Page 64 of Beck and Call

"Is that all? You want me? I know you want me. Bent over your desk, or against a window, but I need you to love me. I won't accept anything less."

"You won't get anything less. I know this won't make sense, but I reacted so badly because I do love you."

She tried to pull away, but I held onto her out of desperation. "You're right, it doesn't make sense."

"I don't deserve for you to love me. You only do because you have no idea how badly I've hurt other people who've loved me."

"Take a chance then and tell me," she demanded.

I nodded. "I–"

My father clanged a butter knife against a flute of champagne. Usually I'd have been irritated at being interrupted, but it felt like a reprieve. Until I spoke the words, I could fool myself into believing we were fixable. Once she heard how I destroyed the first woman to ever love me, she'd run to save herself, or at least she should.

"My wife Grace and I would like to thank all of you for joining us tonight at the celebration of Beckett and Evelyn's engagement. I feel like we've been waiting for him to choose a bride forever." He laughed at his own joke.

Colter lifted a glass. "Well, it might feel like forever to you, but I feel like I only got my daughter a few days ago."

"Ugh, he's got dad jokes now," Evie whispered to me.

"Maybe I should brush up on those myself," I teased her.

She looked up at me. I watched hope and confusion wage war for dominance on the expression on her face. "Beck–"

"Shh." I kissed her. "Don't tell me we can't be together. You love me, and you're carrying my child."

"I'm not sure love is enough, Beck." She pushed back from me and walked away.

"That was pathetic," Colter said, appearing suddenly right behind me.

"What do you suggest?" I snapped.

"I thought you were an expert in hostile negotiations."

"What I need is to get her alone for a few days so she can't keep running away from me," I grumbled.

"Leave that to me," he promised.

"Why are you helping me?"

He slapped my shoulder. "Because, despite you being a dick the other day, you've been my best friend for thirty years. That's worth something. You're a good man, most of the time, and you'll make my daughter happy. She deserves that. Besides, I'm angrier at myself at the moment. Evie grew up without a dad, and Jenny never got the help she needed. All because I was too stupid to make sure I knew how to stay in touch with her after I left Kentucky that summer. And I'll never get another chance. I won't let my daughter live with those kind of regrets."

* * *

Evie

There was more than one kind of dancing I had to do at the party. There was the literal version, which was awkward and wonderful, since I longed to be held by Beckett and dreaded it at the same time. I hadn't realized how much I missed him until I saw him.

I loved every version of him. Up until now I thought casual Beckett was my favorite, since he so rarely took time off from work to relax. Of course, seeing him in a power suit on a daily basis wasn't a hardship, but he was lethal in a tux. Seeing him like that sparked James Bond fantasies.

Still, despite how badly I wanted him, I didn't trust him not to hurt me again. So I spent half of the evening trying to remain engaged in conversations with others to avoid having to dance with him when I could. I knew there was a lot on the line, not just for Beckett, but for Colter and everyone who worked at Anderson Global.

The other issue I was dancing around was my relationship with Colter. Every guest seemed curious to know why I entered the party with someone other than the groom. I wasn't sure if he was ready to tell the world I was his daughter. That was until his toast, but that served to get more people talking than it did to clear up anything. His parents were watching me from across the room, and I wasn't sure how they'd take it, since he hadn't spoken about them yet.

Sabrina found me near the bar about an hour into the party. "I've been trying to make my way over to you all night. Every time I get close, one of those rich dicks propositions me or asks me for a refill of their drink."

Fitz and Grace invited their extended family which included Beckett's cousins. Franklin thought the invitation extended to his entourage of middle-aged frat boys. They were crass, loud, and entitled. Oddly, I didn’t think any of them had any wealth of their own to justify their sense of social superiority, not that anything ever justified it.

"I've missed you at work," she said bringing me back to the moment.

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