Hard 5 by Stephanie Brother

14

That night, when the lights are out, Cash knocks softly on my door.

At least, I think it’s Cash. “Come in,” I call.

“Hey.” For a second, he lurks in the doorway, setting my heart skittering with his bare chest and low-slung shorts. Not even Michelangelo could carve a more perfect body for me.

I pull back the corner of my comforter, and he doesn’t waste any time in jumping in and wrapping me up in his big arms. “Who was that woman?” he asks.

“We knew each other in high school.”

“And you don’t like her?”

I snort. “You can tell that, how?”

“You were tense. Your shoulders were bunched up like a hyena.”

“She’s not a trustworthy person. She says one thing and means another. She only came here to meet you guys.”

Now it’s Cash’s turn to snort. “That girl is not someone any of us would be interested in.”

“How come?” I turn in his arms so I can see his face when he replies.

“She’s all shop window and nothing in the shop.”

Chuckling, I reach out to cup his cheek. “She’s prettier than me.” It’s a simple statement, not said because I want to hear his flattery but because it’s the truth.

“Pretty on the outside doesn’t make you pretty on the inside. You, Melanie, are both.” His rough hand slides over the bare skin at my waist, filled with intention. “She was asking me who was the hottest out of all of you,” I smile.

Dipping in to kiss me, he murmurs, “I hope you told her it’s me.”

His mouth finds mine again, his tongue sliding against mine as his thick, heavy thigh moves between my legs. When he presses it upward against my pussy, I groan.

“Are you needy?” he asks, “Because I can help you out with that.”

“Only if you let me help you,” I smile.

Cash blinks his pretty gray eyes. “You sure?” he asks. “You know that isn’t why I’m here.”

“I know,” I smile.

“So, who did you say was the hottest?”

Chuckling, I slide my hand over his chest, running my thumb over the point of his small, brown nipple until he shivers. “I said it was impossible to choose between you all.” If Cash was any other guy, I’m sure he’d be burning with jealousy at that statement, but instead, his eyes seem to darken.

“So, you think we’re all hot?” His tone rises at the end of the sentence with just a hint of hopefulness.

“I think you’re all great.”

“Great and hot are different,” he smiles, trying to make light of how much this conversation matters to him. He has no idea I know what he wants, of course.

“You’re all sexy, smoldering cowboys,” I say, rubbing his shoulder. “In fact, I think you should bring me with you tomorrow so I can see you all working shirtless. Then I’ll be able to fully judge and appreciate the hotness.”

“You want to watch us work?”

“And maybe you can give me something to do. I need a day in the fresh air and away from the mop.”

“Well, there’s plenty to do,” Cash says.

Running my fingers over the washboard of his stomach, I summon all of my bravery and use my thumb to stroke the head of his cock, still cloaked by his shorts. His eyes widen as I gently encircle it, wanting to feel just how big he is.

I don’t have much to compare to, but I’m sure it’s not normal for a man’s cock to be so thick that a woman’s fingers don’t reach around. There’s so much length to him that my mind boggles. How can he fit all that inside me? There’s no way it’ll fit between my legs or in my mouth. I know guys like that, but it would be like choking down a mega-sized nightstick.

Cash’s eyes roll and close as I move my hand tentatively, fascinated to explore him. Then his hand grips my wrist, holding me still. “What did you think of my cousin’s relationship?”

My breath catches in my throat as I’m caught off guard. What’s prompted him to ask that of me now? Then it hits me that maybe he wants to be honest before things goes too far between us. Maybe he’s worried I’ll think he was manipulative by hiding his real intentions until after we’ve gone too far for me to back out without hurting.

Heart skittering, I answer with as much honesty as I can. “Your cousins seemed very much in love and very happy.”

“They did, didn’t they?” Nodding, I hold my breath while Cash seems to war with himself over what to say next. “I can really see how it could work well, you know, for stability…to keep things simple.”

“You don’t think that arrangement would make things more complicated?”

Cash shrugs, his cock pulsing between my fingers. “I think it depends on the individuals involved. I think everyone would need to be straightforward and mature.”

“Yes.”

Cash’s eyes search mine. “Do you think you would like what Connie has?”

My heart makes a funny squeezing thump in my chest. “I don’t think she’d be happy with me stepping on her toes,” I joke, trying to make light of the situation, but Cash isn’t giving up. He’s come this far.

“I mean, with us…me and my brothers.” My breath leaves my mouth with a whoosh. Even though I suspected he might go there, I’m still shocked to hear the words. And then he hits me with another question that fractures my heart. “Do you think you could love all of us?”

Tears well up in my eyes at the hitch in his voice. Cash is all man. Big, strong, stoic, and masculine, and yet, there’s a sensitive side to him beneath all the tough cowboy exterior. A sensitive side thinking about love.

“I don’t know,” I say. “But I care about you all, more than I ever could have imagined.”

“Would you be willing to try?” he asks, bringing both his hands to cup my face. “I needed to ask you this before things go further with us. I don’t want you to feel that I’ve misled you.”

So I was right.

I guess it’s time to match Cash’s honesty. “I overheard you talking with your brothers. I already knew how you felt.”

It takes a few seconds for him to register that I knew what they’d talked about, and I carried on kissing him anyway.

I knew, and I let him lick me between my legs.

I knew, and I didn’t get mad or tell him he was an asshole.

Cash’s eyes light up with hope. “I know Scott can be difficult. I know he seems like a bad person sometimes, but he’s not. He’s just the one that was most hurt by our past. I hate that he carries around his wounds like armor, but there’s nothing I can do about it. I know he likes you…if he didn’t, he would have resisted a lot of things that have happened. He’s just scared.”

“I know that.”

“So you’re not upset by the way he is?”

His eyes search mine, his hands still cupping my cheeks as though he’s holding something precious. “I understand.” I shrug and raise my eyebrows. “He needs more time to let himself go and trust. That’s not a bad thing. It’s for his own protection.”

“Yes, but he doesn’t need to protect himself from you.”

Cash leans in to kiss me softly on the lips. “I knew, as soon as I saw you at the auction, that you were the one. It’s like my body recognized you. I thought I was stupid. I went home that night and told myself that I’m an idiot. I didn’t believe it would be possible for you to forgive us or want us. I thought that I was delusional.”

“I didn’t think I could forgive you,” I say. “Even though you didn’t do anything malicious to me. Losing my home hurt as bad as losing my parents. It was the only thing I had left of them. But you’re kind of hard to resist.”

Cash withdraws his hands from my face and rubs his own. “I’m so sorry.”

“The sale brought me here, Cash,” I say softly. “It brought me to you.”

“Hurting you…it’s not what I ever want to do.”

“I know,” I say, and I really do. This man would do anything to protect me. It’s there in the fierceness in his eyes and the gentle care in his hands. The warmth of him doesn’t just touch my skin, it slides deep inside me to a place that’s never been touched before. But his anxiousness about what happened makes me wary. “This isn’t about making up for what happened, is it? If it is…if it’s because you feel guilty.”

“NO,” he says with absolute certainty, clear in his tone. “The job offer was. And Little Lady, I suppose. But not this. This is all me.” Taking my hand, he places it over his heart. “I feel you here,” he says. “Do you feel me here?” His big palm covers the space between my breasts where my body keeps beat with his.

“Yes.”

“And do you…could you feel my brothers here too?”

“I think so…maybe…”

“Maybe’s good enough,” Cash says. “Maybe is a start. We can try, but how you feel…that will determine everything.”

“We can try, but what if it doesn’t work out? What will that mean for us?”

“You’re mine,” Cash says, pulling me close, so our bodies are aligned from our chests to our feet. “I’m not going to let you go.”

Mine.

That word is so possessive. I shouldn’t like it, but I do, because if I am Cash’s, then Cash is mine too.

And the other Bradford brothers? Maybe they’ll be my harem of boys. Just the thought has me pressing my legs together.

“Can I touch you now?” I ask, my hand aching to wrap around his hot, hard length. Cash grips my hand, moving it to grip him through the fabric, then pushing it under the waistband until I get my first direct, skin-to-skin touch of his cock.

It’s like velvet heat against my palm. I know my mouth forms a noiseless O shape with surprise. Cash grunts as he forces my fingers to grip him hard. Does he really like it like that? Doesn’t it hurt?

“That’s it,” he whispers. “Play with it.”

As I stroke it, his eyes roll and then shut, but I keep my gaze on his face. Somehow, watching all his reactions to my movements just makes the whole thing sexier.

Is he going to come? I don’t know what I need to do to make that happen. Just more of this?

“That’s it,” he says again. His hips move over and over, forcing his cock between my fingers a little faster, so I start to speed, taking his hint.

He seems to expand against my palm, swelling with even more heat, jerking, and then…oh…he squeezes his eyes even tighter closed, and my hand is warm and wet. I watch as all the tension seems to leave his body, his shoulders slumping, his facial features relaxing. It’s like watching how I felt last night when he brought me to my peak. I guess men and women aren’t so different when it comes to pleasure. “Here.” Cash takes my hand and rubs it against his underwear. There’s a shyness in his eyes and the way they flick to mine and then away.

“It’s okay,” I say. I bring my fingers to my lips and lick, wanting to taste him the way he tasted me. It’s salty and sweet at the same time, and the smell seems to flip something in my brain, like a sex switch.

“Fuck,” he mutters, shaking his head. “You ready for your turn?”

I don’t get a chance to say yes because he’s already sliding down my body, his tongue trailing lazy circles around my nipples and my navel, then finding the part of my body that wants it the most. He’s magic in the way he laps at me, sensing every twitch and jerk and knowing just what to do to inflame the building sensations. I lose myself in my mind, imagining Cash switching to let Cary and Colt take his place. Sawyer and Scott are in my fantasy, too, stroking themselves as they look on. These fantasies are so new and different, more vivid than any I’ve ever had before, and I come so fast I don’t have any time to prepare.

“Mmmmmmm,” I moan, and it’s loud. My fingers in Cash’s hair grip tightly, and he shouts with the pain.

“Sorry,” I whisper before laughter bubbles its way up inside me. I’m laughing and laughing as he crawls up my pleasure-wrecked body. We’re sticky and messy, but I don’t care. All I know is that I’ve never felt more comfortable with another human being than I do with Cash.

But soon, it’s not just going to be us two. There are four more men to feel comfortable with. Four more waiting in the wings for their turn.