by Lucy Kelly
Both of the men said nothing. Neither one of them had any ideas. They couldn’t get around the court-required service.
“I tell you what. Hold off for a couple of days. I know we’re in a time crunch. There’s only seven weeks until the time runs out that my grandfather gave me to marry. Hey, I know this was a fake marriage; but does it count?” she asked, getting excited.
Marla leaned forward in her chair. “I mean, the will said I had to get married. It didn’t say anything about staying married.”
“There are both pros and cons to that. Mr. O’Brien has proven he’ll go to great lengths to secure ownership of your property. It’s possible he would have a case to fight you. No, I think your best way forward is to secure the annulment and then to marry Mr. Darvik as you originally intended.
“We have the obstacle of service and along with it, the possibility Mr. O’Brien will drag out the proceedings until after the deadline,” he explained.
“Go ahead and get everything ready. I’ll call you on Monday with my decision,” Marla said.
“As you wish, and now we’ll take your deposition. If you’ll wait here a moment, I’ll have my secretary come in and act as our recorder,” said Mr. Edwards, getting up from his chair.
“Don’t worry, Marla, we will think of something. Karlo and I will not allow this person to harm you or take anything from you,” Charl stated. To himself, he vowed to make sure of it.
Their next stop was the grocery store. Marla wished there was a big box store nearby but their town was too small. She stocked up on the staples. Then, happy there was still plenty of ice cream at home from her last trip, she filled half a cart with milk, eggs, and butter, as well as other perishables.
It was a good thing she’d called and made arrangements to buy half a beef, as well as a pig and two lambs. They would stop at the butcher’s next and pick up the meat. It had been quite awhile since she had purchased this amount of supplies. She was also going to be dipping into her savings. She hadn’t expected her food budget to be so high. So she was surprised when they got to the checkout counter and Charl pulled out a wad of cash. He wouldn’t let her pay.
Even though she didn’t mean it when she said he was going to carry all of the groceries, he wouldn’t let her help. He had her wait in the truck as he loaded up.
When they arrived at the butcher’s, who should she run into…Jake. Well, it was a small town. Once again, he was all smiles. “Hello, Marla. I hear congratulations are in order. Is this your new husband?” he asked with a smirk.
Marla knew what that smirk meant. She was more determined than ever not to let him get away with his plans. “No, Karlo is back at the ranch. He’s making sure we don’t have any more problems. This is Charl Darvik, his older brother. Charl, this is Jake O’Brien, another local rancher and neighbor of mine. I’ve told you about him.”
“Yes, the man who has no honor. I will remember his face,” he said, looking Jake over from head to toe as he held the door open for Marla to enter the store.
Marla had trouble holding back a laugh. “We are in kind of a hurry. We don’t want the groceries to spoil. Have a nice day,” she said before going inside. It was an added bonus that both Karlo and Charl were taller than Jake, and better looking, too.
Jake’s smile grew tight as he watched them go inside. “We’ll see who has the last laugh, bitch,” he said under his breath as he stalked over to his truck.
Later that evening, while the guys were cooking dinner, Marla went online to look up the rules about annulments. Then she looked up what constituted proof of service. As she read, the wheels turned and ideas started coming to her. She was smiling again when she went in to dinner.
Chapter Fifteen
Saturday afternoon when Deputy Sheriff Jim Tucker arrived, Karlo and Charl had already left the barn and were helping with lunch. They had decided to grill on the barbeque because it was an especially warm day, and from her shopping the day before, they had plenty of steaks.
Karlo and Charl were manning the grill. Marla chuckled as the two of them argued over the best way to grill the steaks. Of course, they helped whenever she asked them to, but they were practically gleeful when they found out lunch would be cooked over an open flame. Any hint of danger and they jumped in with both feet. Marla figured it just proved that men were men all across the universe.
Deputy Sheriff Jim Tucker arrived right on time. The four of them sat down to rib-eyes cooked to perfection, homemade mac-n-cheese, a large spinach salad, and asparagus. For drinks there was lemonade and beer.
Marla had a specific reason for inviting Jim to lunch, but she didn’t want to bring it up right away. He and Karlo had developed a friendship over the last two weeks. She was hoping it would pay off now.
When they finished eating lunch, Marla brought out the apple pie she had made.
“Okay, apple pie. Now I know you’re buttering me up. What do you want?” Jim asked.
“Can you keep a secret?” Marla asked.
“Of course! I keep secrets for a living,” Jim answered.
“We didn’t give you this meal just to get your cooperation. The meal was because you’re our friend. I figure we’ll get your help because it’s the right thing to do and you’re a Deputy Sheriff and you like doing the right thing.”
Between Marla and Karlo, they filled Jim in on everything that had happened and what Jake O’Brien had been up to.
“So basically, I’ve been trying to figure out a way to have Jake served. It has to be someone over eighteen years of age who’s not connected to us. Well, you probably know the rules of service better than we do. I know Jake’s mom has been visiting him and she’s planning on leaving on Wednesday…”
Jim sat back in his chair and roared. He got what she intended right away. Everyone in town knew how scatterbrained Mrs. O’Brien was.
“So, will you do it?” Marla asked.
“Oh yeah, I love it. I wish you hadn’t let those two guys leave town. I’d like to build a case against Jake for his actions against you. The arson carries the stiffest penalty of all the crimes you’ve told me about. I think you’re right about the water rights, too. I may have to do some research on that. It may increase the level and severity of the crime. Take it from a misdemeanor to a felony.”
“Mr. Edwards has their depositions. When you pick up the papers to serve to Jake the snake, you can get copies. I’ll call him to give my permission,” Marla said.
“Great. Now that business is taken care of, let’s get back to Saturday afternoon,” said Karlo.
“Yes, Karlo and I wanted to know if you would explain something to us,” said Charl.
“Sure, what do you need?” Jim asked with a smile. He took another swig of his beer.
“We would like to understand fantasy baseball and fantasy football. We understand the sports, how they are played. We just don’t understand how this other works,” said Charl.
The three men started talking and Marla left them to it. She had her own plans to put in place. As she cleaned up from lunch, she let her mind wander to the evening ahead. She cancelled the plan of them going out to a restaurant. After the incident at the butcher shop, she didn’t want to leave the ranch unguarded.
Instead, she was working on a special romantic dinner. After cleaning the kitchen, she went upstairs and drew herself a bath. She hadn’t let the guys sleep with her last night. She had built up this night in her head, and she wanted everything to be just right.
Her nerves had been jumping ever since the bed had been delivered. Karlo’s embarrassing her had just added anger to the mix. Still, Marla was determined to have this night the way she wanted it, on her terms. Staying in control was how she intended to protect her heart, though it was really too late.
She already loved Karlo when they had gone to get married. For the past week, she had been falling in love with Charl too. He and Karlo had proven to her that they weren’t going to be jealous of each other. Tonight, she was going from having a regul
ar man-woman sex life, to sliding into unconventional territory by having sex with two men.
Sex with two men wasn’t something she’d ever written in her diary. Except for the dream the other night, which was probably a result of those hormones the guys told her about, this was going to be her first foray into kinky-land. Was it any wonder she needed a long relaxing soak in a hot tub?
Downstairs, the guys finished their foray into the world of fantasy sports teams and said goodbye to their friend. Karlo headed out to check on a diagnostic he had set up that morning on the shuttle. Charl went to find Marla.
Charl didn’t know what to do. He’d heard her in the tub and he knew behind the door she was naked. He didn’t feel he could go into the bathroom; Marla deserved her privacy. At the same time, he didn’t want to leave. She might fall and need him to help her, so he went over to the bed and then sat down on it to wait. In a short time, he heard the water turn off and then after a few moments, the door opened.
Marla wrapped a towel around her head and another around her body. She liked to sit on her bed as she smoothed lotion over her limbs. The one great thing about having a lover was being able to have lotion spread over those parts of her body she couldn’t reach. It was one of the things she’d missed this past week. Opening the door, she halfway expected Karlo to be there. She halted in the doorway when saw Charl.
Charl noticed her hesitation and his heart fell. “Sorry, I’m interrupting. I’ll go.”
As he started to rise, Marla suddenly didn’t want him to go anywhere. “No. I don’t want you to leave. I was just surprised, that’s all.”
Moving into the room, she walked over to her dresser and picked up the large pump bottle of body lotion. As she walked back to the bed, she handed it to him, then took the towel from her head. After giving her head a final rub, she placed the towel on the bed and then sat down on it with one foot tucked under the opposite thigh.
She decided to be bold, after all she’d had sex with this man. She opened the other towel and let it fall behind her. She turned to Charl and held out her hand. “Would you pump some lotion into my hand?”
Charl held out the lotion bottle over her hand. Before he depressed the pump, he looked Marla in the eye. “Would you grant me the privilege of smoothing this lotion over your skin?” he asked.
“I thought you’d never ask,” she said in a husky voice.
Placing her hands behind her hips, she leaned back and then straightened her legs so they rested in his lap. Outwardly, Marla was acting seductively, while inwardly she was second guessing every action and was amazed at her behavior. Could she be this person she was pretending to be for more than a few minutes? Was this the new Marla Jones? Did she really want to try to have a relationship with two men or was she leading him on?
Charl put a small amount of lotion in his palm and then placed the bottle on the bed. He used his hands to warm the lotion before picking up one leg and started smoothing the lotion over her shin down to her foot. He was moisturizing her skin, not giving her a massage. Still, he used many of the techniques of the Kuan Haddis, or female pleasure massage, as he went along.
They both were breathing a little heavily when he reached the juncture of her thighs. Marla had stopped holding herself up when her arms shook a little. She was now lying on her back with her eyes closed. He passed over her core and moved up her abdomen, over her breasts, and down one shoulder to work on her arm. After finishing her arms, he had her roll over.
Since she wore her hair so short he was able to put lotion on her neck and shoulders as well as down her back. He thought she was perfect. Soft white skin so fair, he could see the veins just underneath the surface. And yet, she was also strong. He’d run his hands over every muscle and tendon. He adored her back, flowing strong and smooth down her spine to the two little dimples at the base just before the landscape rose up over the round globes of her gorgeous ass.
He was working lotion into that most perfect ass when Karlo opened the door. He was balancing a tray of food in one hand as he held the door with the other.
“Oh, man, what a lovely sight. I’m sorry I missed lotion time,” said Karlo.
Marla slowly lifted her head up off the bed. She felt so decadent being catered to by these two men. “A woman could get used to this kind of service,” she said as she sat up, swinging her legs around to hang over the side of the bed. When she looked at Karlo’s face, she realized subconsciously she was testing him again. He didn’t seem jealous or angry about his brother seeing her naked or touching her.
“We intend for you to enjoy this kind of service so much, you’ll want to keep us around forever,” said Charl.
“It really doesn’t bother you. Even though I love you and we were going to get married, I’m finally starting to believe it,” she said to Karlo.
“Honey, when we were young men, we were genetically altered to have the same chemical reaction to females. With the current ratio of males and females on HeVan, only a few make a Join and all Joins are with multiple Ankida. We’ve grown up knowing we’d be the luckiest of men to find the one woman perfect for us with whom we could share as our join. On HeVan, it’s not uncommon for a female to have three Ankida,” Karlo said.
The two men urged her to sit back against the headboard. When she started to pull the sheet up and tuck it under her arms, Charl gently tugged it back down. “Would you deny us the pleasure of looking at you?” Charl asked.
A deep blush rose from her chest and up over her face. “I’ve been making all sorts of plans for tonight. It’s one of the reasons I took that bath. I’m getting ready for tonight.”
“I like this self-confident woman I’m seeing,” said Karlo.
“I may seem self-confident, but I’m still shaking inside. I’m going to start shaking on the outside if I don’t put something on; it is cold in here,” she answered them.
“It seems a shame to cover up those beautiful breasts. I suppose we must, though. We don’t want you catching cold,” Karlo added. He walked over to her closet and pulled out her robe.
“Thank you for understanding. I really want tonight to be special. I’m not trying to be a tease or anything.”
“We don’t see it as teasing. We see it as foreplay. We also have plans to make this a special night,” said Charl.
“You go play with your shuttle. I’m going to start dinner. I’m also going to set up some stuff up here so no peeking, okay?”
“Okay, honey,” said Karlo.
Both of them kissed her until her knees went weak and then they left. Well, it was only fair. She got them all hot and bothered and they had just returned the favor.
Since they had such a heavy lunch and since Marla was planning on having a very physical evening and night, she planned their dinner accordingly. She made seafood pasta Alfredo with a Caesar salad. For dessert, she had a lemon meringue pie ready in the refrigerator.
The guys came in to shower and get ready while she was setting the table.
“Why do you have the plates on opposite sides of the table instead of at the end as you usually do?” Karlo asked.
“Because I want us to be able to see each other clearly during dinner, and if we’re sitting opposite each other, we can. If we’re too close, then you’ll be touching me all the time and we won’t talk. We’ll be lucky if we even finish our food,” she said
“We’ll get cleaned up and be back in a short while,” said Charl.
After the men left, Marla finished setting the table. Her hands were shaking a little. Within twenty minutes the guys were back, everyone had their food, and they were all sitting down. Marla had added a tablecloth and candles. She’d used her great-grandmother’s china and silverware. Instead of beer and water, she had pulled out the crystal wine glasses and a couple of bottles of wine.
“Wow, everything looks great. You really went all out,” said Karlo.
“You look beautiful in that dress, Marla,” said Charl, who only had eyes for her. More than Karlo, he was r
eally anticipating the night ahead.
When they were all sitting down, the food had been served and the wine poured, Marla got her thoughts together.
“As we all know, I was kind of out of it when we Joined. I’m a little unclear on how this is all supposed to work. I mean, what are your expectations?” she asked, stuttering slightly.
Charl touched a hand to his brother’s arm. “Let me speak first,” he said and waited for Karlo’s nod.
“Marla, just the same as when two people have sex, there really aren’t any rules. So long as all parties are feeling good and enjoying themselves, anything goes. Is there anything you especially like or dislike?” Charl asked.
She felt the heat as her face turned beet red. She took a deep breath. “Okay, me first, then. There are two of you and only one of me. So rule number one is, no ganging up on Marla.”
“I have an objection to that rule,” said Karlo. “We will definitely be working together to bring you more pleasure than you’ve ever experienced before.”
“I get that. I wouldn’t be agreeing to this otherwise. I mean, you two can’t use your superior strength against me in bed. I don’t want to be manipulated. We have to have a give and take. Do you understand?”
“Neither Karlo nor I would do anything that would harm you physically or mentally. Some women find pleasure in feeling helpless or bound. If that is not something you would enjoy, then we wouldn’t do that to you. Our goal is for mutual pleasure,” said Charl.
Marla’s heartbeat sped up a little. Maybe she wouldn’t mind being helpless with them; so long as she was helpless on her terms, and that was how she explained it to them. To give herself a few minutes, she got up to bring a pitcher of ice water to the table. Then she brought over three water goblets.
For the next few minutes they all ate their meal quietly and thought about what had already been said. “Do you have any more rules?” asked Karlo.
“Yes. Until I say I’m willing to try it—and I don’t mean in the heat of the moment—I mean when I’m clear-headed like now, my ass is off limits for fucking. You’ve explained to me how Nephilim physiology works. I’m fully human; I don’t have those adaptations. Karlo almost choked me to death,” she said, and looked over at him apologetically.
