What the fuck was he thinking?

Mateo dragged a hand over his face as he shuffled to the refrigerator to find some eggs and bacon.

Agreeing to fake date Maia was a terrible, awful and ridiculous idea!

It was bad enough that he opened up to her about his family, well not completely. At least he didn't let it slip that not only was he from Oost den Burg, but his family was the ruling monarch.

He groaned in annoyance as he sat the eggs and bacon on the counter. He should've just kept his mouth shut and let her vent, but that nervous look in her eyes compelled him to blurt out that he'd be her boyfriend.

And how could he deny her? Being with Maia was a far fetched dream and she gave him the opportunity to step in and live his fantasy.

It was selfish of him to do this when he knew damn well he lied to her about not wanting to find love.

For all his faults and flaws in his past, he was a hopeless romantic at heart. It's why he loved her novels. He wanted a love story like Donny and Tati, but after he was burned by his ex, he gave up on that. No one would ever see him as something other than a rich prince to exploit.

That was the reason he moved to Colorado. Where no one knew him as a royal and he could find peace for a while, but then he met Maia. The woman who made him believe a prince like him was deserving of the love she weaved in her stories. He'd always had a crush on her, but he never imagined he'd meet her in such a random place – or at all! Nor did he think she'd want to use him as her muse.

But here he was in this bittersweet situation, planning to be her faux boyfriend.

How the fuck was he supposed to keep himself from developing real feelings for her? A crush was innocent – stupid – but safe and parading as her beau was going to be difficult. Especially when he knew she'd never feel anything real for him. It was just business. Another transaction. And it would be over as soon as her ex took the bait.

His heart clenched at the soft sound of sniffles that pulled him from his thoughts. "Maia?" He said, rounding the kitchen island to her room. "You alright?"

"Y-yeah," she said, wiping the tear rolling down her cheek. "I'm fine."

"Those tears would suggest otherwise," Mateo murmured, walking into her room and eyeing the phone in her hand. "Did something happen?"

"It's just Sven. He just sent me a picture of the flowers he left on my doorstep." She sighed, swiping away the messages and sitting her phone back on the bedside table. "It brought back some shitty memories."

"Mm, like that time I found you walking down the hill upset like this and swearing nothing was wrong?" he said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Was that because of him?"

"Yeah," she said, wiping away a few stray tears. "You remember that?"

"I do and it pissed me off then like it does now," he said, taking her hand. "I'm sorry for whatever he did to you, but I want you to know that I meant what I said, I'm going to make sure you have the space and comfort you need to finish your book. He won't get in your way."

Maia looked down at his hand engulfing hers before she gazed up at him again and the calm that filled her watery brown depths shattered any doubt he felt about going through with this charade. "Thank you," she said, sighing. "I was hoping Sven was just messing with me and he wasn't really here, so I guess we're really doing this fake dating thing."

Mateo squeezed her hand. "Only if you think it's going to help you."

"I think the alternative is worse. I...I need you to be my buffer and if this is going to work, I need to tell you what happened between me and Sven. At least so you know what you're getting yourself into," she said, taking a deep breath. "Then you can decide if you really want to do this."

"That's fair." Mateo nodded. "But I doubt whatever happened is going to change my mind about this."

A small smile tugged at her lips. "Because you've got to uphold your made up duties as my muse, right?"

"Absolutely." He grinned. "I take this job seriously and I wouldn't dream of letting you down," he said, threading his fingers through hers as he led her out of the room to the kitchen. "And while I take care of your empty stomach, you can tell me everything you think I should know."

So he could make sure Sven never made her shed a tear or left her in shambles like the day he found her walking down that hill alone. If he knew Sven was the reason she ended up that way he would've found him then and made sure he never darkened her doorstep again.

Maia settled onto the stool at the island while Mateo poured her a fresh cup of coffee before he started the task of making breakfast and waited for her to tell him about Sven.

She took a sip of coffee and let out a deep breath. "So I won't lie and say it was all bad with Sven. We had some really good times together and I really thought he was the one. He ticked every box for me. He was charming, well dressed, funny and a great muse for my stories," she said, laughing softly. "And I fell in love with all of it, forgetting that he's an actor."

Mateo raised an eyebrow, looking up from the stove. "Is he really an actor?"

"Yeah, he does a lot of soap operas and TV shows. You might have heard of him, his full name is Sven Fontein."

Mateo shook his head. "Never heard of him. My sisters might have. They're into soaps. His name sounds Dutch, though."

"Yeah, he's from Eindhoven."

"Ah, so did you meet him in Amsterdam?"

"No, funnily enough, I met him in LA. My sister's a woman of many talents in the entertainment business. I met him on the set of one of the soap operas she produces," she said, twisting her mug around. "Anyway, like I said, it was good for a while. We were together for two years, but the last six months of our relationship was hell. It was like something clicked in him and I wasn't good enough for him anymore."

"What do you mean?" Mateo said, placing the sizzling bacon on a plate.

"He just...stopped being kind to me," she said, sighing. "He didn't like how much time I spent writing. He nit picked everything I ate, how I dressed and he stopped wanting to be in public with me. I wasn't who he wanted anymore and he wasn't the man I thought he was, but I stupidly tried to change for him. So I wrote less, I ate what he wanted me to and I tried to fit the image he wanted of me because I was in love and I wanted to fix whatever I broke." She gazed into her coffee cup with tears welling in her eyes. "When you found me that day on the hill, Sven and I had just ended things for good. That's when he told me he was done living up to my fantasy of him and done trying to make me into someone he was proud to be with."

She sniffed, wiping a tear rolling down her cheek. "Sorry. It's been nearly a year since we broke up, but it still hurts every time I think about that day."

"You don't need to apologize for being upset," Mateo said, reaching over the stove to slide a box of tissues toward her. "And you don't have to tell me anymore if you don't want to. I understand what kind of man he is and why you don't want to get caught up in him again."

"I know," she said, dabbing her cheeks. "This is going to sound so selfish and I should be strong enough to tell him to go fuck himself with these mind games, but there's another reason I want to fake a relationship with you." She clenched the tissues in her hand. "I want to show him that I'm worthy of someone caring for me just the way I am and I don't need to change for someone to be happy to be with me." She sighed, rubbing a frizzy curl between her fingers. "So, I'm going to need you to lean into that if you can."

A small smile tugged at Mateo's lips. That request wouldn't be hard at all. He'd gladly show Sven what he'd lost by treating Maia like she was a woman to be cherished. "I can do that for you," he said, fixing their plates of eggs, bacon and toast. "And I'm sure you're strong enough to tell him to go fuck himself, but you also need to do what you can to protect yourself and your work. You've got a deadline to meet and if Sven truly cares for you, he'd know better than to come out here and disrupt your time."

She nodded. "Yeah, that's true," she said, biting her lip as he sat her plate in front of her. "Thanks for being so chill about this."

"Oh, I'm not," he said, slipping on to the stool beside her. "I'm furious that someone would treat you like that, but I'm honored that you trust me to help you and comfortable enough to tell me what happened to you."

"You're a good friend and you make it easy to tell you things," she said, eating a piece of bacon. "Maybe one day you'll tell me your story of ill fated love."

Mateo chuckled. "Maybe, but it's not so different from yours. I fell for the wrong woman and it ended with me looking like a fool." He shrugged. "But my story isn't that important," he said, patting her notebook. "Why don't we talk about the particulars of our relationship, if you want?"

"Yeah, we can do that," she said, sliding her notebook closer to her. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry you had to deal with someone like Sven too."

"Thanks, but it's alright. I'm better off without her." He smiled. "And if that didn't happen I never would've got the chance to be your muse."

Maia laughed. "True, but then you wouldn't have gotten dragged into my mess."

"Maybe not, but I'm not complaining. This might be fun."

"If you say so," she said, opening her notebook. "You just keep that attitude and I'm sure we'll be fine."

Oh, he certainly would. Their relationship may be a ruse, but he was determined to make Maia feel like she was the desirable woman he knew her to be and Sven Fontein would regret ever letting her go.

A/N: I love that they both think they're being selfish for doing this fake dating thing 🥰 Also love that Mateo is like fuck it, I'll step up. No ones treating my little author like that! I'm terrible but I can't wait for Maia and Mateo to run into Sven...drama might ensue....😈🤷🏾‍♀️

So sorry for the lateness of the chapter, but it's been super busy at work lately and that's going to continue for next week too. So chapter 9 might be out a little late on Sunday too!