Chapter 33
M atthieu’s phone rang as Maya said goodbye to her client the next day. It had been a private session. Luckily none of her clients had been worried about Matthieu sitting in on their sessions.
Which was a relief.
He took the call and held a finger up at her. She knew the rules. She wasn’t to leave without him. Even though she really had to pee.
“Hey . . . yep. We’re at the studio. Okay . . . shit . . . is he still insisting on going back to work?”
She stilled. Was this about her father?
Crap. She grabbed hold of her drink bottle and sipped some water to try and wet her dry throat. Which was a bad idea when her bladder was already full.
She started to shuffle her weight from foot to foot, clenching her thighs. Matthieu narrowed his gaze as he stared at her. But she wasn’t certain if he was seeing her or he was concentrating on the phone call.
“Right . . . got it. Thanks.” He ended the call and she tried really hard to stay still. But her bladder wasn’t having it.
“You’ve got to go to the toilet.” It was a statement rather than a question.
“Nope.”
This was not a conversation she wanted to have with the hottest man on the planet. She did not want him to know that she peed.
Okay, she was being ridiculous and she knew it.
Everyone had to use a bathroom. It just wasn’t very romantic or sexy.
Matthieu’s frown turned into a scowl. “What have I said about lying to me?”
Oh damn.
She was going to get herself into trouble. Plus, she really did have to pee.
“Sorry! It was a little white lie.”
“No such thing as a little white lie and I don’t even understand why you would lie.”
“I don’t know! Because I didn’t want you to know that I have to pee! It was weird. I’m weird! Can I pee now?”
Yeah, she was definitely acting like a crazy person.
“Seems having a full bladder erases your shyness. Although watch the way you talk about yourself,” he warned. He quickly led her to the bathroom, checking it before he let her in. She knew that he’d stand outside and wouldn’t let anyone else in until she came out.
Thankfully, there was no one else around at the moment.
By the time she sat on the toilet, she was in considerable pain and, of course, she now couldn’t pee.
It was infuriating.
She sat there and hummed. She moved around. She rocked. Nothing.
Maybe she should get up and turn on the water.
There was a knock on the door.
“Busy!” she called out.
“Are you all right?” Matthieu asked, his voice sounding muffled. He was probably calling out through the door.
This was it. Her humiliation was complete. He likely thought she was doing more than peeing.
“I’m fine,” she called out.
But she wasn’t. She was going to have to go turn on the water. Getting up, she groaned as her bladder protested the movement.
“Maya? What’s wrong?”
Shoot. His voice was much clearer now. Was he in the bathroom?
“I have to run the water,” she said.
“You can’t go?” he asked.
“No.” She closed her eyes.
“Not surprised. You left it too long. You should have told me,” he scolded.
“Weirdly, this is not helping me pee.” Yep, she was definitely filled with more attitude when she was in pain.
The fact that she couldn’t see him also helped.
“ Désolé ,” he murmured.
Wow. That was weird. For some reason, him speaking in French actually seemed to make her feel better.
“What can I do to help you?” he asked.
She closed her eyes. One day he was going to make some lucky girl very happy.
If he ever decided that he wanted to settle down that was.
“This is going to sound really weird,” she told him.
“Bébé, just tell me. You’re in pain and I don’t like it.”
She winced, closing her eyes. “Believe me, I don’t like it either.”
“So spit it out before I come in there and help you.”
“What the heck does that mean?” she asked.
“You don’t want to know. Tell me.”
“Can you turn on the tap and run the water?” she said quickly.
The water immediately turned on. “Done. That wasn’t weird, was it?”
“No, it’s the next part that’s weird,” she confessed. “Can you please speak to me in French?”
To her surprise, he didn’t even question her. He simply started to speak in French. She had no idea what he was saying, he could have been reciting all of the ingredients in their dinner tonight.
It did the trick, though. She started to pee.
Oh heck.
What a relief.
She sighed and cleaned up. “I’m done. You can go. Thank you!”
“I’ll be right outside the door.”
Maya waited until she was certain that he was gone to walk out of the stall and wash her hands. She also wet a paper towel and dabbed it over her hot cheeks.
Lord.
She did not want to go out there and face him. But it wasn’t like she had any other choice.
Gathering up her courage, she moved to the door and stepped out. But he didn’t say anything as she walked out. Instead, his hand went to the small of her back as he steered her toward the staff break room.
It was time for lunch and she could feel her stomach rumbling.
As she pulled their sandwiches from the fridge, he sat down with his phone out, sending off messages.
“What’s going on?” she asked as she sat across from him at the table.
“There was another threat to your father,” he explained.
Shit.
“Are you sure?” she asked. “Sorry, that was a stupid question. It’s been over two weeks. I thought that maybe the person threatening him had given up or something. What happened?”
“Another threatening note.” Matthieu frowned. “It seems odd that a note turned up now.”
“Why odd?” she asked.
“Nothing for over two weeks, like you said. And then a note right before he plans to return to work.”
“What would that mean, though?” She couldn’t see the connection. “The person threatening him couldn’t have known that he plans to return to work, right? And why would that matter to them? In fact, wouldn’t it make their job to get at him easier if he did go back to work?”
“You’re right. It all makes no sense.”
But he was still frowning in thought.
“What do you think is going on?” she asked.
“I don’t know.” He shook his head and started eating his sandwich. When he finished a mouthful, he gave her a firm look. “Eat your sandwich.”
“I’m not really hungry anymore.”
“There is nothing that you can do to help your father,” he told her. “He is a grown man. A cop. And he has a lot of people looking after him. So I do not want you to worry.”
“It’s not really that easy.”
“It is. Stop worrying.”
She rolled her eyes at him. Before he could reply, David poked his head through the doorway.
“Maya, your mother is here,” he said.
For a moment, her heart skipped a beat and her body actually let her believe his words.
Such hope filled her that it was crushing when her brain caught up to what he’d said.
“My mother is dead.” She’d have been horrified if she’d said that to anyone else. She wouldn’t want to make anyone feel bad for getting that wrong.
But it was hard to care about David when he was such a selfish, nasty individual.
“What? She said she was your mother,” he said. “Why would she say that if she wasn’t your mother?”
It struck her who was out there.
Oh, great.
“Did she happen to say stepmother?”
David ran his hand through the air dismissively. “It’s the same thing. What’s important is that I’m not your personal assistant. So you need to tell her that she can’t just come in here to see you whenever she likes. I don’t pay you to chat.”
“I’m on my lunch break,” she told him.
Not that she wanted to talk to Kathryn. That was the last thing she wanted to do. And she knew she couldn’t talk to her in here. This was where she ate. She didn’t want to ruin her appetite. Kathryn was an expert at that.
“Just don’t talk while you’re being paid,” he informed her before storming off.
She wrapped up her sandwich with a sigh and stood. Matthieu stood with her.
“You don’t have to come with me. Kathryn isn’t a threat to me.”
He shot her a stern look. “Where you go, I go.”
Right. Well, if he wanted to subject himself to Kathryn, that was his funeral.
She walked out into the foyer to find Kathryn staring around with disdain on her face. Of course this place didn’t meet her standards.
Nothing met her standards.
Except her horrid sons. Which meant her standards were warped.
“Kathryn, what can I do for you?” she asked tiredly.
“Really, dear,” she said, turning to her with a fake smile. “Is that how you greet me after you haven’t seen me in so long?”
“It’s been less than three weeks,” she informed her. And frankly, infinity wouldn’t be long enough.
“And I’ve been under a tremendous amount of stress. Would it have hurt you to think of someone else for a change?”
Great.
She couldn’t help herself. Could she last even one minute without being nasty?
The short answer was no.
“Actually, you’re not the only person who has been under stress, Kathryn,” Matthieu said. “And I find it interesting that neither you nor your husband have bothered to check in with Maya.”
Whoa.
Had he really just said that? She couldn’t believe he was sticking up for her. And to Kathryn. No one spoke to her like this.
“I thought your job was to guard,” Kathryn said nastily. “Not speak.”
Oh hell no. Maya wasn’t going to let this bitch talk to Matthieu like that. Sure, she might put up with Kathryn being mean to her. But she didn’t get to speak to people that Maya cared about that way.
Usually Kathryn was more guarded around other people, not wanting to do anything to tarnish her reputation. Which meant she looked down on Matthieu. That she saw him as . . . nothing.
And he was definitely not that.
“Do not speak to Matthieu that way. You have no right. He is putting himself at risk to guard me because someone is threatening Dad.”
“Yes, your dad. Not you,” Kathryn spat out. “It’s ridiculous to have a bodyguard on you.”
“Where is the person who is meant to be watching you?” Matthieu asked, moving closer to Maya.
She could feel his warmth at his back.