by Lily Danes
“I never needed a key before. Jared’s in charge of the properties.”
“And he’s terrible at his job. He’s never there.” Be calm, Maddie reminded herself. She tapped her thumb and forefinger together five times. “Which means Bree can’t get the key to her cabin, which means I still have a roommate.”
Her boss’s brows drew together as he struggled to understand her frustration. Oliver was the firstborn son of the richest family in town. There wouldn’t have been a day of his life when he needed to split the rent to get by.
“I thought you and Bree were best friends,” he said, as perplexed as ever. The man masterfully ran the largest shipping operation between Oakland and Portland, but he didn’t always understand people. After all, there were rules to shipping. Schedules, weights, and distance. People were never so accommodating.
Maddie’s hair slipped. With a few rough twists, she tightened the bun at the base of her skull and jammed a pin into the mass to hold it in place. “That’s not the point,” she said. “Bree already paid first month’s rent and still can’t get into her home. Jared’s in breach of contract.”
That was the language Oliver understood. Contracts. Rules. Order. At last, he nodded in understanding. “I’ll sort it out.”
“Good.” She sighed in relief, then stood a little taller and lifted her chin. “There’s something else. I want to work on the land deal.”
If Oliver was surprised before, now he was flummoxed. “The Stanwick Ranch one? But I need you here.”
Maddie was prepared for him to say that. “No, you don’t. I’ve organized this place so it practically runs itself. You can hire someone else. Remember when I asked you for this job? I said you’d never regret it. That I’d be the best office manager you’d ever had, and I was right. You took a chance on me, and it paid off.”
Oliver sputtered for a few minutes. “But there’s a huge difference between filing systems and corporate documents,” he managed at last. “And I don’t have the time to train you.”
She stood as straight as she could. Maddie didn’t care for heels, but at that moment she longed for a few more inches, enough to almost look Oliver in the eye. “You know I’ve been taking business courses at the community college. My last semester starts in three weeks. I’ll have my associate’s degree by summer.”
His voice was a little too gentle. “Everyone working on this deal has an MBA. The most I can offer you is an unpaid internship.”
She wanted to yell. Or curse. Or yell curses. “I can do this, Oliver. I’m not saying you should hire me as a lawyer. Just let me manage the paperwork. Track schedules and deadlines, make sure the right people are in contact with each other. It’s not much more than I do here.”
He hesitated. A flare of hope bloomed in her chest.
A voice came from the doorway, low and perfectly modulated but coated in a thin layer of grit. “Am I in the right place?”
Maddie closed her eyes for a second. If she pummeled the man for interrupting, Oliver might think she wasn’t qualified for the promotion. She steeled her face into a pleasant expression and turned to face the newcomer.
And once again, she needed to remind herself to be calm. She began counting, but couldn’t remember what came after four.
The man before her was a god.
Not just a regular god, either. This was the kind who’d traveled to earth, found a bit of trouble, and decided he was having way too much fun to return to his celestial home. Any sensible woman would run the other way the moment she spotted him.
The dock was full of rough men, but he was nothing like the employees she saw day in and day out. Most of them were like Vince and Harold, with soft bellies from too much beer after work and faces weathered by exposure to the sun and storms. They were good guys, and they usually had a playful word for her when they stopped into the office, but none of them were what she’d call pretty.
This man’s stomach was perfectly flat. He wore his winter coat open, and the hoodie underneath was a size too small. It stretched tight across a broad chest.
His body was impressive. His face made her stop breathing.
On some level, she knew it wasn’t a face all women would like. A thin scar crossed his right temple, cutting from his eyebrow to his hairline. His nose looked like it might have been broken at some point, though it hadn’t healed crooked, and his cheeks were covered in dark stubble.
He was a couple inches over six feet, with dark brown eyes. Though the planes of his face were hard, his lips were full, almost lush.
She supposed more women might be into that part.
Maddie forced out a breath, shaking off her reaction to this man. He’d caught her off-guard, that was all. Yes, the stranger was freaking gorgeous, but he wasn’t for her—for so many reasons.
He looked like the quintessential bad boy, and she was supposed to have learned her lesson about guys like that.
Then he smiled, and she forgot every one of those reasons. It wasn’t even a real smile. It was close-mouthed, just a small curve of those full lips, but it was enough to soften the harsh angles of his face.
He gestured to the window. “I saw the help wanted sign.”
Pieces clicked into place. The beat-up bag resting at his feet, the clothes that didn’t quite fit. Guys like this stopped by every now and then, looking for any work they could find.
Except he didn’t look like those men, with their tired eyes that had run out of hope years before. His gaze was hot and determined. He didn’t act like those guys, either. Other than the dockworkers, most of the men who visited the office spoke to Oliver first. Sometimes, they didn’t even acknowledge she was in the room. This guy hadn’t glanced in her boss’s direction yet. All his attention was fixed on her.
It wasn’t how polite people looked at each other, especially polite people who’d only just met. He stared at her as if she was the only thing he was capable of seeing.
Maddie shuffled papers on her desk. “Of course. Ah, the job requirements are here somewhere.”
She felt Oliver’s confused eyes on her. Maddie knew where every document was located. If she had to, she could file them while blindfolded.
When she felt composed again, she glanced up, looking at a spot just above the man’s eyes. She ignored the flutter in her stomach.
“What’s your experience, Mr…?”
“Gabriel Reyes. Gabe. I’ve done a lot of odd jobs over the years. Mostly construction, but if you have anything that needs to be lifted and carried somewhere else, I can do it.”
Looking at his shoulders and arms, Maddie didn’t doubt it. “Have you ever worked in shipping?”
His head shake was almost imperceptible.
“References?”
Again, he shook his head, the motion a bit sharper this time.
“Do you know how to work a forklift or operate a crane?”
“No, but I’m a fast learner.”
Oliver came to life behind her. “Reyes? Gabriel Reyes?”
For the first time, Gabe looked at her boss.
“I know you. You were arrested while driving for Hastings Shipping. You were caught with guns.” As usual, Oliver seemed more confused than accusatory.
Maddie started, then studied Gabe with narrowed eyes. At Oliver’s words, the butterflies in her stomach went to sleep. She remembered hearing about his arrest. It had been the town scandal for several months…until she and Charlie gave them something juicier to gossip about.
He was a freaking criminal. She bit back a groan. She knew some women had a type, but usually that meant they liked them tall or outdoorsy. Nothing like that for her. No, her personal panty-dropper had to be convicts.
The man still stared at Oliver. “Yes.”
That was all. No explanations, no proclamations of innocence. Just confirmation that he was a criminal involved in some truly heinous activities.
“You went to prison, right?”
“Six years.” The words were bitten off, as if they physic
ally hurt him.
“And you come back here?” Oliver studied the man. “That takes balls.”
A muscle in Gabe’s jaw twitched. “Not many places will hire a felon. I didn’t think…”
“That we’d remember you?” Oliver tapped the side of his head. “Steel trap.”
Maddie didn’t point out that Oliver hadn’t remembered a birthday, anniversary, or minor federal holiday in the three years she’d worked for him.
“Sure, you can have the job,” Oliver said.
Gabe’s eyes widened, the only sign he hadn’t expected it to go that way.
Maddie sputtered, struggling to find the words. “Have you lost your mind? He just admitted that he used your company to run guns. What’s to stop him from doing it again? And getting us all caught up in it?” Her voice grew higher as her panic rose.
Her boss gave her a look she knew all too well. It was the same one he wore whenever a stray kitten appeared outside their offices, or when a homeless stowaway found his way to the dock. “He served his time. He paid his debt. Everyone deserves a second chance, Maddie.”
Maddie inhaled. It was the one thing Oliver could say that she wouldn’t argue with, and he knew it. He wrapped one arm around her shoulder and gave it a squeeze, dropping a quick kiss on her temple.
Gabe watched every movement.
“It’ll be a while till you’re in charge of loading cargo,” Oliver warned Gabe, the only indication he hadn’t taken complete leave of his senses. “Come on. Let me show you around a bit.” He stepped outside and waited for the other man.
Gabe lingered for a second too long, still watching her.
“Don’t leave tonight before you fill out the paperwork.” Maddie aimed for civil, but even she could hear the throb of anger in her words.
Gabe’s eyes raked her from her tightly pulled hair to her boring shoes. She didn’t know what he saw, but it was enough to draw another small smile.
“I’ll be here for a while…Maddie.”
He followed Oliver out the door, leaving Maddie standing in the middle of an empty office, counting to ten over and over again.
Something was wrong with him. For years, he’d imagined being exactly where he was right now. Standing before Oliver Hastings while surrounded by a bunch of machines capable of crushing the asshole’s skull.
And all he could think about was a slim brunette who’d looked at him like he was edible—but hadn’t decided if he was chocolate or brussels sprouts.
One day, and already he felt lost. The outside world was too much. Too confusing. He constantly felt overloaded with new information. New sensations.
All he needed to do was cozy up to that lovely office manager, the one with access to Hastings’ secrets. He’d spent all of high school charming whatever girl he’d wanted. He hadn’t changed that much.
Except when Maddie glared at him in disgust, he knew that was a lie. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t a criminal. The time in prison had warped him, made him more like the men he’d known inside than the innocent people in town.
Hell, he didn’t even have game anymore. That devilish smile he used to flash to such effect was now a tight, small thing. When she looked at him, he’d struggled to speak in complete sentence. His seventeen-year-old self would hide his face in shame.
Gabe forced his attention back to Oliver. After all, Maddie was just a small cog in the Hastings machine. This man was the reason he’d traveled to Lost Coast. The reason he’d spent almost six years of his life in San Quentin. No matter how poorly things had gone with Maddie, the plan was still in place.
It’s not like it would be a chore to seduce her. He’d spent half their conversation imagining his hands undoing the buttons of her white blouse.
He’d been thrown when Oliver recognized his name, and even more so when he’d been offered the job. It only meant he had to be cautious. The CEO of Hastings Enterprises wouldn’t be an idiot. Oliver Hastings would know that the man he’d set up six years ago hadn’t shown up out of the blue because he needed a job.
Any smart businessman would eliminate such a threat right away.
But Gabe was ready for him. He might have been an idiot once, but that was a lifetime ago.
Gabe watched Oliver talk, barely listening to the man’s cheerful instructions. Every time Oliver spoke, he heard another voice whispering the words Gabe had relived every night for six years. The sentence Agent Glover muttered to his partner while he slapped cuffs on Gabe’s wrists.
Think we got a chance of finally pinning this on Hastings?
They hadn’t, of course. Gabe took the fall, and Hastings’ halo wasn’t even tarnished. It didn’t matter that Gabe had picked up the truck at a Hastings shipping depot, or that he was supposed to deliver it to the very docks he stood on now. All that mattered was he’d been stopped while driving a truck full of guns, and there wasn’t a shred of evidence to tie the shipment to the man standing before him.
Back then, Gabe had no information to trade. He’d been a poor kid, only a few years out of juvie. There was no point bothering with the charade of a trial. Any fool knew what a jury would say. Rough kid with the last name Reyes, brought up in a poor Oakland neighborhood and caught red-handed with a bunch of guns. He took the plea and got six years instead of twenty. Those years were gone forever, taken by a man who’d probably never given him a second thought.
That man needed to pay for what he’d stolen.
Oliver continued to stroll the dock, oblivious to Gabe’s tumultuous thoughts. He pointed at a bunch of grizzled old-timers. “You’ve got any questions, those are the ones to ask. Harold and Vince have been here since I was in diapers. They probably know more about the docks than I do.” Oliver laughed without embarrassment.
Gabe perked up at that. Those were the kind of men who knew all the dirt. They both watched him, more curious than wary, and he nodded in their direction. There would be time to make friends later.
“Vince will teach you the ropes tomorrow, once your paperwork’s in order. I’m only here for a couple hours a day. Afternoons I’m in town, so Vince and Maddie are pretty much in charge.” Oliver said. “Mainly, it’s muscles and forklifts. We move cargo up and down the coast to the smaller ports, the ones that can’t be serviced by the big ships. Sometimes we move timber to the cities. Even more important, we bring stuff back here. You may have noticed we’re a bit off the beaten path.”
He fought to keep a smile pasted on his face while Oliver chatted. He shouldn’t be surprised that the man was so confident and friendly. Gabe had done his research. There was plenty of info about the whole Hastings family online. He’d known what Oliver looked like long before he walked into the office, and he knew he was the star of his family—the high school valedictorian who went on to get straight As at Stanford, who could fill several trophy cases with all his academic and sports achievements. Success found Oliver at every turn. He’d practically been handed the keys to the family business the day he earned his MBA from Harvard.
When he studied the pictures on one of the prison’s ancient computers, he assumed the sunny smile Oliver flashed in all his photos hid dark reserves, and in reality, malice would glint in the man’s green eyes.
Except Oliver was exactly how he looked in the photos. The light-hearted golden boy the universe loved too much to ever kick in the teeth.
It only made Gabe hate him more.
“That’s it. Start tomorrow,” Oliver said. He held out his hand.
Gabe stared at it for a second too long, then he clasped the man’s hand. They were about the same height, their grips equally strong, and he resisted the urge to squeeze the man’s bones till they turned to dust. The guy would probably notice. Plus, Gabe wasn’t sure he could hurt Oliver with strength.
Good thing he wasn’t planning on using brute force. Gabe had a few brains, and he’d use them all to prove Hastings was the one behind the guns.
Maybe, after he cleared his name, he could figure out a way to leave the past six y
ears behind him. To stop feeling like an ex-con who lost his entire future on a dark two-lane road.
Oliver’s hand was still wrapped around his when the other man yanked him forward. Gabe stumbled into him with a curse, and the momentum forced them backwards several steps. Oliver gripped his arms, and together they fought to remain standing.
Gabe saw red. He pulled back his arm, fingers already curling as he imagined smashing his fist into Hastings’ face. The man’s perfect bone structure would be much improved by a broken jaw.
A deafening crack drew his attention to the lamppost behind him. The solid metal shuddered. A broken crate lay on the dock, its contents spilled at Gabe’s feet.
The contents of a crate that had just swung across the dock—through the empty space where Gabe had stood moments before.
Gabe pushed Oliver away and sprinted for the crane. Crates didn’t just fling themselves through the air.
No one stood at the controls.
He spun around. It was early, but the workers had already clocked in. Their heads swiveled between the shattered crate and the unmanned crane, jaws slack with surprise.
Harold was the first to come to his senses. His voice was hoarse but still managed to reach everyone on the dock. “We all right?”
Oliver stepped forward, his eyes sharp as he scanned the dock. “What happened?”
Gabe forced himself to remain calm. Industrial accidents happened all the time. And it was hard to accuse Oliver of trying to off him, since Oliver was the reason his skull hadn’t shattered along with the crate.
“Nothing over here,” Gabe responded.
No one looked satisfied with that answer.
“Are you okay?” Maddie raced through the office door in a panic. She rushed to Oliver’s side and turned him to face her. “Are you hurt?”
Gabe ground his teeth so hard he was surprised Maddie didn’t notice. He told himself it was because Maddie’s loyalty to the other man would only make his job harder.
But he struggled to tear his eyes from her hands wrapped around Oliver’s shoulders.