Page 9 of For You & No One Else (Say Everything 3)

“This is one hundred percent your fault,” Beckham declared as Trent meowed in protest from his carrier in Eliza’s back seat.

Eliza rolled her lips together, working really hard not to grin like an idiot. “Youdidsay you liked interesting choices. You gotta be careful speaking that stuff into the universe.”

“Nice. Throw my words back at me. Really appreciate that.”

“And how lucky for you that for hard-to-adopt cases, they let you skip the home visit if you have a reference from someone who already cleared the process.” She sent him an innocent look. “I mean, it was really serendipitous that I was there.”

“Imagine my luck,” he said dryly. “They even gave me free supplies. It’s like winning the lottery. Except the prize is a really cantankerous furball who is definitely going to pee on my pillow if I don’t bow to his every whim.”

She shook her head, dropping the act. “I can’t believe youadopted a cat.”

He groaned and rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, what else was I supposed to do? Did you hear what they said about him? He’s been there for six months. He hates everyone, bites, and is always trying to escape so he’s never going to get adopted. But for whatever reason, he doesn’t run away from me. If I didn’t take him, that cat would be on my conscience. I don’t need more things on my conscience.”

Trent let out a mournful meow as if on cue.

“Stop the hard sell, cat,” Beckham said grumpily. “I’m already taking you home. You’ve won.”

Eliza couldn’t hold back her smile anymore. She was already giddy that she’d found a dog—Mabel, a three-year-old lab-collie mix that she’d be able to pick up tomorrow after she purchased all the supplies Mabel needed—but Beckham ending up with a cat was icing on the cake. The man was clearly in love even if he wouldn’t admit it out loud. And seeing that side of him had made her realize how greatly she’d misjudged the guy just because he hadn’t wanted to have office chitchat. The dude waskind. And out of all the things she looked for in friends, kindness flipped her switches more than anything. Well, that and the ability to both wield and understand sarcasm. He was solid there, too.

She looked over at her maligned coworker. “Maybe it was fate. What are the chances you’d end up at a shelter today? Maybe the reason you said yes to me today was because the universe knew you were Trent’s last chance.”

“There’s no such thing as fate.” Beckham sighed, his head leaning back against the car seat as he turned to look at her. “I didn’t say yes to you because of fate.”

She looked back to the road, her buoyant mood flattening. “I know. You said yes because you felt sorry for me.”

“No.” He shifted in his seat, facing forward again. “This wasn’t a pity thing. I’m not that altruistic.”

She peeked over at him, wanting to ask questions, but he was staring straight ahead, his jaw flexing, giving every signal that he didn’t want to answer more questions.

Trent meowed.

“Not altruistic.” She cleared her throat. “Says the guy who just adopted a grumpy cat.”

He sniffed derisively. “Maybe I said yes because—”

Her phone chimed from the cup holder with a distinct cartoonish sound, and she winced.Not now. Not. Now.

Beckham’s words cut off, and her phone screen lit with what Eliza knew would be an animation of two champagne glasses clinking together.

“What kind of notification is that?” Beckham asked, leaning over and eyeing the screen.

“It’s rude to look at other people’s phones,” she said, keeping her focus on the road but reaching for her phone to tilt it downward.

Beckham ignored her comment and picked up her phone. “That animation work isterrible.”

He turned it toward her, which naturally made her look and the Face ID registered and unlocked her phone, opening the full notification. “Beckham.”

He turned the screen back toward him. “I could draw something better than this even if I were drunk and only using my left hand. Trent could draw something better than that using his tail.”

“Are you done?”

“Sorry. I couldn’t look away.” He was outright staring at her phone screen. “This is Aligned? That dating app?”

She tipped her chin up like she was the queen and no one should dare question her choices. “Yes.”

“Wow. You’d think an app that so many people use would spend more money on their graphics.” He brought the phone closer. “Looks like some dude named Ryan has toasted you or whatever. What’s that mean?”

“Oh my God.” She glanced his way. “Stop. Reading. My. Phone.”

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