He drew back only enough to gaze down into her face.
“Have you ever come for a man?” He growled. “Tell me now if you have, Marly. I need to know how to make it easy for you. Don’t lie to me, not about this.” Savage and intense his eyes snared hers.
She shook her head harshly, her arousal sweeping over her mindlessly.
“Never,” she gasped. “Never, Cade. No other man has touched me. Please make me come. Please.”
He clenched his teeth, his breath rumbling from his chest as he fought himself. Then he was pushing her down on the bed, coming over her as his lips clamped on the tip of her breast, his tongue curling around her nipple, rasping the ultra sensitive nerves with a stroke of fire.
“You want to come for me, baby?” He parted her thighs, moving over her as his lips moved to her stomach, his tongue painting her skin with need as his lips sent her body trembling with passion.
“Yes,” she gasped, her fingers in his hair now, her head twisting on the bed as he moved swiftly down her body. “Only you, Cade. I only want to come for you.”
He paused the moment his lips were poised over the vee of her thighs. Marly opened her eyes, watching as he gazed down at her.
“Oral sex,” he groaned. “This isn’t oral sex, Marly, it’s a feast for kings, and I’m about to devour it.”
His head lowered, then his tongue touched her. Marly cried out, arching to the soft stroke of his tongue as it circled her clit. His hands pushed her thighs further apart, his lips settling on her, suckling her in time to the slow flicks of his tongue.
Marly panted for air. Her heart was ready to burst out of her chest her excitement soared so high. She was no longer cold, no longer frightened. She was so hot she felt on fire. Cade’s tongue was an instrument of pleasure so intense it bordered on pain. Sweeping through the velvet folds of skin, licking sensually at her clit, then suckling it firmly. She was bucking against his mouth, hanging on an edge that was both terrifying and exhilarating as she fought the mindless sensations ripping through her body.
Cade didn’t protest her heaving body. He merely gripped her thighs in his hands, held her hips steady and proceeded to torture her in a way that left her breathless, pleading. Then that devilish tongue moved lower. It dipped into the soft recess of her body, thrusting inside her, making her cry out harshly.
She was disoriented, shaking in need as he growled, rose from the delicate feast he was making of her, and turned her quickly to her stomach.
“Cade?” She felt his hand smooth over the soft rise of her buttocks.
“Shhh. Baby, what did you do to this pretty little rear?” He groaned. “It’s so damned red I’d swear someone smacked it.”
Marly flinched. She had been whipped in her dream. She would have questioned him, but suddenly she felt his lips on the tender flesh. She groaned, shuddering as his palms smoothed over her, pulling the rounded cheeks apart tenderly.
“Scared yet, Marly?” he asked her roughly, his fingers holding her apart, his breath hot and moist at the tender bud she knew he sought.
“No,” she cried out harshly.
Her head tossed as his lowered. His tongue swiped over the area quickly. From the clenching, drenched vaginal opening to the tight little hole of her anus. His tongue licked her over and over again, dipping into each entrance with slick deliberation as his hands spread her thighs further apart, smoothing over her skin, making her tense, groan, and push against his mouth for more.
Then he turned her to her back again, raising her thigh, his tongue penetrating her with a smooth, deep thrust that had her bucking against his mouth.
“Scared?” he groaned, his head raising, his voice dark, harsh.
Scared? Terrified he would stop.
“More,” she begged. “More, Cade.”
His fingers joined his mouth, moving the drenching lubrication of her body to her anus. His finger dipped in with each pass, pressing against her, easing his way into her body. Marly was on fire. She panted, fighting to relax, to further invite the invasion of his finger into her body. When it came, she nearly screamed from the bite of bliss that seared her.
His finger was inside her now, stretching her, moving smoothly as he tongued her cunt to delirium, spreading the silky liquid back, keeping the entrance hot and easy to access as he drove her higher, always higher.
She was falling. Dying. The harsh ring of the phone on the table beside Cade’s bed was barely noticeable until he reared up with a virulent curse.
“No,” she gasped, clutching at him, her body slammed suddenly back to earth, the edge of oblivion shattered.
Growling, cursing, he jerked the phone from the bedside table.
“What?” His voice was so harsh, so graveled that even Marly flinched.
“Then get the fuckers back in the damned pasture.” He raked his fingers through his hair, his chest heaving. “Shit. Shit. I’ll be right there.”
Cade slammed the phone down, then turned and looked down at Marly. She looked drunk, high and dazed.
“Cattle are filling the yard. They got out of the pasture.” He raked his fingers through his hair again. “I have to go, Marly.”
She was fighting for breath, her fists clenched beside her, her eyes large, dark and pleading. She had been so close. So fucking close, but not close enough to throw her over before that damned phone would have disturbed her.
“Cattle?” she gasped, closing her eyes.
Her body was tight, once again damp with sweat and trembling. Trembling in need. It was a shimmer through her body that echoed in his. A need to release. He couldn’t leave her this way. He dropped to the bed again, his mouth going to the saturated flesh between her thighs and began to feast on the creamy nectar.
With his thumb on her sensitive clit, rasping it with gentle strokes, he moved his head lower, then plunged his tongue swiftly inside her melting vagina. One thrust and she heaved. On the second she tightened, arching high and hard. The third had her screaming, convulsing mindlessly as the sweet essence of her release began to fill his mouth and his own hollow ejaculation spilled to the sheets.
She collapsed to the bed long moments later, boneless and spent, her hands falling from his shoulders. Cade rose painfully from her body, and shook his head in disbelief. She was asleep. Damn it all to hell, but she was asleep. He flipped the blanket over her body, and went quickly to the bathroom to clean up. Ten minutes later he was dressed and running down the stairs to meet Sam and Brock at the front door.
“What the hell happened?” Sam mumbled sleepily.
“Cattle’s loose in the yards. Bret says it looks like the whole herd is busy munching the lawn grass,” Cade bit out furiously, not even certain why he was so pissed. Cattle got loose all the time. “Get out there and get them herded back, then we’ll find the break in the fence.”
“Damn, thought we had cowboys hired,” Sam sighed.
“We do, and they need help, so get your ass out there.” He pushed Sam none too gently out the door, then stared in amazement at the sea of bovine guests. “Dammit to hell.” His curse rang through the yard with his disgust. “Get these damned animals back the hell where they belong.”
There were days, or nights in this case, Cade thought, that he wondered if Sam was right all along. Surely to hell he could pay someone to put up with this shit.
* * * * *
They dragged into the house long after dawn, dusty and tired, with nerves fraying at the ends. Entering the kitchen, he found Marly and Greg seated at the kitchen table, laughing at some joke as they finished breakfast. Eggs, ham, biscuits. He was starved.
“Well, at least the two of you are comfortable,” he snapped, eying them suspiciously.
Once again, Marly was dressed in only one of his shirts and a pair of his socks. Her legs were crossed, in the boy’s line of vision and it infuriated him. Especially considering the fact that it was all the James boy could do to keep his eyes off them.
Marly blinked in surprise.
“Um, I need to shower, Marly.” Greg jumped to his feet, uneasy in Cade’s presence anyway, the sight of his anger was enough to leave him scurrying.
“What’s your problem?” She frowned as she rose to her feet.
“What could be my problem?” he growled, stomping to the coffee pot. “You leave your balcony door open all night then awaken me screaming like a banshee. Some moron let the cattle out, and I walk in here to find you two cozying over breakfast. At least be good enough to do it in private.”
He watched the surprised hurt that crossed her face.
“I don’t have time to baby-sit you today either,” he bit out. “I have work to do.”
“I didn’t ask you to.” Her lips trembled, but she held her tears carefully in check. That made him even angrier. Damn her. He’d had her screaming out into the night with her orgasm, and here she was the next morning acting as though it had never happened.
“Make sure you don’t,” he growled.
“Damn, Cade, go get laid or something. You’re an asshole,” Sam bit out. “Leave Marly alone.”
Marly paled, blinking in shock as her gaze flew back to Cade.
“Maybe that’s just what I need,” he said furiously. “A woman for a change.”
He didn’t wait to see the tears building in her eyes fall to her cheeks. He turned and stomped from the kitchen, disgusted with himself, furious at Marly, and unable to make sense of any of it. He knew if he didn’t get away from her, before he took her, then it would kill him later to see the fear in her eyes.
He stalked through the house, his body trembling with lust, fatigue and fury. She was too young, too innocent and the wrong damned woman. Dammit, when was he going to convince himself of that?
“Ahh hell, Marly, he didn’t mean that.” Sam grabbed her as she made to run out of the kitchen in tears, pushing her head against his chest as he rubbed her back soothingly. “You know what an ass he can be when he’s stressed.”
Marly’s breath hitched as she fought the tears. She knew why Cade was attacking her; she just didn’t know it would hurt so badly. She held onto Sam, feeling his hands at her back, petting her through the silk of Cade’s shirt. He was warm, comforting. She liked the way he soothed her, holding her. She blinked, sighed. She was so hot for Cade that even Sam’s touch was turning sexual. His big hands roamed her back, pressing her against him.
She moved away nervously. Rumors, sexual and otherwise reared their ugly heads, but didn’t terrify her as they should have.
“I’m okay.” She rubbed her arms quickly, fighting back the ache between her thighs.
She had been waiting on Cade, hoping to tempt him, to experience the breathtaking heights of pleasure he had taken her to once again. Instead, she was allowing Sam, her beloved friend and confidant, to only stoke the embers higher.
“Sure you are, honey.” He hugged her close, his arm wrapped around her waist, his fingers lying below her unbound breasts. “And you will stay just fine. Just you wait. Cade will get over his little mad spell and everything will be fine.”
Had his fingers accidentally raked over her nipple as he moved away, or had it been deliberate? Suspicion raised its ugly head even as she beat it back ruthlessly. Cruel rumors, that was all they were. Wasn’t that what Cade had assured her years ago when she questioned him about it?
“I need to go.” She shook her head; fighting the insanity Cade was filling her with. “I’ll see you guys later.”
She rushed from the kitchen, her head down, her body rioting. Maybe she was the one that needed to get laid, and quickly, before she did something stupid.
Chapter Seven
“Did I ask you to think, Devon?” Cade’s voice echoed through the house on a note of rising anger.
Marly stopped just inside the hallway as she exited the staircase, watching as Cade pulled the door open for the furious cowboy.
“All I asked you to do was to get the new foals in. I didn’t ask you to think, and I sure as hell didn’t ask you to contradict my orders. Do you think you could manage that much?”
“I sure as hell can, boss.” Devon shoved the hat back on his head as he stalked to the door. “And I sure as hell can leave as soon as I do. I didn’t sign on for this shit.”
The cowboy stomped from the house, and Marly flinched as the door slammed harshly behind him.
“Another one get fed up with your temper?” She leaned against the wall, crossing her legs slowly as he turned to her.
His eyes were narrowed, heavy lidded and brooding as he watched her.
It had been almost two days since he had nearly taken her in the bedroom. Two long, torturous days where his temper raged alternately cold and silent, or hot and loud. Even Greg avoided him, staying at the stables with Sam or Brock when he wasn’t studying, but rarely venturing anywhere near Cade. Marly was the only one brave enough. It made her feel guilty for pressuring him to stay. She had honestly thought he would enjoy the visit.
“Why aren’t you dressed?” he growled, his gaze darkening as it went over her body.
Marly glanced down at the short bronze dress and matching high heels. Silk thigh-highs completed the outfit. She knew she looked good. Knew the dress would make him notice her.
“I am dressed, Cade.” She smiled up at him, slowly, daring him to notice her. “Why aren’t you in a better mood? You keep stomping around like a mean old bull and I’m going to go back to school where it’s peaceful.”
“You hate school,” he growled. “I don’t even know why you enrolled. You could have taken classes here. At home.”
He neared her slowly, his jeans riding low on his hips, and from the brief glance, with a steadily growing bulge beneath the cloth. Marly’s knees weakened. The white cotton button down shirt he wore and the wide leather belt that encased his hips emphasized his hard stomach.
Marly felt her mouth go dry, then moist. She wanted to taste his skin. Badly.
“Still playing games?” he growled, as he stepped closer to her.
Marly raised her gaze, arching a brow in way she knew would only infuriate him. “Still horny? What, your little black book missing?”
His lips tightened. He stared down at her, the gray of his eyes darkening, the color swirling like thunderclouds ready to burst.
“It’s a fine line you’re treading, Marly,” he whispered, staring down at her, his expression dark and dangerous. “If anyone in this world knows me, it’s you, and you know you aren’t ready for what I’d dish out to you.”
Heat slammed into her stomach, making her knees weak.
“I’ve dreamed about you dishing it up, Cade,” she whispered, touching his chest with the flat of her hand, feeling his heart thunder in his chest, much as hers was. “I’ve waited for it for two long years.”
She watched his jaw clench.
“You don’t know, Marly,” he growled. “You can’t know.”
“I know how hard you like it,” her voice was husky, smoky and raw with desire. “Rough and hard, your women on their knees, submitting to you. I know you like things most women would run screaming from. I don’t run easily, Cade. You know that.”
His hand covered hers, his fingers pressing them against the shirt, to feel the heat of her flesh sinking into his skin.
“Then you know I don’t do little girls.” Ragged and tense, his voice belied the anger he tried to project.
She laughed richly, then shrugged. “I’m still a virgin, but not stupid. I know you want me, Cade.”
His eyes narrowed, his lips thinning ominously.
“It would terrify you.”
“It might at first,” she admitted. “But just think, you could teach it all to me. How you like it, where you like it, when you like it. I haven’t had any other lovers, Cade. No one else has taught me how to do that.”
“What have they taught you?” His voice was low, curling through her like a flame.
She licked her lips. She was treading on dangerous ground, and she knew it. Cade was like a volcano,
ready to erupt. When he did, she knew he would burn her alive with his touch. But she didn’t want his anger. She wanted him to need her, to accept that need. She didn’t want him angry over it.
“You’ll just have to find out I guess,” she told him, smiling secretively. “Experiment, so to speak, and see if you can find out what’s been taught to me, and what hasn’t.”
It was a challenge. She knew what a challenge did to him. He may not take her up on it now, but he would. She knew he would.
He was breathing harshly. It turned her on to watch him struggle for breath, to know she was doing to him the same things he did to her.
“If you know so damned much, then you know I like my women submissive,” he growled. “I don’t like to be challenged, not in sex or in life. Jump when I command, fuck when I want.”
“I never said I would be just like them.” She moved against him, her body brushing his, feeling the heat coming off of it. “I said I know what you like. And most of it, I can accept. But I won’t be a submissive, Cade.”
“You come to my bed and I’ll enslave you,” he swore darkly. “Is that how you want it Marly? A sexual slave, begging for me, and learning to love the degradation I inflict on you? Is that how you really want it?”
He grabbed her roughly, pushing her into his study, then against the wall behind the door. He held her there, her stomach and breasts pressed into the wall, his hips pinning her tightly. The dress was jerked to her hips, his hand clamping on the bare cheek of her rear as he groaned harshly at her ear.
Then he smacked her. Marly cried out, bucking as the stinging flare of heat seared her butt.
“Spread your legs.” He didn’t give her time to comply; he simply jerked her legs apart, then smacked the other cheek lightly, yet hard enough she knew to redden the flesh.
“Take your panties off.” He smacked her again, making her jerk, making her body hum with an arousal she hadn’t expected.
Dear God. This wasn’t what she had expected. Thrown into arousal so hot and intense she was ready to come now. His hands, hard but not hurting, held her still. His breathing, harsh against her neck, had her trembling in painful awareness of his strength.