Beckett:I liked the cookies very much.
Sunny:That part wasn’t a mistake? You don’t have any regrets about the cookies?
Beckett:I stand by everything I said tonight.
Sunny:So…the maintenance crew won’t be coming?
Beckett:Not unless you have an urgent need but I’m going to send my security company out to see about getting a system installed so you don’t blame me the next time a raccoon goes wild on your precious flowerpots.
Sunny:It was not a raccoon.
Beckett:Tell yourself what you want, Sunny. Whatever it takes to keep you from yelling your ass off at me.
Sunny:I don’t yell.
Beckett:You do and you get this wicked gleam in your eye when you do it like you’re about to start blowing things up with your mind.
Sunny:Now who’s exaggerating?
A minute went by without a response from Beckett. Then another. I flipped through my social media apps before rereading the text thread. By now, fifteen minutes separated me from the last message sent. Maybe he was busy with whatever he usually did at one thirty in the morning. Maybe he’d fallen asleep. Or maybe—and most likely—this was how Beckett ended conversations. He wasn’t one for hello or goodbye as it was, and I couldn’t imagine him caring whether I was waiting on a response.
Or maybe he was with someone.
That thought sank in my stomach, murky and thick. And completely unnecessary. It didn’t matter to me whether Beckett was in bed with someone. He was welcome to it. I didn’t care. It was none of my business.
Except for the spike of curiosity that tempted me to ask what—or who—he was doing tonight.Gahhhhhh.Why was I like this? He’d confirmed—twice!—that the moment we shared was a mistake so why did I care? Why did I let myself be curious about his private life? I’d learned exactly zero lessons from today’s experiences.
The phone buzzed with a notification and I woke up both dogs as I bumbled it out of my hands and it smacked against the hardwood floor.
“Sorry, sorry. Nothing to worry about,” I said to them.
When I’d retrieved my phone and settled back against the pillows, I swiped open the message.
Beckett:You should be in bed.
Sunny:I am in bed.
Beckett:For fuck’s sake, Sunny.
Sunny:What?
Beckett:You should be asleep.
Sunny:I’m getting there.
Beckett:Are you going to tell me who it was? Who bothered you tonight?
Sunny:I don’t want to get anyone fired. Assholes are allowed to have jobs.
Beckett:I’ll find out. I have my sources.
Sunny:I bet you do.
Beckett:Good night, Sunny.
Sunny:Good night, Beckett.
chapterten
