Mateo has a terrible, awful crush on Maia Jefferies, the painfully beautiful best-selling novelist who lives next door, but he promised himself he'd never fall for the kindness of a woman like her. Not again. He's been down that road and was left lo...
He saw it when he helped her out after Sven left her stranded. She did it at the cabin and again when they were in the grocery store, but she just pushed through as if she wasn't fazed by it and it finally caught up to her last night.
Shuffling into the kitchen, Mateo made himself a cup of coffee before he went outside to do his rounds. It burned him up inside to see her so upset like that and even more so that Sven was the fucking catalyst for it.
He sighed, gathering the eggs from the chickens. There was a way he could keep Sven from getting near Maia, but that would involve him telling her who he was and forcing him back into his old life.
He shook his head as he closed the coupe. No. Maia's situation didn't call for that nor was he ready to be a prince again, but if there was ever a moment he needed to make that call, he'd do it to protect the peace she needed to write.
For now, he'd just do whatever she needed to make sure she finished her novel on time.
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Mateo checked on Maia again before he took a shower and settled down on the couch in the living room with her laptop and got lost in Donny and Tati's love story.
He didn't know much about the publishing world and he wasn't the best person to review fictional writing. His specialty was in legal documents, but he couldn't for the life of him understand why Maia thought her words weren't flowing. Naturally, there were some spelling and grammar mistakes, but he could feel the tension and emotion of Donny's love for Tati dripping on every page.
A smile graced his lips at the scenes they worked out together and he found himself laughing at her description of Donny teaching Tati how to shoot a rifle. He didn't realize she was going to use that first lesson he gave her when she missed every target, but managed to shoot a damn bird flying by.
The twinkling ring of his phone sitting on the coffee table tore him from the humorous scene and he frowned, checking the name scrolling across the screen before he answered it. "Eline, shouldn't you be in class?"
"Hello to you too," his little sister huffed. "And no, I don't have classes this week. I'm doing wedding stuff with Adrie."
"Oh, right. How's that going?"
"Eh, it's boring, but mom says I have to help. We just picked out all the flowers." Eline sighed. "When are you coming home?"
"When I have to. Jorien doesn't want me around for obvious reasons and I'm pretty happy where I am."
"Yeah, Jorien has been such an asshole lately. Mom had to put him in his place after he yelled at Adrie for using the same church as his coronation," Eline said. "Are you sure you don't want to be king? You'd be so much better at this."
Mateo let out a bark of laughter. "Fuck no," he said, shaking his head. "And don't let Jorien hear you say that."
"God, I know," she said and Mateo could almost see Eline rolling her eyes. "He's so afraid you're going to take that crown from him."
