Uttering a sound of irritation, Eli followed her. Catching her, he drew her lightly against his frame. “You aren’t in the way, baby. I was just about to throw the burnt offerings into the oven anyway and head up for a shower.”
Marlee searched his face and finally smiled. “Want company?”
Eli had already responded with a smiling promise of his own before it dawned on him that the shower meant naked and that meant she was going to see his hand wasn’t burned at all.
His smile flat-lined. “Next time. I have to make it quick and get back down before our supper’s a total loss.”
Marlee’s face fell.
“And I don’t like to rush,” he added.
She smiled at him again. Relieved, he released her, watching her as she crossed the living room and headed upstairs.
“Whose brain’s in his dick?” Joshua taunted.
Eli turned to glare at him. “Fuck you!”
Joshua shot a bird at him. “Later bird dick.”
“Now I’m hurt,” Eli snarled, giving Joshua a feral smile.
“I would be, too, if I was hung like a stud canary!” Joshua retorted.
“Jesus!” John hissed. “If you two get any louder you might as well duke it out right here!”
Eli dragged in a calming breath and stalked back to the stove.
Gabriel arrived with Luke and Aaron while the three were still in the kitchen, bristling at each other. He surveyed the three with a mixture of anger and disgust. “What the fuck is going on now?”
Eli glared at him and flicked a look at Joshua.
“Joshua seems to be having trouble remembering Marlee’s already mated—and bred,” John said in a low growl. “I’m going to break that anaconda of his and shove it up his ass if he can’t keep his hands to himself.”
Gabriel studied Joshua angrily for a long moment and then flicked a glance at Luke and Aaron. “We’ll discuss this … outside … later. We clear on that?”
All five of his brothers glared at him resentfully, but after a moment they turned and split up. Luke and Aaron headed upstairs to bathe and change and Joshua headed outside to cool down.
“What’s with the bandage?” Gabriel asked tightly once the others had left.
Eli flushed.
“Numb nuts was so busy trying to start a fight with Joshua that he grabbed a pan off the burner—in front of Marlee.”
“Shit! Well you’ll have to stay the hell away from her until it’s had time to ‘heal’.”
Eli stared at him in outrage. “How the hell long is that?”
“Like I would fucking know!” Gabriel snarled. “A few days, anyway.”
“I told her it wasn’t bad,” Eli said stiffly.
“Did she believe it?”
Eli glanced at John. “No.”
“Thanks!” Eli snarled.
“You’re welcome. What the hell do you expect? You stood there holding the pan like a dolt for five minutes!”
“It wasn’t that long and that bastard, Joshua, had distracted me!”
“Hell, Eli! If you were that bad about hiding all the time, we’d all be dead by now!”
“Alright! Fine! But I’m going to beat the fuck out Joshua,” Eli growled, stalking out of the kitchen and upstairs.
Gabriel watched him and then turned his attention to John. “Was that an exaggeration—I hope—or an accurate assessment?”
John shook his head. “We were doing fine until Marlee got uncomfortable and decided to leave the kitchen. Joshua caught her and embraced her. It was all I could do to refrain from beating the shit out of him.”
Gabriel’s lips tightened. “Like or not, they’re going to have to accept that they’re not taking part in this dance,” he said grimly. “No battle is going to change that—not now.”
———
If Marlee hadn’t already acknowledged that Gabriel had some very valid objections to her leaving she thought she would’ve been considering it yet again when she retreated upstairs.
It did flicker through her mind, but she’d decided to stay to protect the baby and the only thing that could convince her at this point to leave was a threat to the baby.
It was hard to dismiss the suspicion that she was at the center of the tension between the brothers. It was ridiculous, of course. They were all far above ‘average’ looking men. They were exceptionally handsome and well built besides. Women everywhere probably threw themselves at them. She didn’t see how they could possibly lack for all the female attention they wanted—probably more than they wanted or needed! She could more easily see them having to fight the women off than struggling to catch their attention!
She wasn’t a fool, though. She knew they were attracted to her—God only knew why!
She thought she was reasonably attractive, but she certainly wasn’t any great beauty, classic or otherwise!
It occurred to her, though, that it might be an extreme case of sibling rivalry, that they weren’t necessarily attracted her as much as they were drawn into some kind of territorial squabble. Maybe it was competitiveness? Subconsciously, because Gabriel and Eli had noticed her and wanted her, the others thought she must be ‘special’ somehow and they wanted her for that reason. Or maybe they didn’t especially want her. They just wanted to beat out their brothers?
Whatever the case, though, it was their problem, not hers. They were going to have to deal with it. She had enough to deal with.
She’d had sex with both Eli and Gabriel before she knew they were brothers and that complicated things already—because she was equally drawn to both of them and she was putty in their hands. The chances were at least fifty-fifty that she was carrying Eli’s baby, and that made it all the more difficult—because that wasn’t enough to settle it in her mind and her body wasn’t taking directions from her anyway.
She was a little miffed that John hadn’t made any attempt to ‘renew’ their acquaintance, but she supposed he’d decided the baby wasn’t his and things were complicated enough without his involvement. There was still a fifty-fifty chance that the baby was his, though, and it was disturbing that he didn’t seem to have any interest in that possibility.
She shook that thought off. She should just be relieved, not … upset. She was as certain as she needed to be that all of them, regardless of the paternity of the child, would protect her to the best of their abilities—and they seemed pretty damned able.
Besides, staying on the reservation was as good as having made it to another country to hide out. Even if the feds figured out she was on the reservation, they would have to jump through hoops to get permission to enter the reservation and she could easily move to a new location before they could get to her.
She hoped.
Regardless, staying was the best option available to her and she was just going to have to deal with the tension her presence seemed to cause and try to minimize it the best she could.
The biggest problem looming at the moment, it seemed to her, was that she couldn’t avoid causing friction unless she stayed in the room and she was already about ready to climb the walls. She was going to be a basket case long before the baby was born unless she could find some way to occupy her time.
She decided she was just going to have to talk to Gabriel about it when they all sat down to dinner. Surely he could find something for her to do besides vegging-out all day in front of the damned TV?
Unfortunately, she discovered when she did go down to dinner that the tension hadn’t eased—far from it. It seemed to have spread throughout the clan!
She decided to try anyway when the tense silence became just a little too much for her digestion. “Gabriel?”
His head came up from focusing on his meal, but his eyes were distant.
“I agree that I should stay here—at least for now—but I really need something to do.”
He blinked, bringing her into focus. “What?”
Marlee sighed. “I can’t just sit around and breed,” she said a little testily. “I
’ll lose my mind when I can’t even leave the house—or maybe I could?”
He studied her for a long moment. “You could be spotted. I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Then you’ll have to bring me something to keep me busy,” she said tightly. “There’s nothing here to do and I’m not used to doing nothing!”
“If you can cook, you can take a turn in the kitchen,” Eli said after a few minutes. “I don’t think anybody would feel like arguing with you.”
“I’m not playing domestic goddess for six damned men!” Marlee snapped. “So you can just get that idea right out of your head! I don’t mind taking a turn—although you might all be sorry since I can’t cook worth a shit—I don’t even mind doing some of the other chores since it looks like I’ll be living here, but that damned sure isn’t what I had in mind!”
The brothers all exchanged glances and then looked at her with amusement. It irritated her, but she could see they weren’t as tense and she relaxed fractionally, as well.
“Domestic goddess?” John asked.
She gave him a look. “The live in housekeeper that gets screwed?” She was immediately sorry that she hadn’t put her brain in gear before she’d spit that out. Encountering six pairs of predatory, golden eyes at one time was enough to make her feel over warm and just a little lightheaded. It didn’t make her any happier or less uneasy when they appeared to realize they were all looking at her like a juicy steak and turned to glare at one another.
“If you’re looking for something useful to do—besides playing domestic goddess,” Gabriel said, his voice tinged with amusement, “there’s plenty of paperwork that needs to be done for the office.”
That didn’t especially thrill her but at least it was something constructive. “I’ll do it.”
He sent her a doubtful look and then glanced at Aaron, lifting his brows. Aaron shrugged a little defensively. “It’s not in that bad a shape. I’m only a little behind.”
“Maybe we can transfer calls in so you can handle that, too. Before I consider that, though, we need to settle on a name for you—and a background story.”
“Maddie Bow Legs,” Joshua quipped.
Marlee whipped her head to stare at him in horror, struggling with the twin urges to throw something at him and to laugh. Raunchy or not, it was still funny. She might have been insulted given the fact that she’d had sex with three of the men present, but although amusement gleamed in his eyes as he met her gaze, there was nothing the least bit denigrating about his expression. On the contrary, he looked like he was contemplating helping her to earn the name and she felt her kegels clap with an enthusiasm that made her squirm uncomfortably in her seat.
Unfortunately, nobody but her and the ‘wit’ seemed to share their amusement.
The abrupt scrape of several chairs as the occupants surged to their feet snatched her attention from Joshua with alarm. Gabriel, John, and Eli, she discovered, had all gotten up at once.
“I’m going to head down to the barn to check on the livestock,” Gabriel said tightly.
“Eli? You want to give me a hand?”
Eli stared at Joshua for a long moment, clenching and unclenching his hands, but he finally nodded and turned to follow Gabriel out.
Marlee cleared her throat. “I guess I could take my turn handling kitchen clean up,” she said, infusing far more enthusiasm into the suggestion that she actually felt.
“I’ll give you a hand,” John said. Stacking his plate with Gabriel’s and Eli’s, he strode into the kitchen.
Marlee glanced at the others at the table uncomfortably and finally got up when the remaining three brothers got up to leave. No one had actually finished eating that she could see but apparently the party was over. She glanced up at Joshua as he reached her. “I know you were just kidding,” she said quietly.
His eyes were tumultuous, but something flickered in them at that. He coiled a hand along the side of her neck, using his thumb to push her chin up and planted his mouth over hers so quickly she’d just managed to suck in a breath of surprise when his mouth covered hers. His kiss was brief, but hot enough to curl her toes. “Wrong,” he said against her ear. “I want to fuck you so bad I could drive nails with my dick, baby.”
It was crude and disgusting! She didn’t know why her kegels were clapping and her panties were wet! She couldn’t manage to do more than gape at him wide-eyed, however, when he leaned away. He studied her for a long moment from beneath hooded eyes and finally left her.
Shaken, Marlee met Luke’s and Aaron’s gazes briefly and then focused on stacking dishes. Any hope she had that John had missed the exchange were dashed when she reached the kitchen. There was murder in his eyes as he watched Joshua, Luke, and Aaron step through the sliding glass doors and disappear into the darkness.
Marlee’s lips were still tingling. She licked them and then wished she hadn’t. She could taste Joshua and it didn’t do a thing to settle the quaking inside of her. Avoiding John’s gaze, she headed for the trash can to rake the plates she’d gathered and then moved to the sink to stack them. John caged her against the sink as she turned, planting a hand on either side of her.
She met his gaze uneasily, struggling to banish the sense of guilt that welled in her at the look in his eyes.
“I’m the reasonable one,” he said evenly. “But I’m not feeling terribly reasonable right now. You want to know why?”
Marlee blinked at him and slowly shook her head.
“No?”
She shook her head more vigorously. “Really, I don’t.”
“Because I don’t need to tell you, do I? You already know.”
Marlee swallowed with an effort, but Joshua had already wound her up and John’s proximity wasn’t doing anything for her IQ. She didn’t even try to resist when he captured her hand and guided it to his crotch, cupping it around his erection. She flicked a look down at the thick rod heating her palm through his jeans and met his gaze again.
“I want,” he said in a low growl. “I know you need time and space to adjust … to everything that’s happened, but there’s a limit to my patience, Marlee. I’m not proud of my part in what happened, but I’m tired of kicking my ass about it. I’m tired of torturing myself about what would’ve happened because I was trying to be reasonable if Eli hadn’t been determined to act on his instincts. I’m tired of watching you with Gabe and Eli and wondering if they deserve you more than I do. And there’s no way in hell I’m going to let Joshua touch what’s mine and keep my hands to myself.”
Marlee gaped at him. “I didn’t …!”
“You don’t have to, baby.” He leaned closer, nuzzling her hair and dragging in a deep breath. “All you have to do is walk into the room and there are six stiff dicks, and six randy … brothers.”
Marlee gulped, half unnerved and half intrigued. “You’re scaring me,” she said shakily.
He dragged in another deep breath. “Liar,” he murmured, dipping lower in search of her lips. “We have the same effect on you that you have on us. That scent’s been driving me insane, baby.”
Chapter Nine
Marlee was so enthralled by the husky drawl of John’s voice and his nearness that it didn’t occur to her to even attempt to evade his questing mouth. She tilted her head to give him access and allowed herself to fall completely under his control, her entire focus on the feel of his mouth on hers and the heady brew of his essence as it infiltrated seemingly every part of her and turned her to liquid want. It flickered through her mind that she felt much like she had that first day with him, as if her body was no longer within her control at all, but there was no more alarm at that moment than there had been then, only the need thrumming through her, rising like a molten tide. Disappointment fluttered through her when ceased to explore her mouth with his tongue, sucked lightly at her lips, and then lifted his head. She struggled to lift her eyelids to look up at him.
His expression was taut with own need, still, watchful, but, as if he’d only b
een waiting for the invitation in her eyes, he caught her around the waist, lifted her, and settled her on the counter next to the sink. Pushing her thighs wider, he pressed close, dipping his head to kiss her lingeringly on the mouth once more and then exploring her face and throat with his lips as he slipped his hands beneath her blouse to explore her torso with hands that shook.
She grasped the bottom edge of her blouse and pulled it off when he shoved it up beneath her arms and scooped a breast from the cup of her bra, bending down to pluck at the engorged nipple with his lips. Dropping the blouse, she reached behind her back to unfasten the bra, no happier at the impediment to his exploration than he seemed to be. He leaned away as she allowed the straps to slide down her arms, studying her breasts, and then reached for the closure of her jeans, fumbling with the snap for a moment before he realized it was a snap and not a button. She’d already reached to help him when he popped the snap and tugged the zipper down.
He shoved his hand in, struggling to reach the lips between her legs and then gave up and began trying to work the jeans off. She leaned back to brace herself on her palms and lift up. He nearly pulled her off the counter but he managed to peel the jeans and panties off.
For a handful of moments, he merely stared at her, lightly touching her breasts and belly, stroking his hands along her thighs. He met her gaze after a moment, swallowing audibly.
“Gods! You’re beautiful,” he said hoarsely. Slipping his hands from her thighs to her buttocks, he cupped one in each hand and dragged her to the edge of the counter, pressing his cock rhythmically against her. It sent pleasurable jolts through her and at the same time frustration.
He seemed to reach the same point at the same time. Marlee heard the distinct sound of his zipper as he reached between them and lowered it. As anxious as John was, she tugged at the waist of his jeans until he managed to free his cock and she felt the heavy weight of it hit her thigh. Lifting her arms to his shoulders, she tightened them as he dragged her hips off the counter and probed her cleft, squeezing her eyes closed as he made the connection and she felt his thick flesh stretching her.
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