Page 79 of The Marriage Deal
"Hmm, that's interesting," Rebecca said. "Tell us more, Levi."
Levi's voice was full of derision. His hand twitching in mine as he spoke. "He knew I liked Elvy, and that bastard asked her out first."
"How come I've never heard about this before?" I said, amused by the thought of Levi and Wyatt fighting over me.
"Because when you two were together, I thought you loved him, and I didn't want to ruin it for you."
"Levi, are you serious?" He certainly did not look like he was joking.
In the corner of my eye, I saw Rebecca tiptoeing out of the room, leaving Levi and I alone. Levi nodded, smiling.
"I've always been obsessed with you. And Wyatt, that bastard…" The derision returned in Levi's voice again, his face darkening, "And that bastard knew and went after you. We stopped being friends after that, though honestly, we never were truly friends." He sighed. "So I was fine. Well, I was not fine with it, but as long as you seemed happy with him, I tolerated your relationship. But then when I found out that not only was he cheating on you, but with your friend, I confronted him. He promised he would break it off, and that it was a onetime thing and that he will tell you. But he didn't, and then, of course, you found out."
Levi took hold of both my hands. "I didn't like what he did to you. He made you cry. No man should make you cry. No man should torment you as long as I can do something about it."
My mind went to Thompson's office. Wyatt had said that Levi was obsessed with me. I had ignored it, thinking he was exaggerating or spouting nonsense. Turns out he might have been telling the truth.
"You're the one who sent that email. Who made the website?"
He nodded. "I had to find a way to make him pay after he threatened you with that frivolous lawsuit. And since I knew a lot about him, well, it was only a matter of combining a few truths and half-truths and then voilà."
"Half-truths?"
"Wyatt didn't cheat on his thesis, but he did get some unofficial help while we were at Cambridge. He's not as smart as people want him to think he is."
"Oh." Partly shocked and partly impressed about this side of Levi. "Any other half-truths?"
"The pissbath. Not real."
I bellowed with laughter.
"An editor I hired changed the color of the water to that orange-yellowish hue."
"Ha! Some guy at work tried to claim it was an electrolyte bath."
"A what?" He chuckled, then turned serious. "That night when you cried in my arms, I made a promise to myself that those were the last tears you were going to cry over a heartbreak." He squeezed my hands. His voice was shaking when he said, "So when you sent that email to me, asking if you wanted to marry me, I could not believe it. The woman I have pined for, yearned for, wanted to marry me."
"Even after she called you Professor Phantom?"
"I ignored the Professor Phantom thing. I was too happy to even dwell on it. I also thought you didn't like me."
I lightly punched his chest. "I thought you didn't like me."
"I liked you a lot, but I tried to be, you know, professional about it."
"So is that it? You just liked me?"
"What!" His shock almost made me laugh. He drew me into his arms. "No. I love you. I loved you from the first moment I met you. I love you now. And Elvira Edwards, I will love you forever."
"Elvira Hawthorne."
Levi's arms tightened around me. "Fuck. Why does that make me hard?"
I chuckled.
He gave me a kiss full of promise, hope and love.
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