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Authors: Melanie Shawn
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direction—it was a giant leap.
Taking the phone from Amy, who was grinning in anticipation, Shelby cleared her throat before saying, “Hey.”
“Hey, Shelby. It’s Levi.” His baritone voice vibrated through the phone, and she felt what she was now mentally referring to as Levi-tingles spread all the way to her toes.
Ignoring the wave of shivers, she pushed full steam ahead. “Hey.”
“I heard that you were looking for work. Since Tessa left, I’m looking to hire someone. I remembered you saying that you have bartending experience. Would you be interested in picking up some shifts?”
“Sure.” Her immediate response surprised her.
“Oh, okay.” Levi sounded equally as shocked. “Is tomorrow night too soon to start?”
“Nope.”
“All right. How does four sound? I’ll have a couple of hours to show you the ropes before we get slammed.”
“Perfect.” Apparently, Shelby could only manage one word at a time in this conversation.
“Great. See you tomorrow night.” Levi still sounded a little taken aback. “Bye.”
“Bye.” While hanging up the phone, she noticed that Henry and Amy were staring at her expectantly. “He needs someone to pick up a few shifts a week and offered me a job.”
“That’s great!” Amy smiled broadly.
Good news: She had a job and was not going to bleed her savings completely dry.
Bad news: It was working with a temptation she absolutely could not give in to.
Solution: Stay strong. Keep things professional.
The memory of Levi’s soft, firm lips touching hers from the one kiss they’d shared filled her mind. That memory brought a few friends to the living-in-the-past dance party her brain was throwing. Shelby also entertained thoughts of the sensation of the contours of his hard body swaying against her, his large hands running up and down her back, the callused pad of his thumb rubbing in circles on the small of her back as they danced to song after song at the reception.
Yeah. She was in trouble.
Chapter 5
‡
L evi stepped out of the shower and dried off. Shelby was due to show up any minute, and he needed to get downstairs and reopen the bar for the happy hour crowd.
Today he’d made some progress on the cabin renovations. After pulling up the god-awful carpeting, he’d been happy that the flooring beneath was hardwood. Sure, it had seen better days, but it was his, and when it finally looked the way he’d pictured it in his head, it would be worth all of his blood, sweat, and tears. It wasn’t going to be one of those fru-fru girlie B&Bs. Hell no. This was going to be a place where men would feel comfortable staying. It was going to be warm and earthy. Inviting. Cozy.
Unwittingly, a scene played in Levi’s mind’s eye. He saw Shelby sitting in front of a roaring fire. Her back was to him. Long, dark brown sugar-tinted hair cascaded like a waterfall down past her shoulders. Just the barest hint of her golden skin peeking between the curtains of her silky strands as she coyly glanced at him. Her eyes glimmered with the same fire he remembered from the night they’d met. The fire he hadn’t seen yesterday.
Shaking his head, he tried to erase the image from his consciousness as he grabbed his toothbrush and squirted a line of toothpaste on it. While he ran the brush over his teeth, he reminded himself that he needed to keep his head in the game. Bottom line, that meant no fantasizing about a girl he’d just hired to work for him.
It wasn’t a good idea for a lot of reasons but the one that kept pushing its way to the forefront of Levi’s mind was that Shelby seemed different. She reminded Levi of a bird his younger brother, Lucky, had brought him when the twins were in first grade. It had a broken wing, and Lucky had wanted to “fix” it. Levi recalled that they’d gone to the library and looked up how to care for the winged creature. The healing process did not happen overnight. They’d nursed that bird for a good three months before
Taking the phone from Amy, who was grinning in anticipation, Shelby cleared her throat before saying, “Hey.”
“Hey, Shelby. It’s Levi.” His baritone voice vibrated through the phone, and she felt what she was now mentally referring to as Levi-tingles spread all the way to her toes.
Ignoring the wave of shivers, she pushed full steam ahead. “Hey.”
“I heard that you were looking for work. Since Tessa left, I’m looking to hire someone. I remembered you saying that you have bartending experience. Would you be interested in picking up some shifts?”
“Sure.” Her immediate response surprised her.
“Oh, okay.” Levi sounded equally as shocked. “Is tomorrow night too soon to start?”
“Nope.”
“All right. How does four sound? I’ll have a couple of hours to show you the ropes before we get slammed.”
“Perfect.” Apparently, Shelby could only manage one word at a time in this conversation.
“Great. See you tomorrow night.” Levi still sounded a little taken aback. “Bye.”
“Bye.” While hanging up the phone, she noticed that Henry and Amy were staring at her expectantly. “He needs someone to pick up a few shifts a week and offered me a job.”
“That’s great!” Amy smiled broadly.
Good news: She had a job and was not going to bleed her savings completely dry.
Bad news: It was working with a temptation she absolutely could not give in to.
Solution: Stay strong. Keep things professional.
The memory of Levi’s soft, firm lips touching hers from the one kiss they’d shared filled her mind. That memory brought a few friends to the living-in-the-past dance party her brain was throwing. Shelby also entertained thoughts of the sensation of the contours of his hard body swaying against her, his large hands running up and down her back, the callused pad of his thumb rubbing in circles on the small of her back as they danced to song after song at the reception.
Yeah. She was in trouble.
Chapter 5
‡
L evi stepped out of the shower and dried off. Shelby was due to show up any minute, and he needed to get downstairs and reopen the bar for the happy hour crowd.
Today he’d made some progress on the cabin renovations. After pulling up the god-awful carpeting, he’d been happy that the flooring beneath was hardwood. Sure, it had seen better days, but it was his, and when it finally looked the way he’d pictured it in his head, it would be worth all of his blood, sweat, and tears. It wasn’t going to be one of those fru-fru girlie B&Bs. Hell no. This was going to be a place where men would feel comfortable staying. It was going to be warm and earthy. Inviting. Cozy.
Unwittingly, a scene played in Levi’s mind’s eye. He saw Shelby sitting in front of a roaring fire. Her back was to him. Long, dark brown sugar-tinted hair cascaded like a waterfall down past her shoulders. Just the barest hint of her golden skin peeking between the curtains of her silky strands as she coyly glanced at him. Her eyes glimmered with the same fire he remembered from the night they’d met. The fire he hadn’t seen yesterday.
Shaking his head, he tried to erase the image from his consciousness as he grabbed his toothbrush and squirted a line of toothpaste on it. While he ran the brush over his teeth, he reminded himself that he needed to keep his head in the game. Bottom line, that meant no fantasizing about a girl he’d just hired to work for him.
It wasn’t a good idea for a lot of reasons but the one that kept pushing its way to the forefront of Levi’s mind was that Shelby seemed different. She reminded Levi of a bird his younger brother, Lucky, had brought him when the twins were in first grade. It had a broken wing, and Lucky had wanted to “fix” it. Levi recalled that they’d gone to the library and looked up how to care for the winged creature. The healing process did not happen overnight. They’d nursed that bird for a good three months before
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