“Sheila, if this is about Ethan, it has nothing to do with you.” His jaw tensed. “It has to do with loyalty. Period.” He shifted around her to lean over the side and pull a bale up the bed. “Like I said, glad things worked out for you.” Straightening up, he tipped his hat. “Hooroo.”
Please don’t let him be stubborn about this. For Ethan’s sake. For Nate’s sake. And for Miller’s own sake.
“You didn’t even love me…” She grabbed his arm to stall him. “You can’t stay mad at Ethan over this. You can’t.” It’d kill her, knowing she’d come between them.
“Sheila, leave it be.”
“Please don’t be this way.” Miller reached up to clasp her hand, trying to loosen her hold. “Please, Miller.”
“Let her go, M.”
She gasped, turning with Miller to the doorway.
Ethan’s eyes blazed blue fire.
Miller dropped her hand. “It’s not what it looks like.”
“Sounded to me like De was begging you.” Ethan’s cheek ticked in anger. “That pisses me off.”
Denae’s breath caught at his assumption. “No. No. I wasn’t.” Had she been? Okay, maybe a little. She’d do what it took to get Miller to be reasonable.
“I don’t know what you were planning…” Ethan faced Miller head on. “But whatever you had with De in the past is long over.”
She moaned. Where had this side of Ethan come from? This was crazy. “Ethan, stop.”
“You…” Miller took a step forward. “Back off, little brother.”
Ethan didn’t back down. “Not until you’ve got the fact De’s mine now through your bloody thick skull.”
Her mouth gapped open. “Ethan!” Where had the notion come from? His?
“Really?” Miller arched a brow. “That’s not what De was telling me a minute ago.”
“Miller!” She gasped at the perverse man egging Ethan on. “This has nothing to do with me.” It was the breach between them. Miller had confirmed that. She waved between the two. “You two need to talk things out.”
“Eh, we do.” Ethan nodded.
“In my book time for talking has done past.” Miller radiated anger.
“Since M doesn’t want to talk…” Ethan threw the first punch, hitting Miller in his jaw. Miller in turn took Ethan to the ground. The men rolled around grunting and throwing punches at each other.
“Stop it!” Denae screamed. “Ethan, stop! Stop it!”
Amid curses the men exchanged a series of body punches.
She grew light-headed as she watched the madness. Yes. This had nothing to do with her… Miller had to be taking out the anger he felt toward Ethan and using this as an excuse to pound him. Or more so, Ethan was trying to work out his frustration at Miller’s attitude from his system. She understood men would be men. She simply didn’t want to witness it.
“Stop this!” She glanced around for a water bucket. That’d cool them off.
“Oh, fuck.” Matt entered the barn, slightly ahead of Lee.
Trembling, she watched as the cousins managed to pull the struggling brothers apart.
Ethan hunched over panting.
Miller straightened before spitting out blood. He wiped his mouth off.
She wanted to slap him for hurting Ethan. “Well, I hope you got it all out of your system.”
“For now.” Miller picked up his hat and put it on his head. He spat again.
For now? She snorted, so glad she’d been born a woman.
Ethan leaned over his hands braced on his knees. “Christ, mate, you’re as strong as a bloody bull.” He coughed. “A bloody brick shithouse.”
“Working with animals that outweigh you will do that.” Lee chuckled, slapping Miller on the back.
“Water boy.” Matt snickered. “You, on the other hand might be able to out swim a croc but that’s about it.”
A grin pulled at the corner of her lips. Okay, that’d been funny. She laughed. “Water boy.” Though he’d held his own against his bigger brother.
Ethan turned his head sharply her way. “Hey, not from you too.”
She lowered her lashes.
Miller headed for the truck. “Back to work, mates.” He stopped. “And no one mentions this to Mum.”
“Oh, hell no.” Ethan nodded in agreement.
The twins raised their hands in sync with one another. “Not a word from me.”
They acted like she wasn’t there. She just might tell to see Maree’s response. Maybe she’d put an end to the foolishness.
Denae examined Ethan once the twins left the barn. He was sweaty and dirty. “You okay?”
Ethan advanced. “I think he broke about six ribs.”
Unbelieving, she frowned. “He did not.”
“I think he knocked my tooth loose too.” A single stride brought him into her personal space. “Want to check it out for me?”
His. She pulled the conversation back into focus. His teasing wasn’t going to sway her. He’d called her his earlier. Butterflies danced low in her belly. As good as the declaration was, her dander still rose.
“No, no, I don’t.” Denae took hold of his shirt to keep him at a distance. Felt the speeding heart beneath the material. “What in the world came over you?”
“Me?” His face tensed up. “What about you? You, out here alone with Miller. Can’t you decide which one of us you want?”
For a moment, she could only stare. Heat spread up her face to burn her cheeks. “Oh… We weren’t kissing. Our bodies weren’t pressed together. We were talking.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe you said that!” She jerked her hand away from him. “This wasn’t about me and Miller, it was about you two!”
But he was faster and caught her wrist. “I’m damn sorry.”
“Let me go.”
“Not until I’ve had my say.” Fire lit his blue gaze. “Listen, last night, you were hot and heavy for my prick. For me.”
Her breath caught.
“This morning, you tell me we’ll not be starting a habit.” He pulled her closer. “Just what the fuck am I supposed to think? You were begging my bloody brother.”
The fire in his eyes threatened to consume her. She’d never seen that look in anyone’s eyes before.
“Listen, luv I’m sorry for my pig arse behavior, but answer me, De. What am I expected to think?” The hand wrapped around her wrist tightened.
“It’s not like that…”
“Well, maybe it should be.” His teeth clenched, his voice lowered. “Because out of the two of us, I know which is the better man. You think I don’t bloody well know he deserves you?”
“No. No. Oh, Ethan.” Liquid heat burst to life in her core as she continued to look in the blazing blue of his eyes. Ethan was jealous. Jealous of Miller. But it went beyond her. “You have everything all wrong…”
“I need to know what you want from me. Decide here and now, me or my brother…” His nostrils flared. “Because I’m not playing this game.”
As thrilled as she was that Ethan might care enough about her to feel some sort of powerful emotion, tension tightened the muscles along her spine. He’d hit a hot nerve. “A game with you?” Her throat worked as anger built. “A game. Well, mate.” She pulled on her arm, but he didn’t release her. “I think you’re the only person who played any games.”
She ignored the change in his stance.
“You want to know the truth? The whole sad truth?”
“Eh, luv, I do.”
By God, she’d tell him. Maybe that would end this whole stupid charade. “I was miserable while I lived out here. Beyond miserable. I was so unhappy until Miller met my parents.” She swallowed, drifting back in time in her memories. “The day Miller helped me alongside the road, he took me home. Instead of getting a thank you, he got an hour long sermon of my father’s interpretation of the Bible.”
Tears burned her eyes, so she blinked them away. The time for tears was over. “I snuck out to his truck to tell him how sorry I was f
or what they’d put him through.”
“Go on, luv.” Ethan’s hand gentled on her wrist. His thumb massaged skin.
“He said, he said…‘No worries sheila. I could’ve walked out at anytime’. Oh God, I wanted to die then and there. Because there was absolutely nowhere I could go to get away from that. Nowhere. I’d been slaving on my parents’ small farmstay since I could walk.”
His hand slid from her wrist to her shoulder, rippling along her nerves.
“I’d slaved for them while they told me everything I did was wrong. Everything. They preached to me about how God was watching me and knew all the mistakes I was making. Then when I was fifteen and got caught kissing a boy at church during a picnic.” Her chest hurt so badly she couldn’t breathe.
His fingers kneaded her shoulder.
“Well, I went from being a useless dummy to the devil’s spawn and a whore for kissing that boy.”
Ethan groaned, wrapping his arms around her.
Trembling fingers clutched at his shirt. “Well, if they were going to call me a whore, I might as well be one. From then on, when I got the opportunity I slept with every boy, every young man who’d pick me up for a few hours of freedom.” Her parents had been so ashamed of her they’d left her at home when they traveled to church. “And not a single one wanted anything from me but the sex.” Not a single one of them.
She rested her head on his shoulder.
“Luv…”
“Just sex.” The tears wouldn’t stop. “But not Miller. He looked at me that first day and asked me why I didn’t leave home. I laughed. Oh God, how I laughed at him, before asking him just how I was supposed to do that with no money and no one to take me in.” Maybe in a city people could escape with no help. But here in the outback she’d had no resources.
It hadn’t been until she was carrying Nate that she even remembered her cousin Jack existed. She ran across a couple old postcards she’d held on to. Upon the death of Jack’s father, his mum had moved back to her family on the coast. God, how she’d missed them. But over time, it’d been easier not to remember them.
Ethan picked her up and carried her over to a stack of bales. He sat and kept her in his lap. “I want to hear the end, De.” His arms were secure around her body. She held on for dear life.
“Miller started his truck and looked at me. ‘I’ll be back, sheila’.” Denae recalled the day so clearly. “Despite my parents’ preaching he came back a few days later.” Her fingers dug into Ethan’s muscles. “I threw myself at him but he wasn’t interested. Not that night or any other. Said it was best to get to know one another first. Only, I didn’t get to know him, not really. But he was so nice to me. And I loved how I felt when people saw us together.”
“He gave me a job in the Thorn station’s kitchen. It hadn’t been easy, but he explained to my parents with the constable’s help that I was an adult and couldn’t be kept on the family farm.” She buried her nose in Ethan’s neck. “Freedom. He gave me my first dose of freedom. He got me a car that wouldn’t break down. And for this I thought I loved him.”
Ethan’s chest vibrated in a growl.
“Miller told me I didn’t know what love was but finally accepted a kiss from me. It was my first real kiss. The first, since the first sweet kiss, when I hadn’t felt dirty.” She tried to get closer to him. “A week later, I impulsively asked him to marry me.” Marriage had been the next logical step in her mind.
Here and there, Ethan’s hands made soothing motions.
“He was reluctant. And right off, I knew he regretted agreeing.” A breath shuddered through her. “But then, there was your mum…”
He groaned.
“There’d be no slowing that woman down. Maree had been so happy for Miller. So kind to me. But Miller did find a way for some breathing room. Or that’s what I think now.”
“Sydney?” Ethan’s voice was rough.
“Yes. Miller treated me and my new girlfriends from the station to a trip to Sydney. He told me he wanted me to be sure.” Her hands tangled in his hair. “By then, I was scared I’d make him feel miserable…knew I wasn’t anywhere near good enough for Miller. But I couldn’t end it.” And she’d loved Miller for everything he’d done. Just not the way a woman was supposed to love a man. “He was the first safe, sane thing I’d ever had. Then you walked in that club.”
“Luv, De…”
She ignored him as the tightness in her chest threatened to crush her. “You were so gorgeous…so breathtakingly masculine… I knew the only thing you wanted from me was sex.”
“Enough, De.” His hands clasped her shoulders.
“I kept thinking, why is he singling me out with all these pretty women around? But I was right.” She lifted her head. “That was all you wanted from me. A quick fuck like the dozens before you.”
“Christ, De…”
“When it came down to it, it didn’t matter. I’d needed the sex.”
“De, stop.”
“Because if Miller found out, he’d call off the wedding…like I couldn’t bring myself to do.” A sob tore through her chest. “Only…only…the sex with you wasn’t dirty like I’d thought it’d be. You made me feel the most amazing things.” Desperately, she pulled at his hair. “Then you asked me to stay the weekend…and then the week.”
“I swear, De, you were special. I might have played you that first night, even the second night.” Ethan placed his forehead to hers. “But after that I felt differently. I’d never have invited you back to my place… I’d never have asked you to stay the night otherwise.”
“I swear I was as surprised as you were to find out you were Miller’s brother.” Until that fateful moment she’d been willing to stay with Ethan forever. Life had been so good with him.
“I know, luv. I know that now.” He kissed her then, stealing what little air she had. His mouth was fierce as it plundered hers. “I’m so bloody sorry about how I treated you that day. For being a pig’s arse earlier.”
Moaning, she dug her nails into his shoulders, his muscles, as his prick pressed into her hip. His hands roamed everywhere caressing her body. One snuck under her shirt to rub along her skin. His rough fingers provoked a maddening desire.
“Oh God, Ethan.” She pressed into the hard planes of his body.
“I know.” He nibbled on her lips. “I know—I feel it too.”
Cupping her breast, his hand coaxed out a moan. Shifting away from her, he kept kissing her while he managed to unbutton her shirt. His nimble fingers unclasped the hook on the front of her bra. “I love your breasts.” Roughly, he pinched a puckered nipple.
“I didn’t have any until Nate came along.” She laughed, rolling her head to the side while he kissed along her throat. Loving the feel of his lips and hands on her body, she moaned.
He growled, his teeth scraping along the tender flesh under her ear.
Her clit swelled at the tingles of arousal.
“I have to fuck you now.” His tongue trailed down her throat. “Right here. Right now.”
All she did was moan, and then shifted off his lap. Quickly, she turned away from him to wiggle her jeans down to her ankles. Without having to be urged, she got onto her knees and leaned over a bale of hay.
Ethan’s breathing turned harsh, and it echoed in the confinement of the barn.
“Oh…” She gasped at the feel of the hay poking and scraping her swollen breasts. Liquid fire burst in her clit at pleasure-pain of the rough straw stabbing against her achy nipples. “Oh God, Ethan.”
Frantic with need, she cried out when he dragged her across the bale to bring her pussy to the corner. Rough straw rubbed at her extended clit. She moaned, the blissful need intensifying to make her stir crazy. Arousal hummed through her.
Ethan’s fingers stroked her slit. “So wet. Hot.” Two fingers filled her hole as his other hand pressed her into the hay. She screamed at the pleasure and arched her arse.
He removed his fingers to shove his long stiff muscle deep.
Every thrust of his prick shoved her into the bale. Every inch of her body was sensitized. There was no thinking past the approaching climax. She focused on the pleasure-pain in her breasts, nipples and swollen clit.
Teeth nipped the back of her neck. His mouth suckled at the side of her neck where it met her shoulder.
“Oh, Ethan.” Her world buzzed on an arousal high.
He made her feel so good while he pounded his rigid muscle into her sucking pussy. His body was hard along her back as he thrust in and out. He grunted and groaned bringing her to an explosive orgasm. She arched her hips up. “Ethan!”
On a final thrust, he groaned low.
Inner walls clutched at his buried length as it jerked inside of her. She moaned, tensing, enjoying the sensation of completion. Of him coming.
Ethan pulled his weight from her all too soon. “You all right, luv?”
A laugh bubbled up. “I think so.” She groaned, moving away from the bale. “Maybe.”
“Christ, luv, I’ve marked your body all up.” Instead of touching her blotchy breasts, he ran his fingertips along her throat where he’d been sucking. “You’re not going to be able to hide those.”
“Ethan, you didn’t…”
“Eh, I did luv.” The love marks had been deliberate. His expression curled her toes.
First, she’d better worry about getting her clothes back up…
Chapter Seven
For the first time in his life, he was glad to be rid of his family. Cohen had been last to leave. He’d forgotten how serious his cousins took their card-playing. His arse was flat broke at the moment. Dammit. Again, if only he’d listened to Miller. More than once M had told him not to play poker with the twins. The mates were bloody thieves.
Riptide Love ( Page 9