Owned for Christmas (14 page)

But Kate didn’t pick up on his silent request to be left alone. She continued coming toward him, and he inwardly cursed her persistence. Why couldn’t she just leave him alone? Let him be with his hurt and his loneliness. She could go back into the house with Danny and resume their fairy tale romance without his intervention.

Because I’ve been a goddamn idiot and pushed her. I pursued her. Now she’s doing the same to me.

“We missed you this morning,” Kate whispered to him, her soft voice slamming into his stomach as if it were a spike.

We who?
There’s no way Danny missed him. Danny had probably been ecstatic to see that he’d gotten up and left without a fight. Lord knows he’d have been thrilled if the roles were reversed.

Grant only grunted in her direction, brushing the horse in front of him a little harder. What could he say to her?

“I was hoping we could try a few other fantasies that have haunted me for the last year? Maybe continue Daniel’s education on submission and Domination a little bit?”

Grant groaned at her suggestion, his cock instantly perking up. He pushed down the craving boiling in his gut. Just because his cock was interested didn’t mean he had to follow through.

“You can find another Master when you get back to Dallas. Someone you can play with any time you want.” Something he could never do all the way out here in Colorado. There were plenty of Masters who would love to have the opportunity to play with a sub like Kate, while another man pleasured her. Doms who could share. Masters who were only interested in the control, not her heart. Like he’d
never
be able to be.

“We don’t want another Master.” Kate made the statement so definitively, as if her vote were the only one that mattered. And, in a way, it was.

That was the part of domination so few people understood. The sub was the one in control. If she didn’t want another Master, she wouldn’t find another one. Period. Grant wasn’t sure which bothered him more—that her stubborn determination would keep her from being happy, or how damn glad he was to hear her say she didn’t want another Dominant.

“I only want you.”

Grant turned toward her, looking into her bright blue eyes that always had a way of kicking him on his ass.
Is this some bizarre form of torture?
To have a woman he wanted more than anything and have her in love with his brother?

“And you’re okay with this?” he tossed over to his brother, who still stood back, his hand clasped tightly with Kate’s. He wasn’t about to let her go easily. A truth that both infuriated Grant and gave him a newfound respect for his brother. Fighting for what one wanted was a long-standing Farrell tradition. He had just never thought he’d be battling his own brother.

Guilt sank in his gut like a rock. He shouldn’t brawl with his brother, especially not over a girl. But that’s exactly what had happened yesterday. And he’d deserved every punch.

Danny cleared his throat, the unease obvious on his face. “I can’t say I understand how any of this works.” He looked at Kate, her soft smile urging him on. He gripped her hand between both of his, squeezing it tightly. “But I know Kate needs this. And last night…”

His eyes glazed over slightly as he stared down at the woman next to him, and Grant understood. Last night had been amazing. If he was being honest with himself, it was way better than it had been with just him and Kate.

Danny swallowed, looking up at him, his gaze more serious. “But I do know I wouldn’t trust anyone else to do those things to Kate. She could have been easily hurt. But I know, no matter what, you won’t let that happen.”

Grant had never thought of that, but now that Danny mentioned it, he saw the logic. And he agreed. Regardless of their fights and issues, he trusted his brother, more than he had anyone else in his life. But it was only the beginning of their problems.

“How can this possibly work? You both live in Dallas and I live here.” As much as he might want to follow them back to Texas, he still couldn’t leave the ranch, not indefinitely.

Kate cast a glance at Daniel, the two of them sharing a look, and envy flowed through Grant. He had no reason to be jealous. They were the couple. The two who should be sharing the knowing looks, the understanding gazes. It had been hard to watch them smile and stare into each other’s eyes before, but after last night, it was painful. Like a fresh stab straight into the heart. Just another reminder that Daniel was the one she loved, not him.

It didn’t matter that he had no right to her, that he was no longer her Master, or even that Kate looked at Daniel with affection—Grant still hated it. He didn’t want her to look at anyone that way if she wasn’t doing the same with him.

Daniel tipped his head, responding to her silent question, and Kate turned back to him. Her big eyes gleamed with emotion. Grant wished he understood exactly which ones so he could brace himself for what was coming next. But all he saw was the tangled mess they’d created.

Kate pursed her lips, her expression serious. “We don’t think it would work that way either.”

Grant looked back and forth between his brother and the woman he loved. The smiles on their faces didn’t make any sense to him. There was nothing amusing about their situation.

“You keep saying you could use more help on the ranch.” His brother clapped him on the shoulder. “I can take over the books, keep using my accounting degree while helping pick up some of the ranch work. Dad would have wanted us to keep this ranch running, together.”

Grant nodded. Their father would have wanted them all together, all back on this ranch that he’d loved so much. Though he probably wouldn’t have agreed with as much sharing and togetherness as they’d participated in last night.

“And I can get a job in town,” Kate added enthusiastically.

She possessed more happiness than he’d ever expected to hear from her when talking about moving to small-town Colorado. She was a city girl, born and raised in Dallas. She’d hardly even left Dallas. Could she really tolerate living in a small town out here in the boonies? He’d never thought so before. But now…

“You can’t want to stay here?” The question was for both of them, but his eyes remained focused on Kate.

“Why not? They have teachers here too.” She smiled, her eyes dazzling.

Yet the words almost ripped his heart in half. For Daniel, she’d be willing to move here. For Daniel, she was willing to give up her whole life and fly to this backwater town. Would she have done the same for him? He’d never know now. He’d never asked.

Kate swallowed. A sheen of moisture covered her eyes. “For the last year I thought you didn’t want me. I thought you’d found me lacking. That I hadn’t been obedient enough, pretty enough, sexual enough.”

Grant rubbed his chest, the sadness in her eyes tightening around his middle so hard he couldn’t breathe. He’d thought a clean break was better for her, but clearly it hadn’t worked. He reached out, tracing his thumb across her cheek, her skin soft, smooth beneath his finger and so warm. The honesty in her eyes pulled at something deep inside him.

“I’m sorry. I never meant to make you feel that way. I’ve always wanted you.” He slid his fingers the curve of her cheek, loving how she turned into his touch, nuzzling against his palm. “I just assumed you wouldn’t want to give up everything you had for me.”

Kate ran her free hand up and down his chest. “You know what they say about assuming.”

He looked down at her. A large smile spread across her face. She was enjoying this. And he’d missed it too. Her subtle teasing, the way she rose to battle him. It was rare in a sub, but something he’d missed more than he’d realized.

“So you’d be willing to stay, in a small town like this, away from shopping malls and fancy restaurants? A plane ride away from your family?”

She took a moment, contemplating what he’d said. He wouldn’t have believed her response if she hadn’t taken a minute to think it through.

“I can live without fancy clothes and shopping. But I can’t live without you.”

She looked over at Daniel, and Grant’s gut tightened to see her look at his brother with as much affection as she did for him.

“Both of you,” she added.

It was definitely going to take some getting used to seeing Kate make those doe eyes at his brother. But damn, it’d be worth it if he got to have her in his life too.

“My family isn’t close like yours. They won’t miss me the way your mother misses you, especially if it means I’m happy.” She leaned closer to Grant, dropping Daniel’s hand to flatten both her palms against his chest.

“I don’t ever want to feel the way I did when you left. I never want to feel that emptiness, that doubt, that pain again. If staying here means I never have to feel that way again, I’d move to the ends of the earth. I’d set up class in Siberia if it meant we could all be together.”

She fisted her hands in his shirt, pulling him a step forward. “I love you. I love both of you. I want to stay here.” She pressed her mouth to his and he slid into the kiss. He tangled his hands in her hair, yanking her closer as his entire body shook. His knees weakened beneath him. She loved him. Not just his brother. She loved him too. Despite his dominance, despite his mean nature, she loved him.

Her lips were tentative at first, molding with his. He took control of the kiss, sliding his tongue into her mouth, sucking in her bottom lip. God, she tasted fantastic. When she let out a little purr of satisfaction, he drank it deep, filling his chest with pride.

He pulled back, looking down into her big blue eyes. Her gaze almost pleaded, begging him to stay, to be her Master again, and to give her everything she needed. There was nothing he wanted more.

“If you’re staying, I’ll be your Master.”

Kate nodded without hesitation. The quickness of her response sent a jolt of desire straight through his body. His cock hardened, and he almost groaned as rough denim rubbed against his aching dick. God he loved her. She was the perfect sub. And she was his again.

“You’ll be mine to control, mine to command?”

She nodded again, her eyes darkening. Her breath quickened and she tensed. Her body quivered with desire. And his own responded in kind. He straightened his back and spread his legs, taking on his dominant posture without a thought.

He slipped his hand into his pants, retrieving the silver bracelet from his pocket, where he’d kept it since that awful day a year ago when he’d left her, and Dallas, behind. “Then you’ll need this back.”

She stared up at the silver bracelet, her jaw dropping at the sight. “You kept it?”

“Of course.” He broached the space between them in one giant step. He jerked on her hand, pulling her arm out and twisting the silver chain around her wrist. “I’ve kept it with me every day since I left you.”

He looked down at her. Her eyes misted over with emotions far deeper than simple submission. And he felt it too. The click of the lock closing around the silver links tying her to him permanently sounded as loud as a gunshot to him, the weight of the responsibility settling on his shoulders and the invisible band around his chest constricting a fraction more. Kate looked up at him, her big eyes so full of emotion he could almost drown in them.

“And as your Master”—he clasped her waist, tugging her close as she started to wobble—“you’ll have to obey my every command.”

“Yes, Sir.”

She released her words on soft little breaths, just above a whisper, but he heard each one of them as if she’d screamed them. The words stiffened his spine. Grant puffed his chest out with pride. Yes, this amazing, beautiful, vivacious woman was his. His to command, his to dominate, his to love.

But she wasn’t just his. He cast his gaze over her head to his brother, who stood behind her, silently. A confused expression twisted Daniel’s features but he knew enough not to interrupt. Sharing Kate wouldn’t be easy. Just the idea had Grant’s domineering side roaring with anger. But if it was what he needed to do to have her, he’d find a way to work it out. He’d start by including his brother in their play.

“Good.” He turned Kate around roughly so she stood right in front of Danny. His brother looked at her with big, surprised eyes, and Grant snickered.
He finds this surprising
.
Danny has no idea what is coming.

Grant snatched a nearby blanket off a shelf, spreading it out on the ground between them. He didn’t want her to hurt herself on the hard, dirty stable floors. Kate looked back at him expectantly. She gasped, her lips parting. She had a good idea what he had in store for her.

“On your hands and knees, pet.” With a hand on her shoulder, Grant pushed her down to the blanket.

She dropped down quickly, eagerly. She bent over, showing him the smooth slope of her back and her round, firm ass. He fought the urge to bend down and fuck her right there. But he had more in store for her. Much more. If he could keep his dick in his pants long enough to put his plan into action.

“Let’s start with you sucking my brother’s cock.” The entire room vibrated with tension. Grant was sure that neither of them had anticipated him starting with such a move. But it just proved it was the right one to make—for all of them. “Crawl over to Danny, open his pants and pull out his cock. I want you to show him how good that mouth of yours feels.”

Grant pushed her toward his brother, directing her with his gaze. He gave her a second, allowing her time to say her safe word. Sharing her with another man was new to him and her. Grant had no idea where her hard lines lay. He never wanted to trample over one, not even unintentionally. This whole arrangement would take patience and a lot of negotiation. But he was willing to try—for her.

Kate made no protests. Instead, she crawled on her hands and knees to his brother. Once in front of him, she reached for the zipper of his pants and pulled it down in one quick motion. She delved her fingers into his fly, and Danny closed his eyes, letting his head fall back. Kate wrapped her silky fingers around his stiff cock. Grant remembered the feeling and he almost moaned with his brother at the memory.

Grant stepped over to them, drew his hand back and smacked her ass. The sensation was not enough for either of them through the layers of her clothing. “Get to sucking,” he ordered with more edge than he’d intended. It surprised him how close he was to losing control without one touch from Kate. “And I’ll take care of you.”