Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 98176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
I raced behind him, grabbing the door before he could slam it and drive away.
“Wait!” I pleaded. “Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“I need to get my suitcase before we go!”
“You,” he growled, “are not coming with me. I don’t know what games you’re playing, girl, but I’m not having any of it.”
My heart sank. “I’m not playing any games,” I insisted. “You hired me—you promised me a month’s trial.”
He got out of the truck, looming over me. His eyes were dark and stormy, his shoulders tense. “I hired a kid named Charly.”
I thrust out my chin, refusing to let him see how scared I was. “You hired me. Nothing has changed about my qualifications. I can do the job.”
“How many other lies have you told me?”
“I haven’t told you any lies. You never asked if I was male or female—you just assumed. In fact, you stated you didn’t care. I’d say you’re the one who lied,” I responded, slamming my hands on my hips.
He ran a hand over his face. “Go back to wherever you came from Charlynn—or Charly. Whoever you are.” He began to turn away, and I grabbed at his arm. If he drove away, I had no idea what I was going to do. I had enough money to get back to Toronto, but the next bus wasn’t until Thursday. I didn’t have enough money to live on until then. And once I got back to town, I had nowhere to go. He couldn’t abandon me here.
“Please,” I begged, my voice low. “I can’t go back. I-I have nothing there.”
He dropped his head, cursing under his breath. I kept talking.
“I can do all the things you need. Give me a chance. Two weeks. Give me two weeks at least to prove I can do the job. I’ll—” my voice broke, and I swallowed “—I’ll even work for free. Just board.”
He didn’t say anything for a moment. When he spoke, his voice was cold. “Last night never happened. I don’t know you, and you sure the hell don’t know me.”
“All right,” I agreed, desperate. Once he calmed down, I was certain we could talk and clear the air. But I had to get him to agree to let me stay.
“You want a two-week trial?”
“Yes.”
He still didn’t look at me. “Then Charly gets one. I was expecting a guy. You get treated exactly like one. There are no concessions because you’re a girl. You do what I say, when I say it. You work hard, and you don’t complain.” He turned and looked me in the eye, his gaze stony and removed. “I never saw you before today, do you understand?”
I tamped down my odd feeling of hurt. “Yes.”
“Know one thing, Charly. I hate liars. I hate deceit and subterfuge. I catch you, even suspect you’re doing anything underhanded, and you’re gone. I don’t care if you have to walk back to Toronto, you’re out of my place. You hear what I’m saying?”
His voice was even, his tone commanding. His gaze never wavered from mine. Still, I heard it—the underlying pain of something that had hurt him. Something that caused this reaction. I didn’t like this cold man in front of me. Especially not compared to the warm, passionate lover I’d had last night, But I needed the job, and I needed to prove to him he could trust me.
“I hear you.”
“Then get your suitcase and get in.” He swung himself into the truck and slammed the door. He started the engine and rolled down his window. “Move it, Charly. I don’t have all day.”
I grabbed my case and headed to the truck.
“Good luck, lady,” the kid called from the bench. “I think you’re going to need it.”
He was right.
I hauled my case up and over the liftgate and scampered up into the truck. Maxx didn’t wait until I was buckled in to reverse. He gunned the engine and drove like a bat out of hell down the dirt road toward his place.
I held on and didn’t say a word.
MAXX
I drove like a madman, my anger burning a hole in my gut. The last thing I expected was to find Charlynn at the general store. The one fleeting second of pleasure had been eclipsed by fury when I realized that the beautiful, sexy woman who had been haunting my thoughts all morning was the person I had hired to help me straighten out my world.
She wasn’t going to straighten it; she was going to blow it the fuck to smithereens. How was I supposed to work with her, live with her, after what we shared last night?
How was I ever going to trust her?
I tried not to groan out loud when I realized perhaps part of my anger was due to the fact that I wasn’t sure I could trust myself. This morning, in the clear light of day, without a bit of makeup on and wearing a pair of jeans and a girly blouse, she was stunning. Her hair caught the light, a burnished cascade of curls down her back. When I had turned around and seen her, my first instinct had been to yank her close, bury my hands in that gorgeous hair and kiss her.