14. Chapter Thirteen
Half of Janie’s burger and fries were gone. It was delicious food. She was going to have to come back here soon. She leaned back in the booth and put her hand on her stomach. “I’m full.”
Mac put the little bit of his burger left on his plate and turned to look at hers. A look of displeasure crossed his face. Was he mad that she had eaten so much? What was he mad at?
“I don’t like that you are eating so little. Do you think you can eat a little more?” he asked.
Janie stared at him. He wanted her to eat a little more?
“I’m full,” she lied. She could probably finish off the little bit of food left on her plate. It was absolutely delicious.
“I’m detecting a lie,” he said.
Her eyes went wide. How did he know she was lying? He had never called her out on it before. Well, besides at the club when she was naughty and pulled Charlotte’s hair. Besides that, he never did.
“I think you want to eat the rest of it,” Mac said.
She did, but she didn’t really need it. She had some extra weight on her. Baby weight that she hadn’t gotten rid of yet.
“I don’t want you to ever feel like you have to be on a diet in front of people. Especially me. I want you to eat so you can nourish your body. I don’t want you to starve yourself because you’re worried I’m going to say something,” Mac said. “Did your husband ever say anything to you about this?”
She shook her head. “No, he never did. He wasn’t really around much. And we never went out to eat.”
“Thank, fuck,” Mac said. “If he had, I might have had to go and beat him up for it. That is unacceptable.”
Janie didn’t know what to say.
“Could you eat a couple more bites of your burger for me?” Mac asked. “And maybe some fries?”
She nodded her head and picked up her burger again. She happily munched on each bite she took, not really caring about anything around them. When she was with Mac, it was like everything else around them disappeared. It was nice to feel that way.
“Good girl,” he gently said. “My good girl.”
Janie’s cheeks went red and she relaxed some. Hearing his voice go a little deeper when he said that. Absolutely amazing. Butterflies in her stomach.
“Someone loves being called a good girl,” he said as he ran his hand through her hair. “Such a good girl. I’ll remember this and make sure to let you know how much of a good girl you are.”
She looked up at him, her eyes slightly wide, not believing his words. Was he actually going to do that? Her Little side was overjoyed. But Janie knew if he did it too many times, she was going to fall even harder for him.
Was she strong enough to pick herself up after he left? She didn’t know.
“Whenever you’re with me, you order whatever you want. I may make a suggestion every once in a while, so you have a balanced diet, but I’m not going to restrict your food,” Mac said. “Unless the doctor says something is wrong and you need to watch what you eat. Then all bets are off and I’ll make sure you don’t eat whatever he said. Don’t want you getting sick.”
She slowed her chewing as she stared at him. He was a dream. Mac cared about her, wanted what was best.
“Didn’t mean to make you stop eating,” Mac said. “I just wanted to let you know.”
Janie swallowed her food. “Thanks?”
She didn’t know if she should be saying thank you or not to him. It was a weird thing to say, but she felt like she had to do it.
Mac cracked a smile and kissed her head. “No need to thank me. I just wanted to let you know up front.”
Janie put a couple fries in her mouth. She didn’t know what else to do.
“So,” Mac said. “How is work going? Do you have a hard time working with your daughter at home?”
Janie swallowed and took a deep breath.
“It’s definitely harder, but I love it. I’ve let my authors know that I work whenever I can on the book. Sometimes I wake up earlier than Eleanor, so I can have a couple hours of uninterrupted work time, and sometimes I sleep in with her and work later in the night,” Janie said. “It really depends on what and how I’m feeling. Eleanor loves to sit in my lap and snuggle.. I also take breaks and play with her. It’s a good way to let my stress go.”
“Do you ever go into Littlespace with her?”
She closed her eyes. “Sometimes. It’s hard not to. Right now, it’s okay since she’s two and she doesn’t understand a lot. I know when she gets older, that I’ll have to try and reign it in so she doesn’t get uncomfortable.”
Mac placed his hand on her back and she jumped. She wasn’t expecting him to touch her.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” he said.
“No, it’s okay. I had my eyes closed so I wasn’t expecting you to touch me.”
Janie was messing things up and maybe it was better that way. He would get tired of her if she kept messing things up and leave her alone. Then she wouldn’t get as heart broken later on.
“You’re okay,” Mac soothingly said. “Everything is okay.”
She grabbed a fry and popped it into her mouth. She only had a couple more left and she was trying to use them sparingly. They were a good way for her to excuse herself from speaking for a little bit.
“Can I do anything to help around the house?” Mac asked. “You know I have a couple days off from work and I would love to help. Maybe cook some meals for you.”
Janie shook her head. She couldn’t do that to him.
“Those are your days off,” she said. “You shouldn’t be asking to help me. Take those days and rest.”
“That’s not what I asked. I asked if I could help you in any way,” Mac gripped her chin with his finger. “I wouldn’t ask and offer to do anything unless I wanted to.”
“It’s okay. I don’t think there is anything that needs to be done around my house.”
That was a lie. There were several things around the house that needed to get done. The garbage disposal in her sink wasn’t working. Her house was a mess from all the toys and clothes that were scattered by her two year old.
Something she was trying to get done today, but it didn’t seem like it was going to happen. She hadn’t expected to eat lunch with Mac. She hadn’t expected for her car to break down like it did. Everything was going wrong today. Well, only two things had gone wrong today. Her car and Mac being with her when she was buying feminine products.
“Think about it,” Mac said. “I bet there are a couple things that you’ll think of. I’ll be happy to make you meals, freeze some of them, so that you can have homemade food.”
That sounded tempting. There was only so much processed food she could handle. She missed eating homemade food. Janie hadn’t had any since her parents died.
“Okay, I will,” she whispered.
And she really was going to. Maybe he could make her some homemade meals. Eleanor hadn’t really had a homemade meal. Unless she was at Joann’s house.
Janie wished she could cook so Eleanor could grow up on that, but she didn’t. No matter how much she tried to learn, it was nearly impossible for her to cook. Or even bake.
“What about the house?” he asked. “Is there anything that needs to be fixed in the house?”
She started to fidget in her seat. She didn’t like that Mac was asking so many questions. Why was he asking so many of them? This was unusual for him to do that.
“Nothing is wrong?” she said in more of a question.
Janie was so bad at lying. It was just hard for her to do it, especially when someone was paying close attention to her.
Mac was staring at her, almost like he knew that if he looked at her while asking questions she would answer them. It was a great tactic because she had answered most of his questions.
“Janie? Are you okay?” he asked.
She looked away from him. She couldn’t look into his eyes. Once she did, she knew she was going to answer his question. There was no doubt about that.
She didn’t want to ask him to come over and do things. It was weird and she didn’t want to take advantage of him. Janie didn’t want to burden him with things. It wasnt his responsibility. She needed to be an adult and figure things out on her own.
Just like her car. She was way out of depth on that one and yet he was taking care of it. Janie hadn’t fought about it because she didn’t know where to start. Donald had taken care of everything related to the cars and she didn’t know who he used.
What if she had picked someone and they ripped her off? How would she know they ripped her off? How would she know if the mechanic was good or not? It was so much to take in and she didn’t know if she had the mental capacity right now to do it.
“Can you give me the phone number to the mechanic?” Janie asked, not answering his question. “I’ll call them when I get home for them to tow my car.” Maybe that was one way she could do it. If he gave her the number, the mechanic was reliable. Mac wouldn’t use someone who ripped him off.
“I said I would be taking care of it,” Mac said. “Let me do this for you. Don’t worry about it.”
Her shoulders squared back. How was she going to be able not to worry about it? It was her only way of transportation.
Well, that was a lie. She could take an Uber but Mac had banned her from taking those. Janie didnt know why she was going to follow what he said, especially since he wasn’t her Dom or Daddy, but she had already set her mind to it.
Now that left several things she needed to figure out. How was she going to go to the club if Mac didn’t take her? How was she going to get to the grocery store when she didn’t have her car? Janie started to fidget in her seat even more, stressing about everything.
“Janie,” Mac said. “Listen to my voice. You’re okay.” Her eyes met his and he gave her a smile.
“You’re okay. Just breathe for me.” She took in a slow breath and let it out.
“Good girl.” She blushed and looked away.
“Now, do you want to tell me if there is anything that needs to be fixed in the house?” he asked.
“I already answered that question.”
“It was more of a question when you answered, almost like you were lying to me.” She clamped her mouth shut. She had kind of lied to him about it.
“Please?” he asked.
“You’re not going to let it go until I tell you, are you?”
“Nope,” he gave her a smile. “I’m not.” Janie sighed. Of course he wouldn’t give it up. He was stubborn.
“There’s something wrong with my garbage disposal in my sink,” Janie said. “I think there is just something stuck in there, but I didn’t want to stuck my hand in there and it get ground up.”
He opened his mouth, but she placed her hand over his mouth.
“I know it can’t because it’s not on, but have you ever seen those horror movies of it coming on?” she asked. “I don’t want that to happen to me.”
Mac gently pulled her hand away from his mouth.
“Have you called anyone?” he asked.
“No, I haven’t. I was going to last week, but I forgot,” she replied. “But I’m going to call someone today about it. I really need to get it fixed. Not that I use it much, but it’s nice to have every once in a while.”
“Don’t call anyone. I’ll come over after we get ice cream and see if I can fix it.”
She shook her head. He wasn’t going to do that.
“Nope,” she said. “I’m going to call someone about it. Hopefully they can come out tomorrow or the next day.”
“I’m doing this. Free of charge. I want to help out so let me.”
Janie huffed out a breath. He wasn’t going to let this go and she wasn’t fast enough to get out of the car and into her house before he came. He was way faster than she was and stronger.
“Have you been watching horror movies?” Mac asked.
She looked at him guiltily. She didn’t particularly like horror movies. She had been watching someone and an ad came up. It didn’t look bad and she hadn’t done any research.
Big mistake.
One of the first few scenes was someone sticking their hand down there and it getting ground up. It scared her so bad that she had slammed her computer screen shut and didn’t open it for two days.
“I didn’t mean to. The trailer didn’t look that scary when it came up. It looked interesting so I thought why not give it a try,” she said.
“Janie,” he said.
“After I saw that scene, I closed my computer and didn’t open it for two days. I never want to watch a horror movie ever again. I’ll be doing my research next time.” But some of the damage was already done. She had nightmares after she watched that for weeks. Seeing it all play out again and again in her head. It was a miracle that she was even able to look at her sink and use it. But when it didn’t work that one time, she hadn’t even considered sticking her hand down there.
“No horror movies. If you’re unsure about a movie and don’t want to do research in case you see something, let me know,” Mac said. “I’ll look and tell you if it’s okay or not.”
She nodded her head. That was one thing she could probably do. She loved watching movies.
“Are you ready to go get ice cream?” he asked. She nodded her head and it was like Maria, their waitress, knew they were done.
“Are you guys all finished?” she asked.
“We are,” Mac replied. “Can I have the check please?”
“Give me one minute and I’ll have it for you.” Maria took the plates from their table and walked away.
“Can I at least pay for the tip?” Janie asked. She felt bad that he was paying for everything. What if he needed that money down the road? What was he going to do?
“Nope,” he replied. “When you’re with me, I open your door, pay for the food. That includes giving tips. I don’t want you to have to worry about that stuff when you’re with me.”
Janie’s heart melted a little bit. He was being so nice to her, but she couldn’t help but worry.
“Don’t worry about it,” Mac said. “I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t want to. I want to open your door and pay for your things. If I had it my way, I would pay for everything, even if you weren’t with me.”
She opened her mouth, ready to argue with him but he placed his finger over her lips.
“But I’m not going to. Yet. I’ve got to take things slow with you. Show you that I’m not going anywhere. So for now, I open your doors and pay for things when you’re with me. End of discussion,” he said.
Maria came back with the check and Mac quickly put money in and handed it back.
“You can keep the change and I added a tip,” Mac said. “Thank you for serving us.”
“You’re welcome! Please do come back again,” Maria said before walking off.
Mac turned towards Janie and cupped her face with his hands. She leaned into his right hand and closed her eyes. She absolutely loved it when he did this. It made her feel so warm and taken care of.
“Are you ready to go get some ice cream?” he gently asked. “It’s just right next door to this place.”
Janie looked at him. “That’s dangerous.”
He chuckled. “It is, but it’s worth it. I come at least once or twice a week, recently, and always get ice cream after.”
“Sure,” she replied. “Ice cream sounds nice.”
Mac got out of the booth first and helped her get out.
“Thank you,” she said.
Mac didn’t let go of her hand as he walked out of the burger joint and towards the ice cream place. It didn’t go unnoticed that he made sure he put himself on the roadside of the sidewalk.
Such a gentleman.
Donald had never done that for her when they went walking in town. If anything, he always made sure that she was on the outside.
“What flavor would you like?” Mac asked. “Cone or cup? One or two scoops?”
“Cookies and cream. Cup and two scoops please,” she replied.
“You go find us a seat in the back. I’ll be right there once I get our ice cream and pay for it.”
She nodded her head and walked over towards the back of the place and sat down. Janie kept her eyes on Mac the whole time he was up there. She didn’t even attempt to look around the place like she normally would.
He turned around and gave her a big smile and winked at her. She looked away and blushed. She didn’t think he was going to look over at her. She was waiting for him to pay and grab the ice creams before she looked away.
Mac walked over with their ice cream cups and placed hers down.
“Liked what you saw back there?” he asked, cracking a grin.
She looked away. “No.” But it was a lie. A big fat one. Anyone with two working eyes could see that Mac was handsome. He was kind and everything a girl could want in a guy.
“I think that’s a lie,” Mac replied. “But I’ll let it go for now.”
Janie picked up her spoon and ate some of her ice cream. She relaxed into her chair as the flavors sparked inside of her mouth.