Monroe, Marla - The Hired Hands' Dilemma [The Men of Space Station One #3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (9 page)

“Yes, that’s what I’m saying,” the doctor, Jeff, agreed.

“You took some samples of her wounds, so what did you figure out from them?”

“Basically that the saliva from the rat thing is a type of acid.” He updated Keeton on everything he knew.

“So I can take her home now?” Keeton asked.

“As soon as this last dose of antibiotics is finished, my nurse will take her IV out, and you can take her home. I’ve given a bottle of pills to Boyd to give her for the next several days till they are all gone.”

“Thanks for taking care of her.”

“That’s what I’m here for. Thank goodness I have lots of time to do research and don’t have a lot of patients to care for. I really don’t want to be busy if it means someone is suffering. Now give me some pregnant women to birth and I’ll be a happy doctor.” He winked at Keeton.

“Um, okay.”

“If you’re careful with her leg, she can have sex. She needs to keep it dry, though, so no showers and only baths with her leg out of the water. Once it closes up, she can get it wet. I gave directions to Boyd on taking care of it till then.”

“Okay. Can I see her now?” Keeton stood up.

“Of course. You know where she is.” The doctor got up and saw him across the hall.

Keeton knocked on the door to Ashley’s room then opened it when Boyd called for him to come in. He was totally surprised by the reaction he got from Ashley, though. Her eyes brightened, and she smiled as big as a rainbow at him.

“Keeton! I’m so glad to see you. I missed you last night.” She reached out her arms to him, and he wasn’t sure what to do.

Boyd pushed him forward into Ashley’s arms. He found himself enfolded and squeezed.

“Careful of your IV thing, Ashley,” he said, pulling back.

“I can go home now. They said when you got here you’d take me home.”

“We’ll all go home just as soon as your IV is finished,” he said.

“Horses okay?” Boyd asked with a smile.

“Yeah. Got them all taken care of this morning.”

“Feel like going by the library on our way out?” Boyd asked.

“I want to get a couple more books on gardening while we’re here,” Ashley explained.

“I want to get you a drawing book so you can draw. You’re good at it.” Boyd picked up a piece of paper and handed it to Keeton. “What does that look like to you?”

“Fuck! That’s the rat thing we killed. Where did you get it?”

“Ashley drew it.”

Keeton turned and looked at her. “You can draw like this, and you’re stuck out on a ranch with us?”

“I’m not stuck. I want to be where I am. Don’t you want me anymore?” Tears welled up in her eyes.

Boyd cursed. “Of course we want you. What Keeton means…”

“What I mean is that you’re too talented to be living on a ranch when you could be documenting all the wildlife and native flowers and such,” Keeton said.

“They have scientists and cameras to do that. If it’s that important to you, I’ll draw anything new I see. I don’t want to live anywhere else. I want to live with you and Boyd.”

There was a knock on the door and the nurse walked in. “Looks like your IV is finished. Let’s get this out of your hand so you can go home,” he said.

Keeton realized she wasn’t as excited as she was when he first came in. That was his fault. He’d taken some of the light out of her eyes. Fuck, he wasn’t good at the relationship stuff. He’d always left that part to Boyd, and they never kept a woman long enough for it to matter that much. He would have to work on it since Ashley was their wife. He found that he wanted to work on it for her. She mattered to him.

“Okay, all done. You’re a free woman.” The nurse carried the supplies out of the room. “When you finish getting dressed, just come on down the hall and we’ll write you out as discharged.”

Ashley nodded then looked at Keeton. “Um, did you bring me any clothes?”

“Hell, yeah, just a minute. I left the bag outside in the transport. I was in a hurry to see about you.” He hurried out the door and back outside to get her clothes.

When he returned, Boyd was sitting next to her on the bed. She was sitting up on the side. Boyd gave him a definably unfriendly look. Keeton handed her the bag.

“Um, do you need help getting dressed?” He felt awkward watching her dress when he’d eaten her pussy out only a few days before. How crazy was that?”

“I can do it. You don’t have to wait around on me.”

Yep, he had hurt her feelings. Keeton drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He had to make this right somehow.

“I can help you stand up while you step into your jeans,” he tried.

She ignored him and pulled out the clothes he’d chosen for her. She sighed and stood up, but was unsteady on her feet. Both he and Boyd grabbed her by the arm and held her still.

“Are you sure you don’t want us to help you?” Boyd asked.

“I can do it. I just haven’t been out of the bed that much for a couple days.”

She untied her gown and turned her back to them to pull it off. Then she pulled on panties and put on a bra. She slipped her legs into her jeans one foot at a time. After she pulled on her T-shirt, she turned back around and crossed her arms with a smile on her face.

“You did it,” Boyd said. “You ready to go now?”

“Yes, let’s go.”

They stopped by the office down the hall and signed her out, and then Keeton swung her up in his arms and carried her to the transport. She fussed all the way, but he didn’t want her walking on her leg. The doctor had said for her to keep off it.

Once inside the transport, he left Boyd to settle her in.

Keeton pulled the transport up in front of the library and carried her inside.

“I’m going to go get some things, and I’ll be right back.” Boyd left Keeton with Ashley in the library.

“Where do you want to go? I’ll carry you there,” Keeton insisted.

She sighed. “Okay. I want to go over to the gardening section.”

Keeton carried her to that section, then pulled up a chair and sat her on it.

“I’m going to go look at the buildings area to see how best to set up the fence. If you need to move, call me. I mean it.” He waggled a finger at her.

Ashley made as if to bite it, but he pulled it back with a grin. He liked seeing her feisty and playful. He hoped he could keep his foot out of his mouth and keep her that way.

A little while later, Ashley called out to him. “I need to move when you have time.”

He carried the book he was looking at with him and picked her up with hers.

“Where to?”

“The sex section.”

Keeton almost dropped her. “The what? Do they even have one of those?”

“Yes, it’s right next to the animal husbandry section.”

“How do you even know where anything is in here anyway?”

“They had a drawing of it in the shuttle library so we could find our way around in it.”

“Well, you don’t need any sex books. We’ll teach you anything you need to know.”

“Maybe I want to know what my options are,” she said, crossing her arms around the books. “There may be something in here not in my other book.”

Keeton sighed and carried her to where she wanted to go. He pulled up a chair and sat with her on his lap.

“Now show me what you’re looking for,” he said.

Ashley frowned at him but lifted her chin and pulled out a book on ménage loving. She flipped through it then sat it on her pile to pull out another one on S&M relationships.

“Whoa there. You definitely don’t need that. Where did you get the idea you wanted to explore S&M?” He was horrified that she would even consider it.

“I thought that was what you were into. I want to know what I need to do.”

“Well, that is
not
what you need to be studying.”

“But you used to do it when you were on Earth. I overheard you talking to Boyd about your past relationships the other day.” Ashley’s lower lip began to tremble.

“That was the past, Ashley. I’m not living that way anymore.”

“But you won’t be happy, and I want you to be happy with me, Keeton.”

“Aw, baby. I’m happy with you. I’m just really intense when it comes to sex. I don’t enjoy whipping people. I do like to spank, but we can work around that if you don’t like it.”

“With your hand?” she asked with wide eyes.

“Yes, with my hand.” He sighed. “Put away the other book, baby. You don’t need it.” He took the book from her and replaced it. “Keep the ménage book. You probably need to know about that sort of relationship. I don’t know about Boyd, but I’m a lousy teacher when it comes to the everyday part of it,” Keeton said.

“You’re more into the kinky side of it.” Ashley grinned up at him.

It was an engaging smile. He couldn’t help but return it. He picked her up with her load of books and took her to the checkout desk. They took her general information and signed the books out to her.

“When do we need to have them back?” he asked the clerk.

“Oh, a few months,” she said.

“Great.”

They left the library and ran into Boyd coming in. He didn’t have anything in his arms, so Keeton figured he had already stowed his purchases in the transport. They loaded up with Ashley between them. She pulled out one of her books to read, and Keeton cringed. It was the ménage one. Boyd looked amused more than anything else. Well, he could address her questions. He could show her all the different positions, and would over time, but he wasn’t one to dissect the relationship between the three of them. Boyd would have to talk theory with her.

They arrived back at the ranch house a little after four. He opened the door while Boyd carried Ashley inside. Then he went back for the books and Boyd’s purchases. One sack Boyd almost snatched from him. The other he had Keeton present to Ashley on the couch.

“What is it?”

“Open it and see,” Boyd told her.

She pulled open the wrapping then oohed and aahed over the sketchbook and colored pencils he’d gotten for her.

“Thanks, Boyd! I can’t wait to use them.” She hugged him.

“Keeton, leave the books here on the table for me. I’ll be spending some time on the couch according to the doctor. I’ll read while I’m laid up.” Ashley seemed content.

When the men both started out of the room, she panicked.

“You’re both leaving? Where will you be?”

“I’ve got to take the transport back next door,” Keeton told her.

“I was going to fix us something to eat,” Boyd told her.

“Can I sit in the kitchen with you then?” she asked.

Boyd and Keeton exchanged looks and then shrugs.

Keeton picked her up with a book in her hand and carried her to the kitchen and settled her in a chair. Then he kissed the top of her head and headed for the transport. He needed out for a few minutes. She was edgy and it was affecting him. He needed to be at the top of his game around her right now. She was obviously needy and still scared.