Mateo followed Maia through her tiny living room fitted with a small green couch and matching high backed chair that sat in front of the crackling fireplace that desperately needed a sweep, but he'd handle that.
They walked up a wooden staircase to the mezzanine and he forced himself to look away from the salacious sway of her hips in her tight black leggings or the way her long gray sweater curved over her plump ass.
Dear God, was he doing the right thing agreeing to work with her?
He let out a slow breath and looked away from her rear end to the window that overlooked the snow swept town. He imagined if there wasn't a blizzard the lights of the town would be on full display.
"Excuse the mess," Maia said as she brushed away a few crumpled pieces of paper from the mustard yellow couch before she sat her plate on top of a pile of notebooks on the wooden coffee table. "But I told you I've been suffering from writer's block."
"You weren't kidding," Mateo said as he sat beside her and followed the trail of crumpled papers to the oak desk sitting in front of the wide windows with more notebooks and a laptop barely visible above the paper and books. "No offense, but how do you concentrate up here?"
"Hey now, this is controlled chaos, my friend," she said, plucking a floral print notebook from the pile on the coffee table. "It helps having that view too."
"Yeah," he said, sitting his plate on a clear spot on the table. "I definitely need to clean out your fireplace before this place goes up in flames."
Maia pursed her lips. "Oh please, I've been alright."
"Uh-huh, so what's this novel about, then?"
Maia's brown eyes lit up as she opened her notebook. "I usually write from my female protagonist's point of view, but my last few novels have felt flat and dry."
Mateo raised an eyebrow. "Isn't one of those being turned into a film or something? Couldn't have been that dry if that's happening."
"Yep, one is going to the big screen and another is being adapted as a TV series," Maia said, shrugging. "My sister is the one who makes all of my book adaptations happen. Honestly, I don't know how she pitched those novels because I thought they were shit." She frowned. "I didn't know you followed news about me?"
"It's hard not to," he said, taking a sip of wine. "You know how these people talk in town. You're the resident celebrity around here."
"I guess so, but there are actual celebrities that come here all the time to ski," she said, shaking her head. "I'm not that interesting. I just happen to be a decent writer."
"Who talks to everyone. The A-listers stay up at the resort and never bother to come down. So you're pretty interesting just because of that."
A smile tugged at her lips. "I guess I never really thought of it like that."
"Seriously?" Mateo said, resting his arm on the back of the couch. "I kind of always thought that's why you come here for the attention."
"What?" She scrunched up her face in disgust. "No. I come here for the tranquility. It helps me think, but damn I didn't know you thought of me like that."
"No...no, that's not what I meant. I don't think you're shallow at all," he said, dragging a hand through his hair. "I guess that came out wrong. You just seem to enjoy being around people."
"Oh, I can see how you'd think that. I've learned how to create a good public image for myself over the years, but really I'm an introvert. I don't like attention and if I didn't have to make public appearances for my books, I wouldn't."
"Ah," Mateo nodded. "I get that. That's why I moved out here."
"Oh really," Maia said, flipping to a blank page in her notebook and tugging a pen from the curly bun atop her head. "Is that why you keep to yourself? Are you running from something?"
"No." He lied. "And even if I was, it probably wouldn't be smart to tell you."
"Oo, that's good," she murmured. "Is it because it'd be dangerous if you did?"
Mateo's heart clenched as she scribbled down a few notes. "Hold on," he said, grasping her hand. "Why are you taking notes? You're not writing this story about me, are you?"
"Oh! No, I'm not, but this could add to my character," she said, looking up at him as she bit her lip. "I'm getting ahead of myself. I still haven't explained anything to you."
"No you haven't," he said, letting go of her hand. "Sorry, I just didn't think you'd need my life story for this."
"I don't and I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have jumped in like that," she said, closing her notebook and setting it to the side. "Can we start over?"
"Yeah, of course," he said, reaching for her plate on the stack of books. "How about we start over while you eat?"
Maia laughed, taking her plate from him. "Yes, and now you see how easy it is for me to forget to eat."
"Mm, I see, Miss Jefferies," he said, tapping the notebook on the couch between them. "Do you mind if I take a look while you have a few bites?"
"Go for it," she said, digging into the lasagna on her plate. "But I can't promise you'll be able to understand any of my chicken scratch."
"Well that just sounds like a challenge," he said, opening the notebook. He frowned, laughing as he tried to read the scribbles and half written sentences all over the pages. "How the hell do you make sense of anything you write? What does 'Donny spy, lost Tati. Possibly dead. Get in his head' mean?"
"Tati is my spy dude's nickname for his love interest. His name is Donny and he thinks she's dead. The 'get in his head' part is what I need you for," Maia said, taking a sip of her wine. "I'm writing from a male point of view this time and Donny is...how do I say this..." She tapped glass against her lips. "He's quiet, keeps to himself and –"
"A wallflower, like me?" Mateo said, chuckling as he looked up at her. He wasn't sure if he wanted to be upset that she thought of him that way or grateful because that was the whole reason he moved here, wasn't it? To fade into the background. "That's what you were going to say, right?"
"No, I was going to say mysterious," she said, putting her drink down on the table. "How could you be a wallflower? You stand out everywhere you go with your tall and beefy ass."
"I don't think I've ever been referred to as beefy," he said with a blush burning up to his ears. "And I don't stand out. No one really notices me when I walk into a room, not like you."
Maia let out a bark of laughter. "You serious?"
"Yes? But now I feel like you're going to tell me otherwise."
"Yep and since you don't know, I feel like it's my duty as your friend to show you," she said, sitting her plate on the table before she popped up from the couch to grab her laptop from her desk. "You're not on any social media platforms, are you?"
"I used to be on Twitter and Facebook, but I deactivated them a long time ago."
"More material for me to use for my character," Maia murmured, sitting next to him and he nearly bit his lip at her fresh jasmine scent and her leg pressed against his. She was barely touching him and his mind was weaving a fantasy of his face pressed between those plump thighs of hers.
Fuck. He shouldn't have agreed to inflict this torture on himself.
"So, the town has a locals only Facebook group where they talk about happenings and what not. Most people are talking about the storm right now."
"Right and what does this have to do with me?"
"Well, they have different threads like celebrity sightings, there's one about me and my novels," she said, clicking through the various discussion threads. "And then there's one dedicated to 'The HotH' which is you."
Mateo's eyes grew wide as he gazed at the thread of pictures of him at random places all over town like paparazzi. "What does the Hoth mean? And why are they taking pictures of me?"
"The Hoth means Hottie on the hill and it's mostly the women in town who like to post 'Hoth' sightings."
Mateo slid the laptop from Maia and clicked through the posts while panic creeped up his spine. "There's hundreds of likes on these pictures."
"Mm-hm." Maia chuckled softly. "You're quite the celebrity in this town too."
"How...how many people are in this group?" he said, scanning the page. "Is it private? Can anyone see these?"
"There's about a thousand people in the group and it's fairly private." Maia shrugged. "You can't join the group unless you live here or know how to find it."
That was a slight relief, but it still unnerved him that there were semi-public photos of him being shared without his knowledge. "I'm not sure I like this," Mateo said, shaking his head. "I'm never going into town again."
"Oh stop it." Maia giggled. "It's pretty harmless. No one's stalking you."
"You don't know that," he said, sliding a hand over his face. "And what if they're posting these pictures on other websites or other platforms?"
"Well, okay it's true I don't know if anyone is stalking you, but I'm ninety percent positive these photos aren't posted anywhere else," she said, sliding the laptop from him. "I've googled you and absolutely nothing comes up."
He looked over at her and frowned. "You've googled me?"
"Um, yes. I looked you up when you first moved in. I needed to know who the hell I was living next to," she said, turning the laptop back to him to show zero search results for Mateo Casparij.
"Oh thank God," he said, finally breathing a sigh of relief as the panic rising in his chest rescinded. "Why did you say you were ninety percent sure, though?"
"Because there's a chance they could be posted on someone's private page somewhere else and those wouldn't come up in a search," she said, closing her laptop. "But now you've really piqued my interest. Did you have a stalker or something? Is that why you moved out here to the middle of nowhere?"
"Um, yeah. But it's not something I like talking about." Because he made a complete fool of himself and if he could avoid talking about his life before he moved here that's what he'd keep doing.
It didn't matter that Maia was probably the only person who'd understand what he'd been through, being someone who's forced to be in the spotlight, but he didn't want to relive that embarrassment or risk her not wanting to have anything to do with him if he told her.
"I get it," she said, sliding her hand over his. The soft touch of her fingers and the tenderness swirling in her eyes quelled the remaining anxiety still nipping at his nerves. "We don't have to talk about it and I don't need to know any of that for you to be my muse." She smiled, squeezing his hand. "Don't worry about the Facebook group. Jodie at the coffee shop is an admin. I can tell her to be more vigilant about monitoring the Hoth posts, if you want?"
"Thank you, but it's alright. I'm glad you showed me the group, but like you said, it's pretty harmless. Nothing's happened in the three years I've lived here," he said, laughing softly. "I feel kind of silly for freaking out about it."
"Nah, don't feel silly. When I first found fan pages about me and people making assumptions about my life, I freaked out too. It's kind of weird, but at least all the posts about you are positive," she said, shaking her head. "You don't have to contend with super fans thinking your fictional characters are you."
"What?" Mateo gasped, leaning away from her. "You mean you're not really a PR exec falling in love with your boss while simultaneously using him to take down that very real Syndicate cult? I feel duped, Maia." He shook his head. "And to think I considered you my friend."
"You're an idiot." She giggled, pushing at his shoulder. "But I didn't know you've read my books."
Mateo shrugged. "I've read a few." More like all of them, but she didn't need to know that.
Maia frowned. "But I always see you reading those military thrillers. I wouldn't think you'd be into romance."
"I dabble in other genres and come on," Mateo scoffed. "Could you imagine that Facebook group if anyone caught me reading your spicy romance novels in public?"
"God no," she said, as another fit of giggles burst from her lips and he couldn't help joining in with her infectious laughter. "These women around here would lose their minds."
"I bet," he said, chuckling. "Can't let that get out."
"No sir. At least not for another few months. I'm sorry, but I need you all to myself for this project and I can't have you getting distracted by women vying for your affection," she said and cringed. "Oh, that sounded bad. I don't mean you can't do you. I'm not trying to get in the way of your personal life."
"It's okay, I knew what you meant. I wouldn't have agreed to this if I didn't have the time to spend with you." There wasn't anyone who could distract him from the woman in front of him and he liked knowing that she wanted his attention even if it was just for business purposes.
That was really all he could and should hope for.
"Great. I should have your contract by tomorrow so you can read all the particulars. It'll mainly be around keeping my work confidential," she said, swapping the laptop on her lap for her half eaten plate of lasagne. "Like I said, I don't need to know your life story, but I'll be taking notes of things that you do and I might ask you some scenario questions just to help me get into the head of my character."
"Alright, but I'm not a spy so I might not be that helpful for technical stuff."
"That's fine, I've already done that research," she said, nodding to the stack of notebooks on the table. "And I've got a retired military guy who helps me out with that stuff. You're going to help me with Donny's emotions for Tati."
"I think I can do that. So, this is like helping you brainstorm ideas, then?"
"Exactly! I mainly write at night so during the day is when we'll have our sessions and it might just be me following you around, if that's cool?"
"Yeah, that sounds easy enough."
"Perfect," she said, wiping the garlic bread in the last bit of sauce on her plate. "God, this was so good," she murmured, munching on the bread. "Thanks for bringing this over. It was much better than cheese and grapes."
"No problem," he said, smiling with pride. "If you let me know what you like to eat I'll make it for you."
"I told you I'm a foodie. I'll try anything except for shellfish," she said, dabbing her mouth with a napkin. "I'm allergic."
"Good to know," Mateo said, tugging out his phone to make a note of that. "Anything else I should avoid?"
"Nah, that's it," she said, putting her plate on the table and clapping her hands together. "So, do you mind if I ask you some more questions? There's a part I'm struggling with at the moment and I wouldn't mind doing a little brainstorming with you now."
"No, I don't mind at all now that I know what we're doing here," he said, leaning back on the couch. "Fire away."
A/N: 🤭 The Hoth is cheesy as hell 🤣 But pretty curious why Mateo got so freaked out about it...and what's he lying about what he's running from?
As always, thanks so so much for reading, Little Bees! Please enjoy this little mood board of Maia & Mateo 🥰