Chapter Ten
Kyle
Madison was hiding something.
Her reactions and expressions indicated that she wasn’t being entirely truthful with him about certain aspects of her life. She had been very apprehensive when he’d asked about her husband. She said he was out of town a lot, but she had to be home at certain times when he came home.
She didn’t seem happy or excited about it, not like a wife would be if she missed her husband and wanted to see him.
Was there trouble in their marriage? Was her husband abusive?
He couldn’t help the scenarios that it brought up in his mind. He couldn’t resist the pull she had over him. He wouldn’t do anything to compromise her marriage if it was a good one, but if her husband was hitting her, then he intended to find out and put a stop to it.
He clenched his fists, feeling the urge to pound the unknown man into the dirt.
The gym offered him a respite from the pent-up emotions and he pushed himself to muscle failure for as long as he could.
The wonderful smell of roasting meat permeated the house, drawing the guys that were there into the living room. Jace was the only one who elected to stay in his room and for now, Kyle would give him his space.
“What are we going to do for Labor Day?” Evans asked.
“That’s coming up next week, right?” Kyle asked.
“Yep.”
“I don’t know. Have a cookout?”
“You know the worst part of that idea?” John asked, putting his feet up on the coffee table. “Madison won’t be cooking for us.”
Murdock shook his head and murmured something unintelligible.
“Why not?” Wyatt demanded.
“Shit. It’s a holiday. She’ll be off those three days probably. We haven’t discussed the holiday schedule.”
“What?! Make her work!” Evans demanded. “How will we survive?”
John smacked the back of his head and Aiden’s lips twitched as if he wanted to grin. He didn’t, but he did speak up.
“I can grill hamburgers,” he offered.
Everyone was silent.
Kyle was fully capable of grilling…they all were. They probably weren’t as good at it as Madison or Jimmy would be, but they could do it.
“I vote for Aiden,” Wyatt said, raising his hand. He jabbed Cal in the ribs. “Murdock?”
Murdock rolled his eyes and left the room.
“Cal votes for Aiden too,” Wyatt supplied helpfully, earning a glare from the large retreating man. Wyatt just winked at him while John and Aiden discussed the pros and cons of gas versus charcoal.
Kyle was thinking about Madison.
She would be off for three whole days. He’d give her paid time off, of course, but he needed to speak with her about it and the other holiday hours as well. They’d need to figure something out on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Maybe they could have those catered?
He stood up abruptly and went to his room. He decided to call her and discuss those terms now instead of waiting for her to come by to prepare the meal. She would be busy then and she’d leave soon after.
No, now was better.
He closed the door, tapped her contact, and waited for the phone to ring. The sound in his ear seemed louder than it should and he realized he was holding his breath to hear her voice.
“Hello?”
She sounded different on the phone, more nervous.
“Hey, it’s Kyle,” he said, hoping to put her at ease.
“Hi. Is something wrong?”
Her voice was shaky and he frowned. He knew something wasn’t right. He felt it in his gut, and he was never wrong.
“No. Not at all. I was just calling to ask you about the holidays. The guys and I were talking about Labor Day and I realized that we never discussed the terms of your employment.”
He heard her breath of relief and she was less nervous. “Oh yeah. Of course. Um, well, I can come in that weekend, and I don’t have to work that Monday so I can come anytime that afternoon as well,” she said in a rush.
The line went silent as he considered what she said. She was offering to work through the holiday, but…
“You have another job?” he asked.
He heard her breath catch. “Yes. I work in the mornings. Is that a problem? I promise it won’t interfere with my work for you. I swear it,” she assured.
He sat on the edge of the bed and cradled the phone to his ear. “Madison, calm down. I know it won’t. I just don’t want to overwork you.”
“You won’t,” she promised.
“Okay. Why don’t you come on Saturday then and take Sunday and Monday off? I’ll give you double time for Saturday,” he offered.
“I was hoping to be able to come in on Sunday and Monday as well,” she said, but her voice sounded farther away, as if she’d pulled the phone away from her mouth.
Was she busy?
“Aiden volunteered to grill us hamburgers on Monday,” he said. “But if you want to come by and spend the afternoon here that would be great. The guys would love to have you. You could…uh, bring your husband too.”
Smooth, Logan. Really smooth.
He felt sure that she was going to see right through him.
He was anxious to investigate her old man, and if he got to spend more time with Madison—in a completely innocent way—then what was the harm? She brought out Murdock’s good side and that by itself was worth the discomfort he’d feel being brought face to face with her husband.
He just hoped they weren’t big on public displays of affection. Just the thought of watching something like that made his stomach twist.
“Oh, I don’t think that will be possible,” she said hesitantly. “My husband will be out of town and if I’m not working, I should probably stay home and get some things done. I really appreciate the invitation though…”
“Okay, well I guess I’ll see you later this evening. We can talk about the holiday schedule more then,” he said.
”That”s fine,” she agreed.
“See you soon,” he said and went to hang up before he said something idiotic.
“Bye, Kyle,” she said softly.
He realized two things at the end of that call. One, he had only called her so that he could talk to her again. Two, he was pretty damned sure that he’d heard a baby crying right before she hung up.
God, he was in deep. He needed to stop this unwise infatuation with her right now.
Especially if she had a baby.
He jammed his palms into his eyes and leaned back on the bed, for once at a complete loss for what to do next.
He was always the man with the plan, many plans, but now he had none.
Now he was just…some guy with no plan.
“Shit.”
∞∞∞
The rain stopped by the time she came back to finish the meal.
He heard her car pulling up the drive and wondered, not for the first time, why she drove that particular model. It was an old Lincoln Town Car, not exactly something a young wife would usually be driving around in. By itself, it wouldn’t have meant much, but along with his other observations…it raised more questions.
The crying baby was another huge question mark.
It seemed like a long shot that the baby was hers. If she was a mother, wouldn’t that be something she’d bring up right away? Wouldn’t she want to talk about the baby? If she did have a baby, then who took care of him—or her— while her husband was out of town?
He was no expert on babies, but the one he’d heard crying was young—maybe a newborn.
He stood on the back porch and watched her walk up the back steps, holding the rail carefully. He smiled a little. Even though she was holding out on him, he was happy to see her.
Which made his smile fade completely.
He shouldn’t be any happier to see her than anyone else. He shouldn’t feel lighter in her presence. He shouldn’t feel so at ease with another man’s wife. It was wrong. Completely wrong.
“Look, no hands,” she said, releasing the rail and taking the last step.
“Keep doing that and I’m going to have to add on some hazardous duty pay,” he complained gruffly, trying to separate his confusing emotions from his role as boss.
“No need for that. I’ll be careful,” she promised, strolling inside ahead of him as he opened the door for her.
The kitchen was inviting and smelled delicious.
“I thought we could talk about your schedule while you worked,” he began as she washed her hands and pulled on an apron.
She had changed out of her clothes from earlier and was now wearing a knee-length dress. He noticed that she still had on the bandaid and a large bruise had developed underneath. She turned away to study the clipboard before spinning to the panty.
Her hair had been twirled up and was somehow suspended in a bun held only by something stick-like and vaguely lethal-looking.
“Sure,” she said. “Let me just go get the vegetables.”
He watched her bustling around the kitchen, gathering up the ingredients and tools that she needed. It struck a chord somewhere deep inside him and he realized that he liked having her there. He liked watching her prepare a meal almost effortlessly.
She was almost a stranger but she made the kitchen feel home-like, and that was something that he hadn’t had in a very long time—not since he was a kid, if he was honest.
She was breathtaking.
She put on some oven mitts and struggled to pull the full cast iron pots from the oven. He’d been stuck in his silly daydream while she’d been working. He went to offer her a hand, but she’d already gotten them out and was lifting the lid to check their progress in a cloud of fragrant steam.
“They’re looking good,” she stated.
She put them back in and preheated a separate oven before pulling a cutting board over and starting to chop.
“I was thinking we could have Thanksgiving and Christmas catered, and work out something for New Year’s Day and all the other holidays. I’ll give you holiday pay, of course, and you can request time off whenever you need it. You know, for doctor appointments and stuff.”
He was probing for more information, though he wasn’t sure if she knew it.
She nodded and kept a straight face. She wasn’t going to say a word.
“I’d imagine your family would want you around on those days,” he said, leaning on the counter.
Her eyes jerked up to his for a second and the knife slipped and made a loud thunk on the wooden cutting board. He snatched her hand up before he even thought about it, searching for a missing finger or a fountain of blood, while she looked at him in shock.
Thankfully, there was neither and he let go as if he’d been burned.
In a way he had.
“You’ve got some crazy fast reflexes,” she said, carefully putting the blade back over the potato that had slipped.
“Comes with the territory,” he said, calming his anxiety.
What the hell was wrong with him?
She seemed to hesitate a moment then words burst from her in a rush. “I need to work as much as you’ll let me,” she said. “I need the money.”
His mouth snapped shut and he scanned her face for any clues as to why she needed money so badly. There were none.
“Is something wrong?” he asked carefully, looking out the window so he wouldn’t intimidate her so much.
“No. Money is just tight right now is all,” she said, smiling. “It is for many people, I’m sure.”
He sniffed and looked over at the other window. “I bet daycare must be expensive too,” he said and then wished he hadn’t.
Her mouth dropped open and she looked incredulous…and yes, guilty. She looked like a deer in headlights and that told him all he needed to know.
The question was, why was she trying to hide the fact that she had a child?
She recovered quickly, he’d give her that.
“What do you mean? I don’t need daycare. My husband just isn’t getting as many commissions lately, and—” S
he cut herself off and Kyle waited, but she didn’t continue.
She didn’t owe him any explanations, but he’d hoped she’d trusted him…at least a little.
What was he saying? The woman barely knew him, and just because he’d manufactured some kind of feelings for her didn’t mean that she had to return them, or acknowledge them. Hell, he hoped she didn’t because the way he was going—
He needed some space from her before he did something extremely stupid, like demand that she tell him everything…or kiss her senseless.
“That’s fine. Let John know the days you want to work or need off and we’ll fix your schedule,” he said politely and pushed through the kitchen door and out into the fresh, rainwashed air.
He needed to get out.