Page 98 of Last Resort

“Hey?” Sutton says and tugs on my hand before I can walk away.

“What?”

She has more color in her cheeks than when I left her. Her eyes a little less glassy. She smiles softly. “You know you’re good at this, right? Have you ever considered that you love the job but not the part you’ve been given to do?”

“Sutton.” Her name is a sigh.

“Hear me out and I won’t mention it again.” She lifts her eyebrows as if pleading for me to agree.

“Fine. What?”

“You’ve always dealt with everything on the macro level of this business, but I’ve sat here, day in and day out, and watched you work on the micro level and do an absolutely phenomenal job.” She squeezes my fingers. “Maybe that’s your niche. The on-site details of making a deal work instead of the broad overview of one. The devil is in the details, Callahan, and you seem to know how to deal with them.”

I nod and head toward the bedroom.

“It’s a shame you’re going to walk away from something you’re so skilled at,” she says.

I hear her. But I don’t respond. Can’t. Because I’m not one hundred percent sure how her words make me feel.

And it’s not until later, when her head is resting on my chest where she fell asleep during the movie, that I allow myself to think about her words again.

That I allow myself to wonder if she might be right.

But it doesn’t matter if she’s right or wrong because I have plans a little over a week from now. I’m going to close my eyes and put a finger on a map of the world and that’s where I’ll end up.

Just like I’ve wanted to for some time.

At least this time I can do it without any guilt for not fulfilling my promise to my brothers.

But what about Sutton?

I close my eyes and listen to her soft breathing and rationalize my thoughts away.

“You know that, don’t you? What a good man you are? That’s why I’ve fallen for you.”

There’s no promise to break with her because I never made one in the first place.

Keep telling yourself that, Sharpe.

Keep telling yourself that and you might actually believe you’re not falling for her too.

CHAPTER FORTY

Sutton

“Where are you taking me?” I laugh as he parks the topless Jeep in an empty parking lot on the opposite side of the island from Ocean’s Edge.

“Don’t worry about it.” He reaches out a hand to me. “Just come with me.”

We trek down a trail where native plants tangle around our legs, and we have to push them away so they don’t hit our faces. Our laughter is the only sound as I follow him until I utter a soft “Oh,” when we reach the clearing.

We’re on a small patch of beach where a hammock hangs between what looks like two strategically placed palm trees. And the hammock is set up to overlook a small sand bluff above the sea. To the left is a pile of rocks that I have to give a double take because of their precarious stacking that gives the illusion of a man’s profile. But best of all, is the view I can already tell it will have of the sunset.

“Callahan.” I take a few steps forward and admire the view. “This is breathtaking.”

“It is, isn’t it?” He steps up beside me. “Our wine vendor told me about it at one of my dinner meetings. It’s a friend of a friend of his who owns the land or something like that.”

“Just when I thought this place couldn’t get any more incredible, you give me this.”