“Did you . . . I mean, did you bring someone to justice tonight?”
“Yeah, but now I have a new case to solve.”
“The guy who killed the prostitute?” I ask softly, watching his expression change in the green lights coming off the dash.
“Yeah.” He nods once, and his fist tightens on the steering wheel.
“It must be difficult witnessing firsthand the worst parts of humanity, day after day.”
“It’s not easy,” he agrees, and I wrap my hands together in my lap to keep from reaching over and touching him in some way. To assure him that what he’s doing is important and appreciated. “I’ll drop you girls off out front, then go find parking,” he says, and I pull my eyes from him and realize we have already reached our block.
“Sure, thanks again.” I give him a small smile as he pulls up in front of our apartment building and I unhook my seat belt.
“Yeah, thanks for the ride,” Libby and Mac say.
I open my door and hop down, slamming my door as he says, “No problem.”
Heading to the building, I punch in the code for the door and let my sisters in ahead of me. “Um, how are we going to get into your apartment?” Mac asks as we head up the stairs to my place.
“My hidden key,” I tell her, walking across the open space between Levi’s apartment and mine. Bending, I lift the corner of the mat in front of my door and pull off the spare key I taped there when I moved in.
“That’s not very safe.” Libby eyes the key as I peel it off the tape.
“The building’s safe, and only tenants have the code for the front door.”
“Still, Dad would kill you if he knew you had a key hidden under your mat.”
“Dad will never know.” I shove the key in the lock and push the door open. “Hey, baby, did you miss us?” I smile at Muffin, who greets us with her tail wagging a hundred miles an hour. Giving her some love, I pat her head, then walk around her. “Let Mama change; then I’ll take you out to potty.”
“Yeah, and when you come back, you can tell us about Levi,” Mac says, dropping to the couch. Muffin climbs up next to her, pushing her head under Mac’s hand.
“There’s nothing to tell,” I mutter to myself, kicking off my heels before taking Levi’s jacket off and laying it across the end of my bed carefully. Pulling the dress off over my head, I roll it into a ball, then head for the bathroom, where I toss the stupid thing in the trash.
“There is some serious chemistry going on between you and Mr. Officer,” Libby informs me as she leans against the bathroom door while I grab a makeup removal wipe and start to scrub my face clean.
“He’s just a nice guy.” Shrugging off the look she gives me, I pick up my hairbrush, then drop it back to the top of the counter and grab a hair tie instead and tie my hair into a ponytail. As soon as I’m done, I look at her in the mirror. “I’m not interested.”
“Sure, you’re not,” she says sarcastically, stepping out of my way so I can leave the bathroom.
“It’s the truth,” I grumble, opening my closet and grabbing a pair of my favorite sweats off the top shelf, then a tank top from my drawer. I put both on quickly before slipping on my Toms.
“If you say so.” She turns and leaves the room. Biting my tongue to keep from replying, I head for the living room behind her and watch as she flops down on the couch next to Mac.
“I think he likes you,” Mac says, and Libby agrees as she kicks off her heels.
Ignoring both of them, I open the closet next to the front door and grab my windbreaker and Muffin’s leash.
“Ready?” I ask my girl, who is already waiting at the door, looking at me like I need to hurry up. As she wags her tail in reply, I attach her leash, then look toward the couch. “I’ll be right back.”
“We’ll be here,” Mac says, flipping on the television.
Swinging open the door, I groan when I find Levi on the other side with his hand ready to knock.
When will this night end?
“Hey, hold this.” I shove Muffin’s leash at him before he has a chance to say anything and turn back to my apartment. Going to my bedroom, I quickly grab his jacket and head right back to the door without looking at the couch, where I can feel two sets of eyes watching me. I have no doubt both my sisters are smiling.
“Night, Levi,” Libby calls, and I shut the door quickly, cutting off the sound of her and Mac laughing.
Feeling my face heat in embarrassment, I shove his jacket into his chest without looking at him, muttering, “Here’s your jacket. Thanks for letting me borrow it,” while attempting to take Muffin’s leash from his tight grasp with my free hand.
“Are you taking her out?” he asks, placing his fingers under my chin and forcing me to look at him.
“Yeah.”
“I’ll go with you.” His hand drops away, and he finally takes his jacket from me. At a loss for words, I watch him as he walks the four steps to his apartment—still holding Muffin’s leash—opens his door, and tosses the jacket in carelessly before slamming the door.
“You don’t have to come with us. We’re just going across the street to the park.”
“I don’t mind.” Okay, what the hell do I say to that? I don’t want you to go with me because you make me dizzy and I don’t know how to act when you’re close?
“All righty then,” I murmur instead, catching his lips twitch before I drop my gaze to the top of Muffin’s head so I can avoid looking at him.
Heading down the stairs with Muffin leading the way, we leave the building and walk in silence across the street to the park. I expect Muffin to do what she always does as soon as we make it to the grass—which is take care of business quickly before dragging me back home—but tonight is apparently not that kind of night. No, tonight my dog has decided she needs to sniff every single blade of grass and stop at every tree as we walk slowly down the tree-lined path.
“Your sisters seem nice,” he says, breaking the silence, and I turn to him and find his beautiful eyes on me.
“They are, but they are also crazy.” I kick a pebble, watching it fly through the air and bounce a few feet away before rolling into the grass.
“I doubt they have anything on my brothers.”
“You have brothers?” I tilt my head back toward him, again watching him smile.
“Yep, three. All younger.” Studying him with the dim light coming from the streetlamps above us, I try to guess how old he is.
“I’m thirty.” He nudges my shoulder with his, and I duck my head, wondering how he knew what I was thinking.
“How old are you?” he asks, stopping to let Muffin sniff another tree.
“Twenty-seven in three days.”
“You’re still a baby.”
“I guess if I were an old man I’d think twenty-seven was young, too.” I smile, enjoying the sound of his deep laugh as it rumbles through the quiet night. “So, do your brothers live in the city?”
“No, they all live in Connecticut near my parents, in the town we grew up in.” He stops and pulls me close to him as a man jogs by, then lets me go once he’s passed, and we resume walking. “Our mom would lose her mind if any one of them left with her grandkids.”
“Do all of your brothers have kids?”
“Yep.”
“But you live here in the city.”
“I do.”
“So you don’t have kids?” I surmise, watching a slow grin spread across his face.
“Nah, no kids. Not yet anyway.”
“Cool,” I mumble like an idiot, silently begging Muffin to hurry up so I can get home before I make an even bigger fool of myself.
“Are you cold?” he questions, and I realize I’ve half disappeared into my windbreaker, trying to escape the freezing wind that has suddenly picked up.
“A little. It’s been so warm during the day, I keep forgetting how cold the nights are.”
“Come here.” He wraps his arm around my shoulders, and my body stiffens. “Rela
x, I’m just keeping you warm.” Relax? Is he crazy? How the hell am I supposed to relax when he’s touching me? It’s bad enough being around him, let alone feeling his warmth against my side and his smell of clean soap and musk suffocating me. “What are your plans for your birthday?”
“I . . . um . . .” Oh god, he’s short-circuiting my brain. I can’t even get a full sentence out.
“That sounds fun.” He chuckles, and I smack his abs without thinking.
“Don’t make fun of me.”
“Gorgeous, I’m not making fun of you. I think you’re adorable when you get all flustered.”
“I’m not flustered,” I lie, trying with everything in me to ignore the butterflies in my stomach that have taken flight and the fact that he’s once again making me dizzy.
“It’s cute.”
“Whatever.” I pull my eyes from his, thanking the good lord above when Muffin starts to do her business, then curse under my breath when she looks at me, stops, and walks to another spot to start her search all over again.
“So what are your plans for your birthday?”
“My parents are coming into the city on Friday to take me to see The Lion King. Every year for my birthday we see a show—it’s a tradition.”
“That’s nice, but your birthday’s Tuesday, right?”
“Yeah.”
“So what are you doing on your birthday?”
“I don’t know. I have work the next day, so I’ll probably just order a pizza from Caminos and watch a movie or something.” God, that sounds lame, even to me.
“No boyfriend taking you out?” he asks, and his arm tightens around me ever so slightly on the word boyfriend.
“No . . . um, no boyfriend.” I pull my bottom lip between my teeth and bite hard to keep from asking why he wants to know.
“And your sisters aren’t taking you out?”
“After tonight, I think I need a break from them,” I mutter drily; his arm tightens, and his body shakes with laughter.
“That bad, huh?”
“I told you they’re crazy.”
“Well, if you want some company, I’m off Tuesday. Just knock on my door—we can hang out and order pizza.”
“Okay.” I nod, knowing I’d be more inclined to run naked through Times Square than knock on his door for any reason, let alone ask him to hang out with me on my birthday.
“She’ll never knock,” he says to himself, and I look up at him.
“Pardon?”
“You won’t knock. Hell, if I see you after tonight, I’ll be surprised.”
“What does that mean?” I frown, and his eyes scan my face.
“Since I moved in, you’ve been avoiding me. I don’t see that changing.”
“I haven’t been avoiding you,” I lie, wondering how the hell he knows I’ve been avoiding him. Have I been that obvious? I don’t think I have been.
“Babe, I’ve knocked on your door and heard you on the other side turn off the TV and play possum.”
Oh my god, how the hell did he hear that? “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I bet you don’t.” He sighs, and I can’t tell if it’s a sigh of annoyance or something else as his arm tightens again, forcing me deeper into his side as we stop at another tree.
“Good girl,” I call to Muffin when she finally takes care of business and turns her head toward the sound of my voice. Her ears perk up, and her tail wags, shaking her whole body as she gallops back toward us and bumps her nose into Levi’s thigh.
“Are you ready to head back?” he asks me while rubbing the top of her head.
“Sure.” I let out the breath I’ve been holding as he turns us around and leads us back through the park and across the street to the apartment building. Once we are both inside our building, I expect him to give me Muffin’s leash and remove his arm from around my shoulders, but he doesn’t. Instead he keeps us locked together side by side as we take the stairs with Muffin ahead of us. I want to dislike the way it feels being tucked almost protectively under his arm, but I don’t. Instead I’m wondering what kind of excuse I can make up to spend more time right where I am without actually having to admit to myself that I like him.
“If I don’t see you on your birthday, I hope you have a good time,” he says, letting me go once we reach the landing between his apartment and mine. Turning to face him, I take Muffin’s leash as he holds it out, then look up into his golden eyes.
“Thanks.”
“My pleasure.” His fingers touch the underside of my chin; then his thumb sweeps just below my bottom lip. Getting lost in the way he’s looking at me, I lean into his touch and hold my breath as his face starts to descend toward mine.
“Oh good, you’re back. I was just coming to check on you.” Mac breaks into the moment. I jump back a mile like I’ve been caught with my hand in the cookie jar, and I hear Levi curse quietly behind me. “Oh sorry, I thought you were out here alone,” Mac says, and I don’t even have to look at her to know she’s smirking.
“It’s fine, I was just coming in . . . um, night, Levi.” I wave in his direction without looking at him, then growl under my breath when Muffin tugs on her leash, preventing me from making my escape.
Feeling my face heat, I turn around and find my dog sitting at Levi’s side with his hand on the top of her head. “Go on in, girl,” he commands with a pat to her head, and Muffin looks up at him, then looks at me, but what she doesn’t do is move an inch.
“Come on, Muffin,” I urge, giving her leash a gentle tug as my face grows hotter.
“I think Muffin wants to stay with Levi.” Mac laughs, and I glare at her. “Just sayin’.” She smiles.
“Come on,” Levi rumbles, and I watch him lead Muffin to my apartment door, where Mac steps back to let him inside. Feeling the leash in my hand pull, I know I don’t have a choice but to follow behind them.
“Oh, hey, Levi,” Libby calls from the couch as I release Muffin so she can get to Libby. “We’re getting ready to watch a movie. Do you want to join us?” she asks, and I peek up to find him already halfway out the door.
“Sorry, it’s been a long day.” He pauses to look over his shoulder. “Maybe next time,” he says, then his eyes find mine and I hold my breath. “Night, Fawn. See you soon.” The promise in those words and the look in his eyes has goose bumps breaking out across my skin.
“Night, Levi.” I watch him close the door behind him as he leaves.
Shrugging off my windbreaker, I avoid looking at either one of my sisters as I hang it in the closet along with Muffin’s leash.
“So Levi went with you to walk Muff—”
“Don’t.” I hold up my hand, cutting Mac off, because I know what’s coming. I don’t want to answer a million questions, and I don’t want to listen to her and Libby tease me about Levi, especially when I’m feeling so conflicted.
“I was just going to say that was nice of him,” she grumbles, walking to the kitchen to get a bottle of water from the fridge.
“Sorry, I’m just tired.” I sigh, rubbing my face. I’m actually not tired anymore, even though I should be, since it’s almost three in the morning. Instead I feel wired, like I’ve just drunk three cups of coffee and taken a trip on a roller coaster.
“Come watch a movie with us,” Libby pleads, and I look to the couch, where she and Muffin are curled up under one of my blankets.
“I think I’m just going to go to bed.”
“We won’t talk about Levi anymore if you watch a movie with us,” Mac pouts, taking a seat on the couch and pulling a separate blanket from the back.
“Fine,” I give in, feeling guilty for being so short with her moments ago. Kicking off my Toms, I go to the couch and take a seat next to Mac. As soon as I sit, she drapes part of her blanket over my lap, then picks up the remote. “What are we watching?”
“Nightmare on Elm Street.” Libby smiles while Muffin stands, only to lie down across Mac’s lap so she can rest her head on my thighs.
“Me neither. I wonder if it will be as scary now as it was when we were kids.”
“I doubt it. Most movies I thought were scary back then aren’t as scary now,” I say as the movie starts to play. Not even thirty minutes later, I yawn for the fourth time in a row and look over at Mac and Libby, finding them both asleep. I think about waking them and helping them set up the pullout, but they honestly look comfortable enough. Flipping off the television, I climb carefully off the couch and head to my bedroom as Muffin follows me. Shutting my bedroom door, I turn out the light, take off my sweats, and climb into bed, feeling Muffin jump up a second later. She groans as she flops down next to me. Lying there in the dark, it takes forever to find sleep as my mind spins with thoughts of Levi.
Chapter 4
IT’S MY BIRTHDAY—I’LL CRY IF I WANT TO
FAWN
“Time to pack up, guys,” I call from the front of the class, seeing that it’s two minutes until the bell will ring. “Remember, your permission slips need to be turned in tomorrow, so make sure you have your parents sign them tonight if you haven’t already,” I shout over the sudden eruption of talking, books slamming, and coats being put on. “Also, don’t forget that your book reports are due tomorrow, so bring your books with you to class,” I say, watching my students look restlessly from the clock to me, ready to escape as soon as the clock strikes three fifteen. I can’t blame them—I love what I do, but after being surrounded by four walls all day long, I’m just as antsy to get outside. Hearing the bell ring, I smile. “’Bye, guys.”
“’Bye, Miss Reed,” they say one after another as they pass me on the way out of the room. Giving them all smiles or pats on the back, I wait until the last student passes, then turn around and grin when I see Tamara, one of my favorite students, with her head buried in a book.
“Honey, class is over,” I say, and her chin flies up, causing the curly ringlets covering her head to bounce. As she looks around, her mocha cheeks get pink just a bit, and she shakes her head.
“I did it again?” she grumbles, and I smile.