Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Tania
The night air is cool against my skin as I step out onto the terrace, letting the muffled hum of the event fade behind me. I grip the railing tightly, my heart still racing from the kiss.
Levi Nichols just kissed me.
I press my lips together, as if that will somehow erase the memory of his mouth on mine. It doesn’t work. The warmth of his hands on my waist, the possessive way he pulled me closer—it’s all still there, lingering like a ghost.
It was just an act, I remind myself. Nothing more.
But my traitorous heart doesn’t seem to care. The kiss felt too familiar, too real. It wasn’t just the way he touched me; it was the way he looked at me after, like I was still the woman he used to know. Like he regretted letting me go.
I exhale sharply, trying to shove the memories back into the box where I’ve kept them locked away for years. But tonight, they’re impossible to ignore.
Three Years Ago
“You promised, Levi,” I said, my voice shaking as I clutched my phone to my ear. “You said you’d be here.”
“I know, Tania,” he replied, his tone clipped and distant. “But this deal is critical. I can’t just leave in the middle of negotiations.”
My stomach twisted, the disappointment crashing over me like a wave. “It’s not just some dinner, Levi. It’s my presentation. The one I’ve been working on for months. I needed you there.”
“I’ll make it up to you,” he said, the words empty. “We’ll celebrate when it’s done.”
I laughed bitterly, the sound harsh in the quiet of my apartment. “Celebrate what? The fact that your job always comes first? The fact that I’m constantly waiting for you to show up?”
“Tania, don’t do this right now,” he said, his frustration seeping through. “You know how important this deal is—for both of us.”
“No, Levi,” I said, my voice breaking. “It’s important for you. You’re not doing this for us. You’re doing it for yourself.”
There was a long pause, the silence between us heavy and suffocating. I waited for him to argue, to tell me I was wrong, to fight for me.
But he didn’t.
“Maybe you’re right,” he said finally, his voice hollow. “Maybe I am.”
I hung up before he could say anything else, the tears spilling over as I realized what that meant. Levi wasn’t going to choose me. Not then, not ever.
The memory is a punch to the gut, the pain as sharp as it was the day it happened. I thought I’d moved on, that time and distance had dulled the edges of that heartbreak. But seeing him again, feeling his kiss—it’s like ripping off a bandage that never really healed.
I stare out at the city lights, my grip on the railing tightening. Levi had his reasons back then, I’m sure. He always had a way of justifying his choices, of convincing himself that his work was more important than anything—or anyone—else. And maybe it was, to him.
But that didn’t make it hurt any less.
Back in the Present
The door behind me opens, and I tense, half-expecting to hear Levi’s voice. But it’s just another guest stepping out for a smoke, their presence barely registering as I force myself to breathe.
This is exactly why I shouldn’t have agreed to this charade. Letting Levi back into my life was a mistake, one that’s already stirring up feelings I thought I’d buried. And that kiss—God, that kiss.
I shouldn’t have let it affect me, but it did. It’s not just the memory of it that’s haunting me—it’s the way it made me feel. Like maybe, just maybe, things could have been different.
But they weren’t. Levi made his choice, and I made mine. And no amount of staged kisses or public appearances is going to change that.
Still, a small voice in the back of my mind whispers what if?
What if he’s changed? What if he regrets what happened? What if this isn’t just an act for him?
I shake my head, banishing the thought. Levi Nichols is a master manipulator, a man who knows how to get what he wants. Whatever his reasons for bringing me into this plan, they have nothing to do with us and everything to do with his precious merger.
But as I turn to go back inside, the warmth of his lips and the way his eyes softened when he looked at me linger in my mind, refusing to let go.