A Muse Her

Chapter 25

Mateo slipped his fingers through Maia's as they walked along a glistening canal in the afternoon sun. The last time he was in Amsterdam was nearly two years ago on the trip he planned to propose to Saskia, but she sold his secrets to the press and he came on his own to get away from the news. Mateo sighed, looking over at Maia and the smile that graced her lips made his heart simmer. He was glad to be back here with someone who actually cared about him.

"Are you happy to be home?" he said, squeezing her hand.

"Yeah," Maia said, looking behind them at Willem and the rest of their plain clothes bodyguards trailing behind them. "But I don't think Willem is too happy that I prefer we walk the rest of the way to my house."

"Don't worry about it. He's never been a fan of me walking anywhere. He hates that I prefer to go to the markets in the city without any security," Mateo said as he eyed a few people at a local café snapping a few pictures of them. "This is no different."

"I'm sure you're used to random people taking your picture," she said, laughing. "I'm surprised there aren't many paparazzi around."

"Oh they're around," he said, leaning down to her. "That couple at the café are reporters from the Burgonian Tab."

"Oh really?" she said, leaning into him. "Do we need to play up our relationship?"

"No, we're doing enough," he said, kissing her head. "So, which one of these boats is yours?"

A grin curled over Maia's lips. "It's that one," she said, pointing to a cream and black barge surrounded by a thick green hedges and blooming flowers potted along a wooden plank leading to the boat.

Mateo's eyes were wide. "I thought you said you owned a little houseboat, liefje. Not a fucking barge," he said as he followed Maia across the plank to the spacious deck lined with more potted plants and a covered seating area.

"Yeah, I might've downplayed my house a bit," she said as she unlocked the sliding door leading to the helm of the boat that was converted into a foyer. "But I still have some work to do on it."

"Like what?" he said, shrugging off his jacket and hanging it on the coat stand beside the spiral wooden staircase.

"I want to convert a few more rooms into bedrooms," she said, slipping off her shoes. "Let me give you a tour and I'll show you what I mean."

"Alright," he said, taking her hand as she led him down the spiral staircase that opened up into a cozy living room with big round windows flooding the space with sunlight and capturing the view of the canal at the edge of the city. "Maia, this is really beautiful," he said as his gaze trailed over the artful figurines that sat in the curve of the smaller boltholes and flowed with the colorful abstract paintings that matched her jade green couch and reading chair. A small tv sat nestled in the corner as if it were an afterthought.

"Thank you." She grinned, sliding open a large wooden door behind the stairs. "This is my writing cove."

Mateo chuckled as he peered inside the room that was lined with books on the built-in wooden shelves. A desk covered with loose leaf paper and notebooks sat in front of a rounded window facing the canal. "Chaotic as usual."

"Of course." She laughed. "How else would I get any writing done?" she said, closing the door and padding through the living room across a paisley yellow and green rug covering the waxy mahogany floorboards to the open kitchen carved into the edges of the boat with sunlight pooling in from the windows that covered the ceiling. "And this is my beautiful kitchen where I hope you'll want to make me lunch."

Mateo grinned, sliding his hands over the marbled island. "You know I'm happy to cook anything for you," he said, eyeing the sleek black refrigerator in the corner. "But we didn't pick up any food yet."