Read Online Perfect Kiss by Melanie Shawn - Free Book Online Page B

they had taken their feathered friend into the backyard and released it. Levi still remembered the feeling of pride he’d had as a young twelve-year-old man, as the bird had flown up into the clouds.
    The same feeling he’d gotten all those years ago when he’d seen the fractured wing of the helpless animal had swept through him yesterday when he’d seen Shelby. He couldn’t put his finger on why he’d felt it. It had just been a gut reaction—a sixth sense of sorts.
    As a bartender, Levi was a natural listener and observer. He didn’t just hear the words that came from people’s mouths; he also watched their body language as they spoke. Shelby was different than she had been eighteen months ago. Levi knew that as much as he knew his own name. She was trying to act like she wasn’t, and he had a feeling that she had everyone, including her brother, fooled. But not him. Part of him wanted to believe that it was because he knew her. That the one night they’d danced until dawn had bonded them in a way that was… special .
    Luckily, Levi had never been accused of being a romantic. He was a realist. How could he not have been? His parents had both exposed him to the harsh realities of life at such an early age that he’d never believed in true love. Soul mates. Happily ever after.
    As he stared at his reflection, he noticed for the first time that he was starting to resemble the man who’d been his sperm donor. His eyes, and jawline, especially with the five o’ clock shadow he was sporting. Having the sudden urge to shave, he grabbed a razor but when he saw what time it was on his phone, he knew that he didn’t have time to shave.
    Shit .
    Instead, he grabbed his jeans from his clean clothes pile, and while he searched through it for a suitable shirt, he pulled his pants up. Jackpot . He spotted a red piece of material under his socks. Just as he retrieved the crimson cotton t-shirt, the floor shook beneath him, which it did whenever there was a knock on the front entrance of the bar.
    Double shit .
    Shelby was here. Shirt in hand, he almost tripped over his own feet as he stepped into his boots and rushed out of his apartment. A strange feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. It was not the same one he’d felt the day before. This one was more unsettled. The only time he’d ever experienced this sensation was the one and only time he’d ridden a roller coaster. His stomach had dropped long before the cart he’d been strapped into had.
    So did this mean he was…nervous?
    Damn. He wasn’t some adolescent teen who was asking his crush to the big school dance. He was a grown-ass man who owned a bar and what would soon be hailed as Hope Falls’ first B&B. Unfortunately, reminding himself of that fact did nothing to take away the racing of his pulse or the rolling of his stomach.
    The thud, thud, thudding of his boots echoed off the narrow stairway as he took the steps two at a time. It matched the hammering of his heart against his ribcage. By the time he’d made it to the bottom of the stairwell, he was out of breath. Which he knew had a lot more to do with the nerves playing havoc on his respiratory system than it did with the actual physical exertion he’d just expended.
    After turning the key in the lock, he found Shelby with her back turned to him, her coffee-colored hair falling over her shoulder—not unlike the fireplace fantasy that had just played in his head. Except in front-door reality she was clothed, so he guessed that part was different. That didn’t stop his body from responding to the similarities. He felt his jeans tightening by the second.
    “Finally! I was thinking that you’d flaked or some…” She turned towards him, her face level with his chest. Stilling, her eyes lifted and when they finally reached his they widened and her lips parted, which his body read as sexy-as-hell .
    “Sorry,” Levi apologized, his voice sounding huskier than he’d meant it to. “I was in the