by Kim Fox
“You’re nudists?” I ask as I walk around the car to meet them.
The man nods. “We have been for forty years. I don’t even think about it anymore.”
“Me neither,” the woman says. “You should try it.”
They both look at my clothes and I suddenly feel very naked even though I’m fully dressed.
“I’m good,” I say with a gulp. “You called about a sick animal?”
“Oh, yes,” the woman says like she just remembered. “Marley. He’s round back.”
“Back of what?” I ask. All I see is forest.
“We’ll show you.”
I follow Mr. and Mrs. Miller’s bare bums through the forest as they talk to the birds in the treetops. These people are really out there.
“Wow,” I gasp when we emerge from the forest into a little oasis. It looks like the Shire from The Lord of the Rings movies with rolling hills and flowers everywhere. There’s a gorgeous stream running through it all and there are goats frolicking everywhere.
They have total privacy with the forest and mountains in the background closing them in.
“I love goats,” I say as one of them walks over and snorts at me.
“We bought one after our wedding,” Mrs. Miller says with a smile, “and we liked him so much that we got another.”
“And another,” Mr. Miller adds. “Until we had so many that they took over. We’ve had fifty-four in total since we’ve been together.”
“Yup,” Mrs. Miller says with a proud nod. “And we named each one of them.”
I point to the one in front of me. “What’s his name?”
“Goat number fifty-two,” Mr. Miller says.
I laugh until I realize he’s not kidding.
I spot an enormous treehouse out of the corner of my eye. It sprawls through the forest like a mansion for monkeys. “Is that your house?”
They both nod proudly. “Rod built it for us when we got married and moved here,” Mrs. Miller says, looking up at her husband with pure love in her eyes. It’s adorable to see. After all of these years, they’re still so in love.
“We’ve been here ever since,” he adds. “Getting happier and happier every day.”
He leans down and kisses her and I get a pang through my heart. They’re so cute if you can get past the fact that their junk is hanging out.
“This is so different,” I say, looking around at the amazing life they’ve built. “It’s incredible.”
“We’ve never been ones to follow the path that society lays out,” Mr. Miller says. “It’s much more interesting to do things your own way.”
I’ve been so worried about what society would think of me that I have given up on the one thing that could make me the most happy.
“Weren’t you worried about what people thought? About what they say behind your back?”
“Who cares?” he says with a shrug. “Let people talk. I’ll be over here living the best life I can while they’re over there miserable and gossiping about everyone else to feel better about their shitty lives.”
“But what about society’s rules?”
He laughs. “Rules set up by people no smarter than you or I. Who are they to put rules onto my life? I can live how I want. It’s my life. I like to live naked in trees with my wife and be surrounded by goats. If I’m not hurting anyone, then what the hell do I have to be sorry about?”
This naked old man is like a big wrinkly Yoda. My pulse is racing as I stare at him.
“You have to follow your heart and do what you feel is right,” Mrs. Miller adds. She looks so happy as she holds her husband of forty years’ hand. “Don’t let anyone stop you or make you feel bad. You do you.”
My head is spinning as they take me to the sick goat. The poor girl looks weak with a droopy head and ears. I check her vitals and quickly discover that she has an infection of the udder. It’s hot and swollen so I get the appropriate meds from the trunk of my car and give her some.
I show Mr. and Mrs. Miller how to administer the rest and assure them that their goat, who I learned is named Goat Number thirty-four, will be all right in a few days.
They’re so cute the way they look so relieved.
There is nothing conventional about these two people, but they seem like the happiest couple I’ve ever met.
They both thank me and even insist on a hug, which I reluctantly give them.
Their words and advice are ringing in my head the entire way home. Conforming to society would make us unhappy.
We follow our hearts and that’s why we’re so fulfilled.
Maybe they’re on to something. Maybe I was sent there for a reason.
“No,” I mutter to myself, shaking my head as I drive. “It was just a sick goat. Not fate. No reason besides an udder infection.”
My mother thought it was wise to break the conventions of society and look where it got us.
She married my father, then had me, but we weren’t enough for her. When I was ten she fell in love with her personal trainer and had an affair.
When my father found out that she was in love with two men, he made her choose. She didn’t choose us.
My mother left with him and I haven’t seen her since. My father wouldn’t allow it, and besides, it’s not like I wanted to see her again after she released a grenade into my life.
People in the town talked. I was teased mercilessly at school.
That’s what happens when you don’t follow society’s conventions. People pay. People get hurt.
I’m not making the same mistake that mother did. I’m not getting involved with two men.
I’ll stick to a traditional relationship.
I’m a one-man kind of woman. And that’s how I’ll stay.
Even if I’ll never be as happy as Mr. and Mrs. Miller.
Even if I’ll never be happy at all.
Eleven
Tito
We’ve agreed on a plan. And we’ve agreed to work together.
“How do I look?” Ronin asks as he comes out of the room.
He looks like my reflection. “Stunning. Beautiful. You have the most handsome face on the planet.”
He laughs. “I hope so. We’re going to need everything we have to convince her to come back to us.”
I swallow hard as I nod. “She’ll come back.”
Ronin looks a little nervous. “But what if she doesn’t?”
“Then I guess she’s not the one.”
Our eyes drop to the ground as an uncomfortable silence lingers in the air. I know that Ronin is thinking the same thing I’m thinking: that would suck.
“All we can do now is go and find out,” I say after taking a deep breath.
Ronin nods.
We hop into a pickup truck and drive into town, heading past the busy part until we get to the outskirts where Zoe’s office is located.
“Hi,” the cute girl says when she answers the door. She’s looking from me to Ronin and back again with wide eyes. “You must be the twins.”
“What gave it away?” I answer with a grin.
“The identical faces.”
Ronin laughs. “That usually does it. Is Zoe around?”
I look past her into the office. It’s not what I expected. There are papers and files everywhere, piled up high on the old furniture. It looks like an accountant’s office who moonlights as a hoarder.
“I’m Sophie.” Sophie looks a little shell-shocked as she stands in front of us with her body tensed up.
“Hi, Sophie,” Ronin says. “Is Zoe around?”
She shakes her head. “So, which one of you did she pick? Because I’m… single. Just if… well, if either of you are… looking for a date.”
I take a deep breath and sigh. “We haven’t figured that out completely yet.”
Sophie nods her head up and down a little too aggressively. Jeez, does this girl blink?
“Right, well, when you do, I’m here.” Ronin and I glance at each other as she lets out a nervous laugh. �
�If one of you, or both of you, want a date.”
“Good to know,” Ronin says, nodding with his eyebrows raised. “We’ll just wait outside for Zoe.”
We turn and hang out by the truck. I glance back at the door and Sophie is still peeking out. She quickly closes it when I meet her eye.
I’ve been pacing around the parking lot for ten minutes with a rolling feeling in my stomach when Zoe’s car finally drives up.
Ronin jumps off the hood of the truck and stands by my side.
“Don’t screw this up,” he whispers as she parks her car.
“I won’t if you won’t.”
Zoe steps out and it’s like all of the air is sucked out of my lungs. She’s wearing scrubs that are covered in dirt and dried blood and her hair is a sweaty mess, but she looks absolutely stunning.
“What are you guys doing here?” she asks, looking unsure.
“We came to take you for a drink,” Ronin says.
“Or for dinner,” I add.
She takes a deep breath, looking skeptical. I can tell she’s about to turn us down.
“Or we can help you clean your office,” I say, throwing up a Hail Mary.
Her eyebrow raises. “I do have a ton of heavy boxes to bring to the storage closet downstairs.”
Ronin steps aside and smiles. “Lead the way.”
We follow her inside and I catch a glimpse of Sophie staring at her phone. There’s a picture on her screen of me and Ronin that she took through the window. She immediately stuffs it into a drawer when she sees us walking in.
“Hi, Sophie,” Zoe says as she walks past her. “Have you met Ronin and Tito?”
Sophie’s cheeks turn red. “I sure have. Can I talk to you over here for a second?”
Ronin and I both have our ears peeled as she takes Zoe into the corner.
“You didn’t tell me they were so hot!” she whispers.
Zoe turns to us with a nervous laugh. I think she knows that we can hear her with our enhanced shifter hearing.
“Shhh. Be quiet,” she whispers back to Sophie. “They can hear you.”
“No, they can’t. I want one of them.”
“What?”
“I want one of them. Which one are you dumping?”
“Sophie…”
“Don’t Sophie me. I’ve been working here for six months and I haven’t asked for a raise or anything. I want this. I want one of them.”
“You can have them both,” Zoe whispers. “I’m not dating either of them.”
My stomach drops. I feel like I’m going to be sick.
She’s not interested in either of us?
“Why?” Sophie asks, looking horrified.
“I’m not talking about this now. They’re right there! It’s almost 4:30. Why don’t you take the rest of the afternoon off.”
“I’m good here, thanks.”
“Sophie,” she says in a stern voice. “Go home. Please.”
Sophie exhales hard and then grabs her purse off the desk. “Bye, Ronin and Tito,” she says, smiling at us as she leaves.
She nearly walks into the wall on the way out.
“Sorry about her,” Zoe says, taking a deep breath once she’s gone. “It’s so hard to find good help.”
“Well, you found it,” Ronin says. “Which boxes do you want moved?”
“Are you sure you don’t mind? They’re just too heavy for me.”
“That’s what these are for,” I say, flexing an arm. “When they’re not being used for cuddling, they make excellent box movers.”
She smiles shyly and then shows us the boxes. We each grab two and follow her down to her storage closet in the basement.
“Thank you so much,” she says after we’ve done another trip. “They’ve been driving me crazy. My father left his office in such a mess.”
“Come out for dinner with us,” Ronin pleads. “Both of us.”
She inhales sharply. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?” I ask, grabbing her hand. She lets me take it. “Don’t you want to be with us? With both of us?”
Her eyes drop to the floor. “That’s not the point,” she says, pulling her hand away. “These things aren’t supposed to be done.”
“Yes, they are.” My chest is so tight. My body is simmering with anxious nerves. “Twins always mate to the same woman. That’s how it is in the shifter world.”
“Well, that’s not how it is in my world,” she snaps. “I had to grow up without a mother because she loved two men. Society has rules for a reason. To protect people.”
“Zoe, we—”
“No,” she says, interrupting me. “I like both of you, but this is too much for me to deal with. I can’t be with two men even if it does feel right.”
“So, what are you saying?” Ronin asks. He looks like his heart is breaking. I know the feeling because mine is too.
“I think we better just go our separate ways. I don’t think this is going to work.”
My heart feels like it’s shrinking. I don’t know if we’ll ever get over this.
“I’m sorry,” she says, looking pretty crushed herself. “This is not what I was hoping for.”
“What were you hoping for?” I ask. “We’re both falling in love with you. Isn’t that better than what you were hoping for?”
She takes a deep breath and my chest tightens when I see her eyes start to water.
“I don’t know what I was hoping for,” she says in a soft voice that’s barely above a whisper. “I’ve just been so lonely and was hoping to make a connection with one of you, I guess. But that’s not what happened.”
My breath is non-existent as I listen to her.
“I fell for both of you. But I can’t act on my feelings anymore. I’ve spent hours poring over which one of you to pick, but I just can’t do it anymore. It’s starting to tear me apart. I can’t eat. I can’t sleep. It has to end.”
“It doesn’t,” Ronin says, stepping forward. “We’re not asking you to chose.”
She takes a deep breath as her eyes fall to the floor. “I think you better leave. I’m not the girl for you.”
My stomach hardens like concrete. This can’t be happening.
“Thank you for helping me with the boxes, but I don’t think this is going to work.”
“But you’re going to be our mate,” I say as desperation takes over. “I can feel it.”
It’s true. My inner bear is so drawn to her, so content around her. He’s never been like that with any girl before.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “But I’m not the girl you’re looking for.”
Ronin and I stare at her in shock as she hurries out of the storage closet, runs up the stairs, and out of our lives.
“You two have been moping around the ranch for a whole week,” Caleb says as we, well, mope around. “You need something to cheer you up.”
“Don’t say it,” I warn.
His big stupid face lights up in a smile. “My band is playing tonight.”
“Ugh,” Ronin says, scrunching his nose up.
“I was about to say the same thing.”
“I know you guys love my band,” Caleb says. “Stop denying it.”
I grin at him. “We love it like we love a train wreck. It’s horrific to watch, but there’s something so bad about it that you just can’t look away.”
“You’re saying my band is equivalent to a train wreck?”
“No,” I say, rubbing my chin. “The sound of metal grinding together when a train crashes isn’t as bad as listening to your band. I was just comparing the two feelings of watching them both.”
“Fuck you,” he says with a roll of his eyes. He gives me the finger and slumps down in a chair.
“You’re right,” I say, grinning when I see how pissed off he is. “I do feel better.”
“You’re the worst,” Caleb says, shaking his head as he crosses his arms over his chest. “I’m glad you’re miserable. I’m sorry it’s over a girl, but h
appy you’re miserable none the less.”
“You should come,” Abigail says as she walks behind Caleb and starts rubbing his shoulders. “It’s going to be fun.”
“Are you his promoter now?” Ronin asks with a grin.
“I would be honored to be his promoter,” Abigail says before sticking her tongue out at my brother. “But there’s going to be other girls there…”
Just the thought of talking with another girl who isn’t Zoe is making my insides quiver. I can see on Ronin’s face that he’s thinking the same thing.
“…and beer.”
“Beer?” I ask, perking up. I could use a night of drinking.
“I’ll tell you what,” Abigail says. “You two come and I’ll buy the first two pitchers.”
I look at Ronin and he shrugs his shoulders. It would be nice to get off the ranch for a change. We’ve been stuck here depressed and miserable for a full week since Zoe dumped our twin asses.
“All right,” I say, nodding at Caleb. “We’ll go.”
“Really?” he asks, perking up.
“If Abigail is buying the beer.”
“I am!” she says, thrilled that we’ve agreed. She would make a good band promoter. I bet the only reason why Caleb is not asking her is because he loves drooling over her in that red lifeguard bathing suit of hers.
Caleb pulls two tickets out of his pocket and hands one to each of us. “This is definitely going to change your mood.”
“It already has,” I say with a grin. “I feel worse.”
Caleb laughs. “Too bad. You’re both coming!”
Twelve
Zoe
“There are so many cute guys here tonight,” Sophie says with a grin. She looks around the bar and her hungry eyes narrow on a muscular guy who’s leaning against the Jukebox. “This is the best town on the planet.”
“There is an abundance of good looking guys here,” I say as I look from one hard body to the next. I know it’s because most of them are shifters. Their testosterone and muscle growth is way higher than human males. It’s pretty much scientifically impossible for them to have any body fat. They’ll immediately burn any calories right off.
