Monroe, Marla - The Carpenters' Helper [The Men of Space Station One #5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (10 page)

“I slept great. My husbands wore me out last night.”

“How do you feel this morning? Is your shoulder bothering you much?”

“It’s a little stiff, but really it isn’t bothering me nearly as much as my shin is. It stings when I move.” She turned to show him her leg.

“It looks a little swollen, baby. Do you think you cracked a bone?” Worry creased his brows.

“Nah, it would be a lot more swollen than that, and it would be much harder to walk on. I just think it’s going to be sore for a few days.”

“Hey, baby.” Kirk walked into the room and pulled her in for a thorough kiss before letting her go. “You said your leg is going to be sore for a few days?”

“Look at it, Kirk. Does it look swollen to you?” Brad held Carmen’s leg up for her so Kirk could look at it.

“Yeah, it does look a little swollen, but that’s probably from the scrape on it.”

“I don’t think you should work in the garden today. Why don’t you laze around the house today? We’ll be in and out working on the fence.” Brad handed Kirk a cup of coffee.

“I’ll be fine. I won’t do much, but I’ve got to keep up with the weeds or I’ll have a mess on my hands later. I’ll take it easy the rest of the day once I finish with the garden.”

“Honey, I don’t want you to overdo it.” Kirk watched her cook.

“I won’t. Honestly you two treat me like I’m made of glass. I won’t break.”

“We like treating you like that. You’re precious to us, baby.” Kirk sat his coffee cup down and pulled her back into his arms. He nuzzled the side of her face with his mouth and kissed the corner of her eye.

Once he let go of her, she returned to cooking with a small smile on her face. He always made her feel cared for. Brad rolled over her like her orgasms did. He could be devastating when he wanted to be. She began dishing up their breakfast, thinking that she was probably more than a little bit in love with her husbands. She didn’t expect them to fall for her. She wasn’t a pretty woman by any means, but the fact that they cared about her went a long way to settling her insides.

Maybe one day they would feel more for her. It was probably a pipe dream, but it was one she would hold close to her heart, keeping her fingers crossed.

“What are you smiling about over there?” Brad asked in a teasing voice.

“Oh, just wondering what the two of you will look like working outside with your shirts off? I’ll get to watch you all day today.”

Kirk wiggled his brows at her.

“Not going to take my shirt off till the sun is high. It’s still a little cool outside in the morning,” Brad said with a smirk.

“Speak for yourself, man. If our woman wants me without my shirt, I’m going without my shirt.” Kirk began eating.

They discussed what was first with putting up the fence and agreed that they would start on the side of the garden and go counterclockwise with it. Carmen secretly believed they wanted to be close to her while they were working. She would be outside at the same time. In fact, she might just sit outside and watch them most of the day. She could take the afternoon off from cleaning and relax watching them.

The men finished and left her to begin setting up the fence. She cleaned up the kitchen, then followed them outside. The garden was just about completely up now. There were still a few stragglers that hadn’t poked through the strange red ground. The ones that had were quickly making headway.

Carmen spent the next few hours weeding while the men began digging holes to hold the fence posts. She was very relieved that they were putting up a fence. She had been worrying about the strange animals and what she could do should one appear. She had to be able to tend to the garden. Carrying a radio and a handgun in her pockets while she worked wasn’t really all that practical.

She remembered that she wanted to talk to them about getting a holster because she wasn’t comfortable with the little gun sitting in her pocket while she stooped over and stood back up several times an hour. She was afraid it would go off by accident. It wouldn’t take much to move the safety, and with it in her pocket it moved around quite a bit.

She stood up from the final row and wiped her forehead. The sun was well on its way to noon now. She needed to get back in the house and work on some sandwiches for them for lunch. She glanced over to where the men were setting up the first posts. They had mixed some of the local resin and concrete to hold the posts. They weren’t supposed to be able to be knocked down once they dried.

“What are you staring at over there?” Kirk asked, walking toward her.

“The two of you because you took your shirts off.”

“It’s hot out here. You look a little sunburned, baby. Did you remember to put on the sunscreen?” He settled his hat on her head. “Maybe we need to get you a hat. That would help.”

She giggled and pulled off his hat. It was much too big for her and covered her eyes.

“Yeah, I put on the sunscreen. I think a hat that fits would be a good idea. We can look for one the next time we go to town.” She reached out and traced a bead of sweat that was running down his chest.

It turned into a muddy drop as it conquered the red dirt clinging to his body. They both had red dirt coating their chests and arms. Digging in the dirt stirred it up so that it coated everything. Carmen normally ended up taking a shower when she went in from working in the garden. Today would be no different. She felt the grit rubbing everywhere she moved.

“I’m going inside and taking a shower. Give me about forty-five minutes and I’ll have something ready for lunch.”

Kirk bent down and gave her a kiss then returned his hat to his head and walked back over to where Brad was working on digging a hole. She watched them a few more seconds, then hurried inside to shower off and get cleaned up.

Nearly an hour later, the men walked inside, removing their boots at the back door to avoid getting mud all over her clean kitchen floor. She smiled at them for thinking about it.

“Nothing fancy, just some roast sandwiches and sliced fruit. I haven’t tried this one before, so I don’t know what it tastes like. It’s in the book from the city, though.” She watched as they each popped a slice of the orange-colored fruit into their mouths.

“Hmm, it’s good. Tastes like a peach, sort of.” Kirk took another slice and popped it into his mouth.

Brad nodded his head in agreement. “Good. I could eat these all day.”

“Well, that’s good, because we seem to have several trees full of them. I’m not sure how to tell when they are ripe, so I only picked up the ones that had fallen on the ground.”

They finished their meal in silence as everyone ate. Brad had two sandwiches while Kirk had two and a half. They cleaned out the bowl of fruit between them. Carmen smiled to herself. She’d only gotten a few slices of the sweet-tasting fruit. That was okay, though. She could cut up another one later if she wanted it. Right now, she was full.

“Did you manage to find that animal from yesterday?”

“No, but we did find how he got in there and closed that off. Shouldn’t have to worry about anything getting in again.” Brad dropped a kiss on top of her head.

“Good. I wasn’t sure if I should go downstairs again until you had.”

“It should be safe down there now,” Kirk told her.

She watched the two men head back out to work on the fence. Once they were out the door, she cleaned up the kitchen and put a load of clothes in to wash. Then she grabbed a book and sat outside on the porch to watch them and read.

* * * *

A week passed before the men finished putting up the fence. It had taken them longer than expected because of all the digging required. Once they had all the posts put up, finishing up had been a breeze.

Carmen fixed a celebratory dinner one night to thank them for thinking about her safety. She made sure she had all their favorites and had cooked a posco fruit pie. They had decided to name the peach-tasting fruit posco fruit. It tasted a little between a passion fruit and a peach.

The men were late getting back from the jobsite, so Carmen settled on the couch to read while she waited on them. She heard the transport pull up an hour after dark. She worried that something had happened for them to be so late.

Rushing to the door, she nearly screamed when it opened almost immediately. Brad had Kirk under one arm and was helping him hop into the kitchen.

“What happened?” Carmen immediately pulled out a chair for Kirk to sit in.

“A beam fell on his foot. I don’t think it’s broken, but without taking him to town, there’s no way to tell.” Brad lowered Kirk to the chair.

“Let me see.” She knelt down to look at Kirk’s foot.

“It’s swollen pretty badly. How long ago did this happen?” she asked.

“Two, maybe three hours ago,” Kirk said with a grimace.

“Why didn’t you come home then? We need to put ice on it.” She scrambled back up and hurried to the fridge to gather ice in a plastic bag.

“I thought it was okay until I tried to get my boot off. It took two men to pull it off, and now I can’t get it back on.”

“Damn, Kirk. You kept working on it and it could be broken.” Carmen shook her head at how stubborn men could be.

When she applied the cold compress to his foot, he jerked and cursed. She frowned at him and stood up.

“Let’s get your clothes off of you and prop your foot up with the ice pack. It needs to be elevated to help with the swelling.”

“Yes, nurse Carmen,” Kirk said.

She scowled at him and gave Brad a nod. The other man helped Kirk to his feet and into the living room. They stripped him of clothes and Carmen put a towel down on the couch for him to sit on. Then she went and grabbed a blanket to cover him with. She propped his foot up on the couch and added the compress to it. He bitched about it, but didn’t move it once she had it situated.

“There’s really not much they can do for a broken foot anyway, other than what we are doing. I’ll get on the radio and call to ask the doctor what he thinks.” Carmen left the two men to call the doctor.

The doctor was busy, but Scott, his nurse, told her just what she had figured. Unless it was deformed, there was nothing they would do other than keep him on crutches and put ice on it for the first twenty-four to forty-eight hours. She thanked him and went back to check on Kirk.

“I’m fine, baby. I just need to eat now.”

“I’ll bring yours to you.” She fixed a plate and set him up a tray to eat off of.

She and Brad ate in the kitchen but called back and forth to Kirk in the den so he wouldn’t feel left out. Once he had eaten a large helping of the passion fruit pie, she put everything away and they discussed getting him upstairs for a bath.

“I can hop up the stairs with the railing to help me.” Kirk insisted he could handle it.

Carmen wasn’t so sure, but she didn’t argue with him. She wouldn’t make him feel less confident for anything. Brad agreed to help him if he would promise to lean on him. Between the two of them, they managed the stairs with very little problem. She was impressed.

When they ran the tub full of hot water and some bath salts to help with the swelling, he eased himself into the tub and begged Carmen to join him.

Brad laughed and suggested that she help him bathe as well.

“He’s going to have trouble with that foot hurting like it is.”

Carmen figured they just wanted to see her naked. She complied and was soon easing into the hot water behind Kirk. She didn’t want to accidently bump his sore foot. After scrubbing his back, she helped him bathe his chest and arms. Then he leaned back against her and sang the praises of a woman’s tits as a pillow.