Pulling up my banking app, I breathe a sigh of relief when I see that the order payments are coming through.
“Thank God, I’ll be able to pay some bills,” I whisper, closing my eyes before giving thanks.
When I pad into the kitchen, I find Levi already there, dressed in low-slung sweatpants and nothing else. His hair is sticking up in about fifteen different directions, and the stubble on his jaw is thicker than usual, making him look rumpled and somehow hotter than normal. I have to remind myself that he’s younger than me, and my best friend’s brother, but the answering tug in between my thighs says forget about it.
My heart does that stupid fluttery thing it’s been doing lately whenever I see him.
“Morning,” I say, my voice still rough with sleep.
He turns, and the smile that spreads across his face is like sunshine on a cloudy day. “Morning, Magnolia Grace. Coffee?”
“God, yes please.”
He pours me a cup, adding the exact amount of cream and sugar I like without asking. The fact that he’s noticed, that he’s paid attention, makes my chest tight. This is shit Cody didn’t even notice after years of marriage.
I’m already pulling ingredients out of the fridge when he sits down at the kitchen table with his own coffee.
“You’re starting early,” he observes.
“Have to.” I gesture to my order list on the iPad. “Thanksgiving rush. Everyone wants fancy desserts to impress their families, or for their company parties. It’s good, at least I know I’ll recover some of the money Cody stole.”
“You know I’ll do what I can, Magnolia Grace. Want me to arrest him for stealing your money?”
I laugh, glancing over at him. “I wish you could, but the great state of Alabama says that because both of our names were on the account, he was entitled. Which is why I’m working my ass off today.”
“Need any help?”
I turn to look at him, this beautiful man offering to help me at six in the morning when he could be sleeping. “Don’t you have work today?”
“On standby until the operation’s over,” he says. “Director Drake wants us available, but not out on regular patrol, remember? Too risky. So until I hear something I’m basically laid off.”
The reminder of what he’s doing, the danger he’s putting himself in, makes my stomach twist. “Right.”
“So I’m all yours,” he continues, standing and moving into the kitchen beside me. “Put me to work.”
I pull up all my orders, and get them separated out, and start melting the chocolate. “Think you can dip?”
“Can I dip?” He grins, a dimple flashing in his cheek. “My grandmother had me doing Oreos for her teachers when I was like twelve. I can dip.”
His confidence is infectious and makes me smile. I haven’t smiled this much in years. “Alright then, hot shot. Show me what you got.”
We fall into an easy rhythm. He’s good with his hands; not that I’m surprised, and he follows my instructions perfectly.
“Yeah, just like that,” I praise him as he shakes off the chocolate.
He raises his eyebrows, his eyes burning hot. “You’ve said that more than once to me.”
Fuck he is so hot, but I remind myself if I don’t work, I don’t eat. “Keep that sexy smirk to yourself, Levi.”
We work side by side, our arms brushing occasionally, the space between us charged with the awareness that’s constantly between us.
After a while, he breaks the comfortable silence. “What are you doing for Thanksgiving?”
I pause in the middle of tempering chocolate. “You invited me to your family’s thing.”
“Yeah?” There’s something in his voice I can’t quite identify. “But you never really gave me a straight answer, I pulled your hand to my dick and we got distracted. Are you going?”
“I want to say yes, but…” I trail off, not sure how to finish that sentence. Not since whatever’s been going on between us.
