Marly's Choice (Men of August 1)

He looked at her in amazement.

“Hell, Marly, Cade’s my brother. Course it’ll get passed.”

“Not if I never touch him again,” she snarled, thinking about last night, the domination, the wild pleasure. The self-confidence of a man who knew what he was doing and what he wanted.

“Whoa!” He blinked now, amazement crossing his face. “You look like you mean that, Munchkin.”

Marly rolled her eyes. She hadn’t spoken to Cade since the night before. Since her last gasping moan, her last desperate plea deep into the night as he used the large rubber dildo in sync to his own deep thrusts inside her body as he whispered to her. Reaffirming the wild rumors, warning her, daring her to push him into it. Daring her to make the choice by denying him, by whispering the forbidden word, ‘no’.

“Son of a bitch, I get laid up here in the hospital and all the good shit starts happening and I can’t even be blamed for it,” he moaned. “When did you decide to grow teeth anyway?”

“When my lover decided to fuck me to keep me from getting killed instead of because he just couldn’t keep his hands off me,” she informed him bitterly. When her lover had jerked her out of the fairy tale she would have been content to live in.

Marly didn’t like the things she was learning about herself, or the depraved images her lover had put in her head.

“You think so, huh?” He asked her softly. “Interesting.”

“You don’t act convinced.” Marly crossed her arms over her breasts as she watched his psuedo-innocent expression.

His brows arched.

“Brother Sam knows many things, little Munchkin,” he chuckled. “But trust me, you’re way off base. But give him hell anyway; he needs it. You always were too agreeable with him.”

Marly sighed in resignation, watching him with his former morose expression. She had expected Sam to be just a tad bit more sympathetic to her plight here.

“Tell me, Marly, what’s the one thing about Cade that you love the most?” he finally asked her gently.

She lowered her head, fighting to control the hurt and the tears.

“Come on. There has to be one thing,” he urged softly, his hazel eyes velvet soft as he watched her with affection.

She lifted a shoulder negligently.

“Let me see, we’ve had a lot of conversations in the past,” he mused quietly. “But the one thing that comes to mind, is the fact that Cade is always so determined. No matter what, to see to your happiness, your safety, your smiles and your pleasure. You’ve always been in awe of that, haven’t you Little Sister?”

She looked up at him with a frown. “That has nothing to do with it.”

How could he have her pleasure in mind? Her needs uppermost. He wanted to share her. He wanted to watch her writhe under the touch of his brothers’ hands. Marly shook off the flare of excitement, attributing it instead to fear and disgust. She wouldn’t enjoy such a thing, she couldn’t.

“Doesn’t it, Marly?” he asked her patiently. “Come on, Marly. Cade wouldn’t make love with you if he loved you like a sister or a niece. He wouldn’t be so concerned with all those things in any other instance unless he loved you like a woman. Cade just doesn’t realize it yet.”

Marly shook her head. “You’re wrong, Sam,” she denied painfully. “I wish you weren’t, but you are. It’s not love, as much as I wish it were.”

Sam sighed roughly. “Come here, Munchkin, if you have to cry, at least let me pet you while you do it.”

Marly shook her head. She couldn’t go into his arms. She couldn’t. Did he get hard when he held her? Did his mind fill with sexual thoughts, sexual needs? Her hands shook as she remembered her own flare of desire the other morning, the hot flush of arousal at his touch. The information Cade had given her only made it worse. Could she handle it now, without wondering—

“Marly?” He tilted his head, his blue eyes quizzical and faintly hurt. “You won’t let me hold you?”

She couldn’t hurt Sam. She couldn’t let her fears do this to her. They wouldn’t force her. She knew they wouldn’t. But could she keep herself from wanting?”Now, here’s what you’re gonna do,” he advised her quietly at he patted her shoulder. “You’re gonna give him hell for being a knothead. And he deserves it. But be careful, Marly, because he can be hurt, too. And you are the only person guar-an-damn-teed to be able to hurt, Cade.”

“I couldn’t hurt, Cade,” she whispered. “Even now, when it hurts so bad, Sam. I can’t hurt him.”

“That’s because you love him. And I know Cade didn’t deliberately hurt you. He’s just a little fried in the brain from all that rough and ready kitchen sex you two have been having. Dangerous for the mental faculties there, Marly-girl,” he told her half-seriously. “Not to mention my mental well-being. I’m young and impressionable, ya know?”

“Yeah, sure you are. I heard about you too, Big Boy,” she muttered. “Dillon Carlyle has nothing on your little exploits.”

At least he had the grace to blush.