“I didn’t need saving,” she cut him off. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate you having my back.” Her light eyes captivated him for one long second before his gaze traveled to her lips, which transformed into the most beautiful smile he’d seen on someone other than his daughter. “Also, chivalry doesn’t have to be dead.”
She turned toward their table and walked that way, and Beckett cupped a hand to his mouth as he watched her delectable backside. Sydney wasn’t that tall. Maybe five-six or so. But the woman was all legs. And damn, could he envision those shapely legs wrapped around his hips as he plunged inside her.
As Beckett tossed a look back toward the bar to ensure the tequila-shooters were behaving, the group of single brunettes waved at him, motioning him over. Yeah, no, thank you. He ignored them and joined Sydney and the others, opting to stand and catch some shade from the palm tree. He needed to cool off. He still wanted to go punch that guy.
“Not going to sit?” Did Sydney know how much power those green eyes held as she pointed them his way?
“I think I’ll stand for a minute.” Not only had he nearly gotten into a bar fight, something he wouldn’t normally do, well, not since he was younger . . . the fact he’d pretty much SNIFFED Sydney in her room meant his head was practically up his ass.
His attraction to Sydney was like nothing he’d ever experienced. Not even with McKenna’s mother, Cora. He’d never met a woman he’d had such an intense, almost primitive-like, reaction to before.
Earlier in her room, his thoughts had gone wild in the space of a heartbeat as he’d held her wrist, drawing his nose to the sensitive part of her skin.
Images of him peeling her robe from her body had planted roots in his mind. Palming and worshipping those creamy-white breasts he’d seen earlier on the beach. Flicking his tongue across her light pink nipples, their color a match to her luscious lips.
“You do plan on telling us everything, right?” Mya asked, her voice breaking through his thoughts.
Beckett’s attention briefly snagged on Sydney’s white tank top that fit like a glove as he moved his focus to Mya and answered, “Of course.”
“Okay, good. Well, should we order something first,” Mya suggested, reaching for a chip and dipping it into the guac. “I might think better with food in my stomach instead of just the alcohol already there.”
“I ordered more food for the table. Asked them to bring their specials. Hope you don’t mind,” Oliver announced. “Those drinks weren’t our idea.”
“Oh, some woman at the bar sent them your way?” Mya teasingly asked, twisting in her seat to look toward the bar that was getting increasingly crowded, to the point Beckett had lost track of everyone there.
“Nah, just our uber-friendly waiter,” Oliver shared with a smile. “So.” Oliver flicked the brim of his ball cap. “Why don’t you tell them what you know?”
Beckett nodded, his back going straight as he eyed Sydney. Her attention was on Mya, her lips tight as if she were concerned about something other than the situation at hand. Not that he knew her well enough to get a read on her.
When Sydney shifted her focus to Beckett, his arms tensed. Her gaze lingered on his mouth, which was distracting as hell.
How much should he tell them? These people were practically strangers. Did he want to get into the gritty details of his past right away? What was “need to know” information?
“Three weeks ago,” Beckett began, deciding he’d start there, “Cora, McKenna’s mother, left me a voicemail. Well, her message was cut off, but she was in trouble.” He thought back to her message, to the fear in Cora’s tone, unlike any other time before. “At first, I thought it was a trap. A way to, um, get money from me.” He lowered his eyes to the table. “But she didn’t call back. If it were another one of her schemes, she’d have made sure I could find her. Given me more clues, I mean.”
“I take it this isn’t the first time she’s done this to you?” Sydney asked, her tone a touch sympathetic to the hell McKenna’s mother had put him through in the past.
His entire relationship with that woman had been a lie from the start. Conned from day one. The only pure, innocent part that had come from his time with her was McKenna being brought into the world.
“Yeah, which is why I was hesitant to believe her. And why I didn’t do anything at first, because like the times before, I expected another call to come.” Beckett held Sydney’s eyes, doing his best to reveal the uncomfortable truths he never talked about. “I hadn’t heard from Cora in nearly six years.”
“So, when the call didn’t come, you decided to find her sister? See if she could help?” Mya asked, and Beckett gave her his attention.
“I couldn’t ignore her message.” Beckett cleared his throat and coughed into his fist. “I was worried, so I reached out to a contact to see if they’d have better luck tracking down Cora,” he explained, then set his eyes on Oliver.
“You didn’t ask A.J.?” Oliver asked in surprise, because yeah, that’d make the most sense to go to his Navy SEAL brother, who had access to an abundance of contacts, including the FBI, the CIA, and every other alphabet soup agency.
“A.J. wants nothing to do with helping me find Cora. He made that clear after the last time Cora reached out,” Beckett admitted, his eyes going to the sky this time. “I went behind his back, something I’m not proud of, and asked someone he works with for help. Liam Evans. Well, actually, I asked his wife, Emily, for help.”
“Ah, right. Emily works for the Attorney General,” Oliver said, making the connection. “She has access to criminal records and the like.”
Beckett lowered his gaze once again and nodded. “Cora and Ivy both have records, and I was hoping Emily could reach out to her government agency contacts for me. Use their facial recognition software programs to scan for Cora’s last whereabouts.”
“No matches for Cora, I take it? Just a match for Ivy.” Sydney most likely now understood how Beckett had wound up in Mexico.
“Right. One of Emily’s contacts got a hit on Ivy’s face in Juárez, and after a bit more of a refined search in that area, they were able to place her at the club, Capone, on a few different occasions. The alias she used to originally enter Mexico, well, I doubt it’s the one she’s going by now.” He paused to let the information sink in. “I figured Ivy worked at the club and was searching for a new mark, someone to con,” Beckett shared. The guilt at sidestepping his brother and asking someone else to lie for him, like he’d asked of Jesse, nagged at him.
He knew asking Emily for help and keeping that from A.J. was beyond a big ask, that it was straight-up wrong. But Emily was understanding of the situation in a way A.J. wasn’t. She’d do the same for her daughter if Elaina’s biological father ever found himself in a jam. Emily and Liam would do anything for Elaina. Take any risks.
Beckett owed a lot of apologies when this was over.
“Do you think it’s possible that if Cora’s really in danger, she called her sister too?” Sydney asked. “That Ivy was working at the club as a way to find Cora? Maybe there’s a connection.”