He stopped her by grabbing her wrist. “Hang on. Where do you think you’re going?”
“Home.”
“Not yet, you’re not.”
“I think you can handle the rest of this without me.”
“Who says I want to? I’m not a great liar.”
“You seemed to be doing fine earlier.”
His eyes twinkled, but his lips were only twitching as if they wouldn’t fully commit to a smile. “That’s different. I was teasing you.”
“I’m so glad you had fun.” If her voice bristled a little, she couldn’t help that. She’d had a terrible, no good, very bad day.
“What’s wrong?” He still hadn’t let go of her wrist, and now his hand slid up the inside of her elbow and stroked her.
Her body betrayed her with a tingle she definitely did not want to be feeling right now. His gaze pierced hers with interest that seemed genuine. He wasn’t pushy, no, but clearly he was not going to let this go. She’d forgotten for a moment that her own thoughts and feelings were always so clearly displayed for the entire world to see.
“There’s still no real interest for RockYourBaby. People are not exactly lining up to buy it.”
“Yet,” he said.
“Yet.” She stepped away from him to where she felt a bit safer from the electricity pulsing between them. “Levi, we have to do something about the Lanes.”
“Like what?”
“We can’t let them give up on each other. They came to Fortune married, and it seems like they’re leaving separated. It doesn’t seem right.”
“And...it’s also none of our business. There is that.”
“But they’re Grace’s grandparents. We should care.”
“We?” He grinned.
She felt warm and flushed. “Can I help it if I care about people?”
“No, you can’t. And I kind of like that about you. A whole hell of a lot.”
“Well...thank you.”
Suddenly Levi’s eyes, so guarded and hooded to her before, were having an entire conversation with her. Interesting the way those blue eyes could speak when they wanted to. But maybe now she needed an interpreter, because they were telling her things she was afraid to believe. Taking this relationship to another level would complicate her life too much. She didn’t need him. Or want him.
That was a lie. She wanted him, oh, how she wanted him. But that by itself wasn’t enough.
“She’s asleep,” Irene said from behind them, startling Carly. “Such a sweetheart. I just wish her grandfather wasn’t such an ass. He could be here with me now. Instead, he’s probably still sulking. Watching TV and sulking.”
A few minutes later, Irene had gathered her purse and jacket and Levi had walked her to her car. Carly could go home. She’d been free to go as soon as the rented sedan drove off. So why were her feet rooted to this spot by Levi’s window?
She moved to the door and watched Levi’s hot body, broad shoulders looking tight, as he stood like a statue observing the car drive away. He turned to her, catching her gaze. The porch light illuminated him, causing his blond hair to appear even lighter. His eyes bluer. He stepped inside, his gaze never leaving hers. Once inside, his eyes grew dark and filled with a longing and desire that matched her own.
Carly might be leaving Fortune, but she wasn’t leaving tonight. Tonight stretched out before her with plenty of possibilities. And she didn’t want to be alone.
He grinned as if she’d said her thought out loud. Then her phone buzzed.
Her brother was calling.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“I NEED TO take this.”
If she thought she’d have some privacy, Carly was absolutely wrong about that. Because Levi stood no more than a foot away from her and didn’t move. Strangely, her body didn’t want him to, even if her brain said he should let her take this call. Alone.
Because Kirk didn’t call unless there was a problem.
“Hi,” Carly said into the phone, staring at Levi’s lips. “Is everything okay?”
“Not so much,” Kirk said. “Dad might need another surgery.”
Carly sucked in a breath and turned her back to Levi. “What’s wrong? What do the doctors say?”
“Same as usual. It’s not healing and his lack of participation in physical therapy hasn’t helped. Taking him to the specialist again next week, and we’ll take it from there.”
“Keep me in the loop. I want to hear everything the doctor has to say. And if he needs another surgery, he’ll get it.”
Kirk sighed, and she could hear the tension in his voice stretching across the miles. “Carly, this time I’m going to need more help. I can’t swing the deductibles alone this time. Sharon and I—”
“Of course,” Carly said. “I’ll help, you know I will. Anything you need.”
“I need you to sell the company.” He cleared his throat. “How’s that going, by the way?”
Carly closed her eyes and made a meal out of her fingernail. “It’s...going. We’re getting there. I have a couple of possibilities lined up.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to... It’s just, well, you know Dad.”
“He’s having another bad day?”
“He has too many of those. I’d have you talk to him, because that always seems to cheer him up, but he went to bed early complaining that the whole world was going to hell.”
“I need to get him out here. Maybe I can be the one to—”
“He’s better off here for now. We said we’d revisit when we saw some improvement.”
Kirk was right, but that didn’t mean she thought their dad could make it through another Maine winter. And they were already in October. This year had gotten away from her.
“But the cold weather.” Just the thought of her dad out in Maine, missing his wife and hurting both physically and emotionally—it was enough to choke her words off.
“We’ll manage. You just worry about selling the company. And of course, you realize we’re at the point where we need to take an offer. Any offer.”
She sighed. “I know.”
I won’t cry. I won’t cry.
Carly made promises to call next week with an update and wrapped up the call. She turned to find Levi studying her.
His arms came around her immediately, circling her. “What’s wrong?”
She was that obvious. But she blew out a breath because she didn’t want to talk about this anymore. He already knew her company was in trouble. Already knew her father needed help. If she told him any more, he’d only feel sorry for her, and she couldn’t take that right now. “You have your own problems.”
“Which are under control.” Grabbing hold of her hand, he spun her into his arms. “Tell me.”
Her palms went up against his warm, hard chest, but no matter how sexy he was, no matter what he ordered her to do, she’d already said enough. “No. And stop giving me orders.”
“Don’t think of it as an order.” He lifted her chin until her eyes were forced to meet his. “Tell me?”
“You can’t help. What’s the point?”
“You know you want to tell me.” He grinned, a slow and easy smile filled with cocky self-assurance. “And you will.”
“Why should I?”
“Because I can help. It’s your dad again, isn’t it? He’s worse.”
“Yes.”
“Hip replacement, right? Titanium?”
“How’d you know?”
“Maybe I know some innovative treatments after hip surgery.”
“He’s got good doctors. I’m sure they’ve tried them all.”
“You don’t know that.”
It was true. She didn’t know much of what treatments they’d tried, and if Levi could help.
..if there was the slightest chance he could make a difference, she’d be an idiot not to let him try.
“How do you know so much about broken hips?”
“A buddy of mine. He has a titanium hip.”
And she had to guess that she didn’t want to know why, so she didn’t ask.
Levi kept talking. “The recovery was rough.”
“I bet.” But she’d guess he was younger, too. Age made a difference in recovery rates. Even she realized that much.
“Listen, Carly, you don’t have to be this strong person who keeps everything inside. You have friends and people who care about you. Everyone loves you. Why won’t you let them help?”
He had to be talking about himself. Not her. He was the one who kept his emotions in check, who had control of everything in his life. A tight schedule. Always on time.
On the other hand, he’d accepted her help. Or more like he’d been forced into it out of desperation. But she could see he had an army of friends in the community. So strange. It appeared he’d managed to have a greater support in place than she did.
Strong as he appeared to be—and he was strong, by all accounts—Levi did allow some people in.
How far in still managed to be a question mark.
“I don’t keep everything inside.”
“Just with me, then.”
That hit her front and center and might as well have been a punch to her gut. He was right. She’d held back from him from the moment she’d decided she would sleep with him. Because she didn’t want to get attached. She didn’t want Levi and Grace to be more commitments and obligations in her life.
Because I always manage to screw those up.
“No.” She shook her head, not wanting to admit it. “That doesn’t sound like me.”
His thumb traced her bottom lip. “Then stay with me tonight.”
“We don’t have to pretend anymore.”
“This isn’t about the Lanes. It’s about you and me.” His hand palmed the nape of her neck and he drew her closer, until she was just a breath away.
“Don’t you have to work—”
“No early flights tomorrow.”
But we said no one would get hurt. And I’m very likely leaving for New York.
She didn’t want to make it any harder than it would be to leave, and Levi and Grace were already complicating her life. Far more than she’d ever intended.
“But I—”
“Do you need your toothbrush? Because I’ll go get it.”
“Levi,” she said on a laugh.
“I mean it.” He tugged on a lock of her hair. “Unless you’re still too scared of me. Which I understand.”
“I never said I was afraid of you.”
“You didn’t have to.” He brought their joined hands up together and brushed a kiss across her knuckles.
He was right, in a way. She was afraid of the control he kept around her at all times, because she understood all too well how some of that could just...snap. When someone who’d held all their emotions in for so long just cut loose, there was usually a lot of damage after the fact. It had happened in New York. Her teacher, her friend. Alec had been so encouraging and patient with her questions. Then he’d just snapped. The tirade he’d thrown in front of the class was so embarrassing Carly hadn’t been able to show her face again for days.
Levi studied her now, his brow furrowed in concern. She did trust and feel safer with him than she had with any man in a long time. He seemed sincere about wanting to help, and he was sweet to be concerned about her father. And with that single effort, he’d managed to reach inside and squeeze her heart. But she was so not ready to do this little dance again. Especially not with him. She was leaving and didn’t want to hurt him or Grace.
His lips grazed her jawline, and he brushed a kiss on the corner of her mouth. Talented hands were busy sliding down from her hips to palm and squeeze her ass. In another minute, she wouldn’t be responsible for what she’d do. And she needed him out of her system, but not like this. Not by staying the night and imitating what a committed couple might do. Wake up together. Have breakfast. Grace would be here, too. They’d be like family, but not a family.
“I need to go.”
“Are you sure?”
She met his eyes and found a strength there that stunned her. “Yes.”
He stepped back, no hurt, disappointment or recrimination in his gaze. Just a quiet and calm acceptance as he held her hand and led her out his front door.
“You’re not mad?” she said to him outside her home.
He cocked his head and smiled a little. “No.”
“Why? Don’t you ever get mad?”
“You really don’t want to talk to me after the Cowboys miss the playoffs. Again.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
“You have so many reasons to be angry about what happened with Grace.”
“I am angry,” he said calmly.
How could he tell?
He wasn’t asking for an explanation or an excuse, but she still wanted to give him one. Give him something. Because she wanted him too much. “It’s not you, Levi. I—”
He put out a hand to stop her. “Let me stop you there. No one likes a sentence that starts that way.”
She got flustered. How many times had she heard that coming out of a guy’s mouth? And now here she was saying those ridiculous words. The problem was, she meant them. She was the problem. Not him. She’d thought he was the playboy pilot, the single father on the prowl. The commitment-phobe.
But maybe that was her.
“That’s not where I was going with this. I’m not...not turning you down.”
“No?”
“I just need a little time. To think. I’ve screwed so many things up in my life because I didn’t take the time to think before I leaped.”
“Sometimes thinking is overrated.”
“You don’t believe that.”
“Guess not.” He gave her a long look. “The important thing is whether you regret the other night.”
“No! I have no regrets. But we said no one would get hurt in this.”
“I remember. And no one is getting hurt.”
Easy for him to say. He could keep those pesky emotions controlled and locked up tight. Separated and compartmentalized. She could not.
“Yes, that’s exactly what I plan.”
It was her decision to say no tonight, and she needed to slow this train down. Because Levi was sort of perfect in so many ways. Strong but kind. Funny. She wasn’t the type who could separate love and sex like some of her girlfriends could.
But she couldn’t say that she’d completely given up on trying. “Can we revisit this sometime?”
He smiled. Easy. Relaxed. So self-assured and calm she wanted to fall into him. Because it would be so easy.
And easy is not what I need right now. It was hard not to reach for him, but she didn’t. Not a good idea.
“Anytime. Anywhere. You know where I live.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
LEVI HAD SO far enjoyed an email moratorium from Mr. Lane. While the nasty emails might have ended, Levi didn’t want to leave the situation this way. Unsettled. One would think that the fathers of two daughters, each forever connected to the other, would have something meaningful to discuss. He’d spend more time on that, but now it was up to Mr. Lane.
Irene had done her part to make Levi feel comfortable around her. He’d trust her with Grace in a heartbeat. She was a good woman, interested in Grace’s welfare and well-being above all else. His perfect idea of a grandmother. Irene would be a great addition in Grace’s life. But there was someone else missing from this equation, someone who could tell Grace all about her mother. What
she was like when she was a little girl. Everything she’d someday want to know. Until Mr. Lane fought his own demons, Levi didn’t know if he could help.
Meanwhile, he could help a certain woman who had burrowed under his skin. Carly had secrets she still wouldn’t share with him, but he was a patient man. One who understood holding people at a distance. He more or less had a graduate degree in the sport. That she’d chosen to put up a wall with him didn’t feel right, but he’d deal with it. When her eyes were filled with heat mixed with what resembled fear and uncertainty, she killed him twice. He didn’t know if her distrust was directed to all men, or simply him. But it was there, and she couldn’t fool him. She held back from him, not because she didn’t want him. But one thing was clear—she didn’t want to feel the way she did.
It was Wednesday before Levi had a chance to connect with Eric Taylor.
Levi had first met Eric at a wounded warrior event. Eric had been in special forces at one time, but when Levi met him, he was using a wheelchair. Two years later, Levi caught up with him after the total hip replacement. He still walked with a slight limp, but he’d married. Found work. Let the bitterness go, and Levi knew that hadn’t been easy. He hadn’t been there in the trenches with Eric, watching him bust his balls every day to learn how to walk with his new hip. But he’d certainly heard about it.
When Levi finally tracked Eric down, he’d interrupted something loud. In the background he heard the distinctive sound of squeaky shoes against a polished wood floor. Very familiar to a former high school guard.
“What’s up?” Eric said. “I’m at the kid’s basketball game.”
They exchanged quick updates on life. Eric had the expected response Levi got from most of his friends when they first heard about Grace. Temporary shock, followed by sympathy.
“You’re gonna love being a dad.”
“Already do. But I’m calling for a different reason. How’s the hip?”
“Ah, you know. I still call myself the bionic man, but I’m good. Sometimes on cold and wet days I feel rusty. No better word.”
This Baby Business Page 19
