Page 67 of Stuck with the Hero Next Door

“Cassie,” Levi said - the notes of his deep voice called to me.

He was standing closer than I’d realized, close enough that I could see the way the light caught in his eyes, close enough that I could feel the warmth radiating from him despite the cold night air.

“Yeah?”

“I’m really glad you asked me to dance.”

“Me, too.”

He lifted his hand, slowly. His fingertips caressed my cheek, gentle and warm, and I leaned into the contact without thinking.

This was it. The moment I’d been both hoping for and dancing around for weeks. The moment when we stopped pretending we were just friends, when we accepted that what’s been building between us since that first night in his cottage after the storm became more.

He leaned down, and I tilted my face up toward his, and for a heartbeat that felt like eternity, we were suspended in tantalizing possibility.

Then he kissed me.

His movements were soft, sure, and full of promise. His lips were warm against mine, gentle but certain, and I could taste the wine we’d shared and something that was purely him. When his arms came around me, pulling me closer, I melted into the contact like I’d been waiting my whole life for this exact moment.

It wasn’t our first kiss—we’d been stealing sweet moments on my couch and during quiet dinners for weeks now. But this was all too different.

His hands grasped the back of my dress, and my hands clutched at his shirt. Then, with a gentle squeeze, Levi slowly pulled away and rested his forehead against mine. We were both breathing hard, and I knew this was something new. Not just attraction or affection, but the fact that I loved this man.

“Cassie,” he said softly, my name carrying more weight than it ever had before. “I love you.”

The words slipped into the room like something fragile and eternal. My breath caught, the world narrowing to the sound of his voice and the warmth of his hand covering mine.

No fireworks, no grand gestures. Just truth. Gentle and steady, like him.

And in that moment, it undid me. My heart thudded traitorously, my throat tight with the reply I couldn’t quite speak yet. Not because I didn’t feel it, but because feeling it this much scared me more than I wanted to admit.

I didn’t pull away. I couldn’t. Instead, I let my fingers curl into his, holding on like maybe if I stayed very still, I could keep the moment exactly as it was —unbroken and impossibly tender.

I wasn’t ready to say it back, not yet. But I knew, deep down, that hearing it from him had already changed everything.

“I know,” I whispered, because I did know. I knew that he loved me, too. Whatever we’d been before had morphed into something that felt permanent and precious and absolutely amazing.

Because the truth was, somewhere between the shared dinners and stolen kisses and easy domesticity of the past few weeks, I’d stopped thinking of this as a beautiful friendship with a kissing bonus. I’d started thinking about forever. About waking up next to him every morning and building a life together and maybe, someday, teaching our own kids about science and the proper naming of garden gnomes.

The thought should have scared me. Instead, standing there in his arms under the stars, it felt like the most natural thing in the world.

“Goodnight, Levi,” I said, though I made no move to step away from him.

“Goodnight, Cassie,” he replied, pressing one more soft kiss to my forehead before reluctantly letting me go.

I stayed on the porch and watched him walk back to his truck, my heart dancing in my chest. As he drove away, I touched my lips and smiled, because for the first time in my life, I was ready to find out what forever looked like with Levi Marshall.

Chapter 18

Ghosts of Plans Past

Levi

The news came on a Tuesday morning, delivered with casual lightness, as if she were trying to soften a blow.

“Oh, by the way,” Cassie said, looking up from her breakfast plate at the diner counter, “my dad’s coming to visit next week.”

I paused, coffee halfway to my lips, sensing something in her tone that made me pay closer attention. “That’s great. I’d love to meet him.”