Entwined - SF5 (23 page)

"Hold on, Tiger," she said as she grabbed her arm. "We need rubber sheets before we do that on the bed."

"Hmmm, rubber sheets, huh?"

Slapping her firmly on the butt, Jamie smiled and said, "You think everything is hot, don’t you?"

"In the right context, everything is," she insisted with a grin.

"You are such a hot little love machine," she said, wrapping her arms around her waist.

Ryan spent the next hour showing her just how hot she was. For a change, Ryan was actually able to have two orgasms, although that was mostly because the first one came less than a minute after Jamie first touched her. As she closed her eyes to sleep, Ryan spent a moment reflecting on the new nickname Jamie had bestowed on her, simultaneously hoping that "Quickdraw" did not stick. She did, after all, still have a reputation to uphold.

Early the next morning Ryan climbed the stairs, dressed in her running clothes. As she entered the kitchen, she met Conor on his way out the back door. Jamie was not in sight, so he leaned over conspiratorially and asked, "Are you sure you’re a girl?"

"Uh, yeah, I’m pretty sure," she said suspiciously. "Why?"

"Well, what Jamie was begging for last night didn’t seem like something you could do if you were a girl," he said innocently.

Ryan advanced on him, backing him up against the door with a darkly menacing look in her eyes. "If you tell her that you can hear us..." she threatened.

"Hey, it’s not my fault," he said defensively. "You know you can hear through the open ductwork."

"
I
know that, Conor," she spat. "But Jamie doesn’t know it. It’s hard enough for her to be comfortable having sex with you lunks in the house. If she knew you could hear us, she’d never let me touch her again. I’ve spent years doing it in cars and bars and on sofas, with parents and ex-girlfriends barging in on me. I’m not going back to that. Ever!" she barked as she punched her finger into his chest.

"It’s only in Da’s room that you can hear anything," he reminded her. "It was pretty funny. As soon as you started howling, Da got up and went into the living room. About two minutes later Brendan said he had to go home. They were dropping like flies."

"What about you?" she glared.

"Hey, I’m just trying to get some pointers. I’ve never had a woman beg me like that," he said with admiration.

"You’ll never
be
with another woman if you let Jamie hear one word of this," she said in her most ominous tone. "And later today you and I are going to seal that ductwork. I don’t care if we freeze to death this winter. Your little peep show is over!" she hissed as she stormed out of the house.

Damn!
he thought to himself.
Now I’ll never learn how she gets her to squeal like that
.

"Would you like to ingratiate yourself with the extended family today?" Ryan asked after they had showered.

"You mean I haven’t ingratiated myself yet? Is this a constant quest?" Jamie’s eyes were twinkling, and Ryan recognized her teasing tone.

"Regrettably, it is constant," she admitted, speaking the truth. Jamie cocked her head and gave Ryan a puzzled look, so Ryan tried to explain. "I’m teasing about having to ingratiate yourself, of course. The bottom line is that no matter what you do they all love you, and always will. But everybody expects everyone else to help out when they need it, and right now Niall needs help."

"With…?"

"Everything!" Ryan sat down heavily on the bed, shaking her head slowly. "As you saw the other night, he’s a long way from being able to move in. He was initially going to try to get by with doing as little as possible on it, but as time has gone on, he keeps adding projects. Now he’s completely redoing the kitchen, and he needs every body he can get his hands on to help. I feel like I need to go, Hon. Do you mind?"

"Of course not," Jamie assured her. "What can we do?"

Ryan gave her a shrug and said, "Umm…I know what I can do, but I don’t know what your skills are. Have you ever done any remodeling?"

Jamie thought for a moment, and said, "Well, I’ve helped out at a few barn raisings down in Hillsborough, and my mother and I added on a spare bedroom…"

Ryan laughed at her partner’s obvious teasing. "I didn’t think you had, but you get mad sometimes when I assume you haven’t done stuff. I’m trying to be sensitive."

Jamie sat next to her on the bed and slung an arm around her waist. "You’re very sensitive, Babe. But feel free to assume I’ve not remodeled any homes. I have watched people remodel both of our houses, but all I learned was how to pick out appliances and fixtures. I don’t think that’s what you have in mind."

"No…this project is a little more hands on than that," she admitted. "I don’t mind going alone if you’d like to play golf or something today."

"Nope." She shook her head firmly, her still-wet hair sending droplets of moisture all over Ryan. "We’re a package deal, Babe. If nothing else, I’ll make lunch!"

"So what do we wear to this little event?" Jamie asked as she finished drying her hair.

"Um…loose jeans, overalls, carpenter’s pants. Whatever you have that will protect your legs from splinters, but lets you scramble around easily. Oh, and you need to wear your work boots." With that, Ryan ran upstairs to make them a quick breakfast.

Who does she think she’s married to? One of those people on PBS on Saturday mornings? I mean, I have boots, but I can’t imagine my new Ferragamos are what she has in mind.

When Jamie came upstairs, Ryan spent a moment gazing happily at her outfit. She was wearing overalls, as requested, but these were not typical overalls, which made perfect sense, since Jamie was not a typical construction worker. They were made of a sturdy twill, which was good, but they were a bright, sunshine yellow, which would obviously show every bit of dust and dirt they would encounter. They didn’t fit like normal overalls either–these hugged her curves in a most flattering fashion, a detail that Ryan greatly appreciated.

"Are you gonna leer at me all day?" Jamie asked, placing her hands on her hips and adopting a tough look.

"I would expect so," Ryan nodded. "I’ve never been more attracted to a member of the crew. Love your outfit," she added for good measure.

"You said overalls–this is all I have." She stood in front of the mirror in the living room and fussed a bit with her grass-green and white checked shirt. "Are long sleeves a good idea?"

"Yes, Babe," Ryan said, snuggling up behind her. "Long sleeves are a good idea. It’s nice and cool today, so they’ll protect your arms, and you shouldn’t be too hot." She looked down at Jamie’s feet to see her normal running shoes. "No boots?"

"None that I want to scuff up."

"What about your Doc Martens?" Ryan asked.

Jamie looked down at her outfit and stuck her foot out speculatively. Her brow was furrowed as she considered the question. Finally, her head shook decisively. "No, black would look a little severe with my outfit. I want ones like you have," she said, looking at Ryan’s tan pigskin boots.

"Okey dokey," Ryan agreed slowly, having never heard a member of the crew worry about whether their shoes clashed with their outfit, "but you probably won’t wear them often. Maybe you should just wear what you have. I hate to see you waste $100 bucks on new ones."

Better to waste $100 than $500
, she thought, knowing that her fawn-colored Ferragamo’s would be her selection if she was forced to choose from her current wardrobe. "No problem, Hon. I’d like to have some like yours. I have a feeling this won’t be a one shot deal, anyway."

"You’re right on that one," Ryan admitted. "Niall’s got enough work to keep us occupied all year long."

Much to Ryan’s dismay, Jamie put as much thought into buying boots as Niall did in buying the house. The salesman eventually left her to her own devices after he had shown her every style that they carried in her size. Ryan insisted that as long as she was going to spend the money on work shoes, she should buy a steel-toed model, and she eventually chose ones identical to Ryan’s.

With one momentous decision out of the way, Ryan took her lover to the work glove display and cooled her heels while she debated over those. When she had made her selection, Ryan took her by the arm to head to the parking lot. "I want to get some carpenter’s pants like you have," Jamie protested, but Ryan was firm in her resolve.

"I’d like to get to Niall’s while there’s still a bit of daylight," she said, checking her watch.

"Very funny," Jamie scoffed as she elbowed her in the ribs.

"Look, Babe, I know that you care more about your pants than your shoes. If I extrapolate the amount of time you spent on your shoes…"

"I get the point, Buffy. I’ll buy the pants on my own time." She stuck her tongue out playfully, mentally reminding herself that the teasing had just begun. A houseful of O’Flaherty men meant she had better prepare herself to be the butt of jokes all day long.

The boys were surprised, but pleased to see them, and after teasing Jamie about her new shoes they made some suggestions about how they could help. Only Niall, Padraig, and Conor were on the job this morning since they were the carpenters of the family and the main task was hanging cabinets. Ryan was assigned chalk line duty since she was the most agile of the group, and Jamie was given the task of using the level to make sure everything was square before the cabinets were attached. The work went quickly since all of the boys were actually pros. Jamie realized that they could easily handle the task without her, but she enjoyed helping out and soon expanded her duties to include sweeping up and fetching screws and bolts. She got a lot of pleasure out of watching her partner fit right into the team, and was quite amazed to see that the little crew communicated almost without words. They chatted about a number of things, but most of the construction talk was "left", "right", "good", "mark", and "nail it". Since the boys were stronger, they held the cabinets in place after Jamie’s leveling task, while Ryan drove the screws into the studs with a big cordless drill. She scampered around on a ladder, or straddled one of the base cabinets, like she had been doing the job all her life. Of course, knowing the O’Flaherty’s, she might have been doing jobs like this throughout her life.

Jamie was even more impressed with how the boys treated Ryan just like one of them. They all recognized her competency, and her strength, and they had no problem with integrating her completely. She was just a tiny bit jealous that they all still treated her like a girl, but she realized that they had never seen her show any skills, and in fact, she had to acknowledge that she didn’t have any in this area.

By 11:30 the men were getting hungry, so Jamie offered to go fetch lunch. Ryan automatically grabbed the keys to accompany her as Conor warned that they should buy enough for eight since more cousins were sure to come. "They can smell free food all the way back to Noe Valley, you know," he warned.

They walked to the Lexus hand in hand. "I could have gone alone," Jamie reminded her.

"Did you want to?" Ryan asked, her brow furrowing a bit.

"Of course not! I’d always rather be with you!"

Ryan chuckled, hitting the remote door locks and listening for the reassuring click. "And just what makes you think I don’t feel the same about you?"

"Good point, Buffy," Jamie admitted. "I guess I just feel more expendable today. It’s obvious that my little jobs are pretty much just to keep me occupied."

"Hey, I started out the same way," Ryan informed her. "It took a long time until I was trusted to contribute more."

Batting her bright green eyes Jamie ingenuously asked, "And that was when, Love?"

"Um…I guess I was around ten when my uncles let me start helping out with the big stuff. But I had to sweep up for years!" she insisted.

"Uh-huh," Jamie nodded, patting Ryan’s thigh. "It’s okay, Babe. I don’t mind that they treat me like a girl. I’m used to it."

Ryan shot her a look as she pulled out of Niall’s drive and saw the resigned look on her partner’s face. "Give ‘em some time, Love. It’s hard to work a new person in, but when they see how competent you are, they’ll start trusting you."

"Okay, Babe," Jamie agreed, not believing her for one instant, but deciding it wasn’t something to get upset about.

After an expensive trip to the local deli, Jamie asked, "When do you think the house will be finished? Niall must be anxious to move in."

"Not likely!" Ryan laughed. "Conor and I have a bet that he never will."

"Huh?"

"I don’t think he really wants to leave home," Ryan informed her. "He had a fight with Uncle Patrick about something or other and bought the house out of spite, in my humble opinion. He’s had it for over a year, and he keeps coming up with something major that has to be done before he can even consider moving in."

"Conor thinks he wants to leave?"

"No, Conor thinks Niall’s too hardheaded to admit that he doesn’t want to leave. It all comes down to whether he’s gonna let his pride take over." She shook her head and muttered, "Hardheaded and proud. I don’t know where he gets it from."

"Must be from your Aunt Deirdre’s side of the family," Jamie assured her, working hard to keep from laughing aloud.

They weren’t back in the house for five minutes before Colm and Kieran showed up--both ravenous, of course. Jamie took care of getting everyone set up with a plate, also noticing that Ryan had forgotten to take a root beer. She went out to the small back yard, carrying a bottle for her lover, presenting it to her with a flourish. "You take such good care of me," Ryan said fondly as Jamie bent for a kiss.

"Hey, we’re trying to eat here," Niall complained. "No mushy stuff!"

Just for spite, Ryan yanked Jamie from her feet, pulling across her lap and planting a very big kiss onto her surprised mouth. She twined her hands behind Ryan’s neck and leaned back in her embrace with a cute little smile on her face. "What was that for?" she asked as the boys all groaned.

"I can’t let these lugs dictate my level of mush!" she declared defiantly. "You will note that I’m the only one with a girl. If I listened to them, I’d be single too!"

The cabinets were all in, so Colm prepared to set the ceramic tile that Niall had picked. The brothers spent a few minutes debating what pattern to use, using no words at all. Niall took a few tiles and set them on the floor in straightforward square set. Colm scratched his head and moved them into a more complex pattern, folding his arms across his chest as they both stared at the proposal for a minute. Niall knelt and moved them back into the plain set, grunted once, and went outside to have a beer. Jamie had been watching this interchange and she noticed that Colm did not look very happy about the decision, but he shrugged and started assembling his materials.

The carpenters, save for Ryan, considered their work finished, so they stayed outside to relax in the warm sun and have a beer. Kieran, the brother between Niall and Colm in age, was the plasterer in the family, and his task was next since there were a few holes in the wall made during the new placement of the cabinets. He waited around for a bit, but Colm finally told him he could go join the boys, and he’d call him when he needed him.

Jamie was particularly fond of Colm, really appreciating his quiet, thoughtful approach to things. He was a bit of an artist and spent as much time designing his tile creations as he did installing them. He wasn’t very happy to be called on to perform such a straightforward task since he knew he could create something more eye catching, but he didn’t like to push his opinions too forcefully. Jamie watched him survey the wall and counter areas. He crossed his muscular arms over his chest once again, and shook his head as he walked over to start mixing his thin-set.

"You’re not happy with the design, are you?" Jamie asked.

"It’s that obvious?" he said with a laugh.

"What would you rather do?" she asked, truly interested.

Ryan could smell trouble, so she patted Colm on the back and said, "Good luck," as she went to the refrigerator to grab a beer and join the boys in the back yard. She caught the impudent tongue stuck out in her direction, and answered it with a blown kiss.