Page 51 of Papa's Bébé
She couldn’t help but feel a sting of hurt. A lot of people thought she was rude. But that was how she protected herself. If she didn’t allow people close, then they couldn’t leave her or let her down.
But for some reason she didn’t want this man to think she was rude. In fact, it did more than sting, it buried its way in deep.
“Relax,” he told her in that low, soothing voice.
It was like he was wrapping her in a warm blanket, in front of a cozy fire, and feeding her toasted marshmallows.
It was kind of ridiculous and she didn’t know why. But then ridiculous kind of summed up her interactions with him to date.
“It was just a nickname. And it wasn’t meant to have negative connotations.”
No negative connotations?
“It’s not another word for brat?” she asked, actually managing to get her words out for a change.
“Sassiness can be cute and funny as long as it’s not mean or hurtful. And I don’t think you are either of those latter things.”
Oh.
Wow.
Maya didn’t know what to say.
“But I won’t use Sassy again. Not if it hurts you. I don’t want to hurt you, Maya.”
Wow. Again.
She had a feeling she was going to think that a lot about this man. There was a lot of wow about him.
But what really hit her was the fact that he didn’t want to hurt her. It might sound crazy, but the people in that house didn’t care about hurting her.
All they cared about was themselves.
This man was a stranger. And right away he told her that?
Yeah.
Wow.
“It . . . it’s okay. Maybe . . . maybe . . . I overreacted.”
“No. It’s not an overreaction if it causes hurt. I was in the wrong.”
She sucked in a breath.
Do not cry.
How had he pierced her battle armour so easily? It was terrible and kind of scary.
There was a beat of silence.
“Can you look at me?”
Oh no. That wasn’t happening. She shook her head; she was out of words for the moment.
“Hmm. You think at some stage you might be able to look at me and talk to me at the same time?”
Another shake of her head.
