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Finn looked down the table and back to me, “Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of choice.” Was that a double-entendre? I didn’t get a chance to ask, he got up to get himself some food as well. I leaned into Buddy and gave his lovely soft fur a pat.

“It’s alright, Bud,” I said, “leftovers are for you.”

Finn was right. Sandy haired guy, whose named turned out to be Brett, put a huge plate groaning with food in front of me, with some of the other guys putting other plates around me.

It was kind of sweet in a way. I smiled nervously under the attention and picked up my cutlery, “I’m sure it’s lovely.

” I moved to spear a chunk of potato salad on my fork and put it in my mouth, but everyone was still watching with rapt interest. I put my cutlery down and stared pointedly until the guys started eating as well.

It was still weird, and I was getting plenty of surreptitious looks, but still, I could eat in some peace.

Finn came back to the table without a word, but that seemed to stop the observations for a while.

All except for Buddy, who sat there patiently salivating, waiting for me to find stuff I didn’t like, which I moved to a bread plate and put down on the ground for him to eat.

“What are those?” I asked the guy who was sitting beside me now that Buddy was on the floor.

He had a bunch of what looked like long skinless sausages on his plate, served with some kind of salad.

He was a big guy, which was saying something in this place.

Most blokes seemed taller than me, but this guy towered over the rest. I got a slow smile as he turned to face me, swinging one leg over the bench seat so that I could see just how big he was.

It wasn’t the super bulky bodybuilder look, more man as big as a mountain.

“Have a taste,” he said, spearing one on his fork and holding it out for me to take.

“Julie, don’t…” Finn said but the other guys hissed him quiet.

“Fair’s fair,” Brett said, and Finn fell silent with a frown.

My eyes flicked between the three of them, and I went to take the fork from mountain guy’s hand.

No dice, he grinned as he held it firm against my grip.

Buddy looked up from his food, I could almost imagine a frown on his face as he watched the two of us, so I let go and plucked the sausage off the fork and took a bite.

“Wow!” I said, it was a meaty, spicy blend that burst with flavour in my mouth.

A groan went down the table as I took another bite, so I stopped.

“Seriously? Are you guys that hard up that a girl eating a sausage gets you going? You’re all gorgeous, you’d have no problems finding someone to…

ease your load with if you went to the pub. ”

“Pub’s five hours away from here,” darker haired guy said, “and women usually aren’t turned on by the prospect of a roll in the backseat of the car.” Privately, I thought they were underestimating the lengths a woman would go to for a pretty face, but that was just me.

“Well, tonight I’m going home to bed, to sleep, by myself,” I said, “so why don’t we all chill.” That seemed to do the trick. Big guy went back to his meal, and so did the others.

Finn gave me a sidelong smile. “Well done.” He started eating, but it took me a little longer.

That smile, it took my breath away, and it wasn’t until Bud was pushing his head against my leg for more food that I realised I was staring, open mouthed.

I dropped him something off the many plates and turned back to my own food, only noticing now that some of the spicy sausages had been put onto mine.

I scanned the faces of those closest, and only got a few quick smiles from the other guys to indicate where they had come from.

“God, I’m stuffed, and so is Buddy,” I said.

Some people were still eating, most were having a beer or a smoke, sitting and chatting.

I got to my feet and picked up Bud’s plate.

He wouldn’t need kibble when we got home.

Hopefully after a short walk up the hill, we could both just roll into bed.

I was dead tired. “I’ve got to see Kelly at 9 am, where and when did you want me to meet you afterwards? ”

“Kelly will give you a walkie talkie. Just let me know when you’re done, and I’ll come by to get you. You OK to get home? I’m finished here, I can take you up on the cart.”

“It’s OK, I need the walk to work off some of this food baby,” I said, patting my stomach. A few of the guys’ eyes flicked up at this, but everyone seemed to have calmed down a bit.

He looked a little disappointed, but nodded and said, “Well, sleep well.”

“You too. C’mon, Bud.”

It was easier to ignore the looks when I was tired.

I just floated out the door, feeling that bone deep satisfaction from having a full stomach, coupled with the knowledge I wouldn’t have to scrape together money for food anymore.

With the money they were paying me, and the free food, clothes, accommodation and utilities, I was going to be set.

I walked out of the warm shed out into the cool night air and looked up at the moon.

It hung there, bright enough to light my way, almost completely full, beautiful and silver.

“Can I walk you home?” A voice came from the darkness. I saw the red glowing end of his cigarette before he emerged out into the semicircle of artificial light from the lamp over the doorway. It was the guy with the long blond hair. What was his name?

“Shaun,” he said, seeing my expression, “we met before.”

“Oh, yeah,” I said.

Oh, yeah! my body said. It remembered all too well how slick and swollen I’d felt when he was coming on to me.

The novelty of a hot guy cracking onto me had dulled a little, but still, he was a pretty amazing specimen.

I jerked my eyes away from my unconscious inspection of his chest and arms and shook my head, “I’m heading to bed. ”

“That’s OK. So am I.”

With us? With us! My body was like some kind of incredibly perky yet horny cheerleader, giving her most enthusiastic cheer for this idea.

I clamped down on it, while things seemed laid back here, I was pretty sure becoming the office slut wasn’t a great way to secure my job.

And anyway, I was tired. No, we’re not! No, we’re not!

Yes, I was, and so was Buddy. I knew the dog would sleep anywhere, anyhow if he wanted to, so I needn’t have worried, but I had a lame excuse and I was sticking to it.

“By myself, unless something else comes up,” he said, obviously taking my inner dialogue time as reluctance. I guess it was probably more plausible to him than me having an argument with my vagina about having sex.

“Look, if you’re cool with just walking me up to my bungalow, that’d be great. I didn’t take the car because it’s not far, and Bud needed a walk, but I should have brought a torch with me.”

“My pleasure,” he said, and flicked the cigarette away.

“This way.” I walked beside him along the track that looped behind the mess hall and back up to the accommodations.

The night smelled of pine resin, bracken ferns and a peculiar warm, woody scent that I think was all Shaun’s.

“So, how’s your first day gone?” he asked.

“Nerve-racking, weird, awkward, then weird again. Fuck it, I’m going with this has been a bloody weird day.”

He chuckled at this. “It will get easier once you’ve had a chat with Kelly.”

“The girls filled me in. You can nail whoever is willing, just don’t let it interfere with work.”

“Sort of. It’s a bit more complicated than that.

Plenty of people are in relationships, have kids, they just tend to hang in the married quarters on the other side of the compound.

Things can get a little…intense in the mess hall.

” As if to support what he said, I heard a high shriek that dissolved into a giggle as we passed the back end of the hall. “It’s up to you.”

I stopped walking and turned to face him.

Maybe because in the darkness Shaun just became some dark anonymous figure, but now I felt much more comfortable talking about the whole situation.

I was too tired to bullshit. I’d maintained a veneer of sanity over my overwhelming free-floating anxiety all day, so I hit him with it.

“Y’see that’s what weirds me out. Like, where I was from, small town, small gene pool, finding someone who wasn’t your cousin who you were attracted to was hard work.

When I got laid, it was like I’d climbed a mountain or achieved something momentous beside an orgasm, y’know. ”

“OK.”

“You don’t get it, you can’t, I guess. But it’s like I went from that to here, where every kind of guy I could possibly want is on display, and so many of them act like they’d be grateful for the chance to explore whatever sexual fantasy I can think of.

I mean, you were like that within ten seconds of me getting there. ”

He took a step closer but stayed shrouded in darkness, the moon casting shadows on his face. “I was.”

“And y’know, instead of checking your family tree for possible incest, I just see the body and the hair and…”

“And…?” His voice came out in the low rasp that he’d used before.

I shivered and backed up. “And I’m going to bed.”

“Julie,” he caught my wrist, stopping me from walking off, but letting go the moment I stopped. “Look, I’m not going to try and get into your pants tonight, you’ve made it clear that’s off the table. But if you stay here, this is kind of important.”

“What’s important? That I feel like I’m punching above my weight here? Seriously, if insecurities are important, I’m a fucking VIP.”