Not wanting to seem ungrateful, I said, “Sure. Yeah. That sounds nice.”
His grin broadened, and he winked at me. That simple gesture was somehow both friendly yet explicitly intimate, and it sent a barrage of butterflies swirling in my stomach.Oh my.
“Great, I’ll see you in, say, an hour?”
“Okay,” I said, grinning back at him.
Without another word, Levi turned, nodded a greeting to the other women, and departed.
“That was weird, right?” I said once he was gone.
“Levialwayseats alone,” one of the other women said, a scowl on her face. I was pretty sure I’d seen her with Eugenia earlier in the day.
“That’s true,” Linnea admitted. “He takes his dinner in his cabin every day. Rainier joins him now and then, but as far as I know, no woman has ever had dinner with him.”
Heat rushed to my face. All I wanted was to get out of there.
“Maybe, uh, maybe I should head back to my room,” I suggested. “Clean up before dinner, you know?”
Linnea nodded. “Probably a good idea. I need to go help Sarah with dinner anyway. I’ll see you later tonight.”
“Sure.” On my way out, I noticed several women were whispering and glancing in my direction.
An hour later,I stood on Levi’s porch, my stomach twisted into knots. Within seconds after my knock, he opened the door and gave me a knee-weakening smile. Behind him, I spotted a neatly set table with cast iron pots and pans sitting on wooden trivets. The smells wafting toward me made my mouth water.
“Come on in,” Levi said, stepping aside.
As I stepped inside, Levi put his hand on my lower back and guided me farther into the room. That soft, innocent touch sent a warm jolt of pleasure through my skin, which tingled all along my lower back and up to my shoulders. I had to force myself not to gasp or turn to look at him.
The cabin was pleasantly warm, thanks to the fire crackling in the fireplace. Most of the electric lights were off, and the ones that were on gave the space a cozy vibe.
“It smells good,” I said, hanging my coat on a hook near the door.
“Good timing. They delivered it about five minutes before you got here,” Levi explained as he lifted a large glass bottle, holding it up for me to see. “Wine? I wasn’t sure what you liked.”
“That sounds great, actually,” I said.
Levi pulled my chair out for me and laid a napkin across my lap, his fingers grazing my thighs. His warmth seeped into me, leaving trails of pleasurable fire across my legs. He might have looked like a hulking lumberjack, but he was a gentleman. He popped the cork, poured me a glass, then sat down.
“Sorry, we don’t have any stemware,” he said, gesturing to the heavy glass tumbler I held.
“Wine is wine,” I said with a smile. “Doesn’t matter the glass.”
Levi lifted the lids on the pots and pans. Linnea had been right. A pile of breaded and fried chicken pieces sat on one pan, the roasted brussels sprouts and mashed potatoes in another, a pan of freshly baked biscuits, and the beet salad she’d told me about. To my surprise, it looked really good.
“We don’t judge here,” Levi said. “Go ahead and dig in. I’m sure you’rehungry.”
Something about the way he said that word, the way he looked at me, made me think he wasn’t just talking about food. I cleared my throat and tried to shove those thoughts away. That was ridiculous. I was reading into things that weren’t there.
My stomach growled, so I put a bit of each dish on my plate, then decided to start with the salad. Much to my surprise, it was fantastic. The vinaigrette was seasoned, which complemented the earthiness of the beets, and tanginess of the blue cheese.
“Oh wow,” I said.
Levi grinned. “It’s good, right?”
“That’s an understatement.”
“Tell me a little about yourself,” Levi said as he spread butter on a biscuit.
