I glanced at my watch to see that an hour had flown by.
“He’s been pacing back and forth,” Madi said. “For the past ten minutes, at least.”
Outside the shop window, Levi looked up from where he’d been striding by, only to look away again quickly.
“That’s my fault,” Gigi said. “Last time he came in here, I tried to talk to him, and now he’s avoiding me.”
I frowned but stood. “I better get him home,” I said jokingly. “Before he leaves me.”
“The way he’s looking at you, I doubt he’d leaveyou alone anywhere,” Madi said.
I tucked my chin and shrugged in my coat, avoiding the implications. I couldn’t even say what was happening between Levi and me, let alone try to describe it to these strangers.
“Come back next week?” Madi asked.
“I’d like that.” I smiled.
Maybe it would be nice to chat again. Maybe I could chat with some other people in town too. For now, I was anxious to get to work and find out all I could about Lily Carmichael.
Levi
“I thought you were fixing the Aubergine Room?” I asked Pace as I gestured for him to hand me the Phillips screwdriver he twirled lackadaisically around his fingers.
We were at Ruth’s B&B, in the aptly named Aubergine Room, named not only for the deep purple that colored the walls but for the surprising amount of porcelain eggplant figurines. Even after finding out the truth about the eggplant euphemism, Ruth refused to remove the phallic art.
“Oh yeah, must have gotten distracted.” Pace handed over the screwdriver with a lazy flick of his wrist. “You can thank me now or later.”
“You know this isn’t a two-man job.” Sure enough, after pulling off the light switch, the disconnected wire was obvious.
It should only take maybe three minutes to fix without interruption. Ten with Pace here.
“Sorry, I wanted to see you. How annoying friends are.”
“I just saw you last week at the pumpkin thing.”
“Then you blew off poker night. There’s a new guy in town, Noah. I think you’d hit it off with your surly silence.” I gave Pace a pointed look. He shrugged innocently. “I would have just come by to visit, but the last few times I’ve texted you to come up, you’ve been too busy for a visit,” he said. He said the last bit, making air quotes.
Maybe this would take twenty minutes.
I sighed and ignored his implications even as a blush burned up my neck. I hunched my shoulders under the guise of peeking into the socket cutout to hide from Pace and his stupid, smug expression.
“Now, what could be keeping you so busy up in that cabin all by yourself?”
“Enough, Pace.” I grunted.
He snapped for dramatic effect as if he wasn’t leading up to all this. “Oh wait, that’s right. You have your beautiful brunette tenant now.”
“I have been busy. I started a new piece.” That was the truth. Had I been hiding because of my complicated growing feelings for Claire also? Maybe. Had I been finding excuses to come check on things at the Little Cabin just to spend time near her? Also maybe. “You turned off the breaker to this room, right?” I asked.
“Of course.” He leaned against the wall next to whereIwas doing all the work, likely to get a better look at my face. “So, can I safely guess that my not-so-subtle tactic worked?”
I carefully unscrewed the loose connector. It had burn marks like it had been the victim of a power surge. “Hand me that extra wire.” I pointed at where the coil of black wire sat on my tool bag. The actual bag, not Pace, as he asked me all these questions.
“You’re welcome.” He handed it over. “Tell me you’re tainting every surface of that place.”
“Pace.”
Now, there was a heat flushing over all my skin, burning under my collar, making my pits sweat. Because even though he was wrong, he was close enough to the truth. I had been imagining taking Claire on every surface. After that initial kiss, I couldn’t keep my fantasies locked down. I thought about her sprawled on the floor in front of my fireplace, naked and wet for me. I imagined laying her out and devouring her like a feast as she pulled my hair, ground against my mouth, coming so hard her whole body shuddered.
