Chapter 31
“ T his has been such a great day,” Maya said to him as they drove home. “But do you know what would make it even better?”
Matthieu took his eyes off the road to glance over at her. Being out in nature suited her. He hadn’t been sure that she’d like it. But her face was glowing and her eyes sparkled. It was like she was a different person.
As though she’d been able to pull herself out from under the dark cloud of all her worries and just live free for a while.
Be happy.
He wished he could make it so she could be like that all the time. To have no fears or worries.
You could if you took over for her.
If he made all the decisions and she just got to embrace her Little.
But he didn’t know if she was a Little. Just because she wore cute pajamas and slept with a stuffed toy was not a full indication that she was a Little.
And even if she was, she wasn’t his Little.
But, damn it, he could totally see that picture she’d painted with her words. Waking up in a log cabin to all this beauty. And then turning away from Maya, who would be in his bed, and opening the curtains to see the beauty outside.
Yeah. He could absolutely see that being his life. But he needed to push those thoughts from his head. Because that wasn’t his future.
Even though it felt like Maya belonged in his bed.
She seemed so relaxed right now. She was talking to him far more easily. He liked it.
A lot.
“What’s that?”
“Ice cream!” She threw her hands into the air and Dougie barked in agreement.
He glanced back at the animals. Gummy was fast asleep and he couldn’t see Tank so he thought he might be the same. Berry had her back to him. But Dougie was still sitting up, panting heavily.
“Does Dougie ever run out of energy?” he asked.
“Not that I’ve seen. Dougie, you want some ice cream?” she asked. “One woof for yes. Two for hell yes.”
Woof-Woof!
“That means hell yes!”
“Just because Dougie likes to bark doesn’t mean we’re all getting ice cream.”
“Please,” she begged. “We have to stop to get the food for dinner. Why can’t we get ice cream too? Please. Pretty please with a cherry on top. I’ll even do all the dishes tonight.”
“You’re off dishes duty,” he told her. Her punishment had ended.
“Yeah, which must mean I really want ice cream.”
He glanced over to find she had her hands together, staring up at him with a pout on her lips and blinking her eyes rapidly.
Yeah, it would take a stronger man than him to say no to that face.
“All right, Spitfire. You can have ice cream.”
“Yay! Yay!”
They stopped and got ice cream. She even grabbed some in cups for Big Berry and Tank who weren’t keen on getting out of the car.
“I can’t believe you mixed those flavors together,” Matthieu said as she finished up her ice cream in the car.
“What? Why? What’s wrong with having cherry and coffee together?”
“I don’t know, it just doesn’t seem right.”
“Well, neither is getting vanilla.” She nodded to his tub which was almost empty. “I mean who gets vanilla? Serial killers. That’s who.”
“Why would serial killers get vanilla?” he asked as he started the car.
“Duh. Because they want to blend in.”
“Seriously?”
“Uh-huh. I thought everyone knew that,” she told him.
“Well, it seems I’m just ignorant then.”
“Don’t worry. Stick with me and I’ll teach you everything that you need to know.”