Page 73 of Harbor (The Wanderers 3)

Chapter 28

Maya slept in Keanu’s bed that night. Mostly because that was the one he led her to when he declared she needed to get off her feet. It had been late, but they’d been treating a young boy who’d broken his arm.

When Keanu finally joined her in the middle of the night, he simply spooned her from behind and kissed her neck. It felt good being held. Very good. But she didn’t let herself think too hard about it. She tried to ignore the yearning for more.

The next day was busy too. Two different patients came in. Maya was learning that there was usually a steady flow of patients on a normal week, but sometimes it was feast or famine.

Before that day, Maya hadn’t known shit about nursing moms, but she’d learned fast when a woman came in with a colicky baby who was losing weight and couldn’t quite get the hang of nursing. The woman had one of her partners with her, an adorable doting father even if he was obviously not the biological father of the baby.

The mom hadn’t wanted to come. She hadn’t wanted to bother the doctors with a problem she felt she should be able to figure out on her own. In addition, she was leery about letting any of the doctors help her with her breasts.

Cue Maya. After a quick lesson from Dario about how to coax the baby into latching on and how to get the mother to relax to allow her milk to letdown, Maya was suddenly a lactation consultant.

Dario set his hands on her shoulders from behind after the couple left with the baby and leaned in to kiss her neck. “Thanks for saving the day again.”

She rolled her eyes. “You could have managed without me. I just made that woman’s experience slightly less embarrassing.”

“And that was important,” Dario pointed out.

Their other patient came in soon after with a giant gash that needed stitches. Maya didn’t spend much time in the room during that one. Maybe it was the amount of blood that made her squeamish. Or maybe it was the reminder that she’d come in with a similar wound not so long ago.

When they all sat down at the table to eat dinner, the three men were quiet.

Maya looked at them one at a time. “You don’t have to tiptoe around me, you know. I’m okay.”

They all paused, setting their forks down, wiping their lips. Tiptoeing.

She sat back. “I think I liked it better when all of you were vying for my attention, spending every hour trying to convince me to have sex with you. Somehow you broke down my celibacy walls and showed me something I’ve only ever dreamed of.”

No one moved or blinked. She was pretty sure they were holding their collective breaths.

“But…” She held up a finger. “No one has actually had sex with me. Now everything feels more awkward than it did before you made my head spin and introduced me to orgasms. I’m left to assume when my head spun around backward yesterday, you all decided to back off from the crazy lady, and that’s far more awkward.”

Dario flinched first, shaking his head. “No. Not even close. None of us blame you for what happened yesterday. It was a perfectly normal reaction to a stressful situation. Nothing about our feelings for you has changed. The reason we’ve backed off is that we felt like we pressured you, and the last thing we want is for you to regret your time with us or ever look back and wish you hadn’t had sex with us.”

She glanced at each man, trying to read their expressions to see if they were telling her the truth. She saw nothing but compassion on their faces. And…lust? Advic gripped the edge of the table so hard his knuckles were white. Keanu had his hands fisted together, resting his chin on them. Dario rubbed his hands against his thighs.

They all looked like they were in the starting blocks for a race, waiting for the gun to go off.

She narrowed her gaze. “Who are you worried about exactly? Me or yourselves?” It was time to be bold. Maya was back. Fierce and determined. Something had changed inside her. She wasn’t sure when it happened, but maybe it was a collection of events.

She’d been nervous and shy and embarrassed before they’d shown her how passionate she could be. Afterward, she’d felt a vulnerability she hadn’t expected and didn’t know what to do with. It was at that point she’d been overcome with claustrophobia and a panic attack.

The way they’d handled her so gently when she’d run out of here yesterday hellbent on getting away from them brought her to her knees.

They were good men. The best. She would never feel this strongly about anyone again in her life. The chemistry between them was explosive. She desperately wanted to finish what they’d started. It would put a smile on her face every time she thought of them. She wouldn’t have to wonder what if.

She stood, determined to put a period on this once and for all. Leaning forward to set her palms on the table, she cleared her throat. “I will understand if you’ve decided you don’t want to continue what we started. It makes sense. I’ve made it perfectly clear I’m not going to stay. I can’t. We have different paths. If it’ll hurt too badly to take things further than we already have, say the word and I’ll shut up.”

The collective gasp might have been comical under any other circumstance.

Maya held up a finger. “But, if you’re waiting for me to make a decision, I’ve made mine. I want a repeat performance. I want all four of us naked and sweaty and panting. All at the same time. I want all three of you inside me. I want you to erase anything that’s ever happened to me and replace it with a memory that will make my pussy weep for the rest of my life. I don’t want gentle and sweet and timid. You’ve proven you can deliver that. Show me rough and hot and wild and mind-blowing.”

They all three flinched and then stood so fast two of the three chairs fell over backward.

“Are you sure, sweetheart?” Dario asked.

“Never surer.” She stood, reached for the hem of her shirt, and drew it over her head. Taking a step back, she wiggled her leggings and panties off next. She knew she was shocking them speechless, and it made her do a mental fist pump as if she wielded some sort of power.

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