Chapter 6
HARPER
CHAPTER SIX
Levi hadn’t been able to get out of the apartment fast enough, which was fine with me. I definitely needed the breathing room. Not to mention, I had forty-five minutes before I was scheduled to head over to the high school, so I planned to take full advantage of my solitude to poke around. There was no way I was staying in enemy territory without getting the lay of the land.
I hit up the kitchen first, figuring it was the place least likely to have anything telling in it. It was basic—white cabinets and black appliances. Definitely not state-of-the-art, but it got the job done. The sink was empty, and the counters were spotless, free from clutter or fancy small appliances.
Next, I made my way into the living room. Facing a wall-mounted TV was a worn brown leather couch with a dark wood coffee table in front of it. It held only a stack of coasters…and Aiden’s latest novel, The Realm of Storm and Shadow. I grabbed the hardcover, my brows shooting up.
Levi had always been a reader, as far back as I could remember. He’d carried a book with him wherever he went. Had shared them with me, actually. We’d swapped them back and forth, each reading a passage aloud. So, the fact that he had a book on his coffee table wasn’t a surprise. It was that he had this particular book. Erotic romantasy wasn’t exactly something I pictured him reading. The young adult romance novels I’d shared with him had been pushing it back then.
Sitting down on the couch, I flipped through the book, stopping on the page he’d bookmarked with an old receipt, and began reading.
Caelum clasped Aurelia’s hand and led her to a secluded corner of the room, too desperate for her to wait. They weren’t alone, but his cock didn’t care. And from the way Aurelia was gripping his hand, her eyes brimming with mischief and desire, she couldn’t wait, either.
The masquerade ball was full to bursting, guests dancing and laughing, some mere feet from where he and Aurelia were tucked away. But he couldn’t be bothered with them. Couldn’t think about dozens of people being near when he slid inside his sweet Aurelia. All that consumed his thoughts was the remembered sound of her soft moan that always accompanied that first thrust and how hot her cunt would be when he sank?—
I snapped the book shut and dropped it onto the table as if it were on fire. But nope, that was just my entire body alight in flames. My breaths grew stuttered and my cheeks felt hot, but my body’s reaction didn’t stop there. My nipples also jumped in on the action, tightening while my pussy clenched around nothing.
This was ridiculous. I read these kinds of books—had read this very one, in fact, so none of what I read was shocking. This was just an overreaction because it’d been a long while for me, that was all. It had absolutely nothing to do with the unexpected intimacy of it—reading that particular book at that particular spot, right where Levi had left off…so similar to what we’d done as teens—and everything to do with it having been far too long since I’d been served orgasms by someone other than myself.
Shaking off those unwanted and unwelcome feelings, I continued on my quest, unabashedly nosing through the rest of his apartment. Looking for a glimpse of that teenage boy I’d been in love with all those years ago. It seemed to be a lost cause, though.
No matter where I snooped, I didn’t find a single photo or knickknack. Nothing personal that would give me a glimpse into the man Levi had become and nothing to remind me of the boy I’d once loved. Other than that book on the coffee table, he had no personal touches anywhere.
It was barren, as if Levi had erased himself from his own home.
Once I’d made my way through the rest of the apartment, I hesitated on the threshold to Levi’s bedroom, debating whether I should go inside. While he’d left his door unlatched, it was still mostly closed. And there was no doubt this would be crossing a line. In the end, though, I didn’t care. Curiosity won out.
Slowly, I pushed open the door, unable to turn my back on this chance to get a glimpse of the man I’d once known. Salt air and cedar swept over me as soon as I stepped into his room. The scent was so familiar, it stopped me dead in my tracks. Made my heart ache and transported me straight back in time, filling my head with memories I’d spent years trying to forget.
I shook them from my thoughts, forcing myself to focus on the present. Gathering information was what I did for a living, and this was no different. It was just research.
Levi’s bed was haphazardly made—the only sign in this whole apartment that someone lived here. The dark-gray duvet was rumpled on one side, the other half smooth and untouched. I shoved away the flicker of relief that raced through me at that sight because it didn’t belong. I absolutely did not care if Levi had overnight guests in his home. It was none of my business whom he spent his evenings with and hadn’t been in decades. Hell, maybe I’d be able to warn the poor girls the next time he brought one around.
My gaze swept across the rest of the room, taking in everything. Two nightstands bracketed his bed, a dresser sat along the opposite wall, and a bookcase filled with odds and ends stood in the corner. Jackpot.
Like a moth to a flame, I headed straight for it, my gaze pinging over the contents. Two framed photographs sat on the highest shelf, and I picked up the older one. It had been taken before my time in Starlight Cove, but there was no mistaking it was Levi’s family.
His mom stood in front of Endless Summer, their large sailboat, all five boys gathered around her as a very young Addison sat propped on her hip. All of them were grinning at the camera, some with missing teeth, their happiness radiating from the image.
I replaced the frame and picked up the other. This one was steeped in melancholy that had been absent in the first, though I could guess why. Their mom was missing from this photo. Levi looked familiar, so much like the boy who’d broken my heart, I’d place it as being taken about ten years ago. He and his siblings stood in front of Starlight Cove Resort’s sign, and though they smiled, it didn’t reach their eyes. Sadness cloaked each and every one of them. And despite my less-than-positive thoughts of Levi, my heart broke for him and his whole family…for what they’d gone through.
When tragedy had struck the McKenzie family, I hadn’t been back to Starlight Cove for a couple years, but I’d been devastated, nonetheless. Grace McKenzie had always been so welcoming to me, so open in her affections—something my own mother had been severely lacking in. It was something I’d envied Levi for. Something I’d always appreciated. It had reassured me not all moms were as cold and distant as mine.
While I hadn’t been able to attend the funeral, I had grieved the fact that Grace had been taken from this world far too soon.
I replaced the photo where I’d found it and scanned the rest of the shelves. Dozens of books in varying genres filled the bookcase. Thriller, nonfiction, fantasy, but the vast majority were romance novels—both spicy and tame—including one of my favorites from years ago. The last one we’d read together.
Unable to resist, I slid it from its place and flipped through the pages, recalling just how much I’d loved it as a teen. And recalling just how many times Levi had stopped to kiss me as we’d swapped the book back and forth, trading off passages to read.
As I fanned the pages, lost in memories from years ago, something fell out and fluttered to the floor. I closed the book and bent to retrieve it, my fingers stilling, my heart jumping into my throat when I realized what it was.
With shaky hands, I picked up the identical photo strip to one I’d ripped up years ago. I ran my gaze over the four black-and-white images of Levi and me smiling, laughing…kissing. We looked so happy.
We looked like we were in love.
It’d been taken the last night we’d been together. Before everything had imploded. Before he’d ripped out my heart with some well-aimed words designed to hurt.
A pit opened in my stomach, throwing me right back to that time and place. When I’d been the stupid girl who’d allowed herself to be blinded by his charms, thinking she was different. Thinking the two of us had something special.
It had all been nothing but a lie.
I shoved the photo strip back into the book before replacing it on the shelf. Then I turned and strode straight out of his room, kicking myself for entering in the first place. But that was what I got for snooping. More questions than answers. Questions I had no intention of delving into.
I was here to do a job and do it well, not reopen old wounds. Levi was no longer the boy I’d once known…once loved…no matter what kinds of mementos he’d hung on to.
And considering how long I was stuck under this roof with him, I needed to remember that.
Later that afternoon, Addison and I sat at the high school hockey rink. Weekend Wanderlust’s editor in chief wanted this article to have a lifestyle edge, including all the images that would accompany it. It was what was splashed all over social media anyway—those imperfect, slice-of-life moments that had made influencers a thing. Naomi was nothing if not strategic, so she wanted to capitalize on the trend. Because of that, I was the sole person in charge of all the media content while I was in town, navigating this entirely on my own.
Though, truth be told, I preferred it that way.
I worked better solo, knowing I was the only person I had to count on. When I put expectations on someone else’s shoulders, I was inevitably let down. Life had proven that time and again. It was easier to handle everything on my own.
In the hours I’d been here, I’d managed to get some amazing shots of Chase out on the ice, running drills with the kids, giving them pep talks…being the kind of supportive, encouraging person I’d always known him to be. I had plenty of content, but I didn’t want to leave early and miss anything, so I hung out in the stands.
Addison and I were the only ones left in the building besides Chase, the kids in the program…and Levi. I’d done my best to ignore him all afternoon, but it had been like trying to ignore a raging inferno.
While I’d been interviewing Chase’s old coach, some of the kids and parents, as well as Chase himself, I swore I’d felt Levi’s gaze on me, the hot brand of it warming me from the outside in, despite the freezing temps inside the rink. But every time I slid an inconspicuous glance in his direction, his focus had been on the boys or his phone or a spot on the wall. Literally anywhere but on me.
And I refused to admit, even to myself, how much that rankled.
I glanced over at Addison. She was living up to every ounce of her boss persona, an iPad propped on her lap as she conducted business from the bleachers.
“You’d probably be a lot warmer if you did this back at the resort instead of here,” I said. “Maybe with a nice, sunny view of the ocean while you’re at it.”
She shot me a smile, wiggling her fingers encased in fingerless gloves. “But then I wouldn’t get to be here when my hot beast of a husband is done and full of all those endorphins coursing through him. We never got to experience that post-hockey-game sex coma, so I’m definitely going to be fucking that man in the locker room as soon as he’s done. Fair warning.”
I huffed out a surprised laugh and raised my hands. “I won’t stand in your way. And speaking of getting busy… You were right.”
“I usually am, but about what, specifically?”
“Mabel. Somehow while I was trying to figure out a different place to stay besides your brother’s apartment, she let me know she and George had a playroom in their home, complete with a sex swing.”
Addison snorted and shook her head. “Not even a little bit surprised. She hosts her spicy book club in the parlor at the resort, and some of the things those women talk about would make a sex worker blush.”
“Sounds like fun.” And something I wouldn’t mind getting in on. God knew it’d be the only action I’d be seeing in the near—or distant—future. “I’ll have to find out when the next one is. I want to interview them while I’m there to talk to Aiden about his blockbuster romantasy career. Gotta say, I never saw that one coming.”
“You aren’t the only one. Shocked the hell out of me, too. But it makes sense. He’s so bottled-up, I figure it’s gotta go somewhere other than my best friend—and, by the way, she lets me know how well my brother’s accomplishing that, despite my pleas for her to shut her damn mouth.”
I grinned over at her. Though her words said she was sick of what her best friend was putting her through, there was no denying the affection in her tone. “Don’t be too hard on her. I’m sure she’s happy to have that kind of relationship with you.”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I love the girl. And I love telling her all the crazy, depraved things Chase and I get up to. It just really, really freaks me out to know that my brother has made her come more times in a single night than I can imagine and not broken a sweat.”
Jesus. More times than she could imagine? I was lucky to get one, and Aiden was apparently handing them out like candy? Was this what I’d been missing by avoiding the dating pool? For the first time ever, I was second-guessing the focus I’d put on my career instead of on men, because my battery-operated boyfriends were growing tiresome.
My expression must have betrayed my interest and the natural questions that popped into my mind because she held up a hand and shook her head. “Nope. I’m not talking about it anymore. If you want to hear that story, you go right to the source and leave me out of it.”
I was about to respond when a deep, throaty chuckle caught my ear, and I glanced out to the rink. Since I’d been talking with Addison, the kids had cleared the area. Now, it was just Chase and Levi on the ice.
While I was used to Chase’s easygoing nature and his free-flowing smiles and laughter, that was something I hadn’t seen from Levi in more than a decade. Even so, there was no reason the sound should have melted over me like honey, making me feel warm and gooey all over. Old memories I’d tried hard to forget shuttled to the forefront of my mind, sending me back to a time when his laugh had been as familiar as my own.
And there was no reason for my stomach to flip when Levi’s gaze lifted to mine for the briefest moment, a flicker of something I couldn’t quite name in his eyes, before it was gone in a blink. And then the smile dropped from his face, a cold frostiness replacing his once-warm expression.
It didn’t matter that he’d kept some memento from when we were kids—one he probably didn’t even remember he had. It also didn’t matter that we were going to be roommates, stuck living together for the next six weeks. With a single look, he reminded me exactly what we were to each other.
Absolutely nothing.