Monroe, Marla - The Hired Hands' Dilemma [The Men of Space Station One #3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Marla Monroe

  “Thanks for talking to me about it. I’m going to think about it.”

  They talked about gardening and canning for several minutes before the men all came inside. Danny put his hands on Rachel’s shoulders.

  “You ready to go, baby? I’m sure Ashley needs to rest some, and it’s close to dinnertime now.”

  “Okay.” She turned to Ashley. “I hope you’re on your feet soon and come visit me. We’ll be great friends, I’m sure.”

  “Thanks for visiting with me. I was getting a little lonely for some female company,” Ashley said.

  Boyd saw them out and locked the door behind them. Keeton bent down and kissed her, sucking her tongue inside his mouth for a thorough kiss before standing up again.

  “I bet you’re hungry. Anything especially appetizing to you?” he asked.

  “Nope, anything you fix will be fine with me.”

  “Okay, I’ll whip something up and bring it to you.” He walked back into the kitchen, leaving Boyd in the living room with her.

  Boyd picked up the books and sat them on the end table before picking her up and settling her in his lap. He kissed her cheek and pulled her back to lean against him.

  “You okay, baby?” he asked after a few seconds.

  “I’m fine other than wanting off this stupid couch.”

  “Be honest with me, honey. Did Keeton hurt you? I don’t want to keep you sore.”

  “Boyd, I would have made love with you if you had asked, or even acted like you wanted to. I’m not hurting at all.”

  “Okay. It’s just that Keeton is a little rough. It’s just how he is.” Boyd wrapped his arms around her tighter.

  “I like it a little rough evidently, ’cause I loved it,” she admitted.

  “How much of that book have you read, Ashley?” he asked.

  “Almost all of it. Why?” she asked.

  “Just wondering.”

  Ashley figured he was thinking about anal sex. Maybe they would start to prepare her tonight. She shivered in anticipation.

  “Cold, baby?”

  “Just a little,” she lied.

  He wrapped her tighter and kept her against him.

  “Okay, you two. Dinner is ready. Boyd, bring her to the table. I think she can sit up for dinner tonight.” Keeton’s voice sounded strained.

  Ashley worried that he might have overheard their conversation.

  Boyd picked her up and carried her to the table for dinner. They all sat down and ate. After dinner, Keeton did the dishes and Boyd carried her upstairs to have a bath.

  “Let’s take the bandage off and see how it looks tonight. If it is clean looking, we’ll leave it off to get some air. Still no getting it wet. He said several days.” Boyd removed the bandage and nodded.

  “Looks good. I think we can leave it off.”

  He ran the bath and then settled her in it with her leg on a towel on the edge of the tub.

  “There, are you comfortable?” he asked.

  “I’m fine. I’ll bathe, then call you when I’m ready to get out.”

  “Okay, I’m going to take a shower. Keeton should be up before long to shower as well.” Boyd bent down and kissed her, and then began undressing.

  Ashley watched him. She admired his body and enjoyed looking at it. He was built like a Greek god. When he bent over to finish taking his jeans off, she wished she was closer so she could pinch his ass.

  As if knowing what she was thinking, he quickly turned around and watched her with raised eyebrows.

  “Were you looking at my ass?”

  “Maybe.” She grinned mischievously.

  “You’re insatiable.” He walked back and thoroughly kissed her before heading for the shower.

  When he was finished, he checked with her to see if she was ready.

  “I’m still soaking. I’ll be ready to get out in a little while.”

  “Just call out and one of us will come get you,” Boyd told her.

  She leaned back against the back of the tub to wait on Keeton to show up. When he did, he seemed unusually quiet. He smiled at her and pulled out a towel to dry her with.

  “You ready to get out now?” he asked.

  “I probably should. I’ve been in here long enough now that my skin is wrinkling. I’ll look like an old woman.”

  “Naw, you look like you with wrinkly skin.” Keeton helped her out of the tub then began drying her off.

  He picked her up and carried her to the bed. Boyd threw back the covers so that Keeton could settle her in next to him.

  “I’m going to shower now. I’ll be back in a few.” He leaned down and kissed her. “Go to sleep, baby. You’ve had a busy day.”

  “Hurry back, Keeton. I don’t want to go to sleep yet.” She yawned, then frowned when both men laughed at her.

  She was determined to stay awake until Keeton returned from showering, but try as she might, she couldn’t keep her eyes open past Boyd’s searing good-night kiss.

  “If I didn’t know how tired you have to be, I would be insulted at your lack of response to my kiss, baby.”

  She yawned again and cursed. “I haven’t done anything but lie around. I shouldn’t be this tired.”

  “Go to sleep, Ashley. Tomorrow is another day.”

  Ashley closed her eyes for just a second and it lasted the rest of the night.

  * * * *

  “It’s been a freaking week! I can walk by myself now. My leg is healed up and I can get it wet. I need to be out planting the garden. Come on, Boyd. You know I’m right.” Ashley glared up at the two men.

  Ashley felt ridiculous sitting on the couch with her hands on her hips. It was nearly impossible to make a point sitting down while two six-foot-plus men stood towering over you.

  “She has a point, Keeton. The doc did say she could get back to her normal duties after a few days. It’s been seven.” Boyd winced at Keeton’s angry expression.

  “Hell, all right. We have the fence up around most of the area. Give her a gun and make sure she can use it. We only have one more day of working on the fence before we have to start working on the ranch anyway. She’ll be alone while we’re out on the ranch.” Keeton wasn’t happy at all.

  Ashley bit back a smile. She didn’t want to push her luck with Keeton. He hadn’t been in a good mood for several days. Neither had he fucked her. She’d stopped asking. Something was wrong and she needed to figure out what it was.

  “Is there a book?” she asked.

  “A book for what?” Keeton asked, frowning.

  “On how to shoot a gun?”

  “Aw, fuck. Boyd!”

  “I’ll teach her, Keeton. You go on and get to work on the fence. I’ll be out there in thirty minutes or so.” Boyd held out his hand for Ashley to take, and pulled her to her feet. “Let’s get you some work clothes on.”

  Ashley waited only long enough for Keeton to walk out the back door before she threw her arms around Boyd and kissed him hard on the mouth.

  “Thank you so much, Boyd.”

  “Just do us both a favor and don’t get hurt. Keeton will have my ass if you do.”

  “Why is he treating me so different, Boyd? What did you say to him?”

  “Nothing, Ashley. He’s just moody sometimes. He’ll be okay in a few days.” He followed her upstairs to change into work clothes.

  Once she was dressed, they walked outside and he set up a few cans for targets and went over the basics of gun safety with her.

  “Remember, this is the safety. Leave it on at all times unless you are ready to shoot something.” Boyd had her demonstrate how to load and unload the gun, then how to use the safety.

  By the time they got around to actually shooting, Ashley was comfortable with the gun. She followed Boyd’s directions and managed to hit the post the cans were on, just not the cans. They practiced for a few more minutes, and then Boyd pronounced her gun safe.

  “Keep it with you everywhere you go outside. If you need help for any reason, fire the gun up in the air
and one or both of us will come running, okay?”

  “Okay. I’ve got it. Go on and help Keeton. I have some planting to do today.” Ashley could hardly wait to get out with the seeds and garden tools.

  She hesitated at the cellar, but took the gun with her and listened when she opened the trap door. There were no sounds of scurrying feet, so she climbed down the ladder and flipped on the light. The room looked empty. She hurried over to the storage bins with the seeds and pulled out her list of what she planned to plant that day.

  By the time she had everything that she needed in order in front of the tilled dirt, she was about worn out. She hadn’t done anything in over a week to have much strength. She took a quick break to drink some tea and go over her garden plans once again. Once she had rested, Ashley started making holes, adding seeds, and covering them up. She managed two rows before she had to stop and take a break again.

  She was still planting when Boyd and Keeton walked up late in the afternoon. She looked up and smiled at them.

  “I’m almost finished! Woo-hoo!” She laughed and threw herself into Keeton’s arms. He barely caught her.

  “Watch out, I nearly dropped you,” he said with a frown.

  “You would never drop me, Keeton.” She gave him a fierce kiss, then jumped down and went back to planting.

  “How long before you’re ready to come inside?” Boyd asked.

  She looked at her plans and shrugged. “Maybe another thirty minutes. I’ll fix dinner as soon as I finish this row.”

  “Boyd, you stay out here with her. I’ll fix sandwiches for us. She’s tired. She isn’t going to feel like cooking tonight.” Keeton walked off, leaving her staring after him.

  “Don’t mind him, baby. He’s just tired, too. We finally got the fence finished around the entire house and garden.”

  “That’s great. Nothing should be able to come in now, right?”

  “Right, but you always keep that gun with you no matter what.” Boyd shook his finger at her.

  “I will. That thing that slobbered on me is like a rat, and they dig. Something can dig under the fence. I’ll be ready from now on.” She wrapped her arms around him, then went back to work.

  Forty-five minutes later, they both walked into the house and headed for the washroom to clean up. Keeton was nowhere to be seen.

  “Do you think he went up for a shower?” Ashley asked.

  “Probably. The sandwiches are ready. Let’s eat.” Boyd sat down at the table.

  “I’m going to go see if he’s in the shower and join him,” Ashley said.

  “I’m not so sure that’s a good idea, baby. Give him some time.” Boyd frowned.

  “I’ll be back.” She hurried up the stairs and snuck into the bathroom, where she could hear the shower running.

  She stripped out of her clothes and slipped into the shower. Keeton was washing his hair with his eyes closed. She quickly contemplated her options and decided to give him a blow job. She had practiced some on Boyd, but hadn’t tasted Keeton since that one night he let her lick him.

  Ashley silently went to her knees and wrapped her mouth around Keeton’s cockhead and sucked.

  “What the fuck?” His eyes flew open. Then he cursed when he got soap in them. “Ashley, what in the hell are you doing?”

  Ashley slipped and ended up on her ass in the shower. “I was trying to make you feel good. Why did you stop me?”

  “I didn’t know you were there. You don’t fuck with a man’s dick without him knowing about it ahead of time. I could have hurt you, Ashley.”

  “Boyd didn’t mind when I woke him up like that. What’s the difference?” She tried to hold back the tears, but they fell anyway.

  “I wasn’t expecting you in the shower. He would have probably expected you to in the bed. It’s different. Fuck, Ashley, I’m sorry.”

  “No, I’m sorry. You’ve told me to leave you alone and I keep bothering you.” She ignored his hand and climbed to her feet on her own. “I’ll leave you alone, Keeton. I don’t know what I’ve done to upset you, but I’m sorry.”

  With that, Ashley climbed out of the shower and, grabbing a towel, walked out of the bathroom down to the other bathroom to take a shower and clean off the dirt from the garden. She wasn’t hungry anymore. All she could think about was the expression on Keeton’s face when he’d gotten the soap out of his eyes. He’d looked angry.

  Ashley didn’t know if he was angry with her, with what she had done, or with himself. She just knew he was angry and hadn’t wanted her blow job. She scrubbed her skin rosy red and clean, but was careful of her left leg. She didn’t want to irritate it. It was healed nicely, though she now had a small ridge of raised skin with yellow peaks. Maybe that was the problem. Maybe he didn’t like her anymore because she had the ugly scar, or maybe he was afraid she would give something to him.

  When she got out of the shower, Boyd was waiting on her with her towel. He didn’t say anything, just wrapped her up and patted her dry. Then he picked her up and carried her to bed—an empty bed. Keeton wasn’t in it.

  “Go to sleep, baby. You’re tired and it’s been a long day.”

  “I hear that a lot now.” Ashley turned over and went to sleep.

  Chapter Eleven

  Ashley woke up early the next morning and rolled over to find that only Boyd was in bed. Keeton either hadn’t come to bed or had gotten up early. She searched his pillow and didn’t find an indentation. He hadn’t bothered to come to bed with them.

  Without making a sound, she slipped out of bed and grabbed up her clothes and dressed outside the bedroom in the hall. Then she carefully walked downstairs to the living room, where Keeton was sound asleep in his recliner. She sighed. Instead of waking him up and demanding he tell her what in the hell was wrong, she decided to give him some time and tiptoed into the kitchen. She started breakfast and coffee. It wasn’t long before he walked in and poured himself a cup without looking at her.

  “Morning, Keeton,” she said as she scrambled the egg substitute.

  “Morning, Ashley. Planning on working outside again today?”

  “Yep, still have more to finish on the garden.”

  “Don’t forget to take the gun with you.” He stared out the window as he sipped his coffee.

  “I won’t.”

  Ashley turned when she heard Boyd walking down the stairs. He walked in and headed straight for the coffee as always. She grinned and shook her head.

  “Morning, baby. Coffee’s good.”

  “Thanks. Breakfast is ready.”

  They all sat down and ate, with Keeton finishing first. He rinsed off his plate then sat it in the sink for her to wash.

  “I’ll wait for you out at the barn, Boyd.”

  “I’ll be there in a minute.” Boyd shook his head when Keeton walked out.

  “Don’t forget your lunches, Boyd. I made meat pies for you for lunch.” She took his dirty plate from him and handed him the two sacks of food.

  “Thanks, baby. We’ll see you tonight when we get back. Be careful outside.” He kissed her, letting his tongue slide along hers before nipping her lower lip.

  “You two be careful. Tell him I said bye.” Ashley turned to the sink and began running water in it to wash the dishes.

  As soon as the back door closed, she let the tears fall. What was she going to do about Keeton? What had suddenly changed about him? Everything had been fine before he and Boyd had fussed about his having sex with her. Surely he didn’t think he’d actually hurt her, did he? She’d told him he hadn’t.

  After finishing the dishes and straightening up the house some, she returned to the garden and finished planting the last rows. Then she dragged out the water hoses and watered everything. She gathered up her tools to put them away after washing them off. She followed the directions in the books and made sure everything was dry first.

  Ashley grabbed her books and sat on the back porch to read through the one on flowers. She wanted to have a small flower garden along the f
ront of the house. First, she needed to find out what kind of climate they liked and plan accordingly. Then she would have to convince the men to take her back to town to get flower seeds or plants if they had them.

  Around three that afternoon, she decided to take a nap. The men wouldn’t be home before six. Since there was an extra hour of daylight on the planet, they took advantage of it. She put away her books and stretched out on the couch. She wasn’t particularly tired, but figured it wouldn’t hurt to rest for a couple of hours.

  Sometime later, a noise woke her up. She listened for several minutes, but didn’t hear anything again. Then as she sat up on the couch, she heard it again. It sounded like horses’ hooves. She checked her watch and realized she’d slept nearly four hours. She hurried to the kitchen, thankful that she’d already started a roast in the slow cooker, and put on the rice to cook. The potatoes and carrots were already in the slow cooker with the roast. Why had she slept so long?

  Several minutes later, the back door opened and the men walked in smelling distinctly of cows and sweat. She wrinkled her nose and pointed toward the upstairs where the bathrooms were.

  “Don’t you want a kiss first, baby?”

  “Nope, afterward will be just fine.” She giggled when he chased her around the table.

  Keeton just kept walking and didn’t say a word. Boyd stopped when he saw that Ashley wasn’t playing anymore.

  “I’m sorry, Ashley. It’s probably all my fault.”

  “No, something is bothering him about it, or he wouldn’t have let you get to him like that.”

  “I’ll try to talk to him some tomorrow…”

  “No, leave it alone. Let him think for a while, and I’ll talk to him. It’s between the two of us.”

  “It should be between the three of us,” Boyd said in a grumbly voice.

  “Well, we aren’t much of a family yet.” She turned back to the stove to check the rice.

  She heard Boyd go upstairs to clean up. It was going to be another long night.

  * * * *

  Keeton sighed as he climbed into the shower’s hot spray. He was horny as hell thinking about Ashley all day while they’d ridden the fence line and worked the cows to the south pasture. He couldn’t risk her walking in on him in the shower, though. She’d almost done that the other day. He would have to wait her out until she was asleep.