“hell if i know,” brock mumbled. “those three women have gone crazy. i swear they have.”
“yeah. and they’re wearing panties again, too,” sam bitched. “what’s with that shit? i touch heather and she pats me on the head like i’m drace’s age and goes about her business.”
they were horny. they were all horny. not that they had been cut off…exactly. just seriously restricted. cade hadn’t anticipated this. drace was his pride and joy, but there were days he exhausted marly. and during those days, being with sarah or heather wasn’t the answer, either. the shift in the family dynamics had come about slowly, but it had settled like a comfortable shirt across their shoulders.
“i feel like i’m a f**king kid again,” sam sighed. “trying to seduce my favorite girl. heather’s worse than a virgin some days.”
they were bitching about it, but cade could hear a thread of amusement, feel the slowly building tension and anticipation growing in them all. he shook his head and headed for the coffee pot. he’d be damned if he knew what the three of those women were up to, but he knew it was something.
“and they keep mentioning presents,” brock pointed out. “what do you buy them? hell, i can’t think of anything they don’t have that we can afford.”
“i offered heather a trip.” sam sounded more than bemused now.
“anywhere she wanted to go, for however long. thought she was going to cry. and not because she was happy, either.”
uh oh. cade turned back to them slowly.
“yeah. same with sarah.” brock shook his head. “i took her to look at new cars, and she acted like i broke her heart.”
cade had tried several different suggestions with marly. she smiled. acted enthusiastic over each but there was no missing the sadness in her eyes. christmas was only weeks away now. there wasn’t much time left and he had
no idea what the hell she wanted.
“has sarah even given you any hints?” sam asked brock desperately.
“hasn’t heather mentioned anything to her?”
“not a damned thing,” brock griped. “i even asked her what the others wanted. she told me to stop being a man and to figure it out.”
insulted male ego echoed in his voice. “how does one stop being a man?” he grunted irritably.
“by being a woman,” sam snickered. “want us to buy you a thong for christmas, bro?”
brock hurled a biscuit at his cackling brother, hitting him in the forehead even as sam tried to duck. crumbs rained down as it broke apart, littering sam’s broad chest with the baked flour.
“cut it out. both of you.” cade grabbed for one of the few remaining biscuits. heather had made them, obviously. they were light and flaky, damned near melting in his mouth when he bit into one.
“how about a housekeeper?” he frowned as he thought of all the extra work involved in the house now. “someone to just come in through the day.”
they all stilled. at any given time during the workday, they could sneak in for a few minutes of heated, lusty sex wherever they found one of the women. cade sobered at that thought. or at least it used to be. he frowned.
he hadn’t touched sarah or heather since drace’s birth. he was spending too much time trying to get into his own wife’s pants. like the other two, she was as hard to seduce these days as a nervous virgin.
“yeah, maybe that would be a good idea.” sam straightened in his chair.
“hell, heather gets out of bed too damned early to fix breakfast anyway. i never get to touch her in the morning anymore. that could work.”
“at least we don’t have to worry about a housekeeper walking in on anything anymore,” cade said wearily. “damned if i want any more talk circulating around town about our lives. i’d like to see it settle down a bit before drace is old enough to go to school.”
the other two sighed. they had talked about this before. they had never given much thought to what those in town gossiped about. they were careful of their wives’ reputations, and were feared enough that nothing was said or done
to hurt the women. but they knew how cruel and thoughtless other children could be. it wasn’t something they wanted drace to suffer for.
“might be a good idea,” sam said slowly. “thanksgiving is coming around. we could have a big dinner. maybe let the girls invite some of the friends they’ve made. the best way to ensure drace’s future is to make certain he has the loyalty needed to overcome anything that gets thrown at him.”
everyone had hated old joe so badly that torturing his boys had been a favorite game. cade would be damned if he would see his son tortured that way.
“okay.” cade breathed in slowly. “i’ll call marie and see if she can find us someone.”
marie had been their housekeeper while they were growing up. she was retired now, living comfortably on the fund cade had set up for her years before.
she would be more than willing to help. they were still her favorite boys, she claimed each time they drove over to make certain she had groceries, medicine, whatever she needed.
“good plan. but that’s not going to fix christmas for us,” sam warned him.
“a housekeeper is not a good enough present.”
cade shook his head. “damned if i know yet. i’ll see if marly is any more forthcoming tonight than she has been in the past weeks. we might get lucky.”
chapter two
she wasn’t. cade stared at marly in the privacy of their bedroom after putting drace to bed, a frown on his face.
“you don’t want a housekeeper?” he asked her, confused as frustration flashed in her expression after he made the offer.
“a housekeeper is fine, cade.” oh, he hated that tone of voice.
where the hell had his sweet, passionate little wife gone?
“then what was with the look?” he faced her, hands on hips, his eyes going over her overly dressed body. “and what’s with the clothes? what happened to your dresses, anyway?”
she frowned darkly. “it’s getting cold, cade. i like my jeans.”
“not that damned cold, it’s not.” he felt like a sulky child and he was certain he looked like one. “dammit, marly, you look good in the dresses.”
but she looked damned fine in the jeans, too. they molded her body like a second skin, smoothing over her slender legs, emphasizing her small waist and flat stomach.