Page 42 of Inked Obsession

I smiled at that. “I love that you and Brenna are so close.”

“We were friends before I introduced her to Annabelle. Now, we’re all this conglomerate where we say we’re all each other’s best friends, and it works.”

“Do you know how you’re going to make it up to her? Keeping that secret? I know you needed to, but you should also make it up to her. She’s one of my best friends, too.”

He winced and downed more of his wine. “No, I have no idea what I’m going to do. She knows that I’m here, though not at this resort.”

I winced. “Speaking of keeping secrets…” My voice trailed off. I met his gaze. Thankfully, he seemed to understand.

“We’ll tell them. Though it’s kind of nice having this time and space between the two of us. Does that sound like I’m a horrible person after just talking about not keeping secrets from Brenna?”

“No, I don’t think we’re going to keep secrets. I am enjoying this. It’s just a little awkward telling them over the phone what happened. Maybe on our way back when we’re driving home? We can send them a selfie of us on the beach and be like ‘look who I ran into,’” I said.

“That works. I don’t want to waste what little vacation we have left trying to explain to them something they might already know.”

I frowned. “What?”

“Don’t you think it’s odd that we’re at the same resort out of all the places in the world we could have gone? That Eli and Lee just happened to know the same person?”

I shook my head. “I thought it was odd. However, you’re Montgomerys. You know everybody.”

“It wasn’t a Montgomery who sent us here. Either of us. Not that we know of, anyway. Unless they orchestrated it all.”

“Now you’re making me think of like a spider and the Montgomerys just making their own little web to put people where they need them.”

“I wouldn’t put it past Paige. She does like organizing things.”

I snorted, and when the food arrived, we split it and shared. It was wonderful. It felt right. As if Beckett and I had been friends for far longer than we had. He had been right before. We didn’t spend time alone, but it worked now. He was easy to talk to, and the heavy weight that had been on his shoulders for so long seemed to be slowly breaking away, piece by piece as time moved on. He was relaxing. I didn’t think he had relaxed at all these past few months. And I didn’t like that I hadn’t noticed. I’d been so worked up over my issues that I hadn’t noticed he’d been in pain.

Well, I was going to do better. No matter what.

We declined dessert since we were both full and made our way back to the car service after Beckett called. I’d had three glasses of wine, same as Beckett, and I was a little tipsy but not too buzzed. Not drunk at all. Iwaswarm and happy. And as I leaned on Beckett, I felt comfortable. And, of course, part of me felt a little uncomfortable, but I wasn’t going to think about that. I couldn’t.

He looked down at me and smiled, his eyes dark, and then we got into the car, and I told myself that I was imagining things. Again.

We made our way into the hotel, talking about dinner and his sisters, about Benjamin, work, my art. Nothing truly complicated. And then we made our way back to our floor.

“What size balcony do you have?” I asked out of the blue, thinking of my beautiful room.

He frowned. “I don’t know, the same size as yours, I think.”

I shook my head. “I’m on the curve of the building. I think your balcony is the size of a room. Mine’s a little ridiculous.”

“Okay, well now I have to see it.”

I had just invited Beckett Montgomery into my room to see my balcony. Might as well have asked him to see my etchings.

What was wrong with me?

I didn’t care right then. Not even a little.

I made my way into the room, grateful that I had cleaned up before I left. We walked past the suite area, and I noticed Beckett’s gaze move to the bed. I swallowed hard.

We made our way to the balcony, and Beckett’s eyes bulged. “I think your balcony is the size of my first apartment.”

I bounced on my toes as I looked around. “Right? There’s a hot tub. On my balcony.”

“Dear God,” he said as we took in the enormous area. “I thought this was like the penthouse suite’s balcony.”

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