Chapter 14 Maya
Maya
By the time Simone barged into her apartment with a croissant and too much energy, Maya had managed to put together five more ARC packages for giveaway winners. Keeping busy helped her avoid thinking too hard about last night’s kiss and what this would now mean for both of them.
She’d just taped up the last box when Simone clicked open Dropbox on her laptop and said: “Oh my God, he uploaded ten chapters already? Y’all are fast.”
Maya looked up from her packing tape, frowning. “Wait—did he upload something from last night?”
Simone didn’t wait; she hit play.
And then…
Hell broke loose.
Because it wasn’t one of the clean takes. It was their raunchy-ass warm-up exercise: uncut, unedited, and obscene.
Theo’s voice: “Greedy is easy.”
Simone’s jaw unhinged in shock.
Maya’s voice, breathy and needy: “Then lose it. Lose control. Just for me.”
Simone screamed. Loud. Like she’d seen a ghost. Or Jesus. “WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?”
Maya was out of her office, lunging for Simone’s laptop. “Hold on—”
Simone slammed the space bar and whirled around. “Are you KIDDING ME?!”
Maya yanked the laptop away like it was radioactive. “That wasn’t supposed to be—he must have uploaded the wrong file.”
“Oh, he uploaded something alright. Uploaded it straight into my spirit! What in the breathplay is going on between you two?”
“Nothing!”
But Maya’s face probably hadn’t projected enough “nothing vibes,” because her assistant sprang on it immediately.
“You’re fucking him?”
“No!” And that was true. They were not fucking. Yet.
“You sure? Because it sounds like he’s got three fingers in you and his other hand on your rent.”
Maya covered her ears with her hands. “Jesus, Simone.”
“Don’t ‘Jesus’ me. Don’t you dare. That man is moaning like he’s tasting you through the mic, and you—YOU—have the nerve to sound like his tongue is already in your soul. This isn’t just narration. This is auditory dry humping.”
“I don’t even—auditory what?”
“Dry. Humping,” Simone said, arms crossed, ready to die on this hill. “You can’t fake that kind of chemistry. You can’t script it. You’re living it. And I want to know why the hell you’re still pretending otherwise.”
Maya retreated to her office. “It’s complicated.”
“Oh, is it?” Simone was right on her heels. “Is it complicated, or are you just scared of catching feelings for someone who’s ready to risk it all for you?”
Maya scoffed. “Okay, calm down.”
“And don’t you dare say it’s about work, because I’ve heard your other books. Elle and Chris could never do this on their best day.”
“Simone…”
“You whimpered.”
“That was a character—”
“No, ma’am. You whimpered.”
Maya threw herself into her desk chair and tried to distract herself with the ARC packages.
The young woman leaned against the doorframe with arms crossed, croissant flaking on the floor, and eyebrows raised to the ceiling. “You gonna keep lying to me or are we going to be for real?”
Maya covered her face with both hands.
Simone waited.
“We kissed,” she said in a muffled voice.
Silence.
Simone’s inhale was slow and sharp, like she was pulling in air before a scream.
Maya dropped her hands and pointed a warning finger. “Do not shriek again.”
She grinned like Christmas came early. “You kissed him.”
“I didn’t say I kissed him.”
“You kissed each other.”
Maya slumped deeper into the chair. “It was just once.”
“Did it last longer than four seconds?”
She hesitated. “...Maybe.”
Her assistant gave a victorious laugh. “Oh my God, you are so gone.”
“I am not. I am very composed.”
“Uh-huh.” Simone’s grin widened. “So, when’s the wedding?”
“This was a mistake.”
“No, baby. This was fate. And maybe foreplay.” And because Simone was the most dramatic person Maya had ever met, she walked into her office and flung herself onto the chaise lounge near the wall.
“He has a crush on you, doesn’t he? Scare Daddy has been pining for you for years, and he finally took his shot.
I can’t believe I’m going to be thanked for this later… in a dedication, maybe?”
Maya stared at her.
Right now would be an inappropriate time to fire the girl. But after the book launch, maybe she’d revisit the idea…
Simone sighed and flopped onto her back, staring up at the ceiling like it held the answers. “Look, I joke. I’m always gonna joke. But you know what I’m actually mad about?”
She was almost too afraid to ask. “What?”
Simone kept going. “You hired me when you were still with Julian. You remember that? You’d be writing chapters at your desk while that man belittled your fanbase and talked shit about genre fiction.
You had fire in you, and he kept trying to snuff it out with that passive-aggressive professor bullshit. ”
Maya’s jaw clenched.
“And when you left him, I saw your career bloom. That part of your life? It’s incredible! Your sales are good, your readership is loyal, people love your work.”
“But?”
Simone sat up now, serious. “But how many happily-ever-afters are you going to write before you start demanding your own?”
Maya didn’t answer because that sounded corny as hell, but… she didn’t have a good argument.
Simone leaned forward, gentler now. “You don’t have to marry Theo. It sounds like you don’t even have to date him. But maybe stop punishing yourself for wanting something nice. Especially when he’s standing right there, looking at you like you’re the plot twist that saved him.”
A long beat passed.
Maya had heard everything her very dramatic, very wise assistant said. She digested the words and let them settle before taking a deep breath. “He’s really sexy, Simone…”
The young woman was suddenly revived. “I fuckin’ knew it,” she gasped. “And what else?”
Maya tried to busy her hands. “I—uh, well… He’s a gifted kisser?” She leaned back in her chair as she stared at her multiple monitors. “He asked for the kiss, sweetly, desperately. I gave it to him. And I would have given him more, but I just can’t see us balancing this.”
By the time she looked back at Simone, the girl was damn near swooning. “Oh, but what if it’s possible?” she asked in a dreamy voice. “I’m shocked that you haven’t done that one trope! What’s it called? ‘Let’s get it out of our system, just this once.’”
Maya rolled her eyes. “I’ve written that one. Spoiler: the couple never gets it out of their system.”
“God, you’re no fun.”
“I’m a romance author,” she said dryly. “Fun is for the readers. I’m the one building the wreckage. And I know for a fact that ‘just once’ doesn’t work. It’s not supposed to.”
Simone bit her lip. “Okay, okay. But what if you… blow off some steam? Little by little. Not the full finale. Just—everything but.”
Maya scrunched up her face. “Blow off some steam?”
“Exactly. Take the edge off. Before you record. Loosen up the voice. Unclench the thighs.”
Maya couldn’t believe what she was hearing. That had to be the dumbest—
Well, hold on now…
She leaned forward in her chair, brow furrowed.
She considered it. Really considered it.
And that’s when Simone knew she’d won.
“I’m paying him money for this gig,” Maya tried. “It feels weird mixing sex into that deal.”
Simone scoffed. “I guarantee you’re not paying him more than his usual gigs. He did a live show at The Greek. Sure, it was a collab with House of Horrors, but I know they cleaned up.”
Okay, yes, Theo was successful.
“Girl, he’s not thinking about your money.”
Maya sighed. “He’s not.”
“This could work!” Simone said with dangerous conviction. “A light fingering before a session? You’ll be right as rain.”
Maya dropped her head into her hands. “Don’t say ‘light fingering’ like it’s aromatherapy.”
“Tell me I’m wrong.”
She couldn’t.
And that was the problem.
The vibration from her phone resting on the desk seemed to rescue her from the ridiculous deal she was going to strike with Theo the next time she saw him.
Nate?
Fuck…
“I gotta take this; it’s my brother,” Maya said.
Simone arched a brow. “Good luck with that… By the way, since you’re busy recording with Scare Daddy, you want me to schedule next week’s social media posts? I can include some of these sound clips.”
“His name is Teddy—I mean Theo!” she snapped. “I mean—yeah, schedule whatever you think will work. Something sexy enough to get readers ready.”
She kicked her long legs in the air. “These are gonna be fun!”
The phone kept buzzing and she still didn’t know how she’d handle her brother.
“Good, thank you. Now, please leave,” Maya said, shooing her assistant out. Simone huffed a sigh, but hauled herself into the living room, back to her solidly packed schedule. “Hey, what’s up?”
Her brother didn’t waste time on a preamble. “You’re coming to the anniversary party, right?”
Maya frowned. “Yeah, of course. Why?”
“Because Sammy says you still haven’t picked chicken or beef in the group chat.”
Maya hissed. “Oh, shit. Chicken.”
“Cool. Also—Quent’s is done with dinosaurs. He’s into sharks and he’s practicing magic tricks lately. You’ve been warned.”
“Yeah, Theo told me about the sharks.”
There was a beat of silence.
A suspicious one.
“…Theo?”
Shit.
Maya cleared her throat. “Yeah. We, uh… ran into each other in Oak Park. He was visiting Mom and Dad.”
“Y’all were hanging out at Mom and Dad’s?”
She scoffed. “I don’t know if I’d call it hanging out. I was there first, and he stopped by with peach scones. Mom loves them. We caught up. That’s it.” She forced a shrug into her voice. “Why didn’t you tell me he was back in town?”
Maya could hear how defensive she sounded, but that was the only way she knew how to cover her tracks.
“You’d know if you checked the group chat,” Nate said with a laugh. “Teddy’s in it.”
She sighed. “Yup.”
Her brother’s laughter trailed off. “You doing okay? You sound stressed.”
Her stomach flipped.
“Yeah,” she said quickly. “Yeah, just… busy.”
“Mom said you’re working on an audiobook?”
“Mmhmm.”
“You ever find a narrator?”
“I did,” she said carefully. “Just a temporary thing. Local. It’s going well.”
Not a lie. Just… not the full story.
“Cool. I’m glad. You’ve got a lot going on. And with me dragging Teddy into the mentorship program this fall, looks like we’re all getting into audio, huh?”
Maya flinched internally. “It looks that way, yeah.”
“Anyway, it feels good to hang out with my DudeBro again. He’s gonna be at the anniversary party, too.”
Hearing that silly nickname they came up with when they were kids made her feel like an interloper.
“I figured. Hey, how’s Sammy?” she asked abruptly, redirecting like her life depended on it. “I was hoping to link up with her before the party. I still need to get Mom and Dad something…”
“I’ll let her know. She’s good. Tired, but good. She’s got that Black Women in Policy roundtable next week and she’s been prepping every night. I swear she’s going to run for office one day.”
“She's practically an alderwoman now,” Maya said with a smile. “She just hasn’t filed paperwork.”
“Truth.”
The conversation drifted toward safer topics. Quenton’s other obsessions with joke-telling and ghost stories. Which cousins were going to bring drama to the anniversary party.
But even as she laughed, Maya felt the pressure building in her chest.
She was already lying to her brother.
And that made the kiss feel even more dangerous.
By the time the call ended, Maya’s coffee was cold and her stomach was tight.
She placed her phone face down on the desk and stared at nothing for a moment.
Two days into working with Theo Ward, and she was already lying by omission, dodging her own brother, fantasizing about “light fingering” like it belonged on her to-do list.
She picked up her pen. Set it down.
Simone’s voice echoed in her head:
“You don’t have to marry him. You don’t even have to date him.”
Maya leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling.
If they were careful, continued using discretion, and kept the hijinks to recording sessions…
It could work.
She could have fun.
And it might be nice to have a little fun.
“Everything but…” she whispered to herself as she picked up her phone again.