“Why aren’t you more excited?” Piper demanded as she collapsed into his arms. Out of breath, glowing, eyes sparkling like rare emeralds, she gave him a shake. “Come on. You’re undefeated.”
“For someone who doesn’t care about football, you sure are excited by a few wins.”
“Wins, shmins,” Piper said with a wave of her hand.
“What’s a shmin?” Levi asked, laughing. With Piper, the fun never stopped.
Ignoring him, Piper shrugged.
“I know how much the chance to start means to you.” She took his hand in hers. “Wins matter to me for one reason. Because I love you.”
The woman didn’t play fair, Levi thought, his throat tightening. Trying to get his emotions under control, he lifted Piper off her feet and buried his face in her hair.
“Do you want to make me cry?” he asked, his voice gravelly and gruff.
“Not on purpose.” Piper patted his back. “I admit, at some point, I’d like to see you shed a tear or two.”
“Why?”
“You’ve seen me cry more times than I can count,” she explained. “As far as I know, you’ve never come close. Not once.”
“I cried when my parents died.” Levi let out a shuddering breath. “I was a freshman in college. When the police knocked on my dorm room door and told about the drunk driver who ran a red light, I sobbed like a baby.”
“Oh, Levi.” Piper held him as though she would never let him go. “Poor, sweet baby. I’m sorry.”
“Guess I cried myself out.” Levi brushed a tear from Piper’s cheek and smiled. “Weep for us both. Okay?”
“Okay.” Piper sighed. “You’d be surprised how cathartic a sob fest can be.”
“You should know.” Smiling, Levi took Piper’s hand. With her by his side, he headed back toward the cabin. “I’m ready for breakfast. What’s on the menu?”
“Eggs,” she said.
“Nope,” Levi responded with a shake of his head.
“Ham?” Piper asked.
“Poor little piggy,” he said. He added an oink for good measure.
“Jeez, you’re disgustingly healthy.” Piper rolled her eyes. “Would you like a kale salad with a side of tofu?”
“Okay.”
Levi hid a smile when Piper groaned.
“Remind me again why we’re together?”
“I look good naked,” Levi reasoned. “You look great naked. Together, naked, we look freaking spectacular.”
“How do you know?” Piper stopped in her tracks. “Are there pictures?”
“Would you mind?” Levi asked, fascinated by what she might say.
“Yes. I would make you destroy all copies. Immediately.” Piper sent him a slow grin. “Of course, I’d want to see the pictures first. Just out of curiosity.”
“The only images I have are in here.” Levi tapped the side of his head. “However, they’re fading fast.”
“Are they,” Piper asked, a twinkle of understanding glinting in her emerald eyes. “What can we do to remedy the situation?”
“We need to get naked,” Levi declared. “The second we get back to the cabin.”
“Fine,” Piper said as she released a put-upon sigh. “If we must.”
His Piper. She made him laugh. She made him happier than he probably had a right to be. Did so much joy come with a price? Levi didn’t know—or care. They would live for today, prepare for tomorrow, and hope forever was in their future.
The rest, as Levi learned the hard way when his parents died so unexpectedly, was out of their control.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
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PIPER CLOSED HER eyes. Letting the sway of the porch swing lull her senses, she decided then and there to ask her grandmother if she would sell the cabin and the surrounding acreage to her.
No one in the family other than Piper used the property. Other than a few weekends a year the place remained locked up, visited once every few weeks by a caretaker who manicured the grounds, and did what maintenance was required.
Levi seemed at home. While she enjoyed the view from the front porch, he was inside taking a well-deserved nap.
Happy, relaxed. Piper could picture them spending a lot of time here. A day or two, here and there, when he was busy with his job as a kick-ass quarterback. Then, longer when the Knights’ season was over for another year.
In Piper’s mind, Levi would play football until he decided to retire. He proved himself to be a strong leader and a good player, getting better and stronger with each game. If the Knights didn’t resign him in the off-season—she, with her admittedly limited knowledge of how such things worked, saw no reason why they wouldn’t—then he could find another team who appreciated him.
If Levi wanted to continue his career in another city, Piper would support his decision. They weren’t kids. A long-distance relationship between two mature, committed adults could work—would work.
Opening her eyes, Piper felt a jolt of shock. She shook her head, certain the image in front of her had to be an illusion. Or, a waking nightmare. Dara Engels never—never—walked anywhere. Period. No arguments. No exceptions.
And yet, here her mother was, trudging toward Piper like the little engine that could.
Dressed in a ubiquitous classic black Chanel suit, instead of a matching pair of low-heeled pumps, Piper’s mother wore an incongruous pair of red rubber boots splashed with white daisies and a good amount of mud.
“Why doesn’t the road come directly to the house?” Dara panted, dabbing the sweat from her face with a linen handkerchief.
“Grandfather wanted privacy,” Piper explained—a fact her mother should have known. The fact that she didn’t, spoke volumes.
“Ridiculous,’ Dara said, pushing her short, dark hair out of her face. “My mother should have fixed the problem long ago.”
Piper saw no reason to point out the obvious. Grandmother never changed anything after her husband passed away. Everything, from the house she lived in, to the style of clothing she wore, remained the same as they were the day he died thirty years ago.
Moira Engels chose to live in a self-induced time warp because she could. People with money, she once told Piper, who live as she did were considered eccentric. Anyone
