Chapter Nine
Nine
By the time Faith woke up, the sun was low in the sky, and she was wrapped around Levi, her hand splayed on his chest. He was not asleep.
“I was wondering when you might wake up.”
She blinked sleepily. “What time is it?”
“About five o’clock.”
“Shit!” She jerked, as if she was going to scramble out of bed, and then she fell back, laying down her head on his shoulder. “I’m supposed to have dinner with my parents tonight.”
“What time?”
“Six. But Isaiah and Joshua are going to pester me about where I was. Poppy probably won’t let me off, either. My sister-in-law. She works in the office. She’s the one who—”
“Former assistant,” Levi said.
“Yes. Also, she’s pregnant right now and you know how pregnant women have a heightened sense of smell?” she asked.
“Um...”
“Well, she does. But I think more for shenanigans than anything else.”
“Shenanigans?” he repeated, his tone incredulous. “Are we engaging in shenanigans?”
“You know what I mean,” she huffed.
“When are you going to tell them?”
She blinked. “About...this?”
“Not this specifically,” he said, waving his arm over the two of them to indicate their bodies. “But the design project. They’re going to have to know eventually.”
“Oh, do they?” She tapped her chin. “I was figuring I could engage in some kind of elaborate money-laundering situation and hide it from them forever.”
“Well, that will impact on my ability to do a magazine spread with my new house. My new life as a nonconvict. As a free man.”
“Right. I forgot.”
“The best revenge is living well. Mostly because any other kind of revenge is probably going to land me back in prison.”
“Isn’t that like...double jeopardy at this point?”
“Are you encouraging me to commit murder?”
“Not encouraging you. I just... On a technicality...”
“I’m not going to do anything that results in a body count,” he said drily.
“Don’t worry. But I would really like my ex to see everything I’m buying with the money that she can’t have.
If she can’t end up in prison, then she’s going to end up sad and alone, and with nothing. That might sound harsh to you...”
“It doesn’t,” Faith said, her voice small.
“I can’t imagine caring about someone like that and being betrayed.
I can’t imagine being in prison for five days, much less five years.
She deserves...” She looked down, at his beautiful body, at the scar that marred his skin.
“She deserves to think about it. What she could have had. What she gave away. Endlessly. She deserves that. I am so...sorry.”
“I don’t need your pity,” he said.
“Just my body?” She wiggled closer to him, experimenting with the idea that she, too, could maybe be a vixen.
“I do like your body,” he said slowly. “When are you going to tell your brothers about the job?”
“You know what? I’ll do it tonight.”
“Sounds pretty good. Do it when you have your parents to act as a buffer.”
She grinned. “Basically.”
She didn’t want to leave him. Didn’t want to leave this. She hesitated, holding the words in until her heart was pounding in her ears. Until she felt light-headed.
“Levi... We have a limited amount of time together. It will only be until the design project is finished. And I don’t want to go all clingy on you, but I would like to... Can I come back tonight?”
He sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, his bare back facing her. Without thinking, she reached out, tracing the border of the bird’s wing that stretched around to his spine.
“Sure,” he said. “If you really want to.”
“For sex,” she said. “But it might be late when we’re finished. So maybe I’ll sleep here?”
“If you want to sleep here, Faith, that’s fine. Just don’t get any ideas about it.”
“I won’t. I’ll bring an overnight bag and I won’t unpack it. My toothbrush will stay in my bag. It won’t touch your sink.”
“Why the hell would I care about that?”
He looked almost comically confused. On that hard, sculpted face, confusion was a strange sight.
“I don’t know. There were some girls in college who used to talk about how guys got weird about toothbrushes. I’ve never had a boyfriend. I mean... Not that you’re my boyfriend. But... I’m sorry. I’m speaking figuratively.”
“Calm down,” he said, gripping her chin and staring her right in the eyes. He dropped a kiss on her mouth, and instantly, she settled. “You don’t need to work this hard with me. What we have is simple. We both know the rules, right?”
“Yes,” she said breathlessly.
“Then I don’t want you to overthink it. Because I definitely don’t want you overthinking things when we’re in bed together.”
She felt a weight roll off her shoulders, and her entire body sagged. “Sometimes I think I don’t know how to...not overthink.”
“Why is that?”
She shrugged. “I’ve been doing it for most of my life.”
He looked at her. Not moving. Like a predator poised to pounce. Those blue eyes were far too insightful for her liking. “Does it ever feel like prison?”
She frowned. “Does what ever feel like prison?”
“The success you have. You couldn’t have imagined that you would be experiencing this kind of demand at your age.”
“I really don’t know how to answer that. Nobody sentenced me to anything, Levi, and I can walk away from it at any time.”
“Is your family rich, Faith?”
She laughed. “No. We didn’t grow up with anything. I only went to private school because I got a scholarship. Joshua didn’t even get to go to college. He didn’t have the grades to earn a scholarship or anything. My parents couldn’t afford it—”
“All the money in your family—this entire company—it centers around you.”
“Yes,” she said softly.
He made a scoffing sound. “No wonder you were a virgin.”
“What does my virginity have to do with anything?”
“Have you done something for yourself? Ever?”
“I mean, in fairness, Levi, it’s my...gift.
My talent. My dream, I guess, that made us successful.
It centers around me. Isaiah and Joshua fill in the holes with what they do well, but they could do what they do well at any kind of company.
The architectural aspect... That’s me. They’re enabling me to do what I love. ”
“And you’re enabling everyone to benefit from your talents.
That they’re supporting your talent doesn’t make them sacrificial.
It makes them smart. I’m not putting your brothers down.
In their position I would do the same. But what bears pointing out is that whether you realize it or not, you’ve gotten yourself stuck in the center of a spider’s web, honey. No wonder you feel trapped sometimes.”
They didn’t speak about anything serious while she got ready.
She dodged a whole lot of groping on his end while she tried to pull on her clothes, and ended up almost collapsing in a fit of giggles as she fought to get her skirt back on and cover her ass while he attempted to keep his hand on her body.
But she thought about what he said the entire time, and all the way over to her parents’ house.
His observation made it seem... Well, like she really should fight harder for the things she wanted.
Should worry less about what Joshua and Isaiah felt about her association with Levi. Personally or professionally.
Though, she wasn’t going to bring up any of the personal stuff.
Levi was right. The business, her career—all of this had turned into a monster she hadn’t seen coming. It was a great monster. One that funded a lifestyle she had never imagined could be hers. Though, it was a lifestyle she was almost too busy to enjoy. And if that was going to be the case...
Why shouldn’t she take on projects that interested her?
That was the thing. Levi had interested her from the beginning, and the only reason she had hesitated was because Joshua and Isaiah were going to be dicks about her interest and she knew it.
She pulled up to her parents’ small, yellow farmhouse and sat in the driveway for a moment.
She wished Levi was with her. Although she had no reason to bring him. And the very idea of that large, hard man in this place seemed...impossible. Like a god coming down from Mount Olympus to hang out at the mall.
She got out of the car and walked up to the front porch, opened the door and walked straight inside.
A rush of familiarity hit her, that familiar scent of her mother’s pot roast. That deep sense of home that could only ever be attached to this place.
Where she had grown up. Where she’d longed to be while at boarding school, where she had ached to return for Christmases, spring breaks and summers.
Everyone was already there. Devlin and his wife, Mia. Joshua, Danielle and their son Riley. Isaiah and Poppy.
Faith was the only one who stood alone. And suddenly, it didn’t feel so familiar anymore.
Maybe because she was different.
Because she had left part of herself in that bed with Levi.
Or maybe because everyone else was a couple.
All she knew was that she felt like a half standing there and it was an entirely unpleasant feeling.
“Hi,” Faith said.
“Where have you been?” Joshua asked. “You left the office around lunchtime the other day and I haven’t seen you since.”
“You say that like it’s news to me,” she said drily. “I had some things to take care of.”
Her mom came out of the kitchen and wrapped Faith in a hug. “What things? What are you up to?” She pressed a kiss to Faith’s cheek. “More brilliance?”
Her dad followed, giving Faith a hug and a kiss and moving to his favorite chair that put him at the head of the seating arrangement.
“I don’t know.” Faith rubbed her arm, suddenly feeling like she was fifteen and being asked to discuss her report card. “Not especially. Just... I picked up another project.”
“What project?” Isaiah asked, frowning.
“You didn’t consult me about the schedule first,” Poppy said.
“I can handle it,” Faith said. “It’s fine.”
“This is normally the kind of thing you consult us on,” Joshua said, frowning.