Sydney laughed. “I think you’re fine. And only Carter? Aren’t you worried about your other boss knowing you gave your soon-to-be teammate a lap dance?”
“Please, we all know who’s in charge there. But back to Oliver. A man that can kiss like that can surely use his mouth six ways to Sunday.” She lifted a hand between them. “Not planning to find out. All work and no play with both guys. Period.”
“Sure, sure.” Sydney let go a breath of relief when the music stopped. Her back was to the stage, but from the sounds of it, a new group or singer was taking over. Hopefully, they’d be better than the last one trying to croon the lyrics to a U2 song and failing miserably. “It just dawned on me you’ve yet to bring up Beckett all night. Why? I thought for sure when you asked me out for drinks, you’d start right there with the twenty questions.”
Sydney started to shift on her stool toward the next performer when Mya snatched her arm, redirecting her focus. Sydney lowered her gaze to Mya’s death grip.
“I didn’t bring him up because I thought it’d be tough for you to talk about him.”
Sydney was two seconds away from calling bullshit, but the guitarist began to play, effectively cutting off the conversation. When a man started singing, goose bumps peppered her body beneath her black silk tank top at his voice.
The song was familiar. She didn’t know many country songs, but . . .
“Cody Johnson, ‘On My Way to You,’” Mya told her, reading her thoughts. She let go of her arm, a smile crossing her lips in the process.
“Yeah, but this is . . .” Sydney closed her eyes, her heartbeat pounding as her thoughts went wild. It couldn’t be him. Could it? She was too afraid to turn and look, too worried she was wrong. But no way would anyone else cause such an intense reaction other than that man.
Sydney composed herself before opening her eyes. She spun around on her seat, and the most intense butterfly sensations of her life struck her abdomen when she set her eyes on Beckett behind the microphone, his gaze trained on her. And was that A.J. on the guitar alongside him?
Beckett’s lips curled into a brief smile as A.J. strummed the guitar like a pro.
I come from a music-loving family, Beckett had shared down in that cenote in Mexico nearly three weeks ago. He had left out the fact he could sing.
She refused to break eye contact, but from her peripheral view, she spied women on their feet, crowding around the stage, clamoring for his attention. But the man surely didn’t give it to them.
In dark jeans, cowboy boots, a white shirt, and his Stetson, he looked every part her country cowboy from that romance book brought to life. In my life.
And the lyrics . . . Perfection.
“You set this up?” Sydney asked Mya.
“Beckett called in a favor. I may have helped with a covert assist in getting you to this spot.” Mya nudged her side. “He’s quite the guy.”
“I’d say so,” Sydney whispered, the swell of emotions nearly trapping her words that time. The song was ending, so she worked her way through the crowd, and as soon as the song ended, the audience went wild. But Beckett was already on the move, making his way to her.
He rushed down the three stage steps, and the women parted for him.
When he stood before her, he dropped a simple, “Hey, you.”
Her body was trembling, and she restrained herself from jumping into his arms as if he’d just come home from a six-month deployment. “You’re here.”
“I never had a chance to tell you during our last phone call that I want you too.”
“You do,” she responded, not as a question but as a fact. She felt that truth deep in her gut. “Soooo, you can sing.”
“A.J.’s the best of us all, but I can hold my own. Been decades since anyone’s heard me publicly.” A smile played across his handsome face. “I thought maybe I could seduce you with my voice. Did it work?”
“Seduce me, huh?” She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and stared into his deep brown, soulful eyes. “Oh, it worked.”
Maybe it was the lighting, but she’d swear that eye-twinkling thing she read about in the five other romance novels she’d devoured to occupy her time in the last two weeks was happening right now. “So, you see, it’s my birthday tonight, and Miles and McKenna are at Liam and Emily’s for a sleepover. And I heard your son is at his dad’s. Maybe I’m being a bit presumptuous, but maybe we could have a sleepover too?”
“A sleepover, hm? I think that can be arranged.” A soft chuckle escaped as he set a hand on her hip and pulled her closer to him. “And happy birthday, Sheriff Hawkins.”
He flicked the brim of his dark brown hat with his free hand.
“No birthday suit for me? I’m kind of disappointed,” she teased.
“Now see, I’ll do just about anything you ask. If you want me to strip down to my birthday suit here for you, I will. So, sweetheart, what would you like me to do?”
She shook her head and walked her fingers up his chest. “I don’t share. Let’s save the you-being-naked for my bedroom tonight.”
Beckett leaned in and brought his mouth near hers. “As long as you plan on being naked too.”
“Ohhh,” she began while arching her back to draw her lips closer to his. “You can count on it. You know how hard it is for me to keep my clothes on around you.”
EPILOGUE
WASHINGTON, D.C. – FOURTEEN DAYS LATER
“I’m sooooo ready for this trip.” Sydney smiled at Levi’s words as he tossed his hands into the air, pumping his fists. “I’ll miss Lucy, but I’m looking forward to the next two weeks. Especially since you guys are coming.” Levi peered at McKenna and Miles on the couch at their condo, where McKenna had just finished reading a book to her brother.
“You sure you don’t mind we’re crashing your family trip?” McKenna rose from the couch and smoothed her hands down the sides of her pale pink sundress.
“Hey, I mean,” Levi said with a shrug, “I feel like you’re kinda on your way to becoming family already. It makes sense we test out the whole traveling-together thing.”
“And if I fail the test?” McKenna smirked, a bit of sass in her tone that Sydney admired.
Levi laughed. “Eh,” he responded while swiping a hand through the air, “I’ll tutor ya on the flight over. Teach you how to navigate dealing with my grandparents.” He peered at Sydney. “Mom is totally cool. No need to walk on eggshells around her.”
“Well, thank you.” Sydney playfully tipped her head, grateful at how fast her son was taking to the idea of having McKenna and Miles in his life. “Beckett should be here soon, and we can head to the airport.”
“Did he decide yet if he’s going to work with Metro PD or Arlington?” Levi asked.
“Because Dad is Dad, and he’s super overprotective, he chose Metro,” McKenna answered before Sydney could. “Since I’ll be going to school in D.C., he wants to work near my school,” McKenna added, tossing in a perfectly timed teenage eye roll.
“I don’t blame him. If I had a daughter, I’d want to . . .” Levi shook his head and squinted. “Did I just say that? Where’d that come from?”