“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.MAXXI 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.
Until her words registered.
It was true. She never said she was a guy. I assumed from her username that she was. Something she said last night ran through my mind, and I spoke without looking at her.
“Why did you think I was an old man?”
“What?” she asked, looking startled.
“Last night. You said you were going to look after an old man. A curmudgeon, I think were your exact words.”
“Oh. You sounded like it. Your ad. The way you responded. The duties you listed. Like you needed help but didn’t want to ask. My dad was that way.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her lift one shoulder. “I guess we both thought wrong.”
“No shit,” I snapped. “We’re both disappointed.”
“I never said I was disappointed,” was her reply. I risked a glance, but I saw she was staring out the window. I grunted and she spoke again.
“I’ll do a good job, Maxx.” She paused. “Or do you prefer Reynolds?” Sarcasm dripped from her voice.
I didn’t bother to explain. “Sir will do.”
“I am not calling you sir,” she sniped back at me, trying to sound tough. If I weren’t so angry, I would have chuckled at her. She kept going.