Beckett had been so confident when he’d first made the call to Shadow. And he hadn’t felt even the slightest twinge of guilt over asking his team’s tech goddess to use her hacking skills to find the name of the hotel where Evie was staying.
As a matter of fact, it wasn’t until this very moment that he really and truly considered how insane his being here would probably seem.
You sure this is a good idea?
Shadow’s earlier question whispered through his mind as he approached her room. Nerves twisted themselves into knots, adding to his present state of uncertainty.
Not one to let fear deter him from his goal, Beckett covered the remaining distance between him and that damn door. He pulled in a breath, raised his fist, and then…
He knocked.
Guess if she slams the door in my face, I’ll have my answer.
Beckett shifted his weight from one booted foot to the other as he did his best to put a lid on his rising anxiety. Shadow was right to question his impulsiveness. What was he thinking, showing up here unannounced…and uninvited?
You could still leave. If you move your ass right now, you might make it to the stairs before?—
The door swung open, the woman standing before him literally stealing the breath from his lungs.
Having washed her skin free of makeup, Evie appeared even younger than her thirty-one years. Her thick brown curls were piled high on her head with a few delicate locks left loose, framing her gorgeous face and brushing along the nape of her neck.
And though it probably didn’t make much sense, the woman’s casual choice of dark gray leggings, white, fitted t-shirt, and white, no-show socks were even more of a turn-on than the cute red dress and matching hat she’d worn the day before.
Damn, she really is beautiful.
“Beckett?”
The shock in Evie’s voice ripped his attention back into focus.
“Surprise!” He smiled like the idiot he was.
Surprise? Really?
The lame greeting made him want to kick his own ass.
“Wha…what are doing here?”
Suddenly feeling like the biggest dipshit in the universe, Beckett offered her a rambling explanation.
“I woke up thinking about you and what you were coming here to do today. I also couldn’t stop thinking about what you said before about not being able to talk to Lo or anyone else about, well,anyof this, and I thought….” He shoved his hands into his pockets, exhaling slowly. “I guess I thought you might need someone to vent to or a shoulder to cry on. And I know what you’re going to say. I could’ve just texted or called rather than flying standby to get here. But the thing is, it’s not always easy to decipher true emotion through text, and even if I’d called and you swore you were doing okay, I still would’ve spent the rest of the day worrying regardless. So…here I am.”
Those round eyes locked with his in an unreadable, immovable stare. Evie didn’t say anything at first, and he was almost certain she was going to slam the door in his face and never speak to him again.
Thankfully, she didn’t do that. Instead, Evie opened the door wide and stepped aside, giving him room to pass.
Beckett’s heart thumped hard with relief and…yeah, okay. He was man enough to admit it. Excitement. Not because he thought he was going to get lucky but because her silentinvitation to join her in her room meant getting to spend more time with her.
So I enjoy just being with her. Sue me.
As he entered the room, however, his focus wasn’t on his own selfish desires, but rather Evie’s wellbeing and current state of mind. After all, that was the whole reason he was here.
“How did you know where I was staying?” The door behind him snicked shut before the beautiful woman turned to him once again.
Yeah…about that…
Silently praying she wouldn’t kick his ass right back out into the hallway, Beckett told her the truth. “After you texted earlier saying you’d landed and were checking into your hotel, I asked my team’s technical analyst to ping your phone.”
Her dark brows bunched together with a tilting of her head. “He can do that?”