She was yelling at him and she didn’t give a damn who heard. She watched Cade as he stared up at the ceiling as though praying for strength before he cast Sam an accusing glare. Brock shook his head and stared at the floor, though she could have sworn he was hiding a grin. Sam crossed his arms over his broad chest, and though the sight of him was mouth watering, she was so pissed she wanted to kick him rather than fuck him now.
“Could have been that excited little gleam in your eyes when I told you what was coming,” he fairly snarled back at her. “What’s wrong, Heather? Couldn’t wait until tonight?”
“What’s wrong, Sam? You have to tie your women down to make sure they can’t touch that bleeding heart you possess?”
His arms slowly unfolded from his chest, his fists clenching as he stared at her in angry surprise.
“Sam, what the hell have you done?” Cade hissed with a mixture of amused resignation and irritation.
“None of your damned business,” he growled.
Heather lifted a brow mockingly.
“None of his business? Well, Sam, you did include him in the coming attractions. Too bad you forgot to ask permission from me,” she bit out. “Tell me, boys, is it August prerogative to get yourselves off and leave your partner sitting in the dust with nothing but empty warnings?”
Cade cursed, his expression flashing with guilt. Brock sighed heavily and shook his head.
“It’s that male dominance that they seem to have such a healthy streak of.” Sarah came down the curved stairs slowly, her gaze going to Brock and warming with love and with memories before she cast Heather a grin. “I can see Sam has made his usual impression on a woman.”
“Dammit, I thought she liked me now,” Sam muttered to Brock as the other man shook his head, obviously fighting to contain his laughter.
“I love you, Sam,” Sarah soothed with grinning patience. “But I know you too well.”
Heather watched as she stopped beside Brock, her dark blonde coloring a pretty contrast to Brock’s dark, brooding good looks. His arm went around her, and Heather glimpsed in his eyes the overwhelming love that filled him. It never ceased to amaze her, the relationships that had evolved within this family.
Cade and Sam watched her with fondness as Brock placed a kiss on her forehead. Her head met his shoulder, making her the perfect height, in Heather’s opinion, for her tall husband. Marly was several inches shorter and would have only stood as tall as Cade’s chest.
“I need a shower. Excuse me.” Heather couldn’t rage at the brothers over their lust while Sarah was around. It was just too weird. The dynamics within this family was unsettling at the best of times.
“Heather.” Sarah’s voice stopped as she made to skirt around the family.
Heather stopped, staring at the other woman suspiciously.
“The next time Sam takes his pleasure without returning it to you would be a good time to show him what teeth can really do,” she said gently as she touched the corner of her own lip, and Heather felt her face flame in embarrassed fury.
She sliced an accusing look at the offender as she reached up, touching the corner of her lips and felt the small bit of evidence of his pleasure. She could feel herself shaking, trembling, so angry now she could have shot him with no remorse if she thought she would get away with it.
“You know,” she bit out, staring him in the eye, ignoring the dark hint of remorse in his gaze. “It’s a good fucking thing I’m paid to protect your ass. Otherwise, I’d save your stalker the trouble and kill you myself.”
She pushed by him, moving quickly up the steps as she heard Sam curse with violent heat. A shower, definitely, she thought. A cold one. A very cold one. If she didn’t cool down the flames of anger burning in the pit of her stomach, she may very well kill him anyway.
* * * * *
Sarah found Marly stretched out comfortably beside the pool, her slender body clad in the dark blue thong of her swimsuit, though the top was missing. Marly was almost hedonistic in her worship of the sun, the water and her lovers. In the months Sarah had known her, she had learned Marly’s enormous depths of love, as well as her maturity for one so young.
Accepting the lifestyle the August brothers shared hadn’t been easy for Sarah. If it hadn’t been for Marly’s acceptance of it, and of her, Sarah knew she would have never made it through the transition. She loved Brock, more than she had ever believed possible, and though he had helped her to understand the needs of her own body, it had been Marly who had helped her understand and sort out the confusion that came with it. Her acceptance and understanding of the brothers never failed to amaze Sarah.
“Aren’t you afraid the bodyguards will peek?” Sarah sat down on the end of the lounge chair, watching as Marly grinned.
Heavy lidded against the bright rays of the sun, her eyes opened as amusement glittered in the dark blue orbs.
“Naw, Cade would kill them.” Her voice was lazy, slumberous.
Sarah looked up at the hill behind the pool. Brock had told her that the stalker had once hidden there, taking pictures of Marly and spying on her. The base of that small rise was now heavily guarded with a team of Rick’s best men through the day. Specially trained dogs roamed the pine-wooded area there, and kept assurance high that it wouldn’t be used again for that purpose.
Sarah sighed, then turned back to Marly.
“Sam took a page out of Cade’s book. Instead of the barn, he used the stables though,” she said softly.