Unconventional Page 5

  Last night, Madison.

  My original train of thought derailed. In its place, thoughts and images of last night floated dreamily into my head.

  As much as you’d like to ignore it, you’ll have to deal with the consequences of last night.

  I’d spent half my quick shower enjoying the more carnal memories of being shared by three men. But I’d also spent the other half worrying about what last night could mean. Did I just fuck up a good thing? What if one or more of the guys felt jealousy? Or even worse, regret?

  I knew the guys were still here because I could hear them outside. Julian’s big sledge, hammering away near the curtain wall. The random on and off scream of an electric chop-saw, in the direction of the mill tower. I wasn’t sure if they’d gone home first to change, or if they’d brought extra work clothes with them in their trucks. Either way, they were here, still working for me.

  Still working for free…

  The guilt crawled back in, and I pushed it away. It was a beautiful summer morning. The heat of a sweltering afternoon still loomed ahead, but hadn’t sunk its claws in just yet.

  The coffee maker beeped, its cycle complete. I was in the middle of pouring my first cup when I noticed him: a strange man, through the window, out near the outer bailey. He was standing on my property with his hands on his hips. Looking my castle up and down, like he’d never seen one before.

  I was out the door in moments, crossing the courtyard. Bringing my coffee with me of course.

  “Hi! Can I help you?”

  The trespasser squinted back at me from two shrewd eyes. I could see now he was carrying a clipboard. As he readjusted his stance to face off with me, he scratched at a grey-flecked, unkempt beard.

  “That depends,” the man said. “Are you Madison?”

  “Ms. Lockhart,” I said, making the distinction. “And yes.”

  “Pleasure to meet you Madison,” the man said coolly. “I’m Thomas Burrell. Midlothian county inspector.”

  A shiver of unease bolted through me. Even fully-clothed, I felt suddenly naked and vulnerable.

  “But I’ve been meeting with inspector Sinclair.”

  “Inspector Sinclair is no longer associated with this property,” the man replied nonchalantly. “I am.”

  Unlike many of the inspectors I’d dealt with, the man was missing a distinct air of superiority about him. Instead, he had a general indifference. A complete lack of interest in whatever it was he was doing.

  I didn’t know which was worse.

  “So uh… exactly why are you here?” I asked, trying not to let it come out wrong. “My next inspection isn’t scheduled for another two weeks.”

  The man glanced over my shoulder, at something behind me. The uncomfortable silence continued while he stared down at his clipboard and wrote something.

  “Consider this a pre-inspection,” he said finally. His pencil moved some more. “I need to get caught up, so to speak, on everything inspector Sinclair might’ve missed.”

  “Missed?”

  “Yes, Madison. Missed. As in, forgot about. Or didn’t know. Or—”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  It was a bad thing to say, especially to an inspector. But I couldn’t hide my rising anger anymore.

  “Well the courtyard for one,” he said, pointing with the eraser end of his pencil. “Many of the stones aren’t set level enough for—”

  “They’re seven-hundred years old!” I protested.

  “Yes,” he almost chuckled. “They certainly are.”

  “And they have to be level?”

  “For you to live here, and have the property maintain historical status? Yes.”

  I felt like someone just knocked the wind out of me. The man looked down at his clipboard again.

  “The gatehouse still needs a bit of work. And your reconstruction of the curtain wall is almost satisfactory, but for the—”

  “But for what?” another voice boomed, from out of nowhere.

  I whirled, and there was Julian. He was standing behind me, his big chest still heaving from working the sledge. He had his shirt slung over one shoulder, as if that constituted wearing it. The rest of his sun-bronzed skin was covered in several alternating layers of sweat and dust.

  “But for a few spots, where the mortaring is still below standards,” the inspector finished. “And then there’s the issue of that missing keystone, on the archway there.”

  “That keystone has been missing for centuries.”

  “So?”

  “So am I supposed to chase down whoever carried it off?” Julian spat.

  “No,” the man answered calmly. “But you’re required to fabricate a new one, based on what the old one would’ve measured. Set that into place, along with—”

  “None of this was on inspector Sinclair’s checklist!” I said loudly. “This is all new stuff! It’s not on any of the paperwork I’ve been given.”

  “Then you’ve been missing a few things,” the inspector said calmly. His face looked almost apologetic, but not quite. “It could be Sinclair’s fault, or a mix-up at a higher level.”

  I was sunk. I barely had enough resources to finish the job. Anything extra would be—

  “Perhaps you should better familiarize yourself with the requirements for your permit,” the man sighed wistfully.

  My new lover stepped in front of me, his hands curling into the beginnings of fists.

  “And maybe you should make an appointment next time,” the mason growled. “Instead of trespassing.”

  The inspector eyed Julian up and down before waving one hand dismissively. “Perhaps so. Nonetheless, these things need to get done.”

  “They do, huh?” Julian snarled.

  The man standing across from us nodded. “Stipulation of ownership dictates the entire checklist be completed by the end date filed with the county clerk.”

  The end date. Only a few weeks away…

  “Or what?” asked Julian crossly.

  Thomas Burrell, Midlothian County inspector, smiled for the first time. He looked back at us and simply shrugged.

  “Or the property goes back up for auction.”

  Thirteen

  MADISON

  The next two days were awkward, to say the least. I tried to do everything I normally did. I brought the guys drinks, and this time, sandwiches as well. They smiled and thanked me as they always did, but they still seemed a little distracted.

  And not one of them mentioned anything about what had happened between us.

  That part, I thought, was more than a little odd. It was almost like they were avoiding the subject. Ignoring the elephant in the room. Instead, they ate and drank and went right back to work, all three of them.

  I spent a few minutes thanking Julian for backing me up. It had done little good as far as the inspector was concerned, but the two of us walked the castle grounds together, going over all the extraneous work we’d just been handed.

  “This courtyard stuff is complete bullshit,” he said, pulling his shirt down over his gorgeous but dirty frame. I wasn’t sure if he was doing it for my benefit or not. “They never said anything about the flagstones.”

  “They never said anything about the gatehouse either,” I said. “Or what was it called… a keystone?”

  We decided I’d take a trip into town, to see if I could appeal the changes. They weren’t on the initial list of work to be done, and therefore I could argue that they weren’t required when my uncle first bought the property.

  “At the very least, you should demand an extension,” Julian pointed out. “They can’t just add a bunch of last-minute tasks and expect the timeline to remain the same.”

  He was right of course. But down at the county offices, I was like a fish out of water. I knew no one, and almost nothing about the laws governing the rights of ownership to the historic property I’d inherited. To them, I was a clueless American. Someone who was in way over her head, which of course I was.

>   I tossed and turned that night, when I should’ve slept like a baby. Instead of catching up on some much-needed sleep, I had a hundred different things running through the corridors of my mind.

  The looming inspections. My lack of money. The guys, somehow still working for free.

  And then there was that person… or thing. Or whatever it was. Way down in the field, out by the treeline.

  I checked for it several times a night, before going to bed. Sometimes I looked quickly, not wanting to see. Other times I had to work up the courage. Creep hesitantly to the window, and peer through the curtains.

  Thankfully, I didn’t see it again.

  Finally, there were the guys themselves, and what had happened between us. The whole thing had been so fucking hot. So incredibly sexy and powerful and meaningful to me, that I just assumed it would be the same for them — even if it were only on sexual levels.

  Instead they were acting indifferently towards me, even glancing away when I tried to catch their eye. It wasn’t exactly the cold shoulder, but it wasn’t the warm, flirtatious relationship we’d cultivated throughout their employment.

  Maybe you crossed a line, I thought to myself sadly. Or maybe they just weren’t as into it as you are.

  Bullshit.

  If anything, they were even more into it. All three of them, totally enthusiastic. And yes, I knew they were guys. I knew strange chemical changes occurred in their alpha guy brains, the very second after they’d all finished exploding all over me.

  But they’d done me again in the dead of night, and there had been connections between us. Each of them had bonded with me on certain levels — or in some deeper, one-on-one way — during the whole dirty act of our spontaneous little foursome.

  After two days of weirdness, I got fed up with the silence. I waited until they were generally in the same area — right around lunch time — and marched straight over to all three of them, without any lemonade.

  “Alright,” I said crisply. “Out with it.”

  The guys all looked at each other and then back at me.

  “Out with what?” asked Noah.

  “You’ve been acting weird, all three of you. Ever since… since…”

  “We had sex?” Chase offered.

  “Yeah. That.”

  Julian took off the bandana he’d been wearing. I felt my heart drop into my stomach as he lifted one big tattooed arm and ran his fingers through his dirty blond hair.

  “We were giving you space,” he said. “That’s all.”

  “Space?” I choked. “Space?”

  “Yeah,” Noah shrugged. “After what happened that night… well..”

  “We didn’t want to overwhelm you,” Chase finished.

  I folded my arms across my chest, and shifted to my back foot.

  “An astronaut needs space,” I said defiantly. “Not me.”

  Chases’ gaze dropped. Noah looked at Julian, who only shrugged.

  “Then what do you need?”

  “I need the same funny, happy, flirtatious crew I had before dinner that night,” I declared. “I need things not to change between us, over the simple act of a little sex.”

  Julian chuckled as he tied his bandana back on. “That was far from a little sex.”

  “Whatever.”

  I sounded petty and I knew it. I found myself searching my feelings, wondering what about the whole thing was bugging me so much. I wasn’t exactly angry. I wasn’t even hurt. I might’ve been a little discouraged, or confused or maybe just plain lonely with the guys not giving me the attention they had been. Or maybe I was just being childish overall.

  “Tell you what,” said Noah. “Why don’t you make us dinner again later. We’ll sit down and talk about it.” There was a slight pause as his gaze shifted accusingly to the others. “Just talk.”

  I had to admit I was taken aback. It wasn’t exactly the response I’d expected.

  “O—Okay.”

  Chase nodded, then smiled and rubbed his stomach. “I could eat.”

  All eyes shifted to Julian. The big mason pulled his bandana down over two very bushy, but very sexy eyebrows.

  “Sounds about right,” he said gruffly.

  Fourteen

  MADISON

  Pasta. It wasn’t the most glamorous meal I could serve but it was the quickest and simplest. And it must’ve been popular enough, because there was nothing but an empty bowl left of the linguine in meat sauce I’d whipped up last minute.

  “Okay,” I said, once everyone had eaten their fill. “So spill it.”

  We were sitting around the kitchen table in the same spots as last time. The table, mind you.

  “Spill what?”

  “Everything,” I said, reaching out to gather the plates. “Apparently the three of you had some kind of powwow. You got together and talked about giving me ‘space’, whatever the hell that means.”

  Noah and Chase were scrambling to help me clean up, but I waved them away. Julian was leaning back in his chair again, his arms folded behind his head. His big frame was balanced so precariously on two wooden legs it was making me nervous.

  “So what’s the deal?” I asked again.

  “Well…” Noah began awkwardly. “The other night was crazy. Awesome for sure, but totally out of the blue. And for you, it had to be intense. I mean… you know…”

  “Yeah,” I said. “I know.”

  “So the three of us got together,” he went on. “We made a little pact, that we’d leave you alone for a while. Not overwhelm you. Give you some time to think.”

  “More like give you some room to breathe,” said Chase. “And maybe even… decide.”

  I squinted back at them. “Decide upon what?”

  The silence that followed was a little awkward. Nobody seemed to know what to say, until Julian spoke.

  “Decide upon us.”

  I dropped the dishes in the sink and turned around. I still wasn’t getting it. My expression must’ve said it too.

  “Look,” said Chase. “We like you. It’s obvious that the three of us have been flirting with you. We just never expected to… well…”

  “Fuck me all at once.”

  The words were harsh, especially when said out loud. But they were also reality.

  “Well when you put it that way,” Noah chuckled, a little nervously. “Yes.”

  I leaned back against the counter, running everything through my head. I could picture it all; the three of them, waking up the next morning. Sneaking downstairs to clean up the kitchen. Talking about what had taken place, and what would happen next…

  “So the three of you decided to back off,” I said, “and let me ‘reflect’. Instead of making me feel good about Sunday night by remaining supportive and happy, you decided it would be better to withdraw, stay quiet, and give me nothing.”

  Julian continued staring straight ahead, totally impassive, while Noah and Chase shot each other a worried look.

  “Shit. We didn’t mean it like that…”

  “And then what did you expect?” I went on. “That I’d come to some sort of conclusion? That I’d just pick one of you over the others? Decide which of you I liked the most?”

  “No, no,” said Noah quickly. “Not like—”

  “Sort of,” said Chase at the same time.

  I sucked in a long breath and let it out as a hiss. “The other night was fantastic,” I admitted. “I enjoyed every second of it. But I loved all parts of it equally. I’m obviously attracted to all of you, and if you think I’m picking or choosing someone as a favori—”

  “Why are you so angry about this?”

  The interruption came from Julian, who up until now had been silent. He was still leaning back in his chair. Still just as casual as the moment he’d finished his dinner.

  “What?”

  “You sound angry,” he repeated. “Pissed off. And for no reason, too. All we were trying to do was move over a little, and make room for what you might want.” He shrugged. “It�
�s already clear what we want.”

  I stopped, letting the words sink in. As much as I hated to admit it, he was probably right.

  “I don’t honestly know,” I conceded, my shoulders slumping. “I… I guess I just feel so guilty about this.”

  “Guilty?” Noah blinked. “What do you have to feel guilty abou—”

  “Everything,” I said in exasperation. “I’m out of money. In a couple of weeks, I’ll be out of time. I failed my uncle, and I failed this place.” I shook my head. “Worst of all I failed the three of you.”

  “But you haven’t failed us,” Chase argued. “In fact—”

  “I can’t have you here every day, breaking your backs. Working for free, when I can’t even pay you.” I shook my head. “No way. It’s too much. If there were a light at the end of the tunnel, maybe. But now…”

  I fought hard to choke back the first tear. If I let that one go, the rest would inevitably follow.

  “You still have supplies coming in,” said Julian. “Right?”

  I nodded numbly. “Yes. I pre-paid everything on that end, or my uncle Travis did. The last few deliveries are just waiting on my call.”

  “And the courtyard… I can do that with the existing pavers. They just need to be pulled up. Reset and re-mortared.”

  “I— I guess so.”

  “Stop feeling guilty then,” said Julian. “The three of us are here to see this to the end. Don’t let it fail. Don’t send us away and have this all have been for nothing.”

  I looked to Noah and Chase, who were both nodding their agreement. Once again, my heart felt a glimmer of hope.

  “As for paying us,” said Julian, “I have a counter offer.”

  He uncrossed his ankles, setting his chair back down on the floor with a loud clack. I watched as the gorgeous stonemason stood up and rose to his full, towering height.

  “We’re going to finish this job for you,” said Julian evenly. “And you’re going to cook us dinner. Not just tonight, but every night.”