Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 108124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
We sat in awkward silence for a bit. He took a long sip of his beer, and I didn’t know if it was my imagination, but his tongue lingered in the opening of the bottle before he slowly pulled it out. It almost looked like…yeah. Is he messing with me?
He turned to me and smiled. Suddenly burning up, I quickly looked away.
Then Levi reached out and handed me his beer. I took a long sip—a really long sip. Maybe he sensed that I was going to need alcohol for the conversation that might ensue over the next couple of minutes. But it unnerved me to have my mouth on the same spot where I was pretty sure he’d been simulating oral sex just a few seconds ago. At the same time, I could’ve been so on edge that I’d misinterpreted that.
The next thing he said freaked me out for a moment.
“It’s really hot…”
“Hmm?”
“In the house today,” he clarified.
I realized he was referring to the AC—which was indeed broken. I hadn’t had a chance to tell him yet since I’d only discovered it after I got back from taking Harper to the airport.
“Yeah. The AC is broken again.” I handed him back the beer and rubbed my eyes. “I don’t know. Maybe you’re right. Maybe we should sell this place.” My shoulders sank in defeat.
Levi gave me a surprisingly empathetic look. “Let’s not have this discussion now, okay? I’ll get someone in to fix the AC tomorrow. I know a guy.” He sighed and took another sip of his beer.
If we weren’t going to be arguing about The Palm Inn, there was only one thing left to talk about. I needed to get what I wanted to say over with.
I cleared my throat. “About what you overheard…”
“Yeah.” He smirked. “That was completely crazy.”
My heart skipped a beat.
“I mean, peach cobbler? Chocolate cake would be way more appropriate for that scenario, don’t you think?”
The fact that he made light of it gave me momentary relief.
“It’s fine, Presley. You don’t have to say anything about it. I know you were drunk.”
“Yeah, but that’s no excuse to drag you into my crazy, drunken…” I stopped short of finishing the sentence.
Unfortunately, he finished it for me.
“Fantasies?”
“It was more like delusions.”
“So there was no part of you that actually meant any of it?” His eyes seared into mine.
I dodged his question altogether. “People don’t really know what they’re saying when they’re drunk.”
“You didn’t seem all that drunk when I ran into you after, though.”
Right. Of course. Because I wasn’t that drunk.
“Okay, well, it was inappropriate regardless of how drunk I was.”
“You know, sometimes the truth comes out when we’re intoxicated…”
He was really trying to get me to admit to something here. I needed to nip this in the bud.
“Look, Levi, you’re a very attractive man—you know that. We’ve been around each other a lot lately. You were fresh in my head. So my drunken mind latched onto you during that little to-do list game. But it wasn’t more than that.” I paused. “It’s been a very long time since I’ve been with a man, as you already know. And I got carried away. You were the target of it. I’m sorry.”
Levi’s eyes narrowed. “Are you seriously apologizing? You didn’t do anything wrong. There’s no crime against a drunken fantasy.”
I no longer tried to dispute his use of the word fantasy. “Maybe there’s no crime against it, but there should be when the target is your ex’s brother.”
For a moment, you could have heard a pin drop.
“Well, Tanner didn’t overhear anything, did he? So no harm done. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”
Is he sending me a message?
“How long has it been exactly?” he asked after a moment.
Playing with some lint on my shorts, I said, “How long for what?”
“I know you said you slept with one guy after Tanner. How long ago was that?”
I swallowed. “About…eighteen months ago.”
“Damn.” Levi nodded. “Alright.” He chuckled. “You look so uncomfortable right now, by the way.”
“I am. I’m still embarrassed about last night.”
“Embarrassed? Why? For having fun with your friend and fooling around?”
“Yeah, but it was at your expense.”
“You think I was insulted?” He shook his head. “No, Presley.” He handed me back the almost-empty beer. “You’re not the only one who’s sexually frustrated. And I haven’t been innocent either. I just haven’t said what I’m thinking out loud. Even worse, I acted like a dick to you the other day because I was freaking jealous over you going out with the coach. That’s worse than your drunken stuff, because I wasn’t even intoxicated. That was all me acting like a jealous bastard.”
Chills ran down my spine as I finished off the beer. “So…you were jealous?”
“Yeah. So who’s out of line now?” He expelled a long breath. “Speaking of Jeremy, what’s the latest there?”