If You Fall (Brimstone 1)

ch in common, besides mutual attraction.”

She smiled at that and I was pleased that in addition to us being physically attracted to each other, we actually could admire each other. Casey would love her.

“What bar does he run in Queens?”

“It’s called The Harp and Keg and is frequented by the cops in the local precinct. What about your biological father?” she asked, sipping her coffee.

We’d veered back into my life and I didn’t want to have to explain any of the connections we had with the Irish underworld in Hell’s Kitchen.

“He died, left the business to his gangster brother after I moved away with my mother and her new husband. That’s pretty much all you need to know about that side of the family.”

I tried to get the topic back onto her life and so I asked her about Dan, without revealing that I knew his name, that they were married and that I knew quite a lot about him already. She wasn’t going to talk about him. I wondered if she felt guilty, considering the anniversary of his death was fast approaching.

“Don’t want to talk about it?”

She shook her head. “It’s a sad story in the past. That’s all you need to know about it.”

“Fair enough.” I knew I couldn’t push her for more after that.

Her cell buzzed and she checked it. I got a text almost at the same time. I read it and smiled.

“Brandon and Leah,” I said softly, wondering what her response would be to the fact her friend and my friend were going to the hotel.

“Yes. I just got a text from her saying I’d have to find my own way home.”

She looked a bit uncomfortable and yawned, checking her watch like she wanted to go home.

“Bored with my company already?” I asked, almost resigned to the fact she wouldn’t come back to my hotel room.

“I have to work in the morning,” she replied and smiled, shrugging like there was nothing she could do about it.

“At the bar?”

She nodded. “I do the daily cash in the mornings.”

“I can make sure the hotel gives us a wake-up call…” I said, ever hopeful but not really believing it would happen.

She shook her head and smiled almost apologetically. “I have to go home.”

I sighed and finally, she leaned forward.

“Beckett,” she said, not meeting my eyes. “I really like you, but I can’t…”

“Why? If you like me and I like you, what’s wrong?”

“There are reasons,” she replied.

“Are you married?” I asked, even though I knew the answer but I wanted to be sure she wasn’t dating someone and my intel was wrong.

She shook her head.

“Engaged?” I asked, feeling a bit like a fraud, since I knew she wasn’t.

“No,” she said simply. “If I was, I wouldn’t even be going out for coffee with anyone.”

“Are you a lesbian?” I asked, grinning, hoping to make her smile.

“No!” she said and looked up at me, but then she smiled back. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”