by Marla Monroe
“I don’t think so. She’s confused and scared, but she’s curious, too. She just needs some time.”
Marcus hoped his brother was right. He wanted her with a vengeance and not just for sex. He wanted her to be part of them. He wanted to wake up each morning with her sandwiched between him and his brother. The idea of watching her eyes open to a new day warmed his heart. They needed to back off some and let her get used to them.
“She needs to feel comfortable around us. It’s only been a couple of days. Let’s give her a little room for now.” Marcus watched Randall pace in front of the fireplace.
“I guess you’re right. Part of me wants to hold her and comfort her, while part of me wants to bend her over and bury my cock inside her.”
Marcus hid a grin. Randall wasn’t saying anything he wasn’t feeling himself. His big brother was more to the point than he was. He would have to temper his bluntness around Darla. First they had to get her to relax around them, though.
“Patience. I think it’s going to take lots of patience,” Marcus said.
“Yeah, I get that. I’m just a little short of patience where she’s concerned.”
“Well you’re going to have to find some. If you don’t cool it some, we’ll lose her.”
Randall growled. “She’s not going anywhere without us, that’s for damn sure.”
Chapter Four
Darla rose the next morning long before time to get up. She hadn’t been able to sleep, plagued by erotic dreams of two men and one woman. She’d tossed and turned until she finally rolled out of the bed and took a shower to wash away the cobwebs. The new boots were a bit tight and stiff with the thick socks on, but the sales lady had assured her they would stretch and loosen up over time. She pulled her hair back in a ponytail to keep it out of her eyes and crept down the stairs to the kitchen.
Coffee would be wonderful about now. She filled the pot with water and measured in the coffee and sat down to wait for it to make. Ten minutes later she held a steaming mug in front of her and willed it to do its thing. She needed some measure of control right now and as shaky as her hands were, that wasn’t happening on her own.
Sometime later she poured another mug and set about making breakfast. She decided on pancakes and ham. It would mean she wouldn’t have to sit down at the table with them. By the time she had all of it made, they would be getting ready to leave. It was a good plan she decided with a smile.
“Love seeing that smile on your face first thing in the morning, baby.” Marcus ambled into the kitchen and poured himself some coffee.
“Good morning.” Darla finally managed to get out.
“How did you sleep last night?” he asked. His eyes never left hers over his coffee.
“Fine. I slept fine.”
“Morning, you two.” Randall walked over to the coffee pot and helped himself to a mug.
“I’m cooking pancakes and ham. Have a seat, and you can start eating while it’s hot.”
Forty minutes later Marcus put on his hat and left for the barn and Randall holed up in the office to work, leaving Darla alone to eat in peace. She managed to stuff two pancakes down her throat before giving up and starting on cleaning the kitchen.
She still had the rest of the basement to finish. She gathered her cleaning supplies once again and headed downstairs. She took down the remaining jars and arranged them in date order on the shelves at eye level. Then she concentrated on the wine bottles. There were roughly a dozen of them to clean. By the time she had the second set of shelves clean, her water was dirty and she longed for another cup of coffee. It was chilly in the basement even for the long sleeved flannel shirt she wore.
Darla poured out the dirty water in the utility sink in the back room and left the bucket in the sink for later. She made enough coffee for two, figuring Randall might like a second cup as well. She hesitated outside the office door, wondering if this was such a good idea after all. Swallowing, she knocked then pushed the door open wider when Randall answered.
He sat behind his desk clicking on the computer keys without turning to look at her.
“Um, I brought you some coffee. I made half a pot and thought you might like another cup.”
He looked up without seeing her for a few seconds then smiled. “Sounds good to me.” He took the proffered mug and took a sip. “Thanks.”
She turned to leave, but he stopped her.
“Wait. Keep me company for a few minutes while I enjoy the coffee. I’ll go back to work and let it get cold if you leave.”
Blackmail. She nearly smiled at the thought. She should leave and get back to cleaning the basement. Instead, she found herself taking a seat across the desk from Randall.
“So tell me more about Mississippi.”
“Not much to tell. It is mostly flat with some hills. Nothing like the mountains here. They raise cotton, soybeans, catfish, and the usual farming stuff.” She shrugged.
“So, you just up and decided you were tired of the weather and decided to move to the opposite extreme of icy cold Montana winters. Hmmm,” he said.
“What does that mean?” Darla wrinkled her brow with a frown.
“Just that I can’t imagine that being the only reason. Must have had something to do with a man.” Randall leaned back in his chair.
“Why is that it always has to be about a man? Can’t a woman make a decision without there being a man behind it?”
Randall laughed. “In my experience, it’s always about a man.”
Darla huffed out a breath and stood up. “I’ve got work to do.” She turned and walked toward the door, but Randall grabbed her arm and turned her around. He backed her up to the door until her weight closed it behind her.
“W-what are you doing?”
“What I’ve wanted to do every time I see you.” He leaned down and captured her lips with his mouth.
He teased and cajoled her mouth until she opened to him. His tongue darted inside to duel with hers. She couldn’t resist him and the urge to mate her tongue with his. He tasted warm and good. Different from Marcus. His tongue tickled the roof of her mouth and soon had her giving him what he wanted. She plastered herself against him as he took her mouth in the hottest kiss she could remember. Her hands moved of their own accord to tangle in his hair. His hands cupped her ass cheeks, kneading them even as he stroked his tongue in her mouth.
Slowly, he pulled away and looked down into her eyes. His were heavy lidded and full of desire. Desire she understood. Men had desired her in the past. But sharing her was alien to her. Most men didn’t want to share a woman. Hell, most men would kill another man who touched their woman.
“You’re thinking too hard,” Randall said.
“I just don’t get how you can even think about sharing a woman with your brother. Eventually, you would get jealous.”
“No. We grew up with two fathers, and it seems natural to us to share. I fell hard for a girl in high school like you do at that age, but Marcus did, too. We fought over her, and when it was all over, she was dating someone else and we knew we would always want the same women. Sharing is the natural thing to do.”
“It may seem natural to you, but it’s unnatural to me,” she said.
He moved against her, and she could feel the hard outline of his cock against the softness of her belly. It felt massive. She drew in a deep breath at the longing deep inside of her for that rigid shaft to tunnel inside of her. A shiver flowed over her.
“Cold?” Randall ran his hands up and down her arms, adding friction to the wrong part of her body.
“A little. I need to get back to work. That will keep me warm enough.” She tried to ease between him and the door.
He placed a hand on her face and dropped his forehead to hers until their noses touched.
“Don’t run. I won’t bite, I promise.” His eyes twinkled mischievously.
Darla compressed her lips together. “Yeah, right. Let go. I need to get back to work.”
He sighed loudly, then ba
cked away from her. She licked her lips and eased past him. He didn’t do anything to stop her, but he didn’t move any further away either.
The rest of the morning passed quickly. She managed to clean nearly all of the basement on one side before lunch. Marcus walked in and tossed his hat on a hook. A scowl marred his face as he walked into the back room to wash up. She wondered what had him frowning. Shrugging, she went to call Randall to the table. When she got back, Marcus was making sandwiches. She had already eaten hers but sat down at the table since they would insist anyway.
“What have I said about eating?” Marcus growled.
“I already ate. I was hungry right after I finished working some in the basement, so I ate before you got here.”
“You were down in the basement again? You better not have been on the ladder,” Randall warned.
“You hired me to keep house. I can’t do that if you’re fussing at me every time I do anything.” Darla stood up so fast the chair scooted out behind her. She jammed her hands on her hips and walked out of the kitchen.
She left them to their meal and gathered up dirty clothes instead. She climbed the stairs and started in their rooms. She was surprised. They weren’t total wrecks as she would have imagined being men, and bachelors at that. The dirty clothes were piled in one corner of the bedrooms, but the clean clothes were obviously put away instead of sitting around on the dresser or somewhere. She piled all of it outside at the top of the stairs and went in search of a couple of laundry baskets to carry it all down in.
When she walked through the kitchen to the back room where the washer and dryer was, the men stopped what they were talking about and watched her walk by. Neither one of them said a thing while she was in the laundry room, or when she walked back by them with a pair of empty baskets in her hands. She had no idea if they continued their talk once she was gone.
She separated the clothes into stacks by color and type then piled them into the baskets. She would only be able to take one down at a time though. Resolved to another trip up and down the stairs, Darla hefted one in her arms and started down the stairs being careful of where she placed her feet. About the time she made it to the landing, Marcus walked by the stairs and grabbed the basket out of her arms.
“I’ll get that.”
He strode through the living room and called out to Randall as he did. “Get the other basket of clothes on the stairs, will you?”
“I can carry dirty clothes, Marcus.”
“No need when we’re around. Besides, this is two weeks’ worth of washing.” Marcus set the basket down in front of the washing machine.
Seconds later, Randall dropped his next to it. He grinned at her and flicked her nose with a finger. She scowled at him and began loading the washing machine, ignoring them as best she could.
“I’ll see you at dinner tonight.” Marcus walked out, leaving Randall and Darla alone in the small room.
“Anything else I need to get for you?” Randall asked.
“No, thanks. I can handle it from here.”
He started to walk out but turned back around. “Oh, don’t worry about who’s clothes are whose. We wear the same things, so it doesn’t matter. Just so long as we each have enough in the drawers and closets to wear.” With that, he left her to the washing.
She let out a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding. She felt like she was a rubber ball wound tight as a spring. One good bounce and she would be off into the sky.
The rest of the day she spent washing and drying clothes while cooking dinner. By the time Marcus made it inside and cleaned up, she had the roast, potatoes, and peas on the table. The rolls where still in the oven, but by the time Randall showed up, they would be brown.
“I’ll go get him.” Marcus walked outside the kitchen door and yelled down the hall. “Dinner’s on the table, bro!”
“Sheesh,” Darla said. “I could have done that. Maybe I should get a triangle like they always show on the western shows.”
Marcus grinned and took his seat. Randall soon followed, sniffing the air.
“Something smells good. Better even than what’s on the table.” Randall craned his neck to see around her.
“It’s dessert. If you behave yourself, I’ll give you some after you eat.” She smothered a laugh when both men frowned at her.
Dinner was a rowdy affair with Marcus fussing about ornery cows and the predicted storm coming up. Randall filled him in on the breeding records, and then they both waited patiently while Darla finished eating before they asked for dessert. She thought it was kind of them to wait on her. That or they really thought she wouldn’t let them have any if they were demanding.
“How bad of a storm will it be? I mean it hasn’t really been that cold yet.” Darla couldn’t imagine a serious storm when it made it past freezing during the day.
“Predicting four to six inches of snow. Not a lot, but it’s the first snow of the year, so you never know. Plus, the temperatures are supposed to drop below zero for a couple of days. That along with the wind is dangerous to men and cattle.” Marcus hummed his appreciation of her peach cobbler.
Randall scarfed his down and passed his bowl for another helping. She laughed and gave him a couple of spoonfuls. Marcus did the same. She realized she was going to be hard pressed to keep sweets around the place if they ate like this every day.
“Should hit sometime tomorrow afternoon,” Randall said around a mouthful of cobbler.
“I don’t want you outside anytime after noon tomorrow. The temperatures are going to start falling fast, and a storm can blow up before you know it,” Marcus added.
“Goodness. I’m not going to get caught in a storm just walking outside for something.”
“I mean it, Darla. You aren’t used to winters here, and I don’t want to take the chance something could happen to you.” Marcus leveled his gaze to hers.
“Fine. I’ll stay inside tomorrow,” she capitulated.
Randall nodded and got up. “I’m going to go tie up a few things.”
Marcus continued sitting at the table and groaned. “I think I ate too much.”
“Neither one of you should be able to waddle away from the table. You ate two helpings of cobbler each.”
She gathered the dishes up and stacked them by the sink. Then she began putting away the food. She would cook extra tomorrow to assure they had plenty in case they lost power. She needed to get her laundry done as well.
When she began rinsing off the dishes to put them in the dishwasher, a hard body pressed into hers from behind. Large work weathered hands caged her in leaning against the sink.
“You smell good. Like cinnamon and honey,” Marcus whispered into her ear.
“Marcus?”
“Shhh, baby. I’m not doing anything. Just smelling how good you are and touching you. Nothing more. I promise.”
His mouth closed over her neck just below her ear only to slide down beneath her collar to where her neck met her shoulder. He lightly bit her there then licked it to soothe the sting. He nuzzled her with his mouth against her neck then moved to the other side and continued his exploration.
Darla’s womb clinched at the bombardment of feelings his touch evoked. She found herself gasping for breath, and he hadn’t even touched her with his hands. God, when he did, she’d go up in flames. Not if, when, because she knew it was only a matter of time before they would lose patience with her and take her. She held no illusions now. Did she want them? Yes. Did it matter that there were two of them? She wasn’t sure. It should, though.
“I want to strip that shirt off you and explore those luscious breasts hiding behind it. I bet they taste good. Are they pretty and pink or dusky like a plum ready to eat?”
“I…I…” She couldn’t answer him. His erotic words had her breath coming in gasps and her chest tight with the imagery.
“I’m going to go take a shower. Then I’m going to see just what color those nipples are.”
Suddenly, he was gone fro
m her back, and she could breathe again. Oh God, what was she going to do? She wasn’t going to be able to hold on for long. Then when they tired of her, she’d be out of a job and a place to live. How long would it take? Maybe long enough she could save enough money to live on while she looked for another job. The idea of moving so soon after she’d found a place she felt comfortable hurt. But move she would.
* * * *
Randall and Marcus were both relaxing in the living room watching TV. Marcus kept checking the door for Darla. He didn’t want her sneaking by and holing up in her room. He was tired of waiting no matter what he had said the night before to Randall. If he didn’t get inside her soon, he was going to go crazy.
“What’s got you so antsy?” Randall used the remote to turn the volume down on the TV.
“Darla.”
“Hell, you’re not going to wait and give her a chance are you?”
“And you can?” Marcus huffed.
“No. I was planning on easing you into it.” His brother grinned.
Marcus turned to find the object of their discussion crossing the hall toward the stairs. He jumped up and hurried out the door to waylay her.
“Going somewhere?”
“Um, to my room to get my dirty clothes. I need to get them washed before it starts snowing.”
“You can do that tomorrow morning. Come in here and watch TV with us.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her into the living room.
She didn’t try to pull away from him, but he felt her reluctance in the way she walked. He led her to the couch. She sat down in the middle, and he followed suit, scooting closer to her so that she moved a little closer to Randall. His brother draped his arm around her. Marcus let his hand rest on her thigh. Randall used the remote to turn the volume back up, and they sat with her in the middle for nearly thirty minutes before Darla began to relax into them.
As soon as she relaxed, Marcus began to draw circles on her jean-clad leg. She stiffened again for a few moments, but soon relaxed into that as well. He grinned to himself and looked over her head to Randall. His brother nodded his head in silent agreement. They would at least get her undressed tonight. One little step toward having her in between them in bed.
