Chapter 8 Maya
Maya
She was really doing this.
CHAPTER TWELVE.
Maya sat in the booth, laptop in front of her, heartbeat in her ears. The mic was angled low and steady. The space was warm, not hot, but her palms were damp and her bra felt tighter.
Theo sat just behind her, close enough that she could feel the quiet weight of his presence. He’d offered, gently, not to be visible while she read, to keep her from seeing his reactions. It was kind, but also terrifying in its own right.
Because she could still feel him there.
Feel him listening.
This was the chapter where everything shifted. The one where Yvette stopped holding back and Paul showed just how dirty he could get. If they were going to do this, there was no easing in. Just flames and friction and sweat-slicked regret.
She took a breath.
And read.
“The gym was quiet after hours.
The kind of quiet that wasn’t really silence, just the hum of the old generator, the whisper of sweat drying on mats, the memory of movement still clinging to the walls.”
Her voice was steady, even.
“I shouldn’t have come down. But I knew what I wanted. I knew what would happen if I asked for it.”
She glanced at the screen. Theo hadn’t moved, but she could feel him shift his weight behind her. Silent encouragement.
“He didn’t say anything when he turned, just looked me up and down. I felt his gaze everywhere. His hunger spread like a bruise, slow and deep.”
Her voice dipped there and she caught the sound of it in her headphones.
Keep going, she told herself. Breathe.
“Paul stepped forward, just enough to back me against the wall. The heat between us was instant, hot skin and rough denim, sweat and breath.
I didn’t stop him.
I couldn’t.”
And then—
She hesitated. Shifted into a gruff, throaty approximation. “‘Tell me to stop,’ he said.”
Immediately, she felt Theo move.
A gentle hand brushing her shoulder.
“Too much,” he said softly behind her. “Don’t go gravel. Stay grounded in his tension.”
She frowned, biting back a curse. “What does that mean?”
“Keep your tone. Drop your pitch just slightly. Let it resonate lower in your chest. Paul doesn’t growl. He’s restraining himself.”
She swallowed, heart hammering, and tried again.
“‘Tell me to stop.’”
Lower, calmer, and less performative.
She felt it click in her chest.
Theo didn’t say anything, but he stayed close.
Maya kept going.
“I didn’t.
I grabbed his wrist instead, guiding his hand under my shirt and let the rest of my breath fall out on a prayer. Just as I had hoped, he did the rest. Squeezing my breast with an almost casual caress, pulling a soft whimper from my throat.
‘Fuck…’ he murmured against my temple as his fingers slid under my bra. ‘I want you like this. Want you worn out and warm and mine. I want to press you into the mat and make you cry just a little, just enough to feel it in the morning. You good with that, baby?’”
Maya paused.
The word baby felt like a gunshot in the booth.
Her lips parted.
She kept going.
“I nodded. Couldn’t speak. Couldn’t think.
“He kissed the corner of my mouth, soft like he hadn’t just promised to ruin me. ‘Tell me if you want to stop,’ he said, one hand already easing the strap of my sports bra down my shoulder.
“‘Otherwise, I’m gonna keep going. Gonna taste you like I’ve been dreaming about. Gonna make you forget every asshole who pushed you toward an animal like me.’”
She could feel Theo behind her.
Still and silent.
She didn’t dare glance over her shoulder to check to see if she was doing well. He was right: she needed to plow through and dive into the icy depths.
“I whispered his name. Didn’t mean to. It came out like a gasp.
Paul dropped to his knees in front of me and pressed his mouth to the skin just below my belly button.
“‘You want me to taste you.’ It wasn’t a question.
“Then he pulled my shorts down and gave me exactly what I’d come for.”
Maya read every lick and moan like the rent was due.
And, in a way, it kind of was.
She focused on the script in front of her and nothing else. Not Theo’s breathing, or how sharp it got when Paul’s tongue worked Yvette’s clit. Not the way his presence hovered behind her like heat rising off asphalt.
She put everything she had into getting through the chapter. Every sultry line, every whispered beg, every filthy detail she had written in a moment of private indulgence and now had to say out loud.
By the time she reached the final line, by the time Yvette climaxed with Paul’s name on her tongue, it was Maya who was shaking.
Exhausted.
Flushed.
And insanely horny.
The booth was quiet and she couldn’t move.
Maya’s breath was still coming low and uneven, her pulse fluttering between her thighs. She wasn’t sure if her legs were tense from sitting so long or from trying to stay perfectly still during the moaning.
The script had gone still on the laptop. Her hand hovered just above the touchpad, fingers trembling just enough to be noticeable.
Behind her… low, steady, and entirely too composed:
“Damn, Maya.” Theo’s voice was rougher than before. “That was incredible,” he added as he stepped around her.
She finally glanced up.
He didn’t look quite as flustered as she felt, but his jaw was tighter and his eyes held that same quiet heat they had when he first started reading in front of her.
He leaned one hand on the edge of the table, looking down at her with the kind of gaze that could undo a person in layers.
“You holding up alright?” he asked softly.
Maya licked her lips and regretted it immediately. “Fuck, no.”
Theo smiled. “Same.”
Somehow, they’d migrated from the studio to Theo’s living room.
The couch was better than the booth, but not by too much. They were still… close to one another.
Maya slowly sipped her water while keeping her eyes on the blank television screen on the opposite wall.
“So, on a scale from one to full-blown HR violation, how unhinged was that?”
Theo leaned back, his water balanced on his thigh. “Professionally? We’re fine. Personally? I think we both need to repent.”
She huffed a laugh. “You really didn’t flinch.”
“I was focused.”
“You were fully in character.”
“And you,” he said, turning his head to look at her, “read like your life depended on it.”
She shrugged. “The mortgage has to get paid somehow.”
That earned her a grin.
They lapsed into silence again. The kind that buzzed. It wasn’t uncomfortable, exactly, but it sat heavy. Like they’d crossed a threshold and didn’t quite know what to do now that they were on the other side.
Maya risked a glance at him. His tank top clung just a little from the heat of the booth. His jaw was still tense. And his eyes—
“Okay,” she said, breaking the moment before she drowned in it. “This is getting weird.”
“Is it?”
“You’re staring.”
He turned toward her a little more, one arm draped across the back of the couch now. “You want to talk about it?”
“Talk about what?”
He tilted his head to the hallway. “About what just happened in there.”
“We probably shouldn’t overthink it.”
“Probably not,” he agreed.
“But?”
“But I’m thinking about it anyway.”
Maya’s throat went dry. “Fine. Talk.”
Theo’s eyes dropped to her lips.
“That scene,” he said softly. “The way you read it. The way it sounded in your voice.”
She exhaled through her nose. “It’s fiction.”
“Sure,” he said, but it didn’t sound like agreement.
She could feel the heat roll off him in slow waves. His hand rested loosely on the couch, not touching her but close enough.
God, she hated how much she wanted him to get closer.
Because behind that desire came a rush of other problems: her parents' shock, her brother’s disgust, her messy publication schedule, the fact that this man with his devastating voice and dark green eyes was fifteen years younger and currently on her payroll.
Maya stood abruptly from the couch. “I should—uh—go refill my water.”
She hurried to the kitchen and ran water from the tap loud enough to swear under her breath. Then flicked some on her neck and chest.
She took a slow sip before calling out, “Hey, have you seen my parents lately?”
Because there was no better way to throw cold water on a steamy situation than bringing up her parents.
“Yeah, when I first got back to town. I was thinking of swinging by Oak Park before the anniversary party.”
Maya froze.
Her stomach dropped like she’d missed a step.
“…Anniversary party?”
Theo sounded slightly amused. “Maya. Your parents’ fiftieth anniversary party? The one at The Ivy Room?”
Now it was slowly coming back to her…
Theo chuckled softly from the couch. “So, that’s a no on the RSVP?”
“I didn’t RSVP because I didn’t even remember it was happening. My mother makes far too many group chats, I can barely keep up with the original one,” she groaned, rubbing her face. “When is it?”
“Friday. The text went out weeks ago.”
First of all, Teddy’s in the family group text?
“I’ve been writing.”
“Miss Nadine included a PDF, a Google calendar invite, and emojis of champagne and a tuxedo. Your cousins, aunts, and uncles are going to be there. Does she know your dinner selection?”
“No…”
“Oh boy,” he said with a chuckle. “Nate’s planning some kind of slide show celebrating fifty years of Black Love and Excellence.”
Yeah, that sounded like Nate.
Maya let her head thump lightly against the fridge. “How are we supposed to keep recording?”
“We can still work around it.”
She turned toward the doorway. “You’re going?”
Theo’s voice was easy. “Wouldn’t miss it. My suit is pressed and ready to go.”
Maya groaned.
She gave herself one last breath before stepping back into the living room.
Theo was still where she left him, knees wide and arms resting casually on the back cushion like he owned the place. Well, he did… but he could have toned down the raw magnetism.
Maya planted herself in front of him and the coffee table, hands on her hips.
He looked up… And immediately started looking down.
Not in a cartoonish way, just a slow, practiced sweep from her mouth to her chest to the flare of her hips, and back up again, like he was cataloging her shape for future use.
She rolled her eyes, ignoring how his gaze set her skin on fire. “We need a schedule.”
Now his eyes flicked up, sharper. “Okay.”
“We’ve got, what, about a week and a half until the party? Right after that, I’ve got a bookstore event, some virtual interviews, and a couple giveaways to mail off… I’m pretty sure I need to be finished recording by June 20th.”
“I’ve got a HorrorCon in Bloomington the Sunday after, but I can record my chapters and upload them to the cloud pretty fast. You can come over for Yvette’s chapters. We can handle this.”
Her brain snagged on the Bloomington detail, remembering the time she helped him and Nate…
“We have to,” Maya said, trying to bury the memory of College-Teddy’s fitted sheets. “I need a few days before release day to do a final pass and upload.”
“Is it necessary to release the audio on the same day as the book?”
“Yes,” she said pointedly. “That’s how I release all of my audiobooks. As soon as I publish a project, I like to close the door on it, finally get some rest, and start the next thing.”
Theo arched a brow. “Alright then.”
She did the math in her head as she wandered back to the couch. “We should try to hit three chapters a session, maybe four if we’re in a groove. We may have to re-record some stuff, so we should probably block out weekends. I don’t want to fall behind.”
“Let’s be realistic for a minute,” Theo offered. “This is your first attempt at recording yourself. Three or four chapters in one night might be a lot.”
It almost sounded like he was doubting her stamina…
“I’m fine with a lot.”
“Bossy,” he murmured.
Maya stood right before him, crossing her arms. “Focused.”
He leaned back a little more, clearly enjoying the view. “I like In-Charge-Maya a lot.”
“Jesus Christ, Teddy.”
“Just hear me out,” he tried again, “We’re talking thirty chapters, half-Yvette POV, half-Paul POV. If you let me, I’ll record his chapters pretty quickly. I can knock them out in about a week if I work in the mornings. You’ll come over, and I’ll help you with your fifteen chapters.”
Maya considered this plan. “Alright… how about two chapters a session?”
He nodded. “Then I get seven nights with you.”
She rolled her eyes at his wording.
“Seriously,” Theo added. “If the lead-up to your release is already packed, you should spread this out. The HorrorCon is the only professional obligation on my plate, so I can work around your schedule.”
Maya let that sink in. Someone working around her schedule just as things were falling apart at the last minute? That felt oddly… comforting.
She sat back down beside him, the edge of her thigh brushing his. “Alright then. We build a calendar with June 24th as my release day. If we finish this before the 20th, that would be tight but acceptable.”
Theo raised his bottle like a toast. “We add to that calendar, plus: time for you to sleep, hydrate, and actually take some days off in between recording.”
“But we finish this audiobook on time.”
“You will.”
She eyed him suspiciously. “You really don’t mind all this?”
He flashed her a cheeky grin. “You’re a little intense, but no, I don’t mind at all.”
Maya hesitated, then leaned her head briefly against his shoulder. Just for a moment. Just to mark the calm.
“Okay,” she said with a sigh. “Let’s make it happen.”
Theo froze for a second before shifting enough to press his mouth to her hair. “I’m in if you are.”