Noticing the look of utter fury Emma now had turned on Cade, Ethan decided he didn’t want to be witness to the possible bloodshed. He had a strong feeling his brother didn’t realize just how much trouble he was actually in yet. Emma might be completely in love with the idiot, but she wasn’t happy about him constantly trying to jump in and make decisions for her.
Looking at Emma, Ethan pointed toward the kitchen. “I’ll be in there if you need me,” he mouthed. That said, he quickly disappeared through the door to the other room.
With them now alone, and still not realizing the trouble he was in, Cade moved closer, and tried to pull her into his arms.
“Oh, no you don’t,” she growled, pushing him away.
“Now what?” he grumbled, throwing his hands up in frustration.
“You seriously have to ask me that?”
“Yeah,” he shrugged. “I don’t see where I have done anything wrong.”
“You have to stop trying to make decisions for me.”
“What, you wanted to go out with that idiot?” he snarled, thinking about shaking her. “I remember you saying in there just a little bit ago that you don’t want anyone but me. And I’m going to tell you right now, I won’t share you with anyone. Anyone,” he growled again.
“I definitely do not want to date Justin Tate,” she snorted. “And you are the only one I want. I don’t expect you to share. Just so you know, I won’t share either. But right now, you’re the one behaving like an idiot.”
“How so?”
“You mean, you still haven’t figured it out?”
“I’m sorry, but you’re crazy if you think I’m going to let that idiot get anywhere near you,” he grumbled, shaking his head. “He’s dangerous. Jeffery Moore is child’s play compared to Tate. You don’t give Tate what he wants, he’ll hurt you as punishment, then take what he wants anyway.”
“I know all that,” she snorted. “I’ve heard the stories. And like I said, I was going to tell him no. There was no reason for you to answer for me.”
“You can’t be certain your, telling him no would have been enough.”
“You were standing right there. He wouldn’t have managed to do anything. You could have at least given me a chance to try. That way he would have understood, I really meant no, and I wasn’t just saying it because of what you did.”
“See,” he grumbled, throwing his hands out. “I just took the quicker route.”
“Oh, never mind,” she growled, turning to storm off. “I can’t talk to you right now.”
“Dang it, Emma, I’m getting tired of you just walking off when we’re in the middle of a conversation.” Hearing his brother call his name, he just ignored him and kept on going.
Stepping into the room behind her, he found her digging around in one of her dresser drawers. Probably looking for pajamas. It had been nearly eight thirty by the time they’d all made it into the house earlier. Probably another thirty minutes before they’d managed to actually sit down to eat. If it wasn’t already ten o’clock, it was close. Making it pretty much time for bed.
“Cade, I’m done talking to you right now. Please, leave.”
Pulling the belt from the loops on her bathrobe where it hung on the back of her door, he moved over behind her, turning her to face him, before she realized he was there.
“What are you doing?” she frowned.
Not giving her time to pull away, he took both of her hands in one of his, and slipped the loop he’d created in the center of the belt over them, pulling it snug. Smirking then, he wove both ends of the belt around her wrists several times before tying them together.
“Dang it, Cade, what is this for?”
“Payback, Sweetheart.”
“Oh, boy,” she whispered, glancing down at her bound hands. “Payback for…”
“You know exactly what this is payback for.”
“But you were threatening to paddle me. I don’t see how that would require you to tie my hands together.”
“Oh, I threatened to paddle you, but I never said that was all the payback you were getting. Considering what you done, you know you were asking for a whole lot more.”
“That’s not fair, Cade,” she screeched in alarm when he started backing her toward the bed.
“Who said it had to be fair?” he smirked, spinning her to face the bed. “I don’t see how it was fair that you tied me to your bed while I was drunk, then left me like that all night long. By myself. But you don’t see me whining.”
Dropping to his knees then, he took the time to pull her boots and socks off first. When he reached around her waist to unfasten her jeans, she gasped and tried to move away.
Smacking her on her denim covered rear end, he growled, then yanked her jeans and thong down to her ankles. “Hold still.”
“Why do I need my jeans removed for this?”
“I was completely naked. Did you really think I was going to leave you completely dressed?” he chuckled, gently pushing her forward until she dropped against the bed, with her bound hands under her.
Yanking one of her half-a-dozen pillows off the bed, he crammed it down over the wooden frame of the bed, then bent her knee to rest on it. Sliding her jeans and thong off that foot, he repeated the process with another pillow and her other leg, spreading her thighs wide.
“You could have at least left my thong on me,” she screeched when his hand landed on her butt again, this time against bare skin, leaving a slight sting in its wake.
“What would have been the fun in that?” he chuckled. “Besides, I didn’t want it getting in the way.”
“In the way of what?” she hissed when he smacked her another time.
“I guess we’ll see. At this point, you’re lucky your top half is still covered. I like looking at you naked. That reminds me of something you said this morning,” he laughed. “However, I’m smart enough to know my self-restraint will only keep me in check for so long.” That said, he quickly smacked her three more times, alternating between the plump globes, and drawing a long moan from her lips.
Noticing how excited she had become, he ran his fingers over her, applying a little pressure and rubbing gently. She jerked, moaning louder, and pushed her naked, rounded bottom farther into the air, obviously trying to get closer to his touch.
“Do you like it when I spank this pretty, little bottom of yours?” he growled, a husky tone of desire in his voice.
“Cade,” she whimpered, her bottom rising even higher. “Please.”
Feeling two more smacks, she gasped and wiggled her hips, trying to draw his attention to where she wanted it most. Needed it most. “Please,” she whimpered, digging her nails into the sheets.
“Dang it, Baby,” he growled, wrapping his arms up around her thighs. Pulling her up and back, he quickly buried his face between her legs. Feeling her trying to rotate against his mouth, he moved closer and brought both his hands up around her hips to grip her plump butt cheeks, holding her in place.
Still trying to wiggle, she groaned in frustration. “Please.”
“Oh, I will,” he laughed. “But at my pace.”
“Cade!”
A split second later, feeling his lips against her heated flesh once more, she moaned, and dropped her face to the bed.
Nearly thirty minutes later, screaming from yet another release, she came so hard this time, she blacked out. She’d climaxed so many times, she’d lost count, and her entire body felt boneless.
Coming to, Emma found herself staring straight at Cade’s jeans covered crotch. He’d flipped her over, and sat her up to finish undressing her, and was somehow managing to hold her mostly upright with one arm, while he worked to unfasten the front closure of her bra with the other one.
Lifting her hand, she brushed it over the denim covering his rock-hard manhood with a growl. “I want this right here. Now!”
Jerking back from shock, he nearly knocked her off the bed, just barely catching her at the last second. “Dang it, Emma. Don’t do that. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You’re not going to,” she laughed, a throaty sound that nearly had him ejaculating in his pants like a thirteen-year-old seeing porn for the first time.
“If I knock you off the bed on your head, I will.”
Pulling her bra, the rest of the way off, she tossed it to the floor and reached for him. “Come here. Get in bed with me. Please.”
“Oh, no, Baby.”
“Why not?”
“If I get in that bed with you, we are definitely having sex. I have no restraint left. I’m done.”
“I know,” she whispered, lifting up only enough to grab the front of his shirt. Honestly, after the number of orgasms she’d just had, that’s all the strength she had left. “That’s what I want.”
“No, Sweetheart,” he shook his head. Turning her, so she could stretch out on the bed, he pulled her covers up over her, tucking her in tightly. “That’s a decision you need to make with a clear head, and you are far too orgasm drunk to be clear headed.”
“I promise, I won’t be angry.”
“Tomorrow, Sweetheart. Come to me tomorrow night.”
He turned, quickly heading out the door before she started begging him again. He was certain, with the taste of her still on his tongue, that wasn’t something he’d be able to resist for much longer. Like, one more please, and he’d be toast.
~~~~
Hearing a knock at his bedroom door, Cade stopped his pacing and turned to stare at it. He was half afraid it was Emma, and half wanting it to be her. Okay, honestly, he really wanted it to be her, but he was also concerned she wasn’t back down to earth enough to make the decision to be in here with him. And he knew for certain he wasn’t going to be able to say no again. Realistically, she should be out cold, and in dreamland. He certainly hoped she was. At least one of them needed to get some sleep.
Hearing a second knock, he grumbled in answer this time. “Yeah, what?”
The door came open then, his brother stepping in. “You okay?”
“What makes you think I wouldn’t be?” he grumbled, eyeing Ethan with irritation.
“Well, despite the sounds coming from Emma’s room just a little while ago, you still have that look right there.”
“What’s your point?”
“For one, the way she was screaming, I was certain you wouldn’t be back in here tonight. It’s a good think Dad and Momma Jane’s room is at the back of the house, and it’s built with thick walls. She’s very loud.”
“Dad said he’d let us work this out our way. He knows I intend to ask her to marry me.”
“Don’t think that would have necessarily stopped Momma Jane from storming in. I know she loves us, but that’s her only daughter. She’s very protective of her. She’s almost as bad as you are.”
“And?” Cade grumbled, rolling his eyes.
“Of course, Dad might have heard anyway. He has always had really excellent hearing. There were times when we were still kids, I wondered if he was part wolf. Or bat.”
“What’s your point now?”
“Dad might have done something to distract Momma Jane, to keep her from noticing. She might have been back there, doing some screaming of her own.”
“Do you think about things like that often?”
“What things?”
Shooting Ethan an incredulous look, he just waited for the younger man to catch up.
“Oh, yeah,” Ethan snorted. “No, I really don’t. Right now, I’m just struggling with my own frustrations.”
“Sammy still saying no?”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “But we’ll worry about that later. Why are you in here instead of still in there with her?”
“Ethics,” he nodded. “They’ll sure bite you in the butt when you least expect it. At this point, I’m surprised I’m still following them. Or even trying for that matter.”
“Ethics?” his brother scoffed. “Isn’t it a little too late for that?”
“Not entirely.”
“Okay. Explain.”
“I got her off. I am still very much in need. More than I was before I went in there.”
“Oh,” Ethan nodded in understanding. “You…”
“Went down on her for thirty minutes,” he grumbled, throwing his hands out wide. “Yes, I did. Then walked out of there like a deranged fool. I must be into self-torture.”
“Okay, calm down. You don’t need to get so blunt,” Ethan added with a shake of his head. “I had it figured out already.”
“She did try to drag me in bed with her.”
“Okay, now I’m confused again.”
“She was still angry with me. We hadn’t settled the argument we had in the living room yet.”
“Actually, that’s the other thing I wanted to talk to you about,” Ethan cringed, taking a small step back. He might be bigger than Cade, but his brother had fists that could feel like a battering ram when he hit you, and Emma was always a touchy subject for him. And he didn’t even want to think about how overprotective he was of her.
“Look, I realize you just want to help, but I really don’t want to talk about this with you.”
“I understand your reluctance, but I’m only wanting to offer an outside perspective. Just the point of view of someone who has known her as long as you have, but is not in love with her,” he added quickly. “Then I’ll leave you alone, and you can do with the information what you will.”
Sighing, he nodded his head and walked over to sit on the end of his bed. “Fine, go ahead. I’ll even try to listen with an open mind.”
“Okay,” Ethan nodded. Moving over to sit down in the old office chair Cade had used at his desk while he was still in school. “For starters, I know for a fact, she’s too smart to go out with Justin Tate. She’s heard all the stories about what happened with his last girlfriend. She knows he’s dangerous.”
“She could get curious.”
“Not likely,” Ethan snorted. “She thinks he’s a creep. Besides that, she’s in love with you. She doesn’t want anyone else.”
“What about Jeffery Moore?” Cade snarled, jumping up to pace once more. “She actually went out with that idiot.”
“To drive you crazy,” Ethan shrugged. “And it worked. Maybe a little too well. She expected you to come after her. Like you have always done in the past when you didn’t approve of something she was doing. You got drunk instead, and I had to go after her this time.”
“What do you mean, to drive me crazy?”
“Just that,” Ethan laughed. “She wanted a different reaction out of you, other than the snarly, bossy, pain in the neck you’ve been being for the last four years. She’s wanted a different reaction for a while now. Like almost from the start.”
“You try falling in love with your stepmother’s daughter. It can be rather frustrating.”
“Nah, I’ll pass. I don’t want to fight with you over her.”
“Yeah, I started to say you bettered not. I don’t want to have to kill you.”
“Besides, I’ve already got my own pain in the rear end to deal with. Stubborn wench.”
“How do you know all this anyway? How sure are you of what you’re saying?”
“Some of it I’ve gotten from observation. Some, Sammy has told me. Still more, Emma has told me herself.”
“Pretty reliable sources,” Cade grumbled, moving back over to sit on the bed once more.
“Yeah,” Ethan nodded. “She’s not looking for a cheap, dangerous thrill, and she’s not going to… cheat on you.”
“Why did you pause on the word cheat?”
“Just trying to decide if it were the right word to use. I don’t know what your exact relationship status is. You’ve not said.”
“She’s mine.”
“I know how you feel. Heck, I know how she feels. You’ll get it all worked out.”
“In time for me to propose on Christmas morning?”
“Well, you still have a little time left.”
Sighing, he rubbed a hand over his face, the exhaustion from working on a ranch in the winter catching up to him. “So, what you’re telling me is that I’ve been acting like a giant jerk, and if I’d just give her a chance to make her own decisions, they’d be the right ones?”
“Yeah,” Ethan nodded. “That, and try telling her you love her.”
“That’s the second time I’ve heard that.”
“Dad?”
“Yeah,” Cade nodded with a heavy sigh.
“Well, there’s your proof, great minds think alike.”