Maia's Magickal Mates [The Double R 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (9 page)

Guess I’ll find out soon enough.

Valley View Hospital

Eagle County, Colorado

Thayne had asked Maia out on more of a whim than anything else. Now as the time grew nearer and nearer for him to meet her, he became more nervous.

It wasn’t like they hadn’t gone out before, so he didn’t know why he had first-date jitters. Maia wasn’t a totally unknown quantity, after all. He knew her and he liked her, which was why they were going out in the first place. Except that Thayne sensed they were about to turn a corner tonight, something that remained totally out of his control.

He should have known better than to call Maia out of the blue when he wasn’t sure where things were going or what he wanted out of a relationship with her, what he could give her. Plain and simple, he had fallen prey to his brother’s impetuosity and grab-life-by-the-balls mentality.

Thayne couldn’t say it was a bad mentality to have, especially since it had gotten him to make a move. He just liked to have more of a strategy than “let’s see where the wind takes us” when it came to his romantic relationships.

And how’s that working out for you, bro?

He could just hear his brother’s taunting voice in his head right then. It had nothing to do with his telepathy and everything to do with his intimate knowledge of his brother’s devil-may-care attitude toward dating. He especially knew Cade’s approach toward life.

Thayne didn’t find himself in too many situations where Cade’s method worked out for the best, especially not at the hospital. Sure he had to know how to think on his feet, adapt, and even in some situations improvise, but at the end of the day, he still needed to have a blueprint from which to work and conduct his life.

“Looks like you might just finish up and get out of here at a decent enough hour to make your date, Doctor Malloy.”

Thayne raised his eyes from the patient’s record he went over at the nurses’ station and glanced at Caroline Henson smiling at him from behind the desk.

He returned her smile with a cool one of his own, trying not to encourage her. Thanks to his telepathy—because he didn’t think he was terribly discerning, especially when it came to the feelings of the fairer sex—he knew very well that Caroline was one of the many female staff at the hospital who carried a torch for him. He tried to maintain as professional a manner as possible around her and the other staff, but she made it hard when she looked at him with those pixie eyes always full of merriment.

Thayne grinned as he handed the record back to Caroline. “Have I been totally obnoxious about mentioning it?”

“Not at all.” She shook her head, still smiling. “Besides, it’s about time you put down your foot and had a personal life outside of this place. Everyone else does it.”

Despite her sounding just like Cade when she said that, he knew he wasn’t everyone else. He didn’t like leaving things undone, and he especially didn’t like leaving someone else to do his job even though he was far from the only competent doctor who could handle an emergency at the hospital. He was, however, the chief resident, and with that came unique responsibilities.

Lucky for him, it had been slow in the ER all day and so far this evening.

Thayne glanced at his watch and unexpectedly felt a familiar presence in the vicinity. He turned to his left just in time to see Maia’s approach.

He handed over the clipboard he held to Caroline and went to meet Maia halfway between the nurses’ station and the general waiting area where a handful of patients waited to be seen by his second-in-command.

“I thought I’d pop in and make the powers that be feel guilty about trying to hold you hostage, just in case they were.”

Thayne chuckled, remembering why he enjoyed her company so much. “Actually, the powers that be have been very good today, and I was just about to punch out.”

“Whew, I thought I was going to have to make an ugly scene and get ghetto to spring you from this joint.” She paused a foot in front of him, looking at him for a moment as if unsure. After a beat, she put a hand on his chest, standing on her tiptoes, lips puckered for a kiss.

Thayne bent his head to help her out and caught his breath when her full lips made contact with his. He felt the tip of her tongue sensually trace the seam of his mouth, a not-so-subtle promise of things to come. He stuck out his tongue to meet and stroke hers, appreciating her gasp of delight and surprise probably more than he should have.

He slid his hand up to her nape, beneath the silken strands of dark-brown hair that fell just to her shoulders in soft corkscrew curls that framed her elfin face. He exerted a little pressure on her neck to keep her in place.

Thayne lifted his head several moments later and only after he had gotten his fill. He kept one hand at her nape, gently caressing her skin there in a circular motion with his thumb, before sliding his hand down her back to finally rest on her waist. He looked down at her and licked his lips.

“First you call me out of the blue then you give me a little tongue. What’s gotten into you, Doctor Malloy?”

“I’m not sure yet, but I’m willing to explore it if you are.”

“We’ll see.”

He peered at her suddenly serious expression, tempted to read her mind, but he had a rule against pilfering thoughts. He rarely broke it. Sometimes, especially during busy and emotionally intense situations in the emergency room, thoughts seeped in when his defenses were down or he wasn’t concentrating. As a habit, though, he didn’t read people without their consent. Anything otherwise was tantamount to casting a binding spell or using erotic magick that took away another’s free will.

Thayne chose not to use his powers that way. He lived by the
An’ it harm none, do what ye will
tenet that his mother and father had lived by.

“And who is this lovely woman who’s come to rescue you?” Caroline approached, perennial smile firmly in place.

“This is Maia Jensen.” He automatically pulled her to his side in a protective, possessive gesture that surprised him as much as her. “Maia, this is Caroline Henson, without whose backup I would totally flounder in the emergency room.”

Caroline laughed. “Oh, he’s totally telling the truth.” She proffered a hand.

Maia easily returned her smile and shook her hand. “So you keep him in line, then?”

“We try. But now that you’re here to take over, I gladly relinquish the duty.”

Thayne cleared his throat. “Ladies, I’m here. Stop talking about me,” he teased, getting into the spirit of the women’s banter, mostly because he could sense Caroline’s genuine pleasure at his upcoming date and didn’t sense any jealousy toward Maia at all.

Impulsively, he lowered his shields, just slightly, and caught Caroline’s
Bravo, Maia, for
coming to get your man before this place and these people gobble him up whole.

He glanced down at Maia and caught her frown.

Did she know what he had just done? He knew she was psychic but didn’t know exactly which or how many gifts she possessed. If she was a telepath, he would have sensed it by now, so he was pretty sure she didn’t know that he had broken his own golden rule, even if his intent wasn’t malicious.

Thayne squeezed Maia’s shoulder. “We ready to hit the road?”

“I’m ready when you are.”

“I need your John Hancock before you leave, Doc.” Caroline pushed a clipboard at him. “Last one for the night.”

Thayne took the clipboard and glanced through the notes that he had taken earlier and any that he’d added since before he finally put his signature at the bottom and handed the record back to Caroline.

“Good doing business with you.” She saluted.

“Always a pleasure.”

“Have a good time, and don’t think about us peons sweating away in this insane asylum while you enjoy a nice romantic dinner.”

Thayne chuckled. “I’ll try not to.”

* * * *

Maia remained silent as they walked to the garage to retrieve Tamara’s car, Thayne leading the way as she directed him to where she’d parked.

Once they got there, Maia jumped in with both feet and suggested they go to the restaurant in her sister’s car instead of taking two vehicles. She hinted that they’d save gas, but she actually wanted to see how willing Thayne was to put himself, or at least his mobility, at her mercy.

He hesitated for a second, which she’d expected, but finally agreed, which she hadn’t expected.

“Really?” she asked.

“It makes sense. We can always come back and get my SUV once we’re done.”

She waited a moment for him to add a rider, something like “…depending on how the evening goes and whether or not you want to spend the night at my place,” but he didn’t say anything more.

Admittedly, she’d been horny since late afternoon and leaving Cade at the Old Western town with Jesse.

Not even a session with her trusty jackrabbit vibrator had done a bit of good to take off the edge. Hence, she had shown up at the hospital as wound up and tense as if she hadn’t indulged, thanks to Thayne’s younger brother.

The man was a rabble-rouser, no doubt about it, one who reveled in his abilities to keep people on their toes.

She certainly had been on guard since leaving him, and she didn’t want to be, not with Thayne. She wanted to let her guard down. He was, after all, not his brother, and she was certain that he wanted more from her than just sex.

That thought alone should have made her anxious around Thayne and gravitate to what Cade offered, especially following her past dating practices, but Maia had decided she didn’t want temporary anymore. It was time for her to grow up and settle down.

Thayne remained the perfect man with whom to do this. Not only was he older, but he was her perfect foil in every way, someone Desiree or their mother would have steered her toward if Maia hadn’t already set her eyes on him herself.

Aside from fitting all the criteria for perfect son-in-law material—settled, stable, good breadwinner—Thayne was damn sexy.

Call her shallow, but Maia appreciated his looks and not just in an aesthetic, he’s-a-beautiful-work-of-art-I’d-like-to-hang-on-my-living-room-wall way. She regarded him in a very physical, he-makes-me-hot-and-bothered-I’d-like-to-fling-him-on-a-carpeted-floor-and-do-the-nasty-with-him way.

Now what kind of way was that to think about treating a respectable doctor?

Maia watched him now from the corner of her eye as he got comfortable in the passenger seat and buckled himself into Tamara’s sedan.

She licked her lips, wondering what he’d do if she straddled him right there in the parking garage, grabbed him by the tie, and stole a kiss. Would he go with the flow or put a stop to the entire evening, thinking her a slut that didn’t deserve the time of day from him?

“You know where the restaurant is, right?” he asked and broke her out of her daze.

“I programmed it in the GPS once you gave me the location earlier.”

He smiled as if he was a proud papa.

Maia had thought that might appeal to his superior sense of organization, but she really hadn’t wanted to chance messing up their evening. Getting lost on the way to the restaurant, despite its short distance from the hospital, went right up there with spilling wine in his lap or down her front and ruining her brand-new outfit.

She’d taken special care getting ready for the night, after all, more care than she had for any of their other dates, and dressed in chocolate linen drawstring pants and sandals instead of her usual jeans and boots. A tomboy not really into skirts or dresses, her biggest indulgence to femininity and seduction, however, remained the top she sported. She’d bought it with the sole purpose of turning the tides tonight. The attention-grabbing leopard-and-floral-printed chiffon top featured a smocked, off-the-shoulder neckline and voluminous belled sleeves cinched at the elbow. It was ladylike, sexy, and whimsical.

What good did it do her to call herself a Wiccan in the end if she didn’t take charge of her own destiny and live up to the philosophies that drew her to neopaganism in the first place?

Maia started the car and pulled out of the garage.

They rode the entire twenty minutes to Avon’s Trattoria Zafferano in silence, which suited Maia just fine as she got her thoughts and strategy in order. Usually, she hated quiet like what existed in the car between her and Thayne, but she wasn’t uncomfortable and appreciated that Thayne seemed at ease with her and the silence, too.

Wasn’t that a good sign? That the silence between them wasn’t awkward and they were relaxed enough in each other’s company to not feel forced to fill the hush?

Maia steered her sister’s car to the curb and, luckily, found a space just a few yards from the restaurant entrance.

She could see from where they sat that the place had a good-sized crowd but that there were a few empty tables. They should be in even more luck if they got a move on.

The restaurant choice had been a concession to Maia’s no-food-with-a-face principles more than Thayne’s not-as-strict vegetarian sensibilities, since he still ate chicken and fish.

It was difficult to find places to eat in Colorado that didn’t serve meat in one fashion or another. Dating someone as enlightened as Thayne, who didn’t mind bypassing all of the more popular steak houses in favor of an establishment with a mostly pizza and pasta menu, made the search for a restaurant a lot less stressful than if he had been a gung-ho carnivore like most everyone else in cattle country, especially the men.