Chapter 6
Chapter Six
E mily pushed the heels of her palms against her eyes and growled at her own ineptitude. Why had she thought it would be a good idea to go against the grain and do something she wouldn’t usually do? When had that ever worked out in her favour?
Never, that’s when.
Every time she’d even thought about doing something out of character, she got screwed. And not in a fun way.
To add insult to injury, her fuck up was now causing Dane to keep her at a distance instead of pulling her close like he would have done before tonight, and Eric hadn’t stopped scowling at her.
Because she hadn’t just fucked up.
Nope. She’d fucked everything alllll the way up. Not just for herself, but for people she cared about deeply.
As much as she tried to hold them in check, hot tears began spilling down her cheeks and this time they did not stay quiet.
“I’m so sorry,” she sobbed. “I never meant to cause anyone any trouble, but I get it now. I get why my brother did what he did all those years ago.” She shook her head, chastised herself for not seeing what had been right in front of her face for so long.
“I never understood why Teddy and Dad were always butting heads but I get it now. I totally get it.”
In an instant she was surrounded, enveloped by masculine heat and strength as Dane pulled her into his arms and pressed her head to his chest, and Eric rubbed his hands against her back and stroked her hair.
She’d been sandwiched between them like that before, but always in a sexual way.
Their touch had always been exciting to her, arousing.
Now they stroked their hands down her arms and over her hips, pressed kisses to her face and hair, but none of it was sexual.
Instead, she felt safe. She felt cared for.
Loved.
And it made her cry even harder. She’d been holding her emotions in check for so many years, she’d begun to think she’d never let them out, but now that she knew she was free to let her feelings loose, her misery refused to be shoved down any longer.
“I’ve been so alone,” she sobbed, her words muffled against Dane’s shirt.
“All I do is work and study, then work some more. I don’t have any friends.
I don’t go out. I don’t even have time to read smutty romance books anymore.
And as for a gap year?” She scoffed and angrily swiped at her tears.
“I never got a fucking gap year. I have no life outside of the dealership.” She sniffed and wiped at her nose.
“That place has owned my arse since I finished high school.” Her tears welled up again. “And I don’t even like BMWs.”
Suddenly, she felt their bodies begin to shake, heard their soft snorting as they tried to contain their laughter, and she stiffened in their arms. But the longer she stood there, the more she realised they weren’t laughing at her exactly, just her bratty behaviour.
Most people should be so lucky to have her level of privilege and yet there she was, acting like an entitled twat in front of two of the most hardworking men she’d ever known.
Men who worked everyday with people doing it tough, who had themselves grown up on the other side of the tracks, and probably understood privilege better than most. Especially when people abused it. Or used it to justify abusing others.
Suddenly the pity party dancing around in circles in her head came to a screeching halt and she huffed out an awkward laugh. “I’m such an idiot.”
“Yeah,” Dane agreed, nodding as he grinned down at her. “But you’re our idiot.”
“I really am sorry. For everything.”
“We know, kitten,” Eric said. “We’re sorry too.”
Emily nibbled at her lip before looking up at them again.
“You could have told me you know? Not all the nitty-gritty details, obviously, but you could have said something . Let me know why you weren’t going to be around as much.
I would have understood if you’d told me it was a work thing,” she said. “I would have waited.”
Dane pulled her into his arms again and squeezed her to him. “We wanted to, baby. But we were under strict orders not to say anything.” He sighed. “We only had permission to tell one person so we told Dad.”
“We never wanted to leave you alone,” Eric said. “We only wanted to keep you safe.”
“I know that now.” Emily wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, then looked up at the brothers from beneath her lashes.
“But you acted so distant. I thought you’d changed your minds about me, that you’d had your fun and didn’t want me anymore.
Then Matthew started coming around the dealership and he made it very clear he wanted me.
I was flattered by his attention, and he didn’t seem—I don’t know—intimidated, I guess, that I knew so much about cars.
A lot of guys hate that, but he didn’t. So when he asked me out, I didn’t really think about it.
I just said yes, because….” She half shrugged and looked away.
Eric slid his knuckles along the line of her jaw, hooked one under her chin and forced her to look at him. “You were lonely.”
Tears leaked down her cheeks again, but Eric leaned in and kissed them away. When he pulled back to stare at her, his eyes had darkened, the blue turned stormy. Sliding his hand from her chin to her throat, he stroked his thumb against her pulse. “You need to rest, kitten.”
Emily leaned into his touch, a rising sense of pleasure overshadowing her sadness. “You’re not making me feel very restful.”
Moving to stand beside his brother, Dane chuckled and grinned at her. “What is he making you feel, baby?”
Her tongue flicked out and moistened her lips as she stared at Dane’s mouth, willing him to kiss her again. “Horny.”
“That’s our girl,” he said, then stole her away from Eric and granted her wish, kissing her thoroughly, deeply, lashing his tongue against hers. Making love to her with his mouth.
“I have to make a call,” Eric said, then fisted his hand in Emily’s hair and yanked her away from Dane, stole her kiss for himself.
Stole the very air from her lungs and left her breathless.
“But when I get back,” he growled against her lips, “we’re going to teach you a lesson you won’t readily forget. ”
Her whole body shivered with anticipation. “Oh?”
Wrapping his other hand around her throat again, he held her still, made sure she couldn’t look away from his intense blue stare.
“You need a reminder.” He bared his teeth.
“You’re ours. Only ours.” Then he let her go and took a step back, as if he was afraid of what he would do next if he stayed too close to her, but he held her gaze for what felt like an age.
“Take her upstairs and get her ready for bed,” he said to Dane.
“I’ll join you as soon as I can.” Then he turned and left the kitchen and she couldn’t stop the compulsion to watch him walk away, her gaze glued to his arse.
The man filled out a pair of jeans better than anyone else she knew. Almost anyone else.
“Tell me truthfully,” Dane murmured close to her ear, his own strong denim clad legs bracing against hers as they watched Eric through the glass sliding doors. The hard length of his cock nestled against her arse. “How wet is your pussy right now?”
Emily pressed her thighs together and pushed her arse out, rubbed against Dane’s cock. His crass way of speaking never failed to turn her on, especially when it was layered on top of Eric’s dominance. “Why don’t you take me upstairs and find out?”
“I would love nothing more than to sink into your sweet cunt, baby,” Dane said, turning her to face him, “but there will be no sex tonight.”
“Why not?” She pouted.
He smoothed her hair away from her face, the heat from his hands sinking into her skin, warming her in more ways than one.
“Because it’s been a big night for all of us,” he said, his tone sinking into something more serious, “and I don’t think it has hit you yet exactly how close you came to getting hurt tonight. ”
Emily pursed her lips, then shook her head, as if trying to dislodge the memory of Shane’s hands on her body. “I know I screwed up, but everything is fine now.”
Dane’s mouth pulled into a tight line and his brow furrowed. “Everything is definitely not fine.”
Her need to be closer to him had her fisting her hands in his shirtfront. “I’ve already apologised for messing up your work tonight,” she said quietly.
Dane’s shift in mood was making her nervous. She’d never seen him like this, heard him like this. As if he was disappointed in her.
“This has nothing to do with our work and everything to do with you, Emily.” He grabbed her hand and started towards the stairs, practically dragging her behind him.
He wasn’t disappointed, he was mad. “This wall you hide behind, it’s not going to work with us.
” He stopped at the top of the stairs and stared down at her, his frown deepening.
The expression didn't sit as well on his face as it did on Eric’s.
“You don’t need to hide your feelings from us, baby. ”
Her mouth fell open as her brain scrambled for a retort but the best she could come up with was, “What wall? I’m not hiding anything.”
“You’ve been hiding a lot of things from us,” Dane said, then dragged her the rest of the way to her bedroom and stood her at the foot of her bed. “But that all ends tonight.”
Emily couldn’t help poking the bear. This was Dane after all, not Eric. He was horny, not a hard arse… usually. “Oh? And what are you going to do about it?”
His response was to grin and lift his chin in the direction of the doorway. She turned and found Eric standing there, watching her with his signature scowl and stormy gaze, and a sudden knot of emotions formed in her throat, cutting off any further smartarsery.
Backing away from the dominant devil, she was quickly caught again by Dane, his strong arm banding around her waist as he held her captive against his chest. His warm breath brushed the shell of her ear. “Careful what you wish for, baby.”
Chaos reigned inside her, her heart suddenly beating so fast it couldn’t possibly be good for her, and her emotions went to war with one another.
As Eric slowly closed the distance between them, his dark gaze locked on hers, her lust and need were engaged in a battle for dominance with her uncertainty and dread, and by the time he stopped in front of her, Emily wasn’t sure which camp had won the war, just that her skin felt ready to combust and her panties were soaked.
And then he dropped his hands to his belt buckle. “Strip her.”