Illegal Motion

ILLEGAL MOTION THE PACKAGE DEAL BOOK 4 RHELAND RICHMOND EMERSON BECKETT Copyright © 2023 Rheland Richmond & Emerson Beckett All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are a product of the author’s imagination. Any similarities to actual persons, living or dead, is pure coincidence. As are any similarities to any businesses, events or locations. All products and brand names mentioned are registered trademarks of their respective holder and or company. I do not own the rights to these, nor do I claim to. Cover Art: Cosmic Letterz Editing: Jamie Piatt Proofreading: Adrian Piatt Sign up for Rheland & Emerson’s newsletter for exclusive content and to learn more about her latest books: https://www.rhelandrichmond.com/newsletter https://www.emersonbeckett.com/newsletter CONTENTS CONTENT WARNING Prologue - Part 1 - Callum Prologue - Part 2 - Declan 1. Declan 2. Callum 3. Declan 4. Callum 5. Declan 6. Callum 7. Declan 8. Callum 9. Declan 10. Callum 11. Declan 12. Callum 13. Declan 14. Callum 15. Declan 16. Callum 17. Declan 18. Callum 19. Declan 20. Callum 21. Declan 22. Callum 23. Declan 24. Callum 25. Declan 26. Declan 27. Callum 28. Declan 29. Callum 30. Declan 31. Callum 32. Declan 33. Callum 34. Declan 35. Callum 36. Declan 37. Declan 38. Callum 39. Declan Epilogue - Declan A Letter From Rheland & Emerson Upcoming In The Package Deal Series Previously In The Package Deal Series Previously In The Package Deal Series Previously In The Package Deal Series Also by Rheland Richmond About Rheland Richmond About Emerson Beckett. Also By Emerson Beckett CONTENT WARNING This book contains a scene where an MC is kicked by a horse and sustains injuries to his arm and a concussion. Concussion is the result of hitting his head in the stall. Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. ― Lao Tzu PROLOGUE - PART 1 - CALLUM LATE JULY God, I was exhausted. Bone deep drained. I didn’t know what possessed me to agree to meet Cooper here tonight. I was tired as fuck from seeing patients at the vet clinic all day before heading to the stables. That was at least three more hours of work with the horses. But it was the best three hours of my day when I got to shoot the shit with my best friend. The formerly rescue stables were a lot of work for only one person to take on, and I was happy he was back in town. If meeting him for dinner and a beer at Alejandro’s catching-up was what he wanted in return for helping me, I’d go no matter how tired I was. My phone buzzed with an incoming text. Cooper: Running late. Just now getting ready. I wrinkled my brow. Me: But you left the stables two hours ago? I’m sitting here waiting for you, asshole. Cooper: Sorry, I was going to text, but he stopped by. I didn’t know he was coming by. Me: What did he want? Wait, maybe I don’t want to know. The dots in the text box bounced up and down as I watched him type away. I don’t know what kind of novel he was typing, but I’d ordered my second beer in the time it took him to respond with this. Cooper: it’s a long story. It always was. I snorted and rolled my eyes at my best friend. Me: All that typing for that? Me: Hurry up, asshole. You can dump it on me when you get here. Sitting at the bar. Cooper: Okay, give me twenty I closed the text thread and took a sip of my beer. I’d wait no matter how long it took for him to get here. But I hoped the twenty minutes would pass quickly. We gave each other shit, but since Christian had married Alex, Coop had the apartment to himself, but loathed being alone. So when he wasn’t studying with his college friends, he spent some of his free time helping me at the stables when he could. He’d been busier than usual this past summer, and it didn’t look like he’d be slowing down. Coop flew to Atlanta late Thursday with our other friends to help Jackson with his godson. Parker’s mother was a close friend of Jackson’s and died in a car accident. Now Jackson was Parker’s parent. And Jackson was going to need a nanny, so who better to do that than the big-hearted, lovable goofball we called Cooper? He’d find the time to help Jackson. Sitting at the bar savoring my IPA, it suddenly occurred to me I could very well still smell like my horses. I’d showered and changed clothes in the apartment that was part of the custom-built barn, but sometimes it seemed like I couldn’t get rid of the smell of the stable. I shrugged it off because it wouldn’t matter to Coop. He was used to the smell. Either way, I didn’t want to be wearing the essence of equine. It would be a turnoff for sure. I dropped my chin to my chest and brought a bit of my dark green shirt to my nose for the smell check as inconspicuously as possible. I didn’t know why it mattered, anyway. I hadn’t had a date or even a hookup in months. My most intimate relationship had been with my right hand, and he wanted to break up. Taking one last sniff of my shirt, I think it was — “Is anyone sitting here?” I closed my eyes in embarrassment at being caught sniffing myself at the bar. A deep sexy southern drawl drew my gaze to the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. Long, dark lashes surrounded his brown