Fall Into Temptation (Blue Moon Book #2)(101)

37





He came home with her, after a second unanimous vote to have council members wear powdered wigs. Beckett helped Evan with his homework and told Aurora a bedtime story about dragons and kittens. Gia watched as he gently kissed the forehead of her sleeping little girl and felt the tightness in her chest that had been there for perhaps years finally loosen.

They tiptoed back downstairs. Evan took one look at them and announced he was going to go watch a movie in his room.

“You’re sure I’m not grounded?” he asked Gia from the steps.

“I’m sure. But let’s not make this a habit,” she warned him.

Evan looked to Beckett. “Will you be here in the morning?”

Beckett looked at Gia. “Yeah, he’ll be here,” she told her son.

“Cool,” Evan nodded. “See you in the morning.”

“Night, Evan.”

Unsure of what to do now that they were alone, Gia wandered over to the couch. Beckett busied himself locking the front door and pouring two glasses of wine. He carried them over and settled himself on the couch next to her.

“Where would you like me to start explaining?” he asked.

She threw her head back and laughed. “Let’s start with how did you get these bruises?” She trailed a finger over his jaw, still sharp with stubble.

“Carter and Jax and I beat the shit out of each other in the ring to cheer me up.”

“Did it work?” Gia asked.

Beckett nodded. “I had some sense knocked into me.”

“I can’t believe Summer let you three do that.”

“She was not very happy,” he grinned.

“Okay, so that explains the bruises. Now how did you get the entire town in on this?”

Beckett chuckled. “I was late to the game. They were already in on it, by the time I wised up.” He quickly recounted what Ellery had told him.

“So the reason I couldn’t get into the Facebook group that day — not that I tried to see if there were any posts about you suffering horribly from our breakup,” she added. “Was because the Beautification Committee kicked us out to post a town-wide message about how to handle the situation?”

“Yep. They decided they were going to make sure I was convinced that Paul was the coolest thing since Bob Dylan so I’d feel jealous and insecure.”

“And they wanted to remind me of how great you were — are,” she corrected herself when Beckett pinched her.

“Once everyone had seen the message, they deleted it and let us back into the group. Business as usual.”

“But how about the town meeting?”

“I had accidentally stumbled upon the BC’s last meeting and when I walked in, it looked like they were trying to match you and Paul up. Total dumb luck on their part that I came in when I did. A minute later and I would have seen their whole plan on the slideshow. But when I barged in Ellery’s pointing at the screen and there’s you and there’s Paul, taunting me with his cool guy smile.”

“Ugh,” Gia groaned.

“My sentiments were a bit more gut-wrenching. I realized then that I didn’t want you to be with anyone else, even Bob Dylan 2.0. And after dinner with him and Aurora I realized I’d made an even bigger mistake by insinuating that you did the kids a disservice by divorcing him.”

“How exactly did you end up having dinner with him?”

“Aurora wandered off in the park while Paul was watching her and I found her.”

Gia smacked a hand to her forehead. “I knew he couldn’t be trusted with kids!”

“He also let her order a soda and chocolate milk for supper.”

“Ugh, he’s the worst!”

“No argument here. When he visits again, one of us needs to stay with him and the kids at all times to make sure he doesn’t talk them into quitting school and joining a band.”

Gia sipped and laughed.

Beckett continued. “So, after the beating and dinner, I decided I was going to win you back. But my slow, methodical approach to analyzing the situation and getting feedback from all the important players — you, your dad, Evan — was taking way too long. So after the wedding, I called in the big guns.”

“The Beautification Committee?”

Beckett nodded. “Evan was the one who came up with the general idea. He doesn’t put a lot of stock in your ability to reason out logical arguments. He was worried that you’d overthink us to death.”

“Uh-huh. So you both manipulated me with a scripted argument.”

Beckett pushed her hair back so he could lean in and nibble her neck. “A debate, Red. Totally different than an argument.”

“But you still manipulated me.”

She felt him smile against her neck. “I don’t know, Beckett. Yoga is really hard. I don’t think you can handle it because you’re not manly enough,” he said in a high-pitched voice.

She giggled and tried to push him away. “I do not sound like that.”

“You’re a conniving temptress,” Beckett said, taking her glass from her and gently pushing her back on the couch.

“Is that supposed to be a compliment?” she whispered, her voice breathy and low.