by Jill Sanders
“How about we walk? After that nap, I need the air,” he suggested. “Besides, it’s only two blocks away.”
She nodded. As they stepped out, she grabbed her light sweatshirt. Even though it was in the high eighties now, she figured it would be cooler when she walked home, and she might need it.
She was right. The breeze coming off the bay was cooler, signaling they would have rain either later that night or the following day.
“Nice night,” Levi said once they were at the end of her sidewalk.
“Smells like rain soon.”
“I love the rain.” He reached over and took her hand, stopping her from walking. “It reminds me of our first kiss.”
Her heart did a little flip as she lost herself in his blue eyes. “Levi.” She sighed.
“I understand that you’re still upset about something, but I think, that is, I was hoping you would give me a chance to make it up to you.”
She watched him hold his breath and felt the hold on her heart loosen. She’d lived years with the sting of his betrayal. But since she’d returned to the camp, he’d done nothing but try to make her laugh and smile. She could try and give him a second chance, as long as she kept her heart secured behind the wall she’d built years ago. Maybe having a summer fling with Levi would be just what she needed to get him out of her system for good. After all, the guy couldn’t really be as good as she’d built up in her mind. Could he?
“Of course,” she nodded.
They walked hand in hand back to his place. The smells that hit her as they stepped inside the house caused her stomach to growl. It didn’t seem like that long ago that they’d eaten lunch.
“Gran?” he called out. “I brought company.”
“Back here.” His grandmother appeared in the hallway, an apron wrapped around her waist that said ‘Hot Shit’ in fancy letters.
Scarlett smiled. “Hi, Mary Lynn.”
“Oh, Scarlett, what a wonderful surprise.” She waved them back towards the kitchen area.
“Thank you for having me. I hope I’m not putting you out,” Scarlett said, stepping into the kitchen.
“No, not at all, I always make plenty of food.” His grandmother hugged her. “Levi, why don’t you put an extra place setting out.”
Scarlett stood back as the duo moved around the small kitchen as if they had spent hours practicing the moves. She couldn’t count the times she and her mother and sister had worked around each other in their old kitchen in Jacksonville, before moving to the camp.
After her father had abandoned them, her mother had sunk into a slight depression, leaving Zoey and Scar to fend for themselves while trying to lift their mother out of the darkness.
Both sisters had gotten jobs to help pay for the monthly bills, since their father had left the family destitute after marrying a woman a few years older than Zoey.
Her father had not only taken his successful business and all the money when he’d left, but he’d cut all ties with his daughters until the day he’d died, when he’d called Zoey up and confessed from his deathbed how sorry he was.
Zoey, being Zoey, dropped everything and flew out to Vegas to deal with it all. Bridgette, their father’s second wife, had divorced him a year earlier. And since their divorce settlement hadn’t been to her liking, the woman had been there, waiting for another handout the moment she found out he’d died.
When Scar found out that he’d changed his will so that Zoey and she would inherit everything—millions of dollars—she at first didn’t want to touch the money. But then her sister had talked her into putting it all into the camp. After all, the place could use it.
Zoey had stepped up and taken charge of the sale of their father’s estate and business. When the first checks started flooding into Scarlett’s bank account, she’d quickly moved them over to the camp’s accounts. She was shocked by the amount of money that came after the liquidation of her father’s business. Zoey again persuaded her to invest some of it instead of just letting it sit in her account, untouched.
Since her father hadn’t left a dime to their mother, the woman who had given him everything, including her heart, before he’d left her behind, Scarlett and Zoey took care of her. Even though Kimberly continued to try and talk them out of it, neither of them planned on stopping anytime soon.
One of the best things they’d ever done was convince their mother to move into their old cabin on the campgrounds after it had been fully remodeled and turned into a home.
That was one thing she and Levi had in common—their family units were broken but still full of love. Everyone around town knew Levi’s story. How his mother, who had been a young teenager when he’d been born, had OD’d on pain meds shortly after Levi’s seventh birthday. Everyone knew that he didn’t know who his father was, since his mother had taken that knowledge with her when she’d died.
Levi was extremely lucky that his grandmother had been there for him. He may not have grown up with a mother and father, but he was raised with love and had turned into one of the best people Scar had ever met, even if his past was shaded with betrayal and pain.
She couldn’t deny that since she’d come back to town, he’d tried to make it up to her. Still, it would be nice for him to remember the major betrayal that had caused her so much pain for so long. She normally didn’t play games, but after that summer together, he’d hurt her. His betrayal had come the same year, the same month that her father had left and married a woman half his age. Levi had hurt her as much as her father had, and she had never talked to her father again.
“Levi was telling me that you have a few more cabins almost ready to open up?” His grandmother chatted as they all sat down around the table.
“Yes.” She smiled. “Hillview Cabin and Beatle.” She chuckled. “Which is nothing like it sounds. It has these amazing wood arches that Liam helped create over the front door, giving the entire cabin an almost bug-like shape. It’s one of my favorites.”
“Think the front doors like in the homes in The Hobbit,” Levi said to his gran. “Big circle arches over the doors and windows.”
“Right.” She smiled. “Next time I’m out there, I’ll have to take a walk and see some of the new cabins.”
“You’re welcome anytime,” Scarlett said, taking the plate of chicken parmesan she offered her.
“I used to visit all the time, when Joe was running the place.” She sighed and Scar figured she was thinking of fond memories of her friend.
“There have been quite a few rumors about your visits,” Scarlett said.
Levi had been taking a drink of his water and started coughing and choking. Scar reached over without skipping a beat and pounded him on the back. Only when he winced did she remember the scratches on his back.
“Sorry.” She shrugged.
His grandmother chuckled and waved her off. “Joe and I were close, but never lovers.”
“Jesus, Gran,” Levi said between coughs.
His gran chuckled. “Levi, you aren’t the only one who can have fun.”
Scar watched Levi’s face turn red as he tried to suck in air. “You’re killing me here,” he said, taking another drink of water.
Again, his grandmother waved his words away. “Joe and I were best friends. More like brother and sister.” She smiled and handed a basket of bread to Scarlett.
“Thanks,” she said, taking a slice of garlic bread and handing the basket to Levi.
“I remember the day he got full custody of Elle.” His grandmother sighed and leaned back, then her eyes moved over to Levi. “I’d gotten Levi when he was seven years old, but here Joe was, a single man, running a successful business and then”—she snapped her fingers—“overnight he was taking care of an adolescent girl.” She smiled. “Needless to say, we had a lot of talks. He hadn’t really helped raise his daughter, since his wife had been alive and taken the reins back then, but with Elle, it was all him. I had Levi, a boy.” She chuckled. “And boy, he was all boy. I’d raised my Mary.” H
er smile faltered. “And I was so concerned that I would damage Levi like I’d damaged Mary.” Levi reached over and took his grandmother’s hand in his. The comparison of the lean, toned hand holding the older, frail one made Scarlett’s eyes water. “I was so concerned back then that I’d do something wrong.”
“You never could do anything wrong,” Levi added softly. “You loved me. That’s all I needed.”
She smiled and then laughed. “That and food.” She glanced over at Scarlett and rolled her eyes. “Lots of it.”
“Still,” Levi said, scooping another big spoonful of food onto his plate, causing both his grandmother and Scarlett to laugh.
Chapter Eight
Hearing his gran and Scarlett laugh together was pure heaven. Sitting across from the woman he’d been infatuated with his entire life, listening to her joking and talking to his gran, was the best thing he’d experienced in years.
Even the pain of the scrapes down his back faded as he laughed and joked with them during dinner. He’d grown up trying to get his gran to smile. It had been his life’s goal for as long as he could remember. She’d been through so much, losing her husband and her only daughter. And, to date, he’d done a smashing job. His gran had only recently shown signs of being lonely after her best friend, Robin, passed away last year.
Since her friend’s death, she’d filled her time with book clubs, tea parties, and small-town events. She was even going to every town hall meeting.
He’d joked with her, after she’d complained about the mayor once, that she should run for office herself. He still believed she would be better than the good ol’ boys that currently ran the town. Most everyone in Pelican Point wanted growth, but the group of old men who had been sitting on the board for more than a decade wanted to keep growth to a minimum.
He knew that Scarlett and her Wildflowers, as they called themselves, had had to jump through hoops to get the camp’s restaurant and bars open. Thankfully, the men sitting on the city council had liked Elle’s grandfather, Joe.
With Owen Costa’s new home subdivision… well, money got you anything you wanted in these parts, something Levi knew a lot about.
His gran had raised his mother alone after her husband, Marco, had died overseas. The man, his grandfather, had been a top colonel at the time, leaving behind enough of his retirement and benefits that his gran could live comfortably for the rest of her life. Comfortably, not lavishly.
Which meant, early in his high school years, he’d gotten small odd jobs to help pay for repairs around the house that the income she’d been left hadn’t accounted for.
Which is why he found himself still living with his grandmother at the age of twenty-four. It wasn’t because he didn’t think he could go out in the world and make a name for himself. But if he left her here alone, she would have no one to look out for her and care for her.
Everyone else in her life had abandoned her or died. There was no way he was going to do the same. Not after she’d sacrificed everything for him.
After dinner, his gran suggested he walk Scarlett home, something he’d had every intention of doing anyway. He and Scarlett stepped out on the front porch
“It’s going to rain,” Scarlett said, looking up to the darkened sky. Normally, they had beautiful sunsets all summer long, but tonight’s sky was dark and grey.
“Yeah.” He swung open the screen door and grabbed an umbrella and a jacket. “Thanks for coming to dinner,” he said as they started walking slowly down the sidewalk.
“I like your grandmother.” She looked at him sideways.
“She likes you.” He smiled.
She chuckled. “Your grandmother likes everyone.”
He frowned and shook his head. “No, not everyone.”
“Oh?” she asked, her eyebrows slowly moving up. “Who in town does your gran have it out for?”
He shrugged. “She didn’t particularly like Ryan.”
Scarlett’s steps faltered and he reached out to steady her. “Did your gran know her?” she asked.
“She stopped by the camp a few times and ran into her when she worked there. She and Isaac are friends. She still goes and hangs out in the kitchens at least once a week,” he admitted, keeping his hand on hers as they walked.
“I can see that. You were right about your grandmother’s cooking,” she said smoothly.
He chuckled. “I’m right about a lot of things.”
She smiled. “And your ego doesn’t show it.”
He moved closer to her, their shoulders bumping as they walked.
“How does your back feel?” she asked when they were halfway to her place.
He shrugged, the move no longer tearing open his skin. “Better. I guess I just needed a nap and a satisfying meal.” He glanced over at her. “You never did really tell me why you stopped by today.”
She sighed. “I told you…” she started, but he tugged on her arm, forcing her to stop and look at him.
“Scarlett, if we’re going to start over, let’s start by agreeing to not lie to one another.”
She was silent for a while, then nodded. “Fine. I was worried. Even before Zoey said anything to me,” she said quickly, holding her hands up. “You haven’t been yourself for a while.”
He thought about the sour mood he’d been in ever since her three friends had gotten engaged. For some reason, knowing that her friends were all moving forward in their lives while he was still stuck… where he was had a dark cloud over his normally happy mood.
“I’m okay,” he lied and started walking. She tugged him to a stop. She placed her hands on her hips and glared up at him.
“We just agreed…” she started, but just then, the skies opened, and a torrential rain soaked them both. He tried to open the umbrella, but the wind almost jerked it out of his hands.
“Let’s make a run for it,” he said, grabbing her hand. They laughed as they rushed towards her front porch less than a block away.
When they stepped onto the porch, she pulled down the hood of her jacket. It had done no good. They were both complexly soaked.
Even his boxer shorts were soggy. The insides of his shoes squeaked as he took steps.
“I’m soaked.” She laughed and removed her jacket and threw it over one of the benches on the patio. “I could have stood under a shower for an hour and not gotten this wet.” She sat down and removed her shoes. “Go ahead.” She motioned to the spot next to her. “I doubt this is going to let up anytime soon. I can throw some of your clothes into the dryer while we wait for it to stop raining.”
He sat next to her and removed his shoes. There was at least half an inch of water in them. He laughed when he turned them over and a waterfall flowed from them.
“Thankfully I was wearing sandals,” Scarlett joked. She’d set her shoes next to the door and had removed her outer shirt, leaving her in a tight, soaking-wet tank top. His mouth watered seeing it cling to her body.
“Well?” she asked, motioning to his shirt. “I’ve already seen you a couple times today without it. Don’t get shy on me now.” She stood up and wrung out her shirt. Water splashed everywhere.
His eyes ran over the way her jean shorts clung to her tan skin. She was perfection. He was so caught up in watching her that he hadn’t yet removed his shirt when she turned back around.
He watched her face, lost in her hazel eyes. Then his gaze ran down over her lips, and he would have been mesmerized by them as well, but they were slanted down into a frown.
“Are you going to make me pull it off you?” she asked, moving closer to him.
Thoughts of her slowly undressing him, running those hot lips over his cool skin, played in his mind.
“Levi?” She snapped her fingers directly in front of his face, breaking the trance.
“Right.” He stood up suddenly, causing their bodies to bump. He took her shoulders, holding her so that he wouldn’t knock her over. When his hands registered that he was touching her bare skin, he felt himself grow painfully h
ard.
How long had it been? From the moment he’d spotted her walking across the campgrounds almost two years ago, he’d only had eyes for her.
“Sorry,” he said softly, his body still brushing against hers. He felt his heart skip when her eyes ran over his face. When she sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, then slowly ran her teeth over it, he watched the motion like his life depended on it. “Sassy,” he groaned.
He’d let her make the last move, had needed her to, but this time, it was his turn.
Dipping his head, he ran his mouth over those lips that he’d been dreaming about for years. He felt her sway and as he wrapped his arms around her. He enjoyed the way her body plastered against his, warming them both.
His fingers tangled in her long dark hair then ran over her jawline. Using a finger, he traced the curve of her shoulder and felt her suck in her breath.
“Levi.” His name on her lips tasted so sweet.
“Sassy, I can’t tell you how long I’ve dreamed of kissing you again.” He traced his mouth down her neck, feeling the slight goose bumps rise over her skin.
“I…” Her fingers locked in his hair as she arched back, giving him more access. “Please,” she sighed before reaching down and tugging on his shirt.
It landed on the porch with a wet plop. He ran his hands over her shorts and enjoyed the way they clung to her curves.
She’d changed so much since that first summer they’d been together. She’d filled out, everywhere. He’d never imagined that she would be everything he’d desire and more.
He took a couple steps backwards until his shoulders bumped into the screen door.
Reaching behind him, she yanked open the door. He moved to step up into the house but, since he was so occupied with kissing her, he didn’t see her sandals lying in front of the door and tripped over them.