Chapter 3 #2
He shakes his head and taps his card. The machine beeps, and Levi keeps his arm around me while we maneuver toward a table. “No one told me you were up and around. I’ve been begging Micah for info, but he’s always so cagey, the big lug.”
Part of that could be my fault. They knew I had a crush on him before, and they think…
Well, I’m not sure what they think now. That my mindset isn’t right to handle normal conversation with someone the likes of Levi?
Which is honestly stupid because it’s obvious he doesn’t see me like that.
During the few times we met, I was giving off major interested vibes, and he never took the bait.
To Levi Soucy, I’m just his teammate’s girlfriend’s friend. Except now, I’m his teammate’s girlfriend’s damaged friend. Someone to pity.
Ugh, maybe I shouldn’t have gone outside.
Levi keeps looking at me expectantly so I change the topic to something safer. “I hear you’re on a TV show.”
His face sours, and I immediately regret bringing it up. Maybe that isn’t such a safe topic after all.
“Sorry.”
He shrugs as he leads me to one side of the booth, and I sit. “No, it’s okay. It’s a shitshow, that’s all.”
“You don’t want a bunch of women clamoring for your attention?” I ask, and I admit, it comes out with some poorly timed attitude.
“It turns out it’s not as much fun as you would think.”
I chuckle to myself. “I didn’t actually think it would be fun. It sounds horrible.”
He puts his card away, the corners of his mouth turning up. “I should have sought out your advice before I signed a contract.”
Before he can sit, one of the other baristas calls for Levi, and he goes to the counter to pick up our loot. He’s bought more things than I ever have at a coffee shop. There are four bags, plus the coffees.
Levi lays our meal out like it’s a feast. He places my coffee in front of me, the mug steaming, then napkins for each of us, then sets one of the chocolate chip muffins next to it and the cookies in the middle of the table between us.
“I’m so glad to see you out,” he says. “I’ve been thinking about you since… Well, since…”
“Since you were there when I was pulled out of a burning building?”
“Yeah,” he says, casting his gaze to the table. Just as I remembered. His eyes are striking, blue with hints of gray.
Though I’d love to believe Levi and I have some sort of crazy connection where he knew by some divine intervention that I was in trouble and showed up to rescue me out of nowhere, Micah explained that he had Levi and Reid stay behind to find out any news of me.
Probably expecting details of my torched body being found.
A shiver runs up my spine.
“Are you cold?” Levi asks.
I blink, seeing him again, right there in front of me, with a big chunk missing out of his muffin. “I’m fine. Thanks for ordering. I can pay you back.”
He tilts his head, that Levi charm oozing off him. Before, I would’ve preened under it. Now, it stops me in place, almost like running headfirst into a wall. “No need. I’ve been wanting to see you, but like I said, Micah’s been keeping you under lock and key.”
“It’s not Micah. It’s Raeann. She’s like a helicopter parent, and you know he’ll do whatever she wants.” But even as I say it, it feels like a lie. If I’m honest with myself, there’s a huge part of me that’s totally fine with Raeann mothering me. It means I don’t have to face anything at all.
“He’s a total goner for her, that’s for sure.”
Levi looks wistful for a second, but my eyes must be blurry because that’s not his MO. He’s a heartbreaker. The kind of guy who will be upfront about what he wants, but the girl holds out hope for something else anyway—then gets her heart broken when he follows through on his word.
Who can blame him? He’s a pro football player. He’s out there sowing his wild oats. He’s gorgeous, women love him, and there’s the simple fact that he can.
Sounds kind of nice, actually. A good distraction.
“How’s the season going?”
“You don’t know? I figured that’s all Micah talks about.” Levi peers around the café and then leans in close. I find myself doing the same. “I have this theory that all of Micah’s dirty talk is football related. Like, ‘Yeah, baby, take that dick just like my stiff arm.’”
I bust out laughing. A real, genuine laugh that has my burns protesting as they rub against my body with big shoulder shakes, but I don’t care.
Levi’s smile turns into a spotlight. “Have you heard them?”
I almost choke. “You think I’m listening?”
“I think my curiosity would get the best of me.”
“You’re not right, playboy.” I shake my head.
“Playboy?”
“Yes, look at you, all suave and handsome with your hair perfectly styled and muscles popping out everywhere. That jawline. If Hugh Hefner had been a woman, you’d definitely be one of her bunnies.”
He tilts his head. “Or would she call them rabbits?”
“Jackals?”
“Are they the same thing?”
“No. Hares?”
He smirks to himself. “Why are we talking about this?”
I take in his heated face. “Aww, I made you blush.”
“Well, it’s not every day a beautiful woman tells you you’re also attractive to her.”
I nearly spit out my coffee and laugh. “I might believe that if you were anyone else, but I’m pretty damn sure Levi Soucy gets told he’s good looking all the time…” I lean forward. “And you fucking love it.”
His tongue drags across his lower lip. At first, I think it’s an attempt at flirting, but there are no other factors to indicate that. He’s staring at me, but he’s not really looking at me. “I actually think I’m ready to settle down.”
“The dating show?” I nearly shout.
His face sours again. Damn. When will I ever learn my lesson? This was the most intriguing conversation I’ve had in weeks, and I’m ruining it by asking stupid questions. In all honesty, I just really think the dating show is funny.
“The show is a joke,” Levi says, sitting back in the booth.
He creates so much distance between us, I hadn’t realized how close we’d been.
The empty air is more like a chasm now. “One of the ladies followed me into a bathroom and complained I wasn’t putting on a good enough show for the audience. Can you imagine?”
“I knew it,” I announce. “Those things are scripted.”
“If it is, I didn’t get the memo. I was doing what I normally do.”
“Well, they probably want to piggyback off your success. So many of the contestants on those shows end up in entertainment somehow.”
“Live and learn, I guess.”
“So you haven’t found a match?”
He scoffs. “Not likely.” He rubs his face, gaze turned down. Again, reacting differently than I would have guessed for a playboy like him. He looks genuinely upset by the events of his show.
“Have you told anyone else that you’re unhappy?”
“And admit I made a mistake? Don’t think so. It doesn’t matter anyway. My only option is to finish. He has me by the balls. That’s a direct quote, by the way.”
Aww. That’s not right. I—
“I guess I’m going to need your number,” he smirks. “Clearly I have to use you as a sounding board for big decisions…like signing my life away.”
And there it is. The playboy is back. “You didn’t just make all that up as a ploy to get my number, did you?”
He laughs. “You know what, I wish I had. It was actually a good line, but I’m afraid I’m being one-hundred percent genuine.”
“Well, sorry to break it to you, but I don’t have a number right now. I don’t even know if I have my old number. I haven’t seen my phone since…you know. People have been calling the home phone.”
“Who has a home phone anymore?”
I roll my eyes. “We do.”
“Well, that’s not convenient for me.”
I chuckle. “Sure, we’ll go with how it impacts your life.”
He grins. “Well, we’ll have to see what we can do about that.”