Chapter Four
L evi dreamed about Dana that night. Dreamed of holding her in his arms as she slept. Dreamed of making love to her, over and over. And woke up hard as a rock and aching for a woman he couldn’t have.
Unless she changed her mind. After all, he’d regretted making the deal almost the instant they made it. Could be she did too. But Dana was stubborn. Convincing her to change her mind wouldn’t be easy.
He got up, showered and got dressed. He left for the airport where he was to meet with Travis and Zack. Assuming they would meet in Zack’s office, he went there first. Zack wasn’t there so he went to the flight school hangar and found Travis.
“How’s it going with Dana?” Travis asked Levi.
“Fine. She’s good. I knew she would be but it’s different seeing her in action.”
“You could have seen her in action for the last eight or nine months here at the airport, if you hadn’t been avoiding her.”
“Yeah, yeah. What did you need me for? ”
“Zack should be here in a minute. He’s the one who wanted to meet. Meanwhile—” Travis leaned back against his Cessna trainer airplane and crossed his arms over his chest. “How are you and Dana getting along personally?”
“We’re getting along in a state of ‘none of your fucking business.’”
Travis laughed. “Then you shouldn’t have dropped that tidbit about you two hooking up every time you see each other. Besides, you might as well tell me. Next time you see Tobi I guarantee she’ll worm it out of you.”
“Whatever. Dana and I are purely business.” For now, anyway.
“That’s what I figured.” He started toward the hangar office.
“What do you mean, that’s what you figured?” Levi asked, following.
“If you had been getting any you wouldn’t be so cranky.”
“I’m not cranky.”
Travis laughed. He opened the small fridge in the office, got out two bottles of water and tossed one to Levi.
Zack walked into the office. “Thanks, I’ll have one. What’s so funny?”
“Levi saying he’s not cranky.” He tossed a bottle of water to Zack.
Zack caught it, opened it and took a drink before he looked at Levi. “Give the poor bastard a break, Travis. He can’t help it that Dana shot him down. ”
“Dana didn’t shoot me down,” Levi gritted out. “It’s a mutual decision.”
“You keep telling yourself that,” Zack said. “Now it’s time for business if we can set aside Levi’s troubles with his love life.”
Levi clamped his jaw shut. No point giving them more ammunition.
“We have a chance to buy some land adjoining the airport. It’s not cheap, but I think we can negotiate a better price. I know we don’t need it now, but we will in the future if the airport continues to grow. At least, we hope we will.”
“Won’t the bank lend us the money?” Travis asked.
“Sure. If we put up one of the planes as collateral.”
“What the hell? That’s ridiculous,” Levi said, leaning against the messy desk. It was always a disaster, although Travis swore he could find anything he wanted and had told the cleaning service not to touch anything on it.
“Yep. But that’s what they want,” Zack said, scowling.
“They gave us the first loan without demanding anything outrageous.”
“The bank is under new management. That might have something to do with it.”
“We could try a different bank,” Travis suggested. “As long as it’s not Taylor’s bank. Not after what he did to Harlan and Savannah.”
“I thought they made up when Harlan and Savannah got married?” Zack said .
Savannah’s father had been instrumental in breaking up the two when they were young. But Harlan had returned to Whiskey River almost a year ago and married Savannah not long after that.
Travis shrugged. “I don’t care. I still don’t trust the bastard.”
“Screw that. I’ll put up the money,” Levi said.
Zack pointed his water bottle at him. “You’ve already put up a lot of money. Who knows how long it will take for you to make that back?”
“That’s not a problem.”
Travis frowned. “If you do this we need to make it a loan and pay it back with interest. Your money isn’t the reason we wanted you in on this, Levi.”
Levi simply raised his eyebrows.
Travis laughed. “Okay, the money doesn’t hurt but it’s not the main reason.”
Levi knew that but he appreciated hearing Travis say it. “Call it a loan or let me buy it as an investment. I’ll talk to my accountant and you can see what Laurel thinks.” Zack’s wife Laurel was also the accountant for the airport.
“I asked Laurel already and she said it depends on whether we want Levi to have the investment or all three of us.”
“I think a loan will be better,” Levi said. “If it’s going to be airport land then there’s no reason not to buy it now instead of buying it from me later. ”
They decided on a mutually agreeable interest rate and left Zack to communicate the plan to both accountants.
Levi escaped before they could razz him any more about Dana.
*
Dana tried to convince herself that she could keep her libido under control. But being around Levi all the time tested her to the limit. For God’s sake, they’d almost kissed the other day. What a mistake that would have been. She was 99 percent sure that once they kissed they’d be back in bed together in no time.
It didn’t matter, though. She couldn’t say no. Not to helping a wounded warrior. The fact that this particular vet was Levi’s brother shouldn’t matter.
Tonight, though, she was taking a much-needed break. Every Thursday night was girls’ night out among the women of Whiskey River. Most of the women around her age were invited but usually the same group of women showed up week after week, with a few variations depending on kids, work or other factors. In fact, Dana had missed the week before, busy with the plans for remodeling. Once she moved to town Dana had slid right into the group, even though technically she was not a permanent resident. She’d been living in Whiskey River for eight months and she suspected she’d be there for quite a while longer. Particularly since she had another job now that the airport was wrapping up. At least for the present. For all she knew they might decide to do further work on the airport.
Dana walked across the Square to Tips, Tops & Toes Nail and Beauty Salon. Rosario Rodriguez owned it, and was also one of the group. Dana recognized a few of the cars but you never could tell who would be there until you went inside. Some people walked or came with others. She pushed open the door and was immediately assailed with the smell of nail polish remover, lotions, potions and other assorted smells common to beauty salons.
But she also smelled cookies. Which meant Rachel Lane must have brought cookies from her shop.
“Hi, everyone.” Dana went to the table set up with snacks, wine and soft drinks and poured herself a glass of white wine, along with grabbing some cookies. “Am I late? I was hoping to get in on the first wave.”
“Sorry, Dana,” Avery Burton said. “You’ll have to wait for the next group.” She waved at the row of chairs filled with women in varying stages of pedicure. “But I’m almost finished and I think Rachel is too.”
“I guess I’ll just grab a chair and eat and drink while I wait.”
“How about bringing a poor pregnant woman a bottle of water?” Laurel Bannister asked. She was several months pregnant with twins, as her large belly proclaimed.
“I’ll get it,” Zee Mahan said. “I need a refill anyway. ”
Before too long two chairs opened up beside each other. Dana took one and Siobhan Murphy took the other. Rosario said she’d take care of both of them. After picking out the type of pedicure they wanted as well as polish, Dana said, “I need to come by for a drink soon. I’m in need of a bartender talk.” Siobhan, a feisty redhead who bartended at Booze’s, laughed. Everyone teased her about all the secrets she must keep, but they all talked to her. Hello, bartender? And she was perfect at it.
“I noticed you hadn’t been in to Booze’s for over a week. You usually stop by for some curly fries if nothing else.”
“I’ve got a new job on top of the airport. It’s keeping me busy.”
“What is it?”
“Levi Chapman wants me to remodel his house to be accessible. His brother’s a wounded veteran and he’s coming to live with Levi when he’s discharged from the hospital.”
“Levi, huh? I guess you know him from the airport.”
“Not exactly.” Siobhan was easy to talk to and other than Rosario, who knew how to keep her mouth shut, no one was listening to their conversation. Besides, Rosario and Siobhan were both friends. Dana simply didn’t want to announce her relationship—or non-relationship as the case might be—with Levi to the entire population of Whiskey River. Maybe she could open up, though, just a little, to these two. “Levi and I knew each other several years ago.”
“Knew each other as in dated? ”
“As in, not only dated but we also lived together for a while.”
Siobhan’s eyebrows rose and she turned excitedly in her chair. “You’re it, then! You’re the one.”
“Excuse me?”
“If you don’t stop squirming around, Siobhan,” Rosario said, “I’m going to stab you. Accidentally, of course.”
“Did you hear her? She’s the one. It’s got to be Dana.”
Rosario looked over at Dana. “You could be right.”
“What are you two talking about?” Dana asked.
“Soak your feet,” Rosario told Siobhan before sliding her stool over to sit in front of Dana. She patted the footrest and Dana pulled her feet out of the water. “Siobhan and I have both been out with Levi. He’s a really good kisser but his heart wasn’t in it. Siobhan agrees.”
“Yep,” she said. “We each went out with him a couple of times but nothing came of it.”
“Something did,” Dana said dryly. “Rosario says he’s a good kisser.” Which he was. A very, very good kisser. Not that she’d kissed him in, oh, about eight months.
“Oh, that,” Siobhan said, waving it away. “It was a good-night kiss and didn’t mean a thing to him. Because,” she paused dramatically, “we knew there was a woman in his past he was still hung up on. And come to find out, there was.”
“And it’s you,” Rosario added with satisfaction. She started working on Dana’s feet. Apparently finished with the conversation .
Wisely ignoring rating Levi’s kissing abilities, Dana said, “He’s not hung up on me. That was over a long time ago. It all happened when I was working on the Wildcat Tower. And for a short while after I left.” Except for those two times…
“Tell the truth. Aren’t you just a tiny bit interested in him?” Siobhan asked. “The guy is hot, he’s nice , and he’s a freaking billionaire. What else do you want?”
“I was shocked to find out he’s a billionaire,” Rosario interjected. “He doesn’t act like it. Or like I imagine a billionaire would act. I mean, for one thing he’s living in Whiskey River. I love it but a metropolis it isn’t.”
“No, he’s not your ordinary billionaire. If there is such a thing.” To hell with it . “Our breakup wasn’t good.”
“Did you two ever talk about it?” Siobhan asked.
Dana shrugged. “Not really.” Actually, not at all.
“Maybe you should. Have you seen him since? Besides when you came here to do the airport?”
She felt her face heat. Give me a break. I’m blushing?
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Rosario said.
“They didn’t mean anything,” she rushed to say. “We both knew they were a mistake by the next morning.”
Both women were staring at her with their mouths open. “They? More than once?”
“Twice,” she admitted. “The first time when I moved back to Texas. And then when I first came back to Whiskey River to work on the airport. ”
“If you thought it was a mistake the first time why did you do it again?” Rosario asked.
Dana wished she’d never brought this up, but she had so she might as well finish it. “Because I couldn’t resist, damn it.”
“Obviously neither could he,” Siobhan said.
“It was—they were—just a fling. Not even a fling, but one night. We made a deal to stay away from each other since we seemed to be totally stupid around each other. And then he asked me to help with his house. And now I’m going to be around him all the time. And damn it, he’s still—”
“Hot?” Siobhan asked.
“Sexy?” Rosario added.
“Irresistible,” Dana said. She didn’t hold out a lot of hope that they would resist each other. No, they hadn’t had sex yet, but the spark, the electricity between them was still very much in evidence.
“Yet you want to resist him, right?” Siobhan said.
“I need to resist him,” she corrected. “If I was dating someone it would be easier. But Levi knows I’m not dating anyone currently.”
“You’ve dated a lot of men around here. None of them for long.”
True. Because once she dated someone more than two or three times, they started to want more. And she didn’t.
She should have just gone to bed with at least one of those men. But something always held her back. Remembering how it had been with Levi held her back, damn it.
“Well, if it’s a simple date you want, I know someone who’d be perfect,” Siobhan said.
“Who?”
“Nathan Kershaw. Do you know him? Oh, wait. Of course you do. He’s one of the pilots.”
“Yes, I know Nathan. And no, I haven’t dated him.”
“Has he asked you?”
“Yes. But he’s got a reputation as a player. He never dates anyone more than a few times before he moves on.”
“Isn’t that exactly what you do?” Rosario asked.
“Not exactly. I don’t sleep with them and I’m pretty sure Nathan does.”
“From what I hear, that’s true,” Siobhan said. “But he’s still friendly with the women he’s dated, which says something about him.”
“Maybe Nathan is just what you need to take your mind off Levi,” Rosario said. “Or you could just quit resisting Levi and give in to what you want to do.”
Do what she wanted to do. And if she did—if they did—enjoy it while it lasted? Or end up wanting more when they both knew it wouldn’t work?