Page 51 of This Baby Business
Levi had lost so much. His dreams. We were both, in different ways, readjusting to a new reality. But while I’d struggled to regain my footing, he’d seemed to hit the ground running. I admired that about him. He didn’t waste time feeling sorry for himself or blaming Sandy for not contacting him about Grace sooner.
“It’s all good. Still get to fly. I wouldn’t have planned it this way, but I’m still okay.”
I wondered if anything truly upset Levi Lambert. His emotions were cool and guarded, rolled up tight.
“Even with Sandy’s parents in the picture? It’s still okay?”
His jaw tightened, the only clue I had that he felt something. “I know how to fight, and she’s worth fighting for.”
I wanted to tell him that I realized it couldn’t be as easy as he made it look. Wanted to let him know that he could confide in me. Tell me everything. Unwind. But I could see in those fathomless blue eyes that Levi Lambert was not an open book.
He reached across my lap, his warm hand brushing against my thigh, and reached for the soda. “What were you doing out here?”
“I thought I heard a noise.” I had heard a noise, but in reality I’d come out here because the four walls were closing in on me. And maybe because, on some level, I’d hoped that Levi would join me.
He quirked a single eyebrow. Opened his mouth, then closed it again.
“What? I would have dealt with whatever I found out here. I’m not as weak as I look.”
“Didn’t say you were weak.”
“I can take care of myself, I mean. I have a good butcher knife. I don’t need a man.”
He groaned. “Pay no attention to me. That’s the sound I make when I’m replaced by a kitchen utensil.”
“Abutcherknife. Big and strong and…sharp.”
His blue gaze slid from my eyes to my lips. “You’re not making me feel any better.”
He’d flustered me, and I fought for the right words. “You know what I mean. I—I don’t need a man to fix my problems. I don’t need to be rescued.”
“Tell me. Is thereanyreason you need a man?” He grinned, a wicked glint in his gaze.
“I think we already established that.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Oh, c’mon. Something tells me you don’t need me to soothe your fragile male ego.”
He snorted. “Ouch.”
I was going from treading water to drowning. “What can I do to make this better?”
He sat beside me, all broody and alpha male testosterone filling the night. His eyes had switched from light and humorous to a dark and heated gaze that had my resolve melting like a chocolate bar left in a hot car. God, I did need him. Now. Not to slay my dragons but to remind me I was alive. A woman.
He stood and crooked his finger.
Oh, boy. He looked so incredibly sexy. A sliver of moonlight glinted in his blond hair. He had that tousled natural look. So…inviting.
I didn’t know what I was—what we were—doing. Still, my feet took me in his direction as if they were the ones making all the decisions now.
I’d only been in Levi’s house once and even then briefly, so now I took it in. A similar floor plan to my own. A brown leather couch dominated the great room, and even though touches of a little girl were everywhere I cast my gaze, the overall impression was of one hundred percent American male. The plasma TV was large and in the center of the living room. I noticed a Dallas Cowboys throw on a rocking chair and decided I’d have to forgive him for that.
He was smiling when I turned to him. “Meet with your approval?”
“That’s a big TV.”
He lifted a solid shoulder. “I’m from Texas. We do big…everything.”
