Chapter 2
Chapter Two
L evi watched Kasi walk away, trying to decide if he was more annoyed or turned on.
She wore denim cutoffs that framed her peach-shaped ass to perfection, which swayed as she walked. The fact that he was noticing anything sexual about Kasi, whom he’d known since she was a kid, should have had him averting his eyes.
But it didn’t.
Not at all.
Because she was all grown up.
Of course, he knew that. He’d seen her pretty much daily for the past few years when he stopped by the Lucky Penny stand for one of her pies. The pies had become his and his brothers’ guilty pleasure, and he’d caught enough shit from the guys early on whenever he failed to bring one home that he’d gone ahead and included the trip to the fruit stand as part of his daily routine.
Once it was sliced and divvied up after dinner, Levi only got one piece of it. And it wasn’t even a big piece. Never anywhere near enough for him. He’d considered, on more than one occasion, buying two pies and hiding the second from his brothers because sharing sucked.
So yeah. He knew Kasi Mills was no longer a kid, but what he’d failed to let himself admit was that she was a very beautiful woman.
Her long chestnut-brown hair hung straight down her back, reaching down to where her T-shirt ended, and the tiniest bit of her bare skin showed.
She was nearly back to the barn when he realized she was walking away from the house.
“Where the hell are you going?” he called out to her.
Kasi glanced over her shoulder, and he saw yet another glimpse of surprise in her expression. Apparently, his actions were as shocking to her as they were to him. He didn’t have a clue why he’d followed her from the stand to her farmhouse. Though considering she’d just passed out, he figured it was common courtesy to make sure she got home okay.
But that hadn’t required him to get out of his truck and help her unload. Or stick around to see what she did next.
However, leaving felt as hard as sharing her delicious pies with his brothers.
“I need to feed the animals first,” she yelled back. “It won’t take long.”
He studied her for a minute. Long enough that she must have thought the conversation was over because she turned away from him again and walked into the barn.
Levi sighed, then headed away from his truck, following her once more.
By the time he arrived, she was scattering feed to the chickens in the pen attached to the far side of the barn. There was a long row of henhouses inside a coop. The Lucky Penny Farm also sold eggs and had amassed quite a few regulars who swore their eggs were the greatest. Levi’s mother was one of those devoted fans, so every egg consumed at Stormy Weather Farm—either by the family or in the B&B—came from this farm, and Kasi personally delivered God only knew how many dozen to Mom every Sunday morning.
Once the chickens were fed, Kasi hung up the bucket, reaching for a small bale of hay. He intercepted her, picking it up himself. Levi expected her to ask him what he was doing again, but it seemed as if she’d finally given up questioning him and was just rolling with it.
That, or she simply didn’t have the energy to fight him anymore. He’d noticed the dark circles under her eyes the last few times he’d come for his pie, but he and Kasi didn’t have the type of relationship where he felt as if he could ask questions.
Cutting the string holding the bale together, Kasi scattered it in the pen that held the goats, the baying creatures quickly surrounding them, chomping away happily. She did the same for her three horses. Then she emptied a bucket of slops for the pigs. After that, she grabbed a hose and dragged it from pen to pen, filling the troughs with water.
“Where’s your dad and your brother?” Levi wondered why neither of them were feeding the animals.
“Daddy will be in the house,” Kasi replied. “And I didn’t see Keith’s motorcycle when I pulled up, so he must be out with friends.”
Levi wasn’t sure, but he thought he heard her mutter “again” under her breath.
“Shouldn’t he be helping you with some of these chores?”
Kasi shrugged wearily. “He’s eighteen, and he just graduated from high school in June. You know how boys are at that age. Gotta sow their wild oats or something.”
Levi didn’t agree with that assessment at all. He’d been eighteen once too, but that didn’t mean his father wouldn’t have tanned his hide if he’d failed to do his chores. There was no age limit where the expectations lessened on a farm. Hell, once he graduated, he’d been expected to take on more work.
Rather than argue the point, he decided to see what else needed to be done because Kasi should be inside her house with her feet up. Levi wasn’t completely sure he bought the excuse that she’d just gotten overheated. When he’d walked into the stand, she’d been sitting on the stool with her eyes closed, and he’d wondered if she’d managed to fall asleep like that.
Maybe she was getting sick.
“Is that all the chores?”
Kasi nodded.
“Good.”
They left the barn together, walking side by side. She’d gone quiet, her gait almost sluggish. He was glad he’d stuck around to help, since her father and brother didn’t seem to offer her any.
She glanced at him when he bypassed his truck, walking all the way to the porch with her.
Kasi gave him a smirk. “Still being a gentleman?”
He bowed slightly. “Always.”
She stopped at the front door, waiting. “Is there something else you need?”
Levi crossed his arms. “I’m just making sure you actually go inside. Starting to suspect you’re trying to get rid of me so you can go plow the back forty.”
Kasi grimaced, the expression hitting Levi right straight in the chest because the second she replied, he regretted his joke.
“You don’t have to worry about that. The back forty burned.”
Levi sighed, cursing his wayward tongue. “I remember.” Her family had lost a whole season’s corn crop due to that fire. “Did they ever figure out what started it?”
Kasi shook her head. “The ground was pretty dry thanks to the drought, but with us watering regularly, it was still going to be a good harvest. Fire marshal suggested a lightning strike, as there’d been some storms in the area that night, or maybe a lit cigarette. But none of the farm hands or my father smoke.”
Levi suspected losing those crops had dealt them a bit of financial blow, but that was the nature of farming. “Burning can sometimes be good for the soil. I bet your yield this year will be better for it.”
“We, um… We didn’t plant anything there this year.”
Levi frowned—because that was a hell of a lot of farmland to leave unplanted.
However, before he could ask why not, there was a loud crash inside and the sound of glass breaking. Kasi quickly opened the front door, dashing inside, and Levi followed.
She pulled up short in the doorway to the kitchen and quickly threw her hands up. “Daddy. Don’t move,” she said.
Levi took a second to study the scene, concerned by what he saw. Kasi’s father was standing in the middle of the kitchen, surrounded by several broken dishes. A tray lay nearby on the floor as well. All of that was easily enough explained. Mr. Mills got clumsy and dropped a tray.
What Levi couldn’t reconcile was this version of Mr. Mills to the man he’d known his entire life. He did a quick calculation, trying to decide when he’d last seen the man.
Then it occurred to him.
At his wife’s funeral.
It wasn’t that his path and Mr. Mills’ crossed on a regular occasion, but they usually ran into each other at least a dozen times a year, either at town events, the grocery store, or even at Rain or Shine Brewery. Mr. and Mrs. Mills had spent more than a few restful Sundays doing tastings there, and enjoying the changing colors of the leaves or the return of spring.
But it had been eight months since he’d seen the man, and that time hadn’t been kind to him.
Always a tall, lanky guy, Mr. Mills seemed to have lost weight he didn’t have to lose. Same as Kasi. His thinning hair was almost completely gone, and his tanned complexion had faded to a chalky white, something unheard of in professional farmers, who spent their days out in the bright sunshine.
The worst part was the man’s vacant expression.
He was looking at Kasi as if confused.
Kasi moved forward slowly, trying to avoid the larger pieces of glass. “Stay where you are, Daddy. You’re not wearing shoes. Let me clean up this glass so you don’t cut yourself.” She knelt down, intent on picking up the sharp shards with her hands.
“Where’s the broom and dustpan?” Levi asked.
Kasi pointed to a closed door. “In the pantry.”
Levi crossed the room to grab them. “Don’t try to pick it up with your ha?—”
That was all he was able to say before Kasi gasped. She’d sliced the end of one of her fingers, blood instantly welling.
“Ouch.” She quickly covered it with the other hand, applying pressure.
Levi grabbed the broom and dustpan, sweeping the glass into a pile and scooping it up. It took several trips between the pile and the trash can to get most of the glass.
In the meantime, Kasi walked to the sink, running her cut finger under the water.
“How bad is it?” Levi asked, looking at her from the floor as he scooped up the last of the mess.
“Not bad at all. Little more than a paper cut,” she said, though Levi wasn’t sure he believed her. Kasi was fairly accomplished at underplaying things.
Levi captured her gaze from where he knelt on the floor. “Mmm-hmm. Let me finish cleaning this mess and then I’ll take a look at it.”
“It’s fine,” she insisted, reaching into a cabinet by the sink and pulling out a Band-Aid. Wrapping it around her finger tightly, she grabbed a washcloth from the sink, wet it, then knelt next to him, running the cloth over the floor to pick up any tiny shards left behind.
Through all their efforts, Mr. Mills remained still, wringing his hands.
“Are you okay, Daddy?” Kasi said, both of them rising once they’d finished cleaning the mess.
“I carried my tray down,” he said, his voice so quiet, Levi had to strain to hear him. “I smelled…” Mr. Mills swallowed heavily, his hands shaking, a tear sliding down his wrinkled cheek. “I smelled pot roast. I thought…your mother always made…it smelled just like hers. I thought she was here.”
“It’s okay,” Kasi said softly. “It’ll be okay. Are you hungry? I bought some rolls to go with the roast. I just need to pop them in the microwave. Why don’t we eat together down here?” Kasi was using that same cheerful tone she’d used with Levi, even though he knew she wasn’t feeling happy.
Mr. Mills shook his head. “No. Tray in my room is…” His words faded as he rambled out of the kitchen, heading upstairs.
Kasi watched him leave, then turned to Levi. She opened her mouth but closed it again without saying anything.
He watched her swallow heavily, watched her blink back tears, never shedding a single one.
Levi’s heart broke and came to life simultaneously as he reached out, gripped her upper arms, and pulled her toward him.
Kasi stood stiffly, her hands balled in fists against his chest, as he ran his hands up and down her back, slowly rocking her. It only took a moment for her hands to open, pressing flat against his chest, leaving him to wonder if she was going to push him away.
Levi didn’t loosen his grip, but he didn’t tighten it either.
A full minute passed before her shoulders sagged and her body gave way. She wrapped her arms around his middle, pressed her cheek to his chest, and just held on.
Levi knew in an instant that he would hold her like this for the rest of her life if that was what she needed. It was a heavy, misplaced, strange thought, but it was the truest, most real thing he’d ever felt.
She was shorter than him, most people were, the top of her head brushing his chin. He bent lower, placing a soft kiss to her hair, loving the way her hold on him tightened in response.
And between one beat of his heart and the next, Levi fell.
She was his.
Kasi Mills was his .
And just like that, his entire world clicked into place.
After a few minutes, Kasi lowered her arms and stepped away.
Levi resisted the urge to drag her back. The inches she put between them felt like miles, felt wrong.
He studied her face. Damn. She hadn’t shed a single tear. Levi couldn’t decide if he admired her strength or if he was worried about the way she kept her emotions bottled inside.
“Sorry,” she whispered, her gaze locked on the middle of his chest.
Levi cupped her chin, tilting her face upward, waiting until she lifted her eyes to his. “There’s nothing to be sorry for, little bear. You’re quite the warrior, aren’t you?”
Kasi cleared her throat, looking away first, as if uncomfortable under his gaze. She glanced toward the counter, where Levi saw the Crock-Pot.
“I need to make a tray for my father.” Kasi bent down to pick up the one her father had dropped.
Levi took it from her, guiding her toward one of the chairs at the kitchen table. “Sit down.”
She started to step back to the counter, but he halted her with a look.
“ Now , Kasi.”
She blinked twice, her brows furrowed in confusion, then did as he said, sinking down.
If the moment wasn’t steeped in so much newness, Levi would have found her response to his command a turn-on. As it was, he was still reeling with the knowledge that she was his.
Levi opened a couple cabinets before finding the bowls. He dipped out three portions of the pot roast, steam rising, the smell making his mouth water.
“Where are the rolls?” he asked, recalling her telling her father about them.
She pointed to the refrigerator. “Freezer. I bought them at the store. I didn’t have time to make any from scratch.” She sounded as if she was apologizing.
Levi grabbed the bag. “These are the same ones my brothers and I eat. They’re good. Quick and easy.”
Sliding a half dozen of them into the microwave, he set the timer. They only needed a minute. While he waited, he loaded a tray for Mr. Mills with the bowl of pot roast, a small plate with a couple slabs of butter waiting for the bread, silverware, and a glass of water. When the timer buzzed, he added two rolls to the plate, then put the rest of the bread and the butter dish on the kitchen table. He carried over the other two bowls, glasses of water, and spoons.
“Eat,” he said to Kasi, as he turned back to grab the tray.
She popped up. “I can carry that to him.”
Levi lifted one eyebrow. “Sit back down and eat. Which room is your father’s?”
“Really,” she insisted, still reaching for the tray. “It’s not a problem for me to?—”
“Little bear, if you keep arguing with me about every single thing, the two of us are going to have a problem,” he said sternly.
Kasi dropped back down in her chair.
“Good girl,” he purred. “Which room?”
“Top of the stairs. First door on the left.”
Levi nodded then walked upstairs. The door to her father’s room was open. The man had climbed into a bed that looked like it wasn’t just serving as a place to sleep but as an entire home. There were books scattered on the mattress, half a dozen used tissues, a couple newspapers folded in such a way that the only thing showing was the crosswords. There were countless glasses and other dishes on most of the flat surfaces. Next to the bed was a small table that was cleared off. No doubt, that was where the tray had been before Mr. Mills carried it down.
“Dinner,” Levi announced, carrying the tray in and setting it down.
Mr. Mills didn’t even acknowledge his presence, his attention completely focused on the television.
Uncertain what else to say, Levi returned downstairs.
Kasi looked like her father when he entered the kitchen, staring off into the distance, her food untouched.
She glanced up when he joined her at the table. “How is he?” she asked.
“Not sure he even realized I was in the room. He was watching Jeopardy , so I just left the tray.”
Kasi smiled sadly. “He and Mama never missed Jeopardy .”
Levi reached across the table, sliding her unused spoon closer to her.
She smirked, then picked it up, digging in. Levi did the same, tempted to moan when the first bite hit his tongue. Tender meat and potatoes in a savory sauce. He quickly took another bite, and this time he didn’t hold back.
“Holy shit, that’s good,” he praised.
Kasi smiled, clearly pleased, even as she said, “Don’t think I didn’t notice how you invited yourself to dinner.”
Levi grinned. “I figured it was the least you could do after all my help today.”
She narrowed her eyes playfully. “Is that right?”
Levi winked, then the two of them kept eating, neither of them breaking the silence. It wasn’t awkward, rather it was peaceful, easy.
He was pleased to see Kasi wasn’t holding back, devouring every bite of the roast and two of the rolls. He’d been worried about her weight loss, but it didn’t seem to be the result of not eating. Which sparked his curiosity about just what in the hell was going on in the Mills’ home.
“How long has he been like that?” Levi asked.
Kasi put her spoon in her bowl then carried it to the sink, rinsing both before putting them in the dishwasher. Levi followed suit, thinking her actions were an attempt to avoid answering his question.
When she turned to face him, leaning on the counter, she sighed. “Since Mama died.” Her voice wobbled slightly at the end, and it took everything he had not to sweep her back into his arms. While he knew that was exactly where she belonged, it would probably be a good idea to let Kasi catch up to him.
“That was back in January, right?”
Kasi nodded. “Eight months ago.”
“He able to work on the farm at all?”
She shook her head.
Levi didn’t like the picture forming in his mind. Suddenly, he understood the unplanted fields. “Your brother helping out?”
Kasi shrugged. “He’s taking Mama’s death hard too. Only not in a take-to-bed way.”
Levi crossed his arms. “What’s his way?”
“Escaping the house, which is actually preferable to when he’s home because when he is here, he’s a gigantic pain in the ass.”
“Pain in the ass how?”
Kasi rubbed her eyes tiredly. “He’s been getting into a little bit of trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“Vandalism, speeding on that motorcycle of his. Last week, he got caught drinking underage with a couple of his friends. Luckily, Sheriff Anderson and my father have been friends since high school. So far, he’s been bringing Keith home and letting him off with a warning, although he did have to pay for the damages from the vandalism. I’m just afraid Keith is going to abuse the sheriff’s compassion one time too many.”
Kasi covered her mouth, trying to hide her yawn. The comfort food was obviously working its way through her system, making her full and sleepily.
As much as Levi wanted to stay with her, he knew she needed sleep. A lot of it.
He stepped next to her, leaning against the counter beside her. “If I leave, are you going to go to bed?”
Kasi didn’t respond right away, which told him her answer wasn’t going to be honest.
“Don’t lie to me, Kasi.”
Her gaze flew to his, and he wasn’t sure what he saw in those pretty eyes of hers. Confusion? Annoyance? Arousal? Any or all of those looked about right.
“No. I’m not going to bed. I need to start prepping the baked goods to sell at the stand tomorrow.”
“Prepping what?” he asked.
“I put the pie crust and bread together. Refrigerate the crust overnight and leave the bread to rise. Then I bake the cakes.”
He frowned. It was nearly eight o’clock. What she was talking about would take hours.
“Give me the cake recipe.”
Kasi blinked, startled. “What? No .”
Levi stepped in front of her, cupping her cheeks in his hands. God, her skin was soft. She flushed slightly, and the innocence of it caught him off guard. He started playing over what he knew about Kasi, trying to recall if she’d ever had any boyfriends. Sadly, he’d been a blind fucking fool for too long.
“What did I tell you about arguing with me, little bear?”
He felt the way her pulse accelerated, saw her eyelids grow heavy. That adorable pink tongue appeared, swiping her full bottom lip and sending his thoughts to a whole bunch of places he couldn’t go tonight. She was dead on her feet…and apparently, still several hours away from bedtime.
Levi released her and stepped back, Kasi visibly shaking her head as if to wake herself up.
“Fine. I’m nothing if not a quick learner, and the past hour has shown me nothing I say will matter anyway,” she relented, turning her back on him to reach for a recipe box on the counter. She pulled a card out and handed it to him. “I triple it. The mixer is over there. The ingredients are in the pantry and fridge.”
Levi nodded once. “I used to bake with my mom when I was a kid. She insisted me and my brothers learn our way around a kitchen so we could feed ourselves and any future wives who might come our way. I can figure it out. You get started on your crust and bread.”
The two of them worked together in companionable silence. Well, relative silence. Kasi turned on the radio, country music playing softly in the background.
Once his cakes were in the oven, he helped her knead the bread dough.
“That it?” Levi was worried she might rattle off twelve more things she needed to do before bedtime.
Kasi nodded, her gaze landing on the clock on the stove. “Oh wow. It’s only ten thirty.”
“Only?” he asked, but Kasi didn’t pick up on his tone.
“That went so much faster with your help.”
Levi decided he’d bake cakes every night for the rest of his life if it meant getting to see the smile Kasi was giving him right now.
But then her comment clicked, and he frowned. “What time do you usually finish?”
“I don’t know,” she said, washing up the countertops. “Eleven thirty, midnight.”
Levi had asked her at the fruit stand how much sleep she’d gotten last night, and she’d successfully dodged the question by saying “the usual amount.”
He was wise to her tricks now. “Is that what time you normally go to bed?”
She nodded. “Yeah, after I take a shower.”
“And what times does your alarm go off?”
Kasi bit her lower lip.
Levi took her chin between his forefinger and thumb. “The truth.”
“Four thirty.”
It was worse than Levi had even imagined. He was an early riser, up and out of bed most mornings by five. Such was the life of a farmer. But he sure as shit wasn’t crawling between the sheets at midnight. Things in the house he shared with his brothers settled down around nine, all of them retreating to their own rooms since every single one of them was up with the birds.
He now understood the dark circles under Kasi’s eyes—and he wasn’t happy.
“So you’re getting four hours of sleep a night,” he growled. “When is your day off? You take the weekends?”
Kasi really needed to get better at reading his tone because her laugh was the wrong response. It took at least twenty seconds before she realized he was being serious.
She tilted her head. “It’s a farm, Levi. You know there are no days off. Animals like to eat every day, and on the weekends. I open the stand even earlier because those are our best-selling days. People drive down here from the city for fresh produce.”
He knew because of his daily pie purchase that the only day the stand wasn’t open was Monday, but given Kasi’s response, it was clear she still worked on that day too, doing other chores.
So if he was understanding what she was saying, she was working long-ass hours, seven days a week. “And you’ve got no one helping you?”
“The Riley twins work here. They keep the crops going.”
“Thought Jeb Wilson and Cal Rogers worked here too?”
Kasi’s eyes darted away, only for a moment, but he could tell she was uncomfortable with his question. “Not anymore,” she said, offering no further explanation.
Levi had a million more questions he wanted to ask, but doing so would just cut into her sleep time. Considering the work he’d done to help her finish her chores early, it would be counterproductive to keep her talking.
“I should be going,” he said, forcing himself to step away from her. Leaving her alone in the middle of all this felt wrong, but he didn’t belong here.
Yet.
That was going to change very, very soon.
Kasi walked him to the door, thanking him again for all his help. It was a friendly enough farewell, but it was clear Kasi was viewing tonight as an anomaly. No doubt in her mind, tomorrow they would be returning to their acquaintance status, and she’d be on her own again.
His girl was in for a rude awakening.