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Levi’s gaze was firmly on Indigo, as if he couldn’t bear to look away from her for even a second. “Yeah, definitely.”
“Good. Beth and I need a ride if that’s okay.”
“No problem.” Levi glanced at him and grinned, though his gaze was suddenly very sharp. “Got a hot date?”
“No.” Finn refused to rise to the bait. “Beth has some suppliers to meet and I need to start asking around to find a permanent manager for this place.”
Not actual lies. Well, at least not on his end. He did need to find a stable manager, plus there were going to be a few issues to iron out if Beth was to move in with him.
“Uh-huh.” Levi’s gaze turned speculative, then he glanced at Beth, which made the back of Finn’s neck prickle for no apparent reason.
Levi knew nothing about him getting together with Beth, and he certainly wouldn’t be able to guess the real reason he and Beth were going to Queenstown, so why Finn felt antsy he had no idea.
“What did you do to Indigo?” Finn asked to distract him. “She looks like she wants your guts for garters.”
“Nothing.” Levi’s expression was all innocence. “I simply had the temerity to offer her a ride up to the farmhouse.” His hazel eyes flicked back once more to Indigo, who was now gazing down at Beth, looking concerned. “She kept saying no, yet she got in my truck anyway.”
Indigo shot him a baleful glance. “Haven’t we had this discussion?”
“It looked like it might rain.” Levi grinned at her. “I didn’t think you’d want to get wet.”
Finn noted with interest that despite her bad temper, Indigo was blushing fiercely.
“Can you two take it outside?” Beth murmured, rubbing tiredly at her forehead. “The sexual tension in here is making my head ache.”
“Sexual tension?” Indigo squawked. “What are you talking about? There’s absolutely zero sexual tension. What you’re feeling is probably testosterone poisoning from all the posturing from that idiot over there.”
“Seriously?” Levi said rather unwisely. “Okay, first, I’m not an idiot. Second, while it’s true that I do posture at times, I’m not actually doing it right now. And third, you love a bit of testosterone, don’t deny it.”
Since things were probably only going to go downhill from there, Finn decided to take charge, moving over to the couch and gently urging Indigo away while giving Levi a very direct “cut it out” look.
“You heard the lady,” Finn said. “How about we give her some space?”
Indigo let out a breath and shot Beth another concerned look. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—”
“It’s fine,” Beth interrupted with another of those fake smiles. “I’m just tired. I’ll be okay tomorrow.”
“Come on.” Finn herded the other two out of the living room and whistled at Karl, who followed. “Let’s leave her to rest. There’s chicken soup in the kitchen if you’re hungry, by the way.”
“Chicken soup?” Levi gave him a sharp look as they walked down the hallway. “You’ve been making her chicken soup?”
Levi had been in Brightwater Valley for nearly ten years. Chase had met him in the SAS, and when Chase had left the army, so had Levi. And when Chase had come home to Brightwater Valley, so had Levi. He had no family and having been kicked around in the system as a foster kid, Brightwater was the only real home he’d ever known.
Finn knew Levi thought of him and Chase as his brothers, and for all that Levi could be a pain in the ass sometimes, the feeling was mutual. Being a pain in the ass was pretty much mandatory for brothers anyway. Besides, Levi could fly anything with a propellor, was a magician when it came to engines, the clients loved him, and he’d lay down his life for his friends and the community here.
He’d also known Sheri, had viewed her as a sister-in-law, and was well aware of the significance of the damn chicken soup. And Finn was kicking himself for having mentioned it, because Levi, being the annoying brother type, would now imagine there was importance attached to it where certainly none had been intended.
Importance attached to Beth too, which he was not pleased about.
He shoved away his irritation and merely lifted a shoulder. “It’s just soup, Levi. No big deal.”
“Seems like a big deal to me,” Levi said. “Especially the way you’re fussing around her like a mother hen. What’s really going on?”
“Nothing. If we’re going to talk about people fussing around other people, I could ask you what the hell you’re doing with Indigo.” He lifted a brow. “Or is that a conversation you’d rather have in the heli tomorrow?”
Levi grinned widely, then threw a companionable arm across Finn’s shoulders. “Tell you what, bro. Let’s never speak of either of these two things again, okay?”
Interesting. Normally Levi loved nothing better than to wax lyrical about whichever woman of the moment he was interested in, and it was very unlike him to not want to talk about it.
