Chapter 25
M aya was certainly taking her time showering.
Not that he blamed her.
He knew exactly what she was up to. She was procrastinating, putting off her consequences. Too bad for her that they had plenty of time and nothing to do.
There had been no progress in figuring out who was threatening her father. He’d spoken to Detective Reeves earlier who hadn’t been able to give him much. The person threatening the Chief had perhaps cottoned on to the fact that they were searching for him and gone to ground.
He'd wanted to ask Reeves about the other investigation. The one into corruption in the police force, but he had to be careful where and who he talked to about that.
Matthieu knew Ink had people looking into it as well, but he didn’t have contacts in the police force to do a lot at the moment.
His contacts were more on the criminal side. Apparently, Markovich was convinced that Maya’s father had to be working for one of the cartels. Or at least an intermediary between the cartels and the gangs in Billings.
But with these threats, her father was under constant guard. It would be difficult for him to do anything or be caught doing anything.
Matthieu hadn’t discovered much from Maya. Other than the fact that he was a terrible father. He kind of wondered if the Chief had faked these threats. If he’d felt the heat of the investigation and was using the threats as a diversion.
If so . . . that was clever. Although it was costing him a bit, paying for Matthieu to guard his daughter.
Especially as Matthieu was enjoying charging her father for every little thing.
Yep, that was going to be one nice, big fat bill.
And he couldn’t be happier about it.
The door to Maya’s bedroom opened. They’d already let the animals out.
In the time it had taken her to shower and change, he’d made a lasagna and put it in the oven, vacuumed, and put in a food order for next week.
“Um hi,” she said, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly.
“Good evening,” he replied.
“Holy moly. I didn’t realize so much time had passed.” She sat on the sofa, then jumped up. “I should vacuum.”
“Already done.”
“Make dinner?” she suggested.
“Done.”
“Umm, dust?”
“It doesn’t look that dusty, but I did wipe a few surfaces down.”
“You’re Superman.”
He shook his head. “Nope. You were just procrastinating for a long time.”
“I wasn’t procrastinating.” Her face lit up with temper.
Lord, she was beautiful when she was angry. He wanted to pull her into his lap and kiss that frown right off her face and . . . nope.
No. You cannot do anything like that.
Fuck. It was going to become harder and harder to keep his hands off her. Which wasn’t a good thing.
Maybe he could figure out a way to help with the investigation into these threats so he could . . . leave her.
Like you actually want to do that.
“Sure, you weren’t,” he replied. “Unfortunately, Spitfire. You still have to pay the piper.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot as she glowered down at him.
She wasn’t acting shy or worried around him right now.
Nope. She was utterly magnificent.
“I resent the implication that I was procrastinating in order to put off my . . . my . . . my . . .”
“Punishments?” he supplied.
“They aren’t punishments!” she cried. Then her shoulders slumped. “I prefer consequences.”
“All right, we won’t call them punishments.” He stood and crooked a finger.
Unfortunately, her gaze was on her feet.
She was back to feeling shy around him. It was cute but he wished that she would look at him right now. He wanted to see her beautiful eyes.
“Come here, Maya.”
She glanced up at him and her gaze narrowed as she took in his finger which was still moving in a ‘come here’ gesture. There was that fire.
He wanted to push her a bit more. He pointed at the floor in front of him. “Come here.”
“You did not just make a ‘come here’ gesture then point at the floor by your feet.”
“Hmm, let me think about that. Yes, I did.”
“And you think I’m going to come? Like a dog?” she asked.
“Not like a dog,” he told her.
“Good.”
“A dog would already be here.”
“What?”
“Come here, Dougie,” he called and pointed at the floor in front of his feet.
Dougie raced across the room. Unfortunately, Dougie couldn’t see his finger or where he was, he only had his voice to go on. So he ended up banging into Matthieu’s leg.
Then he sat back on his ass, his tongue hanging out as he smiled up at Matthieu.
“Good boy,” he told him. “See?”
“That doesn’t count. Dougie is always like that. He probably thought you had a sausage or were a sausage. That’s why he ran over so quickly.”
“I wasn’t talking to you like you were a dog, I was talking to you like you were a naughty girl who has been procrastinating for the last two hours. Come here, Maya.”
For some reason, her feet were moving without her permission. And she found herself standing in front of him.
Then he placed his finger under her chin and tilted her head back.
“Look at me.”
Her eyes were shut and she shook her head.
“Maya. Look. At. Me.”
Didn’t he realize he was asking the impossible? She couldn’t look at him. He was far too close, far too potent, and he smelled far too good.
Opening her eyes was impossible.
“Come on, Spitfire. I know you can do it. You don’t have to speak. Just listen.”
All right. That seemed doable. As long as he didn’t expect her brain to function while she was looking at him.
So she opened her eyes and stared up into his gorgeous face. A small sigh escaped her and she quickly tried to stifle it.
Oops. She hadn’t meant that to happen. Had he noticed?
His lips quirked up slightly, but he didn’t say anything. Maybe not.
Hopefully not.
“I know I said you didn’t have to talk, but I have to ask you one question.”
Uh-oh.
Pay attention.
“You weren’t procrastinating because you’re scared, were you?” he asked.
Surprise filled her. “N-no.” She glanced around the room, looking for a distraction as her body started to sway. Maya wanted to press against him. To feel his touch.
Bad, Maya.
Stop it.
“Keep those eyes on me,” he ordered.
Her gaze snapped back to his. Darn it. How did he have the ability to do that?
“I’m glad you’re not scared. Because at any time, if you ever feel worried or uncomfortable, I want you to tell me. Or you can simply say, ‘Red.’ Nod if you understand.”
She nodded. Relief filled her. Huh, maybe she had been a tiny bit concerned. Not that she didn’t trust him. But just because this was all a bit of an unknown with her.
“That’s a good girl. Now, if you’re ready, I’ve put some paper and a pen at the kitchen table. I’d suggest numbering each line so you don’t lose track.”
Urgh.
Was he really going to go through with this?
But he didn’t say anything more. So Maya dragged her feet as she headed toward the table. She stopped once and glanced behind her. Matthieu just stood there, staring at her.
This sucked so much.