She watched his eyes narrow, reading her intentions. Before he could jump for her she turned and sprinted for the door. She flung it open, then came to a hard, bouncing halt as something blocked her way. Before she could regain her senses, she was set aside with a gentle touch and Mark screamed out in pain.
Sarah pushed the hair from her face, blinking in amazement at the madman gripping Mark’s throat, lifting him from the floor then throwing him from the kitchen out the back door.
“Want to die today, gnat?” White teeth flashed in a snarling grin as the enraged man faced her ex-husband.
“You bastard, Brock,” Mark screamed at him from a safe distance. “She’ll pay for what she’s done to me. You wait and see.”
“Evidently you do.” He started for the door.
Mark let out a furious curse before Sarah heard him run for the front of the house. Seconds later, the sound of a vehicle starting then roaring away echoed through the room. She stood still, quiet, watching the large man as he turned to face her with a charming smile.
“Mornin’, Sugar.” He made to reach down and kiss her, but Sarah moved quickly out of his way.
“Where the hell is Brock and why are you here?” she asked Sam August, an edge of hysterical fury working its way into her voice.
Sam grinned, a soft tilt to his lips almost identical to Brock’s. It was the eyes though that warned her of the difference. Sam’s, though crinkled with laughter, his lips edged with a smile, were shadowed and saddened.
“How did you know?” he asked, closing the back door and walking to the coffee pot. “We’re usually hard to tell apart if we aren’t together.”
She didn’t know how anyone could miss the differences. Brock’s brooding intensity was there on his face, in the small lines at his mouth and eyes. Sam’s was carefully hidden beneath a cheery false front. That deception worried her.
He poured the last cup of coffee, then turned back to her, watching expectantly.
“You do not live here.” Sarah felt like stomping her foot. What the hell was going on? Men were going crazy today. “You don’t live here and you have no right to act as though you do.”
He lifted a brow in a gesture of curiosity.
“I just saved your virtue. Surely I deserve a cup of coffee?” He groused good-naturedly.
“I didn’t have any virtue left to save,” Sarah bit out, shaking now in reaction and anger. “Your brother took care of that already.” Horror consumed her at the words coming out of her mouth. But she couldn’t seem to stop.
“Where was I?” He frowned in mock bemusement. “Surely he would have invited me for the last scrap of virtue. Brock was never a greedy person before.”
Shock held her immobile, her mouth open, her eyes rounded. She felt like a fish gasping for air. She shook her head, her hands gripping the sides of it as she felt reason wash away on incredulity. He was admitting to it. As though it were no more than a kiss on the cheek, admitting to a lifestyle she could not comprehend, no matter the reason. And acting as though it were already a done deed. A forgone conclusion that she would participate.
“Get the fuck out of my house!” She kept her voice low, calm, despite the fury overwhelming her. “Get out and don’t come back and tell that moronic brother of yours not to come back. God. Damn it, I don’t need this shit.”
Sam leaned against the counter, smiling in that crooked way that so reminded her of Brock.
“It’s okay, Sarah. I didn’t come here to jump your bones. Brock had some stuff to take care of at the ranch that’s going to keep him a few hours longer than he expected. He asked me to come over and stay with you.”
Sarah frowned at that information. Her jaw tightened, her fingers fisting in her robe.
“Marly?” she asked him, her voice sounding strangled. She knew, saw it in Sam’s eyes, felt it in the tightening of her heart. It was this that she couldn’t accustom herself to. This knowledge, the acceptance Brock needed that he could bring another woman pleasure with her acceptance, her approval.
Sam shrugged. “Cade’s in a fit over this shit, Sarah. You won’t come to the ranch and we can’t stay here and still take care of things at home. He’s worried about Brock, and about you.”
“What does that have to do with Brock fucking Marly?” Tears came to her eyes as her hands shook, her body trembled. “Why didn’t you fuck her instead?”
The anger was nearly overwhelming. The years she had spent, humiliated by Mark’s infidelities surged through her mind. It didn’t matter that it was just Marly. Knowing why didn’t ease that terrible, first flash of pain. It didn’t ease the flash of curiosity either, and that one was the hardest to deal with.
“Sarah, that’s enough.” Sam’s voice firmed, somber concern filling it now. “I’m not the one with a woman in danger and up to her neck in stubborn. This isn’t about sex. I know Brock told you that.”
“But he’s having sex with her,” she bit out. “He went back to fuck her. How can he fuck her? He spent all night coming inside me.”
Sam grimaced with a flash of amusement.
“Damn, Sarah, stop making my own hard-on worse.” He grinned with easy humor. “You think I didn’t want to stay? Instead I’m here with you. The least you could do is go easy on me.”