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

“That’s not cold.”

“Well,
I
would be cold.”

Irritation made his jaw tick.
 
Fucking Brian.
 
If not for him, Caleb would still be in the office upstairs trying to sort through the receipts and forms that his uncle had obviously not given much thought to.
 
Not that he enjoyed bookkeeping much more than having to drive this princess around, but he would at least be
alone
.

Caleb didn’t respond to her, hoping she’d take the hint.
 
He still wasn’t sure why he decided to tow her car back.
 
It would’ve been easier to just call another service and let them deal with her.
 
But she’d looked up at him with those damn big brown eyes and the next thing he knew he was walking towards his truck.

It made him resent her all the more.

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched her.
 
She was quite plain, he noticed, remembering her pale skin, slim nose, and light pink lips.
 
There was nothing special about her features by any means.
 
Her hair, however, was something else entirely, he thought begrudgingly.
 
It was a soft brown with gold and red tints that had shimmered under the garage lights.
 
He’d never seen anything like it before.
 
He thought of it spread out on his sheets or fisted in his palm.

And she had freckles.
 
A light smattering across the bridge of her nose.
 
Innocent…yet alluring.

His fist clenched on the wheel.

Caleb had no business getting involved with a woman like her.
 
Or any woman for that matter.
 
Sexually, he never slept with the same woman twice.
 
Sex had always been complicated for him.
 
He had certain kinks, but he’d never had trouble convincing a woman to try them out.
 
He could be charming when he wanted to be.
 
But most of the time, he just wanted to be alone.

Like now.

“I’m not sure what’s wrong with my car,” she told him after a brief moment of silence.
 
His hand fisted tightly on the wheel as she chattered on.
 
“It just started sputtering out of nowhere.
 
And then when I pulled off the road, the engine died and it wouldn’t start up again.
 
I thought I was out of gas at first, but of course, that couldn’t be the case.
 
I’d just filled up about twenty minutes before that happened.
 
Well, not necessarily
filled
up.”

Jesus.
 
If there was a God, like his uncle believed, He obviously wasn’t showing Caleb any mercy now.
 
He tried to tune her out, but it was virtually impossible.
 
Her voice wrapped around him in the small confines of the truck.

“There was this group of men, you see.
 
They were at the far end of the gas station and they made me nervous because they kept looking over at me and laughing.
 
So, I tried to hurry and fill up, but my hands were shaking and I couldn’t make the nozzle fit, so I funneled in as much as I could to tide me over until I got back home.
 
And then this happens of all—”

Caleb reached forward and flipped on the radio, cutting her off.
 
He cranked up the volume so that if she tried to continue, she’d have to yell.
 
He thought he caught a wounded look on her face because she turned away to look out the passenger window.
 
He ignored the tiny flare of regret and drove on until he spotted a white Volkwagen pulled off the side of the road.

He didn’t bother asking if it was hers or not.
 
He drove past and then swung a u-turn before pulling off in front of it.
 
When he cut the truck’s engine, the silence in the car was deafening without the sound of blaring music and the woman sat there, her face still turned away.
 
He noticed she was tugging on a hair tie wrapped around her wrist, snapping and twisting it.

The sight of her so quiet—even though that was exactly what he wanted—bothered him.
 
He didn’t even know this woman’s name.
 
Before he knew what he was doing, he murmured, “I’m sorry.”
 
The words rebounded around the cab of the truck like an echo.
 
She jerked a little, so he knew the words found their mark.

The woman turned to him, offered a small smile, something he would not have done had their situation been reversed, and said, “It’s all right.
 
My brother also thinks I’m annoying, so I don’t blame you.”

Caleb didn’t know what bothered him more…the fact that she’d just likened him to her brother or that she forgave people so easily.

He pushed the door open and walked towards her car.
 
He heard her high heels clicking on the pavement behind him as she followed.
 
His body tightened; he’d always loved a woman in high heels.
 
He imagined them pressing into his back as he thrust between her legs.

Angry at himself, Caleb shook his head and closed off his mind.
 
He let it go blank, like he used to when he’d been younger.

“Keys?” he grunted.

He heard a jiggling sound as she pulled them from the back pocket of her dark jeans.
 
He did a double-take when she dropped them into his outstretched hand.

Fucking hell.
 
A pink rhinestone-encrusted ‘M,’ an assortment of touristy landmarks keychains, a small little plush dog with huge blue eyes, a mini
flashlight
.
 
How the hell had this monstrosity even
fit
in her jeans?

Caleb scowled down at the offending object and then glared up at their owner.
 
She looked up at him with those wide innocent eyes that got him into this mess in the first place.
 
And all he could think about was bending her over the hood of his truck and fucking her senseless, despite her ridiculous, tacky keychains.

He turned to unlock her door with a barely concealed growl, his body pulsing with angry desire.
 
He decided then that it’d been much too long since he’d last had a woman.

Caleb slid into the driver’s seat of her car.
 
Her delicate, citrusy scent was more noticeable in the confines of the little Volkswagen.
 
His mouth watered, but everything that made him desire her more angered him.
 
He pushed the thought away.
 
The quicker he towed the car back, the sooner he could get away from her.

Caleb tried the ignition just once, to make sure it wasn’t the battery.
 
The engine sputtered, a strange clicking sound he, unfortunately, recognized.
 
Something she said nudged into his mind.
 
He slowly climbed out of the car.

“What did you mean when you said you
funneled
in the gas?”
 
He was afraid he already knew the answer and if what he thought was true, he couldn’t believe her carelessness.

The woman must’ve noticed something in his tone because she took a step away.
 
Good
, Caleb thought.
 
She should stay away.

“I…I couldn’t make the nozzle fit, so I held it there until some of the gas leaked in.”

Caleb took in a deep breath for patience.
 
“And that didn’t seem odd to you?”

“I was just trying to get out of there as quickly as possible.
 
I was nervous.
 
There were men—”

“What color was the nozzle you used?”

“I—I don’t know.
 
Green, maybe?”

“Un-fucking-believable,” he murmured, raking a hand through his hair.
 
“You used diesel, didn’t you?”

“Diesel?
 
Is there a difference between that and gasoline?”

Fuck, this woman was clueless.
 
Completely
fucking
clueless.
 
Caleb didn’t know why but her naiveness infuriated him.
 
She was so young, even though she couldn’t be more than three or four years younger than him.
 
Craving the inside of his office, where he’d be alone, where no one could touch him, he told himself to take calming breaths.
 
He’d be there now if not for this slip of a woman.

“You’re looking at a minimum of $450 to flush out your engine and fuel lines.”
 
He ignored her gasp.
 
“And that’s only if the spark plugs or filters aren’t damaged.
 
If they are, then it can be up to $800.”

Caleb simply quirked a brow at her look of outrage.

THREE

Maddie couldn’t believe her ears.

“$800?” she sputtered, her eyes wide.
 
“I don’t have that kind of money!”

She could barely afford her rent every month.
 
She briefly thought about putting it all on her credit card, but then she realized her credit limit was dismally low.

“Not my problem, princess.”
 
Caleb had the gall to actually smirk.
 
“That’s not including the tow, either.
 
It’s $100 for that.”

Teenage crush or not, Maddie wanted to swipe that smug look off Caleb Montgomery’s face.

“My car was only a mile away from your garage, if that!” she argued.
 
There was no way she was paying $100 for twenty minutes of his time.

“After hours,” was his explanation as he crossed his thick arms across his chest.
 
“It’s almost double what it would’ve been had your car broken down a few hours ago.”

“You’re deliberately taking advantage of me,” she accused, stepping closer.
 
Fire ignited in her blood.
 
“You know I have no where else to go!”
 
Caleb had a backbone of steel and he wasn’t backing down.
 
He stepped closer until they were almost toe-to-toe.

Glaring down at her, he said in a gravelly voice, “Then maybe next time,
princess
, you won’t put yourself in a situation where I
can
take advantage of you.”

It sounded like a threat and a warning.
 
But Maddie’s body reacted to the words in a way she didn’t understand.
 
She softened towards him as tingles shot down her spine, extending to the tips of her fingers and toes.
 
He was so close that his scent wrapped around her.
 
Her lips parted as she breathed in the woodsy, musky smell that sent awareness pulsing through her body.

Caleb gave her a look of disgust and stepped away.
 
Her breath whooshed out of her.
 
Embarrassed, she prayed that he hadn’t noticed the desire in her eyes.

Maddie drew in a calming breath.
 
Looking at the empty, dark road in front of her, unable to meet Caleb’s cold eyes, she clarified, “So, even if you find nothing wrong with the filters or plugs or whatever else, it’s still going to be $550.”

“Yes.”

He turned from her and Maddie watched as he lowered down a large red bracket to fit against the tires of her car.
 
It was attached to the truck, so once he securely pinned another bracket to cradle both of her front wheels, he climbed back in the driver’s seat and activated the lift mechanism.

It grated on her that it had taken only a minute.
 
It would prove to be the most expensive minute of her life.
 
No, scratch that.
 
The most expensive minute of her life was when she’d stupidly funneled diesel into her car.
 
Maddie didn’t know where she would get the money to pay for her costly mistake.
 
She could ask her brother or mom, but her pride wouldn’t let her.
 
She was a grown woman.
 
She couldn’t always run to her family whenever she had a problem.
 
No, she would figure this one out on her own.

“Let’s go,” Caleb told her, once he checked to make sure her car was secure.
 
He climbed into the driver’s seat of the truck and she took slow steps around the cab, debating her options.
 
She worked on campus part-time, but it went towards her tuition.
 
She didn’t think she could commit to another job, especially with her work load for grad school, but she could try to make time.
 
Maybe she could pick up a few freelance bookkeeping jobs like she’d done in college.

Then she remembered.
 
Caleb said something about invoices when he’d been talking to Brian.

Maddie hurried towards the door and yanked it open.
 
Caleb shot her a brooding glare, even as she smiled at him.
 
After buckling in, she ran over the words in her mind, trying to figure out the best way to offer her services.
 
She wouldn’t have much time to convince him.
 
The garage was only a little ways up the street.
 
A mile, if that.

She watched his hands flex on the wheel as he turned onto the road.
 
It was now or never…

“Look, I have an idea.”

Silence.
 
At least he didn’t turn on the radio again.
 
Maddie took that as a good sign.

“I think I have a solution to both of our problems.”

“Oh?
 
And what problem would that be, princess?”

Maddie wouldn’t let his sarcasm cut her.
 
She pushed on.
 
“I heard you say something about getting the invoices sorted and I just so happen to have bookkeeping experience.
 
I was thinking—”