“Actually…” He took a step closer, shoving his strong, masculine hands into the pockets of his jeans. “I was gonna say if you ever decide to confront the son of a bitch, I’d be happy to tag along.” One of his broad shoulders lifted in a shrug. “Wouldn’t mind lettin’ him know what I think about what he did to you and the girls.”
Part of her never wanted to see her father’s face again. But the other part…
“I just want to ask him why, you know?” A ball of emotion grew thick at the base of her throat. “I want to look him square in the eyes and ask him why my life isn’t worth him spending even a tiny portion of his precious money.”
Something flashed behind Beckett’s eyes. A hefty dose of anger was there, of that she was certain. But there was also something else. Something darker. Deeper.
And as he slid a hand from his pocket and placed his palm against her cheek, the source became suddenly clear…
Desire.
“You’re worth it, darlin’.” He inched even closer. “You’re worth every fuckin’ penny that man has, and don’t youeverlet him or anyone else make you think you’re not.”
The unexpected words drove the air straight from her lungs. No one had ever said anything like that to her before. Or about her, for that matter. And the fierceness in his tone—along with the sheer intensity in his unwavering stare—left her feeling more confused than ever before.
“I don’t…” she began on a whisper. “I-I don’t understand.”
“What don’t you understand?”
“You.”
Beckett’s dark brows dipped together in the center as one corner of his lips curved into a grin. “Me?”
Evie nodded. “We met once, nearly a month ago. In the middle of madness and chaos, no less. But then I see you again today, and we share one meal, and it’s like…” A look of bewilderment fell over her. “It’s almost as if I’ve known you?—”
“Forever.”
She nodded again, comforted by the knowledge that she wasn’t alone. “You feel it, too,” she boldly proclaimed, her gaze remaining fixed on his. “Don’t you?”
Please don’t let me be the only one.
Beckett’s Adam’s apple bobbed with an audible swallow as he stared down at her in an unbearable silence. For a long, torturous moment, she was convinced she’d made a terrible, humiliating mistake.
But then…
“Oh, I feel it, sweetheart.” He leaned in, his lips coming within a hair’s breadth of hers. “Question is, what do you want to do about it?”
Evie knewexactlywhat she wanted to do. And so…
She closed her eyes, rose up onto her tiptoes, and brought her mouth to his. She didn’t have to go far, given he’d already filledher personal space. And when their lips met for the very first time, it was as if the stars aligned, and the angels began to sing.
Okay, so maybe there wasn’t any actual singing, and the stars wouldn’t shine for another few hours. But damn, if there wasn’tsomesort of profound shift in her existence. And when she got her first real taste of the man she’d fantasized about for weeks, Evie realized her world as she knew it would never be the same again.
Beckett deepened the kiss, his tongue sliding across the seam of her wanton mouth in a seductively enticing invitation she couldn’t refuse. Her lips parted, their tongues met, and just like that…
Evie. Was. Lost.
He tasted of chocolate and sin, and as they stood kissing on the slight stoop for God and everyone else to see, she couldn’t bring herself to care. Not about the cars driving past or any neighbors who may walk out their door at any moment.
Nothing else mattered aside from her…and him.
Beckett.
His name whispered through her mind as he held her body close. Her chest pressed against his, her hands clutching the thin shirt covering his broad, masculine shoulders. And when Beckett’s movements slowed, and he began to pull away, it took everything in her power not to beg him to stay.
“Damn.” He licked his lips, curling them into a crooked grin that made her heart race and her sex ache with need. “I know the gentlemanly thing to do would be to apologize for that.”
“Why?” Evie challenged lightly. “Are you sorry you kissed me?”