“Same.”
He didn’t have to agree so fast. I wiped a smear of blue powder off from the crook of my elbow, my arms covered in goosebumps and missing his warmth. “Okay, well, we either declutter down to boss and employee, or…”
I left a generous pause in case he felt like jumping in, but Mr. Bossy had become Mr. All-the-Patience-in-the-World.
I wasn’t relationship-averse, but this was Levi and me. We’d been nemeses for so many years. Sex was one thing, but what if he laughed at me for suggesting more? Part of me didn’t think he would, but the part that still heard his mocking laughter and years of taunts pulled up the drawbridge and got the boiling pitch ready.
It was very fine metaphoric boiling pitch, but empty fortresses were lonely places. And I missed having a home like this, somewhere I felt I could be my full self. I hadn’t felt like that in a long time.
I took a deep breath and steeled myself. “Or we try having a relationship.”
“Huh. I owe Miles twenty bucks,” he said.
My eyes narrowed. “You bet on this? Against us? Wow.”
“Not so much against us as against you,” he said, with a shrug. I gaped at him and he gave me a bright smile. “You’ve hated me most of your life and stone obelisks warm up to people more easily than you do.”
“I’m a giant rock in this scenario now?”
“Yup.” He brushed his nose against mine. “But I’ve cracked you.”
“I don’t know if this is a good thing.”
“Are you my girlfriend?” he said.
“Ugh. How about your lovah?”
“Not how I will ever introduce you. Partner?”
“You know this is all hypothetical since there are only like four people who can know we’re together,” I said.
“I don’t care. I’ll know.”
His conviction sent champagne bubbles sweeping through me. However, I wanted to hire a plane and skywrite the fact for the world to behold, followed by watching all the haters I’d accrued over my lifetime choke on their disbelief and envy.
“We’re the only ones that matter,” I agreed.
The limo idled at Levi’s wrought-iron gate.
I sighed. “This is your home. We’re going to have to discuss your inability to follow orders.”
“I took it as more of a suggestion.” Levi folded his trench coat over one arm.
“Uh-huh.”
Turning up the driveway, Simon deposited us at the front door. Levi made me wait until he’d unlocked it before having me step out into the rain.
I got inside and pressed my back against the door, my handbag in a death grip. I looked like a grubby drowned swan and I was Levi Montefiore’s girlfriend. Fine, yes, I used the dumb word. Was there some formal ritual that happy, well-socialized people normally engaged in at this point? I dragged in a nervous breath, and caught wind of the most tantalizing scent.
“Did you make biscotti?” I dashed past him into the kitchen, a cozy space with red appliances and glass tile that mirrored the sunny blue of his eyes when he was amused. Round spice tins were stuck to a long magnetic board and braids of garlic were pinned to the window frame.
Three trays of chocolate cookies sat cooling on the quartz counter top of the center island. Did his anxiety levels come in flavors? If so, was chocolate a mild twinge of concern or the dark recesses of icy panic?
My smile broke free, my toes curling under like I was in a dippy romcom, despite the dirt I’d tracked in on his floor.
“Why is my baking funny?” He stood stiffly in the doorway.
“You only bake when you’re stressed.” I poked him in the chest. “You were actively scared I’d changed my mind.”
He opened his mouth like he was going to argue the point then a crafty look stole over his face. “The not knowing was the worst. You should probably make it up to me.”
I worried at my tattered ruffles.
Levi lifted my chin with a finger. “I was kidding. We don’t have to do anything tonight. You can just shower and relax.”
“What if we’re not compatible… that way?”
“Sex?” His eyebrows shot into his hairline. “Did I imagine all the other mindblowing times?”
“Well, no, and obviously, I’m exceptional, but there was no pressure before. We’re a thing now. We’re exclusive.”
“Oh shit, we are?” He jogged to the door. “Jeeves, release the harem.”
I grabbed him by the belt and hauled him backward, wrapping my arms around his waist and burying my face against his spine.
“Bella.” He placed his hands over mine and squeezed. “It’ll be amazing because it’s us.”
I nuzzled my face closer to him. “You’re very good at this.”
His laughter rumbled against my cheek. “Baby, I’m the best.”
I snorted, and laughing, he turned in my hold. Going up on tiptoe, I pressed a butterfly kiss to his lips. My pulse seemed to be everywhere at once: the tips of my fingers, behind my knees, and in my stomach.
Sunlight spilled into the room, painting us in golds and yellows. Wrapped up in Levi, something restless in me settled, home at last. I never wanted it to end.
I pressed my hand to his jaw and closed my eyes for a breath, savoring him nuzzling my palm.
“Give me five minutes to wash off this grime,” I said.
“Then what?”
I grinned and skipped off to his en suite bathroom.
The large glass shower with a rainforest spout and pebbled tiled floor was fit for a queen. It would do. I cranked the jets to hot, but before I could try and extricate myself from this dress, Levi was there, unzipping me.
“I told you earlier, I was the one getting this off you.”
“I’ll allow it as an example of my graciousness.” The fabric didn’t pool silkily to the ground. It plopped off, still half-formed.
“It looks like it’s going to walk off.” Levi helped me step out of it.
“We should be so lucky.” I stepped into the shower and crooked a finger at him.
Levi stripped naked and stepped inside, swinging the door closed in record time. “So. Here we are.” Water streamed over his sculpted
