There was silence.
Look at him.
It’s the least you can do since you’re probably giving him an ulcer.
Maya forced herself to stare at him.
He was gazing at her thoughtfully. “Yeah, you’ve raised my blood pressure.”
Maya winced. “Sorry.”
Matthieu shook his head. “Do not be sorry. You need me. To help you. To keep you safe. To get rid of your stalker and Vince. You need me and I like to be needed.”
“You do?”
“Yes. I do. So I’m going to go and speak to this stalker of yours and I’ll be making sure that he never stalks you again.”
She opened her mouth to argue and he placed his finger over her lips.
“Nope. I don’t want to hear about how you think I’ll get hurt or some other bullshit. It’s happening. No arguing.”
Who could argue?
She could no longer breathe, so she doubted she could do any arguing anyway.
He was touching her . . . again.
And it was both heaven and hell. She wanted more and yet her brain had kind of imploded. And she wasn’t sure that she could piece it back together.
“No arguing? Good girl.”
Maya narrowed her gaze at him. Then he suddenly stood. “An alarm system with cameras will get installed tomorrow. Then if Vince tries anything again, we’ll be ready for him. Of course, he won’t get close enough to destroy any property or touch you. I’ll get a background check done on this stalker. And then I’ll pay him a visit. Time for you to go to bed.”
Her mind was spinning from the quick change of topic.
“What?”
“I’m going to arrange for your garage door to be painted tomorrow.”
“Oh, that’s not necessary. I’ll wash it off.”
“You will not wash it off,” he said firmly. “You will not go near it. I will get it painted.”
Shoot.
How to explain this?
“And before you start worrying that you can’t afford that, you’re not paying for it. I’ll charge it to your father under expenses.”
Maya should probably protest that. Should feel bad that her dad was paying to get her garage door painted. But it was hisasshole police officer that had painted it in the first place, so she didn’t feel too guilty at him paying for it.
If he hadn’t made Vince feel invincible then he wouldn’t have dared do that to her. Wouldn’t have pulled her off the road and manhandled her.
No, her father was forcing her to reap what he had sowed. So it was only fair that he paid for it.
“All right.”
“Good. Now that that is settled, you go to bed. I am going to stay out here on the couch. I won’t be sleeping much so don’t worry about that. Tomorrow, we’ll sort out the bed situation. I can get a bed put into the smaller room.”
