Free Maia's Magickal Mates [The Double R 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) by Gigi Moore

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.