And if they hadn’t been in his sister’s living room in the middle of the night, she would have totally jumped him.
Repeatedly.
Okay, think of something different before you embarrass yourself in the middle of his other sister’s front yard.
Once they had gotten back on I-95, she had asked him to sing with her, but he declined, so she decided they’d go back to their falling in love list of questions.
They had settled in and Willow found out if Levi could talk to anyone in heaven, it would be his maternal grandfather. They used to hang out together all the time, and he had passed away two years ago.
His celebrity BFF would be The Rock; something she didn’t see coming at all. Ryan Reynolds was his second choice.
And one she could completely get on board with.
The most childish thing he still loved to do was watch Bugs Bunny cartoons. Or any of the old Saturday morning cartoons. She had to agree with him that they were all awesome and she wouldn’t mind a good cartoon marathon sometime.
As for her, she’d love to talk to her Nana Ruth. She died when Willow was fifteen, but they used to have so much fun together. She was very artsy and was always painting pictures and redecorating her house. It was always a surprise going over there and seeing what was going to be different.
It was the reason she had redecorated her childhood bedroom a dozen times before moving out when she was eighteen.
Her celebrity BFF was the same one she would have lunch with–Anna Kendrick. Levi didn’t even ask her to expand upon that.
As for the most childish thing…well…it was watching all the Christmas specials every year during the holidays. Not the new ones. The old ones. The classics. The cartoon Grinch, Frosty the Snowman, Charlie Brown, and all the Claymation specials. It just wasn’t Christmas without them.
“You could have called, Kate,” she heard Levi saying. “Yeah, I realize it couldn’t be helped, but we would have made other arrangements.” He paused. “I didn’t say I thought I was king or that I expected you to wait on me!” More pausing. “None of this matters and I’m not trying to pick a fight with you. Willow and I will just go to a hotel. It’s fine.”
Okay, so we aren’t staying here tonight.
“What’s the code?”
And…yes, we are.
Willow watched as Levi punched the code in on the door panel and then opened it.
Who needs to leave their spare key in a fake-looking rock when you have technology?
“Thanks, Katie,” he was saying as she stepped in behind him. “I appreciate it.” He paused. “Of course, I promise!” Another pause. “One time! One time I left a wet towel on the floor when I stayed here. Let it go!” He groaned. “And you wonder why I don’t visit more often.” Then he laughed. “Love you too. Tell Aaron I hope his mom feels better.”
When he hung up and slid his phone into his pocket, she could tell he was more than a little twitchy.
“Everything okay?”
Raking a hand through his hair, Levi sighed loudly. “Yeah. They had to leave town unexpectedly.”
“So…family emergency?”
He raked a hand through his hair. “Yeah. Aaron’s mom fell. She lives in Atlanta, which is almost four hours away, so they’re staying there tonight.”
All she could do was nod.
“She left food for us in the refrigerator, and there’s always takeout, so…”
It was early yet, and she was tempted to say they should just get back in the car and keep driving, but…
She remembered her conversation with him from late last night.
They still had a whole lot of practicing being…close to one another to master. And hopefully that included a whole lot of getting close and kissing. And touching. And…wherever else that may lead.
There are worse ways to spend an evening…
Of course, there was no way for her to blurt out, “Oh, hey…since we’re alone in the house, want to make out?”
And boy oh boy, did she want to make out with Levi.
Oh, God. Do people even say make out anymore?
Besides him being an incredibly nice guy who loved his family, he was funny, a great conversationalist, and he had amazing hands.
“You okay, Willow? You look a little flushed.” Levi looked around. “It is a little warm in here. Let me check the thermostat and see what’s going on.” And he walked away before she could comment.
Alone with her thoughts again, she had to wonder how to broach the subject of…making out.
Should she just politely ask him to kiss her? Go up and kiss him on the cheek to thank him for getting them through another day of driving?
Or you can just grab his face and kiss him.
Just like you did last night.
Yeah. That one would require a level of boldness she just didn’t have.
Mainly because it was still broad daylight out.
Last night she felt bold because she couldn’t really see him and he couldn’t see her. If he was shocked or repulsed by her actions, she couldn’t see his face to know. There was something empowering about the whole cover of darkness thing. But in the light of day, she was way more uncertain of herself and wasn’t quite sure what she was supposed to do.
“I’ll go put your bags in the guest room,” he said with a smile as he walked by.
Maybe I could be a little bold…
Staring at his denim-clad butt had her sighing with appreciation because Levi had a fine butt. Something she hadn’t noticed until a few weeks ago. Most of the time they were around each other, they were in the pub, and he was usually behind the bar. Once he had offered to be her fake boyfriend, and they started spending time together, Willow found she was noticing all kinds of things about him.
Like his butt.
It was amazing what some good lighting could do.
Oh, that reminds me…
“Hey, Levi?” she called out, following him
