Page 90 of This Baby Business
It had felt cozy. Like a real family. The kind that didn’t drive you nuts. Carly didn’t try to control him or seem to have many preconceived notions about what he should or shouldn’t do for her. Ironically, this had the reverse effect of giving him a desire to take care ofher. Something he didn’t want to analyze too closely. Point being, everything felt right with her. Simple.
Now that she’d been honest with him, he understood what she’d been dealing with and why she sometimes had that troubled look in her eyes. Sure, she might still have some stuff to work out in her life, but the important thing was she wasn’t going anywhere.
He’d help her through it if she’d let him—the PT issues with her father, her mother’s baby business. What Carly would do next with her life. He would do his part and be the supportive boyfriend. Not rush a damn thing or overthink the situation. “Aw,” Sarah said as she came by and refilled Levi’s cup with more coffee. “Look at you. Your woman problem is all fixed.”
Levi didn’t say a word, but merely took another gulp of his coffee and set the cup down.
“Sarah, have I told you I don’t like it when you read other men?” Matt said.
Levi almost snorted coffee through his nose. “Dude.”
Sarah had been a forensic artist in Colorado before she’d moved to Fortune, and Levi wasn’t crazy about the way she “read” him, either.
“That’s so sweet and annoyingly possessive.” Sarah leaned across the counter and made out with Matt for several minutes.
These two were oblivious to anyone else. He cleared his throat to remind them he was still here. “Anyway.”
Sarah managed to pull herself away, not that Matt made it easy, hanging on to her the way he did. She finally laughed and slapped his hands away. “So. Today it’s all in your shoulders, Ice Man.”
“My shoulders. What the hell?” Levi swiveled his head.
“They’re unkinked. For the first time in weeks.” She gave him a cocky grin and threw a dish towel over her shoulder, then sashayed over to tend to another customer.
Matt leaned back on his stool and gave Levi a good appraisal. “Hey. Yeah, she’s right. I’m not crazy about the fact that she noticed it, but yeah. Unkinked.”
Levi lifted one of those unkinked shoulders. He was not surprised, since nearly every part of him was relaxed. For the first time in his life, he couldn’t chalk it up to good sex, though that certainly hadn’t hurt anything. He was relaxed because…he cared deeply about someone. And that someone happened to be a woman he could trust with the single most important gift he’d ever been given. Carly had his back. He trusted her, and he hadn’t trusted easily in years.
“So what? I’m unkinked. That’s a good thing.”
“I’m glad you think so,” Matt said with a smirk. “About time you settled down.”
“Who said I’m settling down?”
“Apparently, your shoulders.” Matt got up, glanced at his watch, then walked toward the tarmac.
Levi finished his coffee and considered the fact that he had officially settled in Fortune. While he’d had wanderlust for most of his life, this felt right. He would have expected being grounded to make him feel trapped. Had been ready to feel it, and to have to talk himself out of the itchy feeling. But thanks to Stone and Matt he was still a flyboy. Always would be. That was in his DNA.
Later that afternoon, Levi left the airport, and caught himself anticipating seeing Carly. Pulling her into the circle of his arms and feeling her warm breath as she buried her face in his neck. She’d drawn him in at some point along the way. He didn’t know when or how, but Cute Stuck-Up had morphed into this woman he craved every day. It was in her smile, and in the way she gazed at him with such hope that it kicked him in the gut every time.
He was so wrapped in his thoughts that he almost didn’t notice the man standing beside the rental sedan in the airport parking lot.
“Levi,” the man called out.
Well, it looked like Mr. Lane had finally stepped up and decided to have it out. And Levi was more than ready for this meeting. He continued walking toward his truck, opened the driver’s side door and threw his laptop inside.
Mr. Lane strode up to him, hands stuffed in his pants pockets. “We need to talk.”
Up close and under the lights illuminating the now dark lot, he appeared much older than he had a few weeks ago when Levi had taken custody of Grace. His close-cropped hair was whiter, and the furrow between his eyebrows deeper. Levi could admit that he hadn’t spent much time worrying about Mr. Lane’s state of mind.
He’d had an entire new life to adjust to and his own problems. But now, knowing what Carly had been through with her father, he had a different perspective. The relationship between fathers and daughters could be a minefield of complications. A lot of expectations thrown in with all the love. He’d never had a sibling, but he now had a daughter and a new attitude.
“Thought you were leaving,” Levi said, shutting the door.
“Not yet.” Mr. Lane studied the asphalt and tipped back on his heels. “My wife threw a wrench in my plans.”
“I heard.”
“Of course, she was right. She usually is.” He shook his head and looked up to meet Levi’s eyes. “I’ve been an idiot. I need to apologize.”
