Chapter 23
LET’S NOT MAKE THIS AWKWARD…
PARKER
It was so bright. What the hell? Had I forgotten to close my blackout curtains last night? I pushed my face into the pillow.
No. Wait.
Something wasn’t right.
This couldn’t be the sun. I’d been waking up before dawn for weeks now, and it’d be several long months before the sun was up before me again. Had I slept in? I must have. I squinted into the brightness.
Right. I wasn’t home. I was at Levi’s. And it was Sunday. I had staff cover Sundays for me. I had nowhere to be.
I stared at the ceiling and thought about everything that had happened this weekend. It’d been a lot, but I wasn’t going to complain. How could I when those events had landed me in Levi’s bed?
Sunlight ricocheted through his white-walled apartment.
I glanced at the space beside me. At some point in the night, we had rolled away from one another.
Damn. I’d been hoping to find him tangled around me this morning.
But the man produced enough body heat to warm the whole apartment.
Keeping our bodies pressed together for as long as I had had been a sweaty business.
But it was morning now, and I wasn’t sweating anymore. In fact, there was a bit of a chill in the air. I pulled the covers higher and contemplated snuggling closer to Levi again.
Morning wood was a thing, and I had ideas for how we could deal with it. Would that send him into a panic, though? Levi was an expert at building walls around himself. And after last night, I suspected he’d be in full construction mode this morning.
So, instead of sliding closer, I stayed where I was and let my mind drift over everything that had happened the day before.
I still couldn’t believe magic was real. And that Nana knew about it. And that Levi was a minotaur. I’d learned a lot about the supernatural world in one day, but I suspected there was a lot more I didn’t know.
Still, other than the fact the guy I’d been lusting after was a magical being, I didn’t think this would change my life all that much.
So what if some of my customers got furry occasionally or my best pizza cook was probably using fire magic?
It didn’t make a lot of difference to my world.
I was still a human. I was still a café owner. I still wanted to jump Levi’s bones.
Although now that I knew about paranormal beings, I might find ways to cater to their tastes a bit more with the menu.
I’d learned at some point yesterday that some supes had food preferences.
It was connected to their magic or something.
Huh. Maybe some of the special requests that I’d added to the menu already, like the jalapeno-laden breakfast tacos, were already doing that.
But that was about all that I needed to change.
So, I didn’t understand why anyone would have trouble with supernatural people. What was the problem? It was a bit like seeing my double-jointed aunt twist her fingers and thumbs into positions I’d never be able to. It was weird, sure, but not anything I had to worry about.
It seemed to me that everyone—humans and supes alike—just wanted to live their lives. Work at things they loved. Do the things they felt passionate about. Fall in love.
What was so wrong about that? Why would a group of humans decide their needs were more important than a supe’s? Why would they choose to harm others? Why did they think they had more rights? It was baffling.
But I didn’t always understand people’s motives. I hated selfish cowards. I hated bigots. I hated people who delighted in other people’s suffering.
And unfortunately, there seemed to be a lot of that in the world.
And I could see why the supes would be anxious about too many humans knowing about them.
Humans were nasty to one another over things like skin color, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or anything really.
I couldn’t imagine what they’d do to magical beings.
They’d be jealous and scared and that could lead to God only knew what kinds of consequences.
Presumably there were humans out there who knew the truth.
The hunters, Nana, and I couldn’t be the only ones.
Did our elected representatives know? No.
I couldn’t see the supes allowing that. They wouldn’t trust their secrets to a set of humans just because they could throw a bunch of money at an election and be chosen by other humans to represent them.
And I couldn’t say I blamed them. It’d be too unpredictable.
Besides, money and power didn’t make someone worthy or indicate they had integrity. It just didn’t.
I knew Levi had been apprehensive about me finding out, but I’d prove to him that he could trust me. I wasn’t like Tammy and Kyle. I might know my way around a gun, but I wasn’t a hunter in any sense of the word.
Beside me, Levi’s breathing changed, and his body wiggled. Then he grew suspiciously still. Yep. He was awake now.
Before he could bolt, I rolled toward him and threw my arm around him again. And, because apparently everything that’d happened yesterday was making me bold, I pressed a kiss to his shoulder.
“Good morning,” I whispered against him. I lifted up enough so that I could see the profile of his face. He was staring straight ahead, like he wasn’t sure what he should do.
Levi cleared his throat. “Uh… Yeah. Um. Good morning?”
He glanced over his shoulder at me. His dark hair was mussed. His cheeks were rosy. His five o’clock shadow had grown to a scruffy stubble. Levi was normally so put together. I loved seeing him undone like this.
I smiled at him. He smiled tentatively back.
“We should probably get up. I expect there’ll be a lot going on today.”
“Yeah. Probably,” he agreed.
Before he could start second-guessing everything and over-thinking, I leaned forward and brushed a quick kiss to his lips.
I wanted to do so much more, but if I pressed too quickly, he’d probably panic.
I needed to take my time with him. Now that I knew his big secret, I figured the chance of having a real relationship with Levi was looking up. I wasn’t going to blow things now.
Patience was one of the lessons I’d learned from Nana.
After playing round after round of intense hide and seek games during her summer bootcamps, it was a lesson that had stuck.
And now that I knew Levi was somewhat interested in me, I’d use every bit of patience I had to get what I wanted. What we both wanted.