He held her up. She’d never felt so connected, so happy and satisfied. She could feel the blood thrumming through her system as she draped her body around Noah’s, trusting him to keep her up. She loved how his heart beat against her chest, and she could feel his breath on her neck. She inhaled his masculine scent.
“Thank you.” Noah’s voice was ragged. He clutched at her like he would never let her go.
“Thank you, Sir,” she whispered. She could go back to calling him Noah later, but here she would give him exactly what he needed. She felt him smile against her shoulder.
“Well, I guess I’m not fucking needed here.”
Hope’s feet hit the ground. She barely missed falling on her ass as Noah turned suddenly. She was breathless but not with desire this time.
James stood in the doorway that they hadn’t even bothered to close, Butch at his side. She just fucked Noah. Oh, god, she hadn’t even thought about James.
Noah pulled his pants up with an awkward tug. “Hey, brother, I just came up here to talk to her.”
“I can see you did a lot of talking.”
James didn’t move, didn’t turn his head to spare her. He just stared right at her, a frown on his face. Judgment in those gloriously blue eyes of his. Butch seemed to stare at her, too.
With shaking hands, she started to button up her shirt.
“Look, Jamie, I’m sorry it happened this way, but it was inevitable. I’ve wanted her since the moment I saw her,” Noah began, his voice shaking a little.
“Yeah, and we all know that you just go after what you want with absolutely no thought to anyone else. You’ve been that way since you were a kid.”
“Jamie, I want to talk about this.” Noah ran a hand through his hair.
She’d made things so much worse between the two of them. Noah had made some progress earlier, and now she’d screwed everything up because she hadn’t thought at all. She had no real illusions that James wanted her, per se. He was mad at Noah. Noah wanted her, so James wanted her, too. She wasn’t going to stand here and believe for a second that James Glen was jealous. He simply wanted to punish his brother, and she was the tool.
“I think you both should leave.” Her heart ached. She’d loved being with them. She had no real idea where she was going to go. Lucy’s, perhaps. It had seemed like a good idea before, but now she just wanted to be alone. She screwed things up so often that maybe it was better for her to be alone. She was right to hold herself apart. She could be kind to people, but not really close to them. She was poison. “I’ll have someone drive me out tomorrow so I can get my things.”
She mentally counted money. She might have enough for a bus ticket.
Noah turned, his brows drawn together. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“I think you two should talk without me around. I’m just going to mess this up. You’re brothers. You need to talk.”
James stalked in the room. “I’m not talking to him, but I am going to lay down a few rules for you. You are going to go to the bathroom and clean yourself up. If this place still has running water. What the hell happened in here?”
“There was a fire in Stella’s kitchen. The smoke came up here. It’s really just a bad smell. I can stay here.”
“You’re not staying here.” Noah tucked his shirt in.
“Shut the fuck up, Noah.” James snarled his brother’s way before turning back to her. “I wasn’t finished with the rules. You’re going to clean up, and then you’re going to get in the truck. I have work to do. I talked to Nell while the two of you were fucking. She needs you this afternoon. I made her promise she won’t overwork you. I’m going to drop you off at the fairgrounds, and I’ll pick you up at two. If you give me any more hell, I’ll put you over my knee right now.”
“Any more hell?” His tone was starting to push past her guilt. “When have I caused you hell?”
Those lips of his turned slightly cruel. “Every second of every day since I met you. I’ve thought about you every minute.”
Bullshit. “You could have had me any time you wanted me, James. You didn’t give me a second glance until Noah wanted me. You’re like a child who doesn’t want a toy until his brother has it. Did you fight over all your girlfriends?”
He slapped the wall behind her. “And that just proves that you don’t know me at all. Until the day my brother walked away, I shared everything with him. I had rarely slept with a woman without my brother because in my family that was the way it was. Brothers shared because that’s how we made a family. Ranching is rough. It’s rough on a woman. I never wanted my wife to be lonely, and that’s damn straight what she would be if she married me. And I would be lonely because all my life I didn’t have someone to rely on. Don’t you dare tell me I’m a spoiled brat who can’t share. You just fucked the brat, baby. He walked away. He chose to leave me and our family over a woman. And then walks right back into town and takes the only one I really care about.”
She wanted to reach out to him. He sounded like he meant what he said. “James, I don’t understand. I asked you out. Do you know how hard that was for me?”
He reached out, and his fingers touched the buttons of her shirt. She had buttoned up so quickly she’d missed one. She stood there while he corrected the problem with a tender twist of his hand.
“I didn’t date you because I didn’t date,” James explained, his eyes pinning her. “I didn’t have anything to offer you until Trev brought some money back into the ranch. I only had work and pain to offer anyone, so I kept my relationships physical. If I had known you only wanted a good throw down every now and then, well, I would have stayed away from you because I wanted more. It doesn’t matter now. You’re my responsibility no matter what mistakes you make or what terrible taste in men you have. I take care of my responsibilities. I don’t walk away from them because they become difficult. Now, do as I told you, or I will spank you. I’ll be waiting in the truck.”
He turned and walked away.
Noah looked ashen.
She felt a little sick. What had she done? It seemed she was always doing the wrong thing, and it cost everyone around her. “Noah, you should go talk to him.”
“He won’t listen. He won’t…Damn it, Hope, go and get cleaned up. Do what Jamie told you to do.”
She felt her eyes go wide and her gut churn. “What?”
Noah’s stance hardened. “Jamie gave you an order. Do you expect me to go against him? Do you think you can play the two of us off each other? I can be indulgent, but this isn’t going to work if you put us at each other’s throats.”
“Have you gone insane?” Hope asked, her voice shrill even to her own ears. “Noah, you need to see what’s going on here. He’s mad at you. He’s just using me to get to you. I get that what happened here doesn’t really mean anything. I do. I am not an idiot. Your loyalty is and should be to your brother, not some chick you banged. So just go. He can’t make me do what he wants.”
He grabbed her wrist and pulled her along, sitting down on the couch and pulling her over his lap. Before she could really think twice, he shoved her skirt up, the cool air hitting her skin. She was shocked to find herself staring at her floor. She turned her head slightly. James hadn’t bothered to close the door. It was still standing open. She was damn happy that she lived on the second story or she would have probably had an audience. She opened her mouth to protest, and the flat of his hand smacked her ass.
He’d spanked her. It hurt, but it also did something for her. God, she was such a freak. She wasn’t about to let him know she was affected by him.
“Are you done?” She was pleased with how even her voice was when all she wanted to do was ask him to try again.