She turned to him, her eyes wide and shocked. “No! I kept hitting snooze! What. Is. Wrong. With . . . eek!”
He stopped her before she got to the last word. Because with each word, she kept whacking her forehead with the palm of herhand. And he wasn’t having that. So he grabbed her hand and held it down between them.
Maya gazed at him in shock.
“No hurting yourself.”
She just kept staring at him. Zombie Maya. He wasn’t thinking it was cute right now, though.
Nope. He wanted her agreement that she’d stop hurting herself.
“Maya. Promise not to hurt yourself again. That was a rule, remember?”
She grunted. “Stupid rules.”
“No, they’re not stupid rules. They’re to keep you safe. No more hurting yourself. Last chance or there will be consequences.”
“Stupid consequences.”
Okay, so this was a tiny bit cute.
“Not stupid consequences. If you don’t break the rules, you won’t suffer any consequences.”
“All stupid.”
“Maya,” he said in a stern voice. Well, he attempted a stern voice, he wasn’t certain he was successful.
“Fine,” she said with a sigh. “No more hurting Maya. No naughty Maya. Only good girl Maya.”
“I don’t mind spitfire Maya.”
“Most people do.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, Spitfire, I’m not most people.”
24
In case you haven’t noticed, Spitfire, I’m not most people.
Oh, she’d noticed all right.
She’d noticed everything about him. And she had to say that she liked pretty much everything about him.
Other than the bossiness. And his attention to detail which meant she got away with very little.
And his consequences. Which, he’d informed her on the drive into work, had been postponed but not canceled.
Something to look forward to.
They’d somehow managed to arrive right at work right before her class started.
“I’ve got a plan,” Millie whispered as she and Livvy moved closer to her after the end of class.
“A plan?” she asked hesitantly.
“To help the puppies,” Millie said quietly, looking around surreptitiously.
Which didn’t look suspicious at all.
