“You cooked, I clean. Those are the rules.”
He comes over to stand next to me while I wash the dishes, leaning against the counter, his gaze on me hot and penetrating.
“A second job doesn’t count as a hobby, by the way. What do you actually do for fun, Levi?”
He tilts his head back, staring at the ceiling, and I let out a sigh of relief to have his intense focus removed from me. I’m afraid he’ll be able to see straight into my soul and realize how ready I am to give in to my urge to kiss him.
“I mostly hang out with my brothers. I go to the gym and I run because I have to keep in shape for the quarterly family competitions.”
“No.” I drop the plate I’m washing and face him. “You all don’t still do that, do you?”
He grins. “Why wouldn’t we still do it? Don’t all families combine their reunions with competitive athletic games that last days at a time?”
I laugh. “I’d heard rumors about them happening at the Weston farm, but I figured they were exaggerated. I assumed you’ve all grown up and just sit around and gossip like normal families.”
He shrugs. “Sounds boring.”
“I’ve always wondered what they were like. Brodie went to one years ago, and all he would say was that it was absolutely insane.”
“You can come to the next one,” he says. “Just be prepared to participate. No one sits out the games.”
“I am the farthest thing from athletic there is.”
His smile widens. “Then we’ll add a painting competition. You can definitely win that one.”
“I’m sure your family would love that.”
“They would,” he says with a laugh. “We’re always looking for new creative ways to compete.”
I hum a noncommittal agreement, not taking him seriously at all. “You still haven’t told me what you do for fun.”
“Those things are all fun.” He taps his fingers on the counter. “I don’t have time for more than that.”
That makes two of us. I finish up the dishes, and we turn off the kitchen light before we head into the darkness and up the stairs to bed.
Chapter Twenty-One
Levi
Iknow I went to bed alone last night. I’m one hundred percent certain I climbed into bed and fell asleep without Gentry in my arms. I didn’t have anything to drink, so there’s no explanation for why I’m waking up with my favorite person on the planet curled up against me.
I don’t really care how or why she’s in my bed, I’m going to stay as still as possible. I’m barely going to breathe while I enjoy this extra time with her for as long as I can.
“I’m awake,” she says. “And if your body just went all tense because you don’t want me here, I can go.”
I pull her hard against me, my arms iron bands around her. “Don’t go.”
She leans back into me, her butt against my cock, which got even harder than is typical for the morning as soon as I realized she was in bed with me.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “I couldn’t fall asleep, and I was so tired. I just kept running over everything that happened last night, and I realized that I might have overreacted.”
“Oh, yeah?” Relief floods me like blood flowing back into an arm that’s been asleep.
She nods, her hair brushing my shoulder. “Yeah. I’ve been doing this on my own for so long and I’m not sure how to do it with someone else.” She rolls to face me. There’s a pillow crease on her cheek and sleep dust under one eye. She’s adorable, and I’m so fucking lucky that she’s here with me. “But I really likeyou, Levi. Not allowing myself to have you might be the safe thing to do, but it feels like the most wrong thing I’ve ever done.”
It hits me like a smack in the face that I need to tell her about her father. “Gentry—”
“It won’t be easy with me, Levi, but if you still want this, I want to try.”
