Chapter 15
STORIES FOR THE GRANDKIDS
PARKER
We did not kiss.
“If only Jasmine had kept her big mouth shut,” I muttered as I stomped back to my café.
“What was that?” Levi asked as he trudged along beside me.
“Never mind,” I said. I sucked in a breath and blew it out to calm myself. It didn’t work, but whatever. We had other things to concentrate on, like getting our stories straight. “So, what do we say?”
“About what?”
“About us dating.”
Levi’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “What is there to say?”
“Well, why now? What changed? Did we have a big moment that pulled us together? You know, what will we tell our grandkids about how we first got together?”
“Grandkids?” Levi whisper-shouted. “I thought you said we were only pretending to date. ”
I bit my bottom lip. Yeah. I had said that.
If I’d thought he would have said yes to dating for real, I wouldn’t have included that whole let’s pretend bit.
But a guy could still hope that the fake dating thing could morph into something more, couldn’t he?
That’s what happened in the rom coms I watched with Sushi and the Fishy Gang.
“Nana is observant. We need to be convincing.” I tugged my jacket tighter.
The wind was wickedly cold. I hadn’t seen the forecast yet, but there must be snow coming our way.
We always had snow before the end of October.
I shivered again. I didn’t hate winter as a season.
It was a great time for stews and soups and warm, gooey desserts.
But each year, the first couple of snowfalls always shocked my system.
I tucked my head down and walked faster.
We were in front of the café when Levi murmured, “If they think we’re lying, that might endanger you. That can’t happen. It can’t…”
“I don’t know how we’ll convince them. I mean, you don’t want to kiss me, so we’ll need to?—”
My words were cut off when Levi hooked his hand around my elbow and swung me around. “I never said I didn’t want to kiss you.”
“Yes, you?—”
“No, I didn’t.” His nostrils flared.
Before I knew what was happening, he yanked me into his arms and slammed his mouth to mine.
Oh fuck. Levi was kissing me. Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck …
His lips were surprisingly active as they moved across mine, like he was tasting me.
His tongue brushed my lips, and I opened my mouth to him.
He tasted like the coffee and pastry I’d brought him.
He smelled earthy and a bit floral, like a field on a hot summer’s day, which I wasn’t expecting.
His mouth was warm and wet, and I wanted more.
I threw my arms around his neck and clung to him.
He grunted but didn’t pull away. If I didn’t think we’d topple over, I’d have crawled up and wrapped my legs around him too, just to get that much closer.
This was everything I’d ever imagined and more.
I lost myself in the heat of his body and the thunder of my heart.
His big hands splayed across my back, tugging me closer, eliminating the space between us.
Every part of my body felt alive. The places where we touched zinged with joy and anticipation. I’d wanted this for so damn long.
Now that the moment was finally here, I wanted it all. I wanted to spin us around and press him against the nearest wall. I wanted to strip off his shirt so I could touch his skin. I wanted to…
Someone cleared their throat.
Levi whipped his head around and snarled at whoever dared interrupt us. I wanted to snarl right along with him.
“I see you’ve finally found your balls and sorted things out with my grandson,” Nana said.
I blinked, feeling a bit disoriented.
Wow, now that was a great kiss.
What had we been doing again?
Shit. We were standing right in front of the café. Half of Willow Lake was pressed against the café window with their phones out, recording us. Jesus. I glanced at Nana. She was standing by the door, and Davina was standing beside her. They both wore amused looks on their faces.
Levi gritted his teeth. “Ms. Edith, is there something you wanted?”
“I thought I should step in before you gave the town a free show. My grandson has never struck me as an exhibitionist, but I suppose I could be wrong. But even if he was, you would be better off doing it somewhere other than a public street. Downtown Willow Lake is no Folsom Street.”
Davina snickered. I was sure I’d never heard the woman make a sound like that before. She was always very controlled and matter of fact. A bit like my grandmother, really.
I groaned and covered my burning face with my hands. My grandmother shouldn’t know about Folsom Street or exhibitionists. And she should never, ever contemplate my sex life in so much detail. That was just wrong. I peeked at Levi between my fingers. He nodded, looking rather regal, actually.
“You make a good point,” Levi said. “Thank you. We got a little…”
“Carried away? Pumped up? Horny?”
“Oh, good one, Edie,” Davina said, nudging Nana with her elbow. “What about ready to take the bull by the horns?”
Now it was Nana’s turn to snicker. Snicker! Nana didn’t snicker. What kind of fucked up episode of “The Twilight Zone” was I living in right now? Wait… Did Na na know about magic? It almost sounded like she knew Levi was a minotaur, but that couldn’t be right.
Thankfully, another gust of icy-cold wind shot down the street before either of them said anything more. I shivered as it chased away the heat I’d felt in Levi’s embrace.
“We should go inside,” Levi said. “Get you out of this wind.”
He said that as if he didn’t feel the cold. Was that a minotaur thing? It could be. This wasn’t the first time I’d noticed he wasn’t as troubled by the cold as I was. Wouldn’t that be nice? Actually, the whole magical thing would be nice.
I didn’t know what kind of magic I’d like to have. It wasn’t a question I’d spent much time contemplating because until today I’d have said the odds of something like that happening would be zero. It looked like I was wrong. Could non-magical people become magical?
Maybe Levi would consider dating me for real if that happened.
Was it something I could learn? I could take an online class or join a coven or something.
I thought there were some Wiccans in Aspen Bay.
I didn’t know much about their beliefs or practices, but it was connected to magic, right?
They always had a booth at the annual summer market where they sold soaps and charm bracelets and such.
Soap-making couldn’t be that much different from cooking.
It was just a different kind of recipe. I could do that.
“Parker?” Levi asked, jostling me out of my thoughts. “You okay? ”
Levi, Nana, and Davina were looking at me like I was a curiosity. I glanced toward the windows of the café. At least most of the people had returned to their tables and were no longer watching us like we were their very own peep show.
“Uh, yeah, just thinking about soap.”
“Soap?”
I shook my head, not wanting to explain, because what would I say that wouldn’t make the situation more awkward? And really, did I want to change for a man? No. No, I didn’t. I wasn’t a Disney princess. “Let’s go inside. I could use a cup of tea.”
“Tea?” Levi squished his nose. It was adorable.
“Coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon,” I explained. “Besides, tea is soothing, and I think…” I glanced at Nana as she returned to the café with Davina at her side. “I think I’ll need that for whatever is about to happen next.”
Levi rolled his eyes, but he slipped his hand in mine and guided me to the door. And for a moment, I could almost pretend we were dating. For real.