"I don't really do early," Maya said. "I'm more of a late-at-night kind of person."
"Do not go outside at night," Nisha said, shaking her head.
"You don't do early?" I asked. "Some of the best things happen when everything's fresh."
"Uh… no." Maya shook her head. "Those things can happen while I sleep."
"Do you two even know each other?" Darius asked because he wanted to piss me off.
"I'll introduce you to the deer. You'll love them," I assured Maya while side-eyeing Darius.
"Okay, Cinderella," Darius said with a laugh.
I willed Darius to close his mouth. Dude gave a great party, but he didn't know when to stop talking. "I am not fucking Cinderella. I ended up with property that runs along a deer trail. I like it, and the deer don't seem to mind, either." I turned to Maya. "It'll grow on you. Promise."
"Girl, don't let him fool you. Where there is prey, there are predators." Nisha pointed two fingers at her eyes, then at Maya. "You get me?"
As if on cue, a rustling in the bushes nearby caught our attention. Maya seemed to naturally move in as she clutched my arm.
Finn emerged from the other side of the bushes, and Maya made a smallmeepnoise.
"That is just your friendly neighborhood player," I said, pointing toward him. "That's the only thing you have to worry about around here."
"Trust me," Darius added, laughing. "He's not wrong."
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
SLOAN
Once we got the topic off of mountain shit, Maya fit right in with the team. It wasn't unexpected, but I dug it all the same.
After the guys cleaned up, and we saw them off, Maya started pushing furniture around the living room, staring at it, then pushing it someplace else. I didn't know what she was doing, but I wouldn't let my wife do the heavy lifting, so I helped.
We were on the fourth placement of the sofa.
"Now, when you sit there, you can see the big windows, and when you sit there, you can watch television, and if you sit all the way over here, you have a perfect view of the kitchen." She finally—thank fuck—nodded at the placement.
"Is it always like this for you with the team?" she asked.
"Sorry?" I asked.
"This… busy?" Maya asked, studying the sofa from another angle.
"It's a different busy during the season. I do have an apartment in the city if I need it. Or if you need it." I hoped she wouldn't need it. "During the off-season, I like it better up here in the mountains. Despite all their talk, the guys come up a lot since it's so quiet here." I paused. "Quiet until they show up, anyway."
"I get it." She nodded, and her eyes softened, as though she really got it. "Needing some space. And this place up here… even just the inside? It's worth the drive."
"Are we done moving the furniture?" I asked. "Or are you thinking we might try the sofa in the kitchen?"
I'd hired a decorator to come in and arrange all this for me when we closed escrow. I hadn't thought twice about how she'd laid it out—figured that was her job, not mine.
Maya laughed and squeezed my arm. "The sofa placement is finally perfection."
I mean, I could move furniture all night if we had to, but there were lots of other things I'd rather be doing. She'd mentioned her love of sex. And I'd agreed that I also enjoyed sex.
And now, we were here alone, and there were all kinds of surfaces to use. Like that sofa—that could be fun. We could pile the pillows and?—
"The couch is okay, but the rug isn't centered," she said, hustling to yank one of the rugs into a new placement below the windows.
