The last thing a guy like him needed was for a woman he’d once rescued to bug him after the fact.
“I don’t give that number to just anyone,” Beckett added. “And for what it’s worth, I really hope to hear from you again soon. Even if it’s just to let me know how you’re doing.”
Oh wow. Okay. So she wasn’t quite sure what to do with that other than to say?—
“Okay.”
“You take care of yourself, darlin’.” That bearded mouth of his lifted, sending her heart into a frenzy. “Talk soon, yeah?”
“Yeah.” Evie nodded.
They shared a look that made her want to beg him to stay, but then she watched as Beckett “Bones” Stone turned around and walked toward the door.
Seconds later, he was gone, and Evie was still sitting on that exam table, wondering where she was supposed to go from there.
CHAPTER FIVE
Three weeks later…
“Nice shot.”Beckett used the scope mounted on his rifle to study Digger’s target. “Remind me not to get on your bad side.”
“You’re up.”
He nearly smiled at his teammate’s short, grumbled response. A man of few words, Dig was quite the enigma. The former SEAL hardly ever showed any emotion, and on the rare occasions that he did, it was almost always because he was pissed.
Beckett brought his own target into view. With the center of the paper silhouette balanced within his crosshairs, he released a slow and steady exhale. He pulled the trigger halfway through and…
Shit.
“That’s three you’ve missed today,” Digger was quick to point out. “Something going on?”
His gut tightened as he glanced over at his teammate, whose focus was on reloading the M4A1 Carbine assault rifle held securely in his hands.
“Like what?” Beckett asked, sounding far too innocent even to himself.
“You tell me.”
“Nothin’ to tell.” He tried swallowing down the lie.
What was he supposed to do…tell Dig the truth? Admit that he was so completely and totally hung up on a woman he hadn’t seen since their team had rescued her weeks earlier?
He couldn’t do that. Because the truth was, he was distracted in a huge fucking way.
Of all his teammates, Digger would most likely be the least understanding in this particular situation. Hell, the man never evendatedas far as Beckett knew.
How the hell could a guy like that get what it was like to be so overwhelmingly distracted by a woman he’d lost the ability to hit a damn target? The answer was, he couldn’t.
So, no. Beckett wouldnottell Dig that his aim was off because he couldn’t stop thinking about a woman he had no right to obsess over. There’d be no point.
Can’t expect anyone else to understand this shit if you can’t figure it out for yourself.
As if by design, Evie’s smiling face invaded Beckett’s mind. Just as it had since he first saw her picture during the team’s initial briefing. Like it did every time he closed his damn eyes.
It had been three weeks since he’d left her on that ship, and he hadn’t stopped thinking about her since. He even caught himself checking his phone multiple times a day in hopes that she’d finally sent him a text. Every time the thing rang, his heart filled with hope that it would be her on the other end of the line.
And with each new day that passed, he wondered if that would finally be the day he figured out how to let go of the fantasy world he’d created. One where Evie showed up on his doorstep to reveal she was just as obsessed with him.
“Christ, man. Why don’t you just call her already?”