Chapter 5
HARPER
CHAPTER FIVE
This could not be happening. This seriously could Not. Be. Happening.
I should’ve known better than to trust Mabel when she’d said she had a place for me to stay. If there was one thing I’d learned in my life, it was that if something seemed too good to be true, it absolutely was. And this was the very embodiment of that adage.
I stared openmouthed at my new roommate. Levi fucking McKenzie.
My childhood best friend. The boy who’d shared his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with me. Who’d held my hand as I jumped off the cliffs for the first time. Who’d chased me along the sandy shores for hours until we were both breathless and sunburned.
My first crush. My first kiss. My first time.
My first everything. Heartbreak, included.
I’d grown a lot in the twelve years since I’d left Starlight Cove behind. I’d changed as a person, both inside and out. I’d had struggles and celebrations. I’d rejected my parents’ strict rules and the tiny box they’d shoved me into my whole life and gone off on my own. Broken away from their bindings without looking back and forged my own way, following my own rules.
But in all that time—across continents, through dozens of countries, over tens of thousands of miles—I’d never forgotten Levi.
And I’d never forgotten what he’d done to me.
He stood there, looking as stunned as I felt and more gorgeous than any man had a right to be. Especially one as cruel and thoughtless as him.
He’d grown from the boy I’d known, now standing several inches taller than my 5’10 frame… Had filled out, too, his body a carved masterpiece I didn’t want to acknowledge but also couldn’t deny. His dark-brown hair was overdue for a cut, wayward wavy strands hanging over his forehead as if even they couldn’t be bothered to be tamed. His close-cropped beard did nothing to hide the sharpness of his jaw or those full lips I recalled in great detail how they felt against mine. But his eyes were what held me frozen.
Blue. Icy. Contemptuous.
Being on the other end of that hardened stare snapped me out of whatever attraction-induced coma I was currently battling. He didn’t want me here; that much was clear. At least we agreed on something.
“There has to be a mistake,” I finally said, breaking the silence. I turned toward Mabel, my eyes narrowed. “You told me you had the perfect place.”
She shot me a smile and held her hands out as if to encompass the apartment. “I do! Isn’t it perfect?”
Levi groaned and scrubbed a hand down his face. “Jesus Christ, Mabel. No, it’s not fucking perfect. Why the hell would you think this was a good idea?”
“Harper needed somewhere to stay for six weeks?—”
“Six weeks?” Levi snapped.
“—and the poor girl needs something cozy for that long. This little apartment is very cozy.”
Levi’s jaw ticked as he glared at Mabel, his feelings on the topic broadcast loudly without his saying a word. Though I couldn’t say I was feeling much differently. Because just what the hell was I supposed to do now?
Chase cleared his throat into the heavy, awkward silence. “Well, this seems like something the three of you need to work out. So, we’ll just?—”
“Are you kidding?” Addison said, darting her gaze between Mabel, Levi, and me. “I’m not leaving now! It’s just getting good.”
Chase laughed and picked up his wife, scooping her right off her feet. “Nice try, you little chaos monster. You’re in for it when we get home tonight.” Then, as they were walking out of the apartment, he tossed over his shoulder, “We’ll wait in the truck, man.”
“There has to be something else,” I said, unable to tamp down the pleading edge in my tone. I pulled out my phone and navigated to the search engine, refusing to listen to the whisper in the back of my mind that said it would be futile. Especially in mid-July in a tourist town along the coast.
Mabel made a sound of commiseration. “Oh honey, I’m afraid not. Besides the normal surges this time of year, the carnival is quite a draw for tourists. And the resort’s been booked for months. Now that they’re renovating the main inn, even those rooms aren’t available. I’d let you use our spare room that Quinn rented for a while before she and Ford got hitched, but I’m not at all sorry to say we’ve turned that into a playroom.”
“For your grandkids?” I asked.
“Heavens no! George might’ve installed a swing, but it’s definitely for grown-up time.” Mabel elbowed me and waggled her eyebrows.
“Oh Jesus Christ,” Levi grumbled.
I couldn’t even bring myself to look his way, too focused on getting myself out of this mess to be ensnared by him. “What about Starlight Shores? I know it’s small, but maybe they have something.”
Mabel tsked and shook her head. “They’re fumigating. Nasty mice infestation. Tammy figures they’ll be closed for at least a month.”
“There has to be something.” Even I could hear the panic seeping into my tone, but I couldn’t help it. This was my worst nightmare. There was no way I’d be able to get the work done that I needed to while sleeping on the other side of a wall from Levi. Hearing his every movement. Running into him coming from the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel. Imagining him?—
Well. Imagining shit I no longer had any business imagining.
“I’m sorry, sugar.” Mabel patted my arm. “I checked all over when I knew you were looking for a place to stay, and this is the only available location in town. Plus, with the newspaper office right downstairs, it’ll be nice while you’re working on your article.”
“Seems pretty fucking convenient,” Levi mumbled under his breath, his narrowed gaze focused on Mabel.
Ignoring him completely, she said, “Besides, you’re both grown-ups. I didn’t throw you into an only-one-bed situation like that romance we read for book club last month. You each have your own room, plus plenty of space to share. I don’t see what the problem is.”
The problem was, I could’ve been sharing an eighty-thousand-square-foot mansion with Levi, and it still would’ve felt too small. But here, in an eight-hundred-square-foot apartment where we’d be sharing more than half the space? Where we’d have to run into each other, day in and day out, for six weeks? It was going to feel downright claustrophobic.
I darted my gaze over to Levi, only to find his eyes already locked on me. That brief connection, however tenuous it was, sent shivers racing down my spine. Long-forgotten memories of a time when it’d felt like he’d seen me surfaced all over again. And I absolutely could not entertain any of that bullshit.
“Well, I’ll let you two get settled.” Mabel hooked her purse on her arm and shuffled toward the door. “Wouldn’t want to overstay my welcome.”
Levi snorted as the door shut behind her, and then it was just the two of us in this too-small space.
A too-small space I was supposed to share for six weeks with the one man I’d never wanted to see again.
After several awkward moments in which we did nothing but glare at each other, he finally broke the silence. “What the hell are you doing here for six weeks?”
I narrowed my gaze on him, my arms crossed as if that would be an effective shield. The wall I’d built around my heart after he’d decimated it would protect me a hell of a lot better. “Excuse me?”
“Why are you here?” he enunciated slowly.
I raised a brow at him. “Too busy brooding to listen when Mabel mentioned the article I’m working on?”
His brows dipped, that glower firmly in place. It was something I’d grown accustomed to seeing during my brief stints back in Starlight Cove. Especially when it was usually directed at me. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Well, I’m not a mind reader, Levi, so you’ll have to come out with it.”
He stared at me for long moments, his jaw clenched, gaze hard, and I felt the intensity of it straight to my bones. It was truly unfair how gorgeous this man was. Also unfair how my body still responded to him, even when my mind knew better.
Finally, he said, “What happened to becoming a lawyer?”
I froze for half a second before huffing out an incredulous laugh. The absolute gall of this asshole. He’d shoved me out of his life without a backward glance. Cut off all ties to me. Blocked me everywhere he could. And he had the balls to ask me about my life and why I’d chosen the path I had? I didn’t fucking think so.
“I don’t owe you an explanation about my life. You want to know things about me? Do what every other shitty ex-boyfriend in the world does and use Google.”
He kept his hard stare locked on me, his ticking jaw broadcasting his irritation. That, at least, was something we had in common. Just like he’d always done, Levi sucked up all the oxygen in a room, leaving me gasping for air, while he was unfazed. He was a robot. An uncaring, inconsiderate, gorgeous-as-fuck robot, and nothing good would come from cohabitating with him. Nothing but old memories—bad memories—would be unearthed during our time together.
But I didn’t exactly have a choice.
This was the only place in town, and I’d already planned to avoid him while I was here. Since I’d be out and about anyway, gathering information, researching, and conducting interviews for this massive lifestyle write-up, I’d barely be in the apartment.
Surely I could steer clear of him during that time. I’d been doing it for twelve years.
What was six measly weeks?