by Gigi Moore
Curious and wondering why Cade hadn’t switched on the light, he listened to his brother stumble around bumping into furniture in the semidarkness.
“Ow, dammit! Whose bright idea was it to put a sofa in the middle of the living room?”
Maia chuckled beside him and quickly slapped a hand over her mouth.
“Who’s there?”
Thayne decided to put his brother out of his misery and hit the switch by the staircase, flooding the room with light from the overhead chandelier.
Cade blinked several times and squinted at the sudden brightness. His gaze finally landed on Thayne now standing at the bottom of the staircase, partially blocking Maia from view, just in case she hadn’t gotten all her womanly parts covered just right. “You told me not to wait up, so I thought you were going to be out late.”
“Change of plans.”
“Oh.”
Thayne felt Maia descend the stairs to stand by his side and watched as Cade’s face broke into a wide grin.
“Why if it isn’t my Little Maia.”
“Hello, Cade.”
“You’ve met?”
“Of course, and we spent the day together getting to know each other.” Cade narrowed his gaze on Maia, making Thayne’s heart pound with possessiveness. “I don’t know why you’re using so formal a tone, Little Maia.”
“I just spent the day helping Jesse show Cade around the ranch. It wasn’t a big deal.”
So why hadn’t she mentioned it?
Thayne glared at Maia. He didn’t think her tone had been formal enough. He wondered why her omission angered him. It wasn’t as if she owed him any explanations about how she spent her time where she lived and worked, at least not yet.
He supposed he should have expected that Cade and Maia would run into each other, if not earlier today then eventually, taking for granted that Cade got the job. The Double R remained a tight operation and the vibe was close-knit and familial. He’d noticed that much and liked it when he’d visited during Desiree’s birthday-party blowout.
On the other hand, he’d also received a couple of other, disturbing vibes during that visit when he’d witnessed the interactions between Maia’s older sisters and their husbands and their husbands’ brothers. The two trios seemed almost too close.
Why was he thinking of those two combinations right then?
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Thayne shook himself like a wet dog to get rid of the disquieting thoughts and stared at his brother. “Tell you what?”
“That Maia was your date.”
Thayne shrugged. “I figured you’d meet her sooner or later, if not tonight.”
“You could have warned a guy,” Cade grumbled.
Was it just him, or did his brother seem relieved and glad that Thayne’s date had turned out to be Maia and not some other woman? What was that all about?
Cade staggered toward them, tripping over the tanned, microfiber ottoman and flopping onto the matching sofa.
“Are you drunk?” Thayne asked unnecessarily.
“Don’t change the subject.”
“Which is?”
“Why you didn’t tell me about Maia.”
“I already answered you. The subject’s dead. The new subject is did you drive home in this condition?
“I’m not a teenager anymore, Thayne.”
“Did you, or didn’t you?”
“For your information, I got a ride.”
Now it was Thayne’s turn to be relieved. “Good.”
“I know I can be reckless and wild sometimes, bro, but I’m thirty years old now. I’m not totally stupid or irresponsible.”
“That’s good to know.”
“I guess I’d better get going,” Maia piped up, trying to leave Thayne’s side before he caught her wrist and drew her back.
“Why?” he and Cade chorused.
Maia arched a brow. “Because I think you guys have some things you need to hash out, and you could probably do it a little more comfortably without a third-party stranger hanging around.”
“You’re not a stranger, Little Maia.”
The familiarity of his brother’s moniker shouldn’t have surprised him. His brother always made friends quickly, especially with women. He was a personable guy, one of the best friends any person could ever hope to have, except there was more than friendship or even mild affection and teasing behind his nickname. In fact, Thayne caught a decidedly sexual undertone to Cade’s phrasing. He sounded like he was making Maia a promise, like he wanted to finish what Thayne had started.
“Besides, don’t you want to know who dropped me off?”
“We’re dying to, Cade,” Thayne said, humoring his brother. He figured it the least he could do before Cade finally passed out for the night. As it stood, Thayne didn’t know how his brother had managed to get his keys out to unlock the door. Thayne hadn’t been drunk earlier and had had a problem. Of course, he’d had a reason other than inebriation for his dexterity to be off. Well, actually he had been inebriated at the time. He had been high on the promise of sex with an intoxicating woman.
“I caught a ride from some of my new coworkers over at the ranch.”
“So you got the job then?”
“Yep. Jesse told me on the spot. That’s how good of an impression I made, big bro. Aren’t you proud of me?”
“Very, Cade,” Thayne drawled.
Maia chuckled at their brotherly antics. If she liked this, she’d love them tomorrow morning when Thayne would be up plying his brother with homemade hangover remedies.
“So, yeah, I got the job, and Jesse invited me out to Loaded Joe’s with him and his wife and brother to celebrate.”
“That was nice of them.” He knew Loaded Joe’s. It remained a well-known hot spot. He had taken Maia there for their first date. Up until that point, he had never been, and it hadn’t been his first choice. Maia, however, had sold him on the versatile coffeehouse and lounge that morphed into an energetic cocktail lounge complete with a house band once the evening rolled around. He’d had a nice time and had admitted as much to Maia.
“Yeah, it was nice of them. And I learned some interesting things about my new bosses, pacific…specifically Tamara’s marriage to Jesse and Jax.”
“Wait, which one is she married to?”
“Well, officially, it’s Jesse, but unofficially, shhh.” Cade put a finger to his lips. “Hey, I’m not one to gossip, so you didn’t hear it from me.”
Thayne frowned and glanced at Maia who looked several shades lighter, as if most of the color had suddenly drained from her face. “Do you know what he’s talking about?”
“Not a clue.”
“She knows,” Cade said, trying to stand before flopping back onto the sofa again after several unsuccessful attempts to get his footing on the Persian area rug.
“They must have had to pour you out of the car,” Thayne observed.
“I’m not that drunk, bro. Trust me. I know about what I speak.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you do,” Thayne said, but doubt niggled in the back of his mind when he remembered that weird vibe he had gotten at Desiree’s party.
Did Cade know what he talked about?
“Maybe we should take him up to his room to sleep it off?” Maia suggested. “Unless you just want to leave him down here and throw a blanket over him?”
Thayne looked at his brother sitting on the sofa half-awake, lips slightly parted as if he’d start snoring any minute. If he moved him, he needed to do it before Cade was completely dead to the world.
He sat down next to Cade, slid an arm around his back, and almost passed out when he caught a whiff of the ethanol fumes as his brother turned to him with a wide smile.
“Hey, bro!”
Thayne fought to keep himself from laughing. He did not envy Cade how he would be feeling in the morning, and he didn’t want to make light of his brother’s imminent pain. “Hey, bro. Ready to go up to bed?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
That was almost too easy. Thayne had expected more resistance. The problem of getting his brother across the room and up the stairs remained, however.
Maia went to Cade’s opposite side as if sensing Thayne’s dilemma. “I’ll help you.”
Cade turned to her. “Hey, Little Maia!”
Unlike Thayne, Maia did laugh. “Hey, Cade.”
Cade turned back to Thayne. “What do you think of our Little Maia, bro?”
Again with that nickname, although Thayne had to admit, it suited Maia. She was petite. However, sinful sex appeal and beauty were packed in every centimeter of her five-two, hundred-and-twenty-pound frame. Although when Cade put the qualifier “our” instead of “my” in front of “Little Maia” it didn’t set off Thayne’s possessive instincts as much.
What kind of warped crap was that?
Thayne got Cade to his feet, allowing his brother to lean most of his weight on him rather than on Maia, who helped Thayne walk Cade to and up the stairs.
Together, they dropped him onto the bed in the junior master bedroom where Cade had left his stuff, each releasing a sigh of relief.
Maia sat on the foot of the bed, wiping her brow with the back of her hand. “He doesn’t look that heavy.”
“I think Cade’s fifteen or twenty pounds lighter than me, and I’m two hundred pounds. But dead weight is always a bitch to carry.”
“You can say that again. Don’t forget dead, drunk weight.”
Thayne grinned. “Yeah, there is that.”
Maia stood. “So you want me to wait downstairs while you get him comfortable?”
“I’d have to strip him naked for that.”
“Huh?”
“My brother likes sleeping in the nude.”
“Oh, okay, I just thought…”
Thayne listened to her words trail off and studied her face. He was shocked to see her flush but was glad to see the color back in her face. He was even gladder that she was shy enough to blush at the allusion to his brother’s nudity. “You can wait in the hall while I get him situated if you want.”
She headed for the door. “Okay.”
“And don’t peek.”
“I–I…I wouldn’t! Why would I do that? It would be an invasion of his privacy and—”
“Maia, I was only teasing.”
“I knew that.”
Watching her turn on her heels and leave, Thayne wasn’t so sure about that, especially when he caught the increasing blush before she left.
Who’d have thought he could throw bold, brazen Maia Jensen for a loop?
It made him wonder exactly what his brother and Maia had talked about during their afternoon touring the ranch together and how much he had to be worried about them.
Thayne started the task of stripping Cade. Once he got his brother down to his boxer briefs, Thayne went to the bathroom, ran some cold water over a clean washcloth, wringed it half-dry, then brought it back to the room to wipe down his brother’s torso as Cade’s pores sweated alcohol.
He returned to the bathroom, filled a large Dixie Cup with water, and shook a couple of Excedrin into his hand from the medicine cabinet. When he made it back to Cade’s side and sat on the bed, he saw his brother’s eyes open. Despite his bleariness, Cade gave him a direct look when he caught Thayne’s wrist.
“You’re a good brother, Thayne.”
He chuckled. “Thank me in the morning when you’re not so out of it.”
“I will.” Cade put one arm over his eyes. “I am going to be so messed up come daylight.”
“That’s a given.”
“Not a good way to start my first day of work.”
“I’ll help you through it.”
“You always do.”
“Here, take these.” Thayne popped the two pills into his brother’s mouth as Cade raised up on one elbow to sip water from the cup Thayne held to his lips. Thayne watched as his brother washed the pills down. He crushed the cup and tossed it across the room into the trash basket.
“Two points!” Cade pumped a fist and collapsed back against the stack of pillows.
Thayne stood and patted his brother’s shoulder, preparing to leave when Cade caught his wrist again, gripping much more firmly than before and fixing him with a look of intense desperation. “What is it, Cade?”
“I spoke with Mom and Dad last night.”
“Cade—”
“I know you think I’m drunk and I don’t know what I’m talking about.”
“I don’t think that.” Well, he did, but he also didn’t want Cade to bring their parents up. He was unwilling to experience the pain of rehashing their improbable, farfetched deaths even though he wasn’t sure why his brother had brought them up or what he was about to say. He sighed, his curiosity winning out. “So, what did they say?”
“You’re going to think I’m crazy.”
“Cade, this is me you’re talking to, the telepathic empath.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Cade laughed. “Well, I met them in the Summerland. It was so beautiful, just like all the descriptions in your and Mom and Dad’s books. All vivid colors, peace, and tranquility.”
Thayne swallowed hard listening to his brother, heart pounding at the faith and sincerity he heard in Cade’s voice. His brother had never been particularly spiritual. However, hearing the awe and wonder in his voice, the conviction, touched something deep in Thayne. He hadn’t thought Cade paid attention to anything he and their parents spouted about Wicca, much less that he read any of their books on the subject.
“They said she’s The One, Thayne.”
He had a bad feeling about what Cade meant but asked anyway. “She who?”
“Our Little Maia. They said evil’s coming to our door and that we have to protect each other and keep her safe.
“She belongs to us, Thayne. Both of us. She’s ours.”
She belongs to us.
Thayne frowned at the wording and wondered exactly what his brother, or more to the point, their parents had meant by that.
Not to mention the whole evil-coming-to-their-door statement.
What the hell?
Cade squeezed his wrist again. “You believe me, don’t you?”
Thayne covered the hand gripping his wrist. “I believe you.”
Goddess knew what it all meant, but he did believe Cade, every word.
Thayne just didn’t know what he was supposed to do about it.
Chapter 9
Maia decided to go back downstairs rather than wait in the hall. She wanted to give the brothers their privacy but also needed the space to sort through her jumbled emotions.
She’d had second thoughts about hanging around to help Thayne undress Cade, curious to see if Cade looked as delicious out of his clothes as he did in them, but how would that have appeared, her getting all worked up over Cade with Thayne, her date, right there in the room?
Not too good, she thought.
She’d had all she could deal with keeping her composure being in a bedroom with both of them, despite Cade’s indisposition. She found both Thayne and Cade attractive, and she wanted both of them. She so didn’t find this situation ideal.
She wondered what they would say if she approached them with the proposal of not only a ménage a trois but the contention that all three of them being together was somehow fated.
They’d think she was a greedy witch who just wanted to have her cake and eat it, too.
She might have thought this same thing if two men had approached her with some malarkey about Fate just to get her into bed with both of them at the same time. At least she might have thought it malarkey before her two sisters had each found their soul mates in not one man but two. She might have thought the whole Fated ménage a trois malarkey if she hadn’t had a vision of the three of them—her, Cade, and Thayne—together.
“Sorry I took so long.”
Maia almost leaped out of her skin when Thayne slid a hand up her back to gently caress her bare shoulder. She had
been so wrapped up in her thoughts she couldn’t stop the shudder going through her body at his sudden appearance.
Thayne noticed her shivering and wrapped both his arms around her from behind, drawing her close. “Cold?”
“A little.” She closed her eyes and leaned back against him for a moment. He felt so good, so strong…and so aroused.
Maia’s eyes flew open. She had to get out of there now. She couldn’t put herself through anymore torture tonight or let him start something that she couldn’t finish. Except that when she tried to pull away, Thayne held her to him, bent his head, and nuzzled her throat.
His lips caressed her, warm breath raising goose bumps on her skin, so irresistible.
“Stay the night,” he murmured.
“I shouldn’t.”
“Why? Because of what happened with Cade?”
“That’s part of it.” She turned around in his arms and curved her arms around his trim waist as she tilted her head back to look into his eyes. That was a big mistake, since she could practically drown in their vibrant blue depths and be persuaded to do anything, even something that she knew wasn’t good for her. At least it wasn’t good for her now. Later, once they worked everything out, if they worked everything out, who knew? “I should get home.”
Thayne nodded. “I understand.”
“You do?” Not only was she shocked, but she felt slightly affronted at his easy acquiescence. She barely understood why she wanted to go home, why she needed to, not when she was sure that Thayne was hers for the taking. She just felt like she would be cheating on Cade if she began something with Thayne that didn’t include his brother.
How sick did that make her?
“I think I do.” Thayne nodded. “Mood’s been killed.”
“Something like that.” Although she had no doubt that they could rekindle it with very little effort. She was halfway there already. The crotch of her panties was soaked from just the memory of their earlier aborted coupling. Her clit was still swollen with the memory of how his lips had felt against it, and her pussy throbbed with the recollection of how his tongue had felt inside her.
