Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 108124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
“He asked me out again. I’m supposed to be going to a concert with him next weekend.”
He nodded slowly. “How do you feel about him?”
“I don’t know. He’s really nice, but I’m on the fence.”
“You’re on the fence with him. And on the face with me. I think I win.”
I burst into laughter. “You’re bad.”
“But you’re laughing.”
“Yes, I am.”
“I have a confession,” he said, taking the empty beer bottle from me and placing it on the ground next to his feet.
I wiped my eyes. “What?”
“I didn’t really have anywhere to go the past few days. I just felt like I needed to get out of town to think. I basically put myself in a time out after my behavior with you. That night, when you were rubbing my knee… Well, that didn’t help.”
Batting my lashes, I asked, “Were you able to clear your head?”
“Any head-clearing I might have done went out the fucking window when I came back to that conversation.” He stood up. “Speaking of which, I’ll be right back.”
Uh-oh. What’s going on?
He returned a minute later with an aluminum tray and two forks.
My mouth dropped. “That’s not what I think it is…”
“My mother made it. I asked her to, and I went and picked it up this afternoon.”
I covered my face. “Oh no. I can’t believe you asked Shelby to do that.”
“Relax. It’s not like she knew the context.”
“I know, but it just seems wrong. What the hell did you tell her? The reason for your sudden craving for peach cobbler?”
He took the plastic top off the tray. “I told her you’d been dying for it. Dying.”
“You suck.”
“I do—and lick. And sometimes I do this thing where—”
“Stop!”
We both broke out into laughter again. And when it finally died down, we dug into the peach cobbler. It was delicious, but I couldn’t get my mind out of the gutter. I’d probably never be able to eat this dessert again without thinking about Levi.
***
The following morning, a loud knock woke me up.
I groggily answered the front door. “Can I help you?”
A portly man holding a clipboard stood across from me. “Yeah, Mr. Miller called me in to replace the AC system. I got my crew with me to do the installation.”
“Don’t you mean repair?”
He looked back at his truck. “No. I mean replace. We’re putting in a whole new system. Normally I wouldn’t be able to do it on such short notice, but Mr. Miller made it worth our while.”
I specifically remembered Levi telling me we shouldn’t replace the AC system if we were going to sell the place. He’d said we could get away with repairing it until the sale, after which it would be the new owner’s problem.
This was a huge investment. My heart filled with hope.
I nodded, the man called in his crew, and they got to work.
While these guys were invading with all of their equipment, I went to the kitchen to make some coffee.
As it brewed, I texted Levi.
Presley: You’re replacing the AC?
My phone dinged with a response. But it didn’t address my question.
Levi: I’m out getting supplies for some other stuff we need to do around here. I left you something in your bedside table drawer while you were sleeping, btw.
After I prepared my coffee, I walked to my room to find a large manila envelope in the drawer. Inside were a couple of pieces of yellow notepaper and what looked like a DVD. A large sticky note on top of the paper read:
Presley,
I made a to-do list so we can keep track of what needs to be done around The Palm.
I’m handling number one—replace the air conditioning system.
I’ve got items number four, six, and ten today and have already gone to Home Depot to get materials.
Maybe you should work on number six on the second page?
When I flipped to the second page, I realized page two wasn’t part of his list. It was the Levi to-do list Harper had jotted down the other night. How the hell had he gotten this? He must have snuck into my room and found it. Damn it!
Number six was: Masturbate while looking at Levi.
My heartbeat accelerated. What the hell is this disc?
My hands were shaky as I popped it into the DVD player.
Before my eyes appeared a montage of Levi, a highlight reel of him—throwing the football with no shirt at practice, pouring an entire bottle of water over his bare chest. Clip after clip, every muscle of his gorgeous, bronze upper body was on full display.
He was giving me material to facilitate my work.
I was ready to burst into flames.
Oh my God.
CHAPTER 10
* * *
Levi
“How’s your to-do list coming along?” I asked Presley the following morning at breakfast.
She took a sip of her coffee. “What ever could you be referring to?” Her face turned beet red.
Smirking, I decided to drop it. I didn’t want to scare her out of the kitchen. I was enjoying this coffee time with her. Alex had a sleepover at my mom’s last night, and I’d done everything to stay the hell away from Presley, making myself scarce after what I’d pulled with that DVD.