Levi didn’t match my patently false grin. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really. I’ve hit my quota on brain space for my father’s possible motives tonight and have progressed to the much more pleasurable, wine drinking portion of the evening. You’re welcome to join me.”
“Sounds good.” Levi dropped into the armchair next to me, his legs extended carelessly, and a lock of inky black hair falling into his face.
It was outside office hours so he was no longer in locked-down mode. His hair was cut slightly longer on the top than the sides, and usually slicked back from his face in a classic side part that emphasized the slash of his cheekbones. Now, it loosely framed his face. I curled my hands into my palms so I didn’t wrap a lock around my finger and pull him close.
Levi sighed happily and settled himself against the cushions. He sported a bulky green sweater and dark jeans instead of his customary exquisitely tailored suit. I appreciated a man in a good suit but this unbuttoned version of Levi, the one who wasn’t hiding himself, made my pulse kick up.
“How was your day?” I blurted out. “Um, drink wine.” I hurriedly poured him a glass and thrust it into his hand so fast that it almost splashed over the rim.
“Filled with tedious zoning meetings.” He gave me a quiet smile. A simple acknowledgment of two people enjoying each other’s company. “Thanks for asking,” he added.
Oh my God, was Levi blushing? He covered it by taking a sip of wine.
Priya entered. “Hiya, boss.”
“Hiya yourself.”
Priya pulled the Android out of the lockbox on the coffee table, getting comfortable in one of the other chairs. “Did you hear they found Gavriella’s phone?” She pressed a sequence of buttons on the Android. “I’m bypassing the password.”
“Yeah, Miles updated me on that and a few other things,” Levi said. “Look at that. You did get a dog.” He held out his hand for Mrs. Hudson to sniff, but she eyed him warily from the other side of the room.
I smirked. Meet the only female other than myself who’s resistant to your charms. Then I remembered how fast he’d stripped me naked a few nights ago and amended that sentence.
“The dog is just visiting,” I said.
Levi made a kissing noise at her and Mrs. Hudson waddled slowly but surely closer. Seriously?
He let the pug boop his finger, his glass of wine balanced on the arm rest.
Pulling the lockbox close, I scooped out the top layer of photos. After Gavriella had taken on her new identity, she’d had to shove all traces of her old life as Gracie Green into a lockbox hidden under a floor. “She never got to share her true past with friends or a lover. If she’d even had those. What an incredibly lonely life. You think all Jezebels keep themselves apart?”
“No,” Priya said firmly. “I’m looking at one with a lot of people in her life and that isn’t going to change.”
But relationships changed all the time. Look at ours. Yes, Priya’s kidnapping had just happened, but what if my naturally extroverted friend locked herself into this place of fear? It was my fault it had happened. What if we couldn’t find our way through this? What if we continued on in this place of being held at arm’s length until one of us broke, blew up at the other, and moved out?
I smiled absently as if in agreement, studying a picture of a young Gavriella laughing on a swing, being pushed by an older woman who must have been the grandmother who’d raised her. “Do you think her grandmother knew?”
Levi leaned over to study the photo. “You could ask your Attendant.”
“Yeah,” I said, not sure I wanted the answer. I was already hiding this side of me from my mother. Would I have to do the same if I fell in love? I’d always prided myself on living truthfully. How could I have a long-term relationship if I had to lie to my partner every day? What if I decided to have kids in the very, very far future? Being pregnant as a Jezebel felt reckless.
I wistfully sorted through photos of Gavriella’s awkward teen years.
“Maybe tonight isn’t the best night to go through those,” Priya said.
“What’s the dog’s name?” Levi said. Mrs. Hudson had allowed him to scratch her ears.
“Mrs. Hudson,” Priya said in a tone of unholy glee.
Levi threw back his head and laughed, his blue eyes dancing. The husky sound shivered down my spine. He was the devil. “Hope you like your new roommate, Pri. I believed Miles when he said that Ash didn’t intend to keep the puppy, but Mrs. Hudson? You’re not going anywhere, are you, girl?”
I picked her up and put her in my lap.
“Ash can’t keep a cactus alive. Mrs. Hudson is going to be mine.” Priya burst into evil cackles.
Then she and Levi fist-bumped. Fabulous. This day could not get worse. Or so I thought.
Chapter 4
I stacked the dirty dishes with a loud clatter. “If you are both finished disparaging my very capable nurturing skills—”
“Nurturing? Nice spin doctoring,” Levi said.
I gasped. “It’s empirical truth and we must all get onboard.”
“Ta da.” Priya held up the unlocked screen. “I’ll poke around, see what I find.”
“Good job, Adler.” I applauded her. “You, on the other hand,” I said to Levi, “can go find another minion to annoy.”
“Before I go,” Levi said. “You need to hear this.” Setting down his drink, he stretched out his neck, rolled his shoulders, and cracked his knuckles.
“Any time now,” I said.
“It’s important to do this right.” He exhaled quickly a couple of times like a boxer psyching himself up for his bout, then chanted loudly and
