Page 50 of No Bed Of Roses

“Not that. We’ll figure that out in a minute.”

She was still for a moment, and he could almost hear her brain trying to switch gears. “I don’t know what you mean.”

He kissed her hair. “You said, and I quote, I can’t be responsible for someone hurting you or Hopper. He can’t hurt anyone I love. Those are the exact words, which are pretty engrained in my memory. Did you mean it?”

One of her hands patted his chest. “Out of all my ranting, that’s the line you picked up on.”

His voice was growly when he spoke. “Damn straight. I love you, Isla. It seemed too fast, so I haven’t said anything yet. I didn’t want to scare you off. But I love you. Whatever you want to do next, let’s do it together.”

She shifted so she could look into his eyes. He let her look as he studied her back. Her eyes were red from the tears, and her face was pale, but amusement was there too.

“Yes, I meant it. I love you, Levi. So very much. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

He grinned and shifted her so she was straddling him. Hopper jumped off the bed and headed to the kitchen, probably happier now that Isla had stopped crying. “Can we forget that bit for a few minutes? I want to go back to the first part of that sentence. Let me hear you say it again.”

She smiled and brushed her fingers over his jawline. “I love you, Levi. With every piece of my heart.”

“I love you, Isla. You’re incredibly special. I’m not great with words, so how about we do this instead?”

And then he kissed her with everything he had. And for the next little while, they forgot about everything except each other.

CHAPTER 17

A New Leaf

Isla traced random circles on Levi’s chest and tried to keep focused on the moment. He loved her. As impossible as it might seem, he loved her.

Did that somehow balance the scales a little? She couldn’t be a completely trash human being if Levi loved her. He was a wonderful man with too many good qualities to count.

But it seemed she had three people who hated her enough to want to hurt or kill her. Glen. Ed. And whoever shot at her.

Levi squeezed her shoulder and kissed her head. “I can hear the wheels turning again. You want to talk about it while we shower?”

That made her laugh. “If we’re in the shower, we’re not going to get much talking done.”

His chuckle rumbled through her. “I don’t see the problem.”

She kissed his chest and then scrambled to lie on top of him. She stacked her hands on his chest and rested her chin on top. “Okay, let’s talk.”

Levi grinned and placed his hands on her butt. “We’ll see how long I can concentrate.”

She smiled briefly, but it faded. “If there’s a third person who we should be worrying about, I don’t know who it could be. I’ve thought about my dad, but our conversations since that first day have been good. I think if he was trying to have me hurt or killed, there’d be some indication in our talks.”

They’d been talking every day or two, and while the conversations were sometimes awkward or stilted, she was pretty sure her father wasn’t working with a hidden agenda.

Levi brushed his hands over her skin. “I don’t think it’s your dad. He seems very sincere in his desire to get to know you again.”

She was relieved he got the same feelings from their conversations. Going over her past in her mind, she couldn’t find anyone who hated her. Her boss at Future 4 Us had been sad to see her go and had given her a letter of reference in case she went job hunting. She’d also given her an open invitation for a job if she changed her mind.

Alba had laughed out loud when Isla had told her the town where she’d be living was named Phail. They’d traded puns and jokes over the next few days while Isla had been wrapping up her projects.

And they’d made some of those jokes in the hearing of others. Of Ed Pringle?

Maybe. It was hard to remember the details.

What if Glen had somehow found out how Ed had been fired? What if Ed had shared where she’d gone?

What would the creep do for a fee?

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