Sydney went back to her bed and peered at her cell phone.
Making that call, leaving that voicemail . . . it’d become a habit.
But it was pointless.
Those calls were always pointless.
And Levi was right—if she didn’t go hit something, she might do something she never did, something she hated.
Hell, she might cry.
CHAPTER FOUR
TULUM, MEXICO
“White sand beneath our feet, turquoise water lapping the shore, and mimosas in our hands. What more could we ask for?”
Sydney slapped a palm to the top of her floppy sun hat when a sudden breeze threatened to whisk it away, spilling a few sips of her drink in the process, and laughed at her friend’s singsong praise of their surroundings. She and Mya were relaxing on wicker chaise loungers on the beach at their resort, the Caribbean Sea their current view and not a cloud in sight.
After sightseeing the Mayan ruins yesterday afternoon, they’d opted to spend their Sunday doing nothing but soaking in the sun. Aside from a little beach yoga after breakfast that morning, this had to have been the laziest Sydney had been in months.
“Well,” Sydney began, fighting a smile and resting her arm back on her lap once the breeze had died down, “you know what I’d add to the mix to make this day totally perfect.”
Mya turned her head toward Sydney and playfully kissed the air. “I’ll give you my answer before you leave tomorrow, I promise.”
“Before I leave? Are you staying longer?”
“Maybe. I might need an extra day or two in the sun.” Mya looked around as if ensuring no one could hear what she planned to say next. But then nothing came.
Something was up with Mya. She’d had her head on a swivel the entire time they’d explored the Mayan ruins yesterday, and she doubted it had to do with Mya’s fear of snakes or the uptick in recent saltwater crocodile attacks at the lagoons.
“I know you want to talk about the prospect of my fabulous self working with Falcon Falls.” Mya sighed and turned to face the Caribbean Sea. “But let’s just be two hot women on a beach with no worries in the world for a little bit longer.”
“And you’re sure there’s nothing to worry about?” Sydney repeated the question she’d asked her friend three or four times yesterday.
Of course, Sydney had her own list of worries she didn’t plan to share, and at the top was how her son was going to handle his father and Alice dating.
Mya brought the rim of her champagne flute to her lips and sipped. “No. We should drink more. Get baked. Not from pot.” She smiled. “From the sun. You know, just chill. You were the opposite of relaxed yesterday, so let’s not repeat that.”
“Ditto,” Sydney said under her breath. She hadn’t told Mya about Seth and Alice yet because she didn’t want to spoil Mya’s mood. Alice had been like a sister to her as well. Although Sydney never asked her to, Mya had ended her friendship with Alice after learning of the affair. That loyalty still meant the world to her.
Sydney finished her drink and discarded the empty glass on the little wicker table sandwiched between their sunbeds. It was only May, but the sun was already beating down on them, and her skin hadn’t seen much in the way of Vitamin D in the last few months. They’d need to open the umbrella for some shade because, sunscreen or not, she’d get more than baked. She’d be fried. “Okay, well then, how’s Mason?” She bent her knees and drummed her fingers on her thighs.
“That’s work talk,” Mya shot back.
“Mason is also your go-to for sex, so I think the subject is fair game.”
Mya placed her glass on the table and switched to her side, propping her head up and staring at Sydney for a few beats. “Fine.” There was an eye roll behind those sunglasses, Sydney was sure of it.
She’d known Mya and Alice for as long as she could remember. Basically forever. Their fathers had all gone to Yale at the same time. Mya’s dad was now a prominent judge in New York City. Alice’s father was a senator. And Sydney’s father? He ran one of the most successful defense companies in the world. Built it from the ground up with a small loan and nothing more. Her dad had been happily telling his own Bezos-Amazon-in-a-garage nothing-to-something story long before Amazon even existed.
Maybe she was being unreasonable wishing the affair had been enough for her father to cut ties with Alice’s family. It hurt knowing her dad still vacationed with the Morrisons, and Alice was often on board the yacht or at whatever island they were visiting.
The fact that the Archer–Morrison outings doubled in frequency since Sydney left the family company to work for Carter and Gray at Falcon Falls had her wondering if her old man was playing dirty. Payback for disconnecting herself from the Archer empire.
“You’re heir to the throne. If you don’t take over, then it’s up to Levi,” her dad had said on her way out the door last year, and she knew that was a threat.
She loved the man, but he loved his company more. And no way would she budge on her decision and go back to the family business regardless of how many games her father played. She’d never let him get to her son and force him into a life he didn’t want the way he’d once done to her after she’d left the Army.
Sydney reset her focus on the topic at hand. “Well, are you going to follow up after your ‘fine’ comment?” She faked a pout. “Come on, give me something juicy since my love life is beyond repair, and neither of us want to talk about the only thing I do well. Work.”
Mya grunted. “You do a lot of things well. You just don’t let anyone know there are more sides to you than the all-business-don’t-mess-with-me version people see.”
Sydney waved a hand in the air. “Oh, Miss Investigative Reporter, you’re so good at changing the subject. But no, back to you. To the handsome Mason Matthews.”
Sydney knew Mason, and his older brother, Connor, as well. Not in the way Mya knew Mason, of course. Absurdly rich people often knew other absurdly rich people, and that was the case with the Matthewses and the Archers. Before Mason and Connor’s father died, he’d worked in a similar industry to her family.
“I’m not a journalist anymore,” Mya reminded her.
Okay, that was technically true, but her research and investigative skills, combined with her incredible ability to track people around the world, were the skills Sydney was interested in for Falcon. And it would be nice to have another woman out in the field since she was surrounded by a sea of testosterone on a regular basis. Story of her life though since West Point, she supposed.
“Yeah, you gave up journalism to work with Mason to hunt human traffickers.” Mason and Connor had been Marines before entering the private security sector, now doing similar work to Falcon Falls. Not that they were competitors since they were both trying to do good in the world, but she had no problem stealing Mya away from the Marines to the Army side.
“Believe me when I say nothing serious has ever happened or will ever happen with Mason,” Mya was quick to say. “We used each other for sex when we were horny. That’s it.”
Horny. Yeah, Sydney had realized she was horny and then some last night when alone in her hotel suite.