“Not that you asked, but I have a younger brother. Elliot. We’re semi-close, I guess you could say. Not a whole lot in common, but I love him to pieces anyway. Then there’s Tai. He’s technically my cousin but more like another brother. He’s a tattoo artist and really talented. Do you have any tattoos?”
“No.” Why was he still standing there and letting her play twenty questions with him? He pushed his shoulder off the doorjamb. “I’ll go make us some dinner.”
She jumped up off the bed. “I’ll help.”
He groaned and slammed his eyes shut. Was this how it was going to be the whole time she was there? Her following him around constantly, making conversation? He could grudgingly admit that he liked her voice, her laugh. Hearing her talk didn’t set him on edge like it did with most people. There was a note to her voice that he found alluring, almost addicting. He could also admit that he liked looking at her. Her beauty was more interesting than conventional, with her slightly pointed button nose and mouth that could be considered a little too wide—especially when she smiled. He thought he could study her face for years and still find features he hadn’t noticed before.
Even if Hayley wasn’t all bad, there could still be too much of a good thing. The sun, for example, was an excellent source of vitamin D, but too much of it could also give you cancer.
“Stay.” He winced at his own gruff command. The last time Aliyah had visited, she’d told him he needed to work on communicating his boundaries in a way that wasn’t so rude. Maybe she was right. “Get settled or, I don’t know, relax. I can handle dinner.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
Her feet shuffled. “Would it be all right if I took a quick shower, then? I’d like to wash away the day, if I can.”
The door to the only bathroom in the house was to Levi’s right, so he reached out and flicked the switch, bathing the room in light. “Shampoo, conditioner, and bodywash are already in the shower. There are unopened toothbrushes and deodorants in the bottom drawer of the vanity. Towels and washcloths are in the linen closet behind the door. Need anything else?”
Her gaze skittered toward the bathroom, then up at his face. Her cheeks reddened to match the shade of her hair. She toed the carpet runner under her feet. “I don’t...” Her voice trailed off.
“You don’t what?” If there was something else she needed, she’d have to tell him outright. He wasn’t about to start guessing.
“I don’t ... have a change of clothes.” She dipped her chin into the corner of her collarbone, trying to hide the embarrassment painting her face.
Heat rose up his own neck. Clothes. Right. That did pose a problem, didn’t it? He could offer her something of his to borrow, but there was no way her hips could hold up the waistband of a pair of his shorts. His shirts, too, would probably fall right off her shoulders.
His face flamed.Fixate on the solution,notthe problem, Levi scolded himself. But that was hard when the problem proved to be such a vivid and alluring visual.
Think. His clothes wouldn’t work, but maybe one of his sisters had left something behind. He stepped around Hayley and entered the spare room. There had to be something.
Peeking out of the slightly ajar closet door was a laundry basket. Then he remembered. Constance had brought a few loads with her just last weekend because her washer was on the fritz. She’d left a load in his dryer, and he’d put the clothes back in the laundry basket and pitched them into the closet until she came back and got them.
He retrieved the basket and returned to Hayley, shoving it into her arms. “Will this work?”
She peered down at the clothes and picked up a shirt that lay on top, inspecting it. “Let me guess—sisters?” She looked back up at him. “She won’t mind if I borrow her clothes?”
“No.”
Hayley smirked. “I’m beginning to think that’s your favorite word, big man.”
As if people had favorite words.
“Mine’sonomatopoeia, in case you were wondering.”
Of course she had a favorite word and that word had more syllables than he had fingers on one hand. Why was he not surprised? Although the better question was, why did he find that fact charming?
He turned on his heel.
Space. Maybe once he acquired some, he’d start thinking clearly again.
8
Steam fogs up the small wall-mounted mirror in front of me, a super-soft white terrycloth towel wrapped around my middle. I’d thought a shower was a good idea. A way to clear my head. Wash away the day’s disasters and clean the slate of the last few hours as easily as scrubbing the road dust off my body.
Boy was I ever wrong.
If anything, my mind is as hazy as my reflection staring back at me. Why had I thought standing naked in a stranger’s house with only a builder-grade door standing between me and a behemoth of a man who could probably knock the hinges off with little effort was a good idea?
