Beyond Broken(41)

Before she realized it, she asked, "Did you stay here again last night?"

Caleb scowled. And that was the only answer she needed.

"You should at least get a good pillow," she found herself saying when all her mind was telling her was to shut the hell up.

Caleb leveled her with a dark look, like he couldn't believe she actually had the nerve to lecture him on pillows of all things.



       
         
       
        

He might not appreciate her concern, but he caught her looking at him massage the back of his neck about an hour later. The look he gave her dared her to say something, but Maddie wisely kept her big mouth shut.

Another hour after that, she leaned back in her chair with a contented sigh and stretched out her hands. "That's 2012 done," she murmured. Just two years and 11 months more to go until this office was officially organized. She didn't know how John Montgomery had survived tax season for as long as he did with no audit in sight, but Maddie was almost impressed.

"Good," Caleb said. "Get started on 2013."

Maddie looked at the time. It was a half hour to six and she needed to be on her way home. She had a date to get ready for and she still wasn't sure how she felt about it.

"Aren't you going out with your friends tonight?"

"Yes."

"Well, don't you want to get ready?"

Caleb gave her a smirk from across the office and Maddie was torn between wanting to slap it off his face or kissing those surprisingly soft lips again.

"Why don't you just ask me if you can leave, princess?"

Maddie almost rolled her eyes. He'd remembered her plans for the night. He knew she had somewhere to be and yet again he was dangling it over her head with an imaginary fishing pole. "I could just walk out."

"I could just magically lose one of your gift cards."

Maddie forced a smile. "Oh, I didn't know you liked Sephora. By all means, go ahead. I'll go to bed smiling tonight knowing I helped you buy a new shade of lipstick that really compliments your skin tone."

His jaw ticked, but Maddie thought he looked almost amused, not irritated. "Get started on 2013."

Maddie stood up from her chair after she saved her work and shut down the laptop. "I have somewhere I need to be."

"Oh, like on your date?" Caleb sneered and if Maddie didn't know any better she'd say he was jealous. But this was Caleb Montgomery they were talking about and the thought of him getting jealous over her date was so ridiculous she didn't even entertain it, no matter how much a part of her secretly wanted it to be true.

"Yes, actually. Unlike you, I can't just put on a new t-shirt and call it a day. There's a process."

"Enlighten me."

"Do you know how long it takes women to get ready for dates?" she asked, rounding her work station to grab her jacket sprawled out on one of the filing boxes. She shrugged into it just as Caleb stood. "Hours."

"You look fine," he replied, his voice verging on reluctance.

Maddie paused as she bent down to retrieve her purse. "What?" Did Caleb Montgomery just say she looked 'fine'? Was the world ending? 

"Nothing," he said, another scowl settling onto his features. Not like it ever really left …

"If that's your version of a compliment, I'll take it. Why, Caleb, I don't think you've ever said anything nicer to me than saying I looked 'fine,'" she teased. "I better prick my ego to let some air out or my head won't fit through the door."

Caleb rolled his eyes. "You can stay another hour before getting ready for your date."

"Why do you keep saying it like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like you just stepped in something gross and it won't come off the bottom of your shoe."

"He's probably a prick," he grumbled. "You shouldn't waste your time."

"And now you're giving me dating advice? When was the last time you went out on a date?"

Caleb raised his brows in that arrogant way that told her something along the lines of I don't need to date because have you seen me?

Maddie silently, begrudgingly agreed. Besides, she couldn't even picture Caleb out on a date. The thought of him in a nice button-up, wining and dining some girl was simply ludicrous. What she didn't like was the sharp, unexpected stab of jealousy that went right along with that image.

She was going crazy.

"I'm leaving," she declared, as if saying it out loud would make it true and propel her out the door. "I'll see you tomorrow."

But Caleb pushed the door closed, his body suddenly close and scalding hot against her own. Maddie stared at the dull, cracked wood of the door and felt Caleb's breaths on the back of her neck.