Chapter 20
SMOOCHING WITH THE MINOTAUR AND OTHER GREAT IDEAS
PARKER
“I should have fed the fishy gang when we picked up Nana. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it.
Sushi will be so pissed. He’s the leader in the tank.
The rest follow his example,” I said as I trudged up the stairs to my apartment.
I’d been nattering at Levi ever since we left the inn.
I’d never thought I was one for nervous chatter, but apparently I was.
Levi didn’t say anything, but he had to be listening. He was right behind me, after all. And why was that making me feel self-conscious? Yeah. I didn’t know, but I was. Self-conscious, I mean.
Geez. Even my brain was rambling.
My apartment was as I’d left it when I’d gotten up to open the café this morning. I’d expected Nana to have rearranged the furniture to her liking while I was gone, but she hadn’t. I crossed to the fish tank and the fishy gang went wild .
“Hi, guys,” I greeted them. “I’m sorry I forgot to feed you earlier. I was a little caught up in everything that was happening.”
Sushi’s judgment was palpable.
“I know, I know. It’s no excuse. But I’m here now.
” I scattered their food across the water.
Filet shot through the water to catch a flake that was floating to the bottom of the tank.
“Oh, good catch, Filet.” Then I praised each of the fish so the others wouldn’t feel left out.
Everyone was healthy and accounted for. The pumps, lights, and filters were all doing their thing.
I didn’t usually go over everything so thoroughly, but I was still feeling a little unsettled and couldn’t help but feel I was abandoning them.
Logically I knew I wasn’t, but my guilt said otherwise.
“Okay, guys,” I said when I couldn’t think of anything else to check.
“I’m heading out, but don’t worry. I’ll be back to feed you tomorrow. ”
No one shouted in protest, but then again, they were only fish.
I sighed.
I turned to go down the hall to my room to pack a bag and found Levi staring at me.
I couldn’t read his gaze, but he was probably wondering why on earth I’d been trying to carry on a conversation with my fish.
Of all the animals to choose as a pet, they were probably the least emotive.
Or, well, spiders might be worse… but, yeah, I wouldn’t be adopting a tarantula any time soon to test that theory. Nope. No way.
“Um, I, uh, heard it’s good to talk to them.” I mumbled as heat blazed through my cheeks. “Like how talking to plants is supposed to help them grow better. I, uh, don’t expect them to talk back. Just in case you thought that… Um, you know what? Never mind.”
I fled to my room to change my clothes and throw some stuff into an overnight bag.
When I returned to the living room a few minutes later, I didn’t even glance at the fish tank until Levi had his back to me and was walking back down the steps.
I silently told them to be good, and that I’d be back tomorrow to check on them.
Then I scurried down the stairs after Levi, who, I’d just realized, hadn’t spoken a word the entire time.
He was a lot like my fish.
Rather than walking the few blocks to his place, we took my car again.
The closer we got to his house, the crazier this plan sounded in my head.
Who the hell did I think I was? I had invited myself to stay at Levi’s for the night.
Without asking him. Levi. The guy who was uber private.
The guy who never invited anyone into his space.
The guy who never wanted to socialize outside of the Willow Lake Pub. That guy.
“Listen,” I said as I twisted my hands around my steering wheel. “If you don’t want me to stay with you tonight, that’s okay. I’m sure I can find some place to sleep at the inn. Or Carter might have room for another?—”
“You aren’t staying with Carter,” Levi grumbled.
“Okay… But I’m sure I could?—”
“Park in the driveway and get inside the house,” Levi muttered.
Well, not exactly a welcome wagon, but it didn’t sound like he wanted me to leave. I’d take that as a win. Before we exited the car, though, he put his hand on mine to stop me from getting out.
“The listening devices are still in there,” he said gruffly. “Watch what you say.”
“Right.” I nodded. I’d forgotten about that.
“Let’s go,” he said as he climbed out of the car and grabbed my overnight bag from the backseat.
“I can take…” My words died off when he ignored me and marched up to the door with my bag in his hand.
I quickly locked the car and hurried after him.
Levi was already inside with his coat hung on a hook by the door by the time I caught up with him.
He held my bag directly in front of him, so it didn’t knock against his shelves.
I pulled the door closed, flicked the lock.
I slipped off my jacket and hung it beside his, liking the way they looked together.
It was deliciously domestic. Then I followed him through his maze of shelving units.
“It’s exciting, isn’t it?” I said, projecting my voice. “What do you think they’ll talk about at the meeting?”
“I doubt they’ve seen anything.” Honestly, I was a little surprised Levi decided to join my mini play.
“So, you don’t think they’ll show us any monsters?”
Levi grunted. “Their videos don’t show anything. I think it is all a hoax. Probably a scam.”
“Huh. I never thought of that.”
Levi kept walking. Our act had ended, I guessed.
We hadn’t gone this deep into his house last time, so I tried to keep up while looking at all of his creations along the way.
It was fascinating. He turned left twice—or was it three times?
—then right once, and the left again… I had no idea where we were.
How did one house have so ma ny twisting hallways?
He’d said he had a bed and stuff, but I was beginning to doubt it.
The whole place was just a bunch of shelves.
Then we came to another prominent display under its own spotlight and my breath caught.
“What?” Levi spun around, knocking my bag against one of the shelves. Then he saw what I was looking at. His feet shuffled. “Oh that.”
“These are all the things I’ve given you,” I said as I brushed my finger over one of the few bull figurines I’d given him.
It was shiny and smooth, like he regularly dusted and polished it.
My heart warmed at the idea that Levi would see them every time he came and went through this corridor.
Did he think of me each time? The bull and minotaur mugs from Carter were on a lower shelf and not nearly as carefully displayed.
He shuffled on his feet. “We should keep going.”
I nodded. As soon as his back was to me, I did a fist pump. Yes!
Just when I was about to ask where he was taking me, Levi glanced back at me and put his finger to his lips. I nodded, then mimed zipping my lips closed. He stepped up to a shelf that looked the same as all the other shelves filled with miniature scenes.
He tapped on a stool in a diorama of a bar scene that sat on the top shelf.
Something clicked behind the shelf. Then he reached into the scene of an old-fashioned garage on the next shelf down.
He pinched the steering wheel of the Model T between his thick thumb and forefinger and turned it gently.
There was another noise, like metal sliding against metal.
It was soft, though. Barely audible. I doubted the listening devices would pick it up.
The shelving unit jiggled.
Levi pulled on one side and voilà… A set of steps leading to the second floor was revealed.
Well. What do you know? Levi had a secret door. Man, I’d always wanted one of those. He motioned me inside first. I felt a little giddy as I skipped up the steps. This was it.
I was alone with Levi. It wasn’t like at the pub when we hung out while all of Willow Lake watched us.
It wasn’t like when he came into the Flying Rowan Café and only stayed long enough to grab his coffee.
It wasn’t like the last few hours we’d spent together because Nana had dogged our every step, quizzing us on The Plan.
We were really, truly alone. Finally.
I climbed the shadowy steps, feeling my way in the dark until I came to the landing. I paused, not sure where to go next. Levi was right behind me. He set his hand on my hip, as if to steady me, and reached around me with his other hand. His warm chest pressed against my back.
“I’ll just…” He flicked on the light switch.
I don’t know what I was expecting from his apartment, but this wasn’t it. The interior and the exterior of his motel were covered in bright colors, so I’d half expected his home to be the same. Instead, I felt like I’d stepped into another world.
Instead of a warren of small bedroom-sized rooms like I’d expected, the space was an open concept.
I suspected it felt bigger than it really was because it was awash in white, varying shades of blue, and honey- colored accents in natural materials.
It should have been austere and cold, but it wasn’t.
The room was filled with carefully chosen colors and textures; everything blended into a beautiful tableau.
The effect was soothing. I wanted to wrap one of his soft chenille blankets around me, curl up on that gigantic sectional, and forget the rest of the world existed. Especially after today.
“This is gorgeous,” I said. I didn’t know what to look at first. Everything was just so… unexpected.
I hadn’t taken any particular care when I chose things for my apartment.
I went for what was comfortable and cheap.
Whatever money I’d had when I moved to Willow Lake, I invested in the Flying Rowan Café, not my personal space.
Since my apartment was functional, I hadn’t seen a reason to change it since.
But it felt so dreary compared to this. I hadn’t really noticed until now.
“I… uh… I was feeling a little nostalgic when I decorated up here,” Levi muttered as he stepped around me. He moved deeper into the room and turned on more lights. With another flick of a switch, flames burst to life in his gas fireplace. He carefully set my bag on the end of the sofa.
I could see what he meant. There was just something about that blue in particular that reminded me of pictures I’d seen of Greece.
My gaze swept around the room as I spun slowly to take it all in.
Thick wooden beams crossed the ceiling, spanning the width of the house.
The honey hues of the beams matched the wide planked hardwood floors.
A sweeping arch opened into a stunning kitchen with cobalt blue bottom cabinets and shiny marble countertops.
There were a couple of doors to my left. One was probably for a bathroom, the other his bedroom. I swallowed and pivoted to look in the other direction, so I wasn’t tempted to go over there. I didn’t need to think about Levi’s bedroom, not yet.
Oh, look, my hope was still alive.
I stepped over to peer around the wall to my right and froze. There was a bed. A massive, beautiful bed. I squeaked before I could smother the sound with my hand. Levi charged across the room to me. He pushed me behind his body and stared into his bedroom space.
“What? What happened? What did you see?” Levi stomped around his bed, peering into corners and under furniture. “Van didn’t think anyone had gotten up here. Was he wrong?”
“Nothing…” I choked out.
Levi’s gaze snapped to mine. The way he was clenching his fists suggested he was still considering ripping his bedroom apart to look for whatever had surprised me.
Oh God. Kill me now. My cheeks had to be hot enough to bake a pizza. “I… I wasn’t expecting to see your bed.”
Levi blinked. He looked at his bed, then back at me.
Understanding dawned on his face. “Oh, uh… Yeah… I did have my bedroom in the room over there for a bit.” He nodded across to one of the closed doors.
“But I didn’t like having my craft supplies out here all the time.
It was too… messy. So, I switched it. I like it like this. Like a studio apartment.”
“Hey, you don’t have to explain anything to me.” I was trying hard not to look at the bed again. We really needed to go back to the sofa… or maybe the kitchen, which was on the other side of the apartment. Yeah. That would probably be better. “Do you have anything to drink?”
“Ouzo?”
I snorted. “Really?”
“No. It was a joke. I thought you’d probably expect it based on, well, everything else in my place.” Levi walked around me, leaving lots of space between us. “How about a beer?”
“Perfect.”
Was drinking alcohol the best thing to do right now? Probably not.
Was I going to let that stop me? No.