Chapter 13 Maya
Maya
She closed the bathroom door and locked it.
Then Maya turned the water on, not because she needed it, but because the silence was too loud and her heartbeat was threatening to echo off the tiles.
Maya stared at the sink. Not the mirror. Absolutely not the mirror. She couldn’t afford to see the state she was in.
She blew out a shaky breath and immediately started listing:
Reasons We Cannot Do This (In No Particular Order):
- He’s so much younger.
- He’s your brother’s best friend.
- We’re working together.
- He moaned in Chapter Twenty. Actually moaned.
- He ad-libbed when he wasn’t supposed to.
She groaned, braced herself, and dared a glance at the mirror. She looked as flushed as she’d suspected. Her lip gloss was faded. Her pupils were way too wide, like her body had already decided.
She splashed water on her neck.
Bad move. The cool water made her nipples hard through her bra, and now she was aware of everything.
Every shift of her hips.
Every pulse between her legs.
Every breath she’d shared with him, even through that glass wall.
She leaned forward and pressed her forehead to the mirror.
“Five years,” she whispered to her reflection. “This is why your books have gotten progressively hornier…”
Maya stared into the mirror like it might deliver wisdom.
Instead, her reflection looked like a woman mid-romance arc, two chapters away from a Very Bad Decision and already fantasizing about round two.
Her fingers were still cold from the water. Her thighs were still clenched.
And despite everything, her brain whispered:
Reasons This Might Not Be the Worst Idea:
- He’s not a kid anymore. He’s a full-grown man with forearms and a loft apartment.
- His voice alone would solve the orgasm gap.
- He listens.
- He stops when you ask—but he doesn’t disappear.
- He’s never once made me feel small.
- He respects my work.
- My parents already love him. Like, a weird amount.
- He calls me Maya in that tone like he’s been tasting it for years.
- The way he looked at me in the booth… Like he could already feel me on his tongue.
She slapped more cold water on her neck and shook her hands before turning the sink off.
“He’s just a narrator,” she muttered to herself.
Her reflection arched an eyebrow. “He’s Theo.”
Damn it.
Maya eventually left the safety of the bathroom, straightened her back, and walked back into the studio like her lungs hadn’t stopped working ten minutes ago.
She smoothed a hand over her curls, crossed the room, and didn’t look at Theo as she slid onto the stool.
“Okay,” she said, voice light, brisk. “I think I’m loose enough to record Chapters One and Two. The third one’s already in the can, right?”
Theo blinked at her like she was insane. “Uh… yeah,” he said quickly. “Yep. Chapter Three’s done.”
Maya adjusted her mic, clipped her notes to the stand, and didn’t give him time to say anything else. “Cool. Let’s start clean. You can roll when you’re ready.”
She didn’t look up until she heard the familiar click and the soft mechanical whir of the console. “Rolling,” he said.
And just like that, she was in it.
Chapter One came out smooth—calm, measured, professional. Her voice slipped back into Yvette like it was her oldest coat: soft, broken in, and lined with the toughest armor.
Chapter Two? She nailed it. Hit the beats. Found the groove. Delivered the slow-burn lines like her bloodstream wasn’t still humming with the ghost of Theo’s voice in her ear.
He didn’t interrupt.
Didn’t tease.
Didn’t say a single word that wasn’t necessary.
And thank God.
Because if he had?
She might’ve cracked.
When she finished, she stepped out with more calm than before. Her pulse was still thrumming in places she refused to name, but her face was neutral.
Theo stood when she entered the room, like he didn’t know what to do with himself. Like he wanted to say something but didn’t want to be the first one to break the silence.
She closed her laptop with a smile. “This was a good session,” she said lightly, like it was any other Saturday. “Chapters One and Two sounded tight. Once we get started on Five, we should hit our stride.”
He nodded, but didn’t speak. He was watching her again, like she was a map he couldn’t quite follow.
“Need anything else?” she asked, starting to gather her things.
“Maya…”
She knew that tone.
She kept packing up her computer and notes, kept zipping her file folder closed like he wasn’t about to pull the loose thread she’d practically offered him.
Chemistry.
“About earlier,” he said gently. “The warmup exercise. The playback. That wasn’t— I mean, I think we both know it got a little…”
He stopped. Winced. Tried again.
“We did great. Really great. But I probably pushed you a little too far. I just— I wanted to make sure you’re comfortable. With all of this.”
She let the pause hang a second longer than it needed to.
Then, softly: “I’m fine.”
He hesitated.
She slid her flash drive into her bag and stood tall. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Theo. We both went there. And we got what we needed. The recordings will be better for it.”
He nodded again, slowly this time, like he was absorbing it line by line.
But then—quietly. “I hate to be that guy, but I can’t let you leave until I ask about it.”
Jeeesus, he can’t let shit go.
“Yes, we obviously have chemistry,” she said, steady but firm. “And there’s probably a good reason for it.”
His dark brows lifted.
“You know about my dry-spell, and now I’m sure you realize that dirty-talk is my kink. Probably shouldn’t admit that, but I’m trying to be transparent.”
He opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.
She cut him off. “And I realize that I’m acting very childish right now…
. but I still don’t think it’s a good idea to fuck you.
Not because I don’t want to. But because the minute it happens, it’s probably not going to be casual,” she continued, her voice dipping.
“It won’t be just sex. And I can’t afford to be broken open by someone in the middle of this… chaos.”
He was quiet for a beat.
Too quiet.
Then, in a voice so sure: “Alright then, let me be the one thing that doesn’t break you.”
Maya’s heart did something violent in her chest.
Theo stepped closer. Not fast. Not pushy.
Just… closer.
“You keep calling it chaos,” he said, eyes locked on hers. “And I get it, I do. Your deadlines, your family, your name, your work… it’s all tied together. And now I showed up right in the middle of it.”
His voice dropped even lower.
“But I didn’t come to pull you apart.”
Another step. His eyes growing softer now.
“You think the minute it happens, it won’t be casual? You’re absolutely right. Because I’ve never wanted you casually, Maya. And I think you already know that.”
Her knees nearly buckled. She hated how true it sounded in his voice.
“You’re walking up on me like you want to kiss me or something,” she whispered.
“I do, Maya. Very much.” He reached up, slow and careful, like she might bolt. His fingers brushed her jaw with the softest touch. “Would you let me?”
Fuck yes. All reason had quickly flown out the window because of his politeness. Oh, God, he’d always been so damn polite.
“Sure,” she breathed, tilting her head slightly.
“If this is the only kiss I ever get…” his hand slid lower, around the back of her neck, “…then I’m going to kiss you like it’s worth waiting five years for.”
And then he did just that.
Theo kissed her like a man who had nothing to lose.
Like he already knew what she tasted like and just wanted to confirm it.
His mouth was hot and focused, but not rough, like he wasn’t claiming her body so much as memorizing it. His fingers slid into her curls, his other arm anchoring around her waist, pulling her in like she belonged there.
And God, in that second, she did.
Maya whimpered, actually whimpered, into his mouth.
Because Theo didn’t kiss like a man experimenting, he kissed like he knew exactly what she needed.
Her fingers gripped the front of his t-shirt like a lifeline as he tilted his head and deepened the kiss. He wasn’t going fast, but deeper, like he was learning her, tasting her, drinking from a well he didn’t think he’d ever deserve.
He groaned against her lips when she kissed him back harder, and the sound went straight to her core.
This is what it sounds like to be wanted…
She didn’t even realize she’d moaned until his grip on her waist tightened. It was only a squeeze, but it was possessive, protective, and hungry.
There was nothing left of her but heat and velvet and the taste of Theo’s mouth undoing every reason she’d built to keep him at arm’s length. With his tongue in her mouth, she quickly began to wonder: What the hell was I even fighting?
When they finally broke, they were both breathless.
Staring. Shaking.
Still holding one another.
His hand slid from her jaw to the back of her neck, fingers flexing like he wasn’t ready to let go.
“Maya…” he whispered.
She didn’t let him finish.
She stepped back gently, like it hurt to do it.
And it did.
Her lips tingled. Her body buzzed. Her voice was ragged when she finally spoke. “Oh boy.”
He blinked.
“Let’s table this,” she added, barely above a whisper. Then she turned, before he could change her mind, before she could… and walked to the door on legs that didn’t quite feel like hers. “I’ll text you when I’m available next!”
She didn’t look back.
Didn’t trust herself to.
And as she slipped out into the night, heart thudding, mouth still ruined from his, Maya whispered one last thing to herself: “What the fuck am I doing?”