“No?” Maybe he was missing something. His feelings were all jumbled up. Desire for Maya, and guilt for feeling that desire, was confusing him. He’d been loyal to Michelle’s memory all this time. The only thing was a memory couldn’t talk to him and wrap soft arms around him. He hoped it was just his imagination that he’d made her uncomfortable, because it would just about break his heart if he were to find out Maya was scared of him.
* * * *
Maya woke to the sound of Kendall muttering, “Shit, shit, shit.” Smiling, she opened her eyes and watched drowsily as Kendall jumped on one foot trying to get his foot into the other pant leg. He glanced up at her, and she was blinded by his bright, sexy smile.
“Good morning, er, afternoon.”
“Hi,” she replied as she had a nice, long stretch.
Kendall climbed on the bed and crawled over to her. His hair was wet, and he smelled fresh like soap. He must’ve already taken his shower.
“I slept way longer than I meant to,” he said as he kissed the tip of her nose. “I was planning to enact my plans for seduction this morning after a couple of hours of shut-eye, but we conked out.”
Maya gave him a wide smile, loving the mischievous twinkle in his eyes. “Oh, yeah? Whatcha gonna do now, cowboy?”
“Roust your fetching little ass out of bed,” he murmured as he planted his nose in her hair behind her ear, inhaled deeply, and growled. “I love that spot, right there.” He kissed her there then yanked the covers completely off of her. She gasped and felt a convulsion in her pussy at the sudden, forceful action.
Oh, baby! Rip my clothes off next!
“I have work to do. How would you like to come with me?”
Her pussy tremored again, and she giggled at her body’s slutty response. His words dangling there were more than she could resist, and he chuckled knowingly as the sideways grin spread across her lips.
“Would I like to ‘come’ with you? Oh, yes. Very much,” she murmured in her best sexy voice as she stretched luxuriantly again. She hadn’t slept that well in over a year.
Kendall chuckled. “I swear you could take just about any topic and weave an innuendo through it. I’ve missed you, babydoll.”
He’d always called her babydoll. It had always made her feel special to him. She weaved her arms around his neck and pulled him close. He pressed warm, full lips to hers, and his kiss melted her bones as he lingered there. They were interrupted by the sound of his phone chirping. She released him, and he looked at the screen.
“It’s a text from Grace,” he murmured lying down on the bed beside her. He touched the screen to open the message, holding the phone so she could see, too.
“Who is Grace?” Maya asked, knowing she sounded a whole lot more like, “Who in the hell is Grace?”
Kendall glanced at her and chuckled. “A freaking force of nature. That’s who Grace is.”
Maya looked at the message which read, “Your truck is still parked at the ranch house. Is everything okay?”
Maya watched as Kendall typed, “We’re fine. We have company. Remember me telling you about Maya?”
Maya’s eyebrows crinkled together. Who was this woman? Kendall was obviously enjoying keeping her in the dark, and she wasn’t going to beg.
The phone chirped again a few seconds later. The message read, “Oh, hell yeah! Can I meet her! Pretty please? I can be there in thirty seconds.”
Kendall chuckled and texted back. “Whoa! No running. Jack will kill me if you hurt yourself. We’ll stop on the way out. Fixing to leave in a bit.”
Maya figured whoever it was must be nearby and in poor health if she couldn’t run.
The phone chirped again. “Well hurry the hell up! I’m dying to meet her!”
Kendall turned on his side to twiddle a lock of Maya’s long blonde hair between his fingers. “Grace is my cousin Jack’s wife. She lives here on the ranch with him, Ethan and Adam, her other husbands.” His eyes shone with amusement as her jaws flapped together a couple of times.
“She what? Her what?”
“Jack is my cousin. He and our distant cousins, Ethan Grant and Adam Davis, own this ranch. Grace is their wife. She’s expecting. That’s why I told her not to run.”
Expecting? Whoa. She was a wife to three men. Maya flopped back onto the pillow and thought about that for four seconds before she jumped up from the bed and ran to the bathroom.
She peered back at Kendall and said, “I can be ready in five minutes.” She had to meet this woman.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“Yeah. You better get cracking, hadn’t you?” She laughed as she ran the hot water.
Kendall chuckled as he poked his head in the bathroom doorway. “You’re a bossy damned thing when you’re on a tear, aren’t you?”
“Uh-huh!” she replied as she lathered her hands with her facial cleanser. “Scrambled eggs. Please. You can extract payment later.”
“I live to serve,” Kendall quipped before exiting.
She laughed as she washed her face. Maya joined him at the kitchen table a few minutes later, face fixed, dressed, and ready to go.
“Thank you for being willing to cook, Kendall. I would’ve been okay with a cereal bar.”
Kendall wrinkled his nose. “Not your first breakfast under my roof. Not even your second breakfast or any other, for that matter. We don’t even buy those. We men need manlier, more substantial meals than that.”
“Oh boy. I’m going to gain weight while I’m here,” she murmured as he piled steaming scrambled eggs onto her plate out of the skillet.
“You could do with a few more pounds on you, Maya. You’ve lost too much weight this year.”
Maya shrugged, remembering Kendall had a preference for curvy women. “Cooking for one is not as much fun.” Kendall gave her a look that spoke volumes and left her a little dazed. “So Grace is expecting, huh?”
“Yup. The guys are over the moon. You should see what big saps they are around her.”
That thought intrigued Maya, and she couldn’t wait to meet Grace. What would it be like to have the devotion of three men?
Kendall murmured, “You’re awfully quiet. What are you thinking about, if you don’t mind me asking?”
Maya felt her cheeks heat a little as she replied, “I was wondering what that kind of arrangement must be like. How do they keep things in balance? Is it hard for her to keep that many men happy? Do they have problems with jealousy? And why didn’t I know about this?”
“Well, I can’t answer some of those questions, because I don’t pry with Grace. Jack tells me their main focus is making Grace happy, not the other way around. Grace is an open person, and I’ll bet she’d be happy to answer all of your questions. I can tell you this much, Grace always seems to…glow. I think they make her very happy. I never told you…well, there was other stuff for us to talk about.” Kendall cleared his throat like he had a frog in it.
“I was self-centered for a while. I’m sorry.”
“Maya, don’t. Morgan died. I didn’t consider it self-centeredness. I’m just happy you’re here with me now. With us.”
Taking the bull by the horns, she asked, “Is their relationship something you, Boone, and Richard would like me to ask her about?”
Kendall looked her in the eye and responded without hesitation in his soothing, husky drawl, “Very much, babydoll.”
Chapter Six
Kendall helped Maya climb into the pickup truck, and she chuckled when he patted her ass before she planted it on the seat. He shrugged innocently when she gasped in mock surprise.
“No man alive could resist something that pretty.”
“You’re just trying to get laid.”
Kendall snorted and said, “I was being sweet, but we can go there, too, if you’re willing.”
“I think time rather than willingness is more of a factor. Don’t you have a ranch to take care of?”
“Yes, but I’m blinded by your beauty,” he said.
Ma
ya scoffed. “Now I know why your eyes are brown.”
“Because I’m full of shit. Gotcha. You can kid all you want. But that is some kind of gorgeous ass you’ve got there.” He patted her thigh before closing her door.
When he opened his door and climbed in, she said, “Thanks, Kendall. You’re very kind.”
Kendall dazzled her with his wide, sexy grin and said, “I know. It’s a burden. Will it get me laid?”
“Drive!” Maya said, laughing as she shoved lightly at his shoulder. Of course, it’ll get you laid!
She looked around them as he backed the truck out and pulled down the driveway connected to the main drive between two very large, red barns. He drove to the big ranch house a short distance away. It was a beautiful home with white limestone rock facing and a deep, shaded porch running the full length of the back of the house.
Kendall parked his truck next to a white work truck. Once again, Kendall helped her down from the vehicle as a couple came out on the porch, which spanned the front of the house. The man was very tall, almost as tall as Richard in fact. The woman was gorgeous with long, wavy blonde hair. Her cheeks were rosy with a blush as she said a farewell to the man, and he kissed and gently squeezed her.
As they climbed the stairs, he approached the end of the porch and said, “Hey, Kendall.”
“Hey, Adam. I want to introduce you to Maya. Maya, this is my cousin, Adam Davis.”
“Maya, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m running really late,” Adam said with emphasis as he looked back at the lovely blonde. “Otherwise I’d stay to visit. I think Grace is already planning a get together for this weekend. She can give you all the details. See you later.”
Kendall nodded as Adam jumped into his work truck.
The beautiful woman, who must be Grace, sidled up slowly with a smile on her face. Her silky top draped softly over the hint of a rounded abdomen. Her cheeks were a little rosy, and Maya recognized the “guess what I’ve been up to” grin on her face and liked her instantly.
Kendall introduced her and Grace welcomed them inside. After the niceties were over with, Grace joined them at the large marble-topped breakfast bar.
They chatted about mundane things like how long Maya would be in town, where she lived, and about her having recently completed her nursing degree.
“My husband left me with a comfortable investment income, but I needed something for myself. Morgan knew I’d always been interested in pursuing my RN certification, and so he encouraged me to go back to school and obtain it.”
“Do you have a position lined up in San Marcos already?”
Maya shook her head. “No, I wanted to take time off and keep my options open.”
“I see,” Grace replied speculatively.
Kendall rested his chin in his palm and said, “Maya, you might be curious to know Grace is a published author.”
Maya turned expectant eyes to her, and Grace nodded. “It’s true. I write erotic romance.”
Maya and Grace talked nonstop for five solid minutes about that topic, hardly taking a breath. Kendall couldn’t get a word in with a wedge and finally held up both hands.
“Ladies, I gotta get to work. Maya, you want to stay and visit?”
Maya glanced at Grace and then looked longingly at Kendall.
Grace chuckled and said, “No, of course not, Kendall. Maya wants to see your ranch and spend her first day here with you. I’ll have her over another day, and we can chat to our hearts’ content.”
Maya’s questions for Grace had only multiplied since meeting her, but the stronger desire was to spend time with Kendall and maybe explore some of their ranch.
As they journeyed down the state highway meandering over rolling hills, Maya said, “Grace glows with happiness. I don’t know anyone else who has what she does.”
“You mean more than one husband? You will before the weekend is out,” Kendall said, chuckling as she turned a surprised look his way. “It sounds like you’ll meet them all this weekend.” Grace had filled them in on her plans for a barbecue Saturday evening.
“What? Like a cult?” Maya giggled. “Are you trying to induct me into a cult, Kendall Warner?”
“Hell, if there’s a cult, it’s the men who are the devotees. No, Maya. They have a different lifestyle and happen to have all made good friends with each other. In a small town it helps to stick together and watch out for each other. Not everybody in town is nice to Grace. Some people are very opinionated.”
“Well, she looks happy. It must not bother her much.”
“I’m looking forward to you meeting them. Plus the guys are really good cooks.”
“So where is the ranch?”
Kendall pointed to a fence lining the state highway. “Our property starts at that cross fence there.” Maya sighed as they passed a huge field of tall, pale, wheat-colored grass. She could make out the roof of a barn in the distance beyond a low hilltop.
“It’s wonderful, Kendall,” Maya said as he slowed the truck and turned into the entry. The truck rumbled over the cattle guard and down the long, white gravel drive. She looked around her and was struck by how right it felt. Wildflowers in shades of yellow and orange rippled and waved in the wind as they drove past.
Kendall smiled with pleasure and even appeared to blush a little at her heartfelt compliment. “Thank you.”
“You’ve put a lot of work into it, I’ll bet.”
“Every spare moment. We’re going to take a breather for a while before we begin work on the house.”
“Why a breather? I would think you’d be anxious to start the process.”
Kendall chuckled and said, “We’d like to devote our extra time to our house guest right now. You can even help us with the house design if you’d like.”
That statement seemed to hold more meaning for him than just the actual words. Maya decided to cut to the chase.
“Or we could cut all the bullshit and be honest with each other about what we want.”
Kendall removed his straw hat and ran his fingers back through his hair. “My suave and debonair charm must be failing me.”
Maya’s heart fluttered, and she had to take a deep breath. “Trust me, cowboy, your ‘suave and debonair charm’ is firing on all cylinders. Tell me what you’re trying to tell me without actually telling me. Please?”
Kendall replaced his hat on his head and guided the truck slowly down the driveway. He pulled into the cleared area where a ranch house had obviously once stood, judging by the broken foundational piers jutting from the ground. The broken and splintered wood and debris had been bulldozed into a pile.
He parked and then turned to face her, twining his fingers through hers and squeezing gently. Her lips trembled when he brought her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles.
“I love you, Maya. I don’t want you to leave, ever. I want your input on the house because we want it to be your house, too.”
He sounded awfully self-assured when he used the word we. “I love you, too, Kendall. You know that. Do you speak for Boone and Richard on this?”
“We’re ready to settle down, Maya. This is what we want, our best-case scenario. For you to love it here, love us, and want to stay.”
“Thanks for being open about it.”
“Thanks for not expecting me to pussyfoot around the issue all week. I love that about you.”
“There’s a lot to love about me,” Maya said with good humor, feeling relieved to get the elephant in the truck cab out in the open.
“You’re open to the possibility?”
“I’d be a liar and a hypocrite if I didn’t admit I was also attracted to Boone and Richard. How long have they wanted this?”
“We’ve been observing Grace with her men and Teresa with hers for a couple of years now, and I think it started rattling around in our heads about that long ago. I’ll admit our fascination in the beginning was more along the line of one-night stands and no attachments, but we’ve grown some and want more than that now.
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“Boone and Richard mentioned the possibility to me about the time you started dating again. Richard is still dealing with his issues, but they both asked if I would talk with you. Kind of break the ice on the subject. That’s not because they’re shy, by any means. They don’t want to make you uncomfortable if you don’t want a relationship with them as well. Boone said they didn’t want to mess up what was happening between the two of us.”
“I wanted a ménage so much with you and Morgan. I regret never asking for it. I wanted to tell you last night on the phone, but I didn’t see any point in saying so, since we couldn’t change the past. Now here I am, presented with that opportunity. Morgan dared me in his letter to go after what I wanted. After missing the first opportunity, I’m going to fully explore it this time. I’m open to the idea, Kendall, but I’m going to need time to get to know them on a deeper level.”
Kendall was relieved, judging by his happy sigh. “Take all the time you need.”
“Time alone with each of you. One-on-one. Is that going to be a problem?”
“One-on-one, huh?” Kendall said with a smirk. It was so like him to tease her about that. He’d probably pictured her having sex with them when she meant talking and getting to know each other, the horn dog.
Maya giggled and said, “You heard me right.”
“I can guarantee we’ll be fighting for a chance to spend time alone with you.”
“Kendall, we’re not talking about a fling. Right? I won’t go anywhere near them if that’s all they want.”
“No, Maya. That’s not what they want, and you know it’s not what I want. I’d never allow it if they did. You can trust them, babydoll. Judging by the looks in their eyes this morning they’re already half in love with you.”
Maya doubted that after one rushed, early morning encounter, but trusted Kendall to know his brothers’ minds on the subject. He’d always been protective of her. Maya looked out the windshield at the remnants of the old ranch house. “Sorry about your home again.”
Rainier, Heather - Maya's Triple Dare [Divine Creek Ranch 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 5
