by Gigi Moore
Sam couldn’t count the times he’d sat awake in bed with his arms wrapped around his knees, fighting the urge to go to Carson, and wake and comfort him. He’d known, however, that his brother would have been far from comforted to realize he’d shown weakness to his younger brother, even if it was during his sleep. “Starting to regret things already?” Desiree cupped his cheek with one hand.
“No, not at all. Why would you ask?”
“The look on your face.”
The only thing he regretted remained his having to hide his makeup. He wondered if Desiree would be able to accept his and Carson’s true nature. He wondered if she was tough enough to eventually accept and even enjoy shifter sex with not just one shifter but two. Sam had to keep reminding himself when they were having sex that she was a full human, easily hurt and not as strong as even the weakest shifter female.
He refused to believe that Carson was right, refused to consider the possibility that being with Desiree wasn’t a good idea. If they cared about each other enough, they could all work this out. They just had to get her to care.
Sam reciprocated Desiree’s gesture and cupped her face. “I don’t regret one moment of being with you, even if I didn’t have the most explosive orgasm of my life.”
“Did you?”
“Have an explosive orgasm? Most definitely.”
“Me, too. Actually, I had at least more than a couple.”
Sam chuckled, liking her lighthearted tone and the wide-eyed look of wonder on her face, as if having an orgasm proved unprecedented for her. He liked, too, that she was comfortable enough to talk with him. He remembered how nervous she had been when she’d brought him her pie. That woman was a different woman than the one who lay in his arms now or the one who’d boldly asked if he’d let her tie him up. He didn’t want to see the former woman again but knew he needed to address the elephant sitting in the bed between them. Bringing Remy into the sanctity of Desiree’s bedroom seemed like one surefire way to stir the pot and ruin the vibe, but how could he not, at least eventually?
“Your mind’s with your brother and work, isn’t it?”
“Something like that.”
“Where were you guys heading when I saw you in the woods earlier?”
“To the stream. We like to hang out there every chance we get.”
“Maybe I could hang out there with you one of these days.”
“We’d like that.”
The smile she gave him proved as mischievous as any of Maia’s. “Sure I wouldn’t be impinging on your male-bonding time?”
“Who says we still wouldn’t be bonding?”
“You’ve got a point.”
The woman just didn’t know what she was asking or how important it was for her to see and accept them in their favorite habitat, and Sam couldn’t tell her—not yet.
“Samson?”
Sam cringed at the hated name. He’d wondered if Desiree had picked up on it earlier. He should have known. “Yeah, that’s me.”
“I like it. It fits you and goes with Quarry perfectly. They’re both solid and strong.”
Would she think Samson went with his real family name, Guidry, just as well?
The truth sat on his tongue like bad medicine and Sam swallowed it down. Carson would kill him if he revealed too much too soon, probably if he revealed anything at all.
Lying killed Sam, though. He’d never been good at it, even though he had been doing it for most of his twenties, by necessity. He’d never had to lie to a woman he’d been intimate with, though, since he hadn’t really been close to a lot of women, certainly not as familiar as he had been with Desiree. One-night stands didn’t count, and he hadn’t had too many of those, either. Compared to some of his brother’s sexploits, Sam practically remained a virgin.
“My middle name is Galen,” he murmured and leaned in to nuzzle and kiss her neck.
“Giving out your middle name, hmm. That’s personal.”
Sam chuckled. He could tell her a lot more personal stuff that would blow her mind,
“I think I’m falling in love with you, Desiree,” he blurted.
“I like Galen. It’s…fanciful, like the name of a mythical being—an elf, a wizard, or a Wiccan maybe.”
Had she not heard him, or was she just ignoring what he’d said?
“Desiree?”
“I can’t, Sam. Not now.”
The maybe not ever hung in the air between them, and Sam let it. It hurt him not to address her rejection, but he didn’t want to fight with her over it, not yet anyway. He’d done enough damage already. He knew Carson would think so.
“What would you know about all those mythical beings and Wiccans?” Sam asked, trying to put back together the broken thread of their conversation.
“Maia’s a free spirit and into all that New Age stuff, or hadn’t you noticed?”
“I noticed she’s special.”
“She mentioned the psychic thing to you?”
“She did.”
“Wow. She doesn’t share that with too many people outside of the immediate family. Sometimes I wish she didn’t share it with me.”
“Why? I think what she can do is cool.”
“If you’re into Neo-paganism.” Desiree grimaced. “I guess you’d be real impressed to know she’s a practicing Wiccan.”
Now that was something he hadn’t heard through the grapevine. “No kidding?”
“No kidding.” Desiree sat up in the bed, pulling the sheet up to cover her fantastic breasts, and that’s when Sam knew that he was in hot water.
Damn, he should have kept his mouth shut! In trying to deflect the conversation, he had just put Desiree into a defensive snit. He didn’t know whether to be thrilled by her obvious jealousy or upset.
“I think you’d better leave now.”
“Not while you’re mad.” He reached for her and she avoided his touch to get out of the bed, taking the sheet with her.
“I’m not mad.”
Sam sat up in bed and watched her walk around the room in her makeshift toga, lips kiss-swollen, long waves mussed and chin tilted high, looking more regal than any queen he had ever seen and, yes, angrier than a fire-breathing dragon.
He fairly drooled at the image her wild, copper-brown curls and heated whiskey gaze made and got out of bed, naked, to go to her. “Sure about that?” He knew how intimidating he must look with nothing on and his cock pointing at her like a weapon, but he refused to leave until he knew she had sufficiently settled down.
“I’m sure I need to be alone right now.”
Sam put his hands on her shoulders. “I’ll leave for now, but you need to know Maia doesn’t do anything for me.”
“Sure about that?” she teased, already pulling out of her bad mood.
He liked that she didn’t hold a grudge. “I’m sure you’re more than enough woman for me and my brother.” Sam leaned in to give her a hard, passionate kiss, leaving her suitably breathless by the time he pulled back.
He silently left her, gathering and donning his discarded clothes before going to the door. The whole time, he’d felt her eyes on him as he moved around the room and around her motionless form.
Sam stood at the door with a hand on the knob, waiting for her to ask him to stay, but knew her pride wouldn’t allow that. Which is why it surprised him when she walked over to him and said, “Sam, the last man who told me he thought he was falling in love with me, he…he did some unspeakable things to me.”
He put his hand on her arm, squeezed it, but stopped just short of pulling her closer. It killed him to restrain himself, especially when he sensed the pain she was in. Something, however, told him that she wanted, needed the distance after her admission. He decided to give it to her, for now.
“If it makes you feel any better, I think I could love you and Carson, if I was going to love anyone.”
“Throw the dog a bone.” He grinned, heart thudding with grief for what she’d gone through and his inability to fix it.
“I don’t have anything else to give you and your brother, Sam.”
“You’re wrong, Desi, and I’m going to prove it to you.”
“What? Is it your personal mission now to make me say ‘I love you’?”
“I’ll make it one if I have to.”
She chuckled, but Sam sensed her utter resignation beneath. She surprised him again, however, when she stood on her toes to gently kiss his lips. “You’re a good man.”
“See you tomorrow?”
“Okay.”
He left then, ready to hold her to that single word as he closed the door behind him and turned just in time to bump smack-dab into Maia.
He couldn’t have avoided her if he tried, not with her standing in the middle of the hallway, arms folded across her chest and an adversarial glint to her espresso eyes. She looked about as formidable as any shifter in attack mode that Sam had ever come across.
“So when are you going to tell Desi about you and Carson?”
“Tell her what about me and Carson?”
“That you’re the wolves she’s been seeing in her dreams.”
Chapter 11
Carson stopped and jerked around to see Sam shadowing him through the woods. He smiled and traced his steps back to his brother, surprised he’d left Desiree so soon but glad he’d have company out at the stream. That is, until he saw who Sam brought with him.
“What is she doing here?” Carson pointed at Maia bringing up the rear.
How the hell had she snuck up on him? His brother he could understand, but how had he not sensed a full human, especially one with as unique a scent as Maia, who always smelled like patchouli and a hint of coconut?
Carson had wondered about Maia sometimes, if maybe she had shifter blood in her or was otherwise special. He thought maybe she was gifted like Mama Reni, a voodoo priestess who lived on the bayou and cast love spells upon request and for a nominal fee. Carson knew, because he had tried to solicit her services in his foolish youth before his mother found out what he was up to and put a stop to it. Maybe Maia’s gift, like Mama Reni’s, had something to do with her fey way.
“She didn’t give me a choice,” Sam said.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“It means I blackmailed him into bringing me out to meet with you two for a talk.” She tilted her head back to look at him and he got a look at her elfin face as light from the moon glinted down through the trees and cast a silver glow on her café au lait complexion.
A few inches shorter than Desiree and more than a few inches shorter than Tamara, Maia was the petite one of the three sisters but didn’t let it get in the way of her getting her point across.
She proved fearless, just like her sisters in this respect, Carson thought. “You shouldn’t be out here alone,” he grumbled.
She just silently arched a brow at him.
“Okay, so you’re not alone. But what makes you think you can trust Sam and me any more than anyone else on this ranch outside of your family?”
“Because I know you.”
“Don’t make the mistake of thinking you know us, Maia.”
“Actually, she knows us a lot better than you think.”
Carson stepped closer to Sam and growled. “What did you tell her?”
Maia stepped between them as if to protect Sam from him, and Carson gave her his fiercest glare with little effect. The lady didn’t blink or back down one bit, just lifted her cleft chin a tad higher.
“Don’t go getting all Neanderthal on the boy. He didn’t tell me anything. That’s the problem. You boys don’t like to talk about yourselves. But I have to tell you that it’s not going to sit too well with my sister.”
“See. I told you she didn’t give me a choice.”
“Look, Carson, I know all about you, and you don’t scare me. And if I didn’t know you as well as I do, I would have never pushed you and your brother toward my sister.”
“So her being out in the woods all alone earlier was your doing?” He didn’t know whether to wring her neck or kiss her.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Desiree has a mind of her own, but I’m not beyond giving her a little nudge now and again. Not that she always responds the way I’d like. She’s pretty stubborn, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“Oh yeah, I’ve noticed.” Stubbornness seemed to be another trait all three of the sisters shared, and right about now, Maia reminded Carson of Sam when he tried to convince Carson how right a relationship would be between them and Desiree.
Maia hooked her arms through Carson’s and Sam’s and led them deeper into the forest, toward the stream, like she knew where she was going. Her certainty made Carson wonder exactly how many times she had followed the same path and whether or not she had spied them on their nightly jaunts.
He followed her lead, curious as to how far she was going to take her bossy act, even though he knew damn well it wasn’t just an act. The sister actually thought she could tell him what to do! He needed to tell her she had another thing coming, and he would, just as soon as she let him go and he could get his head on straight. After being with Desiree with his brother, Carson’s head still reeled with what they had all done and what it meant.
Sam remained silent as the dead. It didn’t deter Carson from giving him the evil eye every few steps. Sam gave him the same look right back.
When they all exited the forest several yards from the stream, Carson started to feel a little less claustrophobic but no less confused.
What exactly did Maia think she knew about him and Sam if Sam hadn’t said anything to her? Had she seen them shift?
“I know you have a boatload of questions you want to ask me, and I’ll answer all of yours if you’ll answer mine,” Maia said as soon as they stopped and she released their arms. She smiled at them. “Let’s have a little show and tell.”
“Show and tell?” Carson exchanged a look with his brother.
“Yep. You show me what you look like when you shift.”
Carson glared at Sam, who shrugged.
“I didn’t tell her anything. I swear!”
“Then how the hell does she…” Carson paused and turned to Maia. “You do realize what you’re suggesting is totally ludicrous.”
“I’m not suggesting anything. I know what you are.”
“Have you told Desiree what you…think you know? Or are you just out here for your own morbid sense of curiosity?”
“No, I haven’t told Desiree. And of course I’m out here for my own healthy sense of curiosity. I want to see what she’s going to be dealing with—the complete, unvarnished truth.”
“You should have thought of that before you threw us all together.”
“I admit I acted a little hastily. But I figured if she got to know you the way I see you, she couldn’t help but like you.”
“The way you see us?”
Maia reached out and put a palm on Carson’s chest. His heart immediately sped beneath her hand. “The way I see your insides.”
“And how do you see them?”
“You both have good hearts and souls. You’re good, strong men, and you’re what she needs to help her heal. That’s all I was thinking about. I didn’t consider that she might find it a little difficult to handle the other part.”
“That we’re shifters.”
Maia nodded, and all Carson could focus on was that whole “heal” part of her speech.
What wound did Desiree need to heal from, and why did she need two strong men to help her do it?
“What about you?” he asked Maia instead. “Aren’t you afraid?”
“Would I be here if I was?”
“Why aren’t you afraid?”
“I’m not sure that I’m not afraid. I’m just a little more open-minded than my sister, and I think I might be able to handle what you are a little better than she will.”
“Maybe you’re giving her too little credit,” Sam piped up.
“Sam’s the hopeless optimist of the f
amily, in case you haven’t noticed,” Carson said, and Maia laughed.
“Don’t apologize. He’s probably right. My sister has surprised me in the past, but on this, I’m pretty sure she’s going to be freaked out when she—”
“Finds out that she’s slept with a pair of monsters?”
“You’re not monsters!” Maia reached out and squeezed his biceps, her gesture and emphatic words heartening. “You’re just different.”
“Like you,” Sam said, and Carson stared at him.
“What the hell did I miss?”
“I have…visions. I’m psychic.”
So he had been right! She was special.
Carson saw Sam’s non-reaction to Maia’s confession and glared at his brother. “You knew about this?”
Sam shrugged again, a sheepish blush creeping into his cheeks. He wondered how long his brother had known about Maia’s gifts and why Sam hadn’t mentioned it before now.
Carson remembered their conversation after their little argument and fisticuffs in the barn and how Sam had seemed to be holding out on him. This was why he was so sure Desiree wanted both of them. He’d probably known about Maia’s abilities then. Maia had probably convinced him that his and Carson’s being with her sister was prophesized.
He didn’t understand why his brother hadn’t shared this with him. It wasn’t like he would have been skeptical, not with the backgrounds he and his brother both shared.
“So you see, there’s nothing too much out here that will shock me,” Maia assured.
“You hope not,” Carson said.
Maia folded her arms across her breasts. “Impress me.”
Carson didn’t think twice before he stepped back and shed his shirt.
“Carson, do you really think that’s such a good idea?”
He didn’t respond to Sam’s concerned tone. He just continued to disrobe, unashamed of his nudity. Why should he be ashamed? It was his natural state, after all, more natural than any other state he remained forced to maintain.
Carson forgot about all modesty or the fact that Maia was something like a sister-in-law—or she would be if Sam and he had anything to say about it—and by the time he got to the button and zipper on his jeans, he was on autopilot. He quickly slipped out of his pants—he and Sam never wore underwear—and began to change.
