I want you to do something for me. Live your life. If you’ve already begun to move on, I’m proud of you. But will you do one thing for me? Go to Kendall. Tell him you’re ready to move on. Be the daring girl I married and ask him for what you’ve needed for so long. He’s loved you since the moment he laid eyes on you, and I know you’ve loved him just as long.
If I could have one wish granted, it would be that we lived in a world where we could’ve shared our lives together. No, Kendall and I aren’t in love with each other, but we are both in love with you. I was the lucky guy who asked first, and being the stand-up guy he is, he let you go.
I can’t fulfill that wish, but this one I can. Go love him and have the life you wanted and didn’t dare ask for. If you’ve followed my suggestions in previous letters, the house should be paid off and you should be through with your degree. Sell the house. Put the money into your investments or the JWB.
I love you with my whole heart,
Morgan
Her hand shook as she reread the letter. Be the daring girl I married…Could she? She’d never stopped missing Kendall when he’d moved on after they’d gotten married. He’d stayed in touch and they’d visited him, but something had always been missing. No, someone was missing. She looked down at Morgan’s careful script, and a tear splashed onto the page.
She missed Morgan so much. What she’d wanted, she’d wanted with Morgan. To love them both. Whether that made her a deviant, she didn’t know or care. She knew what her heart had wanted, and evidently Morgan had understood what she desired, as well. Her heart ached with old grief for him at how he’d loved her despite knowing that about her.
Without bothering to fix supper, she went to her room, undressed, and crawled in under the covers.
As soon as she was comfortable she groaned. “Shit.”
She’d forgotten all about calling Frank. After lying there for a few seconds, she decided she was down for the count and he could wait until tomorrow. She closed her eyes and fell sound asleep. It wasn’t even dark outside yet.
* * * *
Maya was startled awake by her doorbell ringing. Fuzzy-headed, she crawled from bed, donned her robe and stumbled down the hall. She turned on a light in the dark living room and squinted at the screen on her cell phone as she went to the door. It was half past ten. There were several missed calls and text messages. She must’ve really been out of it to not hear her phone. She gazed into the peephole and gasped. A wave of heat blasted through her torso.
“Kendall.”
She fumbled with the deadbolt and flung the door open. His sandy-blond hair looked mussed, like he’d run his fingers through it a number of times. His hands rested casually on his denim-clad hips as he stood there. He must’ve gotten in his truck after their phone call and driven straight to San Marcos from Divine.
The look in his eyes sent another bolt of heat through her, this time straight to her pussy. Funny, none of the men she’d dated in the last few weeks had inspired any sort of sexual reaction in her at all, including Frank Reeves.
In another life she might feel guilty for the warmth that pulsated through her body at the sight of him, but she’d always reacted to him this way. She’d done her best to hide it once Morgan had declared his love for her, but where Kendall was concerned she couldn’t help it.
She leaped into his arms as he whispered, “Babydoll.”
He smelled of sunshine, hard work, and leather. Breathing his scent in made her mouth water. His muscular arms felt good, holding her securely, and she wondered if he noticed the tremor that rippled through her. She welcomed him into the house, remembering self-consciously when her nipples hardened that she was clad only in her satin robe.
He looked like a sin waiting to be committed, in denim and leather. Where Morgan had been the tall, dark, and handsome Mister GQ, Kendall was the blond, sexy, and risqué cowboy, and she’d always enjoyed the contrast between the two of them.
Maya didn’t miss the tension in his jaw and the set of his lips as he looked her over. She was about to excuse herself to go change when she saw the letter he held in his hand, written on familiar-looking stationery.
“Is Morgan telling the truth in this?” Kendall asked plainly as he handed it to her. That was Kendall’s way, to get right to the crux of the matter from the beginning.
With a trembling hand, she took the wrinkled letter from him, changing clothes all but forgotten. Her cheeks heated as she read Morgan’s words. Evidently neither she nor Kendall had been very adept at hiding their feelings from Morgan. The letter went on to say Kendall loved her.
Maya looked into his brown eyes, responding even more strongly to the heat smoldering there. Morgan’s voice whispered to her. Be the daring girl I married…have the life you wanted and didn’t dare ask for. Dare.
Kendall grasped her shoulders through the black satin of her robe, and moisture pooled in her slit in a lightning-quick response. “Is it true, babydoll? Tell me.”
Relief that he finally knew, mixed with sorrow for the reason he knew, surged through her, and she bit her lip as she nodded. “Yes.”
A breath he must have been holding escaped Kendall in a great gust as he crushed her to him. His body shook and he groaned, kissing the top of her head.
“Will you come back home with me?”
Struck by the suddenness of his request, Maya stammered, “I–I don’t know. For how long? For what? Kendall, I—”
He cradled the back of her head as he gazed into her eyes for a few, lingering seconds. His handsome face radiated desire, and she felt completely right and safe in his arms. Gently, he gripped her hair as he closed the distance between them and kissed her. He thrust his tongue into her mouth, stroking lovingly. He tasted minty and clean, and his day-old whiskers rubbed against her cheeks and chin, making her skin tingle and her pussy pulse with need for him.
She’d fantasized about what it would be like to kiss him for years and even more so in the last couple of months. As a matter of fact, her fantasies of late had extended to include Boone and Richard. The three of them surrounding her, kissing her, and even loving her. Should she go home with him?
Kendall released her and looked intently into her eyes. “For how long? Let’s start with a week. If you can put up with us then we’ll see about forever.” His eyes told her he was serious.
“What about Boone and Richard? You’re living in a small house right now.”
“Not that small. Boone and Richard have to work in the morning. Otherwise they would’ve ridden with me. They want you to come, too.”
The emphasis in his statement only gave rise to more questions in her mind, but he chose that moment to lay another bone-melting kiss on her. Maya slid her palms up his solid biceps and wrapped her arms around his neck. The belt of the robe slid loose as she raised her arms, and she felt a draft when the edges parted.
She released his shoulders and pulled the robe back together, feeling conflicted. His kiss turned her on, and she wanted him. That much was certain. But this was so sudden, and she couldn’t afford a misstep. Not with Kendall.
Evidently sensing her hesitation, Kendall released her as she asked, “What Morgan told you in the letter doesn’t bother you? That I wanted you both?”
Maybe she should stay in town and get her head checked. Boone and Richard’s handsome faces floated in her mind, adding to her uncertainty. She pictured herself with Kendall, Boone, and Richard in that scenario.
They were all so different from each other. Boone was dark-eyed and handsome, mysterious, and tattooed. Richard was larger than life, rugged, a quiet, immensely deep person, with beautiful pale blue eyes she swore could see into a person’s soul.
She didn’t know anybody who had the kind of committed relationship she’d always fantasized about. She didn’t even know if it would’ve worked. What if this was a disastrous idea and she lost Kendall’s friendship as well as his love?
“Babydoll, I’ll never regret being there for you, but I don’t wan
t to be your ‘go-to’ guy anymore. I want to be the man you go to. I would’ve been there if that’s what you and Morgan had wanted.”
Questions and confusion swirled in her mind, but one fact remained. He knew the truth and still wanted her.
Chapter Three
Kendall watched as Maya debated. Her cheeks were rosy with a blush that made her even more beautiful to him. She was no calculating manipulator, and she’d obviously never voiced her desires to Morgan to get what she wanted. He wanted to give it to her now. He hoped once she arrived at their place, she would feel something for Boone and Richard as well. In order to know, she had to come home with him. He didn’t push, wanting it to be her decision.
“Boone and Richard won’t mind?”
Kendall pictured the approval in his brothers’ eyes as he’d risen from the couch three hours earlier and told them he was going to get her.
“They were very clear about welcoming you. You can call them if you need the reassurance. When I left they were making the second bedroom ready for you to stay in.”
“But you’re cramped as it is. You told me that house only has two bedrooms.”
“And two comfortable couches.”
Maya was thoughtful for a few seconds before saying, “I’ll pack enough for a week. After that, we’ll see.”
She looked into his eyes, seeming to need his understanding, and he gave her a big, wide smile. Startling her, he grasped her in a bear hug and lifted her warm, curvaceous body off the floor and twirled around with her. Her gasp of surprise ended in a merry giggle when he set her on her feet.
“You’re not going to be disappointed, babydoll.” His heart pounded with relief that was echoed in his groin at the thought of having her so close. A lot could happen in a week. Maybe she could fall for all three of them.
“Make yourself at home. I’ll get ready and pack.” She pecked him on the cheek and went down the hall.
He got comfortable on the couch and took out his phone to text Boone and let him and Richard know she was coming home.
A minute later he heard her shower come on and couldn’t help the fantasies his mind conjured of her under the hot spray. He could picture her head tilted back and soap suds slithering down her gorgeous, full breasts, her nipples peeking out. He imagined the suds sliding over the sexy tattoo he knew adorned her left hip. The only reason he knew about it was because she’d asked for his input on the design. His cock felt hard enough to break concrete as he imagined sliding his hands around her sweetly curved hips and thrusting every inch of his cock into what would probably feel like the closest thing to heaven on earth.
His fantasy was interrupted by a loud knock at the front door, which was rudely repeated a few seconds later. Kendall frowned and wondered who had the nerve to pound on Maya’s door so late at night. He peeked through the peephole and recognized the asshole’s ruddy features and blond hair.
Opening the door, Kendall enjoyed the look of surprise on Frank Reeves’s face. Frank squinted, and recognition registered in his eyes as his lip curled.
“Warner. What are you doing here?”
The self-important asshole moved forward as though he expected Kendall to back away and allow him to enter, but Kendall didn’t budge. Reeves’s days of horning in where he didn’t belong were over.
“I should ask you the same question, Reeves.”
“I need to talk to Maya. Where is she?” Frank demanded, attempting once again to enter Maya’s home, but Kendall wouldn’t allow it.
If Maya had already broken it off with Frank, then his presence in her house would be a trespass on her wishes to see him again. If she’d forgotten to call him, then she had not resolved the issues between them and definitely would not want him in the house while she was showering. Kendall could hear the water still running.
“She’s unavailable at the moment.”
“I’ve been trying to reach her all evening. Why hasn’t she been answering her phone? How long have you been here?”
“Like I said, she’s unavailable.” Permanently, you stupid prick. “Why I am here is none of your business.” Kendall wanted to kick this aging, jock, preppy throwback off of Maya’s porch but wondered if it might be better to get this confrontation over with. The decision wasn’t his to make. “Wait here.”
He shut the door in Frank’s face and slid the bolt home because if this guy was taking liberties with Maya he’d think nothing of walking into the house while Kendall checked with her.
He grinned at the muffled expletives he heard through the door as he walked away from it, down the hall. He tapped on her bathroom door and heard her faint response.
He cracked the door open and said, “Frank Reeves is on your front porch. May I kick his ass off of it, or should I let him in?”
She peeked from behind the shower curtain and appeared to debate for a moment. “Shoot. He called and left several text messages while I was asleep. I didn’t check the messages. It might be best to let him in and keep him in the living room. I’ll finish up and be out in a minute.” She held the curtain back for a moment, and her brows knitted together as she added, “Kendall, I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?”
“Sorry you have to deal with him.” Relief filled him because for a second he was afraid she’d changed her mind about coming with him.
Kendall grinned and winked at her. “You sure I can’t kick his ass off your front steps? Because I’m up for that.”
A faint chuckle came from behind the shower curtain. “No, you big He-Man. I’ll deal with him.”
Kendall returned to the door and allowed Frank to come in the house. “Maya said to have a seat in the living room and she’ll be out in a few minutes.”
Reeves and Kendall spent the next few minutes in a staring match that Reeves lost. He took out his cell phone and toyed with the screen, probably trying to appear as though he had pressing business at eleven o’clock at night.
Maya emerged from her bedroom with damp hair and a fresh face. She was dressed for the trip home in soft, form-fitting pants and a snug white T-shirt. Kendall rose when she walked in the room as she looked at Frank, who remained seated on the couch. Ill-mannered asshole.
Kendall drew near and murmured, “You okay?”
“Yes. It’s fine. Could you give me a few minutes to talk to him?”
Quietly, so Frank wouldn’t hear him, Kendall said, “I’m not leaving you alone with him, Maya. Not after what you told me.” He had no intention of giving Frank an opportunity to get physical with her again.
“You can wait in the kitchen,” she whispered as she caressed his forearm. Her eyes showed appreciation for his concern.
Kendall cast a black look at Reeves, who returned it. He walked into the kitchen and sat at her table. He kept an ear open for any change in the tone of their faint conversation as he took out his phone and sent a series of text messages to Boone. Richard didn’t like to text, and Kendall knew Boone would relay the messages to him. He grinned as he heard the whiny tone in Reeves’s voice. She must’ve delivered the bad news.
* * * *
Boone did a mental fist pump as he slipped his phone back in his shirt pocket. Richard held the shopping basket as they perused the women’s beauty products department of the local drug store. It was the only place open late that sold “girlie” stuff, as Richard had recently called it.
“Tell me again why this is a good idea?” Richard inquired as Boone opened and sniffed at a bottle of bubble bath.
“It will please her that we’re trying to make her stay comfortable.”
Richard gave him the stink-eye. “Wonder if she’d be comfortable about the economy-size box of condoms and tubes of K-Y you’re also buying.”
“I think we should be prepared, that’s all. Kendall would say I’m being positively assumptive.”
“Whatever.”
Boone slipped a bottle of bubble bath in the shopping basket before picking out other body products that were of the same scent.
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Richard rubbed his hand over his bearded chin. “You’re not the least bit worried she’ll think all this stuff belonged to some other woman?”
Boone knew this line of questioning was leading up to what Richard needed to know, which was if there really was a place for him in the relationship.
Boone shook his head negatively as he took his vibrating phone from his pocket and looked at the new message. “Nuh-uh. We’ll tell her we bought it for her, and she’ll be even more impressed. Kendall says Maya is dealing with Frank Reeves right now.”
“Do you really believe this could work?”
Boone understood the conflict that went on inside his brother. Richard had lost the love of his life and had once said he didn’t know if he was capable of loving someone else that much ever again.
“I think it could. We’ll give her time to settle in, plant the idea in her mind, and see what happens. I think it’s worth a shot, anyway. Remember what Jack and the guys have.”
Boone’s first cousin Jack Warner and his distant cousins Ethan Grant and Adam Davis were married to a one-of-a-kind woman. Grace Warner made being married to three men look easy. At six months pregnant, Grace radiated happiness, and her men were positively goofy, they were so in love with her.
Boone and his brothers had grown bored with the singles scene and had been talking about the possibility of a life like Jack, Ethan, and Adam’s. Maybe this was their chance.
“I don’t know, Boone. I’m not that lucky. Not twice.”
Sometimes Boone still caught glimpses of the grief that had lingered in Richard’s eyes for years after Michelle’s death. They’d just gotten engaged the week before she was killed by crossfire in a robbery at the grocery store where she had worked.
“I can’t give guarantees, Richard. You know I’m the glass-is-half-empty guy, and I have my worries. Just because she comes doesn’t mean she’ll stay. And if she falls for Kendall there’s no assurance she’ll feel the same for us. But you know what gives me hope? I think of Grace and the happiness she obviously brings to the guys. Maybe Maya could feel the same way toward us. We’ll never know if we don’t try.”
The Divine Creek Ranch Collection Volume 3 Page 3
