* * * *
Late Friday afternoon, Boone watched as Maya relaxed on the flat rock out in the creek. She’d brought a paperback and a bottle of water and had her head resting on a folded towel, reading. She’d stripped her T-shirt off and now lay there in just her lacy pushup bra. The blonde temptress knew one of them would be coming to collect her when the workday was done. The bra was partially transparent, so he could see her rosy nipples through the white lace.
Maya was on his mind a lot lately, and he had to confess, to himself at least, that he’d been grateful for the slow down in this experiment. He didn’t want her to feel that this was like every other escapade they’d ever taken part in. She was much more important to him.
All the free pussy he wanted waited for him at The Dancing Pony, but he was becoming bored with that scene. Brenda Sanderson had about done him in with her damned antics and games, playing him, Richard, and their fellow coworker Gil James against each other.
The Carlisle brothers had finally given her the bum’s rush off of the Rockin’ C Ranch, like Grace had done a couple of years before.
Grace had never said “I told you so,” but Boone had wished they’d taken their cues from her more stable example rather than taking advantage of the easy, kinky sex Brenda had offered.
She’d manipulated them and played with them for her own amusement, which had fucked with Richard’s head in particular. Boone and Gil had been relieved the year before when she’d taken off in her gaudy dually pickup and hadn’t returned or called again.
This woman he watched now was a different breed altogether. He didn’t want to approach this thing between the four of them lightly. Kendall adored her, and Boone was certain Richard was falling fast, too. Boone thought she was exactly what Richard needed. Richard had never been the most verbose person, but she’d had the ability to turn him into Chatty Cathy.
He was glad she was feeling better, too. She’d wanted to push things the day before, and it had shown when she’d cuddled up with him on the couch last night to watch a movie. She’d fallen asleep early and allowed them to tuck her into bed without stirring later that night.
This morning she’d seemed like she was bouncing back as she’d prepared to go on her little shopping excursion with Grace. He wondered if she’d bought anything and grinned when he caught a glimpse of the cover of the book she read. Hot fucking damn. She had gone shopping.
She was reading an erotic novel if the cover featuring one woman and two men was any indicator. So they were on her mind as well. Good to know. Maybe she’d share a bedtime story with them tonight.
He was horny, but he wanted her to know she was special to them, to him. The memory of the desolate look on her face at Morgan’s funeral came to mind, and he felt very protective of her. He wanted her to never experience that sort of devastation again. Even though pain was a part of life, he still wanted to protect her from it.
Though he’d been attracted to her when Kendall introduced him and Richard to her, Boone had always considered her OPP when Morgan had been alive. He’d even acknowledged the place he knew she held in Kendall’s heart and had still considered her “other people’s property” after Morgan’s death. Loving her had never been an option, so he’d ignored the attraction.
He had a feeling that making love with her would be off the charts hot, but it was about more than sex. It was their fantasy coming true, and in a way it scared him.
She was the best-case scenario Jack had talked to them about when they’d asked with curiosity two years before about his relationship with Grace, Ethan, and Adam. Maya was fun-loving, open-minded, and sexy as hell. In short, she was perfect for them.
She didn’t seem put off at all by his tendency toward physical possessiveness and dominance. It had been impossible to mistake the sparkle of interest in her eyes when he’d threatened a spanking if she misbehaved. He was willing to bet she loved erotic spanking, and he couldn’t wait to find out.
Silently, Boone made his way down the creek bank, jumping silently from rock to tree root, stripping off his sweaty T-shirt and the rest of his clothing. He wondered how she would react and grinned. He gritted his teeth as he slipped quietly into the cold, clear water and submerged beneath its surface.
He rounded the rock and could see her shapely calf swirling in the water. Minnows darted around her foot, appearing to kiss and tickle her toes. He gently wrapped his hand around her ankle and heard her high-pitched squeal even under the water. She didn’t jerk away as he surfaced in front of her, and he smiled at the sight of her. She was up on her elbows and her breasts were heaving because he’d startled her, but there was a spark of merriment in her eyes.