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

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