by Amy DeMeritt
Book Five
The Dancing Wolf Series
Building the Nursery
By: Amy DeMeritt
Building the Nursery
Book Five of The Dancing Wolf Series
Copyright © 2018 Amy DeMeritt
All Rights Reserved.
ISBN-13: 978-1985692046
ISBN-10: 198569204X
This book may not be reproduced in any form, in whole or in part, without written permission from the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is entirely coincidental.
Cover art and design by Amy DeMeritt
Dear Reader,
In this installment of The Dancing Wolf, Kayla co-stars in an action thriller titled, THE SHARPS UNLEASHED. I have written a standalone novel for the movie, which you may want to read before reading Building the Nursery. There are scenes of the movie rehearsed in this book that may be spoilers if you plan to read THE SHARPS UNLEASHED.
Thank you, and enjoy!
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Bonus Book – The Sharps Unleashed
Coming Soon…
Other works by Amy DeMeritt
Chapter One
It’s a very cool day and the sky looks like it could rain on us at any moment, but here we remain, huddled close and hands tightly clasped together, sitting on a large quilt in the front yard of our new house, just looking at it. It’s everything we wanted, and more. It’s perfect and beautiful.
We had a little over a week at home before I had to get back on the road for the extended two-week concert tour with my dance squad for Giz Anderson. While I was home, we talked to a real estate agent and told her what we were looking for, so when I got back, we’d be prepared to go house hunting. We wanted the house to be close to campus, but near the woods, and have acreage, so the options were limited. Within the six properties the agent found to meet our requested specifications, was this wonderful gem that we fell in love with immediately. In less than two weeks of being home, we signed and bought our first house together.
The house sits smack dab in the middle of three beautiful acres and is surrounded by woods, located off of a private road. One side of the house has a small fruit orchard with apple, pear, and peach trees. The outermost rim of the woods in the backyard has several pecan trees, and we were told that the woods are full of blackberry and blueberry bushes. The backyard has a large inground pool surrounded by beautiful paving stones, a nice raised wooden deck, and a large open lawn.
The house has a gorgeous stone front with walnut wood paneling along the sides and rear, and burgundy wine-red shutters on the windows. It has six above grade bedrooms, a state of the art dine-in kitchen, a large formal dining room, family and living rooms, three bathrooms – in addition to the master bathroom, an office, a laundry room, and a large walk-in pantry. The basement is huge and is completely finished with a large recreation room, a wet bar, a full bathroom, and a bedroom. The family room is gorgeous with a floor to ceiling stone wall with a huge wood burning fireplace, a honey oak vault ceiling with skylights, and gorgeous wood floors.
Attached to the house is a nice two level three-car-garage. We’re planning on having the top level converted into a gym and dance studio. Behind the house, is a large two-level barn that’s finished inside like a loft apartment on the bottom level and the top level is completely open. We’ll probably use the barn for the dance merchandise business.
I have a security company coming this week to install a very good security system with cameras, sensors, and alarms all over the property. Since my career has taken off, I need to make sure my family is safe. We’ve had a few instances of fans trying to follow us or my wives when I’m not with them. Living in a secluded place like this is nice and beautiful, but it could also be dangerous. There are some good benefits of living in close proximity to others. One of which, is having many eyes to see what’s going on at all times – eyes that could report suspicious behavior.
Before we viewed any properties, my wives picked up a bunch of furniture catalogs for us to get an idea of what kind of furniture we’d want. We walked around the whole house today with the catalogs and sticky notes, writing down what we think we’d really like to have in each room. We’ll be going to the stores tomorrow to look at the furniture in person to make sure we like the way it looks and feels.
“We need to go car shopping. Each of you need your own car. We’re too far from campus now for Madison and Sam to walk to classes and your schedules aren’t the same, so you can’t just drive together in one car.”
“Do you want to do that today after we have lunch with the dance squad?” I smile and kiss Madison’s lips. “Sure. Do all of you know what you’d like to have?”
All of my wives smile and move to sit in a circle so we can look at each other and discuss what kind of vehicles they want. I want them to have all of the best features and amenities, so we’ll probably be getting four top-of-the-line vehicles today. There’s a huge auto-plex about thirty minutes from here that has nearly every manufacture on their lots, so we might be able to get all four vehicles at one place.
After today, I’ll have purchased nine vehicles this year, and I still need to buy Shannon her boat. I paid off the SUV my girls bought last autumn so we wouldn’t have a car payment. Then, I bought myself two vehicles that I keep in California for all of us to use when we have to be there for work. We bought Talia a car for her birthday a few weeks ago, and we bought Awenasa’s parents a new car. They didn’t ask for it, but we knew theirs was having issues, so we had them go pick something out and we took care of the payment with the dealership over the phone.
The sound of a vehicle coming onto the property makes all of us quickly spin around and then smile. We stand up and meet the SUV in the turnabout in front of the house. The entire dance squad jumps out and stands shoulder to shoulder admiring the house, without even acknowledging our existence at all.
“How is this house so pretty?”
“It’s gorgeous.”
“Damn, baby sister, how did you find this so quickly?”
My wives and I laugh a little and the squad turns to face us with impressed smiles.
“Do we get a full tour?”
“Damn, babies, we haven’t seen these women in weeks and all they care about is the house. We don’t even get so much as a hello or a hug.”
The squad laughs and quickly throws their arms around all of us, telling us, hello, and kissing our cheeks. Sara ruffles my hair and roughly smacks my shoulder.
“Ok, there’s your hugs and hellos. Now, show us this awesome house.”
My wives smile and turn to lead the way to the front door. I pull up the rear and smile really big and laugh a little as my wives lead them through the entire house, showing them every single room and even the closets. The squad releases gasps, many comments of approval, and actually cling to certain features of the home in a dramatic way.
The master bathroom actually includes the giant jacuzzi that we’ve been talking about installing when we bought a house, which made me shoot my arms up in victory when we came for the tour. We’ve already size tested it, and all five of us fit comfortably. I can’t wait till we move in and get to use it. Of course, when the squad sees it, they snicker and make comments about us causing tidal waves and flooding our house in a bout of wild bath sex. It makes my face spread into a big goofy grin, which makes everyone laugh again.
We show them the basement, then show them the garage and second level that I want to convert into a gym and dance studio. Right now, it’s just a large open room like the top level of the barn. We show them that next, and then end up on the big wooden deck with built-in wrapping bench seats, which everyone sits down on, looking around with approving smiles.
“This is really nice. Are you going to buy a place in California too?”
I notice Symone’s, Sara’s, and Jaime’s smiles have faded some as they look at my wives and I to answer Tonya’s question. It’s as if the idea makes them sad or something.
“We don’t have any plans to buy property in California yet. You guys don’t need to feel obligated to stay in the house with us in L.A. I mean, if you guys want your own places, I understand. We can handle the rent if you want out.”
“I haven’t decided if I’m moving to L.A. yet, so I’m fine with staying in the house with all of you. I’m trying to decide if I’m going to sell my dance studio in Philly or just allow my instructors to keep running things and fly back east to make an appearance sometimes. What are you doing with yours?” Jaime shakes her head at Tonya’s question. “I don’t think I’m going to sell. I love my school and students. Being able to have that slower dependable pace of teaching when we’re not traveling is really nice and helps me recharge after we’ve been really busy.”
“So, what are you doing with all of those extra bedrooms?”
“Each of us are going to take a room and create our fantasy sex den and we’ll rotate between the rooms on a regular schedule.” The squad and my wives laugh hard. “Damn freak.”
“I’m just joking. One of the rooms will be the nursery for when we start having children. We’re turning the others into guest rooms for when you guys or the family come to visit. Once the babies are old enough to have their own rooms, we’ll have to convert the rooms as we need them.”
“Keira and I have dibs on the bedroom in the basement.” I laugh and glance at my wives, each of whom is smiling. “Ok, but we’re probably turning the basement into a big theatre with a giant flat screen TV and movie style reclining chairs. So, you may not get the privacy you think you will down there.”
“That’s ok. As long as I can’t hear you having sex, I’m ok with the loud surround sound of the movies next to me.” Everyone laughs and Sara flashes a goofy grin. I just roll my eyes. “Whatever.”
“There’s one very important thing missing here.” I smile and nod once. “A firepit.” Sara looks around the backyard and points to a spot in the middle of the open field, before the woods. “Right about there would look good. Yours should be made of stone and not brick though. It would go better with your house.”
“Yeah, we talked about that. We’ll probably have two, one closer to the deck for cooking, like what we have back home, and then a nice round pit in the yard for bonfires, dancing, and roasting marshmallows. We’re going to buy a regular grill too so we don’t have to make a big fire every time we want to grill something.”
“Your bank account must be taking a huge hit with the house, cars, furniture, and so forth. But I’m impressed you’ve been able to wait this long before chipping away at your fortune. Most people start buying these things right away when they come into a ton of money.” I smile at Jade and glance at my wives for a moment. “How much do you think we spent on the house?”
“At least a million, maybe even two.” My wives and I laugh a little and I shake my head. “Nope. Just a little over seven hundred thousand.”
“Shit, that’s a good deal. This property would probably go for several million in California.”
My cellphone vibrates in my pocket, so I pull it out while I answer Jade.
“Yeah, property values are way lower here. Hang on a second.”
I unlock my phone and open the new text message.
Julia: Hello, fictional wife. How are you doing?
Me: Fantastic. My real wives and I just bought our first house and its everything we’ve always wanted. How are you?
Julia: That’s wonderful! I’m so happy for you. I’m good – enjoying a rare day of nothing to do, laying out next to my pool and trying to turn into a lobster.
Me: You better be wearing sunblock. Turning into a lobster is not fun. How is casting going?
Julia: Yes, fictional wife, I’m wearing sunblock. I haven’t been involved, aside from hand picking you, but I’ve heard casting has been interesting. They’ve had several men, including a few well-known B-list actors, try to go off script to be my “husband” because they can’t accept that there’s not a male lead. They have most of the roles cast, but they’re still looking for your partner. They may want you to come in and read with these guys to see what your dynamic is, to help narrow the options. Are you still going to Hawaii in a week?
Me: Yes, and please don’t ask me to change that because I won’t be flexible with that and I don’t want to disappoint you.
Julia: Honey, I’m not going to ask you to give up your much deserved and needed vacation with your family. I know I flowed from one subject to the next, but I was just trying to make conversation. If they want you to come in and read, then they can wait till you get home.
Me: Oh, good. Thanks.
Julia: So, I was thinking, you’re not going to be home much for January and February while you’re doing that TV show, hopping around the nation teaching dance, so what if instead of you coming to L.A. in April for rehearsals, I come there to you? We won’t have to be in the studio for rehearsals with the rest of the cast for a few weeks once you finish your TV tour, so we can pick the location till we’re called in.
Me: Seriously?! You would do that for me?
Julia: Yes, honey. I don’t have a family like you do, so it would be easier for me to travel.
I’m smiling so big that my cheeks hurt. I look up at my wives and all of them have curious smiles on their faces.
“Hey, babies, Julia just offered to come here for rehearsals in April instead of me having to be in L.A. It would probably mean a few weeks less that I’m away from home. What do you think?”
All of them smile really big and leap at me, making me laugh as I wrap my arms around them.
“I guess that’s a yes?” They pull back smiling really big and each of them firmly kisses my lips. “Yes, puppy, it would be wonderful to have those three weeks with you here.”
They kiss me again and then sit back down on the bench around me.
Me: You just made my wives really happy. Thanks for this.
My notifications go nuts with a few new texts, but Julia hasn’t responded yet. One of the new messages is from the label manager for mine and Jaime’s W&G Apparel line.
Jackie: Hope all is well. I know you leave for Hawaii in a week, so I’m overnighting a box to you with several new items for your line. Do you think you and Jaime could record some promotional dance videos for them while you’re in Hawaii? Something like what you’d post to your dance channel would be great. Just let me know what music you want to use and I’ll get the usage rights.
Me: Sure, we can do that.
Jackie: Great. Let me know if there are any issues with the products when they arrive.
Giz: Hey, do you know who the Spanish singers Carlita Santos and Pappi Loui are?
Me: I do. Why?
Giz: I was at a party last night and Carlita was there and asked me about your squad. They’re going to be in Hawaii for a one-night beach concert and to record a music video – the same week you’ll be there. They want your group for both. The video should only take 1-2 nights.
Me: You should be talking to Sara about that. She’s our manager.
Giz: I know, but I wanted to run it by you first because it’s your first real break since March. Both should be very easy gigs, but if you’re not interested, I won’t pass Sara’s number to them.
Me: Wow, thanks. Hang on a second.
“Apparently, the word vacation means nothing to some people.” Everyone looks up from their side conversations and look upset. “Jaime, we’re getting a box tomorrow with new dance apparel products that we need to make some promotional dance videos for while we’re in Hawaii.”
“Ok. Did they say how many?”
“Nope.” I turn to look at my wives, and their faces visibly tense. “Before Giz passes Sara’s number along, she wants to make sure we’re ok with doing this first, because she knows we need this vacation. Two popular Spanish singers, Carlita Santos and Pappi Loui, want our group for a one-night beach concert and a music video in Hawaii. We’re probably looking at three nights of work.”
My wives look at each other, slightly biting their bottom lips and looking in each other’s eyes, as if they can communicate telepathically.
They turn to look at me and Shannon asks, “Do you want to take the jobs?”
“Only if everyone is ok with it. But I want to make sure we are firm about when we’ll be available. I don’t want them trying to drag out production too long. If we agree on two nights for filming of the video, then that’s all they get.”
