Maid For Beckett Catching The Baseball Legend’s Heart novel Chapter 40

The morning came too fast. I slept kind of late, and my body still wanted to lounge in Siobhan’s ridiculously soft guest b but my brain refused to power down. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw last night’s horror. The auction stage. The bang the gavel. Beckett’s face as he watched me with hawk eyes on the stage. And the six hundred thousand dollars Beckett tos into the auction like it was nothing–like I was nothing. Or worse. like I was something he couldn’t let anyone else have.

That thought alone kept me staring at the ceiling past dawn, so I gave up attempting to sleep. I rummaged through Siobhan’s kitchen and made her breakfast before the sun rose.

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Siobhan found me putting coffee in the coffeemaker.

“Good morning.” I greeted her with too much energy. Her lips pursed in suspicion.

The breakfast wasn’t just because I couldn’t sleep. I felt terrible about how I ended our conversation last night, and I wante to make it up to Siobhan for helping me.

“Good morning,” she rasped, sliding onto the barstool at the kitchen island where I laid out breakfast. “You didn’t have to this, Andi,” she said, eyeing the food.

“This is my way of thanking you,” I said, placing a cup of coffee in front of her.

“Did you even sleep?” she asked as she pushed her sexy bedhead out of her face and took her first sip. That was an unhealt way to start the day, but I understood her. Coffee was what woke me up each morning too.

The moment her first sip spiraled down her throat, life bloomed in her eyes as she glanced up at me.

“I lost track of time watching the stars,” I lied, shaking my head. It wasn’t entirely a lie. I did watch the stars when I realized couldn’t sleep.

“Hmm,” she said, unconvinced but willing to let it slide.

We ate breakfast over light conversation about Lila. Siobhan told me stories about Lila growing up, and Beckett and Cole. I learned that Siobhan had been friends with them since she was little. It dawned on me that she came from high society, too.

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” Siobhan asked as her car slowed to a stop. She insisted on driving me back to Beckett’s estate even when I told her I could just take a cab.

She was worried about me. There’s an unspoken tension inside the car as we drove here. Siobhan can feel my anxiety, and I can feel hers. My stomach was twisted into complicated knots. Anxiety, confusion, embarrassment–pick any poison. I was drinking the whole cocktail.

I squared my shoulders and wiggled my eyebrows at her, trying to lighten our mood. “You can just take me as your house help. I’m a really good cook.”

“That’s pushing it,” Siobhan chuckled. “You really liked the stars, didn’t you?”

I managed a weak laugh. “I did, and it’s nice to live with a girl instead of a dragon.”

“And you can tame that dragon,” she said as she handed me my clothes from last night, now folded neatly inside a paper bag I asked her how I could return the dress, and the shock on her face was priceless.

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10:21 pm

Chapter 40

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She said Lila would kill me if she learned I had returned the dress. So now I had a souvenir from last night–a reminder of how Beckett had bought me for six hundred thousand dollars.

“Ha ha ha, very funny, Siobhan,” I said, clutching the paper bag as I unlocked the door.

“Call me if he does something out of the ordinary,” she joked as I slid out of the car.

“If he breathes near me, does that count?” I frowned.

“That definitely counts,” she fired back.

Knowing Siobhan was one call away should have cased me. It didn’t, because the moment I closed the car door, reality hit like stepping into a cold shower.

I was back on Beckett’s turf, and I had absolutely no idea what he expected from me or what that auction meant.

Was he going to be extra testy today, or would he be kinder to me now? I mean, he did save me from everyone at that party An old man could’ve had more money to spend that night than Cole, and my dilemma would have been a lot scarier if that had happened.

I pulled in a huge breath and watched Siobhan’s car disappear down the graveled path. Then I took in Beckett’s mansion. Despite seeing Nana Lucy’s palace, this place still made me feel small.

Now it made me feel exposed.

I forced my feet forward. The front door clicked softly as I pushed it open, and the familiar scent of cedar and something. expensive I couldn’t name drifted out to greet me.

He was here. I could feel it, and my heart jumped into my throat.

What do I do? Do I just act normal? I had no time to debate my next action because footsteps echoed from the hallway.

It was ironic that I even knew the lightness of his footsteps.

My breath froze as Beckett walked out of the hallway near his study. He wore a black sweater and slacks–simple, casual, yet somehow even more dangerous than his tux.

His eyes found me instantly, just like last night.

Except now there were no bright lights, no audience, no Nana Lucy smirking beside him. Just him and me–and it made him look larger than life. When did he affect me like this? I hear my heart pounding in my ears, and I feel this excitement blooming in my chest at speaking to my boss again. My entire world was trembling with just his presence.

His jaw flexed–first sign of emotion.

Then, slowly, he walked toward me.

Each step was measured and controlled. He looked like a man trying very, very hard not to show the storm brewing under

his skin.

Act normal, Andi!

“Um. Good morning. Sir.” My voice came out small despite my effort to sound normal.

He didn’t answer right away. His eyes did a slow, sweeping assessment from my hair down to the clothes I’d changed into- last night’s dress replaced with Siobhan’s borrowed shirt and shorts.

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10:21 pm

Chapter 40

His gaze softened for a second, just long enough for my chest to betray me and squeeze

Then it hardened again.

“You spent the night at Siobhan’s.” His voice was low, unreadable. It wasn’t a question, but I still answered.

“Yes, sir. Taking a cab wasn’t wise at that time of night,” I reasoned, and there was no cabin in that area. It was so isolated, it felt like Nana Lucy was living in her own state. “Lila said she would tell you.”

His jaw was tight, his hands clenching and unclenching, fury glowing in his ashen eyes. “She told me you went home with

Cole.

“What?!”

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