“No broken ribs?”
“Not even cracked.” Evie absentmindedly brought her right hand to her left side. “Who knew bruised ribs could hurt so bad?”
In a move that made her grin, Beckett raised his hand high in the air.
“Been there, done that.” He huffed out a breathy chuckle. “A few times, actually.”
An awkward silence passed between them. Fearing he’d leave if she didn’t come up withsomethingto say, Evie glanced around the room, desperate for a topic of conversation.
She spotted the clothes she’d been wearing when Beckett and his team had rescued her. Folded neatly on the seat of a nearby plastic chair was the shirt he’d been nice enough to let her borrow.
In an effort to resume even a modicum of conversation, she practically blurted out, “Your shirt is over there.”Oh, how I wish I could keep it.“Thanks again for letting me use it.”
“No problem.” His gaze—which she’d recently discovered was an alluring dark brown—remained on hers. “You look good.”
Her bark of laughter filled the air around them. “It’s okay, Beckett. I’ve seen myself in the mirror, andgoodisn’t exactly the word I’d use to describe…this.” She waved a hand down the length of her own body.
His voice seemed to drop a full octave when he asked, “And how exactly would you describe yourself?”
“Uh…a mess.” She chuckled incredulously. “Even with the days’ worth of dirt and grime washed away, I’m still covered in bruises; my bottom lip is swollen, and I’m?—”
“Beautiful.”
Evie started to laugh at the ridiculous claim but then clamped her mouth closed when she realized he was being serious.
You heard him wrong.
That had to be it. It was the only logical explanation. She’d misunderstood what he’d said, and her hormone-driven mind had twisted his words into something they weren’t.
She wasn’t beautiful. Definitely not East Hamptons beautiful.
And definitely not while currently sporting a black eye, bruised jaw, and split lip on a face free of makeup and hair lying in limp, damp curls.
Evie knew she wasn’t ugly, but she’d heard far too many comments over the years not to be fully aware of the way she looked to others…
Her face was too round, her dimples too deep, and her nose turned up at the end. She could still see the kids at school poking fun by pushing their own noses up, while running around the playground snorting like pigs.
In contrast to her olive skin, feminine curves, and thick brunette curls, almost all the girls she’d grown up with had been tall and thin with long blonde hair, high cheekbones, and perfectly straight noses. To be fair, most of those cheeks and noses had been paid for via their daddies’ credit cards. And the blonde in their hair had only been the absolute perfect shade because it had come from a bottle.
But none of that mattered. Not when it came to kids. Especially not when dealing with a bunch of rich, spoiled teenagers.
Evie watched Beckett closely, awaiting his reaction to her blatantly honest self-assessment. She expected him to smile or give a little chuckle. Maybe even laugh at her silly, sarcastic remark regarding her current state.
But he didn’t do any of those things.
What Beckett did do was slide his hands from his pockets and begin walking toward her. No,stalkingwas more like it.
She watched, the breath in her lungs becoming more and more frozen with each booted step he took. The expression on his chiseled, ruggedly handsome face was so intense it made her pulse race. And by the time Beckett came to a stop—mere inches away—Evie was pretty sure she’d completely lost the ability to breathe.
“Did you hear what I said, Evelynn?”
His voice…the use of her full name…the look in his enchanting eyes… All those things and more left her stuttering over her own words.
“I-I heard you, but…”
He moved in even closer, his gaze turning dark and fiery as he slowly lifted a hand toward her face. “There’s no ‘but’ sweetheart,” Beckett rumbled the low drawl. “I know beautiful when I see it. And mess or not”—he carefully tucked some wayward curls behind her ear—“you’re right there at the top.”
Evie stifled a gasp, her lower belly tingling from the electricity arching wildly within his touch. A rush of shivers raced down the length of her spine, and her heart kicked inside her chest with such force it felt as if it were trying to fight its way out.