Running Into Love (Fluke My Life 1)

“Jesus.” He shakes his head, resting his elbows to his knees, studying us. “You better go before I stand.”

“What?” I pull myself from Muffin trying to understand what just happened and why he suddenly looks pissed.

“I want you, Fawn.” He pauses, rubbing his hand down the morning scruff covering his jaw. “I want you, and if I get my hands on you right now, there will be no going back, so you need to leave.”

“Oh.” I lick my lips and look at the door, then back to him, torn between leaving and letting him have me however he wants.

“Go, baby,” he growls, so deep that I swear I feel it skim through every single cell in my body.

“Right,” I whisper, picking up my Uggs that I took off last night and left next to his door. I pause with them against my chest. “Levi.” I turn my head toward him with my hand on the knob to find him still sitting.

“Yeah?”

“Just so you know, I want you, too.” I swing the door open and hurry out and across the hall before he can reply. After knocking on my door, since I don’t have a key, it only takes a half a second for my dad to answer, and when he does, I swear he’s fighting back a grin.

“Well, look who the cat decided to finally drag home.” Here we go.

“Morning, Daddio,” I mutter as he kisses my forehead, and then I scoot past him, dropping my shoes to the floor.

“Where’s Levi?” Mom asks, looking behind me without so much as a hello in my direction.

“He’s taking Muffin for a walk, he’ll be over soon.”

“Did you hear that, Libby? Levi’s taking Fawn’s dog for a walk after she spent the night with him,” Mac says and I look to where my sisters are seated on the couch.

“I heard it, sis.” Libby smirks, and I roll my eyes at the two of them.

“Could all of you do me a favor, and for once, just try to act normal and not embarrass me?” I plead.

“We would never embarrass you,” Mom says, and my head swings to her and I raise a brow. “Well, not on purpose, anyways,” she concludes in a mutter.

“Dad,” I say, pulling my eyes from my mom to look at him.

“When have I ever embarrassed you?” he asks, and I stare at him in disbelief.

“I don’t know, maybe the time Jimmy came over and you asked him if we were having sex.”

“That was a serious question.” He frowns, scratching his beard.

“I was thirteen,” I cry, feeling embarrassed for my teenage self all over again.

“Kids nowadays are having sex young. I wanted you to be safe.”

“Just, please, no talking about sex . . .” I pause to look at everyone. “At all.”

“I don’t know, maybe I should have a talk with him. After all, you did spend the night with the man.”

“Oh lord.” I cover my face with my hands and rub hard.

“Did you have sex with him?” Mom asks, and I pull my hands from my face to look at her, standing in the kitchen mixing a bowl of pancake batter.

“No, but even if we did, I wouldn’t talk to you or Dad about it.”

“Why not?” she asks, sounding offended.

“Mom,” I sigh.

“Well, I have years of experience. I should be the person you talk to about sex.”

“Yeah, Mom’s an expert.” Libby giggles, and I turn to glare at her as Mac makes a gag face in her direction.

“No one”—I wave my hand around encompassing all of them—“is allowed to even mention the word sex once Levi is here,” I growl, then stomp toward my bedroom and shut the door. Going straight to my bathroom, I wash my face and brush my teeth, then start up the shower. I know I don’t have a lot of time, but I need a few minutes to prepare myself for the torture that I know is coming. My family behaving like normal people is about as likely as winning the lottery.

Stripping out of my clothes, I get in under the warm water and wash my hair, then put in conditioner and leave it in to soak while I scrub head to toe with my berry-scented body wash. Once I’m clean, I comb out my hair, then rinse it with cool water. Shutting off the tap, I wrap myself in a towel and step into my room, sighing when I find my sisters on my bed.

“Levi’s here,” Mac says, and I look at the door, wondering if I should go out and rescue him before I get dressed. “He’s fine. When we came in here, he was helping Mom with breakfast.”

“Great,” I mutter, grabbing a pair of underwear and slipping them on under my towel.

“So you stayed the night with him—does this mean you’re finally going to tell us what’s going on between you two?” Libby asks, and I look at her over my shoulder while I put on my bra.

“We’re . . .” I pause, not sure what we are exactly. “We’re seeing each other.” I shrug, figuring that’s a safe and true statement. I mean, he didn’t say I was his girlfriend or anything, but he did say we were going to see what happened between us.

“So you’re dating?” Mac asks.

“Kind of.” I pull in a breath and shrug. Turning to grab a shirt, I pull out one with the Goonies on the front and toss it toward the bottom of my closet before proceeding to search through my stack of tees for one that doesn’t seem childish. Sadly, all my shirts are basically the same—they all have witty sayings or cartoon characters on them. Giving up on my search and wanting to be more comfortable than fashionable, I settle on a long-sleeved, baby-blue tee with the Muppets on the front.

“Are you going to wear that?” Libby asks as I pull on a pair of black leggings.

“Shut up, Libby,” Mac says as I step back into my bathroom to put on deodorant and spray leave-in conditioner in my hair.

“I’m only saying it because Levi doesn’t look like the type of guy who would date a girl who dresses like a fourteen-year-old,” Libby states when I come back into the room a minute later.

I look down at my shirt, and my stomach twists uncomfortably. She’s right—Levi doesn’t look like the kind of guy who would date a nerdy, awkward girl with out-of-control hair who prefers wearing leggings and baggy tees. He looks like the kind of guy who only dates models who look like his gorgeous sister-in-law.

“Don’t change,” Mac says, and my eyes go to her. “If he doesn’t like you for you, screw him.”

“You’re only saying that because of Edward.” Libby shakes her head, and I look at Mac.

“What happened with Edward?”

“Nothing.” She turns to narrow her eyes on Libby.

“So you want me to tell you what’s going on with Levi and me, but you don’t want to tell me about you and Edward?”

“There is no me and Edward,” she states in a growl, fisting her hands on her lap.

“What happened?” I ask, looking at Libby when I see Mac’s lips are sealed.

“He has a girlfriend,” Libby says quietly, and my eyes widen.

“What?” I take a seat next to Mac, and her cheeks darken. “Since when?”

“I don’t know.” Mac shakes her head. “I thought I was finally making progress with him. I thought he was finally noticing me. Then, out of the blue, he calls me three days ago and asks if I want to get a drink with him and a couple of friends. Of course, like an idiot, I agreed. Then the next thing I know, I’m sitting in a booth across from him and his girlfriend while they make out.”

“I’m sorry, Mac.” I rub her shoulder. She’s been crushing on Edward forever, so it had to be devastating for her to watch him with someone else.

“It’s for the best,” she mutters, moving off the bed to stand. “Lesson learned.” She shakes her head, smoothing her hands down her denim-covered thighs. “Never again will I work at trying to make a man notice me.”

“You deserve more than a guy like him anyways,” I tell her truthfully, and her face softens. “Seriously, he wasn’t even that cute.”

“True story.” Libby smiles, hopping off the bed. “Now, Levi, on the other hand, is beyond hot. You better hold tight to that man.”

“He’s lucky to have you, n

ot the other way around—don’t ever forget that,” Mac says, looking at me.

“Mac’s right,” Libby says softly, wrapping her arm around Mac’s shoulders. “Levi is hot, but you are beautiful. If he doesn’t want you, someone else will.”

“Do not make me cry,” I grumble as tears burn the back of my throat. My sisters might drive me nuts most of the time, but I wouldn’t trade them for the world.

“Seriously, how lucky will he be if he gets to be a part of this family?” Libby laughs, and Mac and I follow along with her.

“Speaking of Levi, I better get out there before Mom asks him when he plans on marrying me or offers sex advice.” I grin.