Beyond Broken (The Bay Boys #3) (19 page)

“Is he here?” Kyra asked in a low voice.

Maddie nodded.
 
She had the strangest guilty sensation when she remembered that her date sat right next to her, whom she’d been having a great time with.
 
Paul was handsome, charming, and he made her laugh.
 
No complications.
 
No second-guessing herself.
 
With him, it was
easy
.

So why couldn’t she look away from the man sitting across the room?

“I should probably go say hi,” she said, glancing at Paul, who had his arm around the back of her seat.
 
“Do you guys mind?”

“Not at all,” Paul said, smiling.
 
He had a cute dimple in his left cheek.
 
“As long as they don’t steal you away.”

“No chance of that,” she promised, standing, smoothing out her dress with suddenly trembling palms.
 
“I’ll be right back.”

As she walked towards their table, her eyes swept over Caleb’s friends.
 
Luke and Kate were there, so she didn’t feel completely intimidated since she’d already met them, however briefly.
 
She’d already made plans with Kate on Monday for coffee.
 
But the rest of his friends, she studied.

She couldn’t help but notice that all of them were beautiful.
 
A gorgeous dark-haired man in a crisp button-down had his arm wrapped around a curvy brunette with wide, blue eyes.
 
Across from them sat an equally gorgeous man with floppy hair and wire-rim glasses and a stunning blonde in a flowing turquoise dress.

At the head of the table sat Caleb.
 
He hadn’t changed clothes from when she’d seen him just a few hours ago, but his dark grey t-shirt molded to his broad shoulders and showed off the strong cords of muscle lining his bronzed arms.
 
She watched as his eyes swept the length of her body, taking in her legs, the hem of her dress, the bared expanse of her shoulders and chest.
 
And her heels.
 
When she’d been dressing for her date, she’d thought of Caleb and picked out her sexiest heels with little black leather straps criss-crossing over her foot and up to her ankle.
 
Even in the dim lighting, Maddie saw the way his hand tightened on his pint.

When his eyes connected with her own again, she saw the longing.
 
Caleb Montgomery could deny it all he wanted, but he
wanted
her.
 
The knowledge made her feel…powerful, which was a feeling she wasn’t normally acquainted with.
 
It made her feel sexy and feminine, knowing that this proud, strong, gorgeous man wanted
her
when he could easily have any woman he wanted.
 
He could point at any woman in this room, crook his finger, and they’d come running.
 
Did it put an extra little swing in her step for his benefit?
 
Hell yes.
 
It was that or the couple glasses of wine she’d had.

When she reached the table, Maddie felt flushed and out of breath.
 
She stopped right by Caleb’s elbow, so close that she felt the heat radiating off of him.

“Hi,” she started.
 
The table they were sitting at was high, so even though she was standing, it still put him at eye-level.
 
“I didn’t expect to see you here.”

He didn’t say anything, not like she expected him to.
 
She turned her attention to Luke and Kate and waved.

“Fancy seeing you here, Maddie,” Luke said, grinning.
 
“Isn’t that right, Caleb?
 
What a coincidence.”

Caleb’s hand tightened on the pint even more and Maddie looked at him before smiling at Luke and Kate.
 
“Nice to see you guys again.”

“Since Caleb is too rude to introduce you, I’ll do the honors.
 
This is Alex and Olivia,” gesturing to his right at the dark haired man and the curvy woman, “and this is Adam and Christie,” making a dramatic sweeping motion with his arm to the other couple.
 
“Everyone, this is Maddie.”

“Hi,” she said to them, feeling a little bit awkward, more than aware that all of them were scrutinizing her.
 
“Nice to meet you.”

“You work with Caleb?” Olivia asked, with a small, comforting smile.
 
She had a very motherly vibe, like she knew Maddie was a bit intimidated by them all.

“Yes, I’m doing his bookkeeping,” she said, glancing at the man in question.
 
“At least for a couple more days.
 
I’m almost finished.”

“Do you live around here?” came another question, this time from Christie, if she remembered her name correctly.

“No, I live in Concord actually, but I go to grad school in the city.
 
I’m just out with some friends.”
 
Maddie explained, gesturing over to her own table.
 
Christie asked her what she was studying and they chatted for a few moments—Maddie learned that Christie worked at a well-known art gallery—before an awkward silence descended and she glanced again at Caleb, wondering if he’d even acknowledge her.

When he didn’t, she looked back at the group and gave a small smile, hoping her disappointment didn’t show.
 
“Well, I should probably get back, but I just wanted to come over and say hi really quickly.
 
It was nice meeting you all.”
 
She caught Kate’s eye.
 
“And are we still on for Monday?”

“You got it,” the dark-haired woman smiled back.
 
“I’ll text you the address.”

“Sounds great.”

“It was nice to meet you, Maddie,” which came from Alex, in a deep rumbly voice.

She smiled and gave them a brief wave.
 
Then she turned to Caleb and said, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
 

She’d only made it halfway back to her table when she felt a warm hand clasp her arm and Caleb was turning her around to face him.
 
She was all too aware that every one of his friends was watching them and when Caleb bent his head towards her, Luke actually grinned.

“Let me come home with you tonight,” he rumbled in her ear, sending shivers down her spine.

“What?” she whispered, wide-eyed, but even through the noise in the bar, she knew he’d heard her.

“Think about it.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she told him, pulling away to look him in the eye, her mind still reeling.

“It isn’t,” he said, frowning.
 
“But I don’t care anymore.”

Maddie watched him carefully.
 
“Are you drunk?”

He seemed irritated by the suggestion.
 
“No.”

“I’m here with someone, Caleb,” she reminded him.

“I know,” he said, more than a little irritated now.
 
She watched as he tossed a glare over her shoulder, in the direction of her table.
 
“Leave him.
 
We can go right now.”

What scared her was that even though it was a crazy suggestion—absolutely ludicrous—she still wanted to say yes.
 
Even though he was surly and rude and had just ignored her in front of his friends, she still wanted to say yes.

What the hell was wrong with her?

She’d never been with a man before, had always wanted her first time to be with someone she loved, but the thought of being with Caleb set her blood on fire.

“I’m not going to leave right now,” the more rational part of her said.
 
“I came with my friend anyway.
 
She’s my ride.”

“I drove.
 
I can take you home.”

“Caleb…”

“Just think about it, princess,” he repeated.
 
It was his tone that did her in.
 
Soft and intimate and the way he said ‘princess’ made it sound like an affectionate pet name.

“I have to get back,” she said quietly.

“I’ll wait outside when you’re ready to leave,” he told her, like he already knew she’d say yes, the arrogant prick.
 
And with that, he turned and headed back to his own table.
 
His friends’ gazes all swung around immediately, acting like they hadn’t been watching their exchange.

In a daze, Maddie retreated.
 
Paul was looking at her and then looked over at Caleb across the room.
 
“A friend of yours?” he asked carefully.

Kyra kicked her under the table and shot her a look that said
we need to go to the bathroom
now
.

“Something like that,” she murmured, taking a hefty gulp of wine.

EIGHTEEN

Maddie looked at her face in the bathroom mirror and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kyra looking at her expectedly.

“Well?” she asked.
 
“What are you going to do?”

Maddie had told her what Caleb said.
 
After a brief moment of repeated, “Oh my God, oh my God,” from Kyra—honestly, Maddie was just impressed that her best friend hadn’t shrieked in ecstasy—she’d gone quiet.

“I don’t know,” Maddie said.

“What is your initial gut instinct?
 
If you had to answer him right now, what would you say?”

Maddie’s initial gut instinct was to say yes.
 
But she didn’t want to tell Kyra that.
 
Kyra, out of all people, knew that Maddie was a hopeless romantic at heart.
 
She dreamed of love, of being wooed, of a man that respected her.
 
So, why had she chosen Caleb out of all men?

“If you’re having second thoughts, babe,” Kyra began quietly after Maddie’s hesitation, “then I don’t think you should go through with it.”

“I…I don’t think I’m having second thoughts,” Maddie admitted, just as quietly.
 
Even though the bathroom at Hemlock Tavern was miraculous empty at the moment, she still expected someone—or worse, one of Caleb’s friends—to burst in at any moment.
 
“That’s what scares me.
 
I should
not
want this, right?
 
I hardly know him.
 
I mean,
really
know him…”

Kyra sighed, pushing a stray hair away when it fell into her face.
 
“It doesn’t surprise me.”

“What?”

“Look, like I’ve told you before, you’ve always had a weird thing for him.
 
And now that you finally have him, I’m not surprised that you’d want him.”

“You don’t think it’s a mistake?”

“It’s only a mistake if you think it will be, Maddie,” Kyra replied softly.
 
“But if you really want my opinion…I don’t know if you should.”

Maddie had half expected her to be grinning, nudging her, telling her to finally give it up to the man who’d haunted her dreams for the last decade or so.
 
As though sensing Maddie’s uncertainty, Kyra remained calm, like she knew that if she teased her, Maddie’s nerves would ratchet up even more.

Kyra looked over her shoulder at the bathroom door, making sure it remained closed before she said, “I’m not sure I’m his biggest fan, babe.
 
Not after some of the things he’s said to you.
 
But I know you.
 
I know that you’ll obsess over this decision.
 
I know that if you don’t go through with it, you’ll be wondering what would’ve happened if you had.
 
But please, please, please, don’t romanticize this.
 
Look at it for what it is and then make a decision.
 
Caleb isn’t relationship material.
 
He’s told you so himself.
 
If you do this, don’t expect roses and a proposal the next morning.
 
Expect him to be
gone
.
 
And I’m not telling you this to hurt you, I’m telling you this because I just don’t want you to
get
hurt.”

“Thank you,” Maddie murmured, looking down at her hands.
 
“I appreciate you telling me the truth.”

The truth was she wanted to give into him.
 
She
would
regret it if she said no to him.
 
And, sadly enough, she felt a little thrill go through her whenever she thought that Caleb Montgomery would be her first.

But she also knew that she’d be disappointed with herself if she
did
go through with it.
 
She’d waited for the right guy to come along all these years.
 
Maybe he would never come around.
 
Maybe she’d be a forty-year-old virgin and live with twenty cats, who’d eventually eat her when she died alone.
 
Maybe she would regret this, but at least she knew that she made this decision true to herself, to her values.
 
Maddie didn’t want to settle.
 
Unless Caleb gave her any indication of wanting something more with her, she wouldn’t sell herself short.

So what if telling him
no
might be one of the biggest mistakes of her life?
 
So what if being around him was hard enough without wanting to jump his bones every second?
 
She would survive.
 
And she’d leave him with her dignity in tact and she’d be proud of herself, even if she went home alone, yet again, and cursed herself.

“I’m not going to do it,” she told Kyra.

Kyra tried to hide her relief.
 
But all she said was a simple, “Okay.
 
Then let’s get back to our dates.”

As luck would have it, right when they stepped out of the bathroom, Caleb was heading towards the men’s restroom.
 
He paused when he saw her, and Kyra looked between the two of them and then said, “I’ll see you back at the table.”