“Who were you talking to?”
Startled, I spun around.
Levi stood in the doorway.
“Jonah Samuels. My top suspect behind Mayan’s erratic behavior.”
“I wasn’t imagining things, then.”
“No.”
He nodded, satisfied. “You’ll keep me updated?”
“Obviously. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” I brushed past him, but he grabbed my wrist and jerked me flush up against him.
Levi claimed my mouth in a hard, brief kiss.
“What was that for?” I pushed against his chest, my fingers only flexing against his pecs for a second before I stepped back.
“A placeholder until I can get you out of that ridiculous dress.”
“Keep sweet talking, Montefiore. I’ll be putty in your hands. Also, you have a date. Remember?”
“It’s a public relations stunt. Mayan’s an upstanding Mundane citizen.” He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped all traces of my red lipstick from his mouth.
I gripped my handbag. Better to clutch that, than Levi’s shoulders and mark him again. “Not so upstanding if she’s hanging out in Hedon.”
“Being seen with her reinforces the idea that I have friends and relationships with all kinds of people, both magic and non-magic.”
“There it is. My perfectly reasonable explanation.” I tapped my bag against my thigh, accidentally hitting the clasp and spilling all the items inside to the ground. I dropped to my knees, gathering everything up. “Fuck.”
Levi crouched down to help, but I pushed him away.
“I don’t need your help.” I shoved my driver’s license back in the bag.
“There’s nothing to be jealous of.” He gathered up my credit card and keys.
I lunged for the lipstick, making a break for it. “Of course not. The explanation so reasonable that one wonders why you didn’t just tell me instead of letting me show up and find you here. Would a quick ‘Hey, Ash, I’m going to the ball with my ex who was a total bitch to you for most of your life, but it’s a PR stunt’ have killed you?”
Levi stood up, still holding on to my credit card and keys. “Yeah, that would have made everything better.”
I held my hand out for my belongings, which he relinquished. “We’ll never know because you didn’t man up and have the conversation. You didn’t just disrespect me on a personal level, you did it on a professional one as well. What if your presence had thrown a wrench in my plans? A little heads-up would have been appreciated.”
“Back at you, sweetheart. At least my surprise seeing you here was genuine.”
I did a final check to make sure my possessions were all back in my bag. “Yet you keep assuming you can keep things from me and I won’t find out.”
“Then you could have asked. Unlike you, who didn’t tell me you’d be bringing a plus-one.”
“Aw, baby.” I snapped my clutch shut. “There’s nothing to be jealous of.”
“We’ll never know because you didn’t man up and have the conversation,” Levi said.
Our glaring contest did little to quell the anger swirling around the room.
I blew an errant curl out of my eyes. “Rafael is my backup, okay? Not my date.”
“He’s not doing a very good job.” Levi trailed a finger along the bare skin from my shoulder to the inside of my elbow.
That’s it? He was okay with all of this now? How could he emotionally turn so quickly? Did this not mean as much to him as it did to me?
I jerked my arm away. “I only need him for actual threats, not annoying unwanted attention.”
Levi stepped back, his face closed-down. “Let me know what you learn about Samuels.”
He headed for the hallway.
Great. Sayonara, asshole.
My comfort zone urged me let him go. Levi, with his talented lips, his reasonable explanations, his wry humor, and his way of understanding me like no one else did, was anything but comfortable.
There were ten feet to go before he reached the door, and a finality in the set of his shoulders to him crossing that threshold.
He’d changed the shape of me, but I’d changed him, too. He was the one man I’d relished standing toe-to-toe with, but could the very thing I liked most about us turn into a crushing weight that we wouldn’t survive?
Five feet.
What if he hadn’t let go of his emotions around me being here with Rafael that easily and I was letting him walk out without verifying it?
I bit my lip.
Three feet.
Fuck it. My comfort zone was getting kind of stifling.
I sprinted over and blocked his path to the door. “Were you jealous?”
“Yes.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Even though coming here with Mayan was the right move politically, it was the wrong one for us. I knew it would hurt you and I fucking took the coward’s way out. I’m sorry. Am I forgiven?”
“Depends.” My stern voice was at odds with the smile that threatened to break free because this mattered to him. I mattered. “Are you still jealous, even knowing that I’m not on a date? Because I’m openly on the arm of someone else, when you and I have to pretend that we hate each other?”
“Yes,” he said softly. “That’s not what you wanted to hear.”
“No. That was the right answer.” I reached up on tiptoe, because even in heels I was still shorter, and kissed him.
He resisted for a second, and then his lips moved against mine. The faintest rasp of stubble scratched my chin.
I curled my hand around his hip, his thigh muscle tensing under my palm, and sank into him, earning a low groan.
Levi placed a hand on the small of my back, sucking on my lower lip. His tongue found mine, and we pressed together so tightly that I was dizzy.
My fingers snaked into his hair, sifting through the silky locks, while Levi framed my face, almost reverential in his touch. I savored his taste and the quickening of his breath that matched my own.
This kiss was a beginning, a promise of more to
