Chapter 25 Maya
Maya
“Ouch! Dammit, Squeak!” I kick the furball off my bed. Heaven forbid I move in my sleep without this little shit trying to murder my foot—that’s now bleeding.
I limp from the bed, careful not to get blood on the bleach-white bedding. Drops of blood leave a trail to the bathroom. I grab a towel and apply pressure. Thankfully, her claws only got the top of my foot and not the bottom.
I can’t imagine trying to wear shoes like I did last night with a cut. I could barely walk as it was.
Last night. The hot tub. Nick. Fuck. It all comes flooding back into my now sober mind, and I want to crawl under the sink and hide. I tried to come on to him, and while he didn’t totally shut me down, I still let him spread me open where anyone could’ve saw what was happening.
But his tongue, oh my god his tongue felt so good between my legs. There’s a reason a man is so good at doing that—he’s had lots of practice. I push the thought into the back of my mind. I’m not going there right now. I need to distract myself.
I pick up my phone and there’s a text from Nick. So much for distractions.
9:23 a.m.- Sasha will be by to start your lessons this afternoon. I have meetings all day and won’t be in until late tonight.
My heart sinks. I know he has to work, and him already being there will save me from dealing with the next day awkwardness. I don’t expect him to have feelings for me, but what happened last night was very intimate and I’m terrified he’s going to be standoffish with me now.
It might’ve been a one-time thing for him, but I’ll forever have the image of his naked body reflected in the mirror, the feeling of how hard he was between my legs, and the memory of him devouring me to savor for the rest of my life.
I’m so confused right now. On one hand, I want to jump up and down and shout from the roof tops that I had an intimate moment with Nick Ryker last night, and on the other hand, I know that I don’t fit in here and he probably just had a moment of weakness and gave me something to get me off his dick.
Did he actually mean what he said about hoping I would say I wanted him to kiss me? He devoured my lips with his. He seemed to enjoy everything he did to me but wouldn’t let me return the favor.
He was probably regretting what we did by then. My heart sinks again. I was foolish to think that this job would be easy, that for once in my life things would go smoothly. I banked on a few roadblocks here and there, but I was not banking on sexual encounters with my boss to be one of them.
I’ve done favors before with Trevor, my ex-boss’ son, and was able to keep things professional—well, professional being for a lack of better word. A blow and go is more like it. Then we worked like nothing ever happened. There was no chemistry there.
With Nick, it’s different. It’s like he has his own gravitational pull, pulling me into him. Not to mention he’s ten times hotter than the sun. I’m going to get burned for this, I know it.
After a quick shower, I head to the main part of the house. Ethan’s door is open but he’s not in there. Emma’s mopping the floor in the kitchen.
“Good morning! What would you like for breakfast?” She pauses what she’s doing.
I instantly feel bad. I’ve spent my entire life looking after myself, I don’t need anyone to do it for me.
“I’m not very hungry yet,” I lie.
“Nick left specific diet orders. I’m under strict rules not to let you skip any meals.” She stands with her hand on her hip, staring me down.
He’s such a control freak, but I do appreciate his overbearingness at times. The weight I’ve put on looks good on me. It was much needed.
“I’ll just have some fruit.” I would like to make my own meals sometimes, but I doubt she would let me cook if I tried.
“I already have everything ready, I just have to heat it up.” She turns on the microwave.
Two minutes later, she’s pulling out a plate stacked with eggs, sausage links, hash browns, and pancakes. My stomach growls in response. I don’t waste any time digging in.
Just a couple months ago, I could barely eat without wanting to throw up, and now I can scarf down an entire plate and not bat an eye. Mama would be proud of all the progress I’m making.
After breakfast, since I’m caught up with schoolwork for now, I grab my phone, planning to binge watch my scrolling app until Sasha gets here, when I see a text from Nick.
9:35 a.m. - I want to talk to you about last night.
Shit.
I close out the message and grab Squeak out of the garbage can. Emma got a leash to hook to her collar. I’m going to take her for a walk instead of facing the reality I knew was coming.
“Your posture is hideous. You have to learn to stand up straight. Push your hips forward and roll your shoulders back.” Sasha walks circles around me, looking at me I’m something she just scraped off the bottom of her shoe.
I’m standing in front of the mirror in Nick’s gym and do as I’m told. The feeling of standing properly is foreign to me. I was never taught proper posture, and nobody in Whiskey Rivers ever gave a shit how you do or don’t stand.
“Good, now hold your chin up and take a few steps forward and sway your hips like I showed you.”
I feel like a performing monkey in heels.
Sasha’s condescending words don’t help either. “No man, especially men of Nick’s caliber, wants to look at a slob. You have to walk with confidence. Did your part of the family stray from his or what? You don’t act like you grew up in a family with class.”
Because I didn’t, bitch. I take a deep breath, trying to hide my annoyance. We practice posture, walking, and graceful movements. All of which apparently matter even though men are just going to be staring at my tits and ass.
I’m practicing moving from one end of the room to the other, when a set of angry eyes catches my attention. Panic rises in my throat. I’ve been here all day. I’ve no clue what I’ve done wrong, but he’s pissed.
“Oh hey, Nick!” Sasha runs over to greet him but he pushes her away. She steps back, looking offended. Good. I’m sick of her already and it’s only day one of our lessons.
“By all means, please carry on with your lesson, it’ll give my niece some time to come up with all her reasons for avoiding my text today.” He stands with his arms crossed, glaring dangerously at me.
The way he said “niece” sends a cold chill down my spine. He’s so cold and calculated. I can’t keep my head in this lesson and think about the discussion he wants to have at the same time.
“Carry on. Now.” He shoos his hand towards us.
“I guess it’s a good time to see how you interact with customers. You won’t always start off dancing, you might have to work the bar or waitress first. We can use Nick to roleplay. Pretend he’s your guest and go ask him what you can get for him.” Sasha rolls her eyes as she approaches me.
I have plenty of experience with waitressing and don’t need to practice but now is not the time to argue with either of them. I bite my tongue and follow along.
He takes a seat on the bench, his stare never leaving me as I try to focus on the task at hand. I take a deep breath, begging my brain to function and force my legs that’ve now turned to concrete to move.
I approach him like she showed me, my moves steady even though my insides are trembling. “What can I get for you?” I stumble over my words.
His eyes meet mine and he slowly runs a hand from my calf up my thigh. “What are you offering?” he purrs in a much more mellow tone.
Geezus that feels good. Heat pools low in my traitorous belly while the rest of me is fighting to contain the massive adrenaline spike. He unnerves me so damn much.
But I know it’s fake. Shit, what am I supposed to say? I can’t be the one to ask Sasha to leave, and if I walk off, it will piss him off more.
“He’s not supposed to put his hands on you, make him stop,” Sasha whines, more like a desperate plea than command.
He caresses the small strip of skin in between my shorts and crop top. “If you don’t like it, tell me to stop.”
I don’t want him to stop. I take a slight step back, thoughts of him touching me in the hot tub race through my head. His soft lips, the way his muscles felt flexing under my fingers…my heart is pounding in my chest. I’m so nervous, I might throw up.
“Stop touching her, Nick! You know that’s against the rules!” Sasha steps between us, more to place distance between us than to protect me.
He stands up, not letting me out of his sight.
“You know what’s against the rules? Ignoring someone when they say they have some things to discuss with you.
” Nick pushes Sasha aside and walks over to me, standing uncomfortably close, his face in mine, earning me daggers from Sashas direction.
The excitement that was furling through me is long gone, fear taking its place.
“When I tell you I need to speak with you, I mean now and not a minute more.” He’s leaned into me so closely I can feel the heat radiating off his body.
He grabs my wrist, no doubt to keep me from bolting. Panic courses through my veins. He doesn’t look back but barks at Sasha to leave. What the fuck.
“You said you would be working late.” My voice is shaky. I gulp as I hear the door slam. I’m all alone with him now.
“That was the plan, but apparently I didn’t make myself clear when I told you we needed to talk about last night. You left me on read.” His neck muscles bulge and his jaw tightens.
Those fucking read receipts… Shit. His face is so close, his lips are almost touching mine.
“I didn’t think you meant right then.” I cower under him. I’ve never been so scared—and turned on—at the same time.
“I didn’t, but if you had responded, you would’ve known that.” His grip loosens slightly and he backs away.
My senses are overwhelming me right now. I guess I was supposed to ask when. “Maybe you should’ve made yourself more clear to begin with.”
“What do you want, Maya? You walked away last night and said you needed space to think, then ghosted me all day. I need to know your thoughts. I’m not going to sit back and pretend nothing happened.
You’ve got to learn to address things, even if they’re out of your comfort zone.
” His tone is slightly softer and he appears more relaxed.
The truth is, I don’t know what I want. My entire existence has done a one-eighty in the last few months.
I’ve went from scraping pennies to survive to living on a massive farm and luxury beach house with everything I need handed to me as soon as I need it.
Not to mention living and socializing in the company of rich and powerful men.
It’s the life I used to dream of living. Which sounds great in theory, but in reality it is overwhelming at times. It’s like I’m expecting to wake up one day in my bedroom back in Whiskey Rivers and realize none of this was real.
“I don’t expect anything from you. We were both drinking and things got carried away.” I stare at the floor, afraid to look up.
He lets go of me completely and crosses his arms, the previous warmth gone. There’s nothing but cold between us now.
“You acted the way you did after I told you my men were off-limits to you. I don’t know the best way to navigate this because I’ve never been in a situation where my employee was living with me.”
“Oh.” My gut is sinking. I know where this going, and I don’t like it. Even though I knew in my head it was a drunken encounter, it stings worse knowing he thinks I was just looking for attention.
I enjoyed the attention from him and Marcus but none if it was out of desperation. It shouldn’t be unreasonable to enjoy feeling wanted. It is my fault for what happened in the hot tub, I was the one who threw myself at Nick.
“If you’re just looking to go out and have some fun, I can allow that. If it’s Marcus you want to do it with, fine,” he says calmly.
“You said I couldn’t date any of your men.” I swallow hard, wishing that if I had answered his message, maybe this would’ve went a different way.
He said last night he didn’t regret what happened, but he does or he wouldn’t be saying all this right now. But why was he touching me like he did when we roleplayed? Maybe it was to punish me.
“I’d rather it be with someone I’ve personally picked to represent my team than a stranger on the street. Just know he is only going to want one thing from you.” His eyes are fixed, cold, and unreadable.
Deep breath. My whole life I’ve had to apologize for things that are out of my control, now shouldn’t be any different.
Except for it is, and it hurts. “I’m sorry about last night, for making you do something you regret.
” I tried to hide the waver in my voice, but I failed. Just like I always seem to do in life.
He softens and steps closer to me. I tense and step back. If he puts his hands on me right now, I just might lose my shit. Hell, I might do that anyway.
“I don’t regret a single minute of it.” He wipes his hands down his face in defeat. “I’m no good for you. If I’m going to look out for your wellbeing, I have to do so in a way that’s not misleading. I don’t do commitments and right now I’m not sure we could separate business from pleasure.”
How can someone who is so demanding, so absolute, be so mercurial about wanting someone but pushing them away at the same time?
I’d really like to punch him in the face.
I know him well enough to know he doesn’t play games.
If he doesn’t want me, I wish he would just come out and say that.
Not this ‘I don’t want to control you’ bullshit.
“I’m going to take Squeak for a walk.” Not because I need to fall apart, but because I need to blow off some steam. Angry tears prick my eyes—now I’m mad. He’s no good for me, but his friend who will only want me for sex is? Make that shit make sense.
“You did that this morning while you were ignoring me.” He grins.
Why am I not surprised that he was stalking me on camera—again.
“You’re an insufferable bastard.” I shove my way past him.
He doesn’t stop me.
Not mattering to someone is not new to me, so why am I giving him so much purchase? It’s not you it’s me. Nah. He’s just another swinging dick with a god complex. I might not be his cup of tea but watch me be his poison.