Beyond Broken (The Bay Boys #3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

me off here,” she told Caleb.   Her voice was startling loud after the prolonged silence.   “I live just up the road.”
    A small lift of his shoulder, which she took for a half-hearted shrug.   He smoothly pulled up next to a curb.
    “Thank you,” she said softly.   Despite his cold treatment, she was grateful for the ride home.   Still, it was hard to meet his eyes.   “I really appreciate it.”
    Maddie didn’t wait for a response.   She didn’t expect to get one anyway.   She unbuckled her seatbelt and then pushed open the passenger door.   Just when she was about to close it, she heard him.
    “You can start on the bookkeeping when you pick up your car tomorrow night,” he said in his gravelly voice.   Her lips parted in surprise, eyes flashing to his.   His obsidian gaze wasn’t focused on her, however, but on the dark road in front of him.   “Be there at six.   But don’t say I didn’t warn you.   It’s a lot of work.”
    “Thank you,” she said, her voice a little breathless.
    Maddie stood there, staring at the man who used to be the boy she’d cared for ten years ago.   A smile spread over her lips.   Maybe Caleb wasn’t as heartless as he seemed.   He couldn’t be, if he was giving her a chance to pay off her car repairs.   That kind boy who’d helped her in the cafeteria that one humiliating day was still buried deep inside this hardened man.   That gave her more hope than anything.
    She was just about to shut the car door when something occurred to her.   Popping her head back in with a small smile, she said, “My name is Maddie, by the way.   I didn’t introduce myself.”
    Caleb finally turned his dark gaze on her.   Cold, unreadable.   He was still the same man.   But even he couldn’t extinguish the sense of accomplishment boiling up within her.
    So, she continued to smile at him, because she figured that eventually she’d break through that wall of ice.   “I won’t be late,” she told him.   And then she shut the door, waving at him before turning towards her apartment complex.   Once she rounded the corner next to the leasing office, she heard the smooth purr of his engine as he pulled away from the curb.

    *     *     *

    Maddie .
    Fuck.   A sweet name for a sweet girl.
    Caleb fisted the steering wheel, wondering if he’d just made a big mistake as he turned on the offramp for the freeway home.   For fuck’s sake, what on earth had compelled him to give into her?   Again!   For the third time in one night.
    It wasn’t the freckles.   It wasn’t that damn glorious hair, or her shapely thighs, or the way she squirmed in his passenger seat on the ride to her apartment.   And it certainly wasn’t because of those solemn looking brown eyes as she thanked him for the ride home.   No, it definitely wasn’t any of those reasons.
    Caleb cursed.
    Maddie.
    He only hoped that he had enough restraint around her.   For her sake.
    And for his.

FIVE

    “Of all the stupid things for you to do!” her brother, Thomas, railed at her.   In the car, his voice seemed louder, probably because Maddie had nowhere to escape to, especially flying down the freeway at 80—no, 83 MPH.
    “It’s not like I purposefully put diesel into my car.”
    “I would expect a newly licensed teenager to make a mistake like that.   Not a 25-year-old grad student, who has been driving for almost ten years.”
    “Thanks, Dad ,” Maddie drawled.   “I get it, okay?   I messed up.   I know I messed up, so you don’t have to rub it in.”   The truth was, Maddie was extremely embarrassed already.   More than embarrassed since Caleb Montgomery was the one who discovered just how much of an idiot she actually was.   “And where were you last night?   I was trying to reach you.”
    Thomas sighed and ran a hand through his hair.   “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t pick up.   I was with Lara and—”
    “Ugh, spare me the gory details.   I don’t need to know that