“You can be assured of honesty here. I ask that you be honest with me as well,” he said with a nod.
“I think I’m going to enjoy living here!” she grinned and pressed herself against his side. She caught Tina and Lucy watching her from across the table. They didn’t appear threatened by her in the least. They seemed to be just evaluating her intent. “Yes, I will enjoy it very much!”
Liliya, sitting on Tatiana’s other side pulled her away from Ben. “You will behave now that we’ve found a good place to call home!”
Tatiana pouted. “Ben is capable of so much love! I’m sure he’s capable in so many ways!”
Liliya rolled her eyes. “You are always thinking of sex!” she growled.
Tatiana’s smile grew wicked. “It is such an important element of life and worthy of much attention!”
Liliya wasn’t finished. “We’re in a family neighborhood. There are children present. You will curb your rampant lust and contain it to the privacy of the bedroom! Do not abuse Ben’s good nature.”
Tatiana gave her a shocked look. “I would never abuse such a gracious man!” She turned her face to Ben, and he could see a hunger in her eyes. “There are so many ways I wish to show my gratitude!”
He looked back into her eyes. “Didn’t I mention I can’t do casual affairs?” he said cautiously.
The brunette shook her head. “Unlike Liliya, I’ve never had a man fall in love with me. I think I would like very much to experience that.”
Liliya slapped Tatiana on the back of her head drawing a cry of surprise and outrage from the woman. They began snapping at each other in rapid and angry Russian.
“Stop!” Ben said quietly but fiercely, and they did. “Listen, it’s your first day in the neighborhood. I don’t expect either of you to fit in immediately. It’s a growing into kind of thing. Be patient with us and with each other.”
They nodded to him and finished up their meals. Rose rushed over to the table and climbed up on Liliya’s lap to get kisses from her Mom.
“Ben, why don’t you take them to their new home,” Tina suggested.
“I was going to help clean up,” he said.
Lucy shook her head. “We’ve got this. It was very nice meeting you Liliya and Tatiana! Welcome!”
The ladies thanked her then they all stood up.
General Davis stood as well and nodded to Tina and Lucy before turning to the others. “I have to speak to you three for a minute before I head back to Washington. I wasn’t expecting you to arrive today but since we’re all here let’s do it outside.”
They nodded and made their way out of the tent. Once they had a little privacy, they stopped to look to the General.
“In the spirit of brutal honesty, I’ll be blunt so there can be no misunderstandings. You two wouldn’t be here if Ben hadn’t made it a condition for his working for us. There are a lot of people back in Washington who don’t agree with my contract with Mr. Shepherd, but he’s already proved his worth with his last engineering contribution. I had to call in favors and convince some very senior people to pull some significant strings to keep you out of a maximum security lockup. The CIA wanted you to play on their team, but even they didn’t have the pull to keep you out of jail. That was me and only because Ben wanted you two to have a second chance. That has a cost for Mr. Shepherd. He’s now accountable for your behavior and actions. We expect you to be on your best behavior while you’re living here and when you accompany him on any trips he might take. Is this understood?”
The women nodded and glanced at the embarrassment on Ben’s face. It was apparent he hadn’t expected this.
“Yes, General,” Liliya said with a nod, and he looked to Tatiana.
“Best behavior. Yes,” the tall brunette beauty said with a coy smile and Davis held her eyes for a bit, but she didn’t blink. He understood his niece’s concerns about this one. She was a little too wild and willful. He looked to Ben uneasily. He needed the man’s genius on his team, so he was going to have to let him have this. But that didn’t mean he had to feel comfortable about it. He sighed.
“Ok, I’ve said my piece. Thank you again, Ben, for your work. It’s going to save the lives of so many of our soldiers,” he said sincerely.
“Please, General,” Ben begged uncomfortably as the two women looked at him curiously.
“I’m done!” He threw his hands up in surrender as he smiled at the big man. Then he shook Ben’s hand. “I’ll speak with you later. Have a good evening!”
“Thank you, for everything. Have a good flight back to Washington!” Ben said sincerely.
With a final nod to the group and a look directed at Tatiana, the man turned and walked back towards his waiting limo.
Ben turned to the women and gestured for them to walk with him to their new home.
“What did you do for the general?” Tatiana asked.
He glanced at her then shrugged. “I solved the overheating issue with their assault rifles.”
Tatiana and Liliya shared a look of surprise. They understood the scope of that and what it could mean for the troops. Suddenly they realized why the General listened to Ben’s request.
Liliya settled Rose more comfortably on her hip and reached out to touch Ben’s arm. They stopped again, and he looked to her. “I- I want to thank you for giving us a second chance at having a life. I know we would have been sent to prison for the rest of our lives because of the lives we took for the Colonel. I don’t blame your government and law officials, but I’m grateful you helped us avoid that. Helped me avoid that so I could be with Rose.”
“I would have rather have died than let them put me in jail. When I discovered you and the General were working on an alternative plan, I immediately made my way to where they were keeping Liliya.” Tatiana said sweetly.
Ben looked at her curiously. “If I understand this correctly, you were in the wind. How did you know about the General’s plan?”
Her smile turned wicked. “It’s what I do Benjamin, dear.”
He knew he wasn’t going to get a full answer, so he just nodded. “Ben, not Benjamin.”
Tatiana’s smile widened when he didn’t press for an answer. “Noted, Ben.”
They continued through the park and Tatiana admired the young men throwing a football. She smiled at Liliya. “There are some handsome young men in the neighborhood.”
The lovely blond rolled her eyes at her friend.
As they made their way towards 2 Ashburn Court, Ben pointed out who lived in the houses they passed.
“You know all of your neighbors?” Liliya asked.
He smiled. “Now I do. It wasn’t always this way, but I’m glad I do.”
They finally reached the driveway for their home and took it in from the sidewalk. As he had for 1 Ashburn Court across the street, he’d assured the two mature trees on the front lawn were left untouched during the demolition of the original single-story structures and the building of the new homes.
For 2 Ashburn Court, they followed the design he’d created for Karen and Penny’s home; it was a two-story mansion with four bedrooms upstairs, two in the front and two in the back with cantilevered balconies off the back bedrooms. It was bright with plenty of windows to let in the natural light and views of the surrounding forest.
“Who else lives here?” Tatiana asked.
Ben glanced at her. “No one. This home is for the three of you.”
“This is just for us!?!” Liliya gasped looking at the gorgeous home before them.
“Let’s go in,” Ben said with a smile as he nodded to them.
He led them up the drive and the flagstone walkway to the front door. He pulled out his keychain and handed a lock fob to each of the women. “These are keyed to the door. Press them against this spot, and they unlock or lock the door. The little LED will glow green or red to indicate the door lock’s state.
Tatiana touched her key to the lock, and the light went green. She opened the door and went inside.
Ben followed them in and took off his shoes. The ladies did as well, Rose wiggling to be set down. She kicked her shoes off and placed them next to Ben’s much larger sneakers. She grinned up at him happily, and he patted her head. They walked into the living room/dining room.
“I haven’t furnished it yet as you can see. I wanted to let you choose how to decorate it to your tastes,” he explained.
Liliya and Tatiana looked at each other then back to Ben. “We’ve never had to do this before. We don’t know how to buy furniture to decorate a house!” Liliya asserted as Tatiana nodded.
Ben thought about that as he saw Liliya’s nervous expressions. They were out of their element.
“It’s OK. I’ll ask Tina and Lucy to take you shopping. Tina still has the list of items they purchased for Karen and Penny’s home which was in the same situation as this one. It had nothing inside. Tina has a bank card to pay for the purchases. Do either of you cook?”
They nodded in a non-committal way, so Ben led them all into the kitchen.
“It is lovely!” Tatiana gasped as Liliya took it all in. The French doors led out to the large patio with the hot tub and barbeque range.
“There’s a hot tub!” Tatiana cheered as she rushed to the door to peer through the glass.
“The kitchen has all of the appliances and tools you’ll need, but it’s not stocked with food as we didn’t know when you’d be arriving. Tonight, you can dine with us,” Ben explained. “Let’s go upstairs to look at the bedrooms.”