“i like the jeans for now.” she shrugged. “we’ll discuss dresses when it gets warmer. unless you want me to freeze to death, that is.” she arched a brow in question.
cade’s eyes narrowed.
“fine. this room is plenty warm anyway. wear the jeans outside it, but at least take them off while you’re in here.”
her eyes rounded as though she were scandalized. “what if drace cries? i’m not trotting into my son’s room naked.”
cade wanted to roll his eyes. “he’s a baby, marly. you breastfed him, for god’s sake.”
“that doesn’t mean i intend to run around naked in front of him.” she crossed her arms under her br**sts.
cade’s mouth watered at the sight of those soft mounds beneath her light sweater. his c**k throbbed. he was walking around in a nearly constant state of arousal.
“then put a robe on.” he forced the words past his gritted teeth. “marly, baby, you’re pushing a desperate man here.”
what was that glimmer that flashed in her gaze? as though she were stilling a flare of anticipation. how long had it been since he had paddled her ass for playing games with him? he hid his smile.
let her keep playing. he couldn’t wait to watch those tender curves redden; hear her screaming for release.
the baby’s nursery was on the other side of the bathroom. pretty much protected from the sounds of her arousal and completion. he checked the monitor at the side of the bed. it was on. no danger. his hands itched to touch her. hell, it had been before the baby was born since he had sunk his c**k up her tight ass. he could take her, show her the dangers of pushing him so far. hell, that was most likely why she was pushing him. she loved it as much, if not more, than he did.
“a desperate man,” she snorted softly, her eyes filled with warmth and amusement. “really, cade. you act like you haven’t been touched in months.”
his eyes narrowed at the deliberately provocative sound of her voice. her ni**les were hard. he could see them beneath her sweater.
“days,” he growled.
she gave him a moue of false pity. “poor baby. but i’m sure things will settle down soon.”
cade knew she was more than aware that he wasn’t about to go to sarah or heather, so he wasn’t exactly certain what the hell she was up to. and from his conversation with his brothers earlier, the other two women were no more forthcoming than his own wife was.
“is this about christmas?” he finally asked her point blank, wondering what the hell was up with the subtle little game he sensed was being played. “am i supposed to be catching hints that i’m missing about presents?”
he saw it then. a flash of fire in her eyes. almost a sense of frustration or anger. okay. so this was about hints.
“marly, tell me what you want,” he chided her gently. “i’m not good at the hint, baby. you know that.”
“i don’t know what you’re talking about.” she shrugged, but he could feel a sense of hurt involved.
she knew damned good and well what he was talking about and she had no intention of enlightening him. something tightened in cade. a sense of fear. could he be wrong? maybe this wasn’t about christmas after all. was he losing her? he had heard horror stories of the changes in women after the birth of a child. marly was young. had she really been too young to know what she wanted? to understand the commitment it had taken to love him? had he destroyed it all?
he tried to still the rush of agony that resonated through him at the thought. the need to take her, hard and deep, to make certain he still held at least that part of her. he tightened his body instead. steeled himself against the nightmares that rose inside his soul.
she had lost everything he had tried to give her from the moment she had been brought to him. her innocence. her fairy tale dreams of love and marriage. her fantasy of her mother and a mother’s love. it would be enough to destroy anyone. especially someone as gentle, as filled with love, as his marly.
“look at you,” she sighed. “you’re closing up on me. freezing me out, just like you always do. i hate it when you do that, cade.”
he watched her quietly. he saw love in her eyes. they were soft, shimmering. but there was something more, and that unknown quality had the potential to be his worst nightmare.
“what do you want, marly?” he kept his voice cool, kept a tight rein on the emotions clashing inside him.
her gaze flashed with anger. “i want you to stop expecting the worst,” she snapped. “any time you don’t understand something going on inside me you lock up. like you expect me to start spouting hatred and judgmental accusations. it’s like, even now, you can’t accept just how much i do love you.”
the pain in her voice robbed him of breath.
“marly, no.” he strode to her instantly, his heart breaking at the tears suddenly shimmering in her eyes. “baby, you can’t cry,” he whispered desperately. “whatever you want, i swear, you can have it. but you have to tell me.”
she surprised him by shaking her head, moving away from him.
“not this time.” she breathed in roughly. “this time, cade, you have to figure it out.”
he blinked in surprise. “figure what out, marly? dammit, i’m not a mind reader.”
“too bad.” she shrugged.
“too bad?” he asked her softly, his lust rising sharply at the deliberate challenge he could feel pulsing in the air now.
“figure it out, cade.” she wasn’t angry, but she wasn’t far from it.
he watched as she paced over to the window, staring out at the wintry night, tucking her hands into the pockets of her jeans, refusing to say anything more. refusing to acknowledge him.
cade realized then that she had been doing this a lot lately. all three of the women had been. distancing themselves in very subtle ways, making him, brock and sam crazy as they fought to figure out the problem. he’d had enough. since drace’s birth he had tried to be gentle, tried to be the lover a young, innocent woman should have. tried to make up for the way he had taken her, pushed her, in the beginning of their relationship. she might not tell him what the hell she
wanted, but he was damned sick and tired of trying to guess, trying to make up for something he wasn’t totally certain anymore that she regretted.
“the hell i will,” he muttered, jerking his shirt off, determined that if he wasn’t going to get answers, he was at least going to get that tight little ass she was driving him crazy with. first she would submit, then he would get answers.