Quaranteam: SE - Team Davies Ch. 07 (Patreon)

Quaranteam: Southeast – Team Davies

By 2charlie

The Quaranteam Universe is the creation of CorruptingPower, used with permission.

Thanks to BreakTheBar, AgathonWrites, RonanJWilkerson, The_Licentious_Laureate, BronanTheLibrarian, OtterlyMindblowing, SilverRyden, BirchesLoveBooks, Reader737b, and the other QT Writers for their feedback and contributions with this work. Be sure to check out their work.

Chapter 7

All Characters depicted in sexual situations in this story are over the age of 18.

*** Gainesville, FL – 1200, Sunday, August 2, 2020***

“So, tell me again how I’m still a virgin?” Sophia asked over her shoulder, walking out of the bathroom wrapped in a bath sheet, rounding the corner into Miles’ den, where he sat at his desk, making notes on a legal pad. He glanced up at her, only to be stunned as she pulled the towel off her body to attack her hair with it, making all kinds of pleasant jiggling and gyrations with her various body parts as she did so.

“You were such a freak, you literally vamped out on poor Mr. D and damn near sucked the life out of him! I swear to God, I think his cock spontaneously ejaculated in self-defense.” Maddie snickered laughingly, egging on her friend’s embarrassment, as she followed her out of the bathroom, similarly wrapped in only a bath sheet.

Miles raised a finger to make a point, saying, “I believe the proper reference would have been a succubus, not a vampire, given she wasn’t exactly after blood.”

Both women turned their heads to mock-glare at him at the same time, calling out in unison, “Nerd!”

“Am not!” he objected, a hand firmly on his chest, sitting upright, chin held high. “I am a GEEK! Says so on that poster over on the dining room wall.”

Sophia snickered openly at him, while Maddie tilted her head to one side, a confused look on her features. “What’s the difference?”

Miles scoffed, looking back down at his notes. “These days,” he replied, “about six figures.”

Whatever response the two might have made was interrupted when the pocket doors to his den slid open, and Jan poked her head inside. “Lunch is about ready,” she told them, taking a moment to drink in all the skin on display, flashing her naughty smile. “I’d be all for clothing optional, but the kids will be joining us, so maybe put some clothes on, yeah?” And with that, she closed the doors and was gone.

The three looked at each other, blinking once or twice, then broke down in laughter. Rising from his desk, Miles pulled both girls into his embrace, kissing each one, before turning them back toward the master suite. “We can continue this discussion later.”

****

After lunch, Miles retreated to his den to continue to work on his proposal. He possessed the major elements outlined but needed to start putting together timelines as well as possible workforce estimates. As he was organizing his thoughts, he noticed the WAN Link Light on his internet router was no longer red, but was now blue, indicating that he once again had connectivity to the internet. Booting up his laptop, he confirmed quickly that internet access had indeed been restored. He got up from his desk and went to the kitchen to call the rest of the team together.

Only Jan, Penny, and the kids were in the house. The others had gone out to the Outhouse to do some brainstorming of their own. Miles let Jan and Penny know that internet access had been restored. Jan immediately went upstairs to let the kids know, as well as to check on the availability of various media and pay channels on the smart TV upstairs.

Miles turned to Penny as Jan went upstairs. “Hey, Pen – I’ve got a question to run past you.”

She smiled at him, getting a glass out of the cabinet and pouring herself some tea. “Sure, dear. Whatcha need?” she replied playfully.

“You work in the Office of the Alachua County Tax Collector, right?” he asked her.

Penny nodded her head in response. “Yep – been there going on ten years now. Why the sudden interest?” she asked, looking sidelong at him.

He began to pace around the kitchen as he unpacked his thoughts methodically. “Well, I was wondering if your role would have any visibility into property sizes – I’m talking the number of bedrooms or at least the square footage of a home, based on tax records. Anything like that?”

“I’m pretty sure our public records database contains information along those lines,” she offered, “such as home size, parcel size, like that. If you wanted more details on the number of bedrooms or bathrooms, your better bet would be to comb through realtor listings. They will provide you with more information, such as total square footage of the house, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, that sort of information.”

“I seem to recall you got your realtor’s license a few years ago,” he paused his pacing to look at her with renewed energy. “Do you have access to those kinds of listings?”

She wondered where he was going with this. “Yep. I can pull up details like that. Why?”

Miles looked a little more interested now. “Would you be able to run a query to provide me with a listing of all homes based on select minimum criteria, such as minimum 4 bedroom, 3 bath, or no more than 10 years old?”

Penny started to piece together what he was trying to get at and nodded her head enthusiastically. “Sure – I don’t think it would take me very long, assuming those data resources are online and available.”

“Ok,” Miles stopped pacing altogether, seemingly having arrived at a course of action. “I may want to have you start running those sorts of reports for me – might not hurt if you wanted to run a few proof of concept reports, just to show me what kind of data you can provide.” He poured himself tea while he continued to provide her details. “I need to figure out a way to identify properties that can potentially be retrofitted with minimal effort to house teams, as well as properties that would instead be primary targets for harvesting usable resources, such as appliances, based on the age of the home. So, for example, any homes with fewer than four bedrooms might still be a good target for harvesting activities.”

“I think I understand what you’re asking for,” Penny affirmed, finally understanding what Miles was trying to achieve. “Give me a bit to see what level of detail I can access – I should have something for you within an hour or so.”

“That would be great!” he told her, excitement in his voice and body language. Pulling her into a sudden hug, he continued, “I would greatly appreciate your efforts,” he teased her.

“Nice,” she responded, rolling her eyes playfully. “But a few of the other girls might need some attention from you sooner than I will. Including one of our newest partners, who still needs a certain experience, if you take my drift.”

Pulling her into a sudden hug, and giving her a quick kiss, he agreed with her. “Okay – I’ll get working on those tasks ASAP.”

****

Miles wandered out to the Outhouse – he grinned at his team’s nickname for the structure, shaking his head a bit - to check in with the others on his team. He was only slightly surprised by a buzzing on his hip – evidently, he once again had SMS service. Checking the message, it was Kozlowski, doing a check-in, probably at the general’s behest. ‘All’s well with the Team.’ He texted back, then added, ‘What was the deal with that fire?’. He waited for a moment, read the response, ‘Meth lab burned down a neighborhood. Two whole blocks were destroyed before the fire burned out.’ Fuck, he thought to himself, good thing it's not the dry season, or that could’ve been much worse. He thanked Kozlowski for the update, then holstered his phone.

Stepping into the house, he saw no one downstairs but heard muffled noises from somewhere above. Curiosity got the better of him, so he opted not to announce his presence, choosing instead to ascend the staircase as quietly as he could manage.

From the top of the stairs, Miles could hear moans coming from one of the bedrooms – the one with the door shut. Intrigued, he crept over to the door, very carefully turning the knob to open it as silently as possible. At the very last moment, the doorknob was snatched from his hand as the door was pulled open from the inside, the four women in the room all yelling “Gotcha!” amid their giggles.

“We saw you meandering your wayward way out here from the window,” Debra explained, “so we decided to prank you. And it worked!” She bounced with glee, her tits doing an amazing little dance as she did.

Chagrined and a bit disappointed, he laughed with them, eventually uttering, “Well, shit. I was hoping to crash a lesbian orgy. Never done that before.” He grumbled, rubbing the back of his neck in mild embarrassment.

The girls all closed in to embrace him, giving him loving pecks on the lips and patting his shoulders, assuring him that next time, they’d invite him to the orgy.

“I mean, I figured, you know, once we all got settled back into a routine, Wednesday nights would be orgy nights, no?” Miles asked innocently.

The girls had a good laugh at that, with Maddie calling out in a low tone of voice, “Hump Day!” eliciting even more laughter.

Once some semblance of calm returned, Miles asked the girls, “So, what have you been working on? Anything interesting?”

“Well, we were multi-tasking,” Ava responded. “Sophia and Maddie were telling us about the various sustainability concepts that you have incorporated into this structure,” she gestured around her, with an impressed expression on her face. “I mean, who would have guessed the whole building is like, some mad scientist’s secret laboratory, right?” This got the other girls laughing again.

Sophia chimed in at this point. “And we were getting to know a little bit more about each other. Our hopes and dreams,” she eyed him meaningfully at this, “even a few that don’t involve a certain salty sailor turned evil genius,” she playfully poked him in the chest with one perfectly manicured nail.

“Little things, like finding out that Debbie likes to hunt, as well as big things, like discovering Ava knows how to operate a heavy construction crane. And of course, a peppering of trivia about…. other… things we have in common.” Maddie chuckled with a sly grin at the end.

“Excellent,” Miles beamed with a raspy voice, doing his best imitation of Monty Burns. “So, how much have you two,” he asked, pointing at Debra and Ava, “told these two,” he nodded at Sophia and Maddie, “about our little project?”

“Nothing yet, Miles,” Debra responded, snickering at his Mr. Burns hands-steepled thing. “I intended to leave that to your discretion, oh evil one, but obviously – in my humble opinion - they might be able to contribute to the effort.”

Maddie looked puzzled for a moment, before getting an ‘ah ha’ look on her face. “Is this what you wanted to discuss with us earlier, before we…. you know…. partnered?”, she asked, blushing slightly at the last part.

Miles nodded, noticing how Maddie was absent-mindedly rubbing her thighs together. Shaking off the distraction, he answered her. “Yes, it is. Why don’t we take this conversation into my den? Each of you grab a chair from the dining room, so we can all sit while we discuss this.”

****

“So, that’s the sum of it,” Miles ended, looking at their faces to try to get a read on their thoughts based on their reactions. Note to self – he thought - do not play poker with this crew. “And I ‘ve been asked by the USAF and the government to come up with a plan of action – quickly - to help get all the new teams into housing appropriately sized for them within this region as quickly as possible until newer housing specifically designed for teams can be developed and constructed.” He paused, gathering his thoughts for the next part.

Debra took the opportunity to interject her thoughts at this juncture. “The general has given Miles this task, and Ava and I have been assigned to his team – at work, as well as in life,” she grinned, making Ava chuckle, “but it’s unclear to me if, or when, he might be assigned more resources for the thought-leadership part of all of this,” she concluded, eyeing the college women pointedly.

Smiling to himself at Jansen’s perception, Miles pushed forward. “I’ve gotten a good start on itemizing the various efforts I see being necessary,” Miles pointed to the whiteboard on one wall, covered in bulletized items, “however, I would love for you all to take a good look at what I’ve got and let’s brainstorm on it - see if you can poke holes in my plans or come up with something I may have missed.” Seeing Debra raise an eyebrow at him, pointedly, he looked back at Maddie and Sophia for just a moment, before continuing in a serious tone, “And I’d like you to consider joining the effort in a more official capacity. I expect I’ll have some leeway in terms of assembling additional resources, and it makes sense to me that you both pitch in – if you want to do so, that is.”

Just then, Penny poked her head in through the pocket doors. “Excuse me, ladies. Miles, I confirmed that I can identify properties that meet the criteria that we discussed earlier, based on the number of bedrooms, as well as sort them by communities, neighborhoods, or complexes. If you’d like, I can send you a printout of the summary, as well as split it out by the number of bedrooms. I’d offer to print out the details, but that might better be left in a digital format – easier for you to manipulate.”

“That sounds great.” Miles was enthused. “I’ll power up the printer for you now if you’d like to print the shortlist for me.”

“Can do. Oh, and Jan asked if you could help her up in the theater with something when you have a moment.”

“Sure,” he replied, wondering what Jan needed help with. “I’ll go up there in a few minutes. Thanks, dear.”

“You’re welcome, sweetheart,” she responded, blowing him a kiss as she closed the doors behind her.

Miles walked over to the Brother color laser printer and powered it on, turning back to the girls for a moment. “I’d better go see what Jan needs. In the meantime, Debra, could you maybe reach out to your local Air Force medical leadership to see what we’ve got for preliminary estimates regarding survivors, but specifically the number of teams, and relative sizes?”

The young lieutenant was already rummaging through her backpack, pulling out her laptop. “I’m going to need your Wi-Fi password before you go.”

Nodding, he turned and wrote the network SSID and password up in the corner of the whiteboard, then headed to follow Penny, “I should be back shortly. You can take a break to do whatever, or start looking this over while I’m gone,” he suggested, closing the doors as he left.

****

When Miles reached the top of the stairs, he saw all three of the kids were each sitting in front of their laptops, headphones on, completely engaged in some activity. None of them so much as turned their head to acknowledge him. He watched the children quietly as each of them periodically moved their mouse and clicked on something, resulting in their screen refreshing. He realized that they were taking some sort of online assessment and left them undisturbed. Silently walking over to the home theater doors, he opened them and stepped inside, pausing a moment while his eyes adjusted to the relative darkness. The opera lights were on but dialed down to their lowest setting, barely providing any illumination at all.

As he stood there blinking, waiting for his vision to adjust, the doors closed quietly behind him. Turning, he could just barely make out Jan, in a very short, silky robe, locking the doors before turning to wrap him in an embrace, leaning in to blow a hot breath across his neck.

“I hate to interrupt your work, Miles,” she whispered into his ear, “but I need just a little bit of your time.” She paused briefly to nibble on his neck, sending shivers up his spine. “It seems I have an itch that only you can scratch.”

“That’s perfectly okay, Jan, he murmured to her, turning to take her into his arms, smiling gently down at her. “I’m sure the others will survive without me for a little while.”

Giving him a big grin in return, saying “I was hoping you’d feel that way,” she pulled away from his arms and took his hand, leading him over to one of the theater love seats. She was obviously prepared for this opportunity, having covered the upholstery of the loveseat with a large bath sheet. A few hand towels were also staged nearby, as well as a small bottle.

“What’s all of this?” Miles asked, slightly amused at the preparation.

“Sshhhh. Good things come to those who wait,” she promised him, already working to remove his shirt. As he started kicking off his boat shoes, she began unfastening his belt to loosen his shorts.

After being disrobed, Miles was pushed gently to sit down on the loveseat, whereupon Jan knelt before him and, without another word, began to devour his cock. He had begun to harden while being stripped, but Jan’s enthusiastic oral skills had him fully erect in no time.

Before he was able to get too aroused, Jan stood and shed her silky robe, revealing that she was fully nude beneath. Moving quickly, she grabbed the small bottle and poured a generous amount of fluid into her palm, then closed the bottle and rubbed her hands together, warming the liquid before smoothing it onto his shaft.

Miles moaned at the warmth and slickness of the fluid, wondering idly why they would need this when she stopped, grabbed a hand towel to wipe her hands, then twisted her torso as she reached one arm behind her, wiggling briefly before he heard a squishy sound as she stopped struggling and laid a large object onto the hand towel she’d just used.

As he was trying to figure out what the object was that Jan had just dropped onto the towel, Jan straddled his lap, intentionally mashing her tits in his face to obscure his view and distract him, while reaching around behind her to find his cock with her hand and position him, then lowered herself slowly but deliberately onto his shaft.

Something felt different to Miles. The going was not the same as his last experience with Jan. As he pondered on what might be the reason, Jan lowered herself fully onto him, letting out a low moan, hissing slightly at the end. Her tits no longer blocking his view, he was finally able to make out the object he’d seen a moment before – it was a large, glass butt plug. The pieces suddenly clicked into place for him, as Jan leaned forward to kiss him. To his amazement, Miles realized that he was balls-deep in Jan’s ass. His head swam with the wonder of it all – he and Beth had only infrequently experimented with butt play, so it had been years since he’d last experienced this particular pleasure.

Running his hands down her flanks, Miles reached her hips and took a firm grip. Groaning through the intense stimulation, he held her close while they kissed each other passionately. Finally, Jan pulled back with a look of victory on her face as she inspected him closely, looking for any telltales of disappointment.

Breathing out a bit, forcing herself to relax, Jan spoke to him in an almost whisper, “I take it from your reaction that you haven’t done this very much before”, she ventured, as she began to slowly rise along his staff.

“Certainly not in recent years,” he managed to grunt. “Beth was never into ass-play.”

“Oh, that’s too bad. Well, I hope you enjoy this, because I plan on taking you in my ass as often as you’ll play along.” She began to ride him with increased energy, humping up and down a bit faster, adding in a gyration in her hips to really shake things up.

Miles sat back and let her dictate the pace. Judging by her breathing, she was already climbing toward her first peak. He couldn’t blame her – the pleasurable feelings she was giving him, combined with the taboo nature of the act, was also getting him close. Suddenly, he felt her sphincter contract around him so snugly that he was afraid she would peel his cock like a banana. She squeezed her eyes shut and bit her bottom lip, stifling her cry as she spasmed in orgasm, flooding his lap with her girl-cum as she held still for a moment.

Enjoying the feel of Jan being impaled upon him in this way, Miles flexed his cock, reveling in how the resulting expansion of his cock caused her to gasp aloud. Humping his hips upward, while using his hands to lift her again, he set her once more into motion. Sensing his desire, Jan took control and began to ride him harder than before, leaning forward this time to whisper into his ear.

“I am a complete ass freak, Miles. I love the feeling of your cock in my tight asshole. Oh, you fill me up so much! I can’t wait for you to fill me with your spunk,” she whispered nastily into his ear, evidently establishing direct contact with his lizard brain. He felt the orgasm building in his balls, and he knew it would be soon.

“As soon as you finish in me, I'm going to shove that buttplug back into place so I can walk around the rest of the day, feeling your cum sloshing around in me. And, before I let you go shower off, I am going to suck your cock again and lick you clean. I am a total ass-to-mouth slut! I can’t wait for one of the other girls to get into butt stuff with you – I only ask you to let me be there on occasion, as I intend to lick you clean afterward – hell, I’ll toss her salad too!”

This was too much for Miles. The pressure in his balls hit the limiter, and hot spurts of his jism shot forth from his cock into the depths of Jan’s bowels, filling her and then some. Miles felt as though his orgasm was unusually voluminous, being urged on as much by her serum-assisted orgasm as her erotic play. He chalked it up to the rush of the new, naughty experience, combined with the titillation of her dirty talk in his ear.

Jan was a woman of her word. As soon as she’d calmed down from her final orgasm, she reached over and picked up the glass butt plug, moving it behind her to be ready. She gradually lifted off of his cock, going slowly – as soon as he popped out of her, she quickly inserted the plug, allowing only a small trickle to escape. Getting up from his lap, she quickly knelt between his legs again and did as she’d promised. Engulfing him entirely with her mouth, she swirled her tongue around him aggressively, cleaning all of the lube and cum from him, triggering another orgasm for herself during the process.

Wiping her face with a dry part of the hand towel, she smacked her lips and looked up at him with a sparkle in her eyes. “Yummy! You should go rinse yourself off in the shower. I’ll bring you your clothes, and then I’ll clean up our mess out here. Thank you sweetie – I needed that. Now go get cleaned up and get back to the girls,” she cooed softly as she shooed him away.

A moment later, she came into the shower with his clothes neatly folded, placing them on the counter, as she blew him a kiss through the glass before she turned and left.

****

Miles opened the pocket doors and walked into his den, half expecting to get teased for being away so long, but instead, he found the four women all heads down over their laptops, reviewing multiple threads of information.

Miles decided to start up where they’d left off earlier. “Debra, what did you learn when you checked in with your medical folks?” he enquired as he took his seat.

Debra looked up at him, her face pale. “We’re beginning to get a preliminary estimate on the impact, so far,” she replied, her voice sounding ragged. “Keep in mind, the local census was completed this past May, and in Gainesville, there were a reported 95,447 residents, not including the college kids, at that time. For ease of math, we can assume we began a few weeks ago at 95k residents.” She looked at him, making sure he was tracking the numbers. When he nodded, she continued, “Almost 15k of them were in the ‘kill zone’, so that takes us down to 80k.” Miles closed his eyes, shocked by the raw numbers of so many dead teenagers.

She gave him a moment to process the grim information. “Of the remaining 80k, roughly 11k of those are pre-teens, who were not directly affected.” She paused, knowing that – even if he said nothing – Miles was thinking that everyone was being directly affected by this tragedy. She wrapped it up for him, concluding, “So that takes us down to 69k adults, pre-outbreak, give or take.”

“What has been happening to the young children – those who are surviving?” he wanted to know.

Debra checked her notes before answering. “It looks like a good number came in with their mothers when they came to get the vaccine. Those under the age of eight are being lodged at a large local church school, awaiting pick-up post imprinting, unless the primary partner – the male – is their biological father, and he did not test positive. In those rare cases, they went home with their mother.” She read a bit more of the report before going on. “There were more than a few cases like Penny’s, where the mother was too late to save the father and as a result was redirected to a different partner, so it was decided to keep the youngest in a safe place while the mother tried to save the father. Just in case…”

“Okay. So, it's bad, but about what we’d been expecting.” Miles let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “What’s the outlook so far? Any feel yet for how many teams, and what sizes we’re going to be dealing with?”

“About 10k out of the 69k that we began with were age 60 or above, according to the census. We haven’t received many responses from that age range. There’s not a lot we can do there, as far as teams go, but when we get some, we do our best. Those are likely going to be assigned to Level 1 teams unless one of the partners is fucking loaded,” she shook her head, disturbed by the numbers.

“Level 1?” Miles asked her, “What is that about?”

“I’ve sort of broken down teams into 3 categories, or levels,” Debra explained, referring to her notes. “A Level 1 team has one male and two female partners – these will be the bulk of the current teams following the outbreak response effort – figure two-thirds of all teams will be a Level 1 team. Generally, these fall into one of two groups – those with males below the age of 21, and those with males over 65,” she paused, ensuring he was tracking her reasoning before continuing on. “A Level 2 team will have one male partner, three female partners, and up to two children. The upshot is that a Level 2 team will need more bedrooms. I’d guess that as much as a quarter of teams will fall into this size initially. Again, expect them to grow as the Air Force gets the Team structure better defined and the program up to speed.”

Miles scratched his chin, nodding at her grouping. “So, that accounts for maybe 90% of teams, if I’m following your guestimation correctly. What about the remainder?”

Debra smiled at his made-up word, then continued, “You’re following – the last Level is what I’m calling a Level 3 team. This team size will have four or more female partners, and at least three children. I’m tracking that less than 10% of teams will be this size initially. Again, these numbers indicate starting size – who the fuck knows how big teams will get?”

Miles nodded as he digested the team size information Debra had come up with – at least that would give them a starting point for estimating initial housing requirements for interim shelters. It also did not fail to occur to him that his team was definitely an outlier for the current team sizes.

“Any numbers yet for how many Oracle responses we’re tracking?” Miles asked her, trying to get an idea of how many teams they would have to house.

“Information regarding Oracle was sent out, targeting everyone who could be reached via local broadcast TV and radio, as well as cable subscribers, internet customers, and cell service subscribers, urging folks to log on and complete the questionnaire. We received somewhere north of 33k responses, so not quite half of the adult population. The majority of those were from women, with just over 5700 males.”

He didn’t need to pause to do the math. “That’s less than half. Maybe folks weren’t getting the word? Not everyone connects to the internet or turns on a TV daily.”

“The Air Force took measures for those types of folks,” she replied, “we sent out vehicles with big speaker rigs to drive through the denser subdivisions, urging people to go online to get the message about Oracle and the outbreak. They ran through the night the past two nights, but the results have tapered off over the past day. Smart money suggests we’ve gotten all the submissions we’re going to receive.”

“Okay – well, we can begin with a rough-order-of-magnitude estimate, then swap in the actuals when we know more,” Miles proposed, as much to himself as the others, while he sat down to start working up a spreadsheet.

After a few minutes, satisfied that he’d constructed a working framework, he pushed away from his laptop to turn back to the others.

“Sorry – got a bit focused there for a moment,” he apologized. Nodding to the other women, he asked, “So what else were you working on?”

“I was checking to see what large bulldozing or other construction equipment we might be able to bring in, and by when,” Ava volunteered. “I figure, at some point, we’ll have to start to tear shit down. Might as well be ready for when you say ‘go’. Anyway, it looks like I can get some pretty heavy gear here within a week once you set a date. But, and I might be wrong here, I’m guessing you’ll have a ton of hurdles and red tape to clear first.”

“No doubt,” he agreed with her. “Even once we decide what houses no longer serve a purpose, the whole issue of ownership will need to be addressed. None of this will work if we’re tied up indefinitely in court trying to find surviving property owners to work through buying or otherwise compensating them for the property they will lose. A higher pay grade than mine will need to solve those problems.”

Sophia spoke up next. “I was going through to identify apartment buildings that might be suitable, with limited modifications, to host teams, starting with merging two adjoining units to form one larger unit. Teams will need more of everything, but we’ll still need to solve for larger master bedrooms, assuming teams follow a trend to all bed together.” She thought about this for a moment, then added, “Of course, any that don’t want all that ‘togetherness’ will simply need more bedrooms. I can factor in certain assumptions for how many of each option and come up with some rough solutions for either option.”

Miles nodded, “I can see how either option will be desired. Good idea to get ahead of this. Try to notate which existing developments or complexes you’re picking from, and we’ll see if we can get as-builts from the city.”

“I was thinking about the likelihood that team homes will have a much larger electrical load than a normal home,” Maddie stated, “and what that additional load would need, support-wise, from distribution down to the breaker box.”

“Clever – we don’t want to assume the current breaker box will support the increased density of consumption.” He smiled at her, giving her a wink. “Good thinking. I think the local power distros will be able to support the demand. From a regionalized viewpoint, a dozen team homes will likely draw no more than thirty or forty normal homes. It’s when you get down to the breakers – the per-circuit demands could grow. We’ll need to check the wiring specs to see where we can accommodate greater loads, and where we cannot.”

He stood up, clapping his hands together once to get their attention, saying, “I want to thank you all for taking the initiative to start working on the various elements of the larger problem. I think I’d like each of you to try to get to a good stopping point within the hour so you can relax after dinner, and we can hit it fresh tomorrow.” He paused to look at them all, one by one. “I intend to bundle up my proposal no later than tomorrow afternoon and be ready to make the pitch on Tuesday, per the general’s request. I intend to request adding Sophia and Maddie to the team officially as consulting resources unless you ladies would prefer that I not do so?”

Sophia and Madison exchanged glances, then looked back at Miles. Sophia spoke up for them both. “Miles, pitch this whatever way you think will work, but we are eager to dig into this. Not just to help you, but because this is a dream project that appeals to us both. Hell, you can call this a paid internship, or practical education – we don’t care. We have to be involved. Whatever it takes.”

Maddie just nodded, putting her hand on Sophia’s shoulder, and reaffirmed her pronouncement by uttering, “Preach.”

“Dinner in ten minutes!” Jan called to them from the kitchen.

Miles turned back to them, shrugging. “Okay, scratch the hour – be done in ten minutes.”

****

Dinner was a hit. Jan and Penny whipped up a concoction they referred to as pizza pasta, which ended up requiring several baking dishes to cook for the entire team. As he sat back and let his food settle a bit, Miles contemplated how kitchens would need to evolve to better meet the needs of teams. Smaller teams wouldn’t be that dissimilar to larger families. But larger teams would need something closer to a professional kitchen fit for a restaurant.

Penny came over to Miles, leaning down to speak softly into his ear, “Have you been able to follow up on that matter I mentioned with Sophia, yet?”

He shook his head slightly, muttering back to her, “Not yet – too much going on.”

Penny stood and looked to Jan, who simply cleared her throat and raised her voice to ask, “Anyone feel up for a game of eight-ball, or possibly nine-ball? Miles has a competition-grade Brunswick table upstairs that I am dying to give a try.”

Penny responded enthusiastically, “I’m down for some pool. Ladies?” she looked at the others to see who she could recruit. The two Air Force ladies agreed, but Maddie and Sophia held back for a moment.

As soon as the others were up the stairs, out of earshot, Miles gave Sophia a smoldering look, telling her, “You and I have some unfinished business, my dear.”

Maddie put her hand on Sophia’s arm, leaning close to ask her, “Would you like a wingman again, or did you want to go solo this time?”

Sophia smiled gratefully at her friend but shook her head. “I think I’ll try solo this time. Join us next time?”

Maddie smiled and leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. “You’ve got it,” she assured, then turned to head upstairs.

Miles walked over to Sophia, taking her into a hug, and whispered in her ear, “Alone, at last.” He felt her shiver slightly, looking at him expectantly. He took her by the hand and led her to the master suite, closing the doors behind them and walking her over to the bed, stopping at the side of the bed to give her another hug.

After a moment, he backed slightly out of the embrace so he could look her in the eyes. Stroking his fingertips lazily along her cheek, he leaned in to kiss her. At first, it was a simple kiss, lips only. But after a moment, she parted her lips, allowing his tongue to probe into her moist mouth, after which they began a dance, sucking and probing at each other, moaning into one another’s mouth.

After a few moments, Miles reached his hands down to take hold of the hem of her T-shirt, slowly lifting it along her contours. Breaking the kiss only long enough to remove her shirt, he locked lips with her once again as he started unbuttoning her capri pants. Sliding them down over her sexy hips and ass cheeks, he was able to let go of them, dropping them to her feet. As he moved to unfasten her bra, she moved her hands down to untuck his polo shirt from his shorts, beginning to pull it upwards. When he leaned back to let her lift the shirt over his head, her bra fell away from her chest, dangling from her elbows as she lifted her arms. Pulling his shirt free from his arms, she tossed it away from them onto the floor. Lowering her arms to reach for his belt, she paused to allow him to pull the bra completely off from her arms, dropping it by their feet. Miles quickly drew his hands up her front to place them onto her breasts, one hand upon each, giving them a gentle but firm squeeze while softly running his thumbs across her hardened nipples.

Sophia closed her eyes to enjoy the moment. “Mmmmmm, that feels nice,” she purred. “Not too rough, just right. Oh!” she cried softly, her breath catching. She reached down to peel off her panties, dropping them to the floor and stepping out of them.

“You have beautiful breasts, my dear,” Miles complimented her, enjoying the smooth fullness of each orb. “I wasn’t able to pay them much attention last time, so I’m very much looking forward to properly worshipping them now.”

“That sounds good to me,” Sophia responded, thrusting a hand down into the waistband of his boxers to grab his hardening member. “You have a few things I didn’t get to enjoy very much last time, as well.”

“Patience, my dear,” he soothed her, gently pushing her back onto the mattress, ensuring her clothing was clear of her feet. “We have plenty of time, but please allow me to take the lead.”

Laying her back onto the bed, he lifted her legs and turned her, so that her entire body was on the mattress. Allowing his hands to gently roam along her legs, then up her torso, Miles slowly joined her on the bed, lying beside her. He bent down to kiss her lips gently at first, then with more passion, allowing her to lift her head slightly to meet him, before gently pressing her back down, making her moan into his mouth.

Leaving her lips, Miles began leaving a trail of kisses down her neck and shoulders, around the fleshy mound of her nearest breast, until he trailed inward to latch onto her nipple. Gently biting it, while running the tip of his tongue across her nipple caused Sophia to arch her back in her arousal, trying to push more of her teat into his mouth. He opened wider and attempted to oblige her, managing to draw in a fair amount of her luscious breast and suck on it for a moment, before leaning across her to repeat the treatment to the other breast. Having teased her sufficiently, he released it and moved further down her torso. Reaching her belly button, he kissed around it, probing inward until she giggled above him.

“That tickles,” she giggled adorably, tempting him to continue to explore that area, but he chose to move further downward instead. Down below her waistline, to the smoothness of her lower abdomen, until he reached the soft curls of her pubic mound. His hands were not idle during this time – he allowed his fingertips to gently feather along her flanks, occasionally trailing them along her breasts to tease her erect nipples. Finally, he approached his destination, feeling the heat emanating from her core, her gathering wetness along his lips and tongue, and inhaling her wonderful scent deeply into his nostrils. Pausing to enjoy her uniqueness made her squirm and groan with anxious frustration, bringing a grin to his face.

“I absolutely love doing this for you,” Miles murmured, moving his mouth down to where she most urgently needed him. Removing his hands from her momentarily, he adjusted himself to be more fully between her legs, his shoulder helping him to open her legs more completely to allow him better access to her mons, as well as neighboring regions. Lowering himself down once more, he slid his arms beneath her and rubbed along her ass cheeks, hips, and lower back while he began to fully explore this beautiful young woman properly. Dipping his head as low as he could, while using his upper arms to lift her slightly, Miles dove his tongue down into her crease, not quite to her asshole, but starting along her taint and swiping upward slowly, enjoying the sounds of pleasure and squirming this brought forth from his partner.

For her part, Sophia was in heaven. Having only allowed limited encounters in the past, her partners had been inexperienced, and impatient, attempting to press matters beyond her desired boundaries. Miles was definitely more experienced, and more gentle, and loving, and… oh! Oh! More thorough with his attention. Her moaning became a continuous accompaniment to the orchestra he was playing upon her nether regions with his tongue. She arched her back again, trying to force the man’s face deeper into her folds.

Miles grinned again, sensing her rising tensions, but continuing his tease, slowly building her up to the ultimate destination, raising goosebumps along her thighs and pubic regions as he paused to blow his hot breath across her pussy, watching in fascination as the fluids she was leaking increased in flow, and her inner lips pulsed and quivered with her excitement. Finally, he placed his tongue flatly across the bottom of her quim and drew it slowly upward, curling it slightly inward and firming it as he went, feeling her quivering turn into vibrations as her excitement mounted. Reaching her core, he stiffened his tongue into a merciless probe, swiping it once across her clit, which was barely peeking out from its hood, eliciting a loud moan from Sophia. Drawing his tongue down and swiping it upward once again, more firmly across her clit was all it took.

Sophia’s thighs closed around his head, trapping him there while muffling her cries as her floodgates opened. Splashing his face with her juices, she enjoyed a moment of personal rapture, almost as earth-shattering as her previous encounter with this man.

Slowly coming down from one of the most powerful orgasms she’d ever experienced, Sophia gradually relaxed her grip on Miles, her thighs eventually parting. Miles blew softly across her flowering mound, taking small swipes across her outer lips, easing her down. Eventually, he lifted himself and crept slowly upward until he was looking intently into her eyes, patiently waiting until she focused on him. When she finally blinked and returned his gaze, he lowered himself slowly to kiss her once more, testing the waters to see if she would accept or reject her own taste on his lips. She tentatively accepted his kiss, then deepened it, urgently plunging her tongue into his mouth.

Slowly, patiently, Miles maneuvered his loins until he felt the head of his cock brush her mons, adjusting himself minutely until he was parting her petals. Nudging forward slightly, he ensured that he was properly aligned to penetrate her, then held himself still. Patiently waiting for her passion to rise a bit more. Soon, he received the indication he was awaiting – she opened her thighs as widely as possible, and slowly brought her legs up behind him, placing her heels upon his ass, holding him in place.

Parting from their kiss, he lifted his face slightly away from her, so that he could see her expressions. Lifting his eyebrows in a silent request, he waited until she slowly blinked her eyes, nodding ever so slightly, biting her lower lip. Excitement permeated her expression, touched with an ever-so-slight tinge of trepidation.

Miles began to slowly insert himself into her, gradually sliding himself into her welcoming sheath. Inch by inch, he probed slowly, yet he encountered no resistance. Her eyes shut tightly, her breathing becoming deeper, but she did not evince pain. Aware that she may have already lost her hymen to masturbation or some other exertion, he moved slowly to hilt himself, eliciting a long, low moan from her as he rooted himself deep within her. Having bottomed out, he held his position for a moment, carefully watching for telltales on her face. Eventually, she sighed deeply and smiled, all trace of worry replaced with excitement.

He slowly withdrew his tool from her hot, wet, clasping orifice, drawing forth almost completely before reversing direction and slowly reinserting himself. Sophia uttered a long, low moan, tightening her grip on him with her legs while looping her arms around his neck, pulling him closer for another kiss.

Using her legs, Sophia began to urge Miles to go faster, a request he willingly obliged. Stroking deeply into her with increased speed, he felt her walls clasping and gripping at him with greater urgency, until suddenly she clamped down upon him with surprising strength, arching her back, and howling her delight as she orgasmed beneath him. He slowed his pace briefly, carefully watching her rollercoaster of expressions, until she once again relaxed, clarity returning to her eyes.

“Would you like to try something different?” he asked her, “Perhaps you’d like to be on top, or want me behind you?”

Sophia groaned beneath him, then panted, “Both sound hot. Let me try being on top for now. I think maybe next time I’ll want you to rail me, but for now, I want it to be a bit more gentle.”

“As the lady wishes,” he approved, grinning at her, before rolling them both over so that she ended up astride him.

“Oof!” she exclaimed. “This may take a little getting used to. I swear, I feel you rubbing right behind my belly button!”

Miles held her hips, waiting for her to start riding him, then helping her find her rhythm once she did. After a few minutes, once she found her stride, he moved his hands up to her breasts, this time squeezing them a bit more aggressively, pinching her nipples harder. She let out a loud moan as he did so, obviously enjoying the stimulation he was adding to her already overloaded senses.

He felt her shifting gears once more, from bouncing up and down on him to grinding herself forward and back on his cock, rubbing the head of his prick on her cervix, stimulating him as well as herself. She then started the dirty talk. “Come on, Miles, cum in me! Carve your name across the walls of my cunny! I’m already yours, teach me what that means! Oh, darling, you really ARE my teacher for life now, aren’t you? Ahh, and I am … unhh… definitely hot for teacher!”

As soon as he felt her tightening her grip upon him once more, he felt his release become imminent. A moment or two later, as she began to spasm and jerk atop him, he thrust into her mightily and erupted deep inside her. The moment his spend seared into her, Sophia loosed a wail, arching her back, her muscles standing out taut all along her body as she rode a suddenly intensified orgasm. Eventually, her climax subsided, and she relaxed, allowing herself to sink down upon him, her lips finding his once more for a long, lust-filled kiss.

As he lay there beneath her, caressing her back and sides, kissing her softly, his hands were joined by others. Looking past her to his left, he could see Ava and Jan beside the bed, smiling down at them both. Feeling the mattress moving, he looked to his right to see Penny and Debra approaching. Suddenly, he was startled to feel a tongue slither along his scrotum and up along the base of his cock, when Sophia suddenly yelped and jerked above him, letting him know where Maddie was. All of the others proceeded to gather close around, embracing Sophia where they could, or simply stroking a hand along her, praising her, and letting her know that they were there for her.

Gradually, the girls helped Sophia dismount from Miles and drew her away to the shower, leaving him alone for a moment. Or so he thought.

After a brief respite, Debra returned, climbing atop the bed and straddling Miles, his erection having never completely faded, suddenly lurching back to life as she leaned in to deliver a destiny-shattering kiss upon his lips. Moaning into his mouth as she rubbed her pussy along his hardening shaft, she broke the kiss for a moment and gushed, “Sorry, Miles, but I simply could not pass this up. I’ve been wanting another go at you for a few days now, and damned if I’m not going to have you!”

Rising slightly, she reached down to grab his slimy cock, tilting it until it lodged into her, then she drew her hand up to lick her fingers, receiving an orgasm for her troubles as she impaled herself fully upon him. Groaning in ecstasy, she began riding him with gusto, alternating between rising up and down, and then scooting back and forth upon his rigid manhood. He could feel every bump and groove along her vaginal walls as she gripped him mightily, exerting herself to clamp down upon him, then relaxing her grip, only to do it again.

The combined sensations from her relentless assault on him began to pay dividends. Miles felt that familiar tingle building in his balls, letting him know that his climax was near at hand. Forcing himself to focus, he delayed his own peak while doing what he could to build Debra’s. Grasping her swaying boobs, he pressed them up and together, pinching hard on her nipples, watching her expression intensify. His gambit paid off – he could feel the tremors building along the walls of her canal, and her expression shifting gradually to that pleasure/pain combination that precedes the tiny death of a woman’s orgasm.

Opening her mouth in a silent scream while clenching her eyes shut, Debra pitched into her peak, slamming herself down hard on Miles while gripping him mercilessly with her clasping walls. This in turn triggered his release, causing spurt after spurt of his cum to erupt forth from his cock, splashing hard against her cervix, galvanizing her to an even higher, more powerful peak, causing her to release a loud, throaty moan while pouring her juices into his lap.

Deciding that more was required, Miles flipped them over, ending up on top of her, grabbing her legs and lifting them over his shoulders. Rising to his knees while folding her onto herself, he began thrusting brutishly into her - deeper than before - hammering a tattoo onto her sensitive cervix with each stroke. Increasing his speed and urgency of thrusts to a new level of savagery, he heard Debra moaning loudly and continuously below him, eyes fluttering as her senses abandoned her. With a grunt that turned into a growl, he gave one final tremendous thrust before unloading copiously into her once more, feeling a half-dozen or more ropes jet forth into her. Part of him was amazed at the volume of his spend, idly wondering where it was all coming from – laughing internally at his own pun.

Slipping her legs back down gently, Miles leaned down to lay atop Debra, before rolling them both onto their sides so that he could hold her without fear of suffocating her. Pulling her close in his embrace, he felt her snuggling her head tightly alongside his and was surprised a moment later as he felt moisture on his cheek. Leaning back slightly, he saw that she was indeed crying silently next to him. Fearing he had upset her, he pulled her close again in a protective embrace, rocking her gently. Eventually, she composed herself, and softly called out his name.

“Miles,” she confided, so softly he almost didn’t hear her. “I’m okay. It’s okay, love. I’m just so very happy… so very… in love with you, you fucking squid!” she half laughed, half sobbed into his ear. “Just hold me, please.”

So, he held her.

Eventually, three of the other girls returned from the shower, Jan and Penny having returned to the kitchen to prepare dinner. Ava gave them an “awwww,” with Sophia adding, “How adorable!”

Maddie started to climb onto the bed, then seemed to think better of it. Seeing her hesitation, Miles rolled slightly away from Debra, keeping one arm around her while extending the other one wide, he told the three, “Bring it in, you guys.”

Instead, they withdrew, Maddie squinching up her face, saying, “Ewww, we just showered! How about you two go shower, while we refresh the bed.”

Laughing at the mock scolding, Miles got up, then held out a hand to Debra to help her up, leading her away to the shower while the other girls giggled behind them. He just shook his head, wondering – not for the last time – what has he gotten himself into?

****

Miles treated Debra to his routine of washing her, top to bottom. Afterward, as they were both wrapped in bath sheets, standing outside of the shower, Debra stepped up to him and wrapped him in a hug, holding him close, her head against his chest. “You are my world, now,” she told him. “Not mine alone, but mine, nonetheless. And I belong to you.”

He held her there, just wrapping her in his arms, being there for her. He understood the layers of what she was saying to him, the implied commitment. He vowed to do what he must to be deserving of her and the others.

Pondering these recent events, between Jan arranging to ambush him earlier, and Penny reminding him to fulfill his responsibilities to Sophia, Debra apparently needing to be reassured, he decided to discuss things later with Penny. He wanted to figure out how to better ensure they were all getting enough emotional as well as physical – okay, sexual – support from him. This was not a responsibility he needed to manage alone. Nor was it something he could delegate to someone else. Still, he could seek her counsel, and bring her into his thinking, to ensure that she knew her place in his heart, as well as being there to guide him. Miles felt certain that Penny would not be jealous of any of his partners and wanted to show her that he was confident in her ability to help shape their future.

Tilting his head slightly downward, Miles kissed Debra on her head. A moment later, she looked up at him, and he kissed her again, this time on her lips. They held that moment for quite a while before either felt the need to move on.

****

The children had gone through their bedtime routine and were all in their rooms. Miles and the girls were winding down for the evening when he mentioned that someone might want to check the local news, to see what the current situation was, and if there was anything they needed to worry about.

Debra took the task to watch the news on TV, with Ava volunteering to check local news websites, and Sophia and Maddie volunteering to check local social media. Between the four of them, they had it well covered. Jan held back for a moment to talk with Penny and Miles about school.

“I haven’t heard yet when, or if, Florida Virtual Schools are planning to return to session,” she began, with a hint of concern in her tone. “Originally, we were looking at beginning the 2020 Fall semester on Monday, August 10th. If things don’t start on time, I’d like to begin a homeschool program for the kids, appropriate for their grade levels, but I didn’t want to do that without making sure you both agreed.”

Penny lit up, bouncing slightly with enthusiasm, asking, “Will that be something you could use some help with? I don’t know what to expect as far as workload from the county tax collector’s office, so I may have some downtime…”

“I can always use some help, sure!” Jan was enthused.

Miles looked thoughtful for a moment, Sophia’s words from before about being hot for teacher echoing in his head, before replying, “I trust you with this matter completely, Jan, and will help when and where I can. But you made me think that we probably need to reach out to the pack and troop leadership soon – whatever is left of it. The new scout year usually starts the same week as school. I think we need to have a Zoom call with anyone who can attend to get a feel for who is left, confirm that we have no surviving scouts in the troop, and then discuss how we might want to try to pick up the pieces and get the scouting program back on track.”

He could see Jan and Penny both shrink a bit at the mention of scouting. Whether they blamed the summer camp or not, or the leaders’ decision to hold the camp, they had all suffered losses that were associated with scouting. It would require an effort on all of their parts to move past this. Miles knew it, and he could see the same thought process playing across their faces. Silently, he pulled them both into a hug, lending them whatever strength he could.

Eventually, Jan sniffed a bit, then stood back, looking at them both, her eyes wet with emotion. “Okay,” she sighed softly, “I will prepare a program as a backstop, in case FLVS drops the ball. And I will send out an email to set up a committee meeting via Zoom for the pack. I’ll shoot for Thursday evening, this week. Miles, I’ll leave it to you to reach out to the troop committee chair, or anyone else on the committee to set up a separate call for them. I’m gonna go up and hug the kids for a bit, now.” She wiped her eyes, and then turned to head upstairs, leaving Miles still holding Penny.

Hugging her one more time, he let go of her, taking a small step back, before saying to her, “There’s something else I’ve been wanting to run past you if you’ve got time to noodle on something with me.”

“Sure,” she sniffled, wiping her own eyes. “What did you want to discuss with me?”

“Not here – let’s take this somewhere a little more private.” He turned and led her back to the library, turning on a small table lamp and sitting down in one of the two reading chairs in the room. He’d not had much use for this room in recent years and would likely be remodeling it for Jan to use as her virtual workplace. But for now, it was a nice, quiet little corner in his house that few used. Perfect for this conversation.

“I am in love with you.” He began, not a question, just a fact. When she started to reply, he held up his hand, asking for her to wait. “I know – it’s been quick. And we’ve both suffered awful losses recently. I know this, but the feelings are there, nonetheless. The same is happening with the others. I am in the process of falling in love with them. It’s like my brain, or at least my emotions, are just moving into a state that feels… I don’t know… natural. And I think most, if not all, of them feel the same about me. But you are my heart. I do not wish to try to manage this team of ours all by my lonesome.”

“Where are you going with this, Miles?” she asked him. “What are you expecting me to say? Everything you just told me would have seemed ridiculous a few weeks ago. For fuck’s sake, we’ve both been through terrible losses, and it’s only been a few weeks.”

Sighing, he tried again, wanting her to understand better what he was trying to ask of her. “I need someone to help me make sure I don’t become myopic or obsessed with something from time to time, and inadvertently neglect the emotional or physical needs of anyone on our team. You did exactly that earlier today when you reminded me to follow up with Sophia. And I am confident that you were aware of what Jan was planning for me before that. So, you’re already doing this, whether you realize it or not. I’m just making it official. Will you be my partner in this, as well as everything else we’re going through?”

“Joshua Miles Davies!” Again, with the mom voice. “This is no time for a proposal. And even if it were, that is the worst proposal I think I’ve ever heard. Honestly, is that the best you can do?”

“See?” he teased, “That’s exactly what I was talking about!” Chuckling, Miles stood up and walked over to where Penny was sitting, getting down on one knee in front of her. He was amused at the wide-eyed look of shock on her face as he asked her, “Penelope Jade Sommers,” he began, watching her hand shoot up to her mouth, “would you do me the honor of being my alpha partner?”

‘Whack’ – she smacked him on the chest, the look of outrage on her face almost made him laugh, even though he felt cruel for putting her through such a false lead-in. He just chuckled, then leaned over to hug her, clinging to her even as he felt her body tensing in anger, trying to soothe her. “I’m sorry – I couldn’t help myself. I do need you to help me, though. As for what you thought I was going to ask you, why don’t we let more time pass first – let’s see how things develop on a societal basis before we head down that path. Not that it matters. I meant what I said earlier. I love you. And we are bound beyond holy matrimony anyway.”

Feeling her relax slightly, he loosened his hug, ducking just in case it had been a ruse. No blows ensued, so he hugged her again briefly, then stood and went back to his chair.

“Seriously, Miles, you had me spinning there for a moment.” She shook her finger at him, shooting him a look that promised revenge.

“I’m sorry, dear. I was just having a bit of fun, that’s all,” he affirmed, still chuckling to himself at her reaction. After a moment, he cleared his throat, turning serious once again. “So, since we’re being serious, I meant what I said. I need you to keep me in line, to ensure that I don’t accidentally neglect any of my partners, including you. That goes to the kids as well, although hopefully them having a bunch of new aunts eases my burden just a little bit.” He smiled at this last part. “Anyway, will you be my alpha?” he asked her, seriously this time.

She gave him a long, hard look, before eventually softening her expression. “Yes.” After a moment, she added, “But you know I’m more of a Trekkie, so I shall be called…. Number One,” she proclaimed gravely, managing to hold a serious face for at least a few seconds before snickering.

After a moment, she spoke up again. “I think, just maybe, you need to have a similar version of this conversation with the team – minus the kids of course – leaving out the number one partner stuff,” she smirked at that last part.

“So, team huddle in the living room after the kiddos go to bed?” he suggested.

“Sounds about right to me,” she conceded, finally gracing him with a warm smile.

****

Miles sat down in his chair with a glass of tea, turning the chair to make sure he could see all of his team. “Okay – I wanted to have a conversation with all of you – and if anyone prefers to have a one-on-one follow-up, that’s fine,” he started.

Maddie interrupted him with a hand half-raised, asking, “Is there something wrong? Did one of us complain about something? Or are you struggling with something?”

He shook his head emphatically, stating, “No, nothing like that has happened.” Maddie let out a breath, relaxing slightly, as did a few of the other women. “I’m just trying to be efficient with mass communications. The thing is, I want to make sure you’re all adjusting well to this situation.” Maddie started to make another comment, but Miles held up a hand, indicating comments should wait. “I mean, we’re all together in this team through the culmination of events outside of our control. One or two of you might have contemplated a relationship with me before this event – not gonna name names, but you know who you are – feel free to discuss later as you see fit.”

Sophia and Maddie giggled, making it obvious to even a casual observer that they were on that list, while Jan just looked away, hiding any compromising expression.

“But now, choices have been thrust upon us all,” – Ava and Maddie stifled giggles at that turn of phrase, earning them a glare from Miles, who continued as if having not been interrupted, “that will definitely have long-term consequences. I don’t know if science will ever figure out how to break our bonds, and I don’t want any of you worried about me advocating for that.”

The giggling, snickering, and whispered comments ended. All six women were paying close attention to him.

“I’m not concerned about me,” he shrugged, affecting a blasé attitude, “but I am damned sure concerned about each of you. I want you all to understand something – something important - in a ridiculously short amount of time, each of you has become precious to me, and I expect these feelings that I have will only grow.” He paused, letting his statements settle in, before continuing, “I am not asking any of you to confirm reciprocity – that would be uncool. However, I do want to get to know each of you better, while creating opportunities for you to get to know me better. I’d like to propose we try doing little things together, one-on-one as often as possible, or perhaps two-on-one where and when you’re comfortable. Like dating, I suppose.”

Debra raised her hand now, asking, “How will we decide the order to go in? Who gets time with you first?”

Ava threw in her suggestion quickly, “We could draw straws, or just go in the order we joined his team.”

Most of the girls nodded at this.

Penny added a new concern that they’d not really thought about before. “I also think we should establish some sort of dose tracking system so that we always have a way of knowing if anyone is getting close to needing a dose of Vitamin Miles.” Surprisingly, no one giggled at this. They were all taking this part very seriously. “We can do this manually at first, maybe use a calendar on the fridge or something, unless one of you knows of an app we can use. Juggling six women would be challenging to anyone, and it will definitely help us all to maintain harmony if we understand who has any urgent needs coming up.”

Miles took a moment to recover his composure, having blushed at Penny’s blunt assessment of needing a fucking tracker, literally. “Anyway, we can keep this short and to the point. We’re all adults, and we’re all in this team together. How well we blend together, how well we work together, all of it will greatly depend on how well we communicate. If anything is bothering you, don’t sit on it until it gets too big – spit it out - tell me, or tell Penny, and we’ll handle it together.”

Sophia couldn’t resist the image this conjured for her. Giggling, she blurted, “Sure, like anyone here will spit it out if it gets big….. NOT!”

Miles gave her a mock glare, saying sternly, “You know what I mean. Brat.”

Now Penny laughed. “Don’t mind him – he likes brats. Important note: he gives good spankings.”

Miles turned to give Penny a hard glare, feigning outrage. “You wound me, woman!”

Penny waved a hand at him dismissively, merely arching one delicate eyebrow while responding, “Well, you do, darling,” to the amusement of the other women.

As the laughter died down, the women looked around at each other, fidgeting, not knowing what to say. Feeling the pressure of the awkward silence, Jan piped up with “We’ve all been naughty and must be spanked!” in an odd high-pitched voice, which made everyone laugh.

Miles shook his head, muttering to no one in particular, “This is NOT Castle Anthrax, and I am not Sir Galahad.”

While the others continued to giggle with amusement, Sophia leaned over to a puzzled Maddie, suggesting to her, “We can Google it later.”

****