But then I was breathless for a whole other reason as Beckham stepped out of his room wearing only a towel. His chest was glistening, water droplets coasting over suntanned skin. Dew stuck to his mustache, thick strands of wet hair hung in his forehead, and his eyes devoured me.
“Sorry. I was just coming out here to grab a clean shirt,” Beckham explained, gaze roaming over my body like he was checking to make sure I was still whole. “Did you have a good time with the girls?”
I nodded, gulping. “Yep.”
A crease formed between his perfect brows before he cataloged my hand still flat against my chest. “You okay?”
I nodded again, more frantically this time, and attempted to move past him. But his double-wide was outdated, so the hall was narrow, and all I succeeded indoing was wafting his scent full of mischief and temptation toward me. I paused, shoulder to his chest, to look up at him.
How in the fuck had he gotten so much hotter over the years?
“I’m just going to bed, so…”
“It’s five p.m.,” he stated.
My mouth popped open before I set a hand on my stomach and clarified, “The baby and shopping has me exhausted.”
“You want to take a bath?”
My mouth went dry as the first thought that hit me was getting in it with him.
“No,” I blurted.
He looked taken aback by my abrupt response.
“I don’t want to fall asleep in the bath,” I added quickly.
Beck’s tongue ran over his bottom lip before his eyelids grew heavy and he leaned in. His breath warmed my shoulder, sending goosebumps down my spine. “I could keep you awake.”
My knees nearly buckled.
Pregnancy hormones had me nearly jumping at the proposition, and I swore they were making me crazy.
“Beck…” His name was a whispered plea on my lips.
His nose grazed my cheekbone, his eyes hooded. “Yes, Park?”
I couldn’t make my mouth form the words to tell him this was dangerous. We were playing a risky game ofrevisiting the past when our futures weren’t built to clash.
Almost like he could sense it on me, he stepped back, leaning a shoulder against the doorframe. He crossed his massive arms. His towel was slung so low, I nearly sent up a prayer hoping it’d fall just an inch to give me a little something more to think about later.
His penetrating stare bore into me like I was something to be studied and he’d forgotten how to read. Iwantedhim. He couldtellI wanted him. But this was more than him and me.
At the end of the day, I wasn’t sure I could put the burden of my baby on him. To ask him to raise some other man’s child? It’d be selfish.
I had my time to do what I wanted. Now, I had to be an adult.
I only hated that it meant I wouldn’t get to follow my heart. But I loved my baby enough that I’d sacrifice everything if it meant giving him a stable, happy life.
I broke our eye contact and made it to my room by sheer will alone.
18
BECKHAM
Icould still smell Parker in the hallway when I left my room shortly after our run-in. I’d pinched myself just to be sure I wasn’t dreaming, because no amount of time in her presence would convince me this was real. That I was this lucky to have her back in Bell Buckle.
She was making me crazy, yet I didn’t want her anywhere else but here. Sure, maybe I had to lock my door at night to stop me from crossing the hall and reminding her how good we were together. And maybe I regularly jacked off in the shower solely to alleviate the pain she was putting me through. But that didn’t mean I wanted her gone.
