Maddie and Wyn (12 page)

You asshole.

Still grinning, Wyn dipped his fingers into her folds from behind, and Maddie went as stiff and cold as an ice sculpture.

Wyn moved to plant a kiss on her lips, but Maddie stuck two fingers between their mouths and sidestepped out of his hold. Righteous indignation melted the frost inside her, but she very deliberately kept her tone cool and cordial. “You’re right, Wyn,” she told him, forcing a fake flight attendant smile to her face. “There are parts of you I like. There are pieces of you I find stupidly almost impossible to resist. Too bad there are so many other pieces of you that together make up the whole person, and right now I want to punch so many of those parts right in the throat. Good going, Ashworth.” A hint of a crack hit Maddie’s voice, but she did not allow her hands to tremble or her stance to waver. “You were
this close
to igniting a glimmer of hope in me about you again, and you just had to snuff it out.” Wyn parted his lips, but Maddie held up a finger and shut him down. “Don’t you dare talk right now. Do whatever the hell you want with the two weeks you’re here, but I will not be a part of it. Good night.” With that, unable to get another word out, she turned and walked away.

Son of a mother
. Maddie walked away nude, forcing her head up and a steady pace, not daring to run or scramble into her clothes to expose her fear and panic. This was the first time she’d truly started to think there was more going on with Wyn than she knew—that one moment where she’d truly thought she’d seen some deep fear in his eyes had moved her soul—and then he chose to be such an asinine arrogant ass about how hard she’d come for him? He thought his sexual prowess was so great and overwhelming that with a little more time, maybe if he could screw her, he’d have her worshipping him the way she used to, as if nothing terrible had gone down between them?
Motherfucker.

On the outside, Maddie seethed. Deep inside though, her chest and stomach ached, pushing at the walls she’d so carefully erected to protect herself from this man. She knew if she didn’t stay pissed she would break down and weep over how close she’d come to exposing every part of her heart to Wyn again. She didn’t dare waste her tears on Wyn Ashworth.

Maddie had to figure out the truth on her own about what was going on in her home. A ghost? An intruder? Both? Maddie wasn’t sure she cared anymore, just so long as the answer came fast and got Wyn out of her house for good.

Twelve hours later Wyn sat at his desk at work, trying to catch up on paperwork, but his thoughts kept pulling him back to what had happened with Maddie in the garden.

How in the hell did I go from being over the fucking moon to slamming into the mud so damned fast?

He’d clearly said the wrong thing. Again. Or maybe he’d used the wrong tone? He had a strange tick with Maddie—sometimes the thoughts in his head didn’t come out right. And it wasn’t her fault, or at least not all of it. Since their truce years ago, and their incredible friendship afterward, his foot-in-mouth disease had occurred, sometimes with an audience. More often than not, if Ethan was present, he’d pull Wyn aside and explain how wrong the words coming out of his mouth sounded, usually something completely different than what Wyn meant to convey. Sometimes Maddie was very sensitive, but just as often it was Wyn who vomited up his thought, jumbled it in the worst way possible, and fucked up. It only happened with Maddie. He didn’t have this problem on the job or with anyone else in his life. Or even with other women in his past.

Wyn growled and rubbed his gritty eyes, the lack of sleep catching up to him. After Maddie had left him in the garden with his dick literally hanging out, he’d trudged back to his room but he hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep.

One minute he couldn’t stop replaying the white-hot encounter between them—he’d feel her slick heat on his fingers and moan at the remembered taste of her sweet honey. Then he’d get hard all over again thinking about her hand on his prick, so sure and firm, not tentative at all. And hell, the way she’d held his gaze had gotten under his skin even more than her touch. Then when she’d bitten him…
Jesus
. Wyn shifted in his chair, his blood running south to his dick as the memory of her teeth on his flesh hit him these many hours later.

Then, after getting all hot thinking of him and Maddie together, he’d flipped into protector mode, racking his brain, trying to solve the mystery of Maddie’s intruder. Because without a doubt he knew he’d closed that garden gate earlier that evening. Also without a doubt, he’d heard the gate creak, and it had indeed been open when he’d reached the garden. Yet there hadn’t been anyone in the garden, and he hadn’t taken that long to get outside. So unless the intruder was a contortionist or one hell of a Houdini-level escape artist, or just someone fucking with Maddie by opening the gate and then running away under the cover of darkness in order to scare her, there was no other easy way out of that fenced garden.

So what the fuck is going on?

“Has there been another flare up at Corsini’s Garage?” the question ripped Wyn out of his runaway thoughts.

Jefferson Mach, a rookie cop, stood at Wyn’s desk, his focus on the computer monitor.

Running the question through his brain a second time, Wyn gave his coworker the side-eye. “What flare up? What are you talking about?”

“You’re looking at Robbie Benson’s
Facebook
page,” the young blond jerked his head toward Wyn’s computer, where one of the small windows exposed some of Wyn’s personal research on Maddie’s case.

The guy continued, “There was a problem with Robbie’s girlfriend Felicity and Ms. Morgan a few months ago. I was wondering if maybe something happened again and this time Ms. Morgan wanted to press charges.”

Hair rising, Wyn yanked an empty rolling chair over and positioned it in front of his coworker. “Sit down and explain yourself. No complaint has ever come through this department with Madeleine Morgan’s name on it. I would have noticed it.”

“Because there never was one,” Jefferson explained as he took a seat. “I had my car out at the garage being serviced. When I went to pick it up, I was paying the bill and talking, and this chick comes blazing into the garage like hell in pink heels. She was gunning for her boyfriend, who I quickly figured out was Robbie, yelling at him about working so much because he’s cheating with the pretty, new owner. Then she turns around and runs straight for Ms. Morgan and gets in her face and starts calling her all kinds of slut and whore names and that she doesn’t have any right acting all trampy, trying to catch a husband by working a job meant for men. I got in between them, and Robbie pulled his girlfriend off, and we broke it up.”

“Goddamnit.” Every cell in Wyn’s body lit up like the New York skyline, and he fought every instinct telling him to get into his car right now and race to the garage. “Why haven’t I heard about this?”

“Ms. Morgan didn’t want to press any charges, and Robbie begged me not to. He explained that Felicity had been going through a real rough time and that she’d just lost a sister to an abusive boyfriend and that she wasn’t thinking straight. He promised he was working on getting her some help, and Ms. Morgan had empathy and said she didn’t truly feel threatened, so I had to let it go.”

“Son of a bitch.” Wyn slammed his fist on his desk, letting the metal take the brunt of his impotent rage.

Jefferson’s features fell, exposing the hints of youth still in the young officer. “Should I have insisted on charges being filed?”

“No.” Wyn spit the truth out, although just knowing and accepting it was like heartburn flaring in his chest. “You did what you could. I know Maddie Morgan, and if she didn’t want anything to happen, there wouldn’t have been anything you could have done to get her to cooperate.”

“That’s kind of how I read the scene too. And whether I should or not, I felt bad for Robbie. And for Felicity too. She was very emotional, and he seemed so concerned for her, and he treated her so gently that I didn’t buy that he was cheating on her with anyone. I think he really did just want to get her some help.” Some of the color coming back to his face, Jefferson shrugged. “I gave him a few numbers, and he said he would use them. I hadn’t heard anything since the incident, but then I saw the
Facebook
page open on your computer, and it made me wonder if something bad had happened.”

“I don’t have anything new to report about that episode,” Wyn gave as an answer. Maddie would not want her business shared around town. And beyond that, the less people who knew Wyn was searching for a squatter or intruder, the better his chance for success. “Thanks for sharing this information with me. You never know when it might be useful.”

“Glad I could help.” Eager to prove himself—Wyn had been this kid less than a decade ago, so he knew how to read the straightened shoulders and light in his eyes—Jefferson jerked to his feet and stuck out his hand. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

Hiding his amusement, Wyn replied, “Will do,” and shook the newbie’s hand.

Once alone with his thoughts, Wyn swung back to face his computer, and the brief snippet of humor slid out of him to the floor.
Maddie was threatened?
Gnashing his teeth, Wyn drummed his fingers in a hard rhythm against his desk.
And she didn’t tell me?
There would be a reckoning about that between them very soon.

But first, he had some research to do on Robbie and Felicity.

* * * *

Maddie slid into one of the chairs at the table in the break room at the garage, lunch in hand that in truth was closer to an early dinner. Maddie had only hired one employee since Mr. Corsini had left on his RV tour—Jayden—and per his age he could only work part time. Consequently the full-time staff of five mechanics, herself included, had become extremely busy.

Across from her, Ernie unfolded wax paper from around a tuna sandwich. He mumbled, “Busy day,” before taking a huge bite.

“One of the busiest,” Maddie agreed. She peeled the lid off of her pudding cup and tore open her peanut butter crackers, her stomach grumbling. Uncertainty and performance anxiety nagged at her, though. She looked up at Ernie, noting his age, and the fact that he’d just yawned at four o’clock in the afternoon. Guilt stabbed into her system. “I’ll hire someone if you and the guys want me to.” Just as fast, she explained, “I haven’t up till now because, even though we’re swamped, I’d just as soon pay overtime when we need it and let everyone get some extra cash in their pockets.”

Wiping his mouth with a napkin, Ernie shifted in his chair, stretched out his legs, and pondered the light fixture above for a good long minute. After a spell, he turned his head and replied, “I won’t speak officially for everyone, and this may not be the answer in a year, but right now I think we have a good system and rhythm going, and I say we leave things as they are and see how we cope.”

Maddie expelled her held breath and slumped back in her seat. “Good. That was my thought too.”

“That’s why you’re a good boss.” Ernie grinned and winked at her in a way that pricked her heart. “Not perfect yet, but you’re getting darn close.”

Maddie smiled back just as big at the wonderful old guy. “Thanks!”

After that, Ernie tucked back into his sandwich and Maddie munched on her crackers, her mind straying to the one part of last night in the garden she could think about without chastising herself for being a stupid, romantic fool who couldn’t keep a clear mind about a certain man.
Jackass.
Since last night, Maddie wasn’t sure if she was cursing Wyn or herself.

Ernie, quietly enjoying his lunch, presented a great source of information. Before Maddie could second-guess her potential rudeness, she blurted, “Can I ask you something not related to work at all?”

Ernie barely raised one thick, bushy eyebrow. “Don’t see why not.”

“You’ve been in Redemption forever, right?”

“Born and raised.”

“Okay. All right.” Her blood pumping now, Maddie dived into the ocean of thoughts that had flooded her brain for months but that she’d never opened the dam to release. “For the longest time I thought Mr. Corsini had built his house for his wife. I don’t know why I thought that, but I did.”

“Maybe because he loved her so much,” Ernie filled in.

Maddie nodded, and her heart tugged even though she’d never met the late Mrs. Corsini. “Mr. Corsini always had his desk covered with pictures of her, so that might be it. But then when I bought the house from him I realized it was a lot older than his time in Redemption. So my question is: Do you know anything about the house? Specifically about the previous owners?”

“Let me think on it for a second.” Ernie frowned and tipped his head back again, his thick snowy brows scrunched, a contrast against his rich, umber skin. “I’m pretty sure there were two owners before Stavros bought it. One I know of for sure. Stavros bought the place because Lena fell in love with it the moment she laid her eyes on it.” Per his longevity with the business, Ernie had long referred to Mr. and Mrs. Corsini by their given names. “So Stavros bought the house and the land and built the garage close by. He wanted to be close to her so he could always come home for lunch and dinner, especially in those early days when he worked like a dog.” Looking to Maddie, knowledge and ease lit Ernie’s hazel eyes. “They’d hoped to have a ton of kids but were only blessed with Nico.”

Maddie had met her boss’s son in person only once. Nico, a nice guy, a handsome dark-haired God of a man. He’d rarely come to the garage though, even when in from New York to visit his father.

Chin in her hand, Maddie looked at Ernie but could still envision her old boss working in this place, leaving his mark on every inch of the building and business. “Mr. Corsini never said, but I think he was sad when Nico didn’t want to become a part of the business.”

“He was proud that Nico’s intellect allowed him such a prestigious career path,” Ernie shared. “Is proud still. But I agree, at the same time Stavros was sad he didn’t have blood to carry on the legacy he’d created. I think that’s part of the reason he took to you. He loved your interest in cars and the business, and once he began to see you as family things changed for him. He started grooming you without you even realizing it, maybe without him realizing either. When you took to everything so well, he felt okay leaving because the garage is still moving forward with someone who will take care of it for a long time.” Ernie then gave her a pointed, grandfatherly look. “And maybe who will have kids who would want to join her here one day too.”