“Do you want to know the two reasons I didn’t want to tell you my name that night?”
“No,” he said, but he could feel his head nodding.
Haddie laughed, but it was a strangled sound. “You charmed me more than any man had a right to charm me in so little time. I was afraid that if I heard you say my name, I might never leave that hotel room.”
“Jesus, Haddie…” he hissed, but he made no move to stop her. He wanted to know everything about her and, at the same time, nothing at all. Because the more he knew, the more he wanted. But what if… Did she want too? He couldn’t stop the words even if he tried. “What’s the other reason?”
She sighed, and her warm, sweet breath brushed against his neck, sending a shock of electricity down his spine, the surge so strong that he shuddered.
“Because I’d never let any man close enough to come up with a nickname for me, and you gave me one right on the spot. Ifelt—special.”
He opened his eyes, knowing that once he did, he would be a goner. But Levi didn’t care.
“Youarespecial,” he told her. “You know that, don’t you?”
She pressed her lips together and shrugged, giving him a sad smile.
Levi let go of the walls he swore were holding him up and dared to cup her cheeks in his palms.
“Tell me not to kiss you, Haddie. I’m fucking begging you. Please tell me not to.”
“Don’t kiss me,” she whispered, tilting her head up toward his.
“Tell me and mean it,” he whispered back.
But Haddie shook her head. “I can’t.”
Fuuuck.“You said you don’t date men you work with.”
She nodded. “I love my job, but I’m not going to complicate it with some selfish jerk who will eventually outgrow me, promising me a boozy brunch and surprising me with his parents instead.”
Levi’s brows furrowed. “I feel like I’m missing a huge chunk of the story here. I’ll own the selfish jerk part. That’s why I’m here. Not in this fitting room, but Summertown. You know what I mean. But the boozy-brunch thing and the ridiculous idea of outgrowing you? Nope. Not ringing a bell.”
She waved him off. “Not you, silly. Just someone from before I knew you.”
Levi didn’t even know the guy’s name, and he already hated him.
“And you’re not selfish or a jerk, Levi,” she continued. “You’restill grieving. It’s different.You’redifferent.” She cupped his cheek with her hand, and it took everything—every fucking ounce of his will—not to just lean into her touch, to kiss her palm, and to let their pent-up need take over from there.
Levi didn’t realize until now how much he’d continued to want her from that very first night. Now he knew that his need had been growing beneath the surface, like a virus without any known cure. He’d simply been pretending, lying to himself, and for a few short weeks he’d tricked himself into believing he’d found a remedy.
Still, he hesitated. “Haddie, I don’t think I can go back if we do this,” he admitted.
“Neither can I.”
Whether she only wanted him right now or for every other day to come, Levi didn’t care.
“And Coach Crawford?” he asked. “Our jobs. What if he…?” But Levi’s job—the one he was trying to get back—felt a million miles away while Haddie Martin was right here in his fucking arms.
“Our entanglement,” she whispered. “Our business.”
Then you can’t know…until you know.
Matteo’s words echoed in the back of his head as Levi brought his lips to hers.
She hummed sweetly against him, and for a few seconds, that was all the kiss was—sweet. She tasted like coffee and cinnamon, like rainy nights and broken windows and wounds mended with care. But then her arms snaked around his neck, and her dress fell to the floor so that they were skin to skin, heat against heat, twowild hearts bursting from captivity.
He pulled back, gasping. Where before he was afraid to look, now he drank her in. “My god, you’re beautiful,” he told her, his voice rough as gravel.
