I pulled it out of the rice canister, it looked as good as new.”
“Wonderful. Is it in the car as well?”
“Yes, it’s with your clothing. Also, I need to tell you my boss, Tobias Abrahams, said he’d be interested in having another Arabic speaker on the team, but it’d only be a part-time job. He’ll ask you to do a project now and then as a start. I gave him your email address.”
“That’s marvelous. I’m so excited. It’s been over a year since I’ve worked and I really want to get back to earning a living again.”
“Because your mom was ill?” asked Maitho.
“Yes. She’s a breast cancer survivor. I’m so proud of her. She was quite dreadfully ill and had one breast removed, and then found the other one had to be taken off as well. We had to wait until she was stronger before she could have the second operation, but she came through like a champion and now she’s as fit as any other sixty-something woman. But it was hard work. She’d gotten very frail before the operations, and stayed quite fragile during the radiation treatment.”
Gowan nodded, thrilled with her pride in her mom and how she didn’t say a word about having to give up her own life and career to care for her mom. Dera was every bit as strong and worthy of praise as her mom.
“Will you come home with us now? For the night?” he asked. He bit his lip to prevent himself from begging, but inside he was urging her to accept their offer.
“I’ll go with you, but just for a little while.”
Well, that was better than nothing. And maybe once they got her into their bed they could change her mind.
* * * *
Maitho hurried into the house and lit the fire he’d left ready in the fireplace. She’d enjoyed sitting on the rug in front of the fire yesterday and although they weren’t chilled tonight, he hoped the friendly flickering glow of the fire would reignite the happiness in her. He desperately wanted her memories of them to be positive so she was encouraged to stay with them and build more pleasant joint experiences.
She joined him on the rug, patting its shaggy pile and looking silently into the fire. After a few minutes he said to her, with a teasing glance at Gowan, “Well, you’ve just heard John Cage’s musical masterpiece, ‘Four thirty-three.’ What did you think of it?”
“Was the radio on in the car on the way home? I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.” Then she must have seen something in his face because she added, “Or are you trying to tease Gowan and using me as an innocent victim?”
“You didn’t hear ‘Four thirty-three’?” Maitho clutched his chest dramatically and fell back on the rug, trying hard not to laugh.
“I expect I did hear it, but I didn’t give it my undivided attention. Is it another one of these classical pieces mired in controversy, or is it just something Gowan hates and you like to stir him about?” she asked.
Maitho let his laughter break out. She’d handled his trick absolutely perfectly in every way.
“John Cage wrote a piece of music, with three different movements, all of which instruct the musicians not to play anything for the movement. So the listener gets to hear three movements of silence,” explained Gowan.
“Except that Cage was very clear that there’s no such thing as silence. He spoke about listening to the wind whispering and your own blood pumping through your body,” added Maitho.
“Or in this case, the wood crackling in the fire. Okay, I get it. Somewhat different, but actually a fairly clever concept.”
“Dera, what are your favorite sounds?” asked Maitho. He wanted to learn everything about her but knew he had to go slowly. Just as he wanted to hold her in his arms and love her. Unfortunately he didn’t have the right to do that as yet.
He watched the thoughtful look come over her face, then her smile break out again. All her emotions were clearly visible on her features. He liked that she didn’t hide herself from them. He took it as a measure of her trust in them that she let them see her feelings.
“People laughing. It’s such a happy, carefree sound. I don’t think I could ever get tired of h
earing laughter.”
“That’s beautiful. I agree that laughter is a wonderful sound.” He leaned over and stroked a finger over her cheek. When she smiled at him, he kissed her lips as softly and sweetly as he could. What he wanted to do was drag her into his arms and make love all night, but he knew now was not the time for that. After he’d kissed her, he moved back on the rug, giving her some space. He stood up and added a couple more logs to the fire. When he looked at Dera again, she was staring at the rug, smoothing her palm over it again and again. He wanted to ask why she did that but wondered if she even knew she was doing it.
Gowan wiggled closer to Dera and lifted her onto his lap. Maitho thought Gowan was holding her very loosely, hardly touching her, so she could get off his lap if she didn’t want to be there. But although she looked into Gowan’s face, then turned to look at him as well, she made no attempt to push them away.
Maitho had thought his dick couldn’t get any harder, but he was wrong. When Gowan kissed Dera, it pressed so hard against his zipper he was pretty sure the teeth marks would be engraved into his shaft, and that was despite wearing briefs. He had a sudden flash of compassion for men who liked to go commando. If he’d done that today, he would be really regretting it right about now.
Maitho stretched out on the rug beside Gowan, and after a few minutes, Gowan lifted Dera and laid her on the rug between them on her back. Maitho leaned up on one elbow and used his other hand to stroke her forehead and cheeks, brushing her curls back behind her ear and then kissing her lips again. She tasted perfect. Sweeter than wine and softer than feathers, but all woman as well.