Does he really not recall what he said to me?
Asshole.
When I look back, I see Shandy is no longer standing there.
Beckham scoops up his shorts and pulls them on before he walks toward me. When he gets to me, he smirks. “It was all my pleasure.”
“I didn’t say thank you.”
“You didn’t have to. It’s written all over your face.” He leans down to kiss my lips, and I am in so much shock that I pull away at the last second, letting him kiss my cheek.
What in the actual fuck?
Beckham walks off, leaving me standing at my door, wondering what the hell I just did.
I can’t blame it on the alcohol because I’m pretty sure I’m sober right now. Let’s face it, he just fucked it all right out of me.
Locking my door, I go to the bed and throw myself on the soft comforter.
It smells of him.
I smell of him.
What did I just do?
And the real question is, would I do it again?
Chapter 13
Beckham
“What in the actual fuck did you just do?” Shandy says as soon as I walk into the room. She’s shaking her head as she walks to my minibar and pulls out a small bottle of vodka, drinking it down in one go. “You fucked an employee, which, I might add, you said you would never do. And even worse … she works directly under you. Fuck, man, how dumb can you be?”
I sit opposite her.
Shandy hands me another small bottle, and I drink that. “Are you going to respond?” Shandy looks directly at me. “I know you, Beckham. You may think not many people do, but I do. I know you drink most weekends so you can numb your pain, or you fuck so you can feel nothing but pleasure. You have no respect for the women you fuck. Jacinta has been through enough without you treating her like absolute shit. Plus, I’m not sure you can afford to lose her.”
“I can’t. She’s good at her job, but—”
But what?
I liked the way she tasted.
Felt.
And I would do it again.
“You’re starting to see the dilemma, right?” Shandy comments.
I turn to face her, and her eyes are glossy. She’s clearly drunk.
“You should get to bed.”
“I was in bed. Then I heard you two yelling, and when I came to investigate, I saw you naked and her with a towel and you told me to fuck off.” She shakes her head, picks up another bottle, and drinks that too.
“Shandy.”
“I wish I were more like you. Not caring. It would make my life so easy to not care about who I fucked. Or if they broke my heart. How easy would my life be then? But it’s not. I care. I care that my girlfriend of a year decided to break up with me because she found someone else to love her more than she said I was able to—”
“You don’t want to be like me. No one does,” I interrupt, my head dropping back. “I don’t even want to be like me.”
“You loved Paige so much that now you can’t even see the good things that are right in front of you.”
“You may be right, but the one good thing in my life was killed. And there’s no coming back from that. No matter how hard you try.”
“There is, though. You simply haven’t tried. And don’t tell me you have. Fucking bitches don’t qualify as damn well trying. It’s only one of your coping mechanisms, so you don’t have to feel.”
“I felt something with her,” I say more to myself but for some reason out loud.
“Jacinta?” Shandy asks.
“Yep. Haven’t felt like that for a long time.”
Shandy sits up straight and looks at me. “It’s probably because she hates you. You’re used to women who fall at your feet. She doesn’t fall. She takes the glider out, and you go along for the ride.” She laughs at her own bad joke.
She’s right, though.
But I won’t tell her that.
“Rylee is going to kill you,” Shandy sings. Then, before I can stop her, she clicks a button on her phone, and my sister’s voice comes through.
“I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” Rylee says through the phone regarding Shandy’s broken relationship.
“Your brother is here,” Shandy says to Rylee.
“How’s Jacinta?” Rylee asks. “She rings many times a day to check in on Oliver. It’s cute. She having fun at least?”
“Oh, so much fun,” Shandy says, wiggling her brows at me as I reach for the phone. Shandy pulls it back and shakes her head.
“Huh?” Rylee says.
“Beckham is caring for her every need,” Shandy says with a laugh.
“What?” Rylee says. I reach for the phone again to hang up, but Shandy pulls it away and cackles loudly. “Did you really fuck her?” Rylee screams. “Fucking hell, Beckham, she works for you. She’s a nice girl.”