Maxie (Triple X)

by Kimberly Dean

  “Oh no,” Lexie groaned. “Roxie!”

  It was too late. Her plea was met with the splash of a cannonball.

  Or make that a Cannon ball.

  Maxie let out an impulsive giggle. Bourbon.

  “Is she serious?” Zac’s gaze was pinned on the pool, a look of pure astonishment on his face. “I’m the sheriff here.”

  Lexie winced. “At least it’s clean. I saw the pool guy working on it earlier today.”

  Maxie’s giggling stopped, but her gaze became riveted as Roxie came up for air. The daredevil splashed once and then dove back under. When she surfaced, she sleeked her hair back and let out a whoop.

  “It’s like heaven.” She did a pirouette, sinking down before kicking off the bottom. Completely and totally naked.

  “Please don’t arrest her,” Lexie said nervously. “It is hot, and most of the lights over there are burnt out. Nobody can see. Much…”

  It wasn’t that bright, Maxie realized as she started moving. Only two overhead lights lit the pool, and both of them were dim. In the hazy night, they provided more of a glow over the water than a spotlight. The only illumination that burned steadily was under the water. It made the pool look big and wet and deep…

  Her feet picked up their pace as her gaze transfixed on the woman who looked so much like her. Roxie stared back as she treaded water. Her smile was beckoning. Daring. Encouraging.

  Maxie broke into a run.

  “Maxie?” Zac called.

  She didn’t slow down. Her arms pumped and her hair streamed behind her. She broke through the gate and kicked off her heels. Reaching behind her neck, she undid the tie that held up her sundress. It loosened, and she pulled off the damp, binding material. She threw it aside, took one step forward and dove into the pool.

  And got wet.

  Roxie was gaping at her in wonder when she emerged only a foot in front of her. The woman caught her shoulders as their legs kicked in unison. “Maxie!” she said with a cry of delight.

  On impulse, Maxie splashed her. Roxie sputtered and then splashed her back. Laughing, they both sank underwater.

  It was wonderful. So freeing and exciting.

  Maxie broke the surface, gasping for air. Heat hit her in the face as her lungs expanded. She felt like she could finally breathe.

  She felt like she could do anything.

  Zac could have been knocked over by a feather. Shy and quiet Maxie Miller was skinny-dipping.

  She’d run across the parking lot, stripped down and flung herself into the pool. Without even a second thought. Stripped down to sleek, bare skin with nothing more than a pair of tiny pink panties to cover all that luscious beauty…

  He couldn’t breathe, and he was hard.

  It wasn’t a good combination. Not in public.

  “Oh damn.” Lexie turned and passed him her keys and purse. “Could you hold on to these for me?”

  It wasn’t a feather, but it made Zac take two steps back in shock.

  The light outside the door to their old room showed the color in the woman’s cheeks.

  “No,” he said in disbelief.

  She dropped her gaze. “Peer pressure… Triplet pressure…”

  Without another word, she ghosted away and headed towards her sisters. She wasn’t as enthusiastic or as hurried. Taking off her dress took longer, and she left on her bra and panties.

  Who would have thought that Maxie would have been faster to rush the pool? And that she would have stripped down further?

  “Come on, Lex,” Roxie yelled. “Hurry that skinny butt up.”

  With a squeal, classy Lexie Underhill jumped in. She didn’t make a big splash. At most, she caused a tiny ripple, but when she came up for air, she let out an audible sigh of pleasure. With a sure stroke, she swam over to the other two.

  Laughter ensued. The three of them formed a tight circle as they hovered easily in the water. They were virtually indistinguishable with their long hair gliding over their shoulders and plastering against their backs. Their legs kicked slowly, and their toned arms glided back and forth over the water’s surface.

  Zac couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he stared on in fascination. Three of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen were practically naked out in the middle of the Inndigo pool. The water and dim lights made the scene hazy and damn near erotic. Like beautiful nymphs, they glided around, teasing each other and mimicking moves.

  Holy. Shit.

  On autopilot, he started to follow until he realized he was carrying a purse. He locked it in his Jeep. That got his thinking back on track, and he looked around to see if anyone else had witnessed what they’d done. And were still doing. There weren’t many cars parked in the lot, but he did see a curtain fluttering three rooms down.

  Well, shit.

  He was the sheriff.

  He looked again towards the water. With the muted lighting, there wasn’t a lot to see. Although there was a lot to imagine.

  He planted his hands on his hips.

  What they were doing deserved at least a citation. He simply couldn’t do it. Their squeals of laughter and excited chatter were too much for him to spoil. It might be a hundred degrees, but the ice had just been broken. He didn’t understand why or how, but something important had happened.

  He headed back to the manager’s office.

  When he finally made it to the pool, he had towels in hand. The girls were still swimming and playing and being unconsciously sexy and alluring. Wet and stripped down, they were even more difficult to tell apart, but he knew which one was Maxie. By sight, by feel, by sound. He didn’t know what it was, but something about her resonated with something deep inside him.

  She was also topless, which didn’t hurt.

  No, that didn’t hurt at all.

  Kneeling, he picked up the blue sundress. She’d been braless all day? He guessed he’d known that, the way he’d been able to look down her dress when she’d lain in his arms in the flower shop. But he hadn’t understood that. His fingers automatically drifted over the inside of the bodice. There was some kind of built-in padding.

  He’d be damned. Out of the three of them, he never would have expected her to be the one to jump in the pool wearing only panties.

  He draped the dress over a pool chair. Not quite sure what to do, he turned towards the water. He wasn’t staring, and the constantly moving water and bodies made it difficult to see anything clearly, but his imagination was working overtime. He’d felt Maxie’s body against him today, all warm and lush and straining.

  “Are you going to join us, Sheriff Sexy?”

  That would be Roxie, the one who was totally in the buff.

  He smiled ruefully. He’d have given his eye teeth to jump in with them—and probably something even more valuable to jump in with Maxie alone—but he had to remember where they were and how stupid this really was. “It’s safer for me to stay out here and guard you imps.”

  She treaded water as she grinned up at him saucily. “But it’s so hot up there.”

  And it was hotter in the water.

  He never got a chance to respond because Maxie, of all people, swam up behind the flirt and dunked her. She just put her hands on Roxie’s shoulders and pushed her down. When the woman came up sputtering for air, Lexie splashed her in the face.

  “That’s what you get for flirting with your sister’s man.”

  Maxie’s gaze flashed up to meet his. Her expression was surprised, wary and a bit rambunctious.

  Smiling, he tossed the towels onto a plastic table. “Have fun, Beauty.”

  He watched the three of them, catching flashes of skin and streaks of dark hair. Lexie’s purple bra-and-undie combo stood out like a sore thumb, but she’d become as playful as the rest. Any way he looked at them, they were gorgeous. Naked and natural. The combination was the oddest mix of adult sensuality and innocent joy. Seeing them together, he had no doubt of their connection. They were three parts of a whole that had been put back together.
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  They could frolic all they wanted.

  Giving in to the situation, he put himself on lifeguard duty. Sitting down on a plastic lounger, he tried to get comfortable.

  It wasn’t possible. Poolside, the air was even stickier. In jeans, that made it unbearable. Tugging his shirt loose, he indulged in a bit of stripping himself. He kept the shirt on but unbuttoned it, letting what little air movement there was cool him down.

  Keeping an eye on the rooms and the parking lot, he tried to make sure that the law-breaking skinny-dippers had their privacy. When a truck pulled in to the far end of the lot, he almost called them in. The driver merely stepped out with a six-pack and went into his room, so Zac decided to let them stay.

  They’d swum for almost forty-five minutes before a car full of construction workers arrived. A bridge was being repaired a few miles upriver. The work was behind schedule, and more help had been called in from out of town. The men looked tired and grungy after a full day’s work, but there was no reason to tempt them with three barely clad sirens.

  “Come on, Beauty,” Zac said as the group headed to their rooms. “Playtime’s over.”

  He grabbed the towels and moved to the steps at the far end of the pool where the lighting was dimmest.

  “Spoilsport,” Roxie murmured, even as she began to swim over.

  “Not you.” He pointed. “My Beauty.”

  For the first time in nearly an hour, shyness overcame Maxie. He could see it. There in the middle of the open pool, with nothing on but a scrap of cotton, she went still. Watching her intently, Zac crooked a finger at her.

  She was the one who’d gotten into this mess. She could come out the same way she’d gone in.

  He opened the towel wide. “Better hurry if you don’t want a bunch of hungry, sweaty construction workers watching you.”

  Maxie got tongue-tied as Zac waited for her. His shirt was open, and his chest was bare. She was staring so hard, the chlorine was burning her eyes. She’d been watching him for months, dreaming and fantasizing. And there he was, looking hot, ripped and impatient.

  While she was topless.

  She wrapped an arm over her breasts. What had she done? Where had her brain been?

  Lexie looked anxiously over her shoulder at the motel. “Go on, Maxie.”

  Maxie couldn’t believe her predicament. She’d stripped down to almost nothing in the middle of a public place, right in front of the town sheriff. And she’d reveled in it.

  Another car passed on the road, and it kicked her into action. She couldn’t stay here, not like this, but her only other option made her nerves go haywire.

  She began swimming towards Zac, keeping her strokes short and her chest pressed against the water. He stood over the pool, looking male and sexual. He stayed planted at the head of the steps, not shying away or giving her privacy.

  And why should he? They were supposed to be lovers.

  When the water became too shallow to swim, she crossed her arms over her breasts and braced her feet on the pool bottom. She stood, and her stomach quivered as water sluiced down her body. Her legs were shaky as she climbed the cement steps, but she wasn’t ready when he caught her.

  In one swoop, he enfolded her in the towel and lifted her out of the water. She squealed when he pulled her right up against his hot, heavy form. His nose brushed against hers as he looked into her eyes. His gaze was the blue of a hot flame.

  “Can’t be shy,” he whispered. “I’m supposed to have seen it all before.”

  When his mouth settled over hers in a possessive kiss, it nearly lit her afire too.

  Maxie felt herself snuggled up tight as Zac kissed her silly.

  His heat seeped through the towel, intensifying as it became damp from her skin. He molded her to him, and the terrycloth clung to her curves. She clutched at his shoulders, and he tucked the edges tight against her back. His fingertips snuck underneath to stroke her bare skin, and the touch slid lower. He arched her backwards, his fingers going lower still until they snagged on her wet panties.

  “Cough, cough.” Roxie let out a hack as she scurried by them, wet and buck naked. “Do you two need our room key?”

  “Shhh,” Lexie hissed. She was already climbing the steps and waving for a towel. “Don’t attract any more attention.”

  “What? You just look like you’re wearing a bikini.”

  “Cam would freak out if he knew what we did.” Lexie wiped off and scurried towards her clothes. “How do I let you get me into these things?”

  Roxie wiggled her fingers towards her head and then Lexie’s. “We’re on the same wavelength. You wanted to cool off as much as I did. Besides, it wasn’t only me.”

  Maxie stared up into Zac’s hot eyes. He’d pulled back from the kiss to let her breathe, but she was still snug against his bare chest. Her arms were around his neck, and her hips… Her mouth rounded into a surprised O. Her hips were glued against his as his hands cupped her bottom. She could feel everything about him, every breath he took and everything that flexed or hardened.

  An old Mustang rumbled into the parking lot of the Inndigo. The headlights swept over them before stopping abruptly. The driver revved the hot rod and let out a wolf whistle.

  “Hey, ladies. I didn’t know this place rented rooms by the hour.”

  Roxie had her top on, and with a flourish, she zipped up her shorts. “Sorry, sweetie. We’re checking out.”

  “Oh, baby, don’t say that.”

  “Don’t encourage him.” Lexie grabbed her sandals and then her sister by the arm. “Zac.”

  The distress in her voice finally snapped Zac out of his sexual stupor. His head lifted and his eyes narrowed. His hold on Maxie tightened when he saw the situation developing. “Let’s go, troublemakers.”

  He gripped her hips, and Maxie turned where he led. He circled his arm around her waist and accompanied her towards a gate she couldn’t even remember opening.

  “My dress,” she said as they passed the pool chair.

  He didn’t even break stride when he gathered it up. “Got it.”

  But… But… She was still in a towel!

  Lexie and Roxie hurried ahead. Roxie picked up her bra and underwear and kept on going, while Lexie struggled to put on her shoes. The back of her dress gaped open wide, and her wet underthings were already soaking through the lavender silk.

  “Get your shoes,” Zac said.

  Maxie snagged them.

  Skipping across the parking lot, Roxie and Lexie made a beeline for their car until they realized they didn’t have the keys. They backtracked towards Zac when the Mustang drove closer.

  “Get on your way,” Zac ordered the driver. The cold authority in his voice made Maxie look upwards in surprise.

  “Yeah?” the man said, leaning out the window. “Who’s going to make me?”

  “Indigo Falls Sheriff.”

  The thug’s eyes narrowed, but the car stopped pacing them. The man must have seen something in Zac’s face that told him anything he tried would bring more trouble than it was worth. Still, he leered at the three of them before stepping on the gas and whipping the car away.

  “Creep,” Roxie muttered.

  Lexie nudged her towards the car.

  Maxie tried to keep up with the group, but she wasn’t sure if she was securing her towel or if Zac was. With as soaked as it was, she didn’t know how much it hid anyway. Barefoot, she couldn’t track with his long strides, and tiny rocks bit into her heels.

  “Ah!” she yelped as the motel swung in her line of sight.

  Once again, she found herself in Zac Ford’s arms. He held her close to his chest, and she braced herself. Her palm pressed flat against all that hot, chiseled flesh. He inhaled deeply, and those muscles that fascinated her so much flexed.

  With long strides, he carried her to his Jeep as Lexie and Roxie flanked him like bookends.

  “My keys?” Lexie asked.

  Maxie held on to Zac’s shoulders until he lowered her to the ground. S
he did a little dance as he pulled out his keys, but then he was letting her into his Jeep. She scurried inside, clutching the towel to her chest and trying to cover her backside at the same time. He tossed her dress onto her lap and opened the back to get Lexie’s purse.

  “Follow us,” he instructed. “The address is 218 Wilshire.”

  Away from the pool, back in the real world, Maxie started to understand exactly what she’d done. She couldn’t believe the mess she’d gotten herself into. She’d stripped down for Zac and all of the Inndigo’s clientele to see. She’d jumped in the pool and had gotten soaked. Droplets of water still trickled from her hair and down her spine, making her shiver.

  She was wearing a wet towel, for God’s sake.

  “Have fun?” Zac asked as he slid into the driver’s seat.

  She couldn’t answer. There were no words. She’d had trouble saying hi this morning. That was nothing compared to the way embarrassment and shyness bound her now.

  He chuckled and put the Jeep into reverse. “I did.”

  Oh God.

  What had she been thinking? She hadn’t been thinking. That was the only answer. She’d seen Roxie running towards the pool, and impulse had grabbed her. A familiar wanting had sucked her up, and this time she hadn’t been able to fight it.

  And it had been the most thrilling, fun, impossible impulse of her life.

  She bit her lip as she admitted the truth to herself. She’d loved it. She’d loved every moment from the first splash right up until that hot kiss. She’d loved everything until “the timid sort” hand had reached out and gotten her in its clutches again.

  Right now, it was strangling her.

  She tried to sort out her dress. Finding the hem, she opened it up and pulled the material over her head. Wiggling it downwards, she covered herself. She tied the straps behind her neck before tugging the terrycloth the rest of the way down. It took some more gyrations, but she finally got the wet towel out from under her butt. Dampness from her panties soaked into the seat beneath her as she smoothed the sundress over her legs, but she felt somewhat decent again.