Dear God, how was he going to resist her?
“She’d just gotten out of the shower,” Levi told him, instantly going hard again. “I looked like a damned fool.”
“She looks good wet, doesn’t she?”
“What?”
“Natalie looks good wet. She might be my friend, but I’m allowed to recognize sexy. Lots of girls can’t pull it off. No makeup, hair plastered to their heads.” He made a sound of disgust. “But not Natalie. She doesn’t need makeup and she’s got the bone structure to make it work. And her hair. Brings out the caveman tendencies, doesn’t it?”
Had he lost his friggin’ mind? Levi wondered. What sort of conversation was this? “Adam, I don’t know what the hell you’re playing at, but I’m about to—”
“—make a play for her, I hope,” Adam interjected cheerfully. “Hell, Levi, it’s obvious that you’re interested in her. Why don’t you stop pussyfooting around and man up?”
Shit. A shock of disbelief followed quickly by quiet acceptance moved through him. How long had Adam known? “Who said I—”
“Nobody had to say it. I can just tell. I’ve always been able to tell, even when you were trying to shackle yourself to that frigid, unfaithful slut. I tried to talk to you about it then, but you wouldn’t listen to me.”
True, Levi remembered. Adam had never liked Sabrina and had made many veiled references to her being the wrong girl for him. He’d sure as hell been right about that. Could he be right about Natalie as well?
“I’m not exactly sure what you’re waiting on,” Adam continued, “but if it’s my permission, then you’ve got it, okay? Stop wasting time. You’re only home for a week. Make the best of it.” He chuckled, but his voice had developed an edge. “Just don’t hurt her or I’ll have to kick your ass.”
Levi gave a grim laugh and his gaze slid to Natalie. Another firecracker of heat detonated in his loins. “Those are conflicting orders, little brother. If I make the best of it, you know she’s going to get hurt when I leave.”
“Natalie’s a big girl. She knows how you feel about your career. She’s not going to ask you for a damned thing you don’t want to give.”
She looked so beautiful standing by the water. She was smiling, her face alight with laughter, a piece of driftwood in her hand. A soft breeze toyed with the ends of her hair. Caveman tendencies was right, Levi decided. He’d like nothing more than to wrap his hand in her hair, drag her back to her house and make love to her until his balls burst or he died, whichever came first.
“What makes you think she’s interested?” Since Adam’s intuition had been dead on with him, it only stood to reason that he knew Natalie well enough to pick up the vibe from her. Still…
Adam hesitated. “It’s just a feeling I’ve got.”
Not good enough. He didn’t want to make a play for her, only to have it backfire. Talk about awkward. She was one of his brother’s best friends. She wouldn’t simply “go away” when this was over. And, eventually, it would have to end. He had a career he loved and she had a home she wouldn’t want to leave. “I don’t know if I want to risk humiliation based on ‘just a feeling,’” Levi continued. “You’re going to have to do better than that.” For whatever reason, he got the distinct impression that Adam was holding back on him. His hesitation practically screamed across the line.
Adam released a pent-up breath. “I think she’s your Ms. X,” he finally admitted.
Shock jolted through him. “What?”
“I’ve suspected it for a while, but she’s never said anything, and I kept asking to see the damned letters so that I could compare the handwriting to the ones I’d been getting from her—which incidentally happened to arrive on the same day your letters did. But you wouldn’t let me see them, you stubborn ass, so—”
“I thought you were just being a nosy bastard,” Levi growled threateningly. “If I’d had any idea you might know who they were coming from I would have let you see them!”
His raised voice attracted attention, most notably Natalie’s. Her brow knitted with questioning concern. He offered her a reassuring smile, then turned and continued to hiss into the phone at his brother. “I can’t believe you’ve kept this from me. What the hell were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that it was fun,” Adam said. “I like rattling your cage. Besides, I wasn’t sure how you would feel about the letters being from Natalie. I wasn’t sure you were still into her, you know? If you weren’t, then I didn’t want to ruin it for you. But after seeing you with her yesterday…I dunno.” His sigh echoed over the line. “I just hate to see either of you squander this opportunity. Life’s short and you and I know that better than most people do.”
He was right. Still…
“You’re sure they’re from her?”
“No, I’m not,” Adam clarified. “I have a very strong suspicion that they are.”
“What about the letters she’s written to you? Do you have them so that we can compare?”
“Not all of my stuff is here yet,” Adam told him. “But I would recognize her handwriting if you want to show me any of your letters.”
Levi hesitated, torn. He didn’t want to share the letters—they were private. She’d written them to him, not to anyone else, and somehow the idea of sharing any part of them, even with Adam, felt like a betrayal of her trust.
He couldn’t do it, Levi decided. As much as he wanted to know for certain whether or not Natalie was Ms. X…he couldn’t do it.
Adam chuckled knowingly. “Noble bastard.”
“You just want to read the letters.”
“I’d give my left nut to read those damned letters,” his brother freely admitted, startling a laugh out of Levi.
“Yeah, well, save your nut because you’re not going to get so much as a peek at them.”
His gaze slid to Natalie once more. Could it be her? Levi wondered. Was it possible that Adam was right? Or was it merely wishful thinking?
While his manipulative, greedy subconscious had dubbed her into the starring role, the idea that it could really be her was almost surreal. Almost more than he dared to hope for.
And it also gave a whole new meaning to every word she’d written. Every dream, every fantasy.
They were hers…of him.
He went hard just thinking about it.
Could it really be her? he wondered again, almost afraid to hope.
A slow grin slid over Levi’s lips as a plan surfaced in his reeling brain. His letter writer typically checked mail around four, eh?
In that case, a trip to the post office this afternoon—together—was in order.
7
Dear Levi,
I found a piece of beach glass this morning the exact shade of your eyes. I’ve suspended it from a length of fishing line and hung it in my bedroom window…
NATALIE NODDED at the lavender box sitting on the table next to Adam. “Winnie came by?”
Adam consulted his cards, purposely, it seemed, avoiding her gaze. “She did. She brought me some of those little cakes and cookies.” He nodded approvingly. “Good stuff.”
“She makes the best in town,” Natalie said, pleased that Winnie had made this first step. She determinedly looked at her own cards, trying not to ogle Levi, who was currently painting over the Sabrina with a coat of heavy-duty white paint.
Considering he was shirtless, it was damned hard.
Muscles bunched beneath gleaming, surprisingly tanned skin and she was hit with the almost overwhelming urge to lick the fluted hollow of his spine, to run her hands over the intriguing landscape of his chest. Even his neck was sexy, particularly the little soft part just below his ear. Her belly grew all hot and muddled and a tingle of heat washed over her breasts. Natalie released a shaky breath. Good Lord, the man was beautiful. Literally, truly beautiful. And—
“Natalie?”
She started and felt a blush rush to her hairline. “Oh, is it my turn?”
Adam grinned at her in a way tha
t made her distinctly uncomfortable. He jerked his head toward Levi. “I know he’s not much to look at, Nat, but staring at him like he’s a circus freak isn’t polite.” If his tongue was planted any more firmly in his cheek it would have to be surgically removed, the smart ass.
“I wasn’t s-staring,” she lied, hoping a rogue bolt of lightning wouldn’t strike.
He shrugged. “Looked to me like you were staring. And that little slurping noise you made—” He winced, leaving the rest unspoken.
She gasped, outraged. She knew damned well she hadn’t made a slurping noise. At least, she was relatively certain she hadn’t. Natalie chuckled, trying to keep from throwing up.
He knew.
“You’re so full of shit,” she said, then gestured to his cards. “Just play, would you? We’ve only got a few more minutes.”
“Yeah, yeah. I know. You and Levi are going back to the beach.” There was a very vague sense of envy in his voice, which made her heart ache. Though she knew he put on a brave front, her friend was hurting and, other than being there for him, she was powerless to help. “He said you found a lot of good pieces this morning.”
“We did,” she confirmed. “I really appreciate him telling Dad he’d go with me. He wouldn’t have agreed to go to Uncle Milton’s otherwise.”
“I know he’s your dad, Nat, and I understand why he’s worried about you, but…”
“I know,” she said, sighing. “I’ve let it go too far.” Her poor father had called twice already today to check on her. She hated that he worried so much. He truly had to come to terms with the fact that she would be fine. “And, strictly speaking, I can go alone,” she continued. “I’ve told Levi that, but he insists that he come along. Says he gave his word to my dad.” A man who kept his word, she thought, her lips twisting. A novel change. Of course, she wouldn’t expect anything else from Levi.
A dry bark of laughter erupted from Adam. “If he gave his word, there’s no way in hell he won’t go with you. But if you’re thinking he volunteered for the job just for your father’s sake, you’d better think again.”
Natalie’s mouth went bone-dry, her head felt light and her heart began to pound.
Adam tossed another card down, then leaned forward and shot her a grin. “I think he’s into you. And I think you’re his Mysterious Ms. X.”
That was it—her chicken salad was coming back up. Natalie bolted from her chair. “Excuse me,” she said, putting her hand over her mouth as she hurried to the bathroom.
Three minutes later, after she’d emptied the contents of her stomach and come to terms with the fact that Adam was apparently psychic, she made her way back outside to argue with him on both counts.
But she couldn’t. Because Levi had finished his paint job and returned to the back porch. He was just shrugging into his shirt—more’s the pity—and his caramel gaze met hers as she walked out.
“You okay?” he asked, concern lining his brow.
“Fine,” Natalie said, her eyes swinging to a completely unrepentant Adam who was smiling so smugly she was inclined to pummel him with his own crutches.
“Adam said you’d gotten sick.”
She glared at Adam. “My lunch didn’t agree with me.”
“Nothing agrees with you when you get nervous, does it, Nat?” he needled.
She genuinely wanted to throttle him.
“It’s like a little truth barometer, isn’t it?” Adam shook his head, seemingly pondering the magical properties of her nervous stomach.
Levi’s gaze jumped back and forth between the two of them. “Am I missing something?”
“Just a chromosome or two, but it’s nothing to worry about.” Adam glanced at his watch. “I thought you were going to the post office today?”
Levi nodded and an unreadable look passed over his too-handsome face. His gaze found hers and he quirked a brow. “Do you mind if we swing by the post office before going down to the beach? I’m expecting a letter.”
It was a good thing her stomach was empty, Natalie thought as she pasted a wholly unnatural smile onto her face. “Not at all.”
Adam’s lips twitched infuriatingly. “Nat, have you chosen a chick flick yet?”
Oh, she’d get him back. “As a matter of fact, I have. You haven’t seen Love, Actually, have you?” Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman. She inwardly sighed. It was the motherlode of movie stars.
“I haven’t.”
She nodded once and resisted the urge to preen. “Excellent. I’ll see you at seven.”
He idly threaded his fingers and put them behind his head, stretching. “Are you making your lasagna?”
“I can.” But only because she knew how much he liked it. Honestly, he was shameless.
“Good. I’m sure Levi will enjoy it.”
A flutter of panic whipped through her chest, and from the corner of her eye she saw Levi arch a brow.
“Why would I enjoy it?” he asked.
“Remember how you said if there was anything you could do for me, just to name it?”
Seemingly suspecting a trap, Levi nodded cautiously. “I remember.”
“I’m naming it.” Adam jerked his head toward Natalie. “I want you to watch the chick flick in my place.” He rubbed his thigh, playing the ultimate sympathy card. “I’m going to be too tired to go to her house and watch a movie.”
Natalie felt a disbelieving smile slide over her lips. He was the devil. The spawn of Satan incarnate. And so bloody obvious she wanted to crawl into a hole. “Too tired to watch a movie? Really?”
Though Adam sighed heavily, a twinkle lit his eyes. “Yes, I’m afraid so. I’ve got therapy in the morning, so I need to conserve my strength.”
As much as she would love Levi to come over for dinner and a movie, she didn’t want him maneuvered into it and she didn’t want to take any more time away from his family. He was already spending a couple of hours in the morning and evening with her. It hardly seemed fair to let Adam—well-intentioned as her interfering friend was, she thought exasperatedly—impose his chick-flick penalty on Levi as well.
“What about your mom and dad?” Natalie asked. “Don’t you think they’d like him to stay home?”
“They’ve got their ballroom-dancing class tonight,” Adam said. A wide smile split his face. “They’ll be gone for hours. Besides, they’ll see him tomorrow. Other than hanging out with you, he’s spending every minute with them. They’ll understand.”
“Sounds like you’ve thought this through,” Levi remarked, studying his brother carefully.
Adam snorted. “Anything to get out of watching Love, Actually.”
“What?” Natalie asked. “Afraid you’ll cry again?”
Adam instantly bristled. “I didn’t cry, dammit. I told you I had something in my eye.”
Natalie looked at Levi. “It’s true. He did. It’s called a tear.”
Levi chuckled and she felt that sexy laugh all the way to the bottoms of her feet. She loved the way his eyes crinkled at the corners, the faint dimple in his left cheek when he smiled. She was hit with an inexplicable impulse to lean in, to move closer to him. He smelled like ocean and man, a tang of sea salt and a woodsy fragrance all his own. Her toes actually curled.
“Smart ass,” Adam grumbled.
“Damn, bro. If you’re afraid you’ll cry, I don’t mind watching the movie for you.” Humor danced in Levi’s toffee-gaze. “I’ll take one for the team.” He looked at Natalie and the glimpse of heat she caught in his eyes made her momentarily lose her breath. “Can I bring anything?” Levi asked her. “A bottle of wine, maybe?”
Wine? she thought as her pulse tripped wildly in her veins. If he’d offered to bring dessert or a salad or anything else, she could have written it off as being polite. This was the South after all. You didn’t show up to any sort of social event empty-handed. It wasn’t done.
But offering to bring wine indicated a change in the status quo, a plan to take things up a level. It smacked of som
ething much more intentional and romantic.
Something like, Lord help her, a date.
AT TEN minutes before seven, Levi found his brother parked in front of the television, idly flipping channels. He looked bored to tears and there was a haunted expression in his eyes that made Levi long to fix things for him, to make things right. Unfortunately, he didn’t know how. For the first time in his life, he wasn’t sure what his brother needed.
“I know what you’re trying to do and I appreciate it,” Levi said, watching Adam frown before biting into another one of those cookies he’d been munching on all day. “But why don’t you come down to Natalie’s with me? Forget the movie and we’ll just hang out. Play cards or whatever.”
“I’ll have plenty of time to hang out with Natalie after you’re gone.”
Too true, Levi thought. At the end of the week he’d be boarding a return flight to Iraq. He’d be back with his boys, back to what was familiar.
Because being here with Natalie was anything but familiar.
This intense desire, this bone-deep, unbelievable ache to spend every waking—and non-waking—second with her, the almost blinding, driving need to bury himself between her thighs…there was absolutely nothing familiar about that.
He’d never wanted a woman as much as he wanted her.
It was the strangest thing. Once he’d fully admitted to himself the depth of his desire, it was as though the admission had triggered a landslide of emotion—of need—inside him that threatened to wash away anything that even remotely resembled common sense or restraint. And whatever shred he’d managed to hold on to had completely vanished with Adam’s approval and his insight into Natalie being Ms. X.
Honestly, Levi had never looked at a woman and felt this mind-boggling ache in his chest while his nether regions experienced the fiery hell of the damned. It was strange and wonderful, and looking at her made him wonder if he’d been too premature in deciding that there wasn’t room in his life for a wife and his career.
Uniformly Hot! Volume 1 from Harlequin: Letters from HomeBreaking the RulesComing Up for Air Page 7
