“Wimp.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “And besides, you have no idea what I’m thinking.”
Greg grunted. “I’m not stupid Marly, I saw the look on your face after Cade nearly killed me. You enjoyed that too much, if you ask me.”
“He was interested.” Satisfaction seeped through her, shivering over her skin.
“I know he was, Greg.”
Greg blinked at her in amazement. “You wanted him to be interested?” he asked her as though she had lost her mind. “You’ve lost your mind Marly.”
“You just don’t know Cade yet. You’ll love him once you get to know him.” She waved her hand dismissively at his comment. “But now I have to figure out how to make him realize he’s interested.”
Greg shook his head as though he feared he was imagining this conversation.
“Trust me, Marly, he would know if he were,” he assured her a bit mockingly as he watched her.
Marly frowned.
“Maybe not,” she mused with a grimace. “He still sees me as a baby. The little girl he raised.”
This was the part that Marly couldn’t figure out how to get past. Cade insisted on treating her like she was still twelve years old. There had to be a way to make him realize she wanted to be treated like a woman, not a child.
“Marly, what if he doesn’t want that with you?” Greg asked her gently. “Men react sometimes, even when it’s not the woman they really want. What if that’s all there was to it?”
Marly looked at him, her stomach protesting the idea with a wave of pain. She had waited too long, that couldn’t be it. Cade would want her, the same way she wanted him. If he didn’t, she didn’t know if she could survive the pain.
“He will,” she told him quietly. “He has to, Greg.”
Greg sighed roughly. He watched her with his quiet eyes, his face somber as she tried to convince him how much this meant to her.
“Honestly, Marly, I don’t know how he could resist you.” He stood to his feet, and walked to her, hugging her gently, briefly. “Now, what about that swim you promised me. I even brought shorts. But don’t you dare tell anyone I wore them. All right?”
He smiled down at her, and Marly glimpsed the sadness in his eyes.
“You’re next Greg,” she told him softly. “You watch. We’re gonna find you a wonderful girl to love you.”
He laughed as he moved back from her.
“Find someone who doesn’t mind a string bean then.” His smile was more a grimace as he shook his head. “My dad was built just like me, only older. He cried over it all the time before he died.”
“Well, I think you’re wonderful,” she assured him brightly, and she knew he was. He was the best friend she had ever had. “Now, go get those shorts on and I’ll meet you in the pool.”
And hopefully, Marly thought, Cade was still in the study, and he would get the full effect of her new thong bikini if he still happened to be watching. She breathed out roughly. Seducing him wasn’t going to be as easy as she had hoped it would be.
* * * * *
That wasn’t a bathing suit; it was a walking excuse for sex. Cade watched Marly dip her foot into the heated pool, then glance back at the kid following her to say something. She wore a dark blue bikini, with thong bottoms. He closed his eyes tightly, praying he wasn’t really seeing her bare ass cheeks with that slender piece of material running between them. But there they were when he opened his eyes again. The pale, perfect globes of flesh glistened in the weak afternoon sun and sent his body to throbbing heatedly.
He wanted her. His erection throbbed, hot and hard, making him crazy with need. He knew if he didn’t have a woman soon, then he wouldn’t be able to keep himself from taking Marly.
“Damn if she ain’t getting prettier every day,” Brock remarked softly as he moved behind him to look into the pool area. “I bet she has that boy so damned hot he’s ready to explode.”
“Not if he knows what’s good for him,” Cade growled, fighting his anger.
Damn, this wasn’t going to work.
“She’s a grown woman, Cade. You can’t keep her a baby all her life,” Brock told him quietly. “And the way she looks, if that boy ain’t having sex with her now, he will be soon.”
“How can you talk about her like that?” Cade turned on his brother wrathfully.