Chapter 17
S omething smelled so bad!
Like garbage mixed with rotting cabbage.
And it made it hard to breathe. Especially since there was also something heavy on her chest.
Letting out a gasp, she opened her eyes and stared straight into Dougie’s face. He let out a quiet woof and that stench grew.
God.
So bad.
“Dougie,” she moaned. “Your breath reeks and you’re way too heavy to sleep on me.”
He must have climbed onto her chest some time in the night. It was surprising that he hadn’t woken her up.
Especially since his face was like three inches away from hers.
“You’re a nutter, you know that?”
He started wiggling his bottom and let out another excited woof.
“Seriously, you have a bed. This is my bed.”
Dougie wiggled his butt again. Dougie thought everything was great. That the entire world loved him. She wished she had that sort of optimism.
Slowly sitting up, she set him down next to her. Then she glanced at her phone.
Oh fuck!
She was late.
“Eek! We gotta get up! Why didn’t you guys wake me earlier?”
Dougie barked again and then there was a knock on the door.
She froze as she was climbing out of bed. Her heart started racing.
Matthieu! How had she forgotten Matthieu?
“Maya? Are you all right?” he called through the door.
“Yes,” she said.
“I heard barking.”
“That was just Dougie. He, um, needs to go out.”
She climbed fully out of bed and grabbed her robe, wrapping it around herself as she rushed to the door. As soon as she opened it, she saw him.
Shoot! She hadn’t thought he would be still there.
“I was just coming to check you were awake. You have a class at ten, right?”
“Yes! I slept in. I need to get the animals sorted and shower and then we have to go. And coffee, I need coffee.”
She snuck a look at him. She’d been hoping that he would look different now that she’d had some sleep. That she might have exaggerated how gorgeous and sexy he was.
Surely after sleeping on the sofa for the night he should look at least tired, right? Maybe have some dark rings under his eyes or a tired slump to his shoulders.
But her prayers weren’t answered because if anything he looked even sexier. His five o’clock shadow had grown even more.
It really was unfair.
“Maya? Are you all right? Don’t we have to leave soon?”
“I . . . um . . . uh-huh.”
“Why don’t you go shower and I’ll let the dogs out. And the pig. What about the chickens?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Okay, I see I have zombie Maya. Shower. Get ready. I’ll make coffee.”
“Uh-huh.”
She was never like this in the mornings. She usually bounced out of bed, ready for the day. So it was him.
It had to be him.
Matthieu placed his hands on her shoulders, turning her, which really didn’t help her brain function. But he gently nudged her toward the bedroom door.
What was she meant to be doing?
She stood in the bedroom and shook her head.
Work, brain!
Without him around to interfere with her brain function, she managed to think.
Shower!
“Shit. Shit. Got to go.” She poured some coffee into a travel mug.
She’d showered and dressed. Matthieu had let all of the animals out, and organized their food.
So now she was getting herself sorted. She turned, screaming as she saw a strange man standing there.
He was enormous with shoulders that had to be twice as wide as she was.
His dark hair was cut short and there was a wicked scar on his cheek. “Who are you? Matthieu!”
“What is it?” Matthieu ran into the room and stared around. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“This guy is what’s wrong! Oh my God, please tell me you can see him.”
“Of course I can see him. This is Captain. He’s part of our tech team at Callahan Security. He’s going to design and put in your system with some help from Brody.”
“Right.” She put her hand to her chest to try and still her racing heart. “Well, I didn’t know that there was anyone else here.” She glanced at Captain. Why was he just staring at her like that?
“Cap, you good?” Matthieu asked.
The other guy grunted. He didn’t look like a tech guy. He looked like the sort of guy that if you met him in a dark alley you’d pee yourself. Actually, she’d nearly peed herself meeting him in her kitchen, so she really didn’t need the dark alley.
“Good. Remember about the dog and pig in the spare room. And don’t let the chickens out. The small dog is protective of them and the one with googly eyes is kind of blind. Oh, and the hamster farts. And the cat . . . anything about the cat?” Matthieu turned to her.
She gaped at him. He’d just . . . he’d just rattled off information about her pets that her own family wouldn’t know. Well, maybe her sister.
But she’d only met Matthieu yesterday.
“Maya? Maya, you paying attention?” He turned to Captain. “She gets like this sometimes. Will you be here until three?”
Captain grunted.
“Good, we’ll be back soon after. You can let the small dogs out if you want. Just keep away from the bedrooms. Maya, I made you some breakfast.” He moved past her.
He’d made her breakfast?
Seriously? With what?
“I don’t have any food,” she said as Captain disappeared. He moved so quietly. And it was like there was a void where he’d been standing. Had the room grown colder?
“I also got groceries delivered.”
“I don’t have time to eat,” she told him.
“You’re not teaching yoga on an empty stomach.” He held up a glass with some black seeds sitting in a white mix and fresh strawberries and raspberries on top. “You can eat this on the way.”
She took it and the spoon he handed her, staring at it suspiciously. “What is it?”
“Chia seed pudding. Tastes better when left overnight, but it will do. Let’s go. You’re going to be late if you don’t get a move on.”
Was he serious?
Wasn’t that what she’d been saying all day? She peeked into the spare bedroom to find Big B standing guard in front of Tank. A sigh of sadness left her. Maybe she wasn’t helping Tank. Perhaps he needed an owner who was around more often.
She just didn’t know. But she closed the door. As she left the house, Captain was walking back up the footpath. He grunted at her, his face disgruntled.
Was he upset?
Did he not like her?
What did that grunt even mean? Was it one grunt for yes? Two for no?
Instead of asking him, knowing that she risked insulting him, she scuttled down to where Matthieu was waiting on her. They entered her garage.
“I have someone coming to paint over those words,” he told her as he opened the passenger door. “Captain knows they’re coming.”
He closed the door before she could say anything, moving to the driver’s side.
When he got in and started the car, he turned to place his arm behind her seat so he could look behind him to back up.
Why was that so sexy?
“I can see I’ve got zombie Maya again. She’s very different from spitfire Maya.”
She blinked at that. “Spitfire Maya?”
“Hmm.”
“I’m not a spitfire!”
“Sure you’re not.”
Maya let out a huff of breath. Rude.
“Put your seatbelt on,” he commanded.
Huh? Oh, right. She glanced down at her chia pudding.
“And eat.”
Jeez.
“You’re bossy in the morning,” she told him as she held the glass between her legs and put on her seatbelt.
He backed up and onto the street. “I’m bossy all the time.”
“That’s not a good thing,” she informed him. “You shouldn’t be so bossy. Some people might find it rude.”
“Glad to see that zombie Maya is gone. Eat.”
He was impossible.
She noticed that her car was sitting on the side of the road. Someone must have driven it back last night.
“When did my car get there?”
“Last night. Your keys are on your bench.”
Huh.
She glanced down at the chia pudding.
You’re going to have to try it.
He might get insulted otherwise. And he did take the time to make it. That was nice. And Maya wasn’t really used to people being nice to her.
But there was something she needed to know first.
“Um, so, Captain . . .”
“Yes?” he questioned.
“Is he . . . um . . . is he . . . all right?”
“All right?”
Sheesh. He really wasn’t making this easy on her, was he?
“He doesn’t talk!”
“Hmm. He doesn’t say much, no.”
“He didn’t say anything!”
“You didn’t really talk to me when you first met me,” he told you. “You still don’t when you’re zombie Maya.”
She wasn’t zombie Maya! Although that was probably better than the truth. She didn’t want to tell him that she couldn’t talk to him sometimes because he was so freaking hot that he fried her brain.
“I talk. More than Captain. He grunts!”
“Yeah, he’s a grunter. I’m not sure I’ve actually heard him talk if I’m honest, but I haven’t known him long. Ink only hired him a few months ago and I don’t usually work for Callahan Security.”
“You don’t?”
“No. I’m more . . . freelance. I met Ink years ago when I was in the French Special Forces. He asked me to come help him out with this job.”
French Special Forces? Wow.
“Oh. Freelance. I get that. Do you live here, though?” See? She could totally talk more than Captain.
Pfft. She wasn’t a grunter.
“No. I don’t really live anywhere.”
Wow. That sounded really sad.
“Captain is good at his job. And he will keep an eye on your babies while we’re not there. Now, eat your breakfast.”
Crap. It seemed she couldn’t put it off any longer. Grabbing the small spoon, she took a tentative bite.
Huh. It wasn’t as bad as she’d expected. She took another bite.
“This isn’t that bad,” she told him.
“Thanks,” he said dryly.
Oops.
Shoot.
Now she had insulted him.
Way to go, Maya.
“I . . . um . . . it’s just . . . um . . . I don’t usually . . . um . . .”
“Maya,” he said firmly.
“Yes?”
“It’s all right. You don’t have to like it.”
“But I do. I’m just not usually . . . adventurous with my . . . um . . . food.” That was putting it mildly since she mostly ate the same thing day after day.
“Maybe I can help you with that. Now, according to your schedule, you’ve got four classes?”
“Yep.”
“Good. We also need to talk about the rules and the rest of your schedule.”
Oh. Awesome.
That sounded like so much fun.
“What will you do while I’m taking my class?” she asked.