Page 18 of Get Lost with You
Levi bit his lip hard to stifle the comment that his effort hadn’t worked. There was barely any visible floor to walk on.
Jillian stepped up beside him, her shoulder brushing his arm, her fingers dangling close enough to touch.
“You’ve added more. I’m glad you didn’t get rid of it all, Pete. There’s a lot here, and most of it might go, but I definitely see some things worth salvaging.” She ran her hand along the handle of the popcorn maker. It came away with dust that she wiped on her pants.
Levi realized he was smiling. This was going to be a hell of a job but, in the end, it would be a cool little space for him to live in while he started building his future.
“They say you can’t go back, but I’m pretty sure the entire history of Smile is tucked away in there.” If his tone leaned toward reverent, it was because Levi actually felt like he was stepping into long-ago summer days, remembering, viscerally, stopping by Pete’s for an ice-cream cone or, even better, a root beer float.
When he glanced at Jillian, her smile was brighter than the goddamn sun. His fingers grazed hers again. This time, it wasn’t an accident.
How could looking at her steal the breath from his lungs and make him feel like he could breathe in the same second?
“Pete,” Jillian said, running a hand over a stack of boxes that came to her waist, awe in her tone. “How long have you been storing things?”
Levi took a tentative step forward. “Since the dawn of time, from the looks of it.”
Pete growled. “I’m not a hoarder. I got busy.”
Jillian sent Levi a chastising look, which he figured was a very practiced mom move.
“That’s okay, Pete. This stuff has a history. Your history here in Smile.”
Levi glanced at the older man and saw the way Jilly softened him just with the kindness in her tone, expression, and body language. A completely underrated skill he admired.
“It does. Thirty years of my restaurant in there. Thirty years of Smile. I’m not even sure I’m attached to all of it, but it’s just too much to dive into. Gives me hives thinking about digging through it all. But I said I’d do it. So, now I found a way.” He grinned, pinning Levi with his gaze as his teeth peeked through his beard. “I’ll let you stay through the summer for free.”
Levi nodded rather than saying he sure as hell hoped so. It might take them that long to clean this place out.
Pete turned and walked away, leaving Jillian and Levi staringat the past. He smiled, thinking that there was no one he’d rather sort through the past with to get to the future. Looking over, he was struck again by the way she stole his breath by doing nothing more than being herself.
“Why are you smiling?” She stepped into a small square of space between a couple of boxes.
“Because I like looking at you. And being with you. And I was just thinking, there’s no one I’d rather do this with.”
Jillian turned and he saw the hesitancy, the nerves, dancing in her gaze. Levi stepped closer to her, took her hand. She had little freckles across the bridge of her nose and he couldn’t take his eyes off of them. Like Pete, he was scared to dive into this, but holding back had never been his strong suit.
Jillian’s breath faltered. “What? Why are you looking at me so intently?”
His gaze darted up, then back to her freckles, counting them. Seven. “One day soon, I want to kiss each one of your freckles.”
This time she sucked in a sharp breath that worked to erase the space between them.
She stared at his mouth as a gentle hue of pink splashed over her cheeks. “Levi.” He recognized the desire that surged in her eyes, because it echoed his own.
He reached out, slowly so she could stop him, and brushed the strands of hair that had escaped her elastic behind her shoulder, letting his fingers linger. Her lips parted and Levi was pretty sure he’d never wanted to kiss a woman this badly except for one other time in his life. And it was the same woman.
Jillian’s breath hitched in and out, her gaze wide as his hand moved down her neck, along her shoulder, in a gentle caress.
A loud, growly noise startled him away from Jillian but he kept her close to his front, turning to see Pete glaring at them. Him. Pete was glaring at Levi. Not Jillian.
Jillian bit her lip and ducked her head with a shy smile. Her forehead landed on his chest.
“Thought you two might want some lemonade,” Pete said, setting both large glasses down on one of the boxes.
“Thank you, Pete,” Jillian said without looking up.
“You’re welcome, Jilly,” Pete said, his tone amused despite the way he narrowed his gaze at Levi.
