Hard 5 by Stephanie Brother
10
Little Lady is going to be delivered tomorrow, and I’m so excited I could squeal. I actually do on a couple of occasions while preparing a joint of beef for dinner. I’ve decided to serve it with some garlic mashed potatoes and roasted carrots and parsnips. I’ve even made a gravy laced with beer, which tastes delicious.
The blueberry muffins are cooling, and I’m sweating.
When I hear the front door open, I straighten up, swiping at my disheveled hair. It’s early, and I’m not expecting anyone yet. It’s Cash, and I watch as he turns to shut the door, pausing as though he’s checking there’s no one behind him.
When he lifts his hat, his brown hair is perfectly messy beneath. I’m used to the way he keeps his emotions bottled up under an unmoving expression. Apart from blushing, I’m also relatively moderate with my responses to people. Maybe that’s what makes Cash easy for me to read. Shucking off his boots, he makes his way over and bends to kiss me without saying a word first.
It’s different than yesterday, maybe because he’s had time to think about what it felt like between us and has worked himself into a similar frenzy to me. Our tongues meet fast, and I’m backed up to the edge of the counter, my hand hooked around his neck for stability. Damn, I need his hands on me, his breath gusting against my neck as he kisses toward my ear. I’m transfixed over how big he is, how looming and strong. I’m mesmerized by the smell of him, fresh air, lemon soap, and hard work. One big hand rests at my waist, his thumb so close to my breast that I tremble. I know my nipples are hard beneath my shirt, and if that thumb just moved a little higher, he’d find out.
“You smell like the most delicious meal,” he ducks to peck my lips and then nuzzle us nose to nose.
“I’ve had my head in an oven for most of the afternoon,” I say. “How come you’re back early?”
“Because I’m the boss and because I wanted you to myself before the hordes start vying for your attention.”
“Nobody’s vying for my attention,” I scoff, and Cash gives me a rare smile.
“Everybody is vying for your attention. You’re just too sweet and innocent to notice.”
There’s no denying the fact that I’m not experienced with men, and the way he’s talking with total confidence makes me wonder if the brothers have had discussions that would make me blush from ankle to forehead.
“You need to get some more women working on this ranch,” I tell him. “You and your brothers are starved of females if I’m the most exciting thing available!”
Cash shakes his head. “We’ve been to the bar in town. We know what’s out there, Melanie. There’s no one out there that compares to you.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” I say. “One of my old schoolmates was asking after you all. She said she might drop by.” As the words leave my lips, I’m immediately regretful. Why am I telling Cash about Amber? If she turns up in this kitchen, there is no way Cash will still be interested in kissing me. All his thoughts will turn to her and her pretty bundle of curls and floaty dresses.
“Oh yeah?” His lips twitch as though he’s trying not to laugh. “You think I’m interested in girls who talk about me to their friends? That’s schoolgirl behavior.”
“She’s not a friend.”
Cash shakes his head. “I know what girls think…”
“Women,” I correct.
“I know what women think. They think they know what men want, but most of the time, they’re dressing up and putting on make-up and worrying about what they look like because of what other women think, not men.” He smooths my hair. “If you could see inside a man’s head, you’d find out what they really care about.”
“Oh, yeah. And what’s that?”
Cash shrugs. “That would be telling, Melanie, and I know enough about life to never lay all of my cards on the table unless I’m sure of winning.”
“What are you trying to win?” I ask, touching the collar of his shirt. It’s slightly frayed, and I make a mental note to inspect all their clothing as it goes through the laundry and darn anything that’s worth rescuing.
He kisses me then, long, and slow, and deep, and he doesn’t have to say a word because I know. Cash wants to win me. His hands slide over my wide hips, gripping hard, and my mind drifts to imagine if this is how he’d touch me if we were in bed together. Would he use his strength to show me how to move? Would he teach me how to bring him pleasure?
For the first time in my life, I can imagine being that way with a man. I can place myself naked in a bed beneath him, welcoming him into my body.
I’m not ready for it yet.
No way.
Cash is slowly proving himself to be a decent person, despite his purchase of everything I held dear. He’s showing me that he listens to what’s important to me and is trying to find a way to make it a reality.
He’s treating me with quiet respect beneath all of his stoic expressions and wanton kisses. But I’m not careless with my body, my heart, or my mind. Momma taught me to love myself as the gift and treasure that I was to her. But, oh…this feels so good. His fingers cup the back of my neck and his thumb strokes my throat, and shivers take over my scalp. For a while, I’m lost, forgetting everything that came before this moment, and wanting everything that could come after.
And then the door bangs.
Cash draws away from me quickly, turning to watch as his brothers saunter into the room.
“So this is the urgent business you needed to take care of,” Colt says, winking.
“I’d say Melanie’s needs are urgent,” Cary says.
“Less talking about Melanie’s needs,” Cash warns, and Scott clears his throat in a way that sounds a lot like he’s laughing under his breath.
“Wash up,” I say sternly, hoping that the lure of food with get them to focus on something other than my kiss-swollen lips and Cash’s flushed cheeks. Ugh. We must make a ridiculous picture.
Sawyer smiles as he shucks off his boots and heads up to the bathroom to freshen himself. It’s a warm, open smile that makes me think he’s happy for his brother. The rest of them follow, including Cash, and I’m left alone in the kitchen.
Everything is ready, but I am a hot mess. I decide that my own need for freshening up is probably as urgent as the Bradfords’ and decide to trudge up to my bedroom to search out a wet wipe and some deodorant. A shower would be better, but the food won’t keep
I’m in my room with the door ajar when I hear voices in the corridor.
“What are you doing, Cash?” Scott says, practically hissing.
“What’s best for us,” Cash replies.
“What’s best for us? We already bought her farm. She didn’t need to come as a package deal.”
“You know that’s not what this is about. Melanie’s a good woman. The best I’ve ever met. She’s pretty and fun and practical, and she can handle herself with all of us. She’s a good choice.”
“No woman is a good choice for anything but fucking,” Scott says.
“Come on, Scott.” I think it’s Sawyer who speaks, but it could be Cary. They both have a similar soothing tone that is hard to separate without seeing their faces.
“If our own mom couldn’t stick around for us, what makes you think that Melanie will?” Scott spits.
“Melanie is a different person. She’s nothing like Mom.”
“So that’s all it takes to make you trust her. Anyway, this isn’t just going to affect you. This is going to affect all of us. Isn’t that what your ridiculous idea is about?”
All of us? Did I hear right? I lean in close, straining to catch all of the conversation, my heart pounding through it all.
“It isn’t a ridiculous idea. You saw with your own eyes what Connie has done for our cousins. I’ve never seen them happier.”
“They have to share one woman,” Scott says. “How would one woman manage to keep up with us?”
“And Mel is a virgin,” Cary says. At least, I think it’s him. Nice to know that Cash is sharing absolutely everything with his brothers, including my private business.
“Not if Cash plays his cards right,” Colt says with a chuckle in his voice.
“Cash is thinking with his dick,” Scott says. “He’s just tired of beating his own meat, but let me tell you, brother. Looking after your own needs or paying for someone to look after them for you is a damn sight less complicated than trying to keep a woman happy.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Cash mutters. “Can’t you see how good this could be? Melanie is everything we ever talked about wanting. She’s perfect.”
“Maybe perfect for you, but she’s not going to want all of us. She’s not that kind of girl. She’s too innocent. Too salt of the earth. Too filled with her momma’s advice to keep herself to herself and stay away from big bad men.” From that outburst, it would seem that Scott is more perceptive than I took him for.
I hear a long sigh that I think must be Cash. He sounds tired of the pushback that Scott is giving him. Most of what Scott says is true, or at least I thought it would be true.
I thought I knew myself, but it seems that I don’t. When Connie suggested this very arrangement, my response was a hard no. When I was standing in that auction house watching these men pull my life out from under my feet, I felt more hate for them than I’d ever felt for anyone before. But living here, seeing them in quiet private moments, watching how they are together—a close a bonded unit—and feeling Cash’s lips and hands on me has changed how I feel.
Scott thinks I’m buttoned up too tight, but I don’t feel scared or angry about Cash’s desire for his brothers to share me. For some reason that only the universe knows, I feel aroused. My pussy contracts between my legs, drawing upward like it wants to pull them in. My lips tingle, imagining Cash’s kisses, then Cary’s, then Colt’s, and Sawyer’s, and finally Scott’s.
Yes, even Scott floats into my fantasy, his hurt eyes that seem to burn with anger locking on mine as he touches me in my most private of places. All of them are there, with their similarities and differences awakening parts of me that I didn’t know existed.
Connie was right about so much.
But wanting something doesn’t mean we should get it. I want chocolate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but I know well enough that eating it that frequently wouldn’t be in my best interests. I might want the Bradfords, but I’m sensible enough to know that tasting them all would be like starting the greatest addiction.
It could feel amazing to be in their arms and know what it feels like to lie with them at night. It could bring me more security than I ever thought would be possible. Five men working all of this land will mean I will never want for anything.
But I’ve never been a money-oriented person, and I’ve also never been adventurous. The furthest I’ve ever ventured out of this town is to the nearest city, and I hated feeling like a fish out of water there.
The world is set up expecting one woman to be with one man and who am I, little old Melanie, to decide that I know better.
“She’ll keep us together,” Cash says in the end. “We know what it’s like when a family breaks apart. I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure it doesn’t happen to us. Now you’re either with me or against me on this one, Scott.”
Footsteps thud noisily, retreating down the hall and then down the stairs. Scott leaves without response.
“He’ll come around,” Colt says to Cash. “He might be the last to get his dick wet, but I’ve seen the way he looks at her like the Big Bad Wolf eyeing up Little Red Riding Hood. He wants her as much as we do. Give him time. He’ll crack soon enough.”
The sound of them all drifting away slowly passes through the gap until I’m left alone, holding my deodorant in hand, staring at the door, and not believing I really heard all that.
They want me. The five Bradford brothers want me to be their woman. Well, four of them for sure, and one in denial, according to Colt.
Five!
I spray deodorant under my arms, not concentrating on my actions, my mind struggling to take it all in.
They say you never hear anything good listening at doors. Well, I didn’t mean to hear Cash’s intentions, and now I’m stuck with this ridiculous knowledge and the herculean task of trying to act normally over dinner.