Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 147967 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 740(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147967 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 740(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
“Come here,” he said in a soft voice.
Nuh-uh. She shook her head. She wasn’t going anywhere near him.
“Bébé, come on. Don’t be scared.”
“Not me that should be scared, it’s you,” she told him. “I might hurts you.”
Uh-oh.
Hurts you? That sounded like something . . . like something her Little might say. But she never let her Little out in front of other people. She’d never told anyone about that side of herself.
The only person who could protect her Little was her . . . and if anyone like Kathryn or her father found out . . .
Maya wasn’t sure she could survive someone using her Little side against her. Or ridiculing her. She’d hidden this part of herself for a long time. It was only once she owned her own house that she’d let bits and pieces creep in.
Those bits and pieces were held in tight now, though. She’d packed it up in her closet . . . oh God! Her closet! What if the firefighters looked in there?
What would they think?
Calm down.
What does it matter? They don’t know you. And lots of people probably have boxes of Lego in their closet.
Right?
Urgh.
“Spitfire, come here.” He pointed at the floor between his legs.
“Urgh!” She stomped her foot down. “I don’t want to.”
“Sassiness is cute,” he told her. “But being naughty isn’t.”
“I don’t think you can say that sort of stuff to me!”
“Hmm, can’t I? Are you sure that’s not what you need?”
“It’s not.”
“Maya, come here. I want to check on you. And I can’t do it with you all the way over there.”
“Oh, okay,” she grumbled as she stomped over to him.
But she was careful to go nowhere near his balls, stopping just next to his knees. To her shock, he grasped hold of her hips and moved her forward.
“You’re brave,” she grumbled at him. “I’d stay well away from my knees if I was you.”
“Is that a threat?” he asked mildly as he grasped her chin, holding her head steady as he wiped at her cheeks gently.
Darn it.
Why did he have to be so sweet right now? She wanted to hold onto her temper, instead it was fading away, like water down the bath drain when you pulled the plug.
“No, of course not. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“I know you didn’t, Bébé,” he said soothingly. “I’m not mad, okay?”
“I can’t believe I burst into tears like that,” she grumbled. “So ridiculous. I hurt you and then I cry!”
“You’ve had a bad day. A lot has happened.”
She nodded. Was he going to say anything about her crying over a missing toy? Or the way she’d talked before? Or how she’d stomped her foot, and he’d called her naughty?
She braced herself, ready to deny everything and anything. But all he did was put the tissue down and move his hands back to her hips.
Probably holding her still so she didn’t kick him again. She couldn’t blame him for that.
Although she also couldn’t deny how nice it felt to have his hands on her hips, warm and heavy. Yep. It was almost drugging her, it felt so good. She could feel herself start to sway.
“You’re so tired, Bébé, aren’t you? You need to go to bed.”
She nodded, then tensed as she remembered that she couldn’t. “I can’t.”
“You can’t sleep without your toy?” he asked.
Shit.
“Of course I can,” she said with a scoff. “That would be silly to need a toy in order to sleep.”
“Is it? Some people need eye masks or ear plugs, other people might need music or a nightlight. Is that really all silly?”
“But that’s different. It’s not a toy.”
“Who cares what it is,” he said in a calm voice. “If it’s what you need, it’s what you need.” He leaned over and grabbed his phone off the small bedside table.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Getting Butch to grab it and bring it over here.”
She reacted on instinct, smacking the phone out of his hand. Thankfully, it landed face-up or she would have been even more horrified than she already was.
“What was that about?” he asked in a quiet voice.
But she could hear the stern warning in his voice. Yep, she might be in trouble here. She attempted to take a step back. But it was like her body had decided that she’d had enough. The world started to spin and she just knew she was about to collapse.
Before she hit the floor, though, she felt herself scooped up into a strong pair of arms and held tight against a warm, firm chest.
Matthieu said something in a low, quiet voice. But she couldn’t understand what he was saying. Was that French?
“Yes, Bébé. It was French. Basically, I told you that you’re in big trouble tomorrow.”
Great.
“I’m always in trouble,” she grumbled.
“Then you need to start thinking before you act,” he told her as he laid her on the bed. His accent was leaking out which surprised her.