Carnal Harvest by Robin L. Rotham Read Free Book Online Page A

don’t need it,” Hake said firmly. “This is my show and you’re going to do what I say.”
    “And if we don’t?”
    “You know where the door is.”
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    The other two men glanced at each other and then Joe walked over and untied Brent. “So I can go piss, Master?” he asked.
    Hake grinned. “Yes, you may. But the guest bathroom is in the basement. There’s a shower down there and plenty of towels in the cupboard—use them.”
    After Joe disappeared down the basement stairs, Hake stretched his legs out in front of him and looked at Brent. The knowing grin curving his cousin’s lips as he rubbed his wrists made Hake wish he’d left the fucker tied up.
    “You could have warned me,” Hake said in a flat tone, crossing his arms over his bare chest.
    “That Joe wanted to fuck you?” Brent’s grin widened. “That would have taken all the fun out of it. Well, not all the fun,” he conceded, “but you have to admit, it wouldn’t have been nearly as exciting.”
    Unwilling arousal curled in Hake’s belly and he scowled. “That wasn’t part of the plan.”
    “You’re telling me you didn’t enjoy turning the tables on him?”
    Knowing the answer to that was patently obvious, Hake ignored it. “So do you play for both teams, too?”
    “Hell, no.”
    “Not yet,” Hake guessed.
    The grin widened yet again.
    “Jesus, you’re stringing him along?”
    “Good things come to those who wait,” Brent said blithely.
    Hake shook his head. “I don’t get you.”
    “I’m his boss, Hake.” Brent leaned forward in his chair, resting his forearms on his spread knees, and Hake studiously avoided looking at the genitals dangling between them. “And while our playing around with the occasional female raises eyebrows on 44

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    the road, Joe and me playing with each other would probably cause some real problems with both my crew and my customers. Not all farmers are as… progressive as you.”
    “Progressive,” Hake echoed dryly. “That’s a good word for it.”
    “Besides,” Brent continued, “I’m not ready to go there yet.”
    “Neither was I.”
    “Sure you were. You’ve got a wife who’s nutty about you and a son any man would be proud to claim, and you’re secure in who you are and what your place is in this world. You can handle anything that comes your way. You sure as hell handled Joe like a pro.”
    Hake stared at him, and for a minute, the only sounds in the room were the wall clock ticking over the door and the sound of water running somewhere. Brent was right—he was absolutely freakin’ right.
    “I’ve been an idiot.”
    “And how many times has Mandy told you that?”
    Hake smiled wryly. “Not enough, apparently.”
    “I’ve heard wives have a way of being right about stuff like that,” Brent said, leaning back and linking his hands behind his head.
    “Maybe you should find out for yourself.”
    Brent’s look told him where to get off. “I’m not ready to go there yet, either.”
    “Why not?”
    The silence stretched on for a while before Brent said quietly, “Not everyone can have what you have with Mandy.”
    Hake nodded like he understood where his cousin was coming from, and maybe he did. Brent’s folks had set a pretty rotten example for him and his brothers. Hake hadn’t heard anything about Uncle John in years, but Aunt Carleen had been married and divorced so many times, you needed a score card to keep up. Watching that had to have soured the boys on marriage at least a little. “So you’re not even going to try?”
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    “Not while I’m dragging my ass all over the country half the year to make a living,”
    Brent said brusquely. “Isn’t marriage hard enough when you can actually spend time together?”
    “Yeah, I guess it is.”
    Pipes rattled as the water was shut off and Brent’s grin resurfaced. “Guess we still owe Mandy a little something, huh? She didn’t have a chance to come once you started