Monroe, Marla - The Hired Hands' Dilemma [The Men of Space Station One #3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (18 page)

“Mine, too!” Rachel led the way out to their garden.

“Yours is really a lot farther along than mine. I guess since you planted it a week or so ahead of mine, it would be, but it looks like you’re already getting things out of it.”

“Yeah, tomatoes and squash mostly, but everything is getting there and should start to be ready next week.” Rachel led her toward the tomato plants. “Oh, and they are so much bigger. Look at the size of my tomatoes.”

Sure enough, the fruit was the size of a softball, as opposed to a baseball or tennis ball. Ashley’s jaw dropped open. Would hers get that big, too?

“Where did you get your seeds?” she asked.

“They came from town. They took some of all of my plants and harvested the seeds from them.”

“Mine were in the cellar already. They said they were from the original plants harvested from last year. They were going to give us some of the ones off the shuttle, but we were going to have to wait a while until they had time to process them. The guys didn’t want to wait on them. They took the ones already there.”

“So maybe there is something about the soil here that alters the plants and makes them grow faster. Mine last year didn’t really grow faster, but they were much more productive than I would have thought.” Rachel pulled a tomato off the vine that was a cherry red and a handful.

“I wonder if it does anything to us to eat it,” Ashley murmured.

“Now you have me wondering the same thing. We’ve been eating tomato sandwiches for several days, and I cooked squash for dinner twice now.” Rachel frowned.

“Well, let’s ask the men what they think later.” Ashley followed Rachel back to the house.

They settled in the kitchen. Rachel poured iced tea for both of them and offered Ashley some homemade cookies.

“There’s something else I wanted to ask you. Have you been sleepier than usual? I have to have at least one nap a day now for some strange reason. The guys want to take me to the doctor. I think they think it has something to do to with that rat thing getting acid on my leg.”

“Well, I have been taking naps pretty regularly. I just chalked it up to working so hard in the garden and having the extra hour of work every day.”

“Do you think that’s all there is to it?” Ashley asked, hoping it was.

“I don’t know now that you’re having the same trouble. I’m beginning to get worried.”

“Well, I haven’t had anything out of our garden yet, so it’s not the food.” She hoped that would put Rachel at ease about that, at least for now.

They talked all through lunchtime as they fixed sandwiches and ate them. Around one thirty, both women confessed to being so tired they couldn’t keep their eyes open.

“Come on, you can use the guest bedroom to take a nap,” Rachel said around a yawn.

“I appreciate it, but I can sleep on the couch.”

“Nonsense, you’ll do no such thing. That’s why we have guest rooms.”

Ashley followed Rachel upstairs to the guest room and lay down on the bed thinking a short nap would do her good. She was asleep almost before her head hit the pillow.

* * * *

“Yeah, we’ve noticed that Rachel sleeps a lot more. She doesn’t oversleep in the mornings. In fact, she’s up before we are most mornings, but she takes naps all during the day. She’s working hard in the garden, though,” Andrew said.

“I just don’t think it’s healthy. I’m worried,” Boyd said.

“We’re planning to take Ashley to see Doc when we’re off next. I don’t want to not catch something before it gets too bad. With that place on her leg and all, I’m worried.” Keeton sighed.

“Maybe we should do the same thing, Danny.” Andrew turned in the saddle toward the other man. “We’ve been more energetic than usual. Even you’ve noticed that.”

“Keeton?” Boyd questioned his partner.

“Um, has Rachel been a little more, um, feisty than usual?”

“Do you mean sexually?” Andrew asked.

“Yeah,” Keeton said.

“Um, I guess you could say that.”

“Something’s wrong with this planet.” Boyd cursed. Then he went after a cow that had taken off in the opposite direction.

“Do you really think it’s tied to the planet?” Danny asked.

“Yeah. I’m beginning to think so. But what option do we have? Earth’s falling apart. They’re shipping more here as fast as they can get the shuttles ready to send.” Keeton shook his head.

Boyd rode back up, having maneuvered the cow back with the rest of the herd. Keeton repeated what he had told Andrew and Danny.

“I say one of each of us takes our women to the doc so he has both of them at one time to compare, with the other two staying here to tend to the herd,” Keeton suggested.

“Danny?” Andrew asked.

“I tend to agree with him. I’m worried now. It’s too much of a coincidence for both women to have the same symptoms.”

“Then we’re agreed. Let’s not wait. I say we load them up tomorrow morning and carry them in. I’ll get the doc on the radio tonight and be sure he’s going to be there and not out at one of the other places.” Andrew nodded.

“I’m with you,” Boyd said. “The sooner the better.”

“The women aren’t going to like this,” Danny said with a frown. “They’re going to fuss like wet hens.”

Keeton tended to agree with them. Ashley had already given her opinion on the subject. Maybe with Rachel going along, too, she wouldn’t balk too badly. He sure hoped not.

They talked about how well the fencing was coming and the fact that they hadn’t seen any of the creatures lately.

“It’s almost like they are watching to see what we’re doing,” Danny mused.

“We haven’t seen any more of those super rats, either. We keep saying we’re going to go out at night and see if they just come out in the dark, but we’ve been too distracted lately worrying about Ashley.” Keeton looked up at the sun. “Getting time to head on back. Sun’s setting.”

“I’m anxious to see how they’ve gotten along and what they might have hatched up together,” Andrew confessed.

“Yeah, Rachel was talking about some sort of harvest party when the garden was dying down.” Danny didn’t look too thrilled about it for some reason.

“You’re not real big on the idea, are you?” Boyd asked.

“Just more work, and she’s already so tired.”

“I see what you mean.” Boyd nodded.

“Come on in and you can eat with us. I’m sure the women have cooked up enough for all of us,” Andrew said.

They all dismounted and walked their horses to the barn. They brushed them down and made sure they had plenty of oats and water. Then they headed toward the house. When they walked in the back door, the kitchen smelled wonderful, but neither of the women could be found. Andrew called out for Rachel and they heard a curse in the living room. They all hurried to the other room to find the women getting out of the recliners looking sleepy eyed.

“Dinner will be on the table in a minute. Why don’t you all wash up?” Rachel said.

“You were napping again, weren’t you?” Keeton asked Ashley.

“Just a short nap.” She pouted.

“How many naps, though?” Boyd asked.

“Just two. One right after lunch and then this one. It wasn’t even a long one.”

“We’re carrying you to the doctor tomorrow,” Keeton informed her.

“You, too, Rachel,” Andrew said.

Both women’s faces turned red and Keeton recognized a female fit brewing. He decided to cut Ashley’s off at the beginning. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. She was stubborn at first and wouldn’t open her mouth, but a few licks at her lips and a gentle nip on her lower one had her opening to him in mere seconds.

Keeton thrust his tongue inside and explored her mouth, tasting her sweet kiss as he mimicked his thrusting cock. Soon she was plastered to his body and rubbing herself all along him, having forgotten they had an audience. Keeton pulled back and had to hold her away from him until she realized where she was. A pretty flush crawled up her neck and face.

The only thing that seemed to save her from mortification was that Rachel was all over Andrew when she looked in that direction. Keeton was glad to see that there were other similar traits in the odd behaviors of the women.

“Come on, let’s see what’s for dinner, Rachel.” Andrew pulled her toward the kitchen. She, too, had a flush going on.

They discussed the trip in the morning over dinner, much to the women’s obvious displeasure. Then they said good-bye, and Keeton and Boyd took Ashley home. She rode on the back of Keeton’s horse.

Once they were back at the house, Ashley pouted and went straight up to take a bath. Keeton smiled over at Boyd and winked. Once she was out of earshot, he chuckled.

“She’s something else when she pouts. Too bad we know how to get her out of it easy enough.”

“It’s probably going to backfire on us one of these days,” Boyd said with a grin.

“Well, until then, sex works.”

They left her to soak away her sullenness while they took turns in the shower down the hall. When they heard her getting out of the tub, Keeton hurried in to grab a towel and dry her off.

“I think I’m more than capable of drying myself, thank you very much.” She still had her nose in the air.

Keeton ignored her and wrapped the towel around her so she couldn’t move, then picked her up and carried her to bed protesting all the way. She frowned up at him when he sat on the bed and began unwrapping her.

“I don’t want to go to the doctor. He likes to poke on you and make you stay overnight. I don’t want to stay there.”

“Honey, something is wrong. Don’t you want to find out what it is?”

For the first time, Keeton saw fear in her eyes. Then it was gone. His stubborn wife was afraid to find out that maybe something was wrong. He sighed and pulled her into his arms. He hadn’t suspected that she might be scared.

“Baby, we’re not going to let anything happen to you. That’s why we want to find out what’s going on now before any more time passes.” Keeton hugged her tighter.

“What if it’s something that can’t be fixed?”

“We’ll love you anyway.”

“That rat thing did something to me, didn’t it?” she asked.

“I don’t know, baby. Maybe. Or maybe it’s not related to it at all.”

“Well, Rachel has that mark on her back that’s yellowish like what’s on my leg, and she’s doing the same thing I am.”

“Danny has one, too, but he isn’t having any trouble. We just don’t know, Ashley. That’s why we want to go to the doctor.”

Keeton kissed her and slipped her back on the bed. He began pulling off his clothes and was glad when Boyd walked into the room still nude from his shower. He could keep her occupied while Keeton finished undressing. He wasn’t sure why he’d gotten dressed in the first place. He shook his head and crawled onto the mattress as Boyd sucked a nipple into his mouth.

Keeton settled next to Ashley and began to run his hand down her abdomen toward her pussy. He leaned over and licked her other nipple. She grabbed at his head and pulled it down for a more thorough sucking. He chuckled around her flesh in his mouth.

His fingers encountered her juicy, wet cunt and stroked between her pussy lips with his fingers while he sucked and nipped at her nipples. He loved it when she dug her nails into his scalp. It turned him on to know she needed him that much. He thrust his fingers deeper into her hot pussy and felt her contract around them. She was more than ready for him. Still, he wanted to taste her pussy juices.