Chapter 22
M aya paced back and forth in the living room.
Shit.
What if Ryan went to the cops? She didn’t really have friends there. Reeves was an okay guy, but they weren’t exactly friends. She had her brother, but they barely knew each other anymore.
When Matthieu came back inside, she spun to him
“Is he gone? What’s going to happen? What if he goes to the police? Will they arrest you for hurting him?”
“You haven’t put any socks on,” he stated.
“Socks?” Why was he talking about socks right now? Socks weren’t important. Him being arrested for assault and thrown in jail was what mattered!
“You’re already in trouble for leaving the house without me, and then you didn’t obey me by going inside, and now you’re still disobeying me?”
“I really don’t think I’m meant to obey you,” she grumbled.
“That’s exactly what you’re supposed to do, little girl.”
Whoa. Okay. There he went with the ‘little girl’ again.
Being called ‘little girl’ should have riled her up. But instead this strange sort of warmth ran through her.
So odd.
Maybe she shouldn’t have waited for him in the living room. Perhaps she should have gotten into bed and cuddled up to Dougie.
And hidden from the frowning man standing in front of her.
“You know, you look upset. Maybe I should give you some space to calm down. It’s time for bed anyway.”
He’d had a bed delivered and installed in the small third bedroom. Which made her feel slightly better now that he didn’t have to sleep on the sofa any longer.
“Stop changing the topic.”
“I’m not changing the topic! You just look like you could use a good night’s sleep. It can’t have been much fun sleeping on the sofa.”
“It wasn’t,” he replied. “That sofa is lumpy and short. But you’re still avoiding the conversation. You disobeyed me. Now, sit down.”
Huh?
Why did he want her to sit down?
“Sit. Down. Now, Maya. Or you’re going to be sitting very uncomfortably tomorrow.”
He turned and left the room, heading into the third bedroom. Which was now his, she guessed.
Her mind was whirling. Had he just . . . had he . . . threatened to spank her?
That couldn’t be right. She must have misunderstood what he said.
Right. So what other reason would he say you’d have trouble sitting tomorrow?
She wasn’t sure but as he returned, she found herself quickly sitting.
Urgh.
Why had she done that? Idiot.
He didn’t look at her as he returned and for some reason that made her stomach tighten in nerves and something else . . . guilt?
But what did she have to feel guilty about?
Maybe because you disobeyed him? And you know that you’re supposed to do what he tells you to do when it comes to safety.
Matthieu crouched in front of her and picked up one foot. What was he doing?
Then she noticed that he was holding some socks.
Socks that had metal garbage cans on them with a green head poking out.
“Are those Oscar the Grouch socks?” she asked.
“Yep.” He brushed off one foot and looked it over. “No scratches. That’s good. You should know better than to walk around outside without shoes. You could have stepped on glass or a thistle.”
A thistle?
Was that really what he was worried about? A thistle?
He slid a sock onto her foot, then gave the other one the same treatment.
“Do you like Oscar the Grouch?” she asked.
“No,” he said abruptly as he rubbed her feet. Oh, that felt so nice. She hadn’t realized how cold her feet had been. Now that they were getting warmer, they were starting to hurt.
“Then why do you have socks with him on them?” she asked, curiously.
“It’s a joke,” he said. “A practical joke. From two pranksters.”
“Um. Okay.”
He sighed. “Ink has these stepsons. I once had to rescue them and they knocked me out and stole my car. Which they wrote off.”
“Oh no.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said mournfully. “That car was a classic.”
“But were the boys okay?”
“That’s all anyone cares about. Those two demons. They’re indestructible. No doubt they’ll outlive us all. If they haven’t destroyed the world by the time they’re thirty.”
She grinned at his description of the boys, thinking that he was joking.
But he didn’t smile.
Right. He was serious?
“They’re just kids, though, right?”
“They’re in college now. And they’re not just kids. They are evil masterminds.”
“But didn’t they give you these socks?”
“Yes, the implication being that I am like Oscar the Grouch.”
Oh. That was funny. But not really the truth. “I don’t think you’re a grouch.”
He glanced up at her with one eyebrow raised.
“Although you do look kind of grouchy right now,” she said as she lowered her gaze to her knees.
She didn’t like him being mad with her.
Matthieu grunted. “I’m not grouchy. I’m upset.”
“With me?” She didn’t like that either. “You’re upset because I left the house?”
“It is my job to protect you, Maya. I take it very seriously. I like you. I do not want anything to happen to you.”
“You like me?” she asked.
“Of course I do,” he replied. “Why wouldn’t I like you?”
He’s just saying it as a friend. Don’t get all excited.
Besides, he barely knows you. Plenty of time for him to find out a bunch of things that he dislikes about you.
Wow.
That was a really cheery thought.
“I’m here to take care of you. That is my job. And I cannot do that if you break the rules. That just makes my job harder and it puts you at risk. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, I understand. I won’t do it again.”
“Why do I not believe that?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you’re just an untrusting person.” She was still upset with herself. Why had she run off like that? It had been stupid. She’d just gotten an idea in her head and she’d run with it.
And now look at her. She was being scolded like a child by her crush.
No, no, I do not have a crush on this man!
Urgh. She was in real trouble here. She could not let on how she felt about him.
“No, I don’t think it’s that I’m untrusting. I think that you didn’t think first. You just got an idea in your head and went with it without thinking of the consequences. Tell me I’m wrong.”
Drat.
How had he figured her out already?
It was . . . infuriating and baffling and honestly kind of nice. Because even her own family didn’t know her this well.
“I . . . I . . .you’re wrong.”
“Maya.”
Oh man. Why was his voice so stern? And so disapproving? And why did she care?
Maya was used to disapproval from people. She’d had it from her father every report card. The look in his face, the change of tone in his voice . . . yeah, she was used to it. He’d never approved of anything she’d done. Including her current occupation.
Apparently being a yoga instructor was more of a hobby than a job.
All right. Stop thinking about your father. Matthieu is nothing like him . . . thank God.
Because that would be super weird if she was attracted to someone like her father. She shuddered.
“Maya, are you listening to me?”
“Yes, of course,” she replied, even though she realized he’d continued talking and she hadn’t noticed.
“What did I say?”
“Um, you said that we should go to bed and forget this ever happened?” she guessed.
“No,” he growled. “I reminded you that you are not allowed to lie to me. Or there will be consequences.”
Yikes.
“Well, I was close.” She snuck a glance at him.
“You weren’t close at all,” he informed her. “Why did you lie to me just now?”
“Um.” She didn’t have a good answer to that.
“Right, well, it doesn’t matter since you won’t be lying to me again.”
“You keep talking about these consequences . . . what are they?”
He grasped hold of her chin, tilting her face back. She kept her gaze on his nose. A nose couldn’t be considered attractive, right? Noses were kind of weird and ugly.
“Well, that’s what we have to work out. I know what they’d be if you were mine.”
Don’t ask.
Do. Not. Ask.
Ask. Ask. Ask.
Honestly, sometimes having two Mayas living inside her was tiring and confusing.
“What . . . what would they be?” she whispered. “If I was yours?”
Yes!
Darn it! Why did bad Maya win so much?
“Oh, you’d already be over my knee getting your bare butt spanked,” he said casually.
As though people talked about spankings all the time. As though it was something he’d done often.
Jealousy stabbed her and she did her best to smother it. Being jealous was stupid. He had to be in his late thirties or even early forties. Of course he’d been in relationships before.
Relationships with women whom he had spanked.
She didn’t know how she felt about that. Maybe this was a turn-off. It should be a turn-off, right?
You know it’s not, naughty girl.
And the thing was . . . she wasn’t even sure who whispered that in her head.
Bad or good Maya.
Urgh, she was getting more and more confused.
“But I can’t do that to you.”
He couldn’t?
Of course he can’t. You’re not his girlfriend, you’re his charge.
A thorn in his side.
And that was relief she felt that he wouldn’t spank her.
Not disappointment.
There was a part of her that wondered what it would like to be spanked by him. To be taken over his knee.
To have someone care enough about her to give her rules and consequences and follow through with them. Her father would just bluster and yell, then not talk to her. Her stepmother would whisper threats, her stepbrothers would sneer at her and push her around when they were alone.
No one actually cared about her.
Oh, listen to you. Stop feeling sorry for yourself.
“But I will need to come up with some other consequences for breaking the rules,” he said.
“Why? I’m not a child.”
“No, but I can tell that sometimes you’re as impulsive as one. And having to face a consequence after breaking a rule might make you think twice before you break it.”
Hmm. Maybe.
She wasn’t going to commit to anything.
“So let’s see. What could I give you as a consequence for disobeying me and putting your life in danger. It was a big one.”
“I didn’t put my life in danger!” she protested. “I just went out to confront Ryan.”
“Who could have gotten violent with you. I know you thought he was harmless, but do you still believe that?”