Chapter Three
W ednesday night was poker night and this was Levi’s week to host. Since the major thing that involved was making sure he had plenty of cold beer, he wasn’t worried. Everyone else was supposed to bring some kind of food or snack. They usually remembered to at least bring a bag of chips or cookies. And if everyone forgot they ordered pizza delivered.
His doorbell rang and he went to open it. “Hey, Harlan,” he said, greeting Travis’s older brother. Harlan was the builder whose construction company was in charge of remodeling both the airport and soon his home. “I’m glad you’re early. Dana agreed to handle the house remodel. I’m not sure when she’ll have the plans, though. We just agreed on it a few days ago.”
“She’s usually speedy with the preliminary plans,” Harlan said. “Once she has them we’ll set up a meeting between the three of us. Here would be best.”
“Sounds good. Are those cookies I smell?” Levi asked, motioning to the large sack Harlan held.
“Straight from Cookies and S’more(s). Want one? ”
“Depends. Are there any chocolate chip?”
“See for yourself,” Harlan said, handing him the bag.
Levi opened the bag, pulled out a couple of cookies and gave Harlan back the bag. Munching on a cookie, he said, “Dana said two months wasn’t enough time to do the remodel. Or at least, that it was a lot to expect. Is she right? Am I deluding myself that we can get it done?”
“No, I don’t think you’re delusional. Obviously you’ll want to do his living area first, so we’ll concentrate on that and the rest will follow. Don’t worry, Levi. We might not get everything you want done, and realistically we won’t before Asher gets here, but we’ll be sure that his bedroom and bathroom are ready. And the doorways and entrance ramps.”
“Thanks.” He dusted off his hands and stuck them in his pockets. “That timeline is probably optimistic, anyway. He could easily be in the hospital in San Antonio for three months or maybe a bit more. If he has a setback or isn’t improving as quickly as they’d like they won’t discharge him to outpatient. But I want to be prepared in case they do let him leave.”
“So you really don’t know when he’ll get to leave the hospital.”
“No. But I’m worried he’ll change his mind about living with me. I kind of had to kick his ass to get him to agree to come here after he’s discharged. Said some crap about not wanting to be a burden, but honestly, I’m not sure that’s all there is to it.” He ran a hand through his hair. “But I’ve convinced him, for now, anyway.”
“That’s not surprising, is it? He’s been on his own for a long time now, hasn’t he?”
“Since he was fifteen, more or less.” When they’d both gone into foster care. Levi had only been in the system a few months, until he turned eighteen, but Asher had spent two years living with different foster families. Every one of them a damn failure. Levi shoved that thought out of his mind. He’d done everything possible to take guardianship of Asher, but the state hadn’t allowed it. “He went into the army at seventeen.”
“He’s a Green Beret, isn’t he?”
“He was, yes. Now he’s a medically discharged former Green Beret.”
“Adjusting to civilian life after that long in the military would be difficult in itself, I’d think. It’s bound to be even harder to adjust to serious injuries and needing help simply for everyday living.”
“Yeah, I’m sure it is.” Not to mention, despite Asher’s denials, Levi thought it would be a miracle if Asher didn’t have PTSD.
Later, after everyone who was coming had shown up, Levi couldn’t keep his mind on the game. Not because he was worried about Asher, though he was. No, he couldn’t get Dana out of his mind. Why in the hell was he still, after all this time, so hung up on her? And why the hell couldn’t they work it out ?
The sex between them was amazing. But fantastic sex wasn’t enough to keep a relationship going.
Probably.
At least, it hadn’t been in the past. A past they’d yet to deal with. A past they were ignoring in order to work together. A past he still didn’t think he could explain to her, nor she to him.
“Levi, call or fold? Wake up, man,” Travis said.
Levi glanced at his hand and tossed it down on the poker table. “Fold. I’m going to call in some pizza. You know where the beer is if anyone wants more.”
He wandered out, ordered the pizza, but instead of going back to the game room, he stopped in the foyer. Dana was right. The wood of the staircase balustrade was beautiful. He should have done something about it before, but it hadn’t seemed important. He rubbed his hand along the top of the newel post, admiring the intricate carving and wondering what else Dana would find that she thought had to be done. Things that didn’t pertain to making the house accessible.
What if they tried again? Could they make it work this time? Had Dana changed enough? Had he? He still couldn’t live in the city. That was a no-brainer. But could she live in Whiskey River? Permanently? Would she even want to?
“What’s going on, Levi?” Travis asked.
Levi dropped his hand. He hadn’t known Travis was there until he spoke. Which proved how distracted he’d been. “Nothing. Just waiting on the pizza. ”
“Right. Because you won’t hear the doorbell even though I know damn well you’ve got some doo-dad that lets you know when someone is at the door.”
Levi shrugged. “It’s broken.”
Travis obviously didn’t buy it. “Something’s wrong. Your game has been shit tonight and I come out here to find you staring into space and stroking that balustrade like it’s a woman. Do you need to get laid that bad?”
“Funny man. No, I don’t need to get laid.” Of course he did, but that was beside the point.
“Is it Asher? He hasn’t had a setback has he?” Travis asked bluntly.
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“Are you worried about him? Is that what’s going on?”
“I’m always worried about Asher. But no more than I have been.” At least the worry was bearable now. He wouldn’t go back to those early days when Asher was first hurt for anything. Levi had flown to Germany to the US Military hospital in Landstuhl as soon as he found out Asher had been critically injured. He stayed until they knew Asher would live, which had been in doubt for weeks. Asher stayed for six weeks, then went to Walter Reed in Maryland, and eventually to Brooke Army Medical Center. BAMC was part of the SAMMC, San Antonio Military Medical Center complex, where Asher had been for several weeks. Levi was able to visit him more regularly since he wasn’t too far away. In fact, he had to force himself not to go more than once every week or two, since Asher said too many visits made him feel like Levi thought he was going to die any minute. Levi didn’t think that was the only reason but since Asher asked him to back off, he did.
“Harlan said you asked Dana to help with the remodel.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So that must have been hard considering you two can’t stand each other.”
Yeah, that wasn’t exactly the problem. But Travis didn’t know that. Neither of his partners did. Mostly because neither of them had been in town when his relationship with Dana had played out. And it wasn’t something he talked about. So while they probably knew Levi and Dana had a thing going once upon a time, they didn’t know how serious it had been. He doubted they had any idea that the two of them had lived together in Florida for three months. Until it all blew up.
And then they went and hired her to draw up plans to remodel the damn airport. Even though he’d objected, Harlan, who was their builder, and then Zack and Travis had been convinced they wanted Dana for the job. He’d been outvoted, plain and simple. Plus, he hadn’t thought she’d take the job. But she had.
“We don’t hate each other.”
Travis raised his eyebrows. “Then why have you been avoiding her since she came to town? Until you had to ask for her help, anyway. ”
“We made a deal to stay away from each other.”
“Why?”
Oh, hell. “Because almost every time we’re together we wind up in bed.”
The doorbell rang.
Saved by the pizza .
*
I am so screwed. Dana had been so sure she could keep her personal feelings out of the way while designing the remodel of Levi’s house.
And how’s that working for ya?
Badly. Very badly. I can’t seem to be near the man without thinking about…things.
Thinking about sex, you mean.
Fine. I can’t be near him without wanting to have sex with him. Even though I know it can’t possibly be as good as I’m remembering.
Can it?
A few days after he first asked for her help, Dana was able to show him two preliminary plans, both also showing which doorways were to be widened and where the ramps were going to be placed. With such a time crunch she’d only had time to make up two designs, but he’d liked both and chosen one quickly. When Levi made up his mind, he didn’t mess around.
So, she’d survived both of the initial consultations with Levi without doing anything too stupid. Now, less than a week after Levi had approved the preliminary plan, she had the semi-final plan finished. She’d worked almost around the clock to make the 3-D representation of the remodel for the bedroom and bathroom and the doorway to the adjoining room that Levi thought Asher could use as his own den when he wanted privacy. The bedroom and bathroom, along with the doorways and ramps, were the most important things. She would have time to work on the plans for the kitchen while getting started on the initial procedures. This morning she’d met Harlan and Levi to show them the proposals and make sure both of them were good with them. But all this had brought her into closer contact with Levi than she’d been in a long time. She was very conscious of how even the most innocent touch could make her remember when they’d been together. A touch, a smile, even simply watching his profile as he studied the plans, made her remember. And want.
“Dana?” Harlan said.
Levi touched her arm and she about jumped out of her skin.
“What?”
“We were talking about flooring and you spaced out,” Levi said.
Great. Here she was, not an hour into the meeting and she was already “spacing out” as Levi put it with annoying accuracy. “I heard him,” she said, giving Harlan a conciliatory smile. Harlan looked as if he was struggling not to laugh. “I was thinking.”
Yeah, about Levi. And sex. Get your mind on the work, dumbass.
“We’ve agreed on tile for the bathroom, correct?” she said.
“Yes,” Harlan said.
“But we’d moved on to the flooring for Asher’s rooms,” Levi said. “Or at least, Harlan and I had,” he added provocatively.
“In my opinion,” she said, ignoring Levi’s comment, “your best choices for his room would be either hardwood flooring or laminate. Laminate is cheaper and easier to care for, and the kinds they have now are hard to tell apart from hardwood. But the rest of the house that you’ve redone has hardwood floors, so you might want to go with that. Although I’ll warn you right now, you’ll need to repair and refinish it because of wear and tear from the wheelchair.”
“Let’s go with hardwood. I’ll worry about refinishing it when it needs it.”
“Sorry, to break up the party,” Harlan said, “but I need to leave shortly.”
“No problem,” Levi said. “Dana and I can finish up. Now about the tile—”
“I’ll send you links and get samples once you make some choices.”
“Or you can look now,” Harlan said. “Don’t you have the links bookmarked?”
“Yes, of course.” She flushed, wishing herself elsewhere. Somewhere where her brain was functioning fully. “If you want to look now, of course we can.”
Please say no. Please, please—
“Now is good.”
Shit .
Harlan looked at his phone and got up. “I’ll leave you two to it. I’ll be here tomorrow with the demolition crew. The sooner the better, right?”
“Right,” Levi said. “See you tomorrow.”
“Bye, Harlan,” Dana said. She pulled up her favorite tile website, with some tiles she’d already marked that she thought might work for Asher’s bathroom. “What do you think about these?” She flipped her computer around so he could see.
“I like the large tiles for the shower wall and the bathroom floor. You think those smaller tiles are better for the shower floor?”
“Yes, I do. But there are several options. You seem to like the natural colors.”
“For this I do.”
They looked at the different options for about forty-five minutes and then Levi made his choices.
“Those are good choices. I’ll make sure they’re not backordered and find out how soon we can get them. I assume you won’t mind paying a rush fee. ”
“Not a bit.”
She started to get up but Levi put a hand on her arm to detain her. She wished she could say that it was no big deal for him to touch her. But it was.
“Dana, is something wrong?”
“No, why?”
“You seem distracted. If it’s something about the job—”
“It’s not the job.” She looked down at his hand on her arm. “You can let go now.”
“I could. But I don’t want to.” He rubbed his thumb on her bare skin sending a shiver up her spine.
He’s only touching your arm, you hopeless romantic. It shouldn’t mean a thing. “Levi—”
“Your skin is so soft. I’d almost forgotten that.” He looked up, into her eyes. “Almost.”
His eyes were so pretty. Endless blue, deep blue sky. And she could get sucked right into the promise in them so damn easily. Her gaze fell to his mouth. That beautifully talented mouth she wanted to kiss, to taste. Levi’s eyes darkened and they leaned toward each other.
At the last moment Dana pulled back. “We said we weren’t going to do this again.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said regretfully. “But I’m having second thoughts.”
So was she. Damn it. “We’ll regret it if we do.”
“Will we? Don’t you remember how good we were together? ”
“Of course I do. And I also remember that we never could make it work.”
“Maybe we’ve changed.”
“Maybe. But have we changed enough?”
“We won’t know that until we try,” Levi said.