Chapter 15 #2
My pulse picks up speed, and my stomach muscles tense against the fluttering sensation happening in my middle.
A voice in my head that sounds suspiciously like my own breaks past any filter set in place, the hubba hubba ringing in my ears and making me squirm at my own indecency.
I’d never really gotten before why romance writers like to add a scene of the hero splitting wood to their manuscripts.
I’ve maybe even rolled my eyes in the past. But I get it now. Toootally get it.
Levi’s arm arcs as he swings the ax again, muscles along his back rippling while those corded ropes in his arms are taut and hard.
One of the kittens meows, which makes Levi twist at the waist to investigate the sound.
His pale amber eyes catch mine, and I clear my throat of the physical response watching him chop wood has given me before answering his silent question. “Someone abandoned a trio of kittens.”
His thick eyebrows slant downward in displeasure, and he stomps his way toward me.
My heart thrashes inside my chest. I really need to get a grip on myself and my runaway hormones.
I’m not sure if the fierce expression on Levi’s face is over the idea of a person throwing away a living thing like a piece of trash or if he’s upset that I’ve upended his solitude even more with three mewling, needy newborns.
But my racing pulse at his intense look, coupled with his recent display of strength and the untamed wildness about him, needs to get back in check before I do something spontaneous and potentially disastrous. Like press my lips against his.
He stops in front of me, his gaze darting between my eyes and the kittens before he reaches in and scoops up Meowfoy in one of his giant hands. The little furball is dwarfed by his palm and lets out a plaintiff cry.
“They’re so small,” Levi whispers almost reverently.
It’s a juxtaposition, seeing this mountain of a man with such a tiny kitten. He’s keeping his movements slow and careful, exuding a gentleness and dexterity that one would think impossible because of his size.
His tenderness with the kitten is doing absolutely nothing helpful in turning off these intense feelings coalescing inside me.
Quite the opposite, in fact. The picture before me of Levi cradling the kitten, bringing the ball of fluff up to his face, is almost enough to make me lose my tentative restraint.
Meowfoy lifts one of his bean-toe paws and sets the pad on Levi’s nose. Levi’s brows raise in surprise, and he stills as if afraid to make any sudden movements. In a blink, a tiny pink tongue darts out and licks Levi right between his nostrils.
Levi blinks in amazement. “It’s rough.”
I realize he means the kitten’s tongue and let out a soft puff of air encased in a chuckle. “Have you never been licked by a cat before?”
He shakes his head while he moves Meowfoy over to the side a few inches to nuzzle the kitten against his cheek.
The kitten licks Levi again, this time along the patch of skin right above his thick beard.
Levi smiles wide, pure delight written on his face.
“My family always had dogs while I was growing up. They still have two Pomeranians. Yappy little things that shed like crazy.” The tone of his voice leaves no doubt as to his opinion on the dogs.
Meowfoy licks him a third time. Levi’s eyes widen even further in wonder. “It feels like sandpaper.”
“Yeah, a lot of people don’t like when cats lick them.”
Levi lifts Meowfoy even higher, resting the broad expanse of his forehead against the kitten’s itty-bitty one. “It’s perfect.”
I guess I had nothing to worry about, bringing the kittens back to Levi’s with me. Turns out he’s one-hundred-percent a cat guy. I clear my throat again. “So you’re not mad that I’ve saddled you with even more houseguests?”
He looks away from Meowfoy to meet my eyes, returning the kitten to the others, then taking the box from my arms to carry it himself. “Let’s go get them settled in their new home.”
He moves aside to let me head up the trail first. Once we’re inside, he busies himself in the laundry room, saying he’s going to make a warm, cozy place for the kittens in there while I get to work making the formula so the kittens can have full bellies.
I mix all the ingredients in a bowl, then remember the kittens probably aren’t old enough to lap up the milk mixture on their own.
Or are they? I’ve never taken care of a baby animal before, so I really don’t know.
I pull out my phone and look up the question, not feeling all that vindicated when it turns out I’m right and kittens need to be bottle-fed until they’re three or four weeks old.
Something tells me Levi doesn’t have a bottle lying around in his house anywhere.
Unless one of his sisters has kids who come to visit?
Then again, if they did, there’d probably be a crib in the room I’m sleeping in because Levi’s consideration for his family is unmatched.
I head to the laundry room, prepared to ask him what he thinks we should use to get the formula into the kittens’ tummies.
As soon as I open the laundry room door, I freeze, unprepared for the sight before me.
Levi is lying on the cold, hard tile floor, Dumpurrdore curled up asleep in a ball on Levi’s stomach, Hermeowne in the same position on Levi’s chest, and Meowfoy tucked up under Levi’s chin, using his beard as a blanket.
My stomach flips over on itself as I lift my hand to cover my smile.
Levi the lumberjack and Levi the human kitten pillow are two sides of the same coin, and both are making me feel some kind of way.
Levi opens his eyes, the tips of his ears turning a cute shade of pink. There’s a nest of blankets and fluffy towels beside his shoulder, obviously where the kittens were supposed to go.
I lean my shoulder against the doorjamb and grin at him. “What happened here?” I whisper.
“Would you believe me if I said they overpowered me?” he whispers back.
My grin widens. “I saw you wield that ax, mountain man. I ain’t buying it.”
The pink travels to his cheeks. “I guess adorable things are my weakness.” But he’s not looking at the kittens asleep in a row down the core of his body. He’s looking at me. As if implying that I am an adorable thing that makes him weak.
Is Levi Redding, self-proclaimed grump and recluse, flirting with me?
My mind scrambles to catch up. Sure, I’ve moved past my initial assumption that I annoy him and he can’t wait to be rid of me, but it’s a huge leap from that to flirting.
Flirting implies liking. More than liking.
Or, as the middle schoolers are oft to say, like liking.
I’ve been under the impression that the attraction here is entirely one-sided. Have I been wrong yet again?
And what, exactly, am I going to do with this information?
Dumpurrdore uncurls and stretches, making Levi wince.
“Claws?” I ask with a smirk.
He nods while trying to disentangle said claws from his light gray T-shirt.
“I came in to ask if you have anything to feed them with. The formula is made, but they aren’t old enough to eat without being hand-fed.”
He gently lifts the other two kittens and settles them into the soft, warm bed he’d made for them on the ground. “I have a couple medicine syringes that should work.”
I follow him back to the kitchen where he opens a drawer and pulls out two small oral syringes with black lines along the sides to indicate milliliter measurements.
We take them and the bowl of formula and head back to the laundry room.
I set the bowl on the floor, then lower myself to the tile and sit crisscross.
Levi joins me on the floor, his knee and shoulder pressed against mine because of the tight space.
He hands over a syringe, then scoops Hermeowne up and places the brown kitten in my lap before gathering Meowfoy against his chest. It’s hard to get the formula in the syringe with just one hand, so I fill Levi’s so he doesn’t have to set Meowfoy down.
“Thanks,” he says. He moves the tip of the syringe to the kitten’s mouth and puts the slightest bit of pressure on the plunger to let out a small drop of milk. “Should we name them, do you think?”
“Oh, I, uh, already kind of named them.” I duck my head, only slightly embarrassed that I hadn’t waited on him to offer suggestions.
He stops feeding to lift his eyes, a question in them.
I point to the kitten in his arms with my chin.
“That one you’re holding is Meowfoy. This one”—I puff out my chest to indicate the one cradled there—“is Hermeowne. And that one”—I flick my gaze to the gray kitten attempting to walk across the blankets but falling down every other step—“is Dumpurrdore.”
The skin around his eyes crinkles in amusement. “I’m sensing a theme.”
“You’re very astute.”
“So that one’s the only girl, then?”
My face flushes. “Checking the gender first would have been a good idea, huh?”
There’s no sound coming from his lips, but his eyes are laughing at me.
“Maybe.” He sets the empty syringe down, then gently places Meowfoy on his feet, head facing away, and scratches the kitten on his back right above his tail.
The tail raises as if on reflex, and Levi lowers his head to study the kitten’s backside.
“This one is a boy.” He checks the other two. “They’re all boys.”
“Oh.” Oops. “I guess Hermeowne needs a new name then.”
“What about Harry Pawter?”
I blink at Levi. “Brilliant.”
A soft smile plays at his lips. He looks relaxed. Maybe the most relaxed I’ve ever seen him.
“I got your letter,” he says out of the blue.
I’d forgotten all about the letter. It feels ages ago since I slipped it under his door.
At the mention of it, though, anticipation thrums through me.
I’d written things that I probably wouldn’t have said out loud.
Amazing how the written word does that, makes you braver and more vulnerable at the same time.
With Levi’s initial letter, I’d felt like I understood him in a way that I haven’t with anyone else simply because of that openness on the printed page.
A strange sort of disappointment sinks in my belly.
I was kind of hoping that he’d write me back, but if he’s bringing the letter up in conversation, I guess he’d rather talk about it than pen me another note.
But of course he would. Across-the-hall pen pals is a silly notion.
Letters are for long-distance, not for people who are practically living together.
“I wrote you back. Sorry it took so long.”
My breath catches as my eyes snap up and pin on his. “You did?”
He nods. “I slipped it under your door, like you did.”
My bottom lip is pulled between my teeth.
I look at him, look at the door, then make my decision and stand.
“I’m not even going to pretend to come up with some excuse about needing something from my room right now that neither one of us would believe, so I’m just going to come right out and say it.
I’m leaving to go read that letter now. I’ll see you later. ”
I set the fed kitten down on the pile of blankets and retreat to my room, Levi’s delighted laugh ringing in my ears.