“Then make Sarah understand it.” Her voice hardened. “Listen to me, Brock, she wasn’t raised with Joe’s abuse. With the evil he stank of. She wasn’t raised seeing the three of you alone, lonely, searching.
She doesn’t love all of you the way I did at one time or another, so she isn’t going to accept it as easily.”
Brock tilted his head, memories washing over him then. Good memories for a change. The year she had her crush on him, then on Sam. Her teenage years had been more hormones than good sense as she went around rubbing on one of them at one time or another. Innocent touches, flirtatious glances. He shook his head, feeling a warmth he hadn’t recognized where Marly was concerned.
“Wouldn’t loving me be enough?” He had once thought that was her reason for giving into Cade’s desires, and ultimately his and Sam’s.
“God, you men are so dumb.” Amazement washed over her expression.
“Would you sit quietly and let her ex-husband f**k the hell out of her while you watched? Would you join in with that?”
He frowned, jealousy filling him at the thought of Mark Tate touching her to begin with.
“See? Look how angry you are. Ready to kill him now,” she pointed out.
“She’s mine. She was mine to begin with,” he told her stubbornly.
“Yet you’ll expect her to accept you f**king me, right?” she asked him.
He narrowed his eyes, his teeth clenching.
“Right,” she answered herself. “And you will expect her to let Sam and Cade touch her, whether you’re with her or not when it happens. When you come into a room, realizing one of your brothers had just shot his cum inside her body, you’ll feel pride, not fury.”
“They’re my brothers,” he reminded her. “It’s different.”
Marly took a deep, fortifying breath.
“Love isn’t enough for a woman who wasn’t raised with you, seeing your interactions, loving you all to one extent or another.” It was obvious she was growing irritated with him. “When a woman loves, it’s possessively, Brock. She doesn’t want another woman touching him, or another man touching her. The thought of it is abhorrent.”
“It excites her. I saw it in her eyes,” he denied, remembering the flare of heat that made her golden eyes sparkle.
Marly shook her head, her eyes flashing at him in impatience.
“I know Sarah, Brock. I went to school with her. If it excites her, it’s because she sees and feels your excitement for it. That might make her fantasize. Make her wonder. Women do that. All the time. But the reality of it is a different matter entirely.”
“So what do I do?” He pushed his hands through his hair then rested his elbows on his knees as he regarded her. “Marly, I need her.”
He watched her wince. He knew she was aware of how that need would be transmitted to Cade. It was the only reason Cade would lust after another woman.
“Start by telling her the truth, Brock.” She met his gaze, determined, fierce. “Don’t lie to her. Don’t try to trick her with it. Be up front with her. Sarah is an honest person and she hates liars. That would not have changed in the years since school. If you aren’t honest with her, then no matter how she loves you, she will refuse to accept you or your family.”
“I have to get her to listen first,” he sighed. “Getting close to that woman isn’t easy any more. She’s like a damned skittish foal, all legs and big golden brown eyes, and ready to run at a moment’s notice.”
Marly was clearly fighting her need to smile.
“Only you would compare a woman to a horse, Brock.” She laughed, though the sound was tinged with sadness. “If she really wants you, then you’ll find a way. She’ll let you try because she’s praying the
rumors are lies and that you need her more than you need your brothers.”
She watched him intently when she said that. Brock could see the unspoken question, the need to understand herself.
“And if she loves you,” Cade spoke from the doorway, his voice dark, pitched with sexuality, desire, and haunting pain. “She’ll know neither is possible.”
Marly’s lips pressed together, a seductive little pout that had Brock recalling the feel of those tender curves sucking his cock. She flicked a sideways look at Cade.
“You weren’t invited into this conversation,” she told him, a pout clearly rising in her voice.
“If I waited for an invitation these days, then I would be taking care of myself in more ways than one,”
he reminded her, moving slowly into the bathroom.
His eyes flickered to the array of articles in the trashcan. The items used occasionally on her body to make it ready for her family’s lusts were lying there, discarded. Brock watched as satisfaction edged Cade’s mouth. His fingers went to the buttons of his shirt, his look becoming heavy lidded, filled with desire.
“I’m not in the mood. I haven’t finished my bath.” But her voice had thickened, indicating otherwise.
Cade smiled. The powerful love he felt for Marly was reflected in the curve of his lips, but his expression was tinged with sorrow.
“Sure?” he asked her softly, shrugging the shirt from his shoulders as he glanced at Brock.
Brock glanced at Marly. Her face was flushed, arousal glittering in her eyes. She knew what her lover needed, even if she didn’t understand why he needed it. She directed a sultry, inviting look to both men.
Brock looked at his brother, seeing the question in his eyes, the unspoken hesitation in Cade. The dark shadows in the other man’s eyes were more noticeable than before, the brooding intensity clearer.
Cade was his brother. Like he told Sarah, it didn’t always make sense, but the bond was there. There was no way to break it. No way to break the need and the pleasure that came from it. Brock pulled his T-shirt from his body, then stood to his feet and loosened the soft, casual jeans.
“You’re making me very angry, Cade August,” Marly whispered as he helped her from the tub, tossing a towel to Brock. There was no anger in her voice though, just hot, untamed arousal.
Brock knelt at her feet, hastily wiping bubbles from Marly’s slender curves. When he reached her thighs, he parted them, his mouth going to the smooth, waxed flesh that tempted him. His tongue reached out, running down the small valley between the plump lips that shielded her secrets.