Chapter 13 Baird
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
BAIRD
The production team had us hang around for ages until they were satisfied with the shoot.
Finally, they let us go, and My and I went back to the separate mini trailers to change into our own clothes.
I was quick, so I assumed I would be out first, but when I strolled to where I’d parked, I saw Maia with her phone to her ear.
I was still butt hurt, so I was tempted to keep walking, but as always, I found myself drawn to the bloody woman.
Then irritated when I overheard her telling someone she was waiting on an Uber.
“It won’t be long, Grace … aye … Grace, they’re safe … I know … but where would I park it?”
Not caring if I was interrupting, I said, “Cancel the Uber. I’ll give you a lift.”
Maia whirled around, wide-eyed. “Uh … aye, that’s Baird …” Her gaze washed over my face as if searching for something. “Hang on a minute, Grace.” She lifted her phone from her ear and replied hesitantly, “It’s fine. It’s already on the way.”
“Cancel it. I’m giving you a lift.” My tone brokered no argument.
I heard the voice on the end of Maia’s phone get louder and she pressed the device back to her ear. “Okay, okay. I will. I will … I promise … I am … are you serious?” Maia rolled her eyes and then nodded at me. “Lead the way.”
She did not hang up the phone.
And I understood why when she said, “I am literally following him to his car … oh my goodness, you take overprotective to new levels.”
Ever the gentleman, I opened the door for her and waited until she was in before I closed it and rounded the hood to get in the driver’s side.
As soon as I was in, Maia sighed. “Baird, we’re on speaker. Will you please tell my stepmother that I am in the car with you so I can hang up and cancel my Uber?”
My lips twitched despite the tension between us. “Maia is in my car, Mrs. MacLeod. I’ll see her safely home.”
“Thank you, Baird. Call me Grace,” she replied in a gentle, very posh English accent. “Take care of My for me.”
I couldn’t help but grin outright. “Precious cargo, Grace.”
As I started the engine, Maia took Grace off speaker and said into it, “Happy now? Grace … I’m not telling him that! Goodbye!” She hung up with a huff, her fingers flying over the screen.
I pulled the car onto the road, heading back into the city. “Tell me what?”
“Nothing. It’s too embarrassing. She’s lucky my dad wasn’t in the vicinity. He’s super possessive of her.”
I frowned. “Like … in a controlling way?”
“Oh God, no. Like Grace would let him. Nah, he’s just … my dad and Grace are the kind of in love you usually only see in movies. Dad’s kind of old school, though. He doesn’t want men hitting on her, and he doesn’t want Grace thinking other men are attractive.”
“That’s not old school. No guy wants to see other guys hitting on their girlfriend or wife.”
“I wouldn’t—” She cut off.
“You wouldn’t what?”
I felt her perusal and glanced at her quickly before concentrating on the road.
“Bear …”
My hands tightened around the steering wheel at the nickname. I glanced at her again and was shocked to see tears there. “Maia …”
“I’m so sorry,” she blurted out. “I was going to say something there that was … well, I’ve been unfair to you. I’ve been assuming I know you when clearly there are lots of things I’ve yet to learn. But more than that … I know you’re not my mum. It’s not just Mum. It’s … it’s Will.”
My heart kicked up speed. “Will?”
“His betrayal completely caught me off guard. And it’s not that I don’t trust you …
it’s just that … well, I don’t even trust myself.
It’s messed me up completely. It’s taken me back to a place I thought I’d gotten past …
but I haven’t. That’s not your fault, and I shouldn’t be making it your problem.
I’m so sorry for jumping to conclusions and assuming the worst. More than that, I am so sorry about John. ”
Regret for my words in the trailer pummeled me. Of course, Will had fucked her up. “My, what I said about thinking beyond yourself—”
“You were right.”
“Nah. It was harsh. You didn’t deserve that.”
“You didn’t deserve my mistrust.”
“Let’s agree we’re both sorry and move on, then.”
When I glanced at her, she gave me a warm, sweet smile I felt in my dick. “I can do that. I hate arguing with you,” she said.
I wouldn’t mind it so much if we could end the argument with me inside her, but … patience. “Me too,” I replied gruffly.
“So, how did you think it went today?”
We chatted a bit about the first shoot of the campaign. Then I dared, “I didn’t cross the line with the kiss, did I?”
I swore her breath hitched a bit. “Oh. No. No, the kiss was perfect.”
“Perfect, aye?” I flashed her a cocky smile.
Maia huffed, “For the shoot. It was perfect for the shoot.”
We talked and joked and teased each other all the way back to her place, and while I was still gutted about John, at least I felt better about me and Maia.
“How is John feeling?” she asked as we entered New Town.
“Lost. His … his mum died four years ago, and he and his dad … their relationship fell apart after that. Caley”—my throat grew thick—“Caley became John’s family.” I drew the car to a stop on Hart Street, right next to the lane that led to her place.
Switching off the engine, I turned to see Maia’s eyes were bright with unshed tears. I reached over to pat her knee. “I know. It’s shit.”
“It’s beyond shit,” she whispered, blinking rapidly. “Poor John.”
“Callan and I asked him to join our company so he could stay here.”
“That’s a great idea.”
“I don’t know. Property management isn’t his passion.”
“But it’ll give him a legal reason to stay until he figures out a way to remain in the country doing something he loves.”
“I tried to tell him the same thing, but he’s just … wallowing right now.”
“By himself?”
“That’s what he wants.”
Maia leaned into me. “There are times when we leave the people we care about to wallow, and there are times when we don’t. Let’s go get him.”
Surprised by the suggestion, I quirked an eyebrow. “Now?”
“Yes. It’s only four o’clock. Let’s see if Callan’s free and we’ll all go out to dinner. Me being there will make it seem less like an ambush.”
“Is it an ambush?”
“Kind of. We’ll lull him into a false sense of ‘We’re just here taking your mind off it’ and then hit him with the ‘Come work for us until you discover what it is you want from life now.’”
My chest fucking ached as I stared into her beautiful face because it wasn’t only the perfect arrangement of Maia’s features that made her gorgeous. She was gorgeous right down to her very soul. “Okay. Let’s do it.”