by Zoey Marcel
There was a silence between them that Melanie seemed to find awkward, but Emmett found sexual and enticing.
She took a nervous gulp that sounded wet and seductive, though she probably didn’t even realize the effect it had on him.
“It was also really nice of you to…comfort me in the bathroom…on the plane.”
The delicate hue of pink in her cheeks gave him a sense of masculine pride and naughty amusement.
“That was also my pleasure.”
She blushed more obviously this time and he found it endearing.
“Well, I’ll let you do your thing.” She headed for the door, flinching and losing her breath when he put his hand on her arm.
“Melanie.”
“Yeah?” she whispered, wetting her lips with her tongue.
The slick gesture made him instantly hard. “Hunter and Jake are fine with us being alone together.”
“I know.”
“Have you ever deep throated anyone before?”
She blinked at him in shock. “No.”
“My older brother likes to deep throat women occasionally.”
The older brother was Greyson, though she probably thought he meant Hunter. His not-at-all-identical twin, Hunter, was only about two minutes older and only because Emmett had been a gentleman as a baby and let the eager, wiggly bastard pop out first.
“Is that something you would be willing to learn for him?”
Melanie swallowed and nodded.
“You’re a good woman, Melanie,” Emmett murmured gently as he stepped closer and drew her near.
He really shouldn’t be kissing her. He’d kissed plenty of women and kept it about the physical, but if he was honest with himself there was something different about kissing Melanie. He craved it for the obvious lust reasons, but there seemed to be a deeper, more powerful connection they shared whenever he put his mouth on her.
A part of him really wanted to explore their chemistry further and find out what sort of unnamed bond it was that united them.
Another part of him was scared to death of what he might find there.
Ignoring his better judgment, Emmett wrapped his arms around Melanie and put his lips on her. The innocent little thing let out a breathy sound that made his cock twitch in his pants and had his nuts locked and loaded.
Her lips were so soft, so full and kissable he didn’t know how he could pry himself away from the heaven. The woman’s lips parted receptively at the first insistent knock of his tongue. He swept the slick muscle into her mouth and kissed her slowly, deeply. He tasted purity and heat in her mouth, like a steamy mingling of innocence and hot passion.
His hands went to cup her ass and pull her curvaceous body against his. Her feeble moan did him in. One of his hands remained on her rump while the other skimmed upward to palm her left breast. Her needy squeal turned the kiss feral. If he didn’t break the kiss immediately, Diego would be walking back into the hotel room to find Emmett plowing his cock deep into Melanie’s cunt.
Emmett ended the kiss and pushed the woman to her knees. She went breathless as she clawed at his pants to get them open. His dick eagerly extended toward the opening, thick and impatient with want.
“Pull your shorts and panties down. I want you to play with yourself while I give you instructions, but don’t come.”
“Okay.” She fumbled with her shorts.
“Say ‘Yes, Sir,’ Melanie.”
Her face got a heated glow that looked more akin to rampant desire than embarrassment this time as she lowered her shorts and underwear and then knelt again in front of him.
“Yes, Sir.”
His cock clenched at her deference and the porcelain smoothness of her naked pussy. He really wanted to be inside her, but a blow job would be quicker and probably over with before Diego got back.
“Touch yourself,” Emmett whispered, feeling his penis stiffen when he saw Melanie’s fingers smooth over her sex. He watched her play with herself for a moment before prodding at her silky lips with his erection.
She took him into her mouth, heeding his instructions, but she gagged when his cockhead touched her uvula like he knew she would.
“Shh. It’s all right. You won’t get it right the first time. It takes practice.”
He didn’t make it down her throat, but he enjoyed the humid warmth of her mouth basking him in a sauna-like caress while she suckled him. She was damned good at sucking cock, but she didn’t seem used to the tip touching the back of her throat. If his optimistic brothers thought for one second that they could convince Greyson to go along with the McKenna Downs tradition of a multiple men to one woman marriage, then they would have to break Melanie of that.
Emmett was close to coming when he noticed her tense and start to shudder. He frowned, realizing the sexy little imp was coming. Not exactly disciplined, was she? She let out a happy sigh on his dick just before he pulled it out of her mouth.
She acted disappointed when she saw him put his erection away and close his pants. “Please let me finish.”
“You already did.”
A guilty look swept over her pretty face. “I’m sorry. It just felt so good. I couldn’t stop.”
He crossed his arms and stared down at her. “You don’t think I’m worth listening to?”
“You are. I didn’t mean anything by it. You said you wanted to train me to deep throat for Hunter. I thought the orgasm thing was just to see if I could control myself, which I can’t. Hunter and Jake don’t mind that, though.”
They might not mind Melanie coming whenever she wanted to, but Greyson and Diego most definitely would. Orgasm control was a big deal to them.
Emmett had never said he was training her to deep throat for Hunter. She’d just assumed it was for him. In reality, he was training her to eventually hold Greyson’s cock in her throat when he asked it of her.
Emmett cleared his throat. “Melanie, when you’re with me, you do as I say. Understood?”
“Yes, Sir. I’m sorry.”
She hung her head, looking like a little girl who had just been rebuked, but there was a more primal part of her that he picked up on. She seemed like a woman who wanted out of her clothes and into his pants.
The feeling was mutual, but the knock on the door told him Diego was back. Melanie panicked and stood without permission, pulling her panties and shorts up and closing them.
“I’m sorry. I’ll go. This was a mistake.” She opened the door, blushing when she saw Diego.
“Buenos días,” he said with a friendly smile.
“Hi,” she squeaked, bolting out of the room and back into the one she shared with her sister.
Diego frowned and walked into the room, letting the door close behind him. “Is she all right?”
“She’s fine. My cock isn’t.”
He laughed. “Did I return too early for your liking, my friend?”
Emmett managed a small smile. “No. She came without permission, so I ended the session. Apparently she thinks her orgasms are hers to control.”
Diego got a naughty smile on his face as he set the bag of their breakfast down. “Most women do. She is vanilla. Can you blame her?”
“Blame is hardly the issue. They’re insane.”
“Vanilla people?”
Emmett smirked. “No. Hunter and Jake. It’s extremely unlikely that a single woman exists who could please all of us both in and out of bed. If you ask me, the old man was being unreasonable.”
Diego sat and then started on his breakfast burrito. “True, he can be stubborn and unreasonable, but then again, so are his sons.”
Emmett frowned and pulled his own breakfast burrito out. “Regardless, he has us all beat. I should have put a tracking device on his horse when he rode away. What sort of dramatic exit was that?”
Diego smiled while he chewed. “I just work for your family. I leave the Western drama to the five of you.”
Emmett picked up the paper cup that contained some kind of hot liquid. “Is this t
he tea I asked for?”
Diego nodded with his mouth full.
“I appreciate it.”
Emmett blew on the slit in the lid to cool it faster. It really was a pointless endeavor, like trying to grab a fistful of salt out of the ocean. There were far more intelligent ways he imagined.
“Who gives their sons an ultimatum and then rides off into the wilderness without telling anyone where he’s going?”
Diego smiled. “An O’Neil.”
“If I ever see the old man again…” Shaking his head, Emmett sat and then took a calming sip of his tea before turning his attention to the bulging breakfast burrito in his hand. “Did you get anything for the women?”
“I did. I gave their breakfast to Melanie’s sister before I came back in here.”
“Good.” Emmett chewed for a bit, making sure to swallow like a gentleman before speaking. “What was the old man griping about anyway? A lot of siblings don’t get along, and how is sharing a wife supposed to keep the four of us from killing each other?”
“I assume he wanted all of you to prove your determination to work together by following the McKenna Downs tradition.”
“To hell with tradition. The old man didn’t even practice what he preached. He had my mother all to himself.”
“True, he had your mother,” Diego began slowly, “but he lost Lena because of his unwillingness to share her.”
“Lena was greedy, claiming to love three different men. My mother was more reasonable.” Emmett shook his head. “I don’t blame my father for settling. Who in their sane mind would want to share the woman they love with another man?”
“You used to share with Greyson.”
Emmett stiffened, feeling a dark cloud set in. “Don’t remind me.”
He took a ferocious chomp out of his burrito that was out of character for him.
“Would sharing with your brothers and me be so bad?” Diego asked. “You said you have no intention of ever falling in love again, so as long as the sex with Melanie satisfies you and you get your father back by sharing a wife with your brothers, then what is the problem?”
“I never said there was a problem. It’s simply illogical and irrational to expect five grown men to share the same interest in a woman permanently. We’re all different. What was the romantic old fool thinking?”
“I think he was just upset over the falling out between you and Greyson.”
Emmett scoffed. “Well, someone should have informed him that Greyson doesn’t get along with Jake either because he’s overprotective of the poor kid. I hardly think that merits an ultimatum from our old man.”
“That doesn’t, but I can understand Señor O’Neil’s reasoning where you and Greyson are concerned.”
Emmett scowled. “Don’t make me fire you.”
Diego smirked. “You won’t fire me. You like things in a neat order. Losing me would disrupt your comfortable schedule and put a greater workload on you.”
“I could hire someone else to replace you.”
“You know no one could replace me. I understand all of your moods and humor. Besides, who else has the patience to put up with Greyson or help settle him when he’s in one of his moods?”
Emmett sobered. He’d never fire Diego, but sometimes it left him in awe how big an impact the hired hand had on Greyson’s life. Diego kept him stable and as close to tolerable as Greyson could come to be around.
“A valid argument,” was all Emmett would say on the matter.
“I’m a patient man,” Diego reminded him. “I don’t mind waiting for Melanie to adjust to the darker side of sex.”
“I’m hardly dark, Diego. That’s more your forte and Greyson’s. If she thinks I’m dark, then this is never going to work.”
“Give her a chance, or hand her over to me if you’re impatient.”
“Impatience isn’t the issue. I dislike embarking on a journey when I know the road ends with me falling off a cliff and not reaching my desired destination.”
Diego’s tone dropped in pitch. “So you would rather stay in the same place instead of moving out from under the storm clouds and into the sunlight?”
Emmett rolled his eyes. “Don’t get poetic on me. I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it. I said I disliked the fruitlessness of it.”
“If you refuse to give Melanie a chance, it makes you like Greyson.”
The sly bastard.
Emmett glared at him. “Damn you. I’ll start with her tonight.”
Diego gave him an asshole smile. “Thank you, my friend. I take back what I said. You are not at all like Greyson.”
“You’re damned right I’m not.”
Diego appeared entertained. Emmett sure wasn’t.
* * * *
Melanie ate her breakfast while she waited outside for her taxi. Kendall was taking a shower, and both Emmett and Diego were in their room eating breakfast.
Mellie took a taxi to the hospital, hoping the men didn’t realize she was gone. She’d told Kendall she needed to go somewhere and would be back. Her sister seemed to understand where Mellie intended to go, or maybe she just wasn’t curious enough to ask.
Melanie felt the familiar cloud of guilt and inner turmoil brewing as she walked through the halls of the hospital. It had been five long years, but more than likely he was still here…because of her.
She went to his room, confused when she saw it empty. Maybe they had moved him.
“Excuse me. Which room is Danny Finch in?” she asked a receptionist in the area.
The woman clicked away at her keyboard for a minute before answering. “There’s no one here by that name.”
Mellie frowned. “Did he get moved to a different area?”
A nurse walked by just then. Melanie recognized her from years ago. She’d visited Danny plenty of times.
“Excuse me. Do you know where Danny Finch is?”
The nurse seemed disturbed. “You look familiar. Are you the girlfriend that visited him a long time ago?”
“Ex-girlfriend, yes.”
“I thought so. Danny isn’t here anymore.”
“Did he wake up from his coma?”
The nurse nodded, but the gesture seemed reluctant.
“Please tell me what happened. I’m really worried about him. If he’s awake, I need to see him so I can apologize for my part in his coma.”
The woman hesitated, glancing around inconspicuously before lowering her voice. “Well, just between us, he’s missing. No one really knows what happened. He went missing during graveyard shift. The cameras in this area were down at the time and no one saw him leave, but he must have since he’s not here anymore. Either that or someone came and got him without saying anything.” She held up a hand. “I say that because I know you two had a relationship before, but you didn’t hear it from me.”
The news startled her. “Thank you for telling me.”
Mellie was in a daze as she made her way slowly through the hospital. Where had Danny gone? Did he blame her for his self-inflicted drug overdose the night she’d broken up with him?
Had he been trying to kill himself? God, she hoped not. She would never forgive herself if she was the reason he’d gone into a coma. She already blamed herself for that just as Danny’s family did, but having confirmation of her responsibility would be so much worse.
The most puzzling question of all was whether or not he had woken up or had been taken away by someone. If he’d died in the hospital, there would be record of it and they would have told her. He must still be alive wherever he was.
Why would someone take him without saying anything? Who would want to kidnap Danny?
If he really had just woken up and walked out of the building, why not ask questions about what happened to him to put him in the hospital? Why leave without saying anything?
A cold sense of horror washed over Mellie when the thought occurred to her who might have been responsible for the break-in at her sister’s house last night. Danny knew where Kendall lived. Had
he broken into her house and scrolled through her cell phone to get Melanie’s phone number?
She pushed the crazy idea aside, walking quickly now. It was unlikely and the facial hair bit and Western clothes didn’t match Danny’s description or his tastes.
Then again, he had brown hair just like the intruder had. Danny could have grown facial hair and donned a black Stetson to hide better.
Mellie hugged herself, wanting to hide in the closest O’Neil’s arms. That would be Emmett, the gentlemanly player.
The criminal who’d broken into Kendall’s home was probably just some random crazy man who’d been drunk and didn’t even know what the hell he was doing.
Even so, the idea of Danny being out of his coma and somewhere out there made her nervous when she didn’t know where she stood with him. She blamed herself for what happened to him and it scared her to death that maybe he blamed her, too.
Chapter Four
Emmett would have called a cab and gone after Melanie if he knew where she went. When she got back and he saw her coming down the hall, he felt a unique fusion of relief and anger. It had surprised him how insanely she’d worried him with her absence. He wanted to keep her safe for his brothers, but deep down he knew there was a little more to it than that.
“Where the devil have you been?” He strode toward her, feeling the sudden urge to spank her for her carelessness.
She shrank like a violet as he drew near. “I just went out for a little bit. I didn’t mean to worry you.”
“Your answer is ambiguous and unacceptable.” He took hold of her arm, letting her know he meant business. “Come with me.”
She swallowed and walked with him, following his lead into the hotel room. The way she flinched when the door closed and licked her luscious lips made his cock spring to attention.
“Where were you, Melanie?”
“Does it matter?” she asked the question in a sincere manner rather than the sassy tone it would have been interpreted as had the words been written out for him rather than spoken.
“Yes, it matters.” Emmett closed the distance between them, noting with no small amount of pride, the arousal glittering in her lovely eyes. “I came along for your protection and I mean to keep you safe.”