Beyond Broken (The Bay Boys #3) (4 page)

“No.”

“You won’t even hear what I have to say?”

“It’s not gonna happen.
 
Don’t waste your breath.”

Frustration made her hands shake and she twisted in her seat, ignoring how the belt tangled.
 
“I could help you.
 
I’m quick, but I don’t make mistakes.
 
I used to do bookkeeping in college.
 
I’m
good
and I can help you get organized.
 
I have references, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Your references are the least of my worries,” Caleb growled.
 
“I run a business, not a charity.”

“I’m not looking for hand-outs!” she argued.
 
“I’m willing to do honest work in exchange for labor.”

Caleb refused to say anything more.
 
A tense moment later, Maddie saw the lights of the garage.
 
She’d run out of time.
 
But this was one of her final options, the last of which was taking out
more
loan money.
 
As though she didn’t owe enough already.
 
Her interest rates were already through the roof.

Caleb was scowling as he pulled the tow truck into his lot.
 
Maddie fumbled with her hair tie as he parked next to the open garage.
 
When he opened his door, she shot out of the truck.
 
Maybe she had pride where her family was concerned, but she obviously had none around strangers.
 
Did Caleb really count as a stranger?
 
She didn’t know.

He gave her a look that would’ve stopped a lesser woman in her tracks.
 
Maddie continued to approach, her eyes taking in the features she’d always longed to touch.

With a deep breath, she gave it one last try.

“Look, I know you don’t like me.
 
But I honestly can’t afford to pay for the repairs on my car.
 
We could work out a schedule, so you’ll never have to see me.
 
I can come in late at night or early in the morning, or whenever you’re not here.
 
Anything
.
 
I’m just asking for some sort of compromise.
 
And I know this isn’t normal, but I don’t know what else to do.
 
I can help you.
 
No one likes bookkeeping, but I actually quite enjoy it.
 
And I won’t screw up your business, I promise.”

Surprisingly, Caleb didn’t turn away from her gaze.
 
He held her eyes until she felt like he’d never let go.
 
Maddie never wanted him to let go.
 
She felt that same connection, the one that had always drawn her to him from afar.

“I said no.
 
And I meant it,” came his clipped, cold voice.

Maddie’s shoulders dropped.
 
She looked away, nodding, defeated.
 
With that, Caleb turned on his heel and headed towards the garage, leaving her standing like an idiot next to her diesel-filled car.

*
   
*
   
*

“Bring her car inside,” Caleb ordered Brian, tossing him the woman’s keychain monstrosity and the truck’s keys.
 
“We need to flush out the engine tomorrow.
 
She filled it with diesel.”

Brian whistled lowly, shaking his head.
 
“Sure thing, boss.”

Caleb trudged up to his uncle’s office.
 
With a sharp pang, he realized it was
his
office now.
 
Every time he entered, he still caught the same whiff of his uncle’s spicy aftershave mixed with stale cigarettes.
 
It was probably an unpleasant smell to most, but it felt like home to Caleb.
 
His uncle had been gone a month now, but Caleb hoped the smell lingered.
 
Given how much time his uncle had spent in this very room, he thought it just might stay forever.

He didn’t know why but he went over to the blinds and pulled them open.
 
The garage down below came into view and he stood at the window for a brief moment, looking for the woman.
 
A tightness loosened in Caleb’s chest when he saw her talking to Brian.

He studied her, taking in her unusual hair, her heels, her pert ass in those dark jeans.
 
His fists clenched, imagining things he had no business wanting.
 
In his mind’s eye, he could see her.
 
Her soft wrists were bound in his nylon rope.
 
The climbing rope would be too rough on her delicate skin.
 
Her legs were spread open for him in a frog tie, her ankles bound to the backs of her upper thighs.
 
That wonderful hair would be tickling her rosy nipples as she sucked the head of his cock, looking up at him with those innocent brown eyes.

Caleb let out a feral growl as he hardened violently.
 
The picture was too clear in his mind.
 
He could make it a reality.
 
He’d seen her desire when they were standing on that darkened road.

No
.

Something about her warned him away.
 
Caleb had the strange feeling that if he pursued just one night with her, he’d want more and more.

It was best to stay away.
 
He hadn’t lusted after a woman as much as her since Victoria.
 
With that thought, any desire he felt fled, only to have fury take its place.

Caleb watched from above as she spoke with Brian.
 
His uncle’s oldest friend patted her shoulder, smiling, probably reassuring her about her car.
 
But from the dismal look on the woman’s face, he could see it wasn’t working.
 
Brian handed her his cell phone and Caleb watched as she dialed a number before she lifted it to her ear.

A boyfriend, maybe?
 
There was no way that she didn’t have one.
 
She might be plain looking, but there was a sensuality to her that men would gravitate towards.

He turned away, surprised by the jealousy he felt, but kept the blinds open.
 
He still had work to do before he could call it a night.

Or you could just let her do all this work
.

No.
 
She’d be a distraction he didn’t need.
 
Picking up another folder, he shut down his thoughts as his eyes ran over a seemingly endless stream of numbers.

Time ticked by as he glanced over the cost of parts, old business transactions, receipts.
 
Numbers, numbers, numbers.
 
Tax season was going to be a nightmare.
 
After only twenty minutes, Caleb found he couldn’t concentrate and he pushed the papers away with a frustrated grunt.
 
Raking a hand over his tired face, his gaze strayed to the window and he pushed to his feet.

She was still there.

Brian was washing his hands in the sink on the far side of the garage, scrubbing with dish soap to help with the grease under his fingernails.
 
Caleb watched as Brian finished and wandered back over to the woman, who still held his cell phone in her palms.
 
She shook her head.
 
Even Caleb could see the embarrassed flush that pinkened her cheeks.

Impulse had him reaching for the lights and his keys.
 
Before he knew it, Caleb was locking up his uncle’s office and heading down to the main floor of the garage.
 
He told himself it was because it was late and he was tired, not because some part of him was intrigued by this woman, whose name he didn’t even know.

Yes, he was simply tired.

It had nothing to do with those damn freckles.

FOUR

Clank, clank, clank, clank.

The sound made Maddie’s heart skip a beat.
 
Her eyes automatically swiveled towards the metal staircase that wound up to Caleb’s office, only to see the man himself making his way down towards her and Brian.

Darn.
 
She’d hoped to be long gone by the time he came out of there.
 
Yet, she found herself in another embarrassing predicament.

Her brother wouldn’t pick up his phone.
 
He was probably with his girlfriend or something because he usually always picked up whenever she called.
 
Unless, he was…well…

She cringed at the thought of her older brother’s sex life.
 
Instead, she peeked up at Caleb out of the corner of her eye, trying to decide what her options were.
 
She could call a taxi at this hour, but she still didn’t have her stupid wallet, so she couldn’t pay the driver.
 
Did she have any cash lying around at home?
 
Would the driver believe her if she said she was just going to run inside real quick?
 
How much would a taxi cost from here to her apartment?

Caleb’s deep voice reached her ears.
 
“Why are you still here?”

Maddie glanced up at him, his sheer bulk filling her vision.
 
He’d stopped only a few feet away, his keys hanging in his left hand.
 
Brian wandered off to collect his things.
 
Peter was nowhere in sight.
 
It seemed they were closing up for the night and she still had no idea what to do.

With a sense of dread, she simply stared at him, debating whether or not she should give him another reason to think she was stupid.
 
She figured the diesel was enough to last a lifetime for a man like him.

“Did you not hear me?” he asked, his voice low.
 
Maddie started, unconsciously taking a step away.
 
Something flickered over Caleb’s face when he saw the movement.
 
Maddie could’ve sworn that he softened his voice just a little bit when he spoke to her next.
 
“I’m closing up.
 
You need to leave.”

“Aw, lay off her, Caleb,” Brian chimed in, stuffing his beefy arms into an old navy blue jacket.
 
He winked at Maddie.
 
“He has a crush on ya, is all.
 
He’s always mean to the pretty ones.”

“Brian,” Caleb warned in a clipped tone, even as Maddie’s face heated up.
 
Curse her pale skin.
 
She would never be able hide her embarrassment.

A crush on her?
 
Absolutely ridiculous.
 
Besides, it was coming about ten years too late, as far as she was concerned.

“Your brother still not pick up?” Brian asked her, concern touching his features.
 
Maddie shook her head slowly, opening her mouth to say that she would get a taxi, but Brian cut her off before she could get a word out.
 
“No problem.
 
Caleb here’ll take you home, sweetie.”
 
She and Caleb both started to protest, but he cut them off.
 
“I would take you myself, but my wife would work herself up if she knew I’d been out and about with a young lady like you.”

With that, Brian waved them both goodbye and, whistling, sauntered over to his car parked out in the lot.
 
They both watched him drive away, his headlights glaring and taillights flashing, before all was silent again.

Maddie bent down to retrieve her purse, which she’d settled against a red toolbox with peeling paint.
 
Her throat felt tight as she met Caleb’s eyes.
 
They were unreadable, as usual.
 
She forced a smile, clearing her throat.
 
“It’s all right.
 
I’m just going to get a taxi.
 
I’ll come back tomorrow for my car.”

The moment she turned away from his obsidian gaze, her smile died.
 
Maddie let her hair form a curtain around the side of her face so he wouldn’t see.
 
She was exhausted.
 
She just wanted to get home.
 
But first, she had to find some way of hunting down a taxi, because there was no way was she going to admit to Caleb that she let her phone die.

Maddie made it maybe two steps before she heard him curse lowly.

“Get in the car,” he told her, quiet resignation permeating his tone.

“No, really, I’m just going to—”

“Don’t be ridiculous.
 
Just get in the damn car.
 
I still have to close up.”
 
Caleb must’ve beeped his keys because Maddie saw a shiny black SUV light up at the far end of the lot.

“Seriously, I—”

“Jesus, woman!
 
Do you have to fight me on everything?”
 
His eyes flashed with frustration.

Maddie was grasping at straws.
 
Anything so that she wouldn’t have to endure a ride home with him.
 
“I don’t even know you,” she protested, hoping her half-lie sounded convincing.
 
Caleb, of course, wouldn’t think anything of it, because as far as he knew, they didn’t know each other.
 
They’d only exchanged a few words with each other in high school.
 
Obviously, Caleb didn’t remember, even though Maddie remembered every second.
 
“You could be a serial killer or something!”

“You seriously want to play that card now?”
 
Caleb asked, cocking a brow.

Maddie’s lips parted automatically at the picture he made.
 
He was so unbelievably handsome that it made her chest physically ache…and yet he was so unbelievably rude.

“Stop wasting my time, princess.
 
Get in the car so I can lock up.”
 
He turned from her, striding towards the back of the garage.