Beyond Broken (The Bay Boys #3) (41 page)

His hot seed spilled inside her, coating her walls in lashes.
 
And then their ragged breathing filled the room.
 
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Caleb’s arms tremble with his exertion and then he rolled off her so he wouldn’t crush her.

Dazed, body tingling, and so incredibly exhausted, Maddie barely felt Caleb loosen the belt that held her wrists.
 
He massaged them with his fingertips and her eyelids fluttered shut.
 
Just the thought of moving made her even sleepier, so she just laid there, not caring that she was a sweaty mess or that she wouldn’t be able to walk tomorrow.

“Good?” Caleb murmured, his lips grazing her jawline.

She didn’t trust her voice, but she turned her head so she could kiss him, her eyes already closing in satisfied—
beyond
satisfied—exhaustion.
 
She hoped that was answer enough.

The last thing she remembered before she passed out was Caleb pulling her closer and the sound of the belt dropping on the floor beside the bed.

THIRTY-SIX

After one of the most restful sleeps of her life, Maddie woke up nauseous and a little aroused, a somewhat alarming and strange combination.
 
Her whole body tingled from the overstimulation from the night before and when she moved her legs, the space between her thighs throbbed lightly.

Caleb was still sleeping soundly next to her, on his back, his naked thigh resting next to her hip.
 
He was completely
out
, which pleased Maddie because she figured that he wasn’t getting nearly enough sleep anyway.
 
He’d been working himself too hard, coming home too late and leaving too early.

Looking at the clock, she muttered, “Shoot,” when she realized that she’d missed her earliest class of the week by almost two hours, considering it was a little past ten o’ clock.
 
Making a mental note to stop by her professor’s office when she got to campus today, she shimmied out from underneath Caleb’s arm without waking him and stumbled towards the bathroom on shaky legs.
 
Her whole body was sore, as though she’d taken a weight lifting class at the gym for five hours as opposed to the sensual torture Caleb had put her through last night.

And despite her rising nausea, when she looked in the mirror, Maddie saw a different woman.
 
Flushed cheeks, bright eyes, rounding belly, and whisker burn around her nipples from Caleb.
 
She touched between her thighs and her knees trembled.

Remembering that she hadn’t showered or brushed her teeth last night, she quickly remedied the latter and then hopped into the shower, turning it on as hot as she could stand.
 
But she was sensitive everywhere.
 
Even sliding a soaped-up loofa over her body bordered on
too much
.
 
She wondered how she’d be able to get through her day like this.

Right after she rinsed out the conditioner in her hair, her skin prickled and she turned to see Caleb leaning against the bathroom counter, his arms crossed over his chest, an impressive erection jutting from his body.
 
Through the steam and the glass door of the shower, he was watching her bathe herself.
 
Her lips parted and she automatically reacted, a rush of desire making her skin feel like it was on fire.
 
Was it healthy to be this attracted to a man?
 
One who made her light up like a
flipping
firework?

Maddie watched as he uncrossed his arms and then reached for the door, intending to join her.
 
When he closed it behind him, enclosing the both of them in the small space, he backed her against the tiled wall, their bodies sliding together.
 
Then he was giving her the sweetest kisses, his arms wrapping around her like he never wanted to let go, and it was possibly the most romantic moment of her life.

A dreamy smile came over her face and Caleb ran his palms down her body until he cupped her around the waist, pulling her even closer.

He still looked a little sleepy, like he’d woken abruptly from a deep sleep, and with water gliding down his body, wetting his dark hair in the process, the result was absolutely devastating.

Without thought, she murmured, “You’re so handsome, Caleb.”
 
And beautiful.
 
And sensual.
 
Everything about him took her breath away.

His face was unreadable, but his brow lowered just a little bit, like he was confused and maybe just a tad uncomfortable.
 
Hadn’t anyone complimented him before?
 
How could anyone not have?

“It’s true,” she whispered, hesitantly sliding her arms around his neck, her breasts pressing into his stomach.
 
She held his eyes so he’d see the truth in them.

He didn’t say anything but he did lower his head until his forehead rested on her shoulder and then they were simply holding one another, naked, under the spray of the hot shower.
 
And Maddie didn’t know if it was her out-of-whack hormones or because she still felt overwhelmed by what happened last night or both, but she started tearing up.

And she just knew, right then and there, that she loved the man standing in the circle of her arms.
 
The wounded, beautiful, short-tempered, loyal, generous man whom she had perhaps always loved.

With that same clarity, she also realized that she could never tell him.
 
He’d never accept it.
 
The thought of him pushing her away yet again was too painful to even stomach.

So, she would take what she could get.
 
Did that make her a little pathetic?
 
Perhaps.
 
But when it came to this man, she didn’t care.
 
He mattered too much.

And the old saying goes: love makes fools of us all.

They stayed like that for a while, neither moving, and Maddie was content to just stay where she was.
 
Eventually, Caleb rumbled in her ear, “How do you feel this morning?”

Even though her cheeks were already flushed from the steam, she swore they got hotter.
 
“I feel…everything,” she admitted, her tone a little breathy.

Caleb made a strangled sound that sounded like a mixture of a cough and a groan.
 
“You’re killing me, princess.”

Maddie felt his erection between them twitch and even with everything they’d done last night, she suddenly felt shy.
 
This—whatever ‘this’ was—was all new to her, so she didn’t know what to do or what to say to him.
 
But that was okay since he seemed content to stay quiet.

Eventually, he rinsed himself under the hot spray and Maddie watched, transfixed, as his muscles flexed and gleamed.
 
She felt like a voyeur watching him, but no one could expect her to look away?

Maddie took her time studying the tattoos that he’d revealed to her the night before.
 
The one that she’d noticed all those months ago peeking out from underneath his shirt sleeve was a beautiful abstract, swirled design that spread out over his shoulder.
 
There was a smaller tattoo on his opposite arm, on his inner bicep, that simply read
00:00
, like a timer would.
 
But the largest one on his body was the one that ran the length of his left torso, edging onto his chest.
 
It was a weathered black oak tree, all roots and bare branches and sharp angles.
 
She spied his uncle’s name expertly hidden within the lines of the tree and her heart softened for the millionth time towards this man.

Caleb saw her looking at it as he rinsed the soap off his body.
 
He tugged her under the spray, warming her skin, as she looked at it up close.

“It’s one of Peter’s drawings,” he told her.

“It is?” she asked, surprised, even though she shouldn’t be.
 
One of the first drawings she’d seen of Peter’s had been of a tree, very similar to this one, except a little more macabre.

Caleb nodded.
 
“When I saw it, I knew I wanted it.”

“He
is
very talented.
 
It’s beautiful,” she murmured, tracing one of the branches and liking it when he let her.

“You’ll have to tell him that.
 
That kid still thinks that what he does is just average.
 
Never good enough.”

Maddie agreed, but despite all her suggestions to him over the past few months to enter his art into contests so that he could finally realize that he had talent fell on deaf ears.
 
She figured that he’d do it when he wanted to…eventually.

“You don’t think he’s too upset over what happened last night?” she asked quietly, voicing something that had been on her mind.
 
“I saw that house, Caleb, and the way his father was.
 
How could he not feel
something
?”

“I’m sure he does,” he told her.
 
“But it’s different when you grow up with that, Maddie.
 
He’s probably seen it for most of his life.
 
It’s his ‘normal.’”

She shook her head.
 
“Not anymore though.
 
I just hope his father leaves him alone.”

“He will,” Caleb said, his voice hardening, but the anger wasn’t directed at her.
 
“Trust me.”

She nodded and then took his hand, running her fingertips over the scrapes that resulted from Caleb’s confrontation with Peter’s father.
 
If Caleb said that he wouldn’t be bothering Peter, then she believed him.

She pressed her lips to his knuckles and watched as something lit up in his eyes, although she couldn’t figure out what exactly.

“Caleb?”

“Yes, princess?” he murmured, voice gone all husky.

“You’re going to be a great father.”

*
   
*
   
*

Caleb sighed, scrubbing a hand down his face.
 
He’d only been at work a couple hours and he couldn’t get focused.
 
Every time he allowed his thoughts to wander, he thought of Maddie, and trying
not
to think about her only made him want to think about her even more.

Leaving for work after their shower together had been one of the greatest tests of willpower he’d ever experienced.
 
All he’d wanted to do was wrap her legs around his waist and take her against the wall of the shower until he brought them both release, but two things had stopped him.
 
One being that she was probably too sensitive from the night before.
 
The second was that she’d shaken him to the core and he couldn’t even pinpoint why.

No
, he thought, blowing out a long breath.
 
He knew why.
 
It was the way she’d looked up at him with those earnest, soft eyes, like she saw every part of him—the good and the bad and every little corner where darkness festered—and she still accepted it all.
 
And that was something that he couldn’t wrap his head around.
 
Complete acceptance.

Focus
, he commanded himself, forcing himself to stare back at his computer screen, like that alone would make him work.
 
He was in the process of setting up another restoration with some tech millionaire in Silicon Valley who had a thing for old cars.
 
He’d heard that
Montgomery Restoration & Repair
was the best in the Bay Area…and he was right.
 
But Caleb would have to hire a couple of guys for the job since the client wanted a quick turnaround.
 
Caleb usually handled most of the restoration jobs, just at a slower pace, but the pay that the millionaire was offering was more than enough for Caleb to justify hiring more men.

More than enough
, he thought, looking at the multiple zeros.
 
It would be enough to pay off the remainder of Maddie’s school debt, pay for a nursery for the baby, and then some.

And even though he knew that he should be on the phone right now with the millionaire, sealing the deal, his eyes kept straying to his cell phone, wondering what Maddie was doing and whether she liked what they’d done last night.

You’re going to be a great father
, she’d said and those words would be branded onto his brain forever.
 
He hadn’t realized how much he feared he’d make a terrible father until Maddie voiced her faith in him.
 
It meant more to him than she probably realized.

Before he knew what he was doing, he was reaching for his phone.
 
He might as well call her or else he wouldn’t get any work done.
 
He told himself that he’d done it more than enough times these past few months, that he called her all the time to check up on her while he was at work.
 
But for some reason, this felt different.
 
After the intimacy of last night and what happened in the shower this morning, this felt like he was writing her a fucking love letter or something.

“Hi,” she murmured when she answered and Caleb swore that his heart skipped a beat.
 
He could hear the smile in her voice.

Frowning and rubbing his chest, he grumbled, “What are you doing?”

Smooth, Montgomery.
 
Real smooth.

“I see it’s my afternoon check-up call already,” she teased.
 
Then she ran through her list, which she seemed to spout off just because she liked to poke fun at him and his overbearing ways when it came to her health.
 
“I’m walking back to campus after lunch with Kyra.
 
No nausea today, my water consumption is optimal, I had a sandwich, an apple, and
two
brownies, and I don’t have a temperature.
 
Would you like to know anything else?”