“If you want to know what people are saying, why don’t you just ask them?” Olivia Barnes-Fleetwood asked.
The one Jen thought of as Bobby hushed her. “Keep your voice down, kid. This is a secret mission. And adults never tell you the truth. When you ask what’s wrong, they always say nothing and it’s always a lie.”
“I’m not a kid,” Olivia shot back. “I’m eight. That’s practically a teenager and being a teenager is practically being an adult. I’ll be nine in four months so I can’t be a kid.”
Oh, dear. Jen knew that tone of voice. It was the tone of voice she’d used all through her childhood when she’d had a crush on someone and she was trying to get his attention. Hell, she’d used that sassy voice on Stef back before she’d gotten him to give in.
“Yeah, well, uhm, shouldn’t you be out at the party? Isn’t your mom looking for you?” Will asked in a soft tone. “We’re kind of working here. We’re getting paid to record conversations that may or may not reveal the presence of aliens.”
Poor Shelley. Jen wondered briefly what Cassidy was paying the boys, but they likely would have eavesdropped for free. It was kind of their hobby. They were the only kids their age for miles around. She was so happy her baby would have Paige and Charlie and Zander.
“I know all about aliens. I saw one once. It was at our ranch and it took a couple of our cows,” Olivia proclaimed.
Whatever Cassidy was paying them, Jen would pay more and she had a new job for the twins.
“All right, playtime’s over, boys.” She got a genuine thrill when the boys nearly jumped out of their skin. She was so going to love motherhood.
Bobby scrambled out, laptop in hand. “Sorry, Ms. Jen. Uhm, we didn’t know there was a party going on. We were working on a new science experiment.”
“In my barberries, Bobby?”
Olivia wormed her way out. She looked like her momma with auburn hair and green eyes. She was going to be gorgeous one day. “He’s Will.”
Will shrugged a little. “She can actually tell us apart. It’s kind of weird.”
Olivia shook her head. “It’s not hard. They’re very different. And they were performing an experiment about leaves for school. Do you want to make them flunk their science class? That’s awfully mean of you. I was helping them.”
Olivia would make a great accessory some day. It was a bold play that would have worked on a lesser woman. Jen had to give the kid credit.
Bobby crawled out. “She’s not going to buy it. She was probably listening. Look, Ms. Jen, if we didn’t do it, Cassidy was going to call the NSA, and we’ve already been in trouble with them over our very innocent hacking of their web site.”
Will grinned. “He bet me I couldn’t do it.”
“I was totally wrong,” Bobby admitted. “He did it really fast, and it made some people mad. And now our parents are really ticked because we’re apparently on some sort of watch list. When we tried to go to Tampa to see mom’s sister, we all got patted down and questioned. I think that was what Mel meant by probing except it wasn’t an ET. It was a really hairy dude from the TSA.”
Will shook his head. “Dad didn’t like his probing.”
Bobby shuddered a little. “Yeah, I could avoid it for the rest of my life. I’ll just stay here in Bliss. So we were kind of hoping to keep the whole town off the radar by helping Cassidy out. Here’s the good news—unless aliens are really into shoes, I think Leo and Wolf’s girl is okay. I heard aliens actually struggle with their arches. She’s wearing crazy heels, so I think she’s just a regular human girl.”
“With nice cans,” Will said with a grin.
God, they’d finally found girls. Olivia took a moment to thrust her completely flat chest out. It was good to know the younger generation was already well on their way to being a soap opera all on their own.
“Stop looking at my guests’ cans and put your thinking caps on. I have a mission for you.” Lexi was Olivia’s sister. Maybe she shouldn’t talk about her plans in front of her.
Olivia shook her head, and while it was easy to see she got her smile from her biological dad, Sam Fleetwood, it seemed she’d inherited Jack Barnes’s stubborn will via osmosis. “I am sorry, Ms. Jen. They’re going to work for me. I’m going to pay them my allowance to get them to cut off my sister’s cell phone. I tried to steal it, but she keeps it too close. Whatever job you have for them will have to wait because my sister is going to ruin her life and I have to save her.”
Jen smiled and held out a hand to the kid. She really hoped her son was as devious as this girl. “Oh, Miss Olivia, we’re going to get along just fine.”
* * * *
Stef looked around the lawn and sighed. He wondered what Jen was doing. The women’s reception and the men’s gathering were scheduled for the same time in the day, but he hoped Jen was having more fun than he was.
This was supposed to be a fun day. He didn’t have any problem with the fact that everyone was naked. He preferred it. It wasn’t like he enjoyed watching a bunch of dudes walk around with their junk hanging out, but he actually didn’t have a problem with nudity. It felt nice. He’d started coming to Mountain and Valley when he was eighteen. He and Max and Rye had met a woman who lived there and been introduced to the whole nudist lifestyle.
He looked across the lawn and found the man who had introduced him to the whole BDSM lifestyle.
Julian Lodge wasn’t naked. He was wearing his customary three-piece suit and his hair was slicked back, not a piece out of place. At his side was a man with dark hair and a ready smile. He was naked, and every now and then Julian would stare down at him, pointing out the differences between Julian’s threesome and the ones Stef was surrounded by. Julian was deeply interested in Finn Taylor’s nudity while the Bliss partners sort of completely avoided looking at each other’s junk.
At least Julian was honest.
And he’d been through what Stef was going through.
He found himself crossing the space between them without really thinking it through. Julian had been his mentor. Stef had been going to The Club in Dallas from the time he’d been eligible to have a membership. Julian had taken him under his wing. He’d spent long hours discussing the philosophies and realities of D/s. Maybe it would be good to be around Julian when his whole damn life seemed out of control.
Julian held out a hand. “Stefan, it’s good to see you. I find it interesting that I’m staying at your house and you seem to manage to avoid all of us.”
Or maybe not. Julian was damn good at making him feel like a five-year-old who had fucked up. He shook the outstretched hand. “Sorry. I’m working on a project right now. It’s taking up a lot of my time.”
Julian’s head shook slightly. “Yes, I’m sure you’re always working on a project. Finn, love, would you mind grabbing me a cocktail while I talk to Stefan?”
Finn grinned up at his Dom. “Of course, Master. Would you like a beer or the stuff from the still?”
Julian shuddered lightly. “Are those my only choices?”
It might be fun to watch Julian attend a Mel-sponsored event. “The tonic is something Mel makes himself. It keeps away the aliens.”
“Yes, your people seem to be very distracted by aliens. I noticed that when I walked in and was frisked for alien technology. They seemed disturbed that I wouldn’t disrobe. I don’t disrobe unless I want to. You understand that, correct? I will not be talked out of my clothing because some insane person wants to make sure I don’t have extra parts.”
Dear god, he needed to get Julian together with Mel. “I think you’ll find Mel won’t care as long as you pass his tests.”
“I already swallowed a beet tablet. I took it because I can use the vitamins. This place is strange, and I’m not sure I like it.”
“Because you can’t control it.” Julian was used to being in control.
Finn was grinning as he looked up at his Dom. “I’m enjoying our vacation, Master.”
Julian’s lips tugged up in an intimate smile. “I’m sure you are, Finn. Don’t get used to it. We’ll be back in Dallas soon, and I’ll be in control again.”
The dark-haired man sighed, and there was no way to not notice how his cock twitched. But then, Finn was used to being naked at The Club, Stef mused. “I look forward to it, Julian. I’ll find you a beer. Preferably something imported. Be back soon.”
“And put on more sunscreen, pet!” Julian watched as Finn walked away. “He burns fairly easily, but I couldn’t convince him to not join the natives.”
“Convince? I didn’t think you convinced your submissives of anything. I thought you simply told them what to do.”
Julian snorted lightly. Somehow he turned it into an elegant sound. “Stefan, I thought you had been around long enough to know that complete control never works. I suppose it might for some, but I must confess I would find that perfectly dull. It was exactly what was wrong with my life before I met my Danielle and my Finn. I preferred to maintain perfect control because I didn’t love anyone enough to be bothered with their pesky little human flaws. That’s not entirely true. I maintained a few friendships that didn’t always go my way.”