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)
Maya gulped. Uh-oh. She didn’t like that tone of voice from him. Matthieu turned to Ryan who had climbed out of his car. Ryan seemed to shrink back when faced with Matthieu’s wrath.
When she’d first met Ryan, she’d thought he was attractive. He kept himself fit at the gym, he was always dressed well, clean cut, smart. Although he definitely spent too much money on hair product. At times she’d wondered if his hair was even real. It never moved.
At all.
That had sort of freaked her out. And then as she’d gotten to know him, well, he’d become less and less attractive. And now, standing next to Matthieu, well, Ryan kind of faded into the background.
“What were you doing?” Matthieu asked, stepping closer to Ryan.
“You . . . you just stay where you are!” Ryan cried, holding up a hand. “You can’t touch me! I’ll call the cops! I’ll sue!”
“Go ahead and call them,” Matthieu said. “I’m sure that they’ll be very interested in the way that you’ve been stalking the chief of police’s daughter. How you’ve been jacking off while watching her get undressed.”
Oh God.
Yep. She really needed to vomit.
What a fucking creep! How had she kept excusing what he was doing? And how often had he been spying on her like that?
Ryan’s face grew smug. “We all know that her father doesn’t give a shit about her. Like any cop is going to believe that I would be doing that. They’ll take my side over hers. The whole force believes she’s a spoiled brat who lies to get her way.”
Right. Because those were the lies that Vince had spread about her. Lies that Kathryn’s sons had backed up. Because they were all fucking assholes.
“So you thought that you’d take advantage of that?” Matthieu asked in a low, calm-sounding voice.
Ryan started relaxing, taken in by his tone. But Maya wasn’t fooled, she could now see that Matthieu wasn’t as calm as he was pretending to be. His shoulders were too clenched. And he was too still. As though he was conserving energy . . . getting ready to pounce.
Maybe she should stop him. Ryan deserved everything he got . . . but Matthieu didn’t need to end up in jail for murdering him.
“Matthieu,” she whispered, moving closer to him. She dared put her hand on his arm. She tried not to shudder in response. That would be kind of inappropriate.
But, then again, when had any of her feelings toward him been appropriate?
He glanced down at her briefly, then back at Ryan. Then he surprised her by moving his arm across her body to grab her hip. Before putting pressure on it so she had to move until she was standing behind him.
“Stay there,” he said firmly.
She wasn’t sure whether he was talking to her or to Ryan.
Maybe both of them.
But she couldn’t just hide behind him. Ryan was her stalker. She should take care of him. Plus, she didn’t want Matthieu to do something he might regret later. Not that he seemed like the kind of guy to make rash decisions.
Suddenly, he moved, drawing off his jacket. He half-turned and held it out to her.
Did he want her to hold it?
“You’re only wearing pajamas. Put that on.”
Oh right. Yikes!
She glanced down at herself. She should have put a robe on at least. Although her pajamas weren’t skimpy or revealing.
“You’re shivering,” he told her. “Put that on or go inside. Where you were supposed to be. You don’t even have any shoes on!”
That’s what he wanted to focus on? Her shoes? Although her feet were cold.
“You could have stepped on something and cut yourself. I couldn’t believe it when I was on a call and heard Dougie barking and found the front door open.”
Oh. Oops.
“Jacket. On. Now.”
She hastily drew the jacket on over her pajamas.
“Are you really going to let him talk to you like that, Maya?” Ryan sneered. “I thought you would have more self-respect than to let yourself be bossed around by a rough neanderthal.”
Was he for real right now?
She stepped to the side of Matthieu so she could glare at Ryan. “You have some nerve you masturbating stalker creep! You were in your car touching yourself while staring at me . . . without my consent! And you dare to stand there and criticize Matthieu! I’m going to teach you some manners!” She jumped toward him, but Matthieu caught her, holding her against his chest. Her legs were dangling in the air, but it didn’t stop her from trying to kick and punch Ryan.
“Calm down, spitfire,” Matthieu told her.
“No! He’s the one stalking me and yet he’s standing there looking down on you? No, this asshole better fucking pray that I don’t pay him a visit in the middle of the night and cut off that disgusting thing between his legs. That’s if I can find it because it’s so fucking small!”