She's So Over Him (Mills & Boon Modern Tempted)

by Wood, Joss

  Cale grinned. ‘You were never nice and you know it.’

  ‘And why would you think that?’ Maddie asked haughtily.

  Cale tapped her left eyebrow. ‘Your left eye twitches when you lie.’

  ‘You are such an idiot!’ Maddie ducked her head to hide her smile.

  ‘And there it goes again. Twitch, twitch.’

  Maddie, exhausted after an afternoon of PR and selling her new concept for the race, decided to retreat to Cale’s study to catch her breath. Taking a pad of blank paper from his messy desk, she flopped into his chair, kicked off her sandals and placed her toes on the edge of his desk. She wanted to get her ideas down on paper while they were still fresh. Some would work, some wouldn’t, but she knew she might forget one or two if she didn’t jot them down.

  Maddie was scribbling furiously when she heard the clink of a bottle against the doorframe. Pushing back her hair, she frowned at the russet-haired man standing by the door and waving a bottle in her direction.

  ‘Want a drink?’ he slurred.

  Seeing his hot eyes on her thighs, Maddie lowered her feet and clenched her knees together. ‘The party is upstairs.’

  He was as tall as Cale but not as well built, with a soft mouth and those hot eyes. Maddie sighed as he walked into the room and placed two glasses on the desk. He aimed the wine bottle in the general direction of a glass and Maddie winced when red wine ran down the side of the glass onto Cale’s antique desk and dripped onto the Persian rug below.

  ‘I don’t want any wine, thank you.’

  He ignored her. ‘You’re Maddie? The race organizer?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I’m a sponsor for the race. I own Canoe Concepts.’

  Maddie had seen the offer Liam Peters had made to be a sponsor of the race and thought it laughable. She could raise more money selling raffle tickets.

  ‘I’ve been watching you all afternoon and I think you’re kind of cute. You know, I’m really loaded.’

  ‘Great!’ Maddie said brightly. ‘So, can I add a couple of noughts to your sponsorship offer?’

  ‘If you kiss me.’

  Maddie tipped her head back and stared at the ceiling. This was all she needed—a drunk, lecherous, manipulative man trading sex for money. ‘Yeah… so not going to happen.’

  Liam Peters looked at her with eyes that were, while bloodshot, vastly determined. Maddie knew that he wasn’t very familiar with the word no.

  ‘I’d rather jump into a bath full of maggots,’ Maddie muttered. Lifting her hands, she raised her voice and sent him a very small, very cold smile. ‘Liam, you’re drunk, and I’m getting annoyed. Go away.’

  ‘If you sleep with me then I won’t only not pull the money, I’ll double it.’

  Whoop-dee-do. Maddie slipped her feet into her sandals and rolled her eyes. ‘Well, that’s not going to happen. This conversation is over.’

  Maddie pushed her shoulders back and walked around the desk. She thought she was out of trouble when she brushed past him without incident, but at the last moment he grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. Despite being as drunk as a newt, his arms banded around her. His sour breath made her want to gag. Maddie tried to push against his arms but he was stronger than she’d thought.

  ‘Kiss me and I’ll hurt you,’ she warned him.

  Liam only smiled and dropped his head. As his lips neared hers Maddie grasped his biceps, lifted her knee and rammed it up into his scrotum. He dropped like a stone. Damn, that had felt good. Thank you, Jim. Good tip.

  ‘You bitch,’ Liam rasped, curled up in a foetal position on Cale’s carpet. ‘You frigid, manipulative, hideous—’

  Before he could finish his sentence Cale had streaked into the room and wrapped his hand around Liam’s throat. Where on earth had he come from? Maddie swallowed as Liam’s eyes bulged under the pressure. Cale wouldn’t… would he?

  ‘Finish that sentence and you’re a dead man,’ Cale growled. As Liam tried to pull his hands away from his throat Cale tightened his grip. His hands fell away.

  ‘Cale, he’s gasping…’

  ‘Shut up, Madison.’ Cale lifted Liam’s head and slammed it into the carpet.

  Maddie hopped from one foot to the other, thinking that much as she enjoyed Cale playing hero, she really didn’t want Liam to suffer brain damage. The jerk obviously needed all the brains he had.

  ‘I think you should let him go,’ Maddie said, placing a hand on Cale’s shoulder.

  ‘So here’s what you’re going to do,’ Cale said, as if he and Liam were enjoying a pleasant conversation. ‘I’m going to lift my hand. You take me on and I’ll beat you senseless. Then you’re going to get out of my house and piss off. Understand me?’

  Liam nodded frantically.

  ‘Oh, and don’t even talk to Maddie again or the press will hear about this… incident.’

  Liam swallowed as Cale’s hand lifted. Rolling over onto all fours, he dragged air into his lungs and cautiously stood up. Taking a moment to straighten his shirt, he pushed back his hair and looked at Maddie with hot, vicious eyes. ‘You just lost your sponsorship,’ he rasped.

  Cale bared his teeth. ‘Like I give a flying—’

  Maddie quickly interjected. ‘Just go, Liam.’

  ‘You’ve got ten seconds,’ Cale said.

  His voice was even and Maddie sneaked a glance at him. His body was relaxed, his hands loose at his sides. Only his eyes, light with cold rage, gave any indication to his feelings. Cale kept an eye on Liam as he walked past Maddie and left via the study door. Maddie waited for the slam of the front door before sitting and dropping her face into her hands.

  Cale crouched in front of her and rested a hand on her knee. ‘Are you okay? Did he hurt you?’

  Maddie ignored him as her shoulders shook.

  ‘Maddie, talk to me.’

  Cale stroked her leg from knee to ankle and Maddie eventually lifted her face. When she did, she let her ringing laughter escape. Cale lifted his eyebrows as tears ran down her face.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Maddie gulped, waving her hands in the air, ‘but it was so funny! He looked like a blowfish.’

  Maddie placed her hands around her own neck and blew out her cheeks in an impersonation of the gulping Liam.

  Cale pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘I nearly beat him to a pulp and you think it’s funny? He attacked you.’

  Maddie’s laughter died immediately. ‘Amusing, maybe. Cale, he didn’t attack me—he tried to kiss me! And you didn’t have to half-strangle him. I had him with my knee.’

  ‘He put his hands on you!’ Cale growled. ‘He was about to call you a—’

  ‘Yeah, I know, so… thanks.’ Maddie laid a tentative hand on his shoulder. She started to giggle again, but tried to stop when she saw his stony face.

  As Cale stood up, he briefly considered strangling Maddie as well. All he could see was Maddie struggling to get out from Liam’s arms and his stomach clenched at the renewed surge of anger. If he had the choice again, he would go with his first instinct and beat the hell out of him.

  And she was calmly sitting there as if this was an everyday occurrence.

  As he’d long suspected, his PhD in sports psychology meant nothing when it came to understanding women.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  ‘LET me guess—dinner at the LQ, followed by a couple of jazz clubs?’

  Cale heard the feminine voice on speaker phone as he approached the door to Maddie’s flat. He really needed to have a serious discussion with her about security, he thought, clutching the thick folder of papers he’d promised to drop off with her. It was after nine and, although the front door to the building was locked, why take the chance?

  He stopped at the door and peered in. Maddie lay on her cream couch, long legs dangling off the arm, throwing a scruffy tennis ball up in the air and listlessly catching it again.

  ‘Mm, I get to drive my lunatic mother and her sidekick from club to club, where they’ll dance like dorks and grope each
other. They have terrible timing as well. I’m snowed under, categorically exhausted, and if one more person asks one more thing of me I am going to dissolve into a puddle of tears.’

  ‘You can always say no, Mad.’

  The slightly tinny voice floated towards Cale.

  ‘She’s my mother, Katie. I only see her twice a year.’

  Cale heard and was fascinated by the misery in Maddie’s voice. Unashamedly eavesdropping, he propped a shoulder against the wall outside and stayed to listen.

  ‘Sweetie, you can say no because she leaves you feeling depressed and miserable for days.’

  Maddie rested the ball on her flat stomach and draped a forearm across her eyes. ‘I’m such a disappointment to my parents.’

  ‘And why would that be?’

  Cale had yet to meet Maddie’s best friend, but he identified with the irritation in her voice.

  ‘It doesn’t matter how much I earn or how hard I work… they just don’t respect what I do.’

  Cale closed his eyes against the sadness in her voice. He was about to step into the room and say… what could he say?… when Maddie’s voice stopped his progress.

  ‘Why can’t I be the daughter they need, Katie?’

  Kate was silent for a minute before responding. ‘Maybe you should be asking why they can’t be the parents you need, sweetie.’

  Cale decided that he rather liked Maddie’s friend Kate. As the subject under discussion changed Cale walked away quietly, went halfway down the wooden steps and ran up again to announce his arrival.

  Maddie looked around at his rap on her door and gestured him inside. Cale ignored her red eyes and pink nose and waved the file in the air. ‘Homework, as you demanded.’

  Maddie ended her call and took the file he held out. ‘It’s overdue. I needed this two days ago.’

  ‘Stop being grumpy,’ Cale ordered, running a hand over her hair. He wanted to take her in his arms and kiss away that sadness. Instead he dropped his keys and mobile on the coffee table.

  Maddie looked at him, looked at her bright blue door and he could see the pennies dropping.

  ‘The boys are at the bar and Nat is on a date. I didn’t buzz you, so how did you get in?’

  ‘Memorised your code when you gave it to me the other morning.’ He shrugged, not in the least ashamed. ‘What can I say? I have a head for numbers. Got anything to drink? Eat? I’m starving.’

  Without waiting for a reply, he headed to her kitchen and yanked open the door to the fridge. He clucked over its meagre contents.

  ‘Geez, Madison, you have the fridge of a college student. Wine and leftover pizza.’ Cale lifted a piece of pizza, sniffed it, and took a large bite.

  ‘There is a restaurant within walking distance if you’re hungry,’ Maddie pointed out, and sat down in the corner of her couch and flipped through the file he’d brought along.

  He’d tossed all the papers he had on the race inside it after she’d sent him a sarcastic BBM demanding his co-operation. Potential sponsors, lists of teams, copies of letters sent to paramedics and marshals for the race. An application form to have a road temporarily closed for a couple of hours on the day. He was still only halfway down her list of things she wanted him to do.

  ‘Close it, Mad,’ Cale said from the kitchen.

  Maddie looked over the back of the couch to where he was standing in the kitchen, another pizza slice in his hand. ‘What?’

  ‘It’s nearly half-nine and I took a call from you at seven this morning about the race. That means you’ve been working on something or the other for nearly fourteen hours. It’s enough.’

  Maddie started to protest, but she’d obviously heard the bite in his voice. Why did she do this to herself? Work herself to a standstill? What was she trying to prove? Holding her stare, he waited until she closed the file and put it on the table.

  Cale finished the slice of pizza and, bringing the beer he’d found in the fridge with him, stalked over to where she sat. Lifting her legs off the cushions, he sat next to her and draped her feet over his lap. Instinctively he started to massage the balls of her feet with his hands.

  Maddie closed her eyes and he increased the pressure on her feet. If only he could wind his way up her legs… Cale looked at her blue-shadowed sunken eyes and sighed. She was exhausted and emotional. He could make a move and within ten minutes have her flat on her back, but that would be like taking candy from a baby. She didn’t need sex tonight. She needed a friend. And, besides, when they did make love again he wanted her fully in the moment with him.

  A brochure on the coffee table caught his eye and he leaned forward to pick it up. Bower & Co. He flipped through the glossy pages.

  ‘I’ve applied for a position with them.’

  Cale heard the tremble in her voice and wondered why. ‘Are they opening a branch in Cape Town?’

  Maddie yawned and snuggled deeper into the couch. She stared at her hands. ‘The job is in New York.’

  Cale felt as if he’d been hit over the head with a sledgehammer. He struggled for his professional mask, unwilling to show her how much he instinctively hated the idea of her being so far away. He wondered why because—as he kept reminding himself—what he and Maddie had—sex-tinged friendship or friendship-tinged sex—had a finite end.

  That was their unspoken agreement.

  ‘Oh. I thought you loved this city.’

  ‘I do!’ Maddie exclaimed. ‘What’s not to love? We have mountains and sea and spring flowers and—’

  ‘Freezing water.’

  Maddie managed a small smile.

  ‘Then why do you want to leave, Mad? Is it the money?’

  Maddie rubbed her neck. ‘It’s not a factor. Cale, it’s an amazing opportunity!’

  ‘I’m not saying it isn’t. I’m just asking why it appeals to you?’

  ‘It’s New York!’

  Cale kept rubbing her feet in silent encouragement for her to talk. When she remained silent, he tapped her foot in encouragement. ‘Those are all good and solid reasons, Mad, but I know you and there’s more to it than that. C’mon, Mad, you’re well enough travelled to know that once you’ve lived somewhere long enough even the greatest city in the world can become just another grimy, lonely place. You’ll be working long, long hours in a city where you know no one.’

  ‘I know Dennis.’

  ‘Okay, where you know one person.’ Cale shook his head. ‘Dig deeper, Maddie. Why do you really want to do this?’

  ‘You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you?’

  Cale smiled. ‘I’m not going to make you say anything, Mads. I’m just prompting you to think and to examine your motives.’

  ‘My career is the most important thing in my life.’ Maddie took his beer from the table and took a small sip. She used the gesture to mark time. ‘The biggest factor is that I’d love to work at one of the greatest PR and event companies in the world in one of the greatest cities in the world… I can’t deny that. I’m enough of my parents’ child to aim high—even if it is in what they call an asinine field.’

  Cale took the bottle from Maddie, lifted it to his lips and took a long sip. His eyes encouraged Maddie to continue. ‘Go on. What else?’

  ‘You are going to make me verbalise it, aren’t you?’

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘It’s not the biggest reason for me wanting the job, but…’ the words tumbled out in a rush of emotion ‘… maybe if I take it my parents will be impressed and proud of me.’

  ‘Good girl. But they won’t.’

  ‘Oh, thanks for that! Why not?’

  ‘The lack is in them, Mad, not you. Never with you.’ Cale shoved a hand through his hair. ‘You could get a Nobel Peace Prize and your parents would say it wasn’t good enough. Because while they are book smart they don’t have the emotional intelligence God gave a split pea. Stop looking for their approval. You’re chasing a pot of gold at the end of a non-existent rainbow.’ Cale put his bottle on the table.

  ‘So y
ou think that I shouldn’t go to New York?’ Maddie bit the inside of her lip.

  ‘I didn’t say that. I understand why it’s so very attractive to you. You’ve always aimed high, and if you didn’t go you’d probably regret it. What I am saying is that you have got to do what is right for you. For the right reasons.’

  What had she expected? That he’d fall to his knees and beg her not to go? Where were her brains? Cale had never given her any hint that he felt anything more for her than attraction and friendship. And she didn’t want him to… what they had was enough.

  Cale half turned towards her and pushed her hair off her forehead. ‘You have violet rings under your eyes. When did you last sleep? Eat?’

  Maddie shrugged and Cale shook his head at this reply.

  ‘You are your own worst enemy. Come with me.’

  It wasn’t a request.

  Cale wrapped a hard arm around her waist and half picked her up. Maddie resisted for about two seconds and then collapsed against him, following where he led. Cale walked her through her dressing room and pulled her into the bathroom. Depositing her on the closed toilet seat, she watched him flip open the taps of the huge bath.

  Maddie pulled her elbows to her sides as Cale lifted the hem of her shirt. ‘This is so not necessary.’

  ‘Shut up and take it off,’ Cale said, bending to pull her shoes off her feet.

  Maddie looked down at her breasts spilling out of her peach bra. Her mouth dried as she caught the gentle heat in Cale’s eyes and wished he’d take her to bed. Instead of kissing her he made her stand, unzipped her charcoal pants and pushed them over her hips, watching as they dropped to her feet.

  ‘I’m such a saint,’ he grumbled. ‘Step out.’

  His eyes flicked over her high-cut bikini bottoms. With another muttered oath, he undid the clasp of her bra, pulled down her panties, and tossed the items towards the laundry basket. He held her hand while she stepped into the tub and slid below the water. He grabbed the nearest bottle of bubble bath and tossed some in. She sighed and ran a wet hand through her hair, slicking it back.

  ‘Lie there. Relax. I’ll be back with some food.’