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)
“I do. But I’ll be just fine.”
“I’ll, um, remake the bed then. And probably go to sleep.” She glanced at her watch with a wince. It was only eight. Although with how tired she was, she might be asleep the moment that her head hit the pillow.
“We need to have another chat, though. And, unfortunately, this one is even more serious. Come with me.” He turned and walked out of the room.
Uh-oh.
She didn’t like the sound of that.
Also, how embarrassing that he’d noticed her sheets!
Maya wasn’t sure that she was going to survive having him in her house.
Nope. She’d probably die of embarrassment or arousal.
She just wasn’t sure which.
15
Matthieu was filled with rage.
He wasn’t sure the last time he’d felt this angry.
Negative emotions were a waste of time. While he’d been a bit of a hothead in his youth, he’d learned control since then. The last time he’d felt this angry had likely been when those damn twins had stolen his baby and crashed it.
But he was angry right now as he stared at the message spray-painted on Maya’s garage door.
When he’d gone outside to put the pizza boxes into the garbage bin, he’d decided it would be safer if the garage door was down. Which revealed what had been written on the door.
Matthieu glanced over at her. He had a feeling that he’d upset her just before when he’d called her little girl, then apologized. Only he wasn’t certain which part had upset her.
He definitely had no right to call her a little girl. But it had just slipped out.
Twice.
Fuck.
He winced. What was he thinking?
Well. He was thinking that she kept disobeying him and putting her health at risk and his hand was itching to spank her naughty ass.
He was going to have to have a firm word with her about obeying him. It was difficult when she barely knew him, but she was going to have to trust him fast or they were going to both be in trouble. Because if there was a real threat, she would have to listen and obey. Both of their lives could depend on it.
Worst case scenario but he’d learned to be prepared for any possibility.
That was what had kept him alive. And now his job was to keep her safe and alive.
Which would be a lot harder if she didn’t obey him. Or talk to him.
If she didn’t tell him about things like this.
“What is this?” he asked in a stern voice.
“It’s a garage door?”
“Now is not the time for jokes,” he told her sternly.
She winced.
“What is on the door?”
“Spray paint,” she said in a quiet voice.
“Maya, now is also not the time to keep secrets. What is this? When did it happen? Who did it?” He was going to kill them.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Stay calm.
He watched as a car drove slowly past. Was that the same car from earlier?
Fuck. He hadn’t messaged Brody yet.
“Have you seen that car before?” he snapped.
Calm.
It was getting harder and harder to find his calm.
Which was unusual for him. He was usually a very calm person.
“What car?” she asked, turning around.
“There’s a car that keeps driving past.” He moved closer to her. “We’re going inside while I send Brody the license plate. He works for Ink. And then you can explain why you didn’t tell me about the message on the garage door.”
He kept his gaze on his surroundings as he tried to herd her back inside.
Only, she dug her heels in as though she didn’t want to move.
“Maya. Inside. Now.”
She was definitely testing his patience right now.
“What sort of car was it?” she asked again. “I want to know.”
“BMW SUV. White. Late model.”
“Ryan,” she muttered as she headed down the driveway.
“What? You know who it is? Is it a neighbor? And where do you think you are going?” he demanded as he reached out and grasped hold of her arm.
“A neighbor?” she said incredulously. “Um, does this look like the sort of area where someone would be driving around a late model BMW? Although maybe the drug dealers would.”
“Are there a lot of drug dealers living here?” he asked in a strangled voice.
He couldn’t believe her family allowed her to live here. If he ever had a daughter, he would guard her like the treasure she would be. No way would she live somewhere like this. Not even if he had to work three jobs to ensure her safety.
“Um, there’s a couple,” she said. “But I never have any problems with them. And they don’t live here for long, usually they make enough money to move somewhere nicer.”
Right. Because this area wasn’t even nice enough for drug dealers. That made him feel so much better.
She started to walk again, but he didn’t let her go.
“Hey, let me go,” she argued, turning to glare up at him.