“Hey, Claire.” The deep, grumbly way he said my name felt like a soothing pressure on my shoulders. He said it like he was happy to see me and not the other way around. Like the mere sight of him wasn’t a soothing tonic on the blistering crisis burning up my throat. This beautiful, kind man. “How are you feeling?”
“Are you busy?” I asked, ignoring his question, and my voice cracked to my deep annoyance and shame.
He tossed his tool onto the bench and headed toward me, large steps quickly eating up the distance between us. His eyebrows lowered and pinched together as he scrutinized me. “Why don’t you go get more rest?”
I shook my head.
Whatever he saw in my features made me think I wasn’t as numb and out of my body as I initially thought. He grabbed my hands and dragged me closer to the heat lamps. “Christ, you’re freezing. What is it with you and appropriate outerwear?”
“I forgot a coat,” I said.
Warmth suffusing my shivering muscles was the first sense of feeling that I’d registered in hours. He reached up to crank the heater to a higher setting before grabbing his jacket from a hook and putting it over my shoulders.
“I’m f-fine.”
“You’re not. You’re all pale?—”
I jumped up on my tiptoes to plant a kiss on his lips. I’ve missed him so much. Just since this morning. I needed him. Now.
“Hey,” he said, gently rubbing my arms up and down,notkissing me as planned. “Are you ready to talk? Tell me what happened?”
“No talking. I’m fine. I was fired. But fine.” Even saying the words was too close to what I didn’t want to feel. I pushed up to kiss him again. He avoided me, darting my puckered lips like it was second grade and I had cooties.
“Wait, what?” he asked.
“They pulled my article. They fired me.” I put my hands up under his shirt, letting the hot skin warm my numb fingertips. I moaned as he sucked in a breath.
“Whoa, whoa.Darling. Wait.” He spoke between the kisses that I peppered him with.
I leaned my head forward to kiss him, but he pulled back and away. “Don’t you think we should talk about this?”
“I don’t want to. I don’t want to think or feel. If I start now, I’ll shatter.” My teeth chattered harder the longer he wasn’t kissing me.
“Oh, my love,” he said it so softly, so quietly. He said it without knowing the impact of hearing that word come from his lips. “I’m so sorry.” I closed my eyes to brace myself for his gentle kindness.
“It’s fine. You can distract me. I want you, Levi. I want everything. Please.”
“Darling, no.” He grabbed my wrists to keep them from where my hands were reaching for his buttons. He placed gentle kisses on my fingertips, his face contorted with pity and pain. “I’m not going to make love with you half out of your mind in a state of catatonic shock.”
“I don’t mind,” I said, pouting up at him. He narrowed his eyes, glaring with disappointment. “But. Why?” I asked.
“You need to process what happened. Tell me what you’re feeling.”
My head fell back, and I groaned at the roof. “That soundsstupid. Let’s let our bodies do the talking.”
When I met his gaze again, I found him with his arms crossed, showing off his big stupid muscles and an unamused expression. “I won’t be a distraction.”
“Please?”
He met my gaze and held it for a long moment. I was pretty sure I had him now. This was it. We were going to do the thing. And this was what I wanted and needed. Definitely. I wasn’t avoiding anything. What did he know?
“I know just what you need,” he said.
I yelped as he scooped me up and threw me over his broad set of shoulders. I had nowhere to go.
“Hell yeah!” I said as he brought me out of the shed and toward Big Cabin.
He chuckled and smacked me on the bottom.
