Taming the Beast

When Matilda lived in the valley with Tim, she’d had a full-time job at the meatpacking plant. Unfortunately, Tim burned all her money on drinks and poker, and she had nothing left to show for two years of hard work.

She hadn’t exactly loved the job, but at least it was consistent, and it had paid her well. Aside from that, she wasn’t working for her mother, which was a major bonus. But she had been working for Tim’s father, and that had a distinct downside: Matilda had become fairly certain that Tim’s family was involved with criminal activity.

She’d heard rumors about it from her friends in school, but had chosen not to believe anyone since she’d been so in love. Tim was a few years older than her and often came to Fate Mountain to watch his cousin play football on the varsity team. That was how she and Tim had met her senior year of high school.

Instead of doing what her mother had told her, she had decided to go off with Tim and settle down in the valley to work for his family. Her mother had warned her repeatedly that Tim and his family were bad news, but Matilda had never listened.

That was what made working for and living with her mother so humiliating. She never wanted to admit that her mom was right all along. Tim was an asshole and his family was sketchy. Matilda wished she had never gotten involved with him. But there was nothing she could do about it now.

Matilda had al

ways gotten good grades in high school and wanted more than anything to become an archaeologist. Unfortunately, going to school full-time was extremely expensive. Especially for a girl with a single mom living in a rural mountain town. Matilda had a curious mind and she needed to apply it to something, otherwise she tended to get herself into trouble.

As she washed the dishes and scrubbed the counters clean, she realized that her curiosity was the reason she’d been so willing to get involved with Tim. The discoveries of new love were almost as exciting as unearthing an ancient monument that hadn’t been seen by human eyes for thousands of years.

But now that the affair was over, she realized it had been a serious mistake. Tim was a controlling jerk who never really loved her for who she was. Tim had no respect for her desire to go to college or study or explore.

She kept telling him that she was trying to save her money to go to school, but all he ever wanted to do was go out gambling and drinking with friends.

After about two hours, Matilda had made a serious dent in the mess in the kitchen. That was when James reemerged in the doorway, glancing around at the progress Matilda had made.

“I didn’t believe anyone could do it. But you did. Now I think you need to get going.”

“I’ve been here for two hours, and I haven’t even finished this one room. Is the rest of the house like this?”

“Some of the rooms are better and some of the rooms are worse.”

“Worse than this?”

“The master bathroom needs some work.”

“I don’t even want to know,” Matilda muttered.

“What?”

“Nothing,” she said, not wanting to lose her job. “I’ll be back to continue tomorrow.”

“I don’t know if that will be possible.”

“Why?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. Was he going to fire her anyway?

She thought she had done a good job on the kitchen. The last load of dishes was in the dishwasher and the counters were all clean. The sinks were emptied out and scrubbed down. The floors were shining with a fresh polish. She’d worked for Fate Mountain Cleaning in high school and she believed she’d done a good job here.

“I don’t know if it’s a good idea for us to work together,” he said, his voice distant and strange.

He had the weirdest look on his face. As he stared at her, Matilda could see a light in his eyes that drew her to him. When he had opened the door in his dark gray sweater with the frayed neck and cuffs and his dark five o’clock shadow, she had to admit that she had felt a massive surge of attraction for him.

She hadn’t felt that way since she’d met Tim. No, that wasn’t true. She hadn’t even felt that way when she’d met Tim. There was something about James Hill that called to her. It awakened her deepest cravings and darkest desires. Her attraction for James was so disturbing that she had pushed it out of her mind completely the entire time she worked on his disgusting kitchen.

“Why would it be a problem for us to work together?”

“I can’t really talk about it.”

“Are you firing me?” she asked, feeling a pit sink into her stomach.

“I’m going to ask the owner of the cleaning company if there is someone else who can work for me.”

“I think I already know the answer to that,” she said in an irritated tone.