by Cara Adams
“Now who’s being catty?” replied Pete.
Curtis interrupted. “Seriously, I want to thank you both, Pete, Josh. It was a mammoth effort to get all those sets packed up in just a week. Truly I appreciate it.”
Pete sat up. “Not a problem. We were happy to help.”
Nicholas turned to leave the building and said over his shoulder, “Autumn told us about you two and Serena. Always remember, women like romance. Flowers, chocolates, girly stuff. They also need to be told, as well as shown, you love them.”
Pete felt like one of the wooden sets had landed on his head. “That’s it? We ought to buy flowers and chocolates and tell her we love her? That’s the answer?”
“It’s worth a try, don’t you think?” asked Curtis, following Nicholas out the door and closing it behind them.
“I can’t recall everything we said to Serena, but I don’t think we actually told her we loved her and planned to mate her,” said Josh very slowly.
“But she’s smart, bright, intelligent. She would know we don’t go buying sex toys and hiring hotel rooms for one-night stands.” Pete sat quite still for a long moment. “However, the fact is we fucked up or she wouldn’t have left us. Therefore, flowers, chocolates, girly stuff, and ‘I love you’ for our next date.”
“Absolutely. But what’s girly stuff?”
“We’re banned from talking to any of the female panthers, so let’s go see if Zara’s still around. She should be able to tell us.”
Pete grabbed his clothes, shrugging his damp, sweaty shirt on and knotting the sweater around his waist. Now he wasn’t working he’d cool down fast, and catching a cold wasn’t on his to-do list right now.
They walked through the building and were just in time to see Zara lift a box of props prior to stacking it on a shelf.
Josh rushed forward. “That’s too high for you. Let me.”
“Thanks. It’s heavy.”
Pete felt a little embarrassed. “Actually, we’re here to ask you a female question.”
“A female question, huh? Well, I guess I’m qualified to answer it. Ask away.”
For a moment Pete wondered if she knew all about the trouble with Serena. She did look kind of as if she was smiling on the inside. Hell, likely the entire community knew all about them already.
Josh spoke first. “Do women like to be told they’re loved? And bought chocolates and flowers and girly stuff? And what exactly is girly stuff?”
“Yes, yes, stuffed toy animals, perfume, her favorite anything.”
“Wait. Slow down. Could you unpack all that for me please?” asked Pete.
“I think all people everywhere like to be told they’re loved and appreciated. Women do need the words, whereas men seem to prefer actions. I don’t know what Serena likes, but by finding out and buying her favorite flowers, or her favorite perfume, you’re demonstrating you care about her, showing her you’re thinking about her and want her to be happy. Some women like stuffed toy animals, or china figurines, or the latest romance novel. By taking the time to find out her preferences and buying her something she really would like, you’re showing her she’s not a quick fuck but someone you genuinely care about. And good luck. She’s a lovely person who deserves two fine men like you,” added Zara.
Pete had to physically force his mouth closed. Zara had sliced and diced his life and told him exactly what to do in two minutes. He’d spent five days worrying about it without coming to a conclusion. She’d solved it in a snap. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Zara closed the storeroom door and waved as she walked over to her little yellow car to go home.
“We need to have showers before we go shopping,” he said.
“But at least we know what to do now.”
At least I know what to do now. Things are looking good again.
* * * *
After five days living in the apartment at work, both Serena and Verity were more than ready to be back at Carnal Connections, where they could relax and catch up with their friends. E-mail and text messages were fine, and Ramona had brought them in the things they’d asked for, along with more home-cooked food from the Carnal Connections kitchen, but it was time to go home.
Serena wasn’t sure how she felt about Pete and Josh. Oh, she still loved them, there was no doubt about that, but she also still burned with anger at the thought they didn’t love her and were just using her. But in her calm moments of solitude, she also had a lingering suspicion that they did care, that it was more than just a casual fuck to them. Surely they wouldn’t be so caring and considerate of a woman they were going to dump quite soon? She even wondered if they’d been expecting her to do or say something to them before they committed themselves. If, somehow or other, she’d brought the disaster down on her own head.
Security had called to tell them Kurt and Bill had arrived to collect their luggage, so Verity went down to the lobby to bring them up.
A wolf and a human instead of panthers? I wonder why?
“Thank you so much for collecting us. I’m sorry to cause you all this trouble,” said Serena as they picked up boxes and wheeled suitcases, leaving her to carry her purses and laptop.
“Likely you’ll have a couple bodyguards each day as you go to work next week, and Omar and Oliver have their hands full right now,” said Kurt.
“Why?”
“Galen’s back.”
Serena didn’t ask any more questions as they passed security just then on their way out of the building, and she noticed Luke, another human, waiting just outside the door for them. Luke nodded very slightly at Kurt as they exited the building then followed behind them as they walked to a minivan, where Jeff, also a young human, was sitting in the driver’s seat with the engine running. It wasn’t so cold that the heating needed to be left on, so the fact the engine was running must mean they really were worried and wanted to be able to leave fast if necessary.
Kurt opened the sliding door and urged Serena and Verity to get in, while Bill and Luke quickly loaded all the luggage in back before jumping in, too.
Serena remained quiet until they’d pulled out onto the road then said, “Four of you to pick us up. Four. One would have been adequate, two more than enough. Does this mean Galen is another bad guy? He was a bit older than us, but I remember when he dated Leticia years and years ago. Then he left, likely because Leticia’s paranoid father made him go away. He’d only been back a little while when he left again. So, is he a rogue panther or what?”
It felt weird saying so much ancient history, but the humans wouldn’t necessarily know any of that story, as it predated the panthers’ arriving at Carnal Connections.
Luke and Jeff deferred to Bill, an older man, who shrugged then answered her question. “Neither Larry not Omar trusts Galen. It was mighty poor timing of him to disappear the same day those panthers broke their friend Jim out of jail. Galen is being interviewed by Larry, Omar, and Oliver. I’m sure they’ll work it all out. In the meantime all the panther women are being protected as a safety measure.”
“What about David?” asked Verity.
“JB’s watching him in the day and he’s agreed to being locked in his room at night. He says Carnal Connections is his home now and certainly he hasn’t been a moment’s trouble for months now. He’s a good worker,” said Bill.
Serena nodded. “Leticia has often said how happy she is to have a sibling at last and how similar they are in the things they like.”
“Seriously, you both need to be on your guard and very cautious though. It may be a big panic about nothing, but it never hurts to be careful,” said Kurt.
“I understand,” said Serena.
“Noah and Ezra will look after me.” Verity sounded confident.
Will Pete and Josh look after me? And if they do, will it be just a job and not because they genuinely care about me?
Chapter Five
Neither Pete nor Josh had received permission from their Alpha to speak to any of the panther women
as of yet, and Omar was still tied up in meetings about the rogue panthers. So Pete and Josh had ambushed Lucy, Larry’s PA and the one person at Carnal Connections who seemed to know everything that was going on.
As with Zara, Pete almost had the feeling Lucy was expecting them, but how could that be? All right, everyone knew Serena had been annoyed with them. Hell, after she screamed at them that first time people in the next country probably heard every word she’d yelled. But this time she’d been hiding away in her office building, not screaming at anyone.
Fuck, but women were a foreign language to him. Especially his woman.
Lucy also went and talked to Jubilee to check out Serena’s favorite things. Because Jubilee was very good at trivia, Lucy said her mind was better at remembering tiny things other people may miss. Anyway, Lucy’d given him a list and he and Josh had headed for the mall and come back very happy with their shopping trip.
The dungeon was all set up for the evening with what he hoped was a romantic plan, and all he needed now was for Omar to permit him to talk to Serena and for Serena to agree to come to the dungeon with him.
Pete felt almost sick with nerves. He paced up and down the hallway in the main building, over and across the parking lot to the barn, and back again. Backward and forward, waiting for Omar’s meeting to finish. Josh leaned against the wall opposite Larry’s office, and every now and then Pete saw his gaze flick between Lucy, Larry’s door, and himself.
Josh was much more casual and laid-back than him. Much more likely to laugh off trouble. Pete took life more seriously—well, life was serious after all—but he knew it was this basic difference between them that kept them such good friends. Their differing opinions and outlooks balanced each other. If he was a tad too serious, Josh was a fraction too casual. Taken together, they worked out most things just about correctly.
Lucy’s head lifted from her computer screen, and Pete raced back to stand in front of Larry’s door. Larry and Omar exited together and both stopped when they saw Pete and Josh waiting.
“Well?” barked Omar.
“Please may we speak to Serena?”
“Why?”
Why the fuck does he think we want to talk to her? “To apologize and ask her to give us another chance,” said Pete.
“And?”
“To tell her we love her.”
“Do you love her?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Then make sure you say you love her before you fuck her this time. And don’t take the handcuffs off her until you’ve settled the date for your mating,” said Omar.
Pete couldn’t help the happy grin that spread across his face. Behind Omar, Larry was trying hard not to laugh. Yeah, well, he could laugh all he wanted because at last Pete was going to claim his woman. “Yes, Alpha.”
“Josh?”
“Yes, Alpha?”
“You understand you both need to say the words? Women need to be told these things. With the rogue panthers back in action I need you both fit and ready to work and with your heads on straight. So get your private lives sorted out tonight.”
“Yes, Alpha,” replied Josh.
Pete nodded again, too. He hoped to get Serena back in their bed tonight, too, as long as she agreed. “Thank you, Alpha.” Pete and Josh hurried from the hallway and back out to Pete’s truck. They collected a bunch of flowers and a parcel each, one of them large, the other small. Then they rushed across to the barn.
“You do realize that everyone in the entire community is going to be watching us,” said Josh.
“I know. But likely that will work in our favor. They’ll feel sorry for us and want her to say yes,” said Pete. He hoped he wasn’t fooling himself. He desperately wanted her to say yes, even if she yelled at him first. In fact, he’d prefer her screaming at him to running away from him.
This time, instead of stopping at the steps up to the barn, he marched up the stairs and opened the door. Inside a group of chairs was pulled up around some small tables. There was Serena! Autumn had her latest yarn project spread across two or three tables pushed together. With her were most of the community’s women and a handful of men. Yep. Everyone was here waiting for him to make an idiot of himself and fall flat on his face. Well, he wasn’t going to. What he was going to do was romance Serena out of her pants and into his bed to stay. Permanently. Even if it killed him.
And one look at her almost did kill him. From lust. She looked so beautiful. She was wearing a deep-green sweater that made her dark hair shine and her hazel eyes flash with green sparkles. His dick pressed hard against his zipper and he knew everyone there would see his arousal. But what the hell. Likely they’d all guessed anyway. Trying not to walk bow-legged because of his giant erection, he paced across the room, Josh beside him, and looked straight into her lovely face. The room was dead silent. Everyone was looking at him.
“I’m sorry we upset you, Serena. We both want you to know we never meant to hurt you. We love you. Please forgive us.” He handed her the flowers.
The lady in the flower store had been endlessly helpful making them up to his and Josh’s description. They were orange daylilies, with lantana and some orange Chinese lantern flowers in an amber vase.
Jubilee had been sure Serena’s favorite color was orange, so that’s what they’d looked for. The amber vase was a bonus find the flower store lady had in her backroom.
“I love you, too, so very much,” added Josh, handing her the small gift.
“And this is for you, Verity. Serena said if she’d known they existed she’d have gotten you one for your birthday. So, it’s a little late, but happy belated birthday, anyway.” Pete was damn glad neither Noah nor Ezra was there. No doubt Verity would tell them, but hopefully they’d enjoy the humor of it by then.
Serena was blushing and looked happy. Leticia touched the Chinese lantern flower and said, “So beautiful. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of these before.”
“Hurry up and open your presents. We want to see what’s inside,” said Ramona.
Serena laughed and carefully unpicked the tape then opened out the corners of the wrapping paper before unwrapping the small box. Pete grinned. He’d guessed she’d do that instead of ripping all the paper off. Next time he’d make it harder for her, with some extra layers of wrapping paper and colored duct tape to fasten the paper down.
Inside, protected in soft tissue, was a handblown glass figurine of a big cat. Pete liked to think it was a panther, but it could have been a cougar or a puma or a lioness. Whatever it was or wasn’t, it was delicate, fragile, and beautiful. Just like their relationship with Serena. Pete hoped it’d symbolize the start of a strong, lifelong relationship with all the power and magic of the big cats they all were.
“It’s stunning. Thank you both,” whispered Serena, her finger stroking the tiny panther.
“Now you, Verity. Open your gift,” urged Autumn.
“It’s big but very light,” said Verity.
“Maybe it’s just wrapping paper,” teased Ramona.
“No, I can feel a shape inside.”
Just as her sister had done, Verity carefully undid the tape then unwrapped one corner of the paper before opening the parcel.
Inside was “Doug,” a vinyl doll with excellent muscles, a full six-pack, and a seven-inch cock. Around his cock were half a dozen brightly colored rings and instructions for the games that could be played with him.
Instantly he was placed on the table on top of Autumn’s craftwork, and everyone wanted a turn at circling his vinyl erection with the colored rings. Soon all the women were laughing and playing the game. Pete took Serena’s hand and gently lifted her to her feet, drawing her away from the group around the sex toy.
Josh took her other hand and Pete said, “We’re so sorry we upset you. We do love you very much.”
“We do,” emphasized Josh.
“Can we start again? Tonight? Please?”
“Pretty please with bright orange icing on top,” added Josh.
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br /> Serena laughed. “I’m sorry, too. I should have asked you what you meant instead of getting upset and running away. It’s just that you said you only slept with women who understood it was just a bit of fun. And you never said you wanted anything more than that night with me.”
“Well, we do want more. We want every night from tonight onward,” said Pete.
“The three of us together forever,” added Josh.
“So, tonight. Will you come to the dungeon with us tonight please?” asked Pete.
“The dungeon?”
Pete nodded and kept a hold of her hand. Josh did, too.
“Okay. What time?”
“Now.” Both men spoke together, and once again Serena smiled.
She turned and handed the glass panther to Verity. “Will you put this in my room for me please? And the flowers?”
Verity gave them all a huge grin. “Why don’t y’all just go along and have fun.”
The ladies started laughing, but Pete didn’t care. He tucked Serena up hard against his body, under his arm, and the three of them left the barn, moving fast across the parking lot and into the main house, down the stairs, and into the dungeon he and Josh had prepared.
Before opening the door he pulled a blindfold out of his pocket and Josh slipped it over Serena’s eyes. Then Pete opened the door and led her inside. Shit. I hope she likes this!
The dungeons were fully heated, but the temperature was kept at the cooler end of the spectrum of “comfortable,” assuming a lot of sweating and heat would be given off by the activities that took place there. So Pete and Josh had brought down a mattress to place on the stone floor, crisp, clean sheets and pillows, and a thick blanket currently rolled up at the foot of the mattress for afterward if they wanted to take a nap. No way was Pete going back to her room again. Ever!
Instead of using handcuffs, he’d asked Lucy for the leftover streamers from Serena and Verity’s joint twenty-first birthday party, so there were twisted ropes of shocking pink and screaming orange streamers hanging from the ceiling chains and tied to the manacles in the floor. Laid out on a table were the heart-shaped nipple clamps and electric-blue butt plug they’d bought for her, plus a brand-new toy. It was a paddle with an embossed heart shape on it. His aim was to cover her sexy ass with prints of that heart tonight.
