Chapter Twenty
Reyna grabbed her planning materials and returned to her room. She hadn’t had dinner, just the snacks the girls had smuggled into their planning session, but the thought of trekking back to the cafeteria made her head hurt.
When she entered her room, she was glad she hadn’t delayed.
“Becks,” she whispered.
He was silhouetted against the light from her closet. He was actually dressed down for once, in dark jeans and a button-up with a jacket. It seemed he hadn’t come straight from the office this time. Like he’d planned ahead to be here.
“Little One,” he said, his voice deep and seductive.
The sound went straight to her core, igniting her body. She suddenly forgot all about the wedding planning and the fact that she hadn’t eaten.
“You’re here.”
“Yes. I worked it out so I would have the night off.”
“Oh,” she said as she shut the door behind her. “You got a night off?”
“It didn’t go over very well,” he said carefully. “I was supposed to be at an event with Penny.”
Reyna frowned. She knew it was a part of his cover, but she didn’t have to like it. “And you chose to come here instead?”
He nodded. “I chose to see you. I would rather see you.”
“She didn’t like that?”
“You’ll probably see it on the news in the morning,” he said blandly.
Reyna’s eyebrows lifted. “That bad?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “It doesn’t matter.”
“But your cover…”
“Don’t worry about my cover.” He bridged the distance between them. “I’ve been investigated enough since your disappearance. My cover is solid.”
Beckham’s hand ran up her arm, over her shoulder, and came to rest on her neck. Her heart beat a tattoo. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, and she breathed him in.
“Why don’t you bundle up and I’ll tell you all about it?”
“Bundle up?” she asked breathily. Her mind was on his hand on her neck and his lips so near hers…and the bed and the warmth of the room.
“I’m taking you out.”
Her eyes snapped up to his. They were dancing in the faint light. “What do you mean?”
He grinned a dark, mischievous smile. Then he planted an achingly soft but commanding kiss on her lips. “I’m breaking you out for the night. That is,” he said, offering her his hand, “if you’ll have me.”
With her heart in her throat, she placed her hand in his. “I’d love that.”
He brought her hand up to his lips, staring down at her the whole time. “Then you are going to need more clothes.”
Beckham retrieved a bag from the closet and passed it to her. A few minutes later, she was decked out in winter clothes, including a sleek peacoat. She wrapped a dark scarf around her neck and slipped a pair of gloves into her pockets.
Beckham held his hand back out to her. “Are you ready?”
“Yes,” she said, a thrill running through her as she put her hand in his and followed him out of the room.
Beckham clicked a new lock into place. They’d added security to her room since her breakout. It did make her feel a little better that not just anyone could get in, but not so great, since she could no longer get out if she wanted to.
“They’re going to install a hand scanner soon,” he told her with a short laugh.
“Great,” she grumbled. Talk about overkill.
She followed Beckham down the hall to the elevator and then zipped up the five floors. She could barely keep still as it opened to the antechamber. Beckham drew her closer again.
“You are full of unrelenting energy,” he breathed into her hair.
“I’m here with you, and we’re going out together. I don’t know how you can expect me to be calm.”
“Calm is not your natural state of being.”
“Where are we going, anyway?”
Beckham laced their fingers together and didn’t answer. Of course he didn’t answer. She knew asking was futile. Beckham wasn’t one for words. When he wanted to keep a secret—well, he’d already proven he was plenty adept at it.
They exited the elevator, Beckham got them through the steel door, and then they were out. It was fucking cold, and she scrambled into her gloves, burying her face into her scarf.
“It’s not far,” he told her, pulling her in close as they crossed a dark, empty parking lot.
They went up a few flights of stairs, down another corridor, and then up in another elevator before Beckham opened the door to the rooftop.
Her smile was magnetic. “I feel like we’ve been here before.”
“I wanted to create new memories with you.”
Reyna braced herself for the chill as she stepped outside and was not disappointed.
The temperature was frigid. Snow dusted the rooftop and fell gently from the heavens.
The view into the city was stunning with everything coated in a layer of white powder, but it was the rooftop garden that really caught her eye this time.
Lights decorated the winter plants, and a fire was crackling in the center of a firepit.
Heaters had been added to help with the extreme cold.
The bench where they had first been intimate was clear of snow, and it held blankets and a tray of food.
“Is this a date, Mr. Anderson?” she asked coyly.
“And suddenly, I’m no longer Becks.” His eyes were teasing, and she was certain she would never be able to get enough of it.
“I didn’t even think you liked the nickname.”
“I like it when you say it,” he admitted.
“My Becks,” she said, standing on her tiptoes and dragging him into a kiss.
“My Little One,” he said just as fiercely.
“I like that, too.”
He flashed her a rare real smile and then escorted her through the rooftop garden. They took a seat in front of the fire. Beckham wrapped blankets around them to keep her warm and put his arm around her shoulders.
“I figured you didn’t eat,” he said, gesturing to the covered tray.
“How do you know me so well?”
“You lived with me for some time.”
“True. I sometimes forget to eat. But then again…so do you.”
He laughed softly. “Not anymore. I am more careful now. More careful around you.”
Reyna arched an eyebrow at him, but he simply removed the cover from the tray to reveal all her favorite foods from the restaurant they used to go to across from his penthouse.
“Oh my God, this is the best.”
“I’m glad I got the order correct,” he said. Though he honestly sounded a little…nervous. Beckham could never be nervous.
“It’s perfect. Now, while I eat, tell me more about this investigation.”
“Harrington redid background checks. The penthouse was raided after they took you and then again when you escaped him. As if I would be stupid enough to bring you back there if I had gotten you out.” He fumed at the audacity. “I had to get a new permanent.”
“What?” Reyna asked, covering her mouth.
“Yeah. Part of the cover, I’m afraid. I couldn’t look like I was disagreeing with Harrington when it might jeopardize finding you. I hate having to keep up appearances.”
Reyna could see that he thought it was beneath him to follow all of Harrington’s orders. She didn’t blame him. She hated following them, too.
“Do you drink from her?” Reyna couldn’t help asking.
“Would you rather I drink from Penelope?” he asked, his voice low.
“No,” she said slowly. “I hated it the time you did it in the Vault.”
“I know. I couldn’t drink from you, and I was starving. I no longer drink from Penelope, if that makes you feel better.”
“It does,” she admitted. “But we could try again.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Reyna.”
“I should be a match for you, though.”
“You should. But a true blood type match is preferred. At least, that was what I thought before I drank your blood.”
Reyna put down her sandwich. “What do you mean?”
“Your blood is preferable to any other,” he said, staring directly into her dark eyes. “You are preferable to any other.”
She flushed. That sent heat straight between her legs, and suddenly she felt very, very toasty. She unwound the scarf from around her neck. Not on purpose. She wasn’t enticing him. Or…maybe she was.
“I think Harrington must feel the same way,” Beckham added. She could tell the thought infuriated him.
“Why?” she asked.
“The fact that there was a security breach is only known to top-level employees. And even then, we don’t know what was breached.
Or more importantly, who. No one knew that he had found a match, but we guessed.
Well, I knew, but I had to act as if I did not.
He tried to pretend he wasn’t doing better, feeling stronger, but he was.
” Beckham turned back to look at her. “And now he’s not again. ”
“Good,” she spat. “I hope he shrivels up and dies.”
“I’m not sure which scenario makes him more dangerous, though,” he said, considering. “When he had you, he could take on the world. Without you, he’s much more desperate. Desperate men do desperate things.”
“You sound as if you are speaking from experience.”
“I am,” he said.
But when she waited, he didn’t elaborate, so she went back to her meal.
When she finished, she snuggled into Beckham’s side.
His hand wove through her hair absentmindedly.
Her side was pressed against his strong body, and he laced their fingers together.
They sat there in the stillness of the night as the fire crackled before them.
She didn’t care about anything else going on outside of this moment.
She had everything she wanted right here.
“Becks?”
He kissed the top of her head in response.
“I want to know all there is to know about you.” Snow kissed her eyelids as she faced him again. He didn’t say anything, and she could see his eyes go distant. “Will you tell me your story?”
“It’s not a pleasant tale.”
“Please?”
He faced the skyline again with a sigh. She could tell he didn’t want to give in to her. That he didn’t want to have to tell her about his gruesome past. But she wanted to know all of him. Everything there was to know.
“You do not want to know what I once was…what I am still on the inside.”
“I do,” she insisted.
He whirled around, his fangs visible. “I am not the hero you have constructed in your story, Little One. I am the villain.”
Reyna reached up and gently ran her thumb across the fangs. Not hard enough to break the skin but enough to feel the sharp point. “Someone made you this way.”
He took her wrist in his hand, removing the temptation. “And would you believe me if I said I chose this?”
Reyna froze. “Did you?”
“Yes.”
“And would you choose it again?” she whispered.
“That hardly matters.”
Reyna assessed him. “It makes all the difference in the world.”
“That is where you are wrong. We can’t change the past. It’s futile to even consider it. I am a vampire. I am a murderer. My backstory will not change your mind except to poison you against me.”
“Why don’t you let me make up my own mind about that?”
“When I tell you, it will be a mercy.”
“Mercy?” she whispered.
“Then you will not need another reason to leave me.”