August Heat (5 page)

It had been
different when they married. New to the sexual excesses the men provided, they
had been flying on sensuality and the freedom to give into the more extreme
fantasies they all had at one time or another. But now, with Marly’s pregnancy
and Drace’s birth, they had found a core of need inside them that terrified
them all. Possessiveness. They wanted their husbands to themselves. They wanted
their own homes. Their own families.

“So what do we do?”
Sarah asked them both softly. “We can’t destroy them. We can’t hurt them for
our needs. Where does that leave us?”

“Damned if I know,”
Marly finally sighed bleakly. “But we have to do something now. Because sure as
hell they’re all three onto us, and they won’t wait long before they hit us
with it. We have to be prepared.”

Damn. Sarah had a
feeling the next few days were going to be less than pleasant.

* * * * *

“They’re plotting
again.” Cade looked up from the baby he held securely in his arms to Sam as he
walked into the nursery.

Brock was already
there. He stood at the window, silent, morose. He was letting this affect him
too deeply. Feeling too guilty over something that could be fixed. And Cade was
certain it could be fixed.

Drace cooed in
delight as Cade continued to rock him, his drowsy blue eyes staring up with an
innocence that could only be found in a child’s eyes. Eyes so much like Marly’s.
Drace’s features more like his father’s. It made Cade wonder what their
daughter would look like. And he was damned determined he wanted one. A fiery
little bit of temper and beauty like his Marly, driving them all crazy with her
less than logical ways. And his Marly could definitely be less than logical.

He smoothed a
finger over Drace’s cheek, smiling as the baby giggled and latched onto his
fingers. He was already crawling. Put the little imp on the floor and he would
be off and struggling to find some kind of adventure that was less than safe.
He looked like his daddy. Acted more like his mommy.

“Did you hear me,
Cade?” Sam stood by the closed door, and Cade knew his brother’s eyes would be
glittering with anticipation and amusement.

“What now?” He
winced as Drace bit into his finger, the small, barely visible teeth stinging
the hard pad of flesh.

“Well, at least
they know we’re onto them.” There was laughter in Sam’s voice. Only God knew
how that lightened Cade’s heart.

Drace yawned, his
little eyelids drifting down as he gnawed contentedly on Cade’s finger.

Cade snorted. “I
was onto them days ago. Sarah just affirmed it.” Brock had been furious with
himself when he came to Cade and Sam and revealed the nature of the women’s
wishes.

“We should have
seen it sooner,” Brock murmured.

“We did, Brock,”
Cade reminded him of their conversation months after Marly’s pregnancy had been
confirmed. “It was our decision to stop. We just didn’t know how far they
wanted to take it.”

A year ago, it
would have killed something in him to see his brothers and their wives leave
his home. They had been a part of each other for so long, he didn’t know if he
could have survived it then. Drace had changed that, though. The thought of the
other children Marly had talked about wanting had cemented the decision. He
didn’t give a damn what the townspeople gossiped about, but he couldn’t face
the pain it could bring his children. Couldn’t face the thought of raising them
in any way that wasn’t conventional.

He wanted to take
them to Sunday school. He wanted to join the fucking PTA, for God’s sake. He
could never do that comfortably as long as their lifestyle continued as it was.
Besides, he wanted his wife to himself. As much as he loved his brothers, as
exciting, intense, and filled with eroticism as their sex lives had been, he no
longer needed that affirming bond that had saved them over the years. He needed
Marly. He needed their children.

“She could have
said something.” Cade could hear the regret in Brock’s voice. “I should have
let her know she had the freedom to do so.”

Cade looked up as
Sam snorted. “Come on, Brock, they love driving us crazy. You know it and I
know it. And we love it. I’ve called the contractors and they’ll be out here
next week. Let’s let them have their fun while they can. Then they can make it
up to us for not trusting us as they should have. As soon as I show my sweet
little honey what a bad girl she’s been, I’m sure she’ll do just that.”

Cade hid his smile
as he looked up from his sleeping son to his brother’s smug expression.

“I think we should
push them just a hair bit further.” He leaned back in the rocking chair,
lifting Drace to his chest, his heart clenching at the gentle weight of his son
resting against him. His hand smoothed over the baby’s back.

“Yeah?” Sam would
be all for the game.

“How?” Brock was
always more suspicious.

“We make them ask.”
Cade kept his voice low. He had no desire to disturb the baby’s slumber.

Brock moved from
the window until he could face his brother.

“And we do this
how?”

Cade watched the
other two men. The changes in them all in the past two years were amazing. They
laughed. They even hugged sometimes. They had even found a way to discuss the
events that had nearly destroyed them so long ago. They had healed. And it was
the tender acceptance and fiery love of their plotting wives that had sealed
the open wounds in their souls and allowed them to live again.

“Easy.” Cade
smiled. He had been planning this one all day. “We force it out of them.” He
looked over at Brock. “You know what makes Sarah the wildest. Stop having mercy
on her and playing with her. Let her know the game is being played in earnest
now. If she wants something, she has to trust you enough to ask for it.” His
voice hardened, as did his own resolve.

He loved Marly
more than he loved his own life, but like Brock and Sam, it bothered him that she
hadn’t realized how he had drawn back from touching the other women, how he no
longer needed any touch but hers. He didn’t like the thought that she felt she
had to lead him through a decision this important. He wouldn’t allow her to
play with their lives that way.

“When?” Sam was,
of course, the most amused by the whole deal.

Cade shot him a
chiding look. “You’re enjoying this too much, brother.”

“Of course I am,”
he chuckled. “I’ve not had this much fun out of Heather in months. It pisses me
off she wouldn’t come to me, but I figure once it’s all said and done, she’ll
realize the error of her ways.”

Cade winced. He
had a feeling if Sam wasn’t careful his little redheaded wife would be waving
her gun under his chin. Damn, she could get mean when she wanted to.

“Tonight,” he
decided, rising to his feet to place Drace in his crib.

The baby was
spread out in innocent abandon, chubby little legs sprawled, his arms thrown
back above his head. He refused to sleep on his stomach any longer. Cade drew a
light blanket over the sleeper-covered body and swallowed past the knot of
emotion building in his throat. His son. It never failed to amaze him that he
was a part of anything so perfect.

“Now.” He changed
his mind as he smoothed his finger over Drace’s cheek once again. He was as
perfect as his mother was. But unlike his mother, a hell of a lot easier to
manage. For now.

Chapter Five

Heather knew
trouble was brewing when the door to the living room opened and the three men
walked in. Damn. Separately, they were too good looking for any woman’s peace
of mind. But together they were dangerous. Tall, dark-haired, bodies built like
sin and gazes as wicked as hell itself.

Dressed in jeans,
scuffed boots and T-shirts that showed their perfect muscles in stark release,
it was enough to send her body humming. But when she looked at Sam, it kicked
into overdrive. He was hard. They all were. But that hard-on was for her. She
could see it in his eyes; in the way his gaze went over her body, lingered at
her breasts, her thighs, then moved back to snare hers.

They stopped just
inside the doorway, arms crossed over their chests, staring back at them with
cool, arrogant expressions. Confidence seemed to vibrate around them. Control.
Resolution. Hell, she had a feeling her, Sarah and Marly were in a shitload of
trouble now.

Cade shook his
head as he tsked at them softly. “Ladies,” he sighed patiently. “I can see we’ve
evidently not been keeping you well occupied.”

Heather’s brow
snapped into a frown. Oh, she really didn’t like that tone of voice.

“And you figured
this out all on your own?” She almost winced at Marly’s confrontational tone.

Cade shot his wife
a chiding look. “Beloved.” His grin was wolfish. It made all of them nervous. “You
are, I’ll assume, the ring leader in this little farce.”

Marly snorted. “You
know what assume does, babe. Makes an ass out of you and me.” The cliché was
delivered with more than a little heat.

Cade’s gaze flared
with lust. Hell, Marly was going to be screaming louder than the rest of them
would be.

“Bad move,
girlfriend,” Sarah muttered from Marly’s side.

Brock’s brow
lifted sardonically. Usually not a good sign. His gray/blue eyes were
glittering with lust, a hint of anger, and a possessive glitter that should be
curling Sarah’s toes.

“Nothing to say,
sweetness?” Heather’s attention was caught by Sam’s sardonically voiced
question.

Heather shrugged
lightly, fighting the grin that curled her lips. Hell, it wasn’t like he would
divorce her. Right?

“Oh, I have plenty
to say, hotshot,” she murmured as she let her gaze heat and drift over his
body. He was one damned fine looking man, she thought. It never failed to amaze
her just how she had managed to gain this man’s love. “I’ve just been
practicing patience.”

Sam grunted. It
seemed he wasn’t buying that one.

“You ladies ready
to state your demands yet?” Cade asked them, his voice hard, his gaze hot as he
watched his wife. “The game is getting old.”

“Says who?” Marly
was definitely fired up now.

Sexual tension
thickened in the room, making Heather shiver with the anticipation of what was
to come. They had all settled rather well into married life. The sex was great,
but the past year or so had been lacking in some of the kinkier aspects of
sexual play between herself and Sam. She realized now that it wasn’t just
something she had missed; it was something that had begun to fill her with a
fear she had refused to acknowledge. The fear that Sam was growing bored with
her. That he no longer needed her as he had before.

That revelation
caused her chest to tighten painfully. They did have, to an extent, exactly
what they had been fighting for and they had been too frightened of the changes
in their lives to see it.

“Says me, Marly.”
Cade moved into the room, advancing slowly on his wife as she became
increasingly more nervous. “You should have known the game came with a price,
baby.”

Heather glanced at
the other woman. Her eyes had widened in surprise. Punishment had normally been
the exquisitely sensual torture of the three men driving her insane with
pleasure. Heather frowned. Surely the men didn’t think they were going to
resume the sharing to placate their tender feelings? After more than a year of
shying away from it, Heather wasn’t about to allow it.

She stepped in
front of Marly, surprising them all.

Cade stopped. His
brows lowered ominously. He intimidated the hell out of her, but she wasn’t
about to let him know it.

“No sharing.” She
was tired of the game herself. Her gaze went to Sam, desperation welling up
inside her as she met his hard gaze. “I mean it, Sam. No more.”

“Are you saying
you didn’t enjoy it, Heather?” Cade asked softly, his voice suspiciously bland.

Fear, pain, and
not a little regret rose inside her. “You know we all did,” she snapped
furiously. “But enough is enough, Cade August. It’s finished.”

“It was finished
over a year ago. You ladies were just too damned stubborn and determined to
have it your way to notice it.” A spark of hurt, of anger, tinged his voice.

“You didn’t say
anything,” Heather argued forcibly. Hell, how were they supposed to know? They
were avoiding the men during that time as much as possible.

“Say anything?”
Brock snapped. “Damn. Why would we? We weren’t trying to fuck you, Heather.
That should have been enough.”

Exasperation laced
his voice but filled all their expressions.

“Well, excuse me
for not noticing you weren’t getting hard-ons for all of us.” Heather threw her
hands up helplessly at that point. They were men. Dammit. She knew better than
to argue with one of them. “It’s not as though you informed us of this bright
idea at the time.”

“Sam.” Cade’s
voice was carefully controlled now. “Would you come collect your wife so I can
drag mine from behind her? Might be a good time to prove you don’t need help
handling her.”