Page 40 of Death and Do-Overs

This man had given me no reason to assume he was my enemy, aside from it being strange that we’d run into each other twice in one day, in different towns. Thatwasstill suspicious. I’d run into Caspian twice though, too. And whatever had broken into my room—Bernadette, most likely—and taken Nie had broken into Levi’s room, too.

Whatever trouble was brewing in Nevermore, it had aligned itself against both of us.

“Nie is short for Marnie,” I said.

Levi nodded and lifted my foot.

His touch was tender and sent unwelcome tendrils of warmth up my thigh. My nerves danced. My mind buzzed.

“And what is Mar short for?” He flicked his gaze up to meet mine. “Or do you like me calling you Marshmallow?”

Marshmallow was a fluffy word for a sweet and fluffy substance. I should have hated both the product and his calling me that. But I didn’t.

I could have left him to keep calling me Marshmallow, but I didn’t want to. A big, quite possibly moronic, part of me wanted to trust him enough to tell him the truth.

“Marnie,” I said.

He ran an alcohol wipe over my skin. The cloth left a cold trail in its wake, a pleasant contrast to the heat of his touch. Then something even more obscene happened.

He blew on my skin—on the wet alcohol trail.

My toes curled involuntarily.

My heart shot up into my throat.

I nearly screamed and kicked him in the nose. I pressed my thighs together because I wouldnotlet him see what he was doing to my panties.

“Cruel for your parents to give you both the same name,” he said, offering no sign that he noticed the blush creeping up my cheeks or the very clear change in the air between us.

When I didn’t respond, he continued, “Your healing looks typical, just as you said. I’m going to have to give you stitches if you’re going to be able to walk on this.”

“I won’t be able to walk with stitches,” I said.

He smiled at me. “You will with mine.”

Every defense I’d built up over the years dropped at that smile, leaving me feeling more exposed than I had in a very long time. It was as terrifying as it was exhilarating.

He leaned his face closer to my foot. If he licked it, I was definitely going to kick him in the nose.

He whispered, “Languet dolor tuus et sanitas tua.”

It sounded like Latin. Instinctively, I tried to pull my foot away. This was getting too weird, and I should definitely not be pantsless with this man whispering to my toes.

I should be chasing after Nie.

His grip on my ankle tightened, not roughly, only firmly enough to hold me still.

“I’m not into foot stuff,” I said, though the fireworks spreading throughout my body told a different story. Those sparking nerves shrugged and saidmaybe for him we could be.

“I assure you, Marnie, my intentions with your foot are pure. Hold still now.”

He said my name. And I liked it even better than when he’d called me Marshmallow.

This was bad, reallyreallybad.

He lifted a glowing golden needle to my foot. I winced, waiting for the fresh stab of pain. It never came. Instead, I saw him working, but I felt nothing…until I did.

Allof the pain stopped, every ache and stab from the glass that had shredded my sole was gone as if it had never happened.

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