Chapter 44
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
WASHINGTON, D.C.
“They’re not getting married. Dad called off the engagement,” Levi announced Sunday night as he helped load the dishwasher at Sydney’s condo.
One week ago, she’d been sunbathing on a beach in Tulum when Beckett barged in and turned her world upside down. Well, some of that was Mya’s doing. But during a week’s time, they’d been chased through the jungle by the cartel, drugged by a crazy billionaire, and had witnessed the death of Beckett’s ex, who left behind a five-year-old son that Beckett was adopting. Time was weird like that.
“I know,” she admitted. “Your dad called while I was cooking dinner to let me know he broke up with her.”
“Did you know Dad wants to work things out with you instead?”
Sydney turned off the faucet and did her best to calm herself at Seth’s attempt to place their son in the middle of his insanity. Why in the hell would he tell Levi that? Why offer him any type of hope at such a reconciliation?
But before Sydney could reject the notion, Levi added, “I told him Hell would have to freeze over before you’d take him back. You know, something Grandpa likes to say when he’s handing out a firm no to his clients.”
Sydney reached for her son’s arm and pulled him in for a hug. She was so grateful for him. For his understanding and maturity.
When she let go of Levi, she wiped a few tears from her cheeks. He gave her a puzzled look because he knew damn well those tears weren’t on account of Seth. “What’s up, Mom?”
She went over to their French country kitchen table and dropped down on the cushioned bench. Where to begin?
He sat next to her and sniffed the air. “And are you wearing your cherry perfume again?”
“I dug it out of the trash when I got home this morning. Alice isn’t worth not wearing my favorite scent.”
“Good for you.” He smiled, showing his pearly whites. Naturally straight teeth that wouldn’t require braces. “But what else is going on? Did something happen on your work trip? Bad? Good?”
Sydney thought back to the whirlwind of a week she’d had. “Bad guys were handled. Good guys won.”
“Ha. Well, I figured as much with you being involved. But . . .?” He tipped his head, brushing his longish strands away from his eyes while waiting for her to share the part of the story she was still withholding.
She shifted on the seat to better face him. “Do you remember the sheriff at Savanna and Griffin’s wedding in April? Beckett Hawkins?”
“The one you were checking out?”
“What?” She fake-gasped and dramatically slapped a hand to her chest. “Was I?”
Levi sent her a shy smile along with a nod. “Oh yeah, I noticed.”
“Well then, I didn’t realize I’m such an open book.”
“Only to me. Well, and to Aunt Mya.”
And now with Beckett.
“Oh, and quick subject change, but is Mya going to work with you?”
She thought back to the tug-of-war between Mya and the two men in Mexico. “She’s going to help out from time to time when she can.” And maybe pick a team, or a man, eventually.
“Cool.” Levi waggled his eyebrows. “But back to the sheriff.”
“Your Aunt Mya is rubbing off on you,” she said with a laugh. “But um, well, Beckett and I worked together on my last case. Had a chance to get to know each other better.”
“And you like him?” Levi’s smile stretched from ear to ear. “That’s the best news I’ve heard in forever.”
“Really?”
Levi reached for her hand and squeezed. “I want you happy, Mom. You know that.”
“He lives in Alabama.”
“And we live in modern times,” he reminded her. “You can find a way to make it work if you really want to.” He winked, reminding her of his biological father, Matt. He let go of her hand and checked his watch. “Lucy’s dad is picking me up for the movie tonight in five minutes. Still okay if I go? I mean, if you want me to stay, I can.”
“No, no. Go. Be a kid. Enjoy life.” They stood, and she pulled him in for another hug.
Levi left the house a few minutes later, and Sydney went to her bedroom and dialed Matt’s number, waiting for the voicemail to connect.
“Hey, it’s me,” she began, sitting on her bed. “I wanted to tell you I met someone. And well, I think you’d like him . . .”
THIRTEEN DAYS LATER
“This place is kind of loud for chatting over cocktails,” Sydney had to practically shout over the band performing at the bar. “Open mic night and all.”
Mya lifted the umbrella from her drink and set it on the bar. “It has its charm, though, don’t you think?”
Sydney swiveled on her stool to scan the place. “I guess so,” she said, looking at the variety of license plates nailed to the walls as decoration.
Returning her attention to her old-fashioned, she took a sip, and thoughts of Beckett sprang to mind. Not because anything about this evening reminded her of Beckett, but because the man was on her mind constantly.
It was now June, and it’d been two weeks since she’d called him from Mexico. They’d exchanged a few texts here and there. But only quick check-ins. Nothing too serious.
He’d flown Miles and McKenna to New Mexico last weekend so they could attend Cora’s and Ivy’s funerals, and that’d been rough on all of them. She wanted to give him as much space as possible to process the changes in his life. To not push. But God, she was ready to see him again.
“So, you’re not taking any new jobs with Falcon until August, right? You’re still taking part of the summer off to be with Levi?” Why did this feel like small talk from Mya? She already knew the answers, and she wasn’t forgetful.
Sydney set her drink down and peered at her best friend, curious what her endgame was because knowing Mya, she had one. “Levi’s last day of school is June sixteenth, and we leave shortly after that for England.”
“Your family’s place in the Cotswolds is amazing. It’s straight out of Downton Abbey ,” she said with a smile, “or Bridgerton .”
“Well, my parents are going to be with us the first week, so that should be fuuun,” Sydney responded sarcastically. “You’re welcome to join. The house has like a million rooms and bathrooms.”
“I would love to, but I promised Carter I’d help cover for you while you’re on vacation. And I’m happy to do so. I want you to enjoy yourself. When was the last time you got away and spent some quality family time?”
“Levi will miss Lucy, so we won’t stay there for more than two weeks, but thank God for Wi-Fi, so he can FaceTime her every day.” Young love. “So, are you only helping Falcon for the summer, or . . .?”
“Playing it by ear. Mason decided to stay back in Mexico and assist Martín with dismantling more of the Sinaloa cartel. But I think he’s decided he wants more than friendship.” Mya rolled her eyes. “He must think Oliver’s interested in me, so he’s being all weird.”
“I think Oliver is interested, but you two fight a hell of a lot, so I don’t know what to say.”
“True.” Mya shrugged. “Despite being, um, drugged,” she started in such a low voice Sydney had to read her lips over the drummer’s solo, “I remember our kiss.” She fanned her face. “And his massive cock. I mean, I didn’t see it with my own eyes, so the jury is still out, but I was sitting on his lap, and these hips don’t lie. I can say that, right? I haven’t started working with the team officially yet, so we’re not co-workers. But still, don’t tell Carter.”
Sydney laughed. “I think you’re fine. And only Carter? Aren’t you worried about your other boss knowing you gave your soon-to-be teammate a lap dance?”
“Please, we all know who’s in charge there. But back to Oliver. A man that can kiss like that can surely use his mouth six ways to Sunday.” She lifted a hand between them. “Not planning to find out. All work and no play with both guys. Period.”
“Sure, sure.” Sydney let go a breath of relief when the music stopped. Her back was to the stage, but from the sounds of it, a new group or singer was taking over. Hopefully, they’d be better than the last one trying to croon the lyrics to a U2 song and failing miserably. “It just dawned on me you’ve yet to bring up Beckett all night. Why? I thought for sure when you asked me out for drinks, you’d start right there with the twenty questions.”
Sydney started to shift on her stool toward the next performer when Mya snatched her arm, redirecting her focus. Sydney lowered her gaze to Mya’s death grip.
“I didn’t bring him up because I thought it’d be tough for you to talk about him.”
Sydney was two seconds away from calling bullshit, but the guitarist began to play, effectively cutting off the conversation. When a man started singing, goose bumps peppered her body beneath her black silk tank top at his voice.
The song was familiar. She didn’t know many country songs, but . . .
“Cody Johnson, ‘On My Way to You,’” Mya told her, reading her thoughts. She let go of her arm, a smile crossing her lips in the process.
“Yeah, but this is . . .” Sydney closed her eyes, her heartbeat pounding as her thoughts went wild. It couldn’t be him. Could it? She was too afraid to turn and look, too worried she was wrong. But no way would anyone else cause such an intense reaction other than that man.
Sydney composed herself before opening her eyes. She spun around on her seat, and the most intense butterfly sensations of her life struck her abdomen when she set her eyes on Beckett behind the microphone, his gaze trained on her. And was that A.J. on the guitar alongside him?
Beckett’s lips curled into a brief smile as A.J. strummed the guitar like a pro.
I come from a music-loving family , Beckett had shared down in that cenote in Mexico nearly three weeks ago. He had left out the fact he could sing.
She refused to break eye contact, but from her peripheral view, she spied women on their feet, crowding around the stage, clamoring for his attention. But the man surely didn’t give it to them.
In dark jeans, cowboy boots, a white shirt, and his Stetson, he looked every part her country cowboy from that romance book brought to life. In my life.
And the lyrics . . . Perfection.
“You set this up?” Sydney asked Mya.
“Beckett called in a favor. I may have helped with a covert assist in getting you to this spot.” Mya nudged her side. “He’s quite the guy.”
“I’d say so,” Sydney whispered, the swell of emotions nearly trapping her words that time. The song was ending, so she worked her way through the crowd, and as soon as the song ended, the audience went wild. But Beckett was already on the move, making his way to her.
He rushed down the three stage steps, and the women parted for him.
When he stood before her, he dropped a simple, “Hey, you.”
Her body was trembling, and she restrained herself from jumping into his arms as if he’d just come home from a six-month deployment. “You’re here.”
“I never had a chance to tell you during our last phone call that I want you too.”
“You do,” she responded, not as a question but as a fact. She felt that truth deep in her gut. “Soooo, you can sing.”
“A.J.’s the best of us all, but I can hold my own. Been decades since anyone’s heard me publicly.” A smile played across his handsome face. “I thought maybe I could seduce you with my voice. Did it work?”
“Seduce me, huh?” She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and stared into his deep brown, soulful eyes. “Oh, it worked.”
Maybe it was the lighting, but she’d swear that eye-twinkling thing she read about in the five other romance novels she’d devoured to occupy her time in the last two weeks was happening right now. “So, you see, it’s my birthday tonight, and Miles and McKenna are at Liam and Emily’s for a sleepover. And I heard your son is at his dad’s. Maybe I’m being a bit presumptuous, but maybe we could have a sleepover too?”
“A sleepover, hm? I think that can be arranged.” A soft chuckle escaped as he set a hand on her hip and pulled her closer to him. “And happy birthday, Sheriff Hawkins.”
He flicked the brim of his dark brown hat with his free hand.
“No birthday suit for me? I’m kind of disappointed,” she teased.
“Now see, I’ll do just about anything you ask. If you want me to strip down to my birthday suit here for you, I will. So, sweetheart, what would you like me to do?”
She shook her head and walked her fingers up his chest. “I don’t share. Let’s save the you-being-naked for my bedroom tonight.”
Beckett leaned in and brought his mouth near hers. “As long as you plan on being naked too.”
“Ohhh,” she began while arching her back to draw her lips closer to his. “You can count on it. You know how hard it is for me to keep my clothes on around you.”