I nodded, my eyes following Maia out of the room as I put the phone to my ear. “Ains, what’s up?”
I’d been on the verge of blurting the truth to Maia about my feelings, to tell her that everything I’d said to her arsehole ex was true.
It was too early. Too soon. We’d only just gotten over our argument at the shoot. I still had a lot of foundation to lay before she was truly ready to hear that I was in love with her.
“Eh, I’m calling about the campaign going live,” Ainsley replied. “It went viral. Mum’s freaking out a wee bit. I don’t think any of us were expecting it to take off in such a big way. Even the media is talking about it.”
Aye, I’d talked with my agent on the way to Maia’s because interview requests were coming in. I told her to turn them down because My and I had already agreed weonly wanted to do the campaign and not make a huge deal about it. We’d laid down that law with Pennington’s too, when they’d tried to sneak obligatory yeses to media requests into the contract.
“Aye, I know.” Day one and it already had two million views.
“I hate to be a superficial cow, but it’s because you’re hot. Together, I mean. You two look right together, wee bro.”
“I’m at Maia’s right now,” I said so she’d know I couldn’t respond directly.
“Ah, okay. Tell Maia I’m asking for her and that she looked beautiful in the video. And good luck cracking that hard head of hers because if she doesn’t realize she’s into you after that fucking kiss, you’re going to need a nutcracker the size of a Range Rover.”
I grinned smugly because after watching the video, I properly got a look at how dazed and flushed Maia was after our kiss. She was into it. “Aye.”
“Okay, I know you cannae talk, so I’ll let you go. Call me.”
“Will do.”
We hung up just as Maia wandered back into the living room in a pair of leggings and an oversized T-shirt tied at the waist. Her hair was up in a messy bun and she’d popped her glasses on.
I wondered what it was that made a person the most beautiful human you’d ever seen. Like, I’d met a lot of attractive women, but none of them made my fucking chest ache like this.
“What?” She cocked her head quizzically.
“Nothing, babe. Just making sure you’re all right after that scene with the ex.”
Maia moved into the kitchen to grab us beers out of the fridge. She handed me one, and I sat down beside her. “You know, I think it was a good thing. I told you on Monday that I started to recognize upsetting things about my relationship with Will. Him coming here just drove it home … he isn’t the one. Marrying him would have been a huge mistake because everything you said to him about how he saw himself in the relationship was true. He thought he was better than me and that I was lucky to have him.”
“Imagine calling me an ill-educated Neanderthal when he thinks that.”
Maia scowled. “He’s wrong.”
“I mean, I’m not exactly educated.”
“You don’t have to have a college degree to be smart or educated, Baird. You’ve seen more of the world than Will has. You’ve met people from all walks of life doing what you do. You know how to treat people because you had a mother who taught you well. The only thing Will’s mum taught him was how to look down on people. Thankfully, he missed his dad’s lessons on how to be a lecherous perv.”
I went from enjoying her kind words to readying myself to punch an old man in the face. “Please do not tell me your ex’s dad came on to you.”
Maia shook her head. “Not, like, overtly. But I’d catch him staring at my breasts all the time. When we talked one on one, he’d stare at my mouth. Once he helped me out of the car and he ‘accidentally’ groped my arse.”
“That’s coming on to you, My.” I seethed, taking an aggressive swig of beer. Some men were fucking animals. And that was an insult to animals.
“Hey.” Maia soothed a hand over my shoulder. “Good news is, I never have to see him again. Better news”—she turned into me—“I’m completely over Will.”
My heart jumped. “For real?”
“For real.” She smiled. “I just … our relationship was so surface level. It never would have lasted. He didn’t make me feel safe to be myself, but I’m to blame for staying with someone like that too. Now I feel like this massive weight is off my shoulders. Like … I’m free of something. It feels great.”
“I’m glad, babe.”
“I’m also starving, so let’s order food.”
Triumph made me restless, like I needed to burn off the excess. Part one in this plot was to make sure Maia was over the ex. Part two was to make Maia fall in love with me. I was ecstatic part one was completed so much quicker than anticipated.
