He picked it up and placed it in the back seat next to his newer, larger cooler before turning and grinning at her. “Are the brownies homemade?”
And she couldn’t help but smile back. “Maybe.”
Over the last two weeks of them getting to know each other, Willow had shared her love of baking with him. In return, Levi had shared his love of enjoying freshly baked goods.
And maybe, just maybe, she opted to make brownies because he said they were his favorite.
“Any chance they have chocolate chunks in them?”
Her cheeks heated. “Maybe.”
“Willow…”
“And lots of icing.”
The next thing she knew, she was in his arms and going totally stiff. This was…new. They’d done nothing more than touch hands briefly when they got together, so this was…unexpected.
“Okay, you’re going to have to relax,” he said, keeping his voice soft and without letting her go.
“How come?” Forcing herself to unclench a bit, Willow stood with her arms still at her side.
“Well, if we’re going to tell people that we’ve been dating for three months, then they’re going to expect us to be comfortable around each other. So if I hug you or hold your hand, you can’t freeze up like this.”
“I…I’m not…I mean…I didn’t freeze up.” And then she over-compensated and practically went limp in his arms.
His laugh was low and husky. “We probably should have thought about this sooner.”
“Why?”
Pulling back, Levi looked at her with amusement. “Seriously?”
“Oh, right,” she said, trying to look like this was all no big deal. “I get it.” He released her, and she looked in the car to make sure she had everything.
“Do you?”
“Huh?”
“Do you get why we should have thought about this sooner?”
Why did he want to keep talking about this?
“Because it’s the one thing we didn’t prepare for,” she replied. “Right?”
“Well, there’s that. But it’s going to be hard to practice it while we’re driving.”
That did make sense, but Willow simply figured it was something they’d deal with when they had to. All she had to do was pretend that it was completely natural for Levi to touch her like he wanted to and like he had to.
Or that he wasn’t acting and doing her a favor.
That she was practically paying him to do.
Which left her bank account close to empty.
“You okay?” he asked, concerned. Stepping in close, he gently grasped her shoulders. “You went a little pale.”
“What? Oh, it’s nothing. Really.” She turned and looked at the car again. “So? Are we ready to go?”
Luckily he didn’t push her for an answer. “Yup! Let’s do this!”
Relief washed over her as she climbed into the passenger seat. Once she was settled, she looked at the dashboard and gasped, her hands immediately flying over her mouth.
“Problem?”
Oh, God…
“This looks like the dashboard of an airplane or something,” she said after a minute. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this.” Every time they had gotten together over the last two weeks, she either met him there or they’d meet at McGee’s and walk to whatever restaurant they were going to–mainly because the pub was right in the heart of downtown and near everything. Honestly, either his boss was the biggest jerk and didn’t like Levi being gone for long, or he was totally trying to bank as many hours as he could since he was taking a week off to help her. This was the first time Willow was actually sitting in his car.
He laughed softly. “It is a little overwhelming. I went with all the tech upgrades because I couldn’t resist. It took me about three months to figure out how everything worked. But I think I’ve finally got it all figured out.”
“I hate to say it, but you’re going to probably end up doing all the driving.”
“How come?”
“Because just looking at this dashboard has my head spinning.” She let out a nervous laugh. “Plus, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m kind of on the short side. I don’t think I could even see over the steering wheel!”
Levi laughed with her even as he did his best to assure her. “The seats are adjustable and you can definitely get them to a position that has you sitting higher. But if you’re not comfortable driving, that’s more than okay with me. It’s not often that I take any road trips or even long drives, so this is going to be a real treat for me.”
During some of their conversations, Levi had mentioned how he works a lot of hours at the pub, so it totally made sense that he wouldn’t have time to really go out and drive anywhere. “How about we take it all as it comes,” she suggested.
“Sounds like a plan.”
And as he pulled out of the parking spot, Willow had to wonder if this was really the smart thing to do. Getting to see her grandmother was a definite perk, and Gammy was beyond excited to get to meet Levi, but just being in the cozy confines of his sports car had Willow feeling just a wee bit overwhelmed.
The car smelled like Levi’s cologne, and the seats we buttery soft and warm. It was like she was surrounded by him and she was already on sensory overload. If this was how she was feeling after three minutes in the car with him, what the heck would she be like after three hours? Or three days?
Groaning, she tried to think of something else.
“You don’t get carsick, do you?” he asked, somewhat nervously.
“No, why?”
“You just groaned, and it made me wonder.”
“Oh, uh…no. I wasn’t groaning because I wasn’t feeling well.”
“Then, why?”
“Why what?”
He chuckled. “Why did you groan?”
Think, Willow! Think!
“Um…just thinking about all that can go wrong,” she blurted out and immediately regretted it.
He laughed again. “Okay, so you’re an alarmist.”
“What? No, I’m not!”
“Willow, we’ve barely pulled off your block and you’re already worrying,” he reasoned. “Is
