Page 23 of Forever to Fall
Beckett licked his lips, collecting his thoughts. “That ring is yours, Mal. It has been for fifteen years.”
Mallory gasped, her hand coming up to cover her mouth. Her mind whirled with potential reasons for him to say that, but she came up empty. “What do you mean?” she asked, her hand falling back to her side.
“You heard me.” Beckett closed what little distance remained between them. He slowly brought his hands up to cup her cheeks, staring into her soul. “You need to stop pretending that I don’t remember when I put that ring on your finger.”
“I do?” she asked, completely dumbfounded, her brain now the consistency of day-old oatmeal. “But you said—” She was about to go on a tirade on all the things he told Evan, all the ways he’d broken her heart. But that time wasn’t now. She already heard Evan’s footfalls growing closer as he walked down the hallway.
Deftly, Beckett tipped her face down so he could plant a kiss on her forehead. “We’re not done discussing this,” he promised, stepping back and leaving her completely boneless. “I’ll call you tomorrow.” He turned and walked into the living room. “You ready, Lawless? I’ve got a busy morning at work and need to get some rest.”
Evan shot his friend a thumbs-up before giving Mallory a quick hug. “Thanks for having us. It feels like old times.”
Mallory leaned into her brother’s embrace, trying to rationalize all her roiling feelings.
How could she love her brother so much and yet be unable to share her feelings about losing their nana’s ring?
Even more importantly—how could Beckett freaking Fox still have this hold over her head and her heart? Did he know what he was saying with his words? Did he know how much she’d dreamt of him coming back into her lifejust for her?
“It was a great night. Thanks, Mal.” Beckett leaned down to scratch Fernando between the ears, and her heart slammed in her ribcage. Her ornery cat didn’t allow strangers to touch her, let alone pet like that. Her houseguests usually left with scratch marks and a healthy fear of the feline community, not gentle purrs from her hellion cat.
Evan strode out first, leaving Beckett and Mallory alone for a moment. Without looking over his shoulder, Beckett walked up and kissed her cheek, lingering a moment to whisper, “I’ll call you tomorrow. Please don’t shut me out.”
The door closed with a snick behind them, and Mallory fell back onto the couch with a heavy sigh. Narrowly avoiding Fernando, she didn’t miss his meows of displeasure at losing his petting companion. “You’ll have to get in line there, buddy,” she teased the cat, giving him belly rubs for a few minutes.
After all this time, Beckett Fox had the ability to surprise and impress her. Mallory didn’t know if she should give him that power or if she needed to hold on to it for herself. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her heart with him again, but that she did.
But did falling for the same man again make her a romantic, or just a fool?
*
As soon as they werein the car, Evan cranked up his favorite K-Pop station and rolled down the windows. The summer heat had dwindled down to a hazy evening, and Beckett savored the feeling of the wind in his hair.
Drumming his fingers over his knee, Beckett was uncomfortable. He’d known Evan for basically his whole life, yet this was the first time he didn’t know what to say. He wanted to thwack his buddy over the head and scold him for taking his sister’s ring, and he also wanted to ask if he was blind for missing the way he and Mallory interacted.
Couldn’t Evan see the hearts bugging out of his eyes like a damned Looney Toons character? It was all Beckett could do back there not to throw Mallory over his shoulder and storm off into the night like a Viking. The news of the ring notwithstanding, tonight had been a sheer delight. The loneliness that clung to him was nowhere to be seen, and Beckett treasured the chance to laugh and gossip with friends. Well, with friends who were his family.
There was an instant, when he held Tyson and Mallory joined them, that Beckett saw his future clear as day. He wanted a family, he always had, but he also wanted Mallory to be there. Thoughts of them together had been impossible to avoid for weeks now, but spending time doing domestic chores felt amazing. In fact, it felt so amazing that Beckett had to distract himself before he decked his buddy for taking the ring and breaking Mallory’s heart.
“I was thinking about the wedding,” Beckett started, striving to find the right way to bring the ring into conversation. Guys didn’t talk about this stuff, so coming right out with it would be weird.
Evan nodded, his attention on the road. “So am I, and I think I have some ideas for you.”
Beckett posed in the passenger’s seat, tilting his head just so. “I think we should do slim fit tuxes, Lawless. I mean, they’re practically made for this stunning beanpole frame.”
Letting out a cackle, Evan turned onto Beckett’s street and put the car in park. He turned down the music and spun to face his friend. “Good to know, Mister Supermodel. But I meant your date.”
“My date?” Suddenly, Beckett feared his dinner would make another appearance. Maybe Evan wasn’t as clueless as he thought.
“Yeah, I’ve got some ideas.”
“Ideas?” Beckett nudged his glasses back into place, his pulse kicking up. Should he take his glasses off? He didn’t think Evan would sock him in the car, but then again, he wasn’t certain.
Evan shrugged. “Yeah. I can’t have my best man showing up alone. It’ll depress me.”
Oh no, here they went again. Even though Beckett had never verbalized his loneliness with Evan, or really anyone, his buddy loved to play matchmaker. The only problem, he never played matchmaker when Beckett wanted him to. “I was thinking,” Beckett said carefully, his brain roiling with ways to express his desire to go with Mallory.Hey Lawless, you mind if I finally ask your sister out? I thought that’d be fun. Nothing serious, just the rest of our lives together with a house full of kids.
“Wait a minute.” Evan chuckled. “You are seeing someone, aren’t you? You old dog.” He thwacked his buddy on the shoulder. “You do have a dopey look on your face. Here I thought it was just gas.”
Beckett snorted. “Real nice, man.”
