The Wolf At My Door Read online

  “Wow, this is lovely!” I said. “I thought it might be a bit musty, but it looks ready to move in.”

  “Yeah, Kelly had a good feeling about you on the phone, so she had some of the guys give it a clean before you arrived, just in case.”

  “Did I need to be worried about the interview at all?” I asked.

  This got me a slow smile. “You met a lot of the criteria we had for the job, so we were hopeful, but we wouldn’t have taken you on if we didn’t think you were up to it.”

  “I wish I’d known. I was panicking.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “You could tell? It was that obvious?”

  “No,” his smile broadened a little, “I’m just really good at picking those kinds of things up.”

  “Yeah? You’re not like a mind reader or anything, because that would be super embarrassing.”

  “Oh?” An eyebrow arched slowly. “Why’s that?”

  “Oh, you know…” Because I checked out your arse. Because I was struck momentarily dumb when you walked into the room. Because you smelled so good when I was sitting next to you in the cart. “Because if I’m getting pissed at you, I don’t want to get sacked for mental insubordination.”

  “Right, well, feel free to call me whatever you like in the sanctity of your own mind. Hey, chuck me your car keys, and I’ll give you a hand moving in.”

  “You don’t have to…”

  “I don’t want you to have to carry those boxes all by yourself. It’s fine, it’ll go faster if I help.”

  3

  Which is how I ended up with Finn running boxes up the stairs and inside the house, my car parked round the back. I went to try and carry some of it, but he wouldn’t hear of it. Instead, I was left to start unpacking my meagre possessions while Finn worked up a sweat. I tried not to look as his shirt began to stick to his chest, though I did nearly drop some plates because I was so busy ‘not looking’. The final straw came when he stopped, whipped off his shirt and closed his eyes, standing underneath the ceiling fan to cool down.

  Y’know in the old cartoons, where you see the wolf’s eyes bug out and his tongue roll out like a carpet? Pretty sure that was an accurate representation of me, because he was everything his clothes had hinted at. He wore a white wife-beater singlet but still, the taut muscles of his arms caught my gaze as they followed the vein that ran down the inner side of his bicep to his forearm. I could see the slight shift and bunch of his abs under the thin, damp fabric. He opened his eyes a slit, smiling slightly at me as I tried to jerk mine back to something more appropriate.

  “There any water in the fridge?” he asked.

  Did I imagine a husky rasp to his voice? No, must be wishful thinking. He walked into the tiny little kitchenette, close enough to brush me, and I fought back a shiver. I could feel the cool air of the fridge and the sound of a cap being twisted. I was thirsty, I thought, real thirsty. I turned around and tried to squirm past him and see if there was any more water. “Here,” he said, passing a half empty bottle.

  “Oh, it’s OK, you must be hot…”

  “Here.”

  “No really.”

  “Take it.” This was delivered as a gentle command. He pushed the bottle into my hand, his fingers brushing mine. I felt that familiar, low down shiver in my body. Parts of it twitched in response to this little gesture.

  “You’re the boss,” I said.

  His smile widened at this. I swallowed a mouthful of water, the moment becoming too loaded for me to do anything else. He seemed to watch every movement. I pushed the bottle back into his hand and then stepped around him, leaving the kitchen. “Look, this feels…really awkward and probably premature, but I feel like I need to clear the air. Are you…?”

  I couldn’t bring myself to say it. He was gorgeous and I was ...me.

  “Attracted to you?” he said. "I thought that was obvious.”

  “I wouldn’t go assuming that. Clarifying is probably a good idea. I… well, look at you. You’re smoking hot, but I need a job, like really need a job. I was on my last little stash of cash, which might have gotten me to the next town over and that’s it. I can’t afford to fuck about with the boss.” His eyebrows shot up. “Not like that! Though I guess eventually like that… Fuck, I’m not doing this very well.”

  “You’re worried about the job if you have anything other than a professional relationship with your supervisor.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Talk to Kelly. She’ll talk about this in detail tomorrow.”

  “OK.”

  “I’ve gotten everything out of the car, so I should go anyway. I think I’m about ready for a really long shower.”

  “Oh.” I knew he was inferring something, but I didn’t get far enough to try and work out why. All of a sudden, my mental slideshow was flashing up its estimations of what that would look like, water sliding lower and…

  “Head over to the mess shed at 6, it’s the first one on the right down this road. Don’t be late, or you risk going hungry. Nerida will probably find you, though.”

  “Uh huh…” I jerked my attention back to the Finn standing in front of me, rather than soapy, naked dream one in my head. “Thank you for everything today.”

  “No problems. See you at dinner.”

  “Hey, you made it! And you brought Buddy!” I’d gotten to the mess shed a bit before 6, worried I’d miss meal time. I hadn’t had lunch and was starving. Nerida popped out from inside, a big smile on her face.

  “That’ll be OK, right?”

  “Sure, sure. C’mon, we’ve got a table at the back. Us chicks need to stick together.”

  “Ah, right… So remind me, why do us chicks need to stick together?”

  “Oh, no reason. This is a good place to work. People are fair, pay’s good…”

  “Great.”

  “Come and have a seat, Jamie and Dex are already here. They’ll fix you up with a drink. I totally want to see your face when they get here. You look pretty too, that’s a really cute top, with the embroidery and everything.”

  “Yeah, I wasn’t sure… Uniform, casuals…”

  “It won’t matter much, but I know what it’s like, wanting to look your best.”

  “Pretty sure you don’t need to work at it,” I said. She was amazing looking, rocking that fresh faced, super happy look that men ate up with a spoon. It was never something I was able to imitate, I just came across as unmedicated.

  “Naww, listen to you. You’re sweet. Well, here we are, best seat in the house. This is Jamie…”

  “Hi,” a petite blonde gave me a wave.

  “And Dex.”

  “Take a load off, sweet thing,” an older woman with the growl of a long-term smoker gestured to the bench beside her. Her hair was a fall of harshly dyed burgundy, but she had good bones, though she looked like she knew she still had it. “What a gorgeous dog. Husky?”

  “Yeah, he’s about two years old.”

  “Just a pup then. So, you’ll be gofering for our Finn. You excited?”

  “I don’t know what to think, to tell you the truth. One minute I was broke, no job, no place to stay, now I’m employed and have accommodation. My brain’s still trying to catch up.”

  “Well, while it's trying to do that, have one of these,” Dex picked up. “I call them Long Island iced teas, but I have no idea if they have the right ingredients. Drink up, love, it’ll put hairs on your chest.”

  “So this won’t be an issue…?”

  “For Finn? He’s had enough of them at meal times himself, so I can’t see why not. Anyway, you’re going to need some liquid courage, trust me.”

  Nerida giggled and poured one for all of us, and then called, “Cheers!”

  “Guys, you’re starting to freak me out. If this is some kind of hazing thing or something, just lay it on me, I can take it. Not knowing? Not so much.”

  “Don’t worry. Here they come,” Jamie said with a wide smile. She watched the front entrance to the hall, her eyes
seeming to grow to twice their size, looking much like a kid at Christmas. I turned, and it all made sense. They seemed to walk in in waves, row after row of guys, filling the considerable doorway and filing in to take seats at the many picnic tables in the middle of the room. That wasn’t all that unusual, blokes piling into a mess hall at knock off time no doubt happened all across the country. No, it was the guys themselves. My mouth dropped open, and I didn’t bother to shut it because every damn one of them was at the very least good looking. Tall or short, you had guys with long hair, short hair, in between or dreads. Blue eyes, brown eyes, hazel or green, every skin and every hair colour, including a bloke with a purple mohawk. But that wasn’t what had me sitting there like a fool. Every single one of them had well defined physiques, from long and lean, to full on body builder types, shown to advantage in shirts with the sleeves ripped out and thin white wife-beaters. Every single one of them had the kind of dramatic facial structure with high cheekbones that you saw in fashion mags or on male strippers.

  “What the actual fuck?” I said, my head whipping around to confront the girls. My eyes narrowed, “Is this a joke? Am I being punked?”

  They all started laughing, assumably at my stupid expression. “Oh, no,” Dex said, “this is all real.”

  “A porn set then? Seriously? You can't tell me all of these gorgeous guys happen to work at a mine in the middle of nowhere. That makes no sense, whatsoever! How is that even possible?”

  Nerida shrugged. “We’ve all asked those questions, and no one’s really come up with an answer, though maybe Doc Hobbes has a theory. After a while, you just learn to accept and enjoy.”

  “Enjoy!” I hissed. “I can’t work with that. Is there a sex shop anywhere near, because I am going to need an industrial strength vibrator.”

  “You won’t,” Dex said, a rapt grin on her face as she gestured to the benches. “Trust me, there’s plenty who are willing to go above and beyond whatever a battery-operated appliance would do.”

  “Well, they can’t all be straight,” I spluttered.

  “That is true,” Jamie said. “Greg is gay, so is Neil.”

  “Vance is,” Nerida said.

  “Yep, and Nick. So’s Stevie, but that’s a whole other ball game,” Dex said with a grin. “Some are bi, or willing to give it a go though, if that floats your boat.”

  “Floats my boat?” I hissed. I picked up my glass and took a long, deep swallow. This got a few low cheers from the girls, and they misread me and followed suit. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and then leaned over the table. “How the hell do you know the sexual preferences of your work mates?”

  “Have you had the talk with Kelly yet?” Jamie asked.

  “No! What is this talk? People keep telling me to wait for the talk. If you know something, spill!” I said.

  “Well, Sanctuary’s less a workplace, and more one big family,” Nerida said with a broad smile.

  “A not very closely related family where a lot of the members fuck each other, if they so desire,” Dex said. “That’s what Kelly’s going to talk to you about, consent and boundaries, how to negotiate a sexual or romantic relationship in the workplace, and what to do if things start turning ugly. That doesn’t really happen though…”

  “No, everyone’s clear on the rules,” Nerida said. “Sometimes it all gets a bit heated, passion and all that, but the management team are pretty good at settling people down.”

  “So you’ve…” I gestured at the other tables.

  She blushed prettily, “Well, a lady never kisses and tells…”

  “Seriously? You’re going to go with coy now?” I asked.

  “Don’t worry about who Nerida’s slept with, think about yourself,” Dex said. “You’re gonna get some offers tonight, if you want them.”

  Gulp. I turned away from the women, almost afraid of what I might see, and sure enough there were plenty of guys checking out our table, some even looking directly at me. I grabbed my drink reflexively, feeling much safer taking a long, slow drink than looking out at the combined workforce of my new place of employment. Buddy shifted at my feet, sitting up and giving out a low growl. I twisted to see a tall guy in a pair of worn blue jeans, workbooks and a white singlet had appeared at my side of the table, waiting for me to notice. His long, dirty blond hair fell over his shoulders in a messy wave, and he regarded me with a small smile. “I’m Shaun,” he said, holding out a hand. I looked at it dumbly, seeing the long thick fingers, the callouses on the palm, the grime that had collected under the nails, before realising he wanted me to shake it. I didn’t want to touch him at all, afraid I was going to dissolve into a little puddle of goo and then my dog would be put up for adoption, hopefully to find a new owner who could keep her cool around hot guys. Buddy gave another sharp bark which helped me snap out of it.

  “Buddy, chill! I’m sorry, I’m Julie,” I said, shaking his hand.

  “I know.”

  “Word’s got out, huh? So, what do you do, Shaun?”

  Keep it light and professional, I told myself, and you’ll be fine. You can do this.

  “Whatever you want me to,” he said with a purr, “and for as long as you want me to.”

  “Oh.”

  I’d heard people’s voices described as a purr in books before, but never really known what that meant. I now knew. His voice was a low, sexy rasp, his words coming out with complete confidence that I would drop trou and let him fuck me, right here, right now. I understood why he would come across like that, as I felt like I was barely restraining myself from doing so. Vaginas are funny things, much harder to sense than I assume a dick would be, but mine was awake and paying attention. All of a sudden, I felt…slippery, like everything was slick and ready to have something very large pushed inside me without any resistance.

  “Everything OK here?”

  My awareness jerked away from my nether regions, and my eyes flicked up to see Finn watching me still holding Shaun’s hand, a smile on both of their faces. Finn was professionally polite, but Shaun? He looked very pleased with himself, his nose working as he seemed to be taking in deep breaths as he observed my embarrassing lapse in manners.

  “I’m sorry…” I stuttered out.

  “Don’t be. You can hold any part of my body you like,” Shaun said.

  “Shaun, mate, this is Julie, a new employee,” Finn said. “She’s only just been given a contract, hasn’t even signed it yet, and Kelly hasn’t had a chance to go over the terms and conditions yet.”

  Shaun nodded to show he understood, but those pale blue eyes still held mine. “Come and see me when she’s spoken to you,” he said, capturing my fingers again and brushing his lips across my knuckles, “anytime, anywhere you choose. You just let me know.”

  And that was apparently the end of that conversation. My hand was released, and I was treated to the view of yet another A-grade butt as he returned to his seat.

  “You OK, Julie? Is there anything you need to help you settle in?” Finn asked.

  Dick and lots of it, my brain supplied helpfully. Naked muscly bodies overlapping themselves into some kind of super horny carpet that I could roll myself all over and then fuck myself to death on. Shaun naked, on his knees using his tongue to… Shit, I’d settle for just one dick right now. I last got laid over a year ago. A hot young truck driver had rolled into town for a ‘good time, not a long time’ and I’d made use of him, but since then… Most of the young people had left before me, looking for better opportunities, which meant it was me and the menopausal set.

  “I’m fine,” I said and forced a smile, “but I’d kill for a coffee. Dex’s brew is going to put me on my arse.” Finn faltered at this for a second, then pointed to a bar over on the back wall.

  “Come this way, and I’ll show you the bar,” he said.

  He showed me the expensive looking coffee machine and was going to demonstrate how to use it, but I’d dealt with more temperamental beasts at my old job. I felt a little less flustered, goin
g through the familiar motions of making a coffee, pouring myself a double strength mug and handing him the other.

  “Milk with one. Just the way I like it,” he said, a little shocked.

  “Most people do,” I said with a shrug and sipped my own dark brew, feeling a little bit more settled now there was some distance between me and the masculine smorgasbord in front of me.

  “So, you remember what I said, right? No one here is going to try anything if you’re not into it. There are a lot of guys here, and they are always keen to see new female staff, but no definitely means no. Anyone who pushes that is out on their ear, no questions asked.”

  “What about women? What if one of us was trying to push ourselves onto a guy who didn’t want it?”

  It took Finn a while to answer, like maybe he had never thought of it before. Finally, he nodded, “I think the same rule applies. We want people to feel safe here, and they can’t if their wishes aren’t respected. No one’s going to come and try and break into your house or anything, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “I don’t know if worried is what I’m feeling,” I muttered. “Hey, where are the other women? Like Kelly and Doc Hobbes?”

  “Kelly’s over there at the management table, Doc Hobbes has her meal in the clinic most days, Stevie’s with the guys, and who else…? Yeah, Karen the receptionist is with her partner, Burt, over there.” My eyes swivelled over to the table the girls were sitting at. There were several guys hanging around it, talking to the women. With the smiling and touching going on, I was pretty sure they were flirting. “That’s the single women’s table. Nerida was probably playing a joke on you, getting you to sit there, as usually women only do that…”

  “If they are looking to get laid. Got it. Look, I’m going to grab Buddy before someone starts chatting him up. Do you mind if I sit with you guys?”

  “Ah…sure.” He didn’t sound too pleased with this, but I didn’t care. I walked through the gaps between the tables, ignoring the comments and looks and called to my dog.

  “The single table? Really ladies?” I said as the girls turned around to me. “I’m going to go and sit with Finn, but thanks for the heads up.”