“Not everybody hated you all then. And they sure don’t hate you now. People are quite proud of you King boys. And if anyone messes with you, they’ll have to rumble with me. I’m lethal, you know.”
He laughed, a deep, rich sound that she only got the pleasure of hearing a few times a year. “I know. You almost choked me out when I climbed into your bed.”
“You should send a prayer to the good Lord that I didn’t knee you in your man parts. I could have had you singing soprano.”
He laughed again and squeezed her tighter. “God, I’ve missed you, Shelly.”
“I missed you, too.” In an almost painful way that hadn’t lessened in all the years since he had been gone. She had always wondered if things would be the same if he came back. They wouldn’t be, she could tell already. The fondness she felt for the boy who’d left here was gone. He wasn’t a boy anymore. He was a man, and she was a woman and they couldn’t have the same relationship they had when they were kids.
“It’s so late,” he said to her. “I’ve been selfish. I should let you get some sleep. You’ve had a long day.”
His hand stroked the exposed skin between her tank top and shorts. It was an odd sensation, tingles rushing across her skin. No one had ever touched her there, and she didn’t want him to stop. She wanted to do the same to him and slide her hands up his shirt and get a better feel of how his body had changed.
“You don’t have to go on my account. I’m not sick of you yet.”
“I do have to go.” He pulled himself away from her, just as he’d always done when they had gotten a little too close as kids. “Good night, Shells.”
“Good night. Let me know when you’re free. I’ll show you all the new hot spots around town.”
“What new hot spots?” He raised a brow at her.
“The gas station got a new slushy machine. Now it has four flavors instead of two.”
“Exciting. I’ll be back tomorrow.” He kissed her cheek and winked at her. “I’ll even use the front door.”
“Fancy.”
“Save the day for me.”
“I will,” she agreed. There was no one else she would rather give her time to.
*
“Is that your Mercedes in front?” Levi asked Colt as he walked into the kitchen the next day. He had barely gotten any sleep the night before but he couldn’t attribute it to spending nearly four hours with Shelly. Well … actually he could. He couldn’t stop thinking about her. How her long bare legs looked as she sat on the floor across from him. How she moved across the room with her hips swaying slightly. How she pressed her deliciously curved body against his. How he had gone hard four times last night.
He had been around sexy women before. Hell, he only hung around sexy women and he could be immune to them, to pretty bodies. But Shelly … He felt a bigger charge being with her than anyone else, and he’d barely even touched her.
It disturbed the hell out of him.
“Yes.” Colt looked up from his computer, looking extremely polished for the dusty mining town they were in, and Levi had almost forgotten what he had asked him.
“I know we’re going to be here for a little while,” Levi said, sticking his head in the refrigerator, “but you could at least try to fit in.”
“It’s a black car. How much more discreet can you get than that? Duke is driving around here with flames on his doors.”
“Duke’s another story. But you’re driving around in a fifty-thousand-dollar German black car. In the land of Fords and Chevys, your car sticks out like a sore thumb.”
“It’s better to stick out than be overlooked.”
“And I thought I was the arrogant one.” Levi grinned. “You’ve got your car, your computer, more clothes. You’ve been busy. Or maybe I should say your people have been busy. Did you have all your stuff overnighted?”
“I told my assistant what I wanted and she got to work right away.”
“Did you threaten to have her family chained up somewhere if she didn’t deliver?” Levi grabbed a glass and filled it up to the top with milk. He should have gotten some coffee, but he wasn’t sure if caffeine would make him feel better or worse after his sleepless night.
“Maybe. I want the transition here to run as smooth as possible. I’ve been looking over Lolly’s business returns so I can get acquainted with her finances. From there I need to see her expenses and compare that with her profits. If she makes any. We are probably going to need to do some restructuring.”
He was talking about Lolly’s little salon. The one she’d asked Colt to help run in her absence. And it seemed he was taking the task incredibly seriously. “You’re making my head spin. You know this is a little beauty parlor that specializes in giving old lady roller sets? The Head Shed is not one of your conquests.”
“The Head Shed is a horrible name for a salon. It sounds like a place you would go to pick up spare body parts. We’ll need to think about rebranding.”
“We’re not thinking about shit. Don’t go overboard with this, Colt. She just wants to get a few more people in the door. Offer some coupons. Don’t act like you’re about to invade the beaches of Normandy.” He knew he was wasting his breath. If Colt had a goal, he was going to achieve it. It was the reason his personal net worth was now in the hundreds of millions.
“I make money. That’s what I do. That’s what she asked me do. I don’t do anything half-assed.”
“I know, but maybe you should. Life would be more fun.” He wanted Colt to have more fun. Both his brothers were so serious but even Duke laughed sometimes, especially when he was in his shop with his crew. The only thing Colt ever seemed to have on his mind was work, and Levi was afraid it was going to age him prematurely. He knew Colt had to be responsible early on, but now that they had everything they could possibly want or need, now that life was easier, he could afford to relax a little.
“I’m going to be at Lolly’s shop meeting with her head stylist. If you need something, let me know. I can have my assistant send it.”
But then Levi remembered that Lolly had a plan. And when she set a goal, she always achieved it, too.
“I’ll be all right. I’m going to see what kind of trouble I can get in here.”
“Lolly didn’t give you a job to do?”
“She did. It was to keep you and Duke from killing each other.”
“Good luck,” he said, walking out the door.
Levi walked over to the ancient landline on the wall that had been there ever since he could remember and called Ace.
“I’m in need of a car,” he said when Ace answered. “Do you know where I can get a good one?”
An hour later Levi was riding in Ace’s passenger seat on his way to the outskirts of town where the brothers had lived with their father, which now seemed like two lifetimes ago. But instead of a series of dilapidated mobile homes, Levi saw some new construction. Town houses and a small apartment complex.
“Aren’t you a car guy?” Ace asked him as they sped up a dusty road. “Your family runs a damn empire and you’re asking me where to get a car. Don’t you have a hangar full of them somewhere?”
“I don’t actually. I’ve got an SUV and a classic Corvette that I take out when I want to show off. Duke’s the one with all the cars. Besides, Colt already offered to have my car sent up, but unlike him I don’t want to inconvenience one of his little underlings to bring it to me. I can handle getting a car.”
“So you’d rather drop a few grand and buy a car than have an employee bring it to you?”
“Colt pays his people incredibly well. Especially if he asks for something outside their normal job description. I think buying something would be cheaper.”
Ace grinned and shook his head. “Rich people.”
“I’m assuming that these new builds are your company’s doing?”
“Yeah, with the casino opening, more and more folks are coming to this area for work. Destiny is where people with families are coming, so we are just mee
ting a need. Although there are rumors that the factory is going to close. They have been slowing down for years because all the manufacturing jobs have gone overseas. If it goes under, hundreds of people will be out of work.”
“Damn,” he said. His family had a tough past with the factory. His father used to work there until he nearly killed someone when he showed up drunk for work. Still, Levi didn’t like the idea of so many people out of jobs. It could devastate a little town like this. “Shelly didn’t tell me anything about that.”
“Shelly might not know. My uncle is the night-shift manager and they are trying to come up with creative ways to save jobs, but they’re going to start cutting hours and then positions.”
“Damn. They can’t just shut down the entire factory at once, it will cripple the economy.” He looked out the window again, realizing that Destiny was indeed changing. “Why didn’t you tell me Shelly turned into a knockout?”
“Shelly who?”
“Shelly Walker. My Shelly.”
“Schoolteacher Shelly?” Ace asked, incredulous. “She’s not a knockout.”
And from the way Ace said it, Levi believed he didn’t think so. Levi also believed that Ace was out of his fucking mind. “I saw her last night. She is. She’s gorgeous.”
“If you like incredibly quiet schoolmarm-looking women, then I guess she would be a totally fucking hottie. But that’s just not my thing.”
“Schoolmarm?”
“You’ve always had a soft spot for her,” he said, seeming to end the conversation.
Maybe he was right. Maybe he was tired and all hyped up about seeing her after so long that he wasn’t seeing her clearly. Things would probably go back to the way they used to be once he got used to the idea that he was back in Destiny for a while.
They pulled to a stop at the end of the long road. There was a single house there. Not one of the shiny new ones they were putting up, but one that looked like it had been there since the dawn of time. Out came a man who looked just as old.
“Mr. Wilson,” Ace greeted the man as they stepped out of the truck. “This is my friend Levi. He’s looking for a vehicle to drive while he’s in town.”
“Levi, huh?” The old man sized him up. “You could have gone to the used-car lot on Route Nine.”
“No, sir,” Ace answered. “Levi here is looking for the type of vehicle that only you can supply.”
Mr. Wilson nodded. “I knew a Levi. A little peanut. Daddy was a drunk.”
“That was me, sir,” Levi replied, feeling like he was a kid again. That was one of the reasons he was fine with leaving Destiny. He never went more than a day without being reminded that his father was the reckless alcoholic who’d almost devastated the town.
“I worked with your brother Duke. Good boy. Taught him everything I knew. He got a raw deal.”
A ten-year prison sentence was a very raw deal. Not everybody in this town felt that way. When he’d left here he’d felt like the Kings had more enemies than friends. “I’m sure he appreciated that.”
“He did. Paid off all my back property taxes. Didn’t even ask him to. He’s a good man.”
Levi nodded. Duke was. He spent his money helping people out and not on himself. He still lived in that same one-bedroom apartment he’d called home when he opened the shop, even though he could afford a much bigger place. He lived in T-shirts and jeans. His only indulgence was cars, and even then he did all the work himself. His money went to those who needed it, and Levi admired his brother for that. “What do you have for me?” he asked.
The old man took a set of keys out of his pocket and tossed them to Levi. “It’s around back. Just finished working on it today. Go see if it will do.”
He did as he was told and walked around the back to see a phenomenal-looking red 1981 Jeep Scrambler. Judging by all the rusty car parts in the yard he was expecting a heap of junk, but this … It was exactly what he never knew he wanted. Fire-engine red, buttery-looking tan leather seat, brand-new shiny wheels. It was a car you didn’t just drive on the road.
He and Ace got inside and started the engine. It was smooth. Duke taught him that a man could learn a lot about a car just by listening to the sound of engine. And this one was purring like a kitten. He drove it up to the front of the house, hopping out to approach Mr. Wilson.
“How much do you want for her?”
“You host that TV show, don’t you?”
“I do.”
“I want you to send me a bus ticket to come see it. And I want you to put me up in one of those fancy hotels on the Strip for a week and I want to go to that buffet. The one that’s ninety bucks a pop. And concert tickets, too, to one of them shows. I want to take my grandson with me.”
“Done. Let me give you some cash, too.”
“No.” The man put up his hand. “That’s what I want. That’s all I want. You give Ace all the information.” He turned around and went back into his house.
“I guess that settles that,” Ace said.
“It does. This is a Jeep you can have a good time in.”
Chapter 5
Dear Levi,
I just learned that my father kept a large portion of my grandmother’s things in the shed. I went out there in search of a photo album only to stumble upon a huge box of romance novels. Books with titles like The Sheik’s Pregnant Virgin Mistress and The Italian Billionaire’s Nanny. And covers with the woman’s face in the throes of ecstasy. My first thought was that these books were sure to be stupid.
A week later I had read the entire box.
I loved those books, Levi.
And you’re the only one who knows my secret.
I, Shelly Walker, am a romance novel junkie.
A bright flash of red appeared in her living room window, causing Shelly to look up from the book she was reading. Anything could have distracted her. A bird, a butterfly, a strong gust of wind. Normally she would have found the information about teaching kids to write interesting if not riveting, but she couldn’t concentrate. Restlessness had taken her over.
She had always thought she was a content person, if not happy, but the recent conversation with her father had made her realize that maybe she wasn’t as satisfied with her life as she wanted to be. She just had no idea how to change it.
Levi walked through the door then, without knocking. A welcome distraction when she needed one the most. She took him in for a moment. He was in dark jeans and a blue T-shirt. He made casual clothes look sexy in a way Shelly could never manage.
“Why is your door unlocked?” he asked, looking at the door instead of greeting her.
“Well, hello to you, too, dear friend. How was your night? I hope you slept well. If you promise to remember your manners, I promise to lock the door when I go to bed.”
He faced her, just staring, his face frozen in displeasure.
“There hasn’t been a breakin in this town in Lord knows how long,” she continued. “Unless I count you breaking in here last night. Relax. I’m perfectly safe.”
“Schoolmarm,” he whispered, his voice in awe.
“What?”
He shook his head and walked over to her, his eyes taking her in, but he was not looking at her the way he had last night. Last night she thought she saw approval in his eyes—he had even called her pretty. But today he looked almost horrified. It made her shrink internally. Maybe exhaustion and bad lighting made her look better to him.
“Nothing.” He took a seat on the couch next to her, close to her so that their arms were touching.
“Do I have a booger? A giant zit? Another small head growing out of my neck?”
He grinned and shook his head. “No. None of those things.”
“You would tell me if I had a head growing out of my neck, wouldn’t you? I would hate to be walking around town not knowing.”
He leaned in and kissed her cheek, his lips lingering for a moment. “You make me smile, Shelly,” he said into her skin.
“I aim to please,” she sa
id as her eyes drifted shut. She didn’t want him to remove his lips from her face. Her cheek had been kissed many times, but none of those times compared to this, to Levi’s full warm lips, and his clean spicy smell, and the large hard body that made up the rest of him.
She felt his hands on her face and then her glasses being removed. She blinked up at him.
“No glasses,” he said as he tossed them on the table. “You don’t need them. They just cover your eyes.”
“I was reading before you came in,” she tried to explain but got distracted when his hand went to her hair. “Hey!” He unraveled her topknot. It had taken a long time for her to do that topknot today and get it as smooth as she liked it. He pulled her bobby pins out, flinging them every which way until her heavy hair was down around her shoulders.
“Did you come over here today just to mess with me?”
He didn’t answer, just buried his fingers deep into her hair and scratched her scalp, which felt incredibly nice. “There she is,” he said softly.
Well …
She didn’t really know what to think, except that he was beautiful and his hands felt good and it was no wonder legions of women would cut off their right legs for a chance to be with him.
“Why did you take my hair down? And why did you call me a schoolmarm? Don’t you deny that you did, because I heard you.”
“No buns, Shell. No buns and no glasses. At least not when you’re with me.”
She smacked his chest, her temper flaring. “You can’t tell me how to wear my hair! For centuries men have been dictating to women how they should dress and behave and live their lives.” She smacked his chest again. “You’re supposed to be better than that!”
“I know! Stop smacking me.” He grabbed her wrists and pushed her down on the couch to stop her assault. “You’re hiding behind the hair and the glasses.” His body landed on top of hers, in between her legs, and he was looking down at her like he did last night. She felt … She didn’t know how to describe it. Warm all over. A little liquidy. A little like her heart was going to pop out of her chest. These were all new feelings for her.
Heart of a Bad Boy (Bad Boys of Destiny #3) Page 5
