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Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 12

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Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 12
The girls continue their pitches to Andy.

Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast

at Explicit Novels.



Nicolette smiled, shaking her head a bit. "I split from

Josh the week after the party, because, well, it's not important, beyond the
fact that he was a fucking asshole and I was sick of dealing with it. I haven't
seen him in years now, and it's actually better that way. If he's dead, good,
good riddance, fuck him, he deserved it. As for her partner, well, Bill wasn't
a bad guy, although I never really talked much to him, or should I say I wasn't
much permitted to talk to him, because he was from the old school of
domination, with the leather whip and the iron fist, and he didn't like
submissives giving him any back talk. Whitney was mostly happy with him,
although she'd admitted to me a couple of times that she could've done without
Bill's sadistic streak of inflicting pain on her. Pain wasn't really her thing.
She didn't mind it from time to time, but it wasn't something she got off on.
Bill did. But Bill died from the virus in April, leaving Whitney sort of lost
and directionless."

"I'm certainly not into inflicting pain on

people, Nicolette, but I don't know that even on my best or worst days I could
be fairly described as a dom."

Nicolette giggled and waggled a finger in his direction.

"You might have the other girls fooled, Master, but not me, and frankly, I
don't think Ash buys it either. When I was pitching this to her yesterday, I
pointed out to her that sexuality is, well, it's sort of like a menu at a
Cheesecake Factory “ there are so many options that you are bound to find
things you like just every once in a while, instead of every day. And you are a
good and kind man, but I've also seen that sometimes you just want to take
something, to claim something. There is a beast in you raging to get
out, and I've tried to make sure I'm around to fill that need for you. We all
heard it when you were having your first go at Taylor, and even Niko told me
afterwards she thought you were holding back a little, like you were worried we
might judge you for it, but your household loves you and trusts you,
Master."

The maid pushed the button and the image changed again,

showing a head on almost portfolio picture of Whitney, her wrists bound
together in rope, a collar around her neck, still wearing a bra, her hair
pulled back into a ponytail, a very lustful look in her icy blue eyes drilling
straight into the camera. "She took this photo just for you, Master.
Nobody other than the three of us has seen it. Not only does she want to join
the staff, she wants you to collar her. Hell, she said if you wanted to, she
would even get tattooed or branded for you."

"Branded?" Andy gasped suddenly. "I would never!"

"Oh, I told her that, and she said that just made you

sound even more dreamy, but wanted you to have that option on the table. She
doesn't want to be one of your wives, because she says that would put her on
equal level with you. She wants to belong to you. She's always going to
be submissive, but do you have any idea how hard it's going to be for a single
submissive woman to find a sexual partner right now, much less one who isn't a
complete asshole? The biggest problem with the BDSM scene, in my eyes anyway,
is that too many people don't respect boundaries, that they aren't respectful
of one another. Whitney's never going to feel bad about not getting to sleep in
your bed, but if you tell her to one night, she will, gladly, as long as it
doesn't become a habit. When it comes to the house, she will be the kind of
control freak you need running your digital life, but all that desperate need
for control, that's why she likes to be completely out of control when
it comes to her sexuality. Wearing a collar from you isn't a mark of shame;
it's a thing of pride and beauty for her. And all of the women you have in this
house, Master, they're all such wonderful and warm women, friendly and
inviting, and even though we've told them time and time and time again that
we're merely the staff, they're still treating us as friends, because we are
their friends, even if we still work for you."

Andy had been listening to all of this very intently,

because the expression on Nicolette's face wasn't one of concern, but one of
excitement, of enthusiasm, of pride. "Why'd she take a picture just for
me?"

"Because after Bill died half a year ago, she was

aimless, and I got, well, to be blunt, I got very worried about her. I
couldn't go and check up on her because of the quarantine, but we FaceTimed
every day. We still do. And I've told her all about this house, about you,
Master, and all your amazing partners, and about a month ago, Whitney started
saying something I've been hearing a lot from her lately. 'I wish I had
what you have.' She was waking up from her fugue state over the loss of
Bill, and she wanted something again, for the first time in months. She
wasn't just thinking about what her next meal was, or how to solve some routing
problem at work. She had a genuine desire to introduce something, someone
into her life again. You. This. All of this," the maid said, gesturing
around her.

"You two sound very close," Ash said. "I

don't know that you made it clear to me just how close when you were presenting
to me for practice."

Nicolette nodded. "She's, well, she's probably my best

friend, the person I can be myself with the most, and I'm worried about her.
You have to understand, she's like an old watch that's been wound up too
tightly. When I say she's a control freak, I might be understating the case,
but before now she's always had that release valve of having Bill to take over
for at least a few hours every week, where she wasn't allowed to have any
control, and through that, all that pressure got released. You can give
that to her again, Master."

"Do you really think I'm a good match for her

sexually?" Andy said. "I'd hate to bring her here and disappoint
her."

The French girl's face spread into a mischievous grin.

"Like I said, Master, Whitney's going to be like me, not an everyday food,
but definitely a delicious treat that you simply must indulge in now and then.
And I'm a very good judge of character, so I want you to try and look me in the
eyes and tell me that the idea of having a woman who literally will not lift a
finger until you tell her to do so doesn't turn you on at least a little
bit, to have such total control over a woman that she is waiting with baited
breath for you to give her a command. I'll bet everything I own that you
can't."

Andy smirked and blushed a little bit. "I'm not sure

there's many men who could say that. I certainly wouldn't want that if she
didn't want that but,”

Nicolette nodded vigorously. "But she does, she

absolutely, positively, definitively does want that. From you. I think
the biggest challenge you'd have with her is the feelings you'd have when you
put the collar on her, because I can tell you, her one and only demand is that
you collar her when she arrives, and that she only ever takes the collar off to
bathe. I know you're going to have reservations about it, which is why I'm
spending so much time reassuring you that this is ultimately what she wants.
It's an odd thing for a man who describes himself as a feminist to do,
collaring a woman, but realize, you are giving her what she wants “ the
ability to not have to think for a bit."

Ash grinned a little bit. "You forgot to tell him the

final thing."

Nicolette held her fingers to her mouth, trying to stifle a

giggle once more, as she nodded. She then picked up the remote and clicked the button
again, as the image advanced one more time. At first, Andy thought the image
was the same, but then he saw it, resting atop of her bound wrists. A first
edition of "The Demon Dies At Midnight," a small press book he'd done
for himself before he'd started writing the Druid Gunslinger books, in many
ways the precursor to the whole series.

It was a short novel, more of a novella really, that Andy

had written just to sort of test the idea of writing long form fiction, and
while it shared some similarities with the Druid Gunslinger books, it was a
stand alone tale about a freelance demon hunter who traveled the world, trying
to find the demon that had laid a curse on him when he was a child.

Andy had used a print on demand service for the book, and

only 2000 copies had been sold before he had found a publisher for all
his work, starting with the Druid Gunslinger books. His publisher had scooped
up the rights to his first book along with the Druid Gunslinger books. Once
they did, Andy had stopped the print on demand version of it, so those 2000
were all that was ever going to be printed with that cover, a touch more erotic
than the publisher was comfortable with. He'd looked and the first editions
were worth several hundred dollars on the secondary market now, even though
copies of the second edition, the one done by his current publisher with its
less racy cover, were available for ten bucks.

"She's a fan of yours, Master, going back to the

beginning. You can't see it, but that copy of your book is signed, by you, when
you were doing signings in Santa Cruz."

"She would've been living in Chicago when that book

came out!" Andy laughed. "So you can't me she's been a fan of mine
since then."

"Oh, she bought it on the secondary market a couple of

years ago, when she first started getting into your writing, long before I met
you. She said it was worth it to have the original rather than a second
edition. She reads loads and loads of sci fi and fantasy, but says you're an
excellent writer, one of her favorites. When she found out you were my Master,
she begged and pleaded with me to find some way for her to be able to join me.
I told her I would keep my eye open for an opportunity, but that I didn't want
to be disrespectful and ask you on my own."

Andy clicked his tongue, shaking his head. "I told you

that you could come to me with anything, Nicolette."

"I know you did, Master, and thank you for that, but

you have been wall to wall busy since you first arrived here a month or so ago,
and there just never seemed to be an opportune moment until Hannah started
talking to us about you being able to request people, which brings us all up to
speed, here and now," she said, gesturing to the image behind her. "I
don't just think she's an obvious yes, Master, I think she's the most
obvious yes. And if you need a little help stoking the fires of the shades of a
controlling bastard that hide inside that warm soul, you know I'm always
willing to lend a hand or whatever you might need. Whitney and I have played
together sexually before, and if she comes here, I have no doubt that she and I
will be play partners again. You have a lot of amazing women on offer for you
here, but this one has to be a slam dunk. Thanks for giving me the
chance to introduce you to my best friend, and I can't wait to hear you tell me
to invite her over."

The maid pressed the button and the image of Whitney

disappeared to be replaced by "Next: Niko" in white letters on a
black background as she stood up and made her way to the door.

Andy leaned over to Aisling. "Give me 5 10 minutes,

okay?"

Aisling grinned and nodded. "You're the boss,

boss."

He stood up quickly and made his way out into the hallway,

closing the door behind him, as he moved quickly to catch up to Nicolette, just
as she was about to reach the stairwell leading upstairs. "One sec,
Nicolette," Andy said, "I have one more question for you."

Nicolette smiled as she turned back to him, standing at the

edge of the stairs. "Of course, Master, what can I "

As soon as he was within reach of her, he grabbed her by the

waist and spun her around, bending her forward until her back was nearly
perpendicular with the wall, lifting her dress up and tugging her panties aside
with one hand, unbuttoning his jeans with another. Before it even dawned on her
what was happening, he lined the head of his cock up against her snatch and
just shoved forward with one rough, penetrating thrust, sinking hilt deep as a
groan was ripped from her throat, deep and sultry.

"Was this what you wanted?"

"Fuck yes, Master!" she whined, as he drew

back and then thrust forward again with a harsh shove, forcing her cunt to
swallow up his cock. Her hands reached before her, trying to brace herself, as
he reached forward and grabbed her by the throat, making her stand upright,
even while scooting forward as best she can, until her tits were mashed against
the wall, her face tilted towards the ceiling, when he drew back and then
punched forward again. "Is it wrong of me that your filthy little fuckmaid
has been fingering her sloppy cunt thinking of her Master slamfucking her best
friend?"

Andy couldn't help but laugh about that, as he drew back

again. "Is that the only thing you've been thinking about?"

"Fuck!" she whimpered as he railed her again,

lifting one of her legs to allow him to penetrate a little bit deeper.
"You know that it isn't, Master. Your bratty little slut thinks about you
all the time, imagining her Master doing so many dirty things to her."

He shifted his hips a little bit, making sure he was good

and slick, before he pulled her away from the wall and then moved her over to a
table, forcing her forward, yanking her panties down to her ankles before
tugging it off of her entirely. He grabbed the lacy underthing in his hand and
then bent her over the table, pushing her knees to make her get a little bit
lower, and before it could even register what he was doing, the head of his
thick cock pressed against the rosebud of her asshole and just sunk through,
greasing its way deep inside of her ass, lubed up with the drippy juices from her
cunt.

"Fuck oh fuck oh fuck you're fucking thick, Master,

that's such a big fucking cock you've shoved up my tight young ass!"
Nicolette whimpered, her voice squealing upward in pitch until it was a shrill
shriek, more like a siren than a person. "I've been dreaming about being
your stuffed little buttslut, Master, so just fucking hammer me already!"

Andy had a weird notion, and he decided to follow through on

it, as he reached around and stuffed Nicolette's panties into her mouth, and he
could swear she clamped down even more tightly in excitement. Her hands were
free, so if she wanted to, she could've pulled them out any moment.

And yet, she didn't.

Instead, the moans burbling from her throat grew more

intense, her hips trying to push her ass back into his firm thrusts as much as
she could. She was throwing her body back at him any which way she was able,
but for the most part, she was simply getting railed, keeping as much of his
cock buried inside of her ass for as much of the time as she could.

After a minute or so, she started spasming and clamping down

on his cock, and he couldn't resist, so he unloaded a heavy load of cum into
her asshole, sweat dripping from his forehead against the back of her neck,
until he softened enough to slip out of that tight pucker.

When he leaned back, he tucked his cock away and pulled up

his boxers and jeans, zipping them up, a wry smile on his lips as Nicolette
turned around, an incredibly satisfied look upon her face. She pulled her
panties from her mouth and that wild grin was the happiest he'd ever seen on
Nicolette's face before.

"Now that is how you fucking use me,

Master," she purred with as much sensuality as she could. "And you
have fucking earned keeping these for a bit." She leaned forward
and tucked her panties into the front pocket of his jeans. "And don't
worry, I'll fish them out of the laundry later." She tipped her head up
and kissed him for a moment. "Thanks so much for that! Jesus! Au
revoir!"

Andy took his hand and wiped sweat from his forehead and

grinned a bit to himself as he watched her head up the stairs. "Well then.
Job done."

When Andy headed back into the room, he found Aisling

waiting with a shit eating smirk on her face. "Got your release valve off
with the hired help?" she teased. Andy blushed a little bit, realizing
that the door wasn't all that thick, and that he had taken Nicolette not all
that far from the room, but then he decided he had nothing to be embarrassed
about.

"Look, she made it abundantly clear what she wanted

from me, and so I damn well gave it to her," he said with a laugh, as he
moved to sit down in his chair. "It had been over a week for her anyway,
so she was due. You can tell Niko we're ready for her now."

Niko was practically coming through the door when he said

it. "She already knows. She was enjoying listening in on you giving
Nicolette exactly what's she's been waiting for for a week now," she
giggled. "And she, uh, I, I'm here now. How's presentations been so
far?"

Andy was about to answer out of reflex when he felt Aisling's

hand on his arm, and heard her say, "No dirty snooker from you, missy.
He's not tellin' you nuffin'."

"He was about to, though," she winked at the

redhead. Niko was in her uniform, something Andy had rarely seen her in, even
though she wore it nearly every day. When she headed to the base, she always
left before he got up, and she changed out of the uniform before she came home,
so it was a little surprising to see her decked out in the formal wear. Her
hair was up and pinned back, and she even had the chest candy on her uniform,
as she'd been known to call it.

"Going to present someone from the base?" Andy

asked, suspecting it was the reason for the uniform.

"You got it," she said, picking up the remote as

she pushed a button as the image changed to a rather stern looking blonde woman
in her mid forties with a hawkish nose. "I want to introduce you to
Captain Tracy Bells, sir. She's a, y'know, we could do the whole thing, Ash, or
we could just,”

"It's yer call, Niko," the Irish redhead

said to her, a conspiratorial grin on her face.

Niko nodded, then motioned for Ash to come and join her,

which she did, throwing Andy completely off guard. "Look, I'm not pitching
Captain Bells to you, Andy," Niko said with a smile. "Because
frankly, she's got a giant stick up her ass. I don't really have anyone to
pitch you at all, to be frank. That's not why I'm here. It's a pretense."

Andy tilted his head to one side. "Then why are you

taking up a pitch slot?"

"Well, it seemed like the best time that Ash and I

could get you all to ourselves. For this," she said, pushing the button,
as the image changed. In its place was a selfie that clearly Niko had taken
just a day or two earlier, of her and Aisling. They each seemed to be holding
something in their free hands, and just as it was dawning on Andy what they
were, both girls spoke at the same time.

"We're Pregnant!"

Andy pointed a finger at Aisling, who nodded, then over at

Niko, who nodded as well, then kept jumping his fingertip back and forth
between the two of them as they both kept nodding, wild smiles on their faces.
"What, both of you?"

"Yep!" Niko said, giggling, as both her and

Aisling started walking around the table, one on each side of it, closing in on
him like a planned maneuver, leaning against the table, pinning him in his
spot.

"Most of your girls have synched up their time clocks,

love," Aisling said, "So it was bound to happen to a couple of us at
the same time. Niko and I are just glad it's us first."

"Well, we sort of made sure that we were,"

Niko giggled.

"I thought you were both on birth control still!"

he said, although the smile on his face made it clear he wasn't upset.
"Did everyone stop taking their birth control?"

Aisling shook her head. "So far, I think we're the only

ones who have."

"We both stopped taking them a few months ago,"

Niko said. "When I started seeing and hearing the horror stories about the
hospitals while I was working on base, I knew that this was going to happen,
this or something like it, so I told Aisling and we just stopped taking our
birth control pills, and well, here we are!"

"I ran into town for the tests Saturday morning, and

wouldn't you know it, two buns in two ovens, all from one chef!" Aisling
said, as Andy wrapped his arms around both of them, hugging them intensely tight.

"And you're both happy? I know you both did this

intentionally, but sometimes people get second thoughts. I'm not! Getting
second thoughts that is. I mean, I'm happy, I promise you I'm happy, but I want
to be sure you're both happy."

"We're ecstastic, hon," Niko said to him, nuzzling

her face against his cheek. "We weren't sure when the best time to tell
you would be, but when the whole pitching process started, we wanted to be sure
you understood that maybe getting a nanny into the house wasn't such a wild
idea."

"Who knows?" Andy asked.

"Just us and you," Aisling said. "We haven't

told anyone yet."

Andy kissed Niko, then Aisling, then Niko again, then

Aisling again. "It's damn nice to have to some good news for once. So,
should we go get lunch and tell the rest of the household?"

"Sounds good to me," Andy said. "Niko?"

"Absolutely," Niko said. As they headed towards

the door, she leaned over and pushed the button on the remote, changing the
slide so it was a black screen again with the words "Next: Piper."

The last of the girls' pitches to

Andy.

Chapter 26

Lunch had been great fun. Once Aisling and Niko had told

Andy, they'd wanted to tell everyone as soon as possible, so the moment they'd
sat down for lunch, they'd told everyone straight out, which had led into a
small celebration, and sort of let Andy slip into the background with his
thoughts.

Sure, the girls all congratulated him, but they were all

much more interested in how Niko and Ash were feeling about everything, so Andy
could do a little bit of his own research. When he had half a minute, he asked
Katie for both more about Lexi, and what she thought of Jade Dillon. He also
did a little bit of talking with Sarah about Maya Steele, since clearly they
ran in similar circles. When he had a moment, he also pinged Hannah to see if
she'd heard anything about Olivia Shoemaker, Asha's "influencer"
friend. Finally, he asked Jenny about Katie's ex, Dr. Morgan Fitch.

By the end of lunch, he almost wished he'd brought his

yellow notepad with him. It was a lot of names, a lot of opinions and thoughts
to keep from getting scrambled around in his brain. But his own opinions were
starting to bake in, to settle and coalesce into something more solid.

His mind was so wrapped up in his thoughts, he almost

overlooked how lunch was, as it always was, amazing. He made sure to tell Jenny
just how excellent it was, and she said he could thank her by making sure to
bring Alexis into the family. He didn't answer her, but his smile probably gave
him away. He didn't mind.

When they were walking back towards the meeting room,

Aisling slipped her arm around his waist, leaned in and kissed his cheek.
"You're happy Niko and I are expectin', right, love?" She had a smile
on her face, so she was simply reinforcing what she already knew.
"Sometimes you can bit understated 'bout these kinds of things."

Andy chuckled a little, leaning down to kiss her forehead.

"You know that I am, Ash. I'm sorry if I seemed a little distant at lunch.
This is just a lot of information to take in all at once, lots of people to
consider, lots of decisions to make. Shit, people's lives and livelihoods hang
in the balance of my stupid judgment. The decisions I'm going to make tomorrow
have real, genuine consequences, things I gotta live with for the rest of my
life, and I don't want to let anyone down. Turning anyone down feels like 
"

"Stop," Ash said, holding him from walking any

further. "I told you up front that nobody was going to hold anything
against you, and we're all going to honor that. You didn't have to let anyone
have a say, and you're letting everyone have a say. That's all anyone
has the right to ask of you." She sighed, then laughed for a second.
"Jaysis, if it was me, I'd have thrown the towel in and just taken nobody,
but you're not doing that, despite the fact that nobody would've blamed you if
you did. Instead, you set down what your reasonable capabilities are, and
everyone agreed to them. So stop getting in your own damn way and just get on
with it already."

He had to laugh with her at that point, nodding in

agreement. "Okay, okay, I get it. No more moping about this, and no more
overthinking it. Just listen to the pitches, make my decisions and move forward
with our lives. I'll hold you to nobody being mad, though."

"Everybody knows what's coming down the pipeline,

Andy," Ash said. "It'll be alright. I promise you, it'll all be
alright. Now let's get these last four underway. There's still a few surprises
left to spring on you, and it's always fun to watch your expression when you're
caught off guard."

"What kind of crazy surprises do you have lined up for

me?" he said, as Piper strode through the door confidently, dressed in her
Team USA gear, some sort of warm up suit. He was certain she wasn't wearing the
full Olympian gear underneath it, but the very presence of the outfit seemed
designed to send a message.

"You should know she doesn't have anything planned for

you, Andy," Piper said, smirking at him. "This is all us."

"How are you feeling, Piper? Head starting to clear up?

Starting to feel more like yourself again?" Andy asked.

"A lot better, yeah. The first few days, it was like, I

dunno, like I was walking through fog, like every inch of my body was coated in
maple syrup," the brunette volleyball player said, looking around the room
a bit before looking back at Andy. "I was living in quicksand, but over
the last couple of days, all of that's been lifting and I've felt mostly like
myself again. I've been trying to get back on my work out regimen, so that's
helped some. But I think the further I get away from that state, the better off
I'll be." She looked better, there was no denying. Her eyes didn't have
the dark, heavy bags underneath them that they had when they first met. She'd
also put a little bit of weight back on, but Andy suspected that was because
she had been massively dehydrated when they'd first met. He was glad to see her
coming back into being her full self. "A couple more weeks and I'll be
right as rain again. But that's not why I'm here today."

"Yeah, well, it doesn't hurt for me to ask about you

first."

"Yeah yeah," Piper said, as she picked up the

remote, pressing the button as a Nordic looking blonde appeared on the screen.
"I don't know how much you follow the Olympics, but if you do, you might
recognize my friend Brooke Maloney here. She's being hyped as the next big
thing for the woman's swim team. She's going to enter a number of various swim
competitions,  breast stroke, freestyle, relay,  but obviously there
aren't any games this year, and she's going out of her mind swimming laps in
the compound's pool."

The blonde, much like Piper, looked fit, although she looked

much shorter in comparison, with broader shoulders and a wide smile on her
face, sitting at a table full of athletes. Piper pushed the button again and the
screen advanced to a new image, one of Piper and Brooke sitting on a blanket at
some outdoor concert.

"What do you mean 'compound?'" Andy asked.

"A lot of the soon to be Olympians were at the US

Training Camp, putting in a hard six months before the Olympics," Piper
said. "Me and the rest of the volleyball team were going to be diverted
there when the lockdown had been going for a few months, but it was deemed 'too
risky' for any of us to be moved. Well, up until our dear Mister Covington decided
to scoop me up and tried to make me into his own personal plaything. Thanks
again for rescuing me from that, by the by."

"I'm just glad you're not mad it's me you're bound

to."

"We've been over this, Andy," she sighed, a polite

smile on her face. "I'm happy it was someone as nice as you. Let's move
things forward. Now, one of the dirty little secrets you may not have heard
about the Olympics is that after an athlete competes in their particular event,
they go back to the Olympic village and they let off all that pent up steam
that's been building in them for years. I haven't had a chance to experience
myself personally, but our trainers and coaches have been telling us about it
for as long as we've been old enough to hear the stories. I don't need that
pressure valve any more because, well, I have you. But my friend Brooke, well,
she doesn't have that."

She pushed the button and the image advanced to another

picture of Brooke, this time in Daisy Duke cutoff jean shorts, a white tied up
shirt and a wide brimmed stetson hat, somewhere at a country bar, a Corona in
hand with a lime. Her blonde hair was done up in short pigtails, which looked
odd on her by Andy's reckoning.

"Brooke and I have been friends for a couple of years

now, and believe me, the Olympics is literally all she thinks about,"
Piper said. "She wants to win gold medals so much it, it's eating her up
inside. Now with the 2020 games being pushed back until at least 2021, she's
going out of her mind, like a predator able to see its prey under glass but not
being allowed to hunt it."

Piper pushed the button and the picture changed to an image

of Brooke leaning against a Shelby Cobra, dressed in overalls, covered in
grease, a wrench in her hand. "Her only other real passion is classic
cars. She's something of a gearhead, and any time she's not training, she's
working on cars. She's done more than a couple frame off restorations and more
than a handful of heavy mods. She's had a couple of boyfriends over the years,
but they never last all that long."

"So what's she like in the sack, Pipes?" Ash asked

her.

"She's about as vanilla as they come," Piper

answered. "She likes things slow and steady, smooth and soft. But she'll
be a good lover, and a good friend."

"Complications you anticipate?" Andy asked.

"You're from pretty different worlds, but I've often

been told that opposites attract, so maybe that won't be as big an issue as I
think it might be," she shrugged. "You're pretty rock'n'roll, and
she's a country girl at heart. You're a big city guy and she's a small town
girl. She's at church every Sunday and I'm pretty sure you're an aethist. So
maybe that's all too much to scale, but then again maybe it isn't. I'm sure
whatever you decide, it'll be the right decision."

Piper pushed the button and the screen advanced again, back

to a black screen, with the words "Next: Sarah" in a cartoonish white
lettering.

"Any reason you didn't suggest any of the other girls

from your volleyball team, just out of curiosity?" Andy asked. "I
would've figured they would've been some of your best friends."

The brunette smirked, flashing him a little wink. "Oh

they are, but there's no way in hell I'm sharing my man with the likes
of them. Let'em find their own hunk and they can keep their sticky fingers off
of mine."

With that, Piper headed out of the room, leaving the door

open behind her, striding confidently down the hallway.

"So, just to warn you about the next one, Andy, we do

know in advance that you have met her a couple of times, but in the pictures
we've seen, you always looked friendly, so we're going off that," Aisling
said to him, as she texted Sarah to head to the conference room. "If we're
wrong in those assumptions, ye can tell us and we'll let the matter drop then
and there."

"Oh yeah?" Andy said, suddenly wondering what familiar

face was going to grace the screen in moments. "Where do I know her
from?"

The Irish redhead waggled a finger in his direction.

"Just be patient, love. She'll up and in front o' ya in just a minute or
two."

Andy rolled his eyes with a grin. "Then what's the harm

in telling me early?"

"The harm is Sarah will have my tits in a wringer if I

spill the goss before she's here."

"Good lord, you girls and your secrets," he

muttered in amusement.

The statuesque redhead arrived moments later, and she

immediately came over to hug Aisling, a giggle slipping from Sarah's mouth.
"Congrats again, Ash," Sarah said to her. "I didn't want to say
it in front of the others, but I am totally fucking jealous of you right now,
you wouldn't even fucking believe me how jealous I am. Today is obviously the
day I stop taking my birth control, because, damn, my clock is ticking,
girlfriend."

Ash shook her head with a mischievous grin. "You don't

want to wait until you're a little more settled in first, Sarah? Or until
you're married?"

Sarah pulled back from the hug, looking over at Andy,

licking her lips with a wild smile. "Shit, if I thought I could get him to
do it, I'd beg him to fuck me until I was knocked up right here on this table,
right here and now. But I've only got ten minutes, so maybe I should just get
to the presentation."

Andy gestured to the remote with a smile. "Maybe."

"One thing first, though." Sarah had come into the

meeting in a dress skirt and a dark red silk blouse, but she turned around, did
something, then turned back, bringing a glistening finger to Andy's lips before
the actress slipped it into his mouth, and he could taste her cunt on it.
"Just so you know how much the idea of you breeding me turns me on."
She winked at him as she pulled her fingertip from his lips and walked back to
the other side of the table.

"On with the show, Sares," Aisling poked.

"Yeah, totes, Ash, I'm getting' there." Sarah

picked up the remote and clicked the button, as the screen behind her flickered
to life. "Oh look! It's you! And you're with one of my other total
favorite writers, Larissa Cotton!"

Andy immediately recognized the shot. It was taken about

five years ago, at DragonCon. Andy hadn't wanted to go, but he'd been nominated
for a Hugo, an award he'd ended up winning, for "Behind The Darkest
Sky," the most successful of the Druid Gunslinger novels, partially
because it was the most risky of the books. When Andy had written it, he'd
almost thought it might be the end of the series if it didn't work, if the
audience didn't trust him to stick around long enough to see the story continue
in the next one. He'd left the Gunslinger in a hell of a mess at the end of the
book, and while he was over half way through writing the next one when
"Behind The Darkest Sky" had come out, he'd still been in a very
nervous place about going to a convention.

At the Hugo awards for the night, he'd found himself sat

with a handful of authors he hadn't met before that night, including Larissa
Cotton, a Hispanic woman from Portland who'd written an amazing book called
"Ions At Dawn," a technothriller about a woman who finds herself
grappling with an archaeological find that threatens to rewrite the basic
underpinnings of science. Andy had read all the nominees and found her book
fascinating, although maybe a bit too heady for the average reader.

Larissa was nothing like any writer he'd ever met before.

She was brash, confident, boisterous and outspoken, the loudest presence in any
room, and yet, never in a harsh way. She was a plus sized woman, thick but not
in an unappealing way. The silver hoop in her nose had been a little off
putting, and Andy had found the overwhelming number of tattoos more than a
little distracting, almost perhaps no more than the goth Lolita look meets
skater punk she'd been rocking at the party.

They'd gotten along reasonably well, although Larissa had

gotten rip roaringly drunk by the end of the night. Andy and a couple of others
had needed to help her back to her hotel room, since she was nearing blackout
stages by the end of the night.

Andy and Larissa had reminded occasionally in contact since

then, but they certainly weren't what Andy would describe as close. They'd met
up a couple of times in the years since, but generally it had just been if
they'd been in the same town, and then only within a group of people.

"Larissa lives up in Portland," Andy said.

"Sure, but that can change," Sarah said. "I

mean, Emily and I both lived in LA until we moved here. Asha's lived most of
her life in London and Piper spent most of her life in Florida. People move,
Andy. That can't be an excuse."

"Well, no," Andy laughed, "but she was also

engaged last I heard."

"Wait, what?" Sarah asked. "I talked to her

like three months ago, and she didn't mention it, and I didn't see any
engagement ring."

He shrugged. "Maybe I misheard, or maybe they called it

off. It was a couple of years ago, when a bunch of us were getting drunk after
our ComicCon panels. She said she'd just sold the film adaptation rights to
'Ions At Dawn' to somebody and we all went out to celebrate."

Aisling nodded. "She sold the rights to Sarah, as a

matter of fact."

The taller redhead pushed the button on the remote and the

screen advanced to an image of Sarah and Larissa at a conference table shaking
hands. "My production company, Awkward & Dorky Films, to be more
specific. We agreed to let her give us a first draft if she agreed to go
through the notes and revisions process without too many complaints."

"Heh," Andy smirked. "And 'Ris agreed to

that? Talk about being prickly to editors. She damn near took my head off when
she had me read a first draft of her third book, 'Castle of Yesterdays,' and I
gave her notes on it."

"It totally couldn't have been as bad as you're making

it out to be, Andy," Sarah teased. "Don't be such a baby. Suck it
up."

"I believe she told me that I could roll up my notes

and shove them into my cock until I was crapping them out," he said.

"Fuck," Sarah muttered. "You must've been

really hard in those notes."

"Not really?" He shrugged a little. "I mean,

I offered some opinions and I told her that a couple of the chapters went on
too long with nothing happening, and that the climax felt overly weak but that
it was a great first draft. I mean, I liked the book a lot. But that's what you
do with first drafts,  show them to someone, figure out what works and
what doesn't, then make a real book out of it."

"I liked 'Castle of Yesterdays,' though, Andy!"

Sarah whined.

"Sure!" he said, waggling a finger at her.

"You just read the final version, which went through about six revisions.
And, for what it's worth, she ended up using most of my notes. I mean, I didn't
hold it against her that she didn't like getting notes. Every author can be a
little bit of a prima donna sometimes."

"Well, as of July, I don't think she was married or

engaged or whatever, and she's completely rad. Also, you two get along, because
you've obviously gone out for dinner and drinks before, and she trusted you
enough to let you read her first draft of a new book, so that seems good enough
to me, don't you think?"

"I mean, we weren't close friends, but we were, er, are

friendly acquaintances. I don't know that either of us thought the other was
their type, though. She seemed to be into people who were way more of the 80s
skateboard punk ethos than me."

"You saw her with a man at some point?"

"Oh yeah," Andy said, "Well, no. I mean, not

directly, but she showed me a picture of her and 'her man,' she called him. He
was big, fit fellow. Broad shoulders, six pack. About as far from me as any man
can possibly get. He looked like he could've bench pressed me for hours without
breaking a sweat, and she, well, she looked happy."

Sarah shrugged a little bit. "Whoever he was, Andy, he

completely didn't last, because when she and I were meeting to discuss our notes
for the screenplay, she was sniping about how she hadn't had a proper lay in
months. So big and hunky didn't work for her, so maybe you could. I know she
thinks you're cute. I told her I had a crush on you and she said 'Well, who
could blame you?' so I think she does too."

"How well do you know her, Sarah?"

The taller redhead shrugged. "Not all that well, but

she's been nice to me, and she's someone you know, so maybe that could be
something that would work for you."

"Do you have any idea whether or not we'd be sexually

compatible?"

Sarah shrugged with a smile. "It's never come up, so I

don't have any idea."

"Possible challenges?"

"Two writers in the same room might always want to be

editing one another?" she giggled. "I genuinely don't know, Andy. But
I thought it was a good idea so I wanted to suggest it."

"Fair enough then."

"One last thing before I go," Sarah said, pushing

the button to advance the screen to an image that read "next:
Sheridan" on it in a frilly cursive font. "I was telling you at lunch
that I think bringing Maya Steele into the family is a great idea, so I wanted
to stress that while I haven't changed my mind on that, I did forget to
tell you not to ever get into a drinking contest with her. Your head will hurt
and your liver will be punching you for days."

"And yet, you still think I should bring her in?"

Sarah nodded emphatically. "Maya's a bad ass, and you

need someone as direct as her in your life. I mean, Neeks handles most of that,
but really, Maya's got her beat hands down."

"Are you trying to convince me not to bring her

in? Someone more direct than Niko?"

"It'll be fine, Andy," Sarah said, flipping her

hair with one hand. "I already know you're going to pick her, so trust me
when I tell you that is the correct decision to make."

"And if that isn't the decision I'm making?"

"Then you're being a fucking idiot and you'd better

come to your senses before your final decision, because no man should be
allowed to be that fucking stupid. Obvs. But I know you're totally not and
you're really just fucking with me, and that's cool," she said as she
walked around the table before leaning down and kissing him firmly, pressing
her lips against his for a long moment. "Have fun with the rest of the
pitches!"

As Sarah walked out of the room, Aisling shook her head

while sending the message to Sheridan for her to make her way up to the pitch
room. "It can be very hard to remember she's been nominated for an Oscar
when she acts like that," the smaller redhead said. "But I guess it's
part of her 'girl next door' charm. Anyway, what did you think? You're not mad
about Sarah pitching Larissa?"

"Why would I be mad?" he laughed. "I just

don't know that it'd work. But it's something I'll definitely consider when I'm
doing my deliberations, especially since Sarah seems to think Larissa might be
into me. I never got that vibe, but  "

"But it's well established you barely know a woman's

into you even when she's sitting in your lap and whispering into your ear that
she wants you to fuck her brains out."

Andy gave her a disapproving smirk. "I'm not that

bad."

"You're not far from it, anyway."

Sheridan came strolling into the room, wearing what she had

at lunch, far less dressed up than most of the girls, wearing jean shorts over
a leotard or a swimsuit, her frizzy blonde hair mostly tucked back, damp but
not soaked. Andy half wondered if she'd been swimming in the pool while she'd
been waiting. Sheridan had been known to enjoy swimming, even though the
weather was dipping into the cooler side. Since her job as a performer was on
hold until the pandemic was under control, she'd done her best to find ways to
occupy her time.

"Heya stud," she said with a wink as she wandered

over to sit down in the chair. "I'm not gonna ask you if you've made
decisions yet, but I am gonna ask how you're feeling about the process so far.
It's hella cool that you're giving us input into that, and it's a big deal, so
thanks for that. Anyway, I think you're gonna find my friend a wild ride."

"Let's get to it then," Andy said.

Sheridan picked up the remote and pushed the button as the

screen popped to life, a image of Sheridan sitting with a young woman in her
late 20s or early 30s, with jet black hair and skin the color of desert sand.
She was a little more on the plump side, with a mischievous smile. They were
sitting at a wood table on the patio of some local bar.

"This is my friend Tala Jordan," the blonde said.

"Her parents immigrated here from Iran in 1970. We met in high school and
became besties. She's the one who talked me into quitting smoking. We were
roommates in college down at Santa Cruz and we've been roomies on and off again
since we both graduated in 2012."

"Why do I feel like I've seen her somewhere

before?" Andy said, the woman's face looking vaguely familiar in a way he
simply couldn't place.

"You go to a lot of concerts, Andy?"

"Some."

"Well, then she's probably been singing with an opening

band you've seen at a concert." Sheridan pushed the button and the image
advanced, showing Tala playing an electronic keyboard on a stand, and singing
into a microphone. He recognized the stage as The Independent, a small but
influential club in San Francisco that also tended to get some big name acts.
"Boom Goes The Dynamite, Castle Idea, The Grendelles, Lowball Skyscrapers,
Girls Gone Danger, hell, probably at least half a dozen more that I can't
remember. Every time I talk to her, it seems like she's got some new band she's
playing with."

"What does she do when she's not playing in a

band?" Aisling asked. Andy was certain she probably already knew the
answer to the question and was simply asking for his benefit.

"She's a carpenter," Sheridan said, pushing a

button to advance to a slide of Tala working on a desk. "More
specifically, she's a cabinetmaker, most of the time, anyway. She and a couple
of her friends opened their own custom furniture house about five years ago,
and people really like their stuff, because that's kept her afloat while living
in the Bay, although to be fair, she's also gotten a very specific kind of
clientele as of late."

"What's that?" Andy asked.

Sheridan pushed the button again, and the new image showed

Tala sitting on top of a desk with dozens of shelves, a hutch atop it that had
a number of closed doors on it. "She's become a puzzle maker. Custom
puzzle boxes, puzzle desks, that kind of thing. It's a weird little niche, but
it pays incredibly well, and she's made stuff for people like Kris Angel, Neil
Patrick Harris and Elon Musk. Those projects usually take a month or two's
worth of work, but they pay for an entire year or two's worth of mortgage, so
she's okay with it."

"Fascinating. What's she like as a person?"

"She's wicked smart and very funny." She pushed

the button and the image advanced again, showing the two of them standing on
the Golden Gate bridge, their backs to the Bay. It must have been extremely
windy on the day the picture was taken, because both women were doing their
best to keep their hair from flying all over the place. Both girls were clearly
laughing hysterically. "Some people think she can come across as a bit
mean, but they just don't recognize she's only busting their balls a bit. She
always told me that the Persian sense of humor can go over the heads of people
not smart enough to keep up with her, and that she doesn't mind. She's a lot like
Niko, and considering how much you and she get along, I think you'll dig Tala
loads."

Andy nodded. "Do you think she and I would be sexually

compatible? What's she want out of a man?"

Sheridan grinned from ear to ear and Andy immediately

wondered what he'd said to trigger such a reaction. "If you had asked me
two weeks ago, I would've given you an entirely different answer than the one I
can give you today, dude. So when I told her about the whole imprinting
process, and all about the accident we had with me getting primed early, I
expected to see Tala be hella concerned about me, but instead, she got this
freaky look on her face, and I realized about half way through my story that
she was jilling off, while I told her about it. It turned her on so much she
just couldn't help it," the blonde said, licking her lips with wolfish
delight. "I'd never known before, but she's always had this pheromone
fetish. Like, she gets turned on by the idea of being so turned on that she
doesn't have control of her self, that she's turned into some carnal
unstoppable beast who is going to fuck even if she has to move hell to get
it."

Andy swallowed a mouthful of air awkwardly.

"When I told her about your first encounter with Piper,

I swear to god, she fucking came just hearing about it. She wasn't even
touching herself at that point, 'cause she was holding the phone with both
hands. I asked her about it, and she said she was kinda embarrassed to talk
about it, but admitted that it'd always been a fetish of hers. I found out all
of this yesterday when I called to ask her if she'd be interested in me putting
her forward for a chance to join you."

"And I take it that the tales of the imprinting process

only enhanced her interest?"

"Totes. Obvs she wants to be here, but she also wants

you to edge her all the time."

"What do you mean edge her?"

"She asked what happens when you try and stretch out

the amount of time a girl needs to get her dose, and I told her your story
about you and Lauren, and she wants to constantly be going towards that state.
That turns her on like you wouldn't imagine. So seems to me like you get
multiple ticks in the win column by bringing her here."

"Possible challenges?"

"Well, being quarantined in New Eden's gonna be rough

on her, because she's big into spending time with her parents. She moved into
their house when the pandemic started, and I know when people come into New
Eden, they can't leave until the pandemic's over, so you'll need to make sure
she understands that, but I'm betting the idea of getting to live out her
number one sexual fantasy, like, all the fucking time might be enough to
convince her that her folks will be okay on their own."

"How close are you two, Sheridan?"

"She's, like, one of my best friends, maybe my best

friend, actually. I think you'd like her a lot. I know we haven't spent, like,
loads of time together, but she really wants this, and you've got me, and you
seem to like me well enough, so maybe you'd like her too, y'know?"

Andy nodded with a smile. "Okay then. Thanks for

talking to me about her, and I'll be letting everyone know tomorrow what my
decisions are."

"Yep, I got the spiel on the rules from Ash before we

got started, so I know how it works," she said, pressing the button to
advance the screen once more, bold white letters reading "next:
Taylor" on the black background. "Just remember, while we all gotta
live with'em, you're the one who's gonna have to fuck'em every couple of weeks,
so don't take anyone you don't wanna dip your wick into on the regular, y'hear?"

With that, Sheridan headed out of the room, leaving Andy and

Aisling alone in the room again. "I didn't even know there was a fetish
for that kind of thing."

"You live near San Francisco, love," Aisling

teased. "You more than anyone should know there's a fetish for every kind
of thing. And nobody's judging. If it's not your thing, no problem. If it turns
you on thinking about it, no problem. To thine own self be true, like Polonius
said."

"You know it's meant to be bad advice when he says it

in Hamlet, right?" Andy replied.

"Don't be such a geezer about it."

"I'm a writer, Ash. Being a geezer about the English

language is right there in the job description."

Taylor knocked on the door, and had to be told twice to come

in. She was actually dressed in clothing now, Lauren obviously having made an
exception for the day, as the girl was still in her time of punishment. Andy
wasn't sure that Lauren would make her go the whole month, but as of yet, the
Aussie had shown no sign of suddenly doling out leniency. Taylor had on a pair
of gym shorts and a white muscle t shirt that did very little to mask her
impressive bust, but her hair was drawn back into a modest ponytail, high on
her head, done up in a scrunchy. "So I'm the last one, huh?" she
said, as she came into the room, looking at the chair then looking at Andy
expectantly.

"Sit, sit," Andy said. "If she's letting you

get dressed to pitch, I'm sure she's fine with you sitting in a chair while you
go through the whole process. And if she wasn't, I'm certain she would have said
something."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Taylor said, finally

moving to sit down in the chair. "Uh, hi! I did want to be sure and say
thank you for letting us all do this, sir. I know you've been a little
overwhelmed by all the female attention you've been getting, but it's very kind
of you to allow us to suggest our friends to you, to make this home a little
more like home."

"Just as long as none of you get mad if I don't choose

the people you pitch," Andy said.

Taylor's bright blue eyes widened and she shook her head.

"Oh, no no, sir. Miss Aisling made it abundantly clear what she'd
do to us if we did, and none of us want to incur her wrath!" The blonde
giggled a little, as Andy saw Aisling shake her head out of the corner of her
eye. "It's an honor just to be nominating, sir. Which brings us to my
friend Natalie."

The blonde picked up the remote and pressed the button as

the image changed before them from the black screen to an image of Taylor and
another girl standing in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, doing that cliched
stance that it seemed like every tourist was obliged to it. The two girls in
the picture made rather a stark contrast to each other. While they were both
blonde, Natalie was tall and thin compared to Taylor's short and curvy. Natalie
was dressed in a summer dress that hung perhaps a bit too loosely on her.
"Nat and I met in junior high and have been besties since then. After we
graduated high school, we went and took a trip through Europe together, which
my parents paid for, because Natalie doesn't come from money, where as my folks
work for Bank of America in upper management."

"You said you were twenty five, so that means you've

known her, what, a dozen years or so?"

Taylor nodded. "Something like that. She was the first

person I came out to as bisexual, and while Nat didn't feel the same way, she
was super supportive of me. I didn't want to fuck her anyway; I just wanted
someone to talk to about it, and Nat didn't judge me, just like I didn't judge
her when she let me in on her big secret a few years ago."

"You don't have to share someone else's secret with me,

Taylor. I wouldn't ask you to violate someone else's trust."

Taylor smiled at him warmly. "I know you wouldn't but

it's okay for me to tell you, because she told me it's okay to tell you."
She picked up the remote and clicked the button again, and suddenly the image
changed in a startling and dramatic way. The tall, leggy blonde had traded the
sundress for a silver bikini, six inch clear heels and a steel pole behind her.
"Natalie has also been going by the name Mercedes four nights a week at
Centerfolds in San Francisco. A lot of dancers insist you call them exotic
dancers, but Nat's always been okay with being called a stripper."

Andy's eyebrow raised a bit. "Okay, I definitely didn't

see this one coming."

"So I'm sure you've heard the stories before if you've

ever been in a strip club, but Natalie really is stripping to pay her way
through school. Medical school, to be exact," Taylor said with a giggle.
"She's been told a bunch of times that she could make all that money
faster if she got a boob job, but Natalie's happy with her body, so she's told
those people to fuck off for years now. And besides, people say she kinda looks
like Charlize Theron, and if she strapped a couple of grapefruit to her chest,
she'd lose that."

The bubbly fireplug blonde pushed the button to show Natalie

with her arms holding onto the pole, her legs raised into the air in a wide V,
like she was about to clack the heels of those shoes together with a thunderous
crack.

"She's in year one of med school now, having had to

take a little time off to earn the money to pay for premed and med school.
She'd love to just be able to focus on school and not have to be dancing at the
club once the quarantine's done. But, shit, she's been hit hard by the fact
that she can't dance to earn, and the bills just keep piling up."

Taylor pushed the button once more, changing the image to

show Natalie from behind, wearing a plaid mini skirt, looking over her shoulder
at the camera, and on the small of her back, just above her waist, was a single
line of script. On further investigation, it brought a grin to Andy's face.

"I take it the tattoo meets with your approval?"

"I mean, I can't tell you what it says, but I do

recognize elvish script when I see it. So she's a member of the geek tribe
then, I take it?"

"She is, but she did want me to tell you that she's

never read your books before. She's heard of you, but her first love has always
been Tolkien. The tattoo says 'Fire will only forge me stronger' in Elvish, or,
well, she claims it does. I dunno. I can't read it, so I have to trust her. She
and I talked about it, and she is going to make it a point to read your books,
but she doesn't want you to think she's a superfan like Sarah is."

Andy laughed a little at that. "I don't think I know anyone

who's the level of superfan about my books that Sarah is, so that's fine.
Sexually, do you think she and I would be compatible?"

"I don't really know, sir," Taylor sighed.

"She and I don't talk about sex that much. I know she makes sort of
yipping chipmunk noises when she's really worked up, but that's just from being
roommates for a while. She's straight, so she's unlikely to want to play with
the other girls, but I think she deserves a chance at happiness."

"Any other things you can think of that might be deal

breakers?"

"I mean, she's going to be studying all the time,

because she very much wants to be a doctor, and I know doctors can keep some
weird hours."

He nodded, flipping his notepad face down, as he stood up.

"Well, thanks for taking the time to share your friend with me, and for
having the courage to do this."

"Oh, it really didn't take that much courage,

sir," Taylor said, blushing a little.

"It did," Andy corrected, "whether you know

it or not. As someone whose gotten more than two hundred rejection letters in
his life, it takes guts to put yourself out there. I'll have my decision
tomorrow."

Taylor stood up and moved over to hug him, her arms clinging

to him firmly for a long moment before she pulled back. "You should know,
sir, that we're all very lucky we found you, or that you found us. We could've
been saddled with somebody like these assholes Lauren tells me parade around
their trophy wives like chattel, but you're so much better than them. Thank you
again for that."

Andy rubbed his hand against Taylor's back. "You're

very welcome. Do me a favor, would you? Round up all the girls and have them
meet me in the big downstairs living room, okay?"

"You got it, sir." Taylor leaned away, stopped,

leaned back, grabbed Andy and pulled him down so she could kiss them, then
giggled and scampered off.

"Why are you gathering everyone together? I thought you

were going to sleep on it before you made any decisions," Aisling asked,
looking as Andy picked up his notepad, as well as the folded piece of paper
with Ash's predictions on it.

"Oh, I am, but if I'm going to call Xander tomorrow and

fill him in on everything, I figured we could take a group photo of the whole
household and send it to him ahead of the chat."

The Irish redhead stuck her tongue out at him. "You're

a stinker, but I love it."

A few minutes later, the living room in question was filled

with people, and Andy decided to give a few short words to everyone.

"Okay everyone, I want to thank you all for being so

respectful in sharing your friends with me, trying to play matchmaker and to
offer them for consideration in being invited to our home. I'm going to let
myself think about it for a while, but sometime tomorrow, I will come down here
and post a list of who's being invited to the house, the way the editor in
chief of my college newspaper used to announce next semester's staff. Once the
list is posted, those of you who know people who are going to be invited can
put together a short video to send to your friend, telling them why you think
they should come and join us here. Now, obviously, any of them can feel free to
say no, so I will also have two names listed as alternate, and if you're
friends with the alternates, you may want to put together a short video invite,
just in case one of my initial selections says no.

"I'm not going to harbor any ill will if someone

declines our invitation, and neither should you. This world, our world, it's a
lot for anyone to take in, and if someone doesn't want to get on the
rollercoaster with us, well, that's entirely up to them. But in closing, let me
just say something from the movie 'Roxanne,' okay? 'I would rather be with the
people of this house, than with the finest people in the world!' Viva la
familia!"

There was a rousing cheer followed by applause, and

afterwards, everyone started to gather up for the photo. Katie suggested she
take the picture, since she expected that she, Jenny and Nicolette wouldn't be
in it, but Andy refused, saying that while he fully respected they were the
staff, they were still going to be in a photo showing his whole household,
something Katie found herself unable to disagree with, so a tripod was set up,
and everyone got into place.

In the center of the photo was Andy, sitting on the couch,

with Niko immediately on one side of him, Aisling immediately on the other.
Sitting on the floor directly in front of him, Emily leaned up against one of
his legs, Sarah on the other, each of the two holding hands with Niko and Ash,
arms criss crossing to almost lock Andy in. Lauren sat to the right of Niko,
with Taylor on her leg, underneath her arm. Sheridan and Piper sat to the left
of Aisling, squeezed in on the couch. On the floor, Hannah and Asha bookended
the two actresses, while Katie and Jenny sat on one arm of the couch, and
Nicolette perched on the other.

It took a handful of attempts to get the image framed right,

to make sure nobody was blinking or frowning, but eventually, all fourteen of
them were smiling and looking at the camera. After that, Katie insisted on
getting lots of photos of different combinations of the girls, mostly with
Andy, but sometimes without.

Andy wondered a little where the hell they were going to

take the next one, when the house was finally filled out for good.

To be continued in part 13, by CorruptingPower for Literotica.

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