Chapter 20
Magnolia
I wake up to the smell of coffee, which is strange because I don’t remember setting the timer on the coffee maker. Then I remember; I’m not at home, where I had to set the coffee maker. I’m in Levi’s bed, in Levi’s house, and the events of the past few weeks come rushing back.
Where there had been a sickness to my stomach when I’d previously thought about the situation I was living in, I now feel a sense of relief. I’m where I should be, and know if anything were to happen Levi would protect me. There’s a freedom in the security of knowing someone will stand up for you.
Stretching, I glance at the clock. It’s early, barely past six, but I need to get started on my orders. Thanksgiving is in three days, and I’m booked solid with custom orders. I’d started taking them over the summer when things weren’t nearly as bad with Cody. Maybe I knew I’d need the money.
Pulling up my banking app, I breathe a sigh of relief when I see that the order payments are coming through.
“Thank God, I’ll be able to pay some bills,” I whisper, closing my eyes before giving thanks.
When I pad into the kitchen, I find Levi already there, dressed in low-slung sweatpants and nothing else.
His hair is sticking up in about fifteen different directions, and the stubble on his jaw is thicker than usual, making him look rumpled and somehow hotter than normal.
I have to remind myself that he’s younger than me, and my best friend’s brother, but the answering tug in between my thighs says forget about it.
My heart does that stupid fluttery thing it’s been doing lately whenever I see him.
“Morning,” I say, my voice still rough with sleep.
He turns, and the smile that spreads across his face is like sunshine on a cloudy day. “Morning, Magnolia Grace. Coffee?”
“God, yes please.”
He pours me a cup, adding the exact amount of cream and sugar I like without asking. The fact that he’s noticed, that he’s paid attention, makes my chest tight. This is shit Cody didn’t even notice after years of marriage.
I’m already pulling ingredients out of the fridge when he sits down at the kitchen table with his own coffee.
“You’re starting early,” he observes.
“Have to.” I gesture to my order list on the iPad. “Thanksgiving rush. Everyone wants fancy desserts to impress their families, or for their company parties. It’s good, at least I know I’ll recover some of the money Cody stole.”
“You know I’ll do what I can, Magnolia Grace. Want me to arrest him for stealing your money?”
I laugh, glancing over at him. “I wish you could, but the great state of Alabama says that because both of our names were on the account, he was entitled. Which is why I’m working my ass off today.”
“Need any help?”
I turn to look at him, this beautiful man offering to help me at six in the morning when he could be sleeping. “Don’t you have work today?”
“On standby until the operation’s over,” he says. “Director Drake wants us available, but not out on regular patrol, remember? Too risky. So until I hear something I’m basically laid off.”
The reminder of what he’s doing, the danger he’s putting himself in, makes my stomach twist. “Right.”
“So I’m all yours,” he continues, standing and moving into the kitchen beside me. “Put me to work.”
I pull up all my orders, and get them separated out, and start melting the chocolate. “Think you can dip?”
“Can I dip?” He grins, a dimple flashing in his cheek. “My grandmother had me doing Oreos for her teachers when I was like twelve. I can dip.”
His confidence is infectious and makes me smile. I haven’t smiled this much in years. “Alright then, hot shot. Show me what you got.”
We fall into an easy rhythm. He’s good with his hands; not that I’m surprised, and he follows my instructions perfectly.
“Yeah, just like that,” I praise him as he shakes off the chocolate.
He raises his eyebrows, his eyes burning hot. “You’ve said that more than once to me.”
Fuck he is so hot, but I remind myself if I don’t work, I don’t eat. “Keep that sexy smirk to yourself, Levi.”
We work side by side, our arms brushing occasionally, the space between us charged with the awareness that’s constantly between us.
After a while, he breaks the comfortable silence. “What are you doing for Thanksgiving?”
I pause in the middle of tempering chocolate. “You invited me to your family’s thing.”
“Yeah?” There’s something in his voice I can’t quite identify. “But you never really gave me a straight answer, I pulled your hand to my dick and we got distracted. Are you going?”
“I want to say yes, but…” I trail off, not sure how to finish that sentence. Not since whatever’s been going on between us.
“But what?”
I set down my spatula and turn to face him. “But I feel weird about it. Going to your family’s Thanksgiving when we’re…whatever this is.”
He moves closer, and suddenly the kitchen feels much smaller than it actually is. “What do you want this to be, Magnolia?”
The question hangs in the air between us, heavy with possibility.
“I don’t know,” I admit. “I’m still married, Levi. Legally, at least. And you’re…”
“I’m what?”
“You’re you.” I gesture helplessly, trying to put into words what this man means to me. “You’re this incredible guy who deserves someone without all my baggage. Someone who’s not a mess. Someone who can give you everything you deserve.”
His hands come up to frame my face, tilting my head back so I have to look at him. “You want to know what I think you are, Magnolia Grace?”
I nod, not trusting my voice.
“I think you’re brave. I think you’re one of the strongest people I’ve ever met. I think you’ve been through hell and you’re still standing, still fighting, still building what’s going to be a beautiful life out of the wreckage. I think you’re exactly what I want, baggage and all.”
Tears spill over, before I can stop them. “Levi—”
“How about we go together?” he suggests. “To Thanksgiving. But we tell everyone we felt it was safer for me to pick you up with everything going on with Cody.”
It’s a good cover story, and everyone would believe it. Even Caleb knows how scared I am after he responded to the house. It lets us be together without having to define what we are to his family.
“Okay,” I agree. “Yeah, let’s do that.”
He drops a kiss on my forehead, and we get back to work. The rest of the day passes in a blur of hard work and lots of laughter. We steal glances and accidentally touch each other. It’s how I wanted Cody to share my business with me, but he refused to.
Levi Harrison is the epitome of a partner, and if he wanted to, he would.
Hours later, my stomach growls loudly in the almost silence of the room. “Oh my God,” I laugh, putting a hand to it. “I guess I’m hungry.”
Levi glances over to the microwave. “We’ve been at this for seven hours, Magnolia. Let’s take a break and eat.”
I’m going over all the orders we’ve accomplished and I’m pleased with the progress we’ve made. “I agree, let’s put this up. I can make dinner,” I offer.”
“The fuck you are, you’ve worked just as hard as me. Let’s order pizza.”
I take a shower, while he cleans up the kitchen, and when I come out, the pizza is already here. “That smells amazing.”
“Sure does,” he says as he turns to face me, a piece already hanging out of his mouth.
We collapse on the couch with the box between us. Levi turns on the TV, setting up the streaming channel for ER.
I’m halfway through my second slice when the episode takes a dark turn. Lucy and John Carter are in the hospital, and then suddenly there’s blood and chaos, and we’re both tense.
“Oh my God, Levi, can you believe this?” I ask, my mouth hanging open, pizza forgotten.
He reaches over, grabbing my hand. “I worry about this with you, Magnolia. There’s no telling what Cody can do when he’s upset.”
The sudden shift from the show to reality makes my stomach drop. I swallow roughly, because I’ve thought about it too. “I have to have faith that somewhere in there, is the man who said he loved me. Besides, I’ve had self defense classes, I can take care of myself.”
But even as I say the words, I’m not sure I believe them. Cody’s been getting more aggressive, more unpredictable. The way he looked at me outside Shelby’s office…
Levi pulls me into his side, and I let him. Let myself be held, let myself feel safe, even though I know it might be temporary.
“I’ve got you,” he murmurs against my hair. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
I want to believe him. God, I want to believe him so badly.
But as I curl into his warmth, watching the rest of ER play out on screen, I can’t shake the feeling that something bad is coming.