Maia's Magickal Mates [The Double R 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (17 page)

Cade watched her ride away and felt like his heart had been ripped out of his chest.

He wondered about the emergency in which Thayne now found himself enmeshed. He had a feeling the type was important and wondered, vaguely, if it had anything to do with the vision he’d had about the school bus. It was totally possible he had gotten it wrong and it had nothing to do with Maia’s past but everything to do with her future. He realized he had previously considered this possibility and had just as quickly discounted it, but what if?

Cade shook himself, trying to shake the bad sensations, too tragic to comprehend.

Why all these feelings of gloom and doom, anyway? It surely couldn’t have been because of his parents’ prediction of “evil at their door.”

That prediction was enough to scare the most stalwart skeptic, but he wasn’t a skeptic, not where the evil and weird were concerned. He had seen the worst that man could do and had spent a lot of time trying to make things better in his own small way.

He had a feeling, though, that “small way” would not suffice if he wanted to do his duty and keep Maia safe. He would need the help of his brother and some serious sex magick.

Cade was up for the challenge.

He just hoped Thayne would be, too, when the time came.

Maia told herself she didn’t need to be uncomfortable.

No matter how much she tried to calm her nerves, however, it didn’t work. In fact it only made her more anxious.

She had been at work on the ranch and out on the trail with the man most of the day. Why should now be any more nerve-racking than earlier?

Well, first, they were alone and without the buffer of several screaming, enthusiastic, and inexperienced riders all looking to Cade and Maia for guidance and instruction. She’d had her hands full worrying about and teaching the kids earlier, full enough that she didn’t have time to address her attraction to her very hot and virile colleague—either consciously or subconsciously.

She now paid for that neglect in spades, her libido a wild she-beast jumping up and down, waving her hands inside of Maia, screaming, “Hel-LO! It’s me, I’m horny, and I want what’s coming to me now!”

Second, and probably more important, she was on her way to a dinner with two irresistible men she shouldn’t want but did.

Maia closed her eyes, and a vision of her most recent masterpiece sprang before her mental sight unbidden.

Oh Goddess, not now! Down, girl. Stay. Heel!

She squeezed her legs against the wet warmth that flooded her panties, barely able to hold back the sudden onslaught of arousal. Still, she shuddered at the sensations that rode through her, igniting all her erogenous zones.

“Are you cold? You want me to turn on the heat?”

Was she cold? Ha, not freaking likely!

Maia just shook her head, not trusting herself to speak. She didn’t know how long she could last in such proximity to half of the reason behind her condition without exploding. She wondered what she would do when Thayne finally arrived home and she had to face the other half of her quandary, both her fantasy men fully conscious and present in the moment.

Cade turned into the driveway, and Maia had an almost crippling sense of déjà vu, one that prevented her from opening her door and getting out on her own.

Cade didn’t seem to notice her inability to move. He probably took it for granted that she had been trained by Thayne to wait for her man to open the door for her.

When she still didn’t get out after he’d opened the door, however, he bent at the waist to stare at her, finally sensing a problem. “Are you okay?”

“Fine.”

“We’re here.”

“I know.”

“Are you going to wait out here for Thayne to arrive or come in with me?”

Maia turned to look at him, drawn by the heat she’d felt on the side of her face from his sharp gaze. “What are we doing, Cade?”

“We’re doing exactly what we’re supposed to be doing.”

“And how can you be so sure?”

He grinned, dazzling her with the full wattage of his Hollywood smile as he reached out a hand for her. “Trust me.”

She put her hand in his and let him pull her out of the passenger seat to her feet.

He wrapped his arms around her, drawing her close enough for her to feel his body heat through his clothes.

Maia returned his hug but tried not to snuggle too close or get further drawn in by the firmness of his abs, the broadness of his shoulders, the delicious smell of his aftershave, the rugged sexiness of the stubble shading his jaw, the crooked tilt of his full lips as he smiled, or the sweeping curl of his lush, girlish lashes.

She could go on, but put simply, the man was gorgeous and sex on a stick.

“You have no idea, my Little Maia.”

She tilted back her head at his cryptic words, looked into his eyes, and saw the serious expression. Something heavy was on his mind and had been on it since earlier. He just didn’t seem like he wanted to share it. “I have no idea about what?”

He shrugged.

“You can’t just drop a bombshell like that and not follow it up.”

“I don’t think you’re ready to know everything just yet.”

“Hello. Bombshell. We’ve established dropping one is not good.”

“It’ll be better if we talk about it when everyone involved is present.”

“Thayne?”

“Of course.”

“Does he know any more than I do? Does he know what this is about?”

“He knows.”

Maia pouted, taking her arms from around his waist to fold over her breasts. “Well, isn’t that just peachy?”

Cade chuckled and put an arm around her shoulders as he steered her toward the front door. “I said he knows. I didn’t say he’s in agreement with me. That’s why we all need to air things out, to get everyone on board.”

“What, the Love Train?”

He just looked at her, and when he didn’t respond, Maia squinted at him as if to intimidate his six-foot, broad-shouldered frame from her elfin five-two stance—a lot of fat good that did. “Something tells me your agenda for the night and your brother’s agenda are not in synch.”

Cade nodded as he took out his key to slide in the lock. He turned it, opened the door, and entered the house in front of Maia to turn on the lights. “We’re not on the same page at all, but I’ll get him there.”

“You have such confidence in your persuasive abilities, don’t you?”

“Supreme confidence.”

She didn’t know whether his tone engendered her faith or her fear and wondered if his agenda was the same as
hers
.

Maia knew that Cade knew she was attracted to him, but did he think she was the kind of woman who would entertain the attentions of two men, two
brothers
, with the purpose of bedding them both…together?

She thought she should be insulted that he would see her that way but recognized that this perception wasn’t a lie. She
did
want him and Thayne. Her desire, however, didn’t stop at just the physical. She wanted so much more than sex, and that concerned her most of all.

Maia had never felt this intensely about any man, much less two. She had never wanted to know a man inside and out like she wanted to know the Malloy brothers. The men she came across usually were so shallow and self-centered. They didn’t arouse her interest beyond the superficial or the physical. This was fine to her, easier for her to handle. When men were too wrapped up in themselves, they didn’t have time to dig too deeply into her psyche, and this was a good thing as far as it concerned Maia.

She had never come across men like Thayne and Cade, who stimulated her emotionally, mentally, and physically. She hadn’t known that this perfect combination of male beauty, compassion, and intelligence existed, not for her.

Now she knew it was within her reach, and the thought terrified her. Things hadn’t come this easily for Maia in a long time, not since her father had died.

There had to be a catch.

Like the ménage a trois scenario isn’t enough?

Maia stopped in the middle of the living room and suddenly turned to Cade. “Are you gifted like your brother?”

“He didn’t tell you?”

“No, but I’m asking you now.”

“Not exactly like Thayne, no.”

She braced herself, knowing she wasn’t going to like what came out of his mouth next, but asked, “How then?”

“Some precognition, but it’s not as constant and reliable as the psychometry. The precognition and psychometry aren’t always clearly separated, and sometimes I can’t tell which one I’m experiencing.”

“Psychometry?” It was worse than she had thought. She remembered that Stephen King book and movie a long time ago and the more recent TV series
The Dead Zone
, where the protagonist received visions of the future after shaking a person’s hand. Did Cade’s talent work this way? Did he only get visions when he shook a person’s hand or… “What do you get when you…when you touch me?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“I asked.”

“I haven’t gotten that much. Most of our contact hasn’t been skin to skin.”

She thought about the kiss they’d shared at the Old Western town and knew that he wasn’t being completely honest with her. That kiss had been tongue to tongue. He’d touched her face bare-handed. Maybe the hugs had been with clothes on, but the other stuff… “When we kissed,” she rasped.

“You’re gifted. You should know it’s not an absolute science. Most of the time I get visions when I touch an object or person.” He paused here and gave her a sheepish smile. “Sometimes I get…unsolicited visions without touching anything at all.”

She knew more than she wanted to about “unsolicited visions.” “How do you know I’m gifted?”

He shrugged. “I wouldn’t be as attracted to you as I am if you weren’t.”

Maia wasn’t going to touch that with a twenty-foot pole.

He’d said he hadn’t gotten that much, and she wondered exactly what he had gotten. She wondered what he knew about her. Had he seen any of her past? Had he seen her future?

She thought of all those kids on the school bus that had died because of her, because she’d been too afraid to say anything to anyone. She’d been eight and had promised herself from that point forward that she wouldn’t hide from her gifts again, but she wanted to hide now. She wanted to hide from the knowing look in Cade’s eyes.

How did Cade handle his gifts? Did he use them at will? Could he manipulate them or turn them on and off as convenient or as needed, like she never had been able to do?

He and Thayne were older than her. Maybe they had learned to master their talents a little better than her. Maybe this, too, was part of their attraction to her.

“Hello? Little Maia? You still with me?”

“I am.” Just barely, she thought.

Cade approached, took her by a hand, and led her to a corner of the sofa. “Sit.”

“But I could help you in the kitchen.”

“Do you know how to cook?”

She was no Helena, Maria, or even Desiree, and she wouldn’t even pretend to be. She could barely boil water without burning it, but then cooking had never been her forte in the domestic department. The kitchen was not her favorite room in the house except as a place to retrieve leftover meals that had originated from her beloved restaurants. “Do you?” she retorted.

“Thayne texted me very detailed directions. I think I can handle it.”

“I could help.”

“You’re a guest. Relax yourself.” Cade headed to the bar and asked over his shoulder, “What do you want to drink?”

She watched him go behind the wet bar and start taking out glasses and bottles as if he knew what he was doing. He moved gracefully, confidence in every strut and reach, like he belonged behind a bar.

Cade confirmed her suspicions when he said, “I bartended for a little while, and I am a superb mixologist. What’s your poison?”

“Something simple, not too strong.”

“Want to keep your head, huh?”

“As much as I can.” She needed every marble to deal with both brothers tonight. One was overwhelming. Two could short out all her functioning brain cells and pleasure receptors.

Cade brought her expertly mixed drink over a couple of minutes later.

A waft of vodka, citrus fruit, and other ingredients she couldn’t quite put her finger on wafted from the frosty liquor glass containing ice and a mysterious blue liquid that all made her head spin for an instant.

Maia brought the glass to her lips and took a tentative sip, glad when it didn’t taste as strong as it smelled. She sat back against the sofa, began to relax.

“Good, right?”

“It’ll do.”

“Tough Little Maia.”

“You like that nickname just a
little
too much.”

Cade chuckled. “It suits you.”

She wouldn’t argue. She enjoyed Cade’s concoction too much to let anything bother her now and decided that whatever would happen tonight between her and the two brothers, she wouldn’t fight it.