I didn’t wait, just did as Dax wanted. I grabbed my laptop. It took ten minutes, but the order was placed. It wouldn’t be here overnight, but it was supposed to arrive before I was supposed to leave.
Me: Done. I attached the screenshot of the order.
A light knock sounded at my door, and I jumped a foot, slapped the lid down on the laptop. My cell clattered to the floor. “Fuck.”
I threw the door open, breathless, only to find the subject of my sex dream looming large in the doorway.
Levi’s white T-shirt stretched taut around his muscles, his pecs clearly defined underneath the thin fabric. The cowboy hat was gone, and he must’ve been freshly showered because his square jaw was shaved smooth, and he smelled like soap and rain. In his hand, he held a plate covered in foil.
“Hey,” he rumbled, his deep voice slipping into my panties like a dark invitation. “I came earlier to take you to dinner at the main house with the others and saw you were sleeping. I wanted to let you rest but figured you might be hungry now.”
“I am!” I didn’t mean to sound so eager, but now that the smell of the food reached my stomach, I was starved. And I felt as if he could tell exactly what I’d been up to. I practically snatched the plate from his hand, but he held it up high, out of my reach.
I stilled, confused as to why he offered then yanked it away.
He shook his head slowly. “Uh uh. There’s a price, Doctor.”
For a split second, I panicked. A price? Was he trying to blackmail me, too? Then I saw the sly twist to his lips, the humor glinting in his eyes. He was playing.
I put my hands on my hips, sighed in relief. Compared to the asshole punk who was ruling my life right now, Levi was a relief. Friendly. Gruff, sure. But I felt safe with him. As if there was a connection or something between us. More.
Which, of course, there wasn’t, which meant I was delirious from low blood sugar or something.
I couldn’t date Levi, though. Fuck, that was my problem right there. I was here for two weeks. There was no dating. He was the sheriff. Acting sheriff, whatever that meant in this town. He was the law. I was the proverbial outlaw. I couldn’t take care of Pops if I lost my license or was in jail.
But right now, he wasn’t the sheriff but a guy who was thoughtfully bringing me dinner. I needed to stop reading into everything.
“Whoa, there. Where’d you go?”
I blinked, realized I’d been in my head again. Smiled.
“What’s your price, big man?” Oops. That came out way more flirty than I intended. I wasn’t sure I’ve ever flirted before in my life. Never so blatantly.
“Mmm.” He backed up, still holding the food out of reach. I was tall, but he had several inches on me. The only way I was going to get that plate was to climb him like a monkey. While that idea sounded appealing, it probably wasn’t the best thing to do. “For one thing, you should definitely call me big man again.” He winked and turned down the hall. “Trust me, I’m big all over.”
Oh lord. He had taken it as flirting. Why were my nipples getting hard? Was my mind really thinking about how big he was in other places. If the size of his hands were any indication…
I followed him and the plate of food, as he’d surely intended.
“And the other thing?” I asked, eyeing how well his jeans molded to his butt.
“You gotta sit with me.” He tipped his head, friendly-like, in the direction of the living-slash-game room.
I arched a brow. “Sit with you?”
Ordinarily I wouldn’t need to clarify, but I wasn’t sure if he meant sit with him or sit on him. I knew which one I’d rather do.
He smirked. “Or you can do other things. Your choice.”
Holy shit, I’d been right.
I rolled my eyes and smacked his arm. I didn’t know when I started smacking guys so playfully, nor how he managed to make me feel comfortable enough to do it, but honestly? It felt good. So had the hard muscle beneath my palm.
I’d been keeping myself closed off from men for way too long, as my best friend Keely always told me. Now, with my Dax situation, I couldn’t even think about it.
Except I was.
The Cooper Valley sheriff was all but inviting me to sit on his flipping lap, and I was actually considering it.
Except I had no game. No experience. Was way too up in my head when it came to guys. Instead of going with it, I wondered how I got from professional, clothes-on, respectability to naked and horizontal with this guy? Sure, I’d felt up his forearm, but what happened next? I just couldn’t picture the steps in between or Levi doing them with me.