‘Why not?” he asked. “If you’re worried about the single bed, don’t be. I’m going to sleep on the mattress on the floor. Or I can sleep outside in the corridor if you want.”
Sleep outside in the corridor? What? That sounded terrible. She didn’t want him doing that.
“No, no, you don’t need to do that. That’s not the problem,” she cried. “I don’t have Dicky. I left him there in the house! How could I forget about him? What if he was burned?”
“Wait. Who is Dicky?” he asked in concern.
“My dolphin!”
Then she realized what she’d said. “I mean . . . my, uh, okay . . . um . . .”
“Hey, don’t shut down on me. You mean the toy dolphin you sleep with?” he asked in a low voice.
She sat on the side of the bed, her legs felt like noodles. Tears were welling in her eyes.
Shit.
It seemed the numb had completely gone now. She’d been holding onto the tiniest of fragments to get her through. But that was all gone.
And she was left with the crash of emotions filling her.
Tears dripped down her cheeks. Suddenly, Matthieu was crouching in front of her, his hands on her knees.
“S-sorry,” she sobbed. “S-sorry.”
“Hey, Bébé, what do you have to be sorry about? You don’t need to apologize for anything,” he soothed.
“Didn’t w-want to c-cry. J-just stuff . . . b-babies okay . . . y-you okay. Just s-stuff.”
“Your dolphin isn’t just stuff. He’s obviously very special to you. And I’m going to get him for you.”
“No!” she cried out as she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck as she sent him toppling back onto the floor with her lying on top of him.
Wow.
This was . . . surprisingly comfortable. She lay there, trying to remember how to breathe as her body pressed in against his.
All it would take was for him to roll her over, press her to the floor and start kissing her like he never wanted to stop.
Eek!
Put the brakes on that, naughty Maya! He is not into you like that.
And you’re the one that basically just pushed him over.
“I’m so sorry!” she cried, her tears from before forgotten as she attempted to get off him.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t watching where her legs went. Which seemed to be a bit of a habit of hers around him. And her knee accidentally slid up between his legs as she attempted to sit up.
“Oh fuck!” he cried.
“Oh my God, no!” she yelled before she burst into tears again.
Okay, so she hadn’t hurt herself so she wasn’t quite sure why she was in tears. But she was sobbing like her life depended on it as she kneeled next to him.
“Hey, hey, Maya. Come here, Bébé. It’s all right. Come here,” he said in a strangled voice.
Even though she tried to resist him, he drew her down onto his chest once more. Although this time, her legs weren’t near his. Only their upper halves touched.
