Page 62 of Papa's Bébé


Font Size:

“Maya, I need you to wake up now. We’re home.”

“I don’t wanna go home,” she grumbled. “Stepmonster is there.”

Stepmonster? That made him smile.

It was kind of cute and a little bit goofy.

“Your home,” he told her in a soft voice. “Not that house where the stepmonster is.”

“Oh goody. She’s mean. Always calling me fat, saying I’m not good enough. Not very smart, not very pretty, not very anything.”

He stiffened. That complete and utter bitch. He’d seen the animosity between them and gotten a bad vibe from that witch. But had she seriously said those things to Maya?

“You know none of that is true, right?” He had to tread carefully here. He knew that she wouldn’t be saying any of those things if she wasn’t still half-asleep.

“I don’t know. Not very smart, not very lovable. Not sure anyone cares if I live or die but my babies.”

Fuck.

She was fucking killing him here. Matthieu wanted to shake her awake and tell her how wrong she was. That she was absolutely loved.

He glanced over at her chickens. Well, maybe not by those babies. He wasn’t sure they even knew where their own butt was.

And he knew that there were more people out there that cared than she obviously realized. And he was becoming one of those people.

“There are lots of people who care whether you live or die,” he told her.

“Name two.” She stared right at him.

Hmm. This might be the first time he’d actually seen her eyes. They were a pale blue, almost purple color. She wore dark eyeliner and glittery purple eyeshadow.

“You’re pretty,” she told him.

Pretty? Was she serious? He wasn’t pretty. He was masculine. Sexy. He might even accept handsome.

But pretty? Nope.

Then she blinked. And blinked again. And he knew he’d lost her as she tensed and tried to rear back.

Luckily, he was ready for that and tightened his hold on her.

“Whoa. Careful. You’re going to hurt yourself.”

“Oh my God. Oh my God. Put me down.”

He set her down on her feet and held her as she swayed. She glanced around.

“I’m home? How did I get here? How . . . where . . . was I actually asleep?”

“Yes, you fell asleep in my car almost straight away. If I didn’t have a healthy sense of self-confidence I might have been insulted that you found my company so boring.”

He was hoping that she might smile at that, but if anything she looked more horrified.

“I’m so sorry! That’s not true. I didn’t . . . I didn’t mean . . . I . . . I . . .”

Uh-oh.

She was back to stumbling over her words. He knew he had to get her back quick.