Page 24

He was in the kitchen when I woke up, drinking coffee and wearing a t-shirt with the sleeves torn out and a pair of old jeans.

I took this in and frowned. “Day off,” he said with a grunt.

“I’ve got...” The door opened and closed, and Brandon walked in.

He inspected my ratty pyjamas slowly, a smile spreading over his face, like they were high end lingerie. “He’s going to take you for the day.”

“Mmm,” Brandon said, stepping closer, his grey eyes almost glowing in the morning light.

“What’s that I smell?” His nostrils flared.

“Eau de Slade?” He glanced at Finn, then back at me.

“Nice, but you better get dressed.” His eyes dropped to the sheer fabric of my top, “Wear something light. Today we get hot and sweaty.”

My eyes flicked from Finn to Brandon. What did that mean?

Here, it could mean anything from digging ditches or having sex or digging ditches and having sex.

The two of them just watched me without a response, like some kind of predators up on a hill.

What? I thought, What fucking now? But there was no point in asking them.

No one really told me anything, unless it was about what I was doing that day or trying to get me into bed.

I stomped over to the bathroom and had a quick shower, putting on an old pair of jeans and a light white top with some embroidery around the neckline, figuring that would have to do.

“Wherever we go today, I’m gonna ask each and every person, you know that, right?” I said to Finn when I came back out.

He sighed, “Would be shocked if you didn’t. Look, I’ve got a date with the DVR, it’s been a hard week.” He looked at Brandon. “Have her come by mine on your way home.”

“Will do, Boss.”

“That OK with you, Julie?” Finn asked.

“Fine.”

Buddy jumped up when I went outside, gambolling around my feet.

“We’re in the truck,” Brandon said, moving to open my door for me, standing so close I had to brush past him to get inside.

My dog jumped in over me and sat right in the middle of the bench seat.

“Here,” he said, leaning across me and plucking a travel mug from the centre console, “Black, no sugar.”

“Just the way I like it,” I said, looking at it with a frown, then taking a sip. It was the perfect temperature.

“So, how do you feel about casual public nudity?” Brandon asked as he got inside the cab.

My eyebrows shot up, “Is this some kind of date?”

He cracked up laughing at this, his teeth white against his bronzed skin, “Ah, Jesus, I’m sorry.

I was trying to channel Cable Hilton from Billionaire’s Bedroom .

Y’know, go all smouldery and a bit suggestive.

I could see your mind ticking away… Sorry, I never thought that line would work.

I assumed you’d know I was taking the piss and punch me in the arm or something.

Nah, we’re doing the morning deliveries.

Today is the majority of the camp’s rec day, so it’s mostly a beer run, though we will be heading to the married quarters and the farm.

Finn figured that would give you access to plenty of people to ask your questions. ”

All of a sudden, I felt like a bit of a brat.

My life had experienced an upturn coming here.

I’d checked my pay slip and even for the few days I was here, I was paid very, very well, and here was my boss giving me the opportunity to talk to people about that which he couldn’t.

Weird sex stuff aside, everyone here was pretty good to me, and now I felt strangely disloyal for wanting to know more.

But I need to , I thought with a frown. There was something seriously weird about this place, apart from the romantic stuff, and I needed to know what it was to be able to relax and work out where I fit.

“Delivering beer? How does that involve nudity?” I was about to find out.

“Here, you take this one,” Brandon said, handing me a slab of beer. “Just head inside and dump it on the kitchen counter.”

This sounded simple enough. I walked up the stairs, opening the fly mesh sliding door, and there before me was a sea of half-naked men.

Draped over three couches and a bean bag, was one muscle rippling body after another.

Tattooed or clean, dark or light or in between, there had to be six or seven guys there.

It looked like the after party of a gay porn set.

One slept face down on the couch, revealing a very nice arse in a pair of tight cotton boxers, another was sitting on the floor, legs akimbo, head and arms resting against the seat.

Others lay passed out on the floor or snuggled into beanbags.

Every single one of them was bare chested and wore only a pair of sleep shorts or undies.

My mouth went dry from hanging open for so long, and I stood there frozen, still holding the slab of beer.

“What’s the hold up?” Brandon asked, coming behind me.

I heard him set down his load with a thud on the porch.

“Ahh, now I get it.” He cast his eyes over the sleeping bodies with a slight smile.

“I’m trying to imagine what this would feel like.

How would I react if that was a sea of half-naked hot girls?

” His smile widened. “You must want to dive on in and see if you could make it to the other side.”

“I-I…” I stammered, but I didn’t get another word out. Brandon rapped on the metal door frame, loud enough to wake the dead, and wake they did. Eyes flicked open as one, blinking for a moment. I heard groans and curses, and then their vision cleared.

“What do we have here?” said a guy with the greenest eyes I’d ever seen, and blond hair that fell in waves to his shoulders.

He got to his feet, towering over me of course, and came closer, the rest of his mates following behind en masse.

I took a step towards the doorway but blondie said, “Uh uh,” and slid it shut behind me. “You’re the new girl.”

“Uh, yes, Julie. Here’s your beer.”

“Macca,” the guy said, and took the slab, passing it to the darker haired man with a beard behind him.

He placed the beer on the counter and returned to play his part in the human shield of man flesh that boxed me in.

“Come in, take a seat.” The men moved as one, creating an avenue of bodies that led to one of the couches they had been sleeping on.

“I apologise for the mess, we went on a bit of a bender last night.”

“A bender where you all ended up down to your jocks? What kinda bender is that?” I said, looking them up and down.

I meant that to be a sceptical thing, but damn!

I wasn’t sure I gave a shit what had gotten them to this state.

A guy with longish sandy hair steered me towards the seat with a hand on my tailbone, plopping me down with Macca and his dark-haired offsider sitting down on either side of me.

I swallowed as I felt those long, hard thigh muscles against mine, the rest of the guys now reclining by my feet or standing in a line across the sliding door.

“We’ve been meaning to approach you,” dark haired guy said. “I’m Blake.”

“Nice to meet you. You have?”

“Yeah,” sandy haired guy said, “I’m Rhett. You’re gonna need a pack if you are going to stay here. Shaun, Slade, you won’t see much of them until you’ve made your decision…”

“What?” I interrupted his spiel. “What’s happening with Slade and Shaun?”

“Until you’ve decided who your pack is, the guys you’ve slept with will hang back, see if your other partners are ones they can live with.

They may start banding together, showing an obvious preference for the blokes they reckon should be in the pack.

Some of them will form blocs, start making their moves as a group to try and influence your decision. Then the fighting starts.”

“I’m sorry, what fighting? Kelly said everyone was cool and groovy about this stuff.”

Macca chuckled at this. “Well, it certainly doesn’t take place during business hours, does it? But a bunch of red-blooded blokes all wanting the same thing? C’mon love, you know that’s not going to happen.”

“You take us on, all the work is done,” a guy with long, dark hair at the back said, “We all get along, you don’t have to go through the drama of choosing.

We’ll all move to one of the bigger places on the other side, and then you can relax and have every need catered to by seven guys who want you. ”

I was going to start laughing at that. Seven guys I’d met five minutes ago ready to settle down and fuck me stupid for ever and ever?

It sounded completely ridiculous on paper, but the thing about sitting with a whole bunch of dudes in their undies, I could tell at least physically they were into the idea quite easily.

Brandon walked in with the last load and said, “You coming?” Then he took in all the men seated around me. “I’ll make the next delivery and then come back, OK?”

“You could join us,” Blake said. “She smells like she’s into you and as long as you’re not a dick, we could make room. You gotta better chance with us than on your own.”

This made Brandon stiffen. “I know exactly what she smells like. I’m not interested in this little power play you got going on.

I’ll find my own way, the same as my dads did.

It’s the woman’s choice, it always has and always will be.

You guys, you’re trying to take that from her. Julie, are you OK here?”

“I …” should have gotten up and walked out. They were very good looking guys, but they could be kitten killing, axe murderers for all I knew. Macca chuckled when Brandon walked out, and they all seemed to shuffle closer. I was enclosed in a very manly cocoon.

“You choose us, and you’ll see just what we can do,” Macca said. “Seven guys? You’ll never be left unsatisfied. You can keep coming and coming, there’ll always be someone to take you there.” His hand landed on my thigh, feeling warm even through the thick denim.