Chapter 30: Downtime

“This is nice,” Heather moaned. She was lying on a lounge chair with the back slightly elevated.

“Yeah,” Tamara smiled in return. She was lying on a small blanket on the left side of the older woman, her body low enough on the blanket so the bottom of her legs and her feet were just over the edge. She was having a good time leisurely moving her feet through the white sand. “Whoever thought of this should get a raise. Or a promotion. Or something.”

“Are you sure we won’t burn, Artemis?” Heather asked, never opening her eyes. All of the women had taken to calling the AI with the name Calix had given it. “I mean, this feels just like sunlight, and I’d swear that was the sky up above.”

“Quite sure,” the AI responded. “The artificial sunlight has been filtered so you will not burn.”

“I told you,” Avery remarked from behind her sunglasses. She’d already been in the water but her blonde hair, which hung down to her upper back, was already almost dry. “All the benefits, none of the dangers.”

“This is really just a dome under the surface?” Tamara asked, lifting her sunglasses to look over at their new friend.

“Yep,” Avery acknowledged. “Artificial sun and artificial sky – not sure how they’re doing it. They’ve even managed to replicate the tides. The only thing missing is algae and fish. Oh, and sunscreen and sunburns. There was a rumor someone wanted to import some fish from Earth for an authentic experience, but DECO nixed it.”

“I can’t say I’d miss ‘em,” Heather yawned. “I always said swimming in lakes and oceans and stuff was just swimming through fish pee and poop.”

Avery chuckled. “No worries about that here. I think the water is purified constantly. One of the Sponsors had some of their children out here in diapers. I pointed it out to Octavia and she told me not to worry. The AI makes sure any foreign – that is, non-water and non-sand – substance is removed almost as soon as it comes out.”

“That makes me feel better,” Heather laughed.

Tamara looked off to the side. The triplets – Yolanda, Serena and Madeline – were building sandcastles with Amelia and Dylan. It was odd because Yolanda was, of course, naked – even here, you either had to wear one of those shifts or go naked – and Serena and Madeline were wearing matching black bikinis.

Past them, in the water, Brianna and her sisters were splashing around. There were just three little red heads bobbing around the water. It was almost impossible to tell them apart from this distance. She knew Brianna was nude while Kayleigh and Siobhan were wearing one-piece bathing suits but with only their heads out of the water, it was impossible to tell.

“How deep does the water get?” Tamara asked.

“Not sure,” Avery mumbled. “Ask the AI. I know it’s deep enough for jet skis and sailboats.”

“Really?” Heather asked, lifting herself up to look at Avery in astonishment. “How big is the dome?”

Avery snorted but kept her eyes closed. “No clue. I know it started out much smaller but seems to keep getting bigger. I’m not sure why it keeps growing – I just know it does.”

She lifted her glasses and looked over at Heather. She waited for the woman to ask but Heather remained silent. Finally, Avery replaced her sunglasses and lay back down. “AI, how large around is the dome right now? And how deep is the water?”

“The dome is currently two kilometers in diameter and the water currently has a maximum depth of approximately thirty point five meters.”

“How do you simulate wind?” Heather asked.

“Ionic pressure variances simulate actual conditions found at latitude twenty-two degrees, fifty-eight minutes, twelve point seven seconds south, longitude forty-three degrees, ten minutes, forty-nine point nine seconds west,” the AI responded. “All conditions are congruent to that location, though weather and cloud phenomena is ignored, and the sunlight is filtered to protect against epidermal and ocular damage.”

“So we can’t tan, either?” Tamara inquired.

“No,” Artemis replied succinctly. “Should you wish to vary your skin tone and your sponsor agrees, he or she can arrange the alteration safely through the med-tubes.”

“Where exactly is the location you talked about?” Heather asked.

“The beach off of the Copacabana section of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.”

“You guys happy now?” Avery queried languidly. “I recommend you don’t analyze it and just enjoy it.”

The three were quiet for a time but Tamara eventually broke it. “I wish Calix could have come.”

“Me, too,” Heather sighed.

“Me, three,” Avery snorted.

“You, too?” Heather asked, looking over at her neighbor.

“No, me three,” Avery laughed. “Yes, me too. I love Octavia with all my heart but – well, tongues, fingers and the occasional strap-on dildo get old after a while. I’m bi and I do like cock every now and then. If Octavia would ever get out of her way and trip the poor thing, I might get a roll with him, too.”

Heather and Tamara just looked at one another.

“Don’t you think we might have something to say about it?” Tamara probed unhappily.

Avery looked over at the two women and noted their unhappy expressions. “Oh, jeez. I thought you knew. Octavia has been so blatant about wanting to trip him on top of her, I just assumed you knew.”

“We knew about Octavia,” Heather replied evenly. “We didn’t know it was going to be you, too.”

Avery smiled sheepishly. “I don’t know that it will. I’m just kind of hoping. I mean, you have to admit he looks like a full helping of ‘Hot DAMN!’ with a side of ‘Yes Please!’.”

Heather couldn’t help but laugh and even Tamara chuckled.

“Yeah,” Heather said, lying back down. “I’ll give that to you.”

Avery chewed her lip for a moment. It wasn’t her place to tell secrets – but she didn’t want these two to get blindsided, either. Finally, she just decided it couldn’t hurt. “Look, I don’t know if you know it but – Octavia isn’t playing around. I really think she’s looking at this with a ‘til death do us part’ vibe. I’ve never seen her like this about anyone. She certainly isn’t this way with Darren, her male concubine. Granted, I’ve only been with her for three years but – she’s always been a ‘take it or leave it’ diner. From what I can tell, she’s going ‘all you can eat’ on your man. I hope that doesn’t make you angry.”

Tamara looked like she was thinking about it, but Heather quickly spoke up. “It doesn’t really piss me off. Then again, I’m not in love with the guy like some of the girls.”

She glanced over at Tamara. “Honestly, I don’t know her, but I felt like she was shooting for more than just a roll in the hay. I wasn’t sure she was quite so serious about it – but it doesn’t surprise me.”

Tamara thought about it. “I wish it could be just me and him – but it was never going to be that way anyway. I’ll take what I can get. I was already set to be one of eight, I guess one of ten is just as good.”

“One of seven,” Heather corrected her. “I don’t think your sister is ever going to come around.”

“You might be surprised,” Tamara chuckled. “Alicia isn’t stupid. She knows what side of her bread is buttered. She might figure this out yet.”

Alicia saw Sophia sitting on the couch watching, of all things, a video on how to knit. The auburn-haired woman had a skein of green yarn and was busy weaving her knitting needles back and forth, barely looking up every so often to watch the video. Alicia was surprised to see Sophia had already managed to create a meter long by fifteen-centimeter-wide section of knit cloth.

She sat on the couch quietly, watching the older woman. She waited a few minutes but when Sophia didn’t speak, she figured it was up to her to break the ice. “You certainly are getting good at knitting.”

The needles stopped and Sophia glanced over at her. She raised a single eyebrow and turned back to her needles. There was silence for a few moments, punctuated only by the clacking of the metal needles tapping together. “I cheated.”

“Cheated?” Alicia asked in surprise. “How?”

“Calix’s room has a sleep-trainer,” Sophia replied, her voice inflectionless. “He’s been using it in the early mornings to learn things about the Confederate Navy. He’s taken courses on the command structure, regulations, types of vessels and that kind of stuff. He spends about an hour and a half in the trainer every morning before he heads for the gym. I asked him if I could use it and he agreed. Artemis had a list of courses and I saw knitting was one of them and decided to learn. I like the thought I can make my baby some booties or a blanket or something.”

“Why watch the video then?”

Sophia shrugged. “It’s kind of just background noise but it also reminds me. The trainer is great at imparting knowledge – but you have to actually use what it teaches you to retain it.”

There was a pause before Alicia spoke up again. “I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused.”

Sophia stopped and looked at Alicia evenly. “I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.”

“I know,” Alicia nodded. “And you’re right. I thought I’d start with you guys first. Maybe if he sees I’m making an effort, he won’t just – just – just kill me.”

Sophia sighed, then pursed her lips. She looked into the air for a few moments before lifting her knitting and putting it aside.

“I don’t think he’d ever actually have you killed,” Sophia told the younger woman. “You haven’t given him much choice, though. If you truly want to be accepted by him – and by us – you need to save the apologies. Those are just words. Show us you want to belong. If we see you really trying – if Cal sees you really trying – I’m sure everything will work out.”

“I hope so,” Alicia replied. “He really scared me the other day. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so angry or so fierce. It was like he sucked all the heat out of the room.”

“Espanto,” Sophia sighed. “Calix will do anything for family. He’ll kill for family – to protect them. He hates it, though. He’s really pretty gentle, but when he has no choice, when he has to hurt or kill – he hides behind a mask he created. He becomes...”

She thought her words through for a moment. “He becomes cold and aloof. I used to watch him when he’d go out to protect the Cholos’ territory or to punish someone who hurt us. I’d watch him put on his mask to become Espanto and it used to scare me. It scared me even more when he came back, caked in the blood of our enemies. It was always hard for him to put Espanto away and I always thought it was because Espanto knew it might be a long time before it was allowed out again.”

“You talk like he’s two different people,” Alicia pointed out.

“I guess I do,” Sophia chuckled. “Calix does it, too, but it isn’t true. Calix would like for there to be two different people because then he could blame the carnage on Espanto instead of taking the blame himself, but in the end, there’s only Calix and the masks he wears.”

“What if Espanto isn’t the mask?” Alicia mused. “What if Calix is the mask?”

“In a way, they both are,” Sophia acknowledged. “He lies somewhere between them. The thing you have to understand is he’ll do anything to protect his family. Right now, you’re not part of that group. You’re just a visitor. If you truly try, though, I’m sure he’d love to welcome you in.”

“I’m going to try,” Alicia replied. “I’m going to try hard. I just wish I could be strong like you.”

Sophia’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, you know,” the younger woman answered. “You love him so much, and I know he loves you just as much as you love him. To have to watch him with other women, though. I think that’s part of what is hard for me. I’m not used to sharing. I know I’ll have to ... eventually. It’s just hard to come to grips with.”

“I honestly don’t mind,” Sophia laughed. “There is nothing I can do about it so I’m content to take what I can.”

She chuckled. “I told him I’m going to drown him in women. I want everyone to know my man...”

She tilted her head back and forth. “Well, our man, if you truly want to be one of us...”

She shook her head to dismiss her misgivings. “Anyway, I want them to know he is so much better than all the rest, he has a hundred women to satisfy.”

“See what I mean?” Alicia sighed. “You’re strong. I’m not. I don’t know if I could watch him with another woman. I mean, you have to watch him with other women and then you have to be in charge of them.”

She shook her head back and forth, seemingly in pity. Her eyebrows rose in apparent concern. “You’re stronger than I am. I don’t think I could do it.”

“It’s not easy,” Sophia agreed. “But he trusts me, and I trust him.”

“See?” Alicia laughed. “Strong. If it were me, I’d just think he was taking advantage of me, you know? Pawning off his responsibilities on me so he could spend more time with other women.”

She blew a long breath. “Then again, I’m pretty messed up. Plus, I’m horribly jealous.”

Julia and Whiskey walked from the theater in the middle of a small crowd, some clothed, most not. They turned left simply because most of the other people did, too. They both knew the direction didn’t matter. All they needed was to find a transport pad.

“What’d you think?” Julia asked, tilting the popcorn in her hand towards the younger girl. Of course, the two looked pretty much the same age. Whiskey was a few inches shorter and thinner while Julia was taller and fuller.

“It was okay,” Whiskey declared, reaching across her body to take a few kernels and pop them in her mouth. “Kind of predictable. I mean, you knew Buck Nelson was going to end up with Olivia Plimpton’s character.”

“See, I thought she’d end up with Connor what’s-his-name,” Julia said, popping a few kernels of popcorn into her own mouth before turning the bucket back towards Whiskey.

“Connor Montgomery,” Whiskey supplied. “Naw. That dude isn’t famous enough. She was always gonna end up with Buck.”

“There’s quite an age difference, though,” Julia said. “I mean, Buck’s character – Desmond whatever – was on the far side of forty. Julie – Olivia’s character – was only fifteen.”

“Like that matters anymore,” Whiskey scoffed. “Look at Yolanda. She’s mid-forties and she’s up here with Cal. I don’t think age matters much anymore. What matters was Buck had a nine point eight on his Cap card.”

“You’re probably right,” Julia sighed. “They sure play fast and loose with the scores, don’t they? Like Desmond could get anywhere close to a seven much less a nine.”

Whiskey shrugged. “It’s make-believe. You just knew when Julie swore her undying love for Desmond, he was going to take her with him to the stars. She redeemed herself, you know?” Whiskey sighed. “Maybe Alicia can redeem herself to Calix, too.”

Julia snorted. “Has she approached you, too?”

“Yeah. She says she’s going to apologize to everyone, and hope Calix will take her back.”

“Yeah, that is what she says,” Julia rolled her eyes.

“You don’t believe her?” Whiskey frowned.

“You know I was a cop before the pickup, right?” Julia asked.

Whiskey nodded, her face still frowning. She wondered what Julia was talking about.

“Well, part of being a good cop is being able to read people and situations,” Julia explained. “My gut tells me Alicia is making a play. I’m not sure what it is or how it’s going to go down, but she’s up to something.”

“You think so?”

Julia maneuvered Whiskey towards a wall. She’d been fighting with herself on exactly how to handle the situation. It really wasn’t her call to make but she was worried Calix didn’t see the missile Alicia was doing her best to aim his way. Given Alicia was trying to be sneaky, she quickly decided the open approach would be the best counter.

“Let me guess,” she stated. Her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed as she looked at Whiskey. “She apologized to you for being such a bitch. She said she was worried she had ruined any potential relationship with Calix. Then, she was careful to take all the blame and she made sure you knew it was all her fault. She went out of her way to assure you Calix had done nothing wrong.”

Whiskey’s eyes started going wide as the older woman laid out the conversation she’d had with Alicia almost to the letter. It was almost as if Julia had been there...

Whiskey thought quickly. Could she have been there? Could she have overheard? She’d thought the room was empty at the time but...

“Ttowards the end,” Julia continued, her lips pursed, “she might have commented on how she was okay with having babies so maybe Cal wouldn’t throw her away...”

Julia’s eyes narrowed as she considered Alicia. “Maybe she even outright said so he won’t kill her. Yeah, that sounds like something she’d say...”

Julia shook the thought away. “Something like that, at any rate. Something really inflammatory. She probably stressed the point that the only reason we’re up here is to have his babies and he’d probably have to get rid of anyone who didn’t want to carry them. She might have even gone so far as to say Cal would probably wait a little while until there was no way we could get away, and then he’d force himself on us. Something like that?”

“The Confederacy is going to make him!” Whiskey exclaimed. It was almost exactly the talk she’d had with Alicia. Could the AI have alerted Julia to the conversation? She was almost positive she’d been alone with Alicia when Alicia had spoken with her. Surely Alicia couldn’t have been lying. She was in tears at the time!

“The only reason we’re here is to populate the colony,” the younger woman went on. “If I don’t – if he doesn’t – take me – they’ll force him to.”

“Exactly,” Julia shook her head. “I think she’s doing her best to alienate us, one at a time. Your greatest fear is Calix having sex with you. It has something to do with your rape, right? Why you’re going to the shrink?”

“You know?” Whiskey gasped, her eyes wide.

“For all that we’re eight women to Calix’s one man, we’re still a pretty small group,” Julia explained. “There are very few secrets between us. It’s why what Alicia’s doing might have worked. She probably asked you not to tell Calix because she claimed she wants to surprise him. Maybe she said she wants to show him she’s turned over a new leaf or some such bullshit. You probably planned on keeping it secret, too, didn’t you?”

Whiskey looked stricken as Julia continued. “Thought so. Don’t beat yourself up about it. I might have kept it a secret myself if Alicia hadn’t mis-read me. She thought the reason I’d reverted back to a younger age was because I was afraid Cal would reject the older me, so she played on it when she talked to me. I didn’t let on I knew what she was doing. It was actually kind of funny to lead her down the primrose path. Then, as soon as she’d left, I had a nice quiet talk with Calix through Artemis. Don’t worry; he knows what’s going on.”

“She lied to me?” Whiskey whispered.

“It wasn’t a lie – it couldn’t be a lie,” Julia hugged the younger girl. “If it were a lie, she couldn’t have gotten away with it. She had to base the whole thing on the truth, and then cater that truth to cause each of us to doubt the situation. By inference, that would cause us to doubt Calix.”

“The truth is,” Julia went on, “we really are here to populate a colony. At some point, we are going to have to have Calix’s child. The Confederacy will demand it.”

“Then this really is about Calix getting a hold of my goodies,” Whiskey sniffed, tears coming to her eyes.

“You’re wrong,” Julia smiled. “At least, I think you’re wrong. I think if you go over whatever Calix has told you, you’ll see that you’re wrong.”

“He said he’d wait until I’m ready,” Whiskey offered.

“Then he’ll wait until you’re ready,” Julia smiled.

“What if the Confederacy makes him?”

“Think about that statement,” Julia chuckled. “You’ve known him longer than I have. When has anyone ever been able to get Calix to do something he didn’t want to do?”

“Sweet Darkness!” Octavia exclaimed as she exited the lift. “How fast were you going?”

“I’m not sure,” Calix shrugged. “It’s not really about speed, honestly. It’s about doing it right. The speed will come when everything else feels right.”

He paused and ran the towel over his face. “How long were you watching?”

“Pretty much the last two laps,” she replied.

“Oh, so you missed my two errors on the first lap,” Calix laughed.

“Really?” Octavia inquired disbelievingly. “Artemis? Did Calix have any errors on his first lap?”

“Yes,” Artemis responded. “I counted four errors on his first lap.”

“Four?” Calix asked, his eyebrows rising. “How do you get four?”

“You brushed the side during a dash vault through a square aperture; you hesitated for a tenth of a second before taking the pop vault into a kong; you performed a wall pass but managed to only get one hand on the top of the wall; and you slid a few centimeters during a two-handed vault which cost you momentum and turned a speed vault into a cat jump,” Artemis replied. “I can show you the videos if you’d like to review.”

“No,” Calix grimaced. “I counted the side brush on the dash vault and wall pass, but the hesitation was to time the platform twenty meters ahead so it would be rising instead of falling. The slide on the two-handed vault turned out to be okay, but technically, you’re right. It was an error.”

“Three errors?” Octavia shook her head. “I’m so disappointed. Artemis, how fast was he going?”

“He began at one point eight meters per second, but the last circuit was done at an average speed of two point four meters per second,” Artemis intoned. “This is roughly a four-hundred six point nine eight percent increase of his last non-enhanced run.”

“I think I can go faster,” Calix admitted. “I’m still second-guessing some of my movements. I think, with time, I can get it over two or three meters per second. Maybe even as much as five or so.”

Octavia shook her head. “I expect nothing less, honestly. You’ve only been training with your enhanced muscles for what? Two days? Three?”

“Two days,” Calix confirmed. “Two sessions a day.”

He shrugged. “I’ve always been good at this – mapping my body should go pretty quickly.”

Octavia shook her head. “Listen, I didn’t come over here to watch you.”

She chuckled. “Well, I didn’t come over here just to watch you. Your orders came through. You’ll be heading to the Naval Academy, Cassini Base on Rhea – one of Saturn’s larger moons – on Friday, April 13^th at 1400 hours.”

Calix nodded. “How long will I be there?”

“Training takes four weeks.”

Calix thought for a moment. “Shit. Friday the 13^th.”

“You’re not superstitious, are you?” Octavia asked.

“No, it’s not that,” Calix replied distractedly. “Kayleigh’s birthday is the next day, the 14^th­, and Alicia’s supposed to give birth not long after. I think her due date is the 18^th. Of course, then you’ve got Alicia’s birthday on the 1^st of May, Heather’s due date on the 2^nd and Sophia turns twenty-four four days before I get back. Damn! Serena and Madeline turn fourteen the day before I get back. I wanted to be here to support them.”

“How the hell do you remember all of that?” Octavia’s eyes were wide.

Calix shrugged. “It’s a gift.”

The shrug turned into a long sigh. “This is not the best time to be leaving.”

“It’s regulations,” Octavia chuckled. “And orders. If it helps, you’re allowed to take one of your women.”

“Only one?” Calix groaned. “What am I going to tell the others? Is there any way we can have them change places every few days? Or maybe once a week?”

“No,” Octavia laughed. “The Navy doesn’t want to get into the habit of transporting unaccompanied property.”

She grinned evilly while allowing Calix to twist for a bit. Finally, though, she had her sport and spoke again. “Don’t worry about it, Cal. Just let the women decide.”

Calix thought of it for a moment then smiled. “That might work.”

“Of course, it will,” Octavia grinned sweetly. “We all know women are much smarter than men.”

She patted him on the cheek. “You just let the women make all the hard decisions and continue thinking you’re in charge.”

Alicia smiled inwardly as she saw her prey. The seeds of doubt she was sowing among Calix’s idiots were sprouting nicely, but their growth would be a slow affair, and time was a resource she was lacking. She needed a special little something to speed up the process. It was going to take a special kind of fertilizer to get the seeds to bloom.

He was a handsome man but then beauty was one of her criteria. She needed someone more handsome than Calix to shake his confidence. He wasn’t quite as tall as Calix, but few natural men were. He was at least as muscular as her tormentor and definitely just as, if not more, defined. He had the necessary swagger of confidence. He also had the requisite fragile ego but that was generally true of all men.

He was ripe to be plucked. She’d seen him the first lunch dickhead had forced her to attend. Well, Sophia had forced her, but Sophia was marching to dickhead’s tune. She’d not quite settled on her plan back then, but she knew she needed tools. What better tool than a man. Or two. Or more. She’d been hoping to possibly recruit a Sponsor but the ‘no touching other Sponsor’s women’ rule threw that to the wind.

He’d noticed her, of course. Men always noticed her. She’d played it aloof at the time because there were quite a few men in the cafeteria. It hadn’t taken long to single him out as the best prospect of the lot.

She smiled at different men whenever Calix wasn’t looking, spreading the sugar around. After all, she didn’t want to throw all of her eggs in a single basket.

But this one was more than perfect. She could see he hated his Sponsor. He made faces at her back, gave disgruntled snarls when she gave him orders. She could work with his disgust.

And he would make a nice foil in her plans for Calix.

She didn’t see him again until the third day. Thankfully her ‘master’ and his idiot wench were relaxed about things. For the most part, the women were allowed to do as they wished. It made it easy to track down the man and get to know him better.

Pierre LaCroix was a con man. He’d been running a long, love con on a particularly wealthy widow when he’d been caught up in an extraction. It had seemed perfectly fortuitous. He only had a 4.6 but the widow was a 7.1. He could see himself easily living a life of leisure with the diminutive blonde. He’d run the roost, of course, while she was ‘out on maneuvers’ or whatever.

Except, it hadn’t quite worked out the way he’d expected. The widow had been assigned to Artemis. Then, the diminutive woman had gotten big – Marine big. And mean. He hadn’t realizes under her mousy exterior lay a lion waiting.

The newly two-meter-tall woman became a big fan of BDSM. Evidently her dear departed husband, may he burn in hell, had treated her less than kindly. She’d decided to return the favor to her new ‘concubines’.

Pierre didn’t like pain. He didn’t care for whips or chains or being tied up or having his ass raped by another big Marine. These were all things the widow suddenly enjoyed. Especially having his ass raped while another big fucking Marine fed a cock down his throat. It was a never-ending cycle of pain and degradation and he was tired of it. Unfortunately, at this point he had no alternative.

He planned and schemed. He was usually quite good at planning and scheming. The plans came to nothing. Kimberly Stolls had him on a short leash.

So, he was certainly ready for a diversion with the leggy brunette. He knew her kind. He could see a kindred spirit. She was scamming him, he was certain. He didn’t mind because he was scamming her right back.

“Pierre,” Alicia greeted the man warmly. Pierre recognized the predatory smile on her face. He reciprocated with one of his own.

“Alicia,” he took her hand within his softly, bending at the waist to kiss the back. “You are as ravishing as ever.”

“And you are just as handsome,” Alicia said warmly, forcing a blush to her cheeks. She had played the demure maiden for the handsome man. It was a role she’d perfected long ago.

“I did not know your quarters were so close,” Pierre said with a twinkle in his eye. “If I had, I would have snuck away to whisper sweet nothings into your ear every night.”

Alicia allowed herself to be drawn into his strong arms. It was a progression they’d been playing at. It started as a kiss on the back of the hand that had turned into a kiss on the cheek during their next parting. She’d allowed him a chaste make-out session during their last meeting. She had to keep him sizzling and ready. The time was coming when she might need him.

“What are you doing tomorrow at lunch?” Alicia asked as they broke that first kiss. She allowed her hands to trail down to his shift, even as his left was softly squeezing her right boob.

“The Lance Corporal will be gone for the day, so I will be at loose ends, mon cher,” he replied with his soft, fake, French drawl. The closest Pierre had ever been to France was a working vacation, hustling a wealthy couple, in New Orleans. He’d been born and grew up in Tucson, Arizona. “However, as always, I will be at your beck and call, dear lady.”