Page 18 of Another Postcard

“There is a food delivery here, Ms. Hawk,” Peter said. I was stunned for a moment. What the hell? I hadn’t ordered anything and I opened my mouth to tell him, but stopped when I noticed Levi yelling my name from where my phone was hanging in my hand at my side.

“What?” I snapped lifted it to my ear.

“It’s from me. The food.”

I opened my mouth to tell him that I had no idea what was going on. “What are you talking about?”

Levi’s husky chuckle sent a shiver down my spine and my nipples hardened, the fabric of my robe rubbing across them. I had to bite back a moan. I wasn’t wearing any underwear, so I could feel the wetness from my pussy on my thighs. Damn it! Why did he affect me like that?

“Let’s have dinner together.”

I sighed. “Levi—”

“Hear me out,” he interrupted. “I figured if you won’t go to dinner with me, we could at least have it at the same time.”

I could practically hear the large crack from him chipping away another piece of the wall around my heart…

After telling Peter to send everything up, I went into the bathroom to drain the tub and watched longingly as the scented, bubbly water disappeared.

“What was that?” Levi asked when the tub made a loud gurgling noise.

“I was going to take a bath.”

He groaned. “Fuck, now that image won’t go away.”

My doorbell rang, and I tightened the belt on my robe before opening it for the delivery guy. “Hold on,” I told Levi, then greeted a good-looking, young guy, who couldn’t be older than eighteen. “Hi.” He looked at me and his eyes lit up, like he’d won the lottery, his mouth curving up into a wide smile, showing off two deep dimples. He was a looker, I’d give him that. Still . . . I felt bad. He was probably the popular guy at school who never got turned down, and I was about to pop the bubble he lived in where he was king of everything.Poor kid.

“You can put everything on the counter over there.” I gestured to the kitchen area of my open concept living/dining/kitchen area. “And, if you don’t hit on me, because I’d hate to have to shoot you down, I’ll give you a bigger tip.” I smiled. There, that was letting him down easy.

He sauntered in the door with a confident swagger that only cocky, teen0age boys could pull off. After setting everything down, he faced me and leaned back against the counter, his hands gripping the edges on either side. I raised an eyebrow. Really? He was going to ignore my warning?

“Do you really want me to go?” he asked slyly. “Or are you just fighting the attraction between us? Because, I could rock your world, babe.”Oh, good grief.I started to respond when I heard the faraway sound of Levi’s voice. I had forgotten that he was still there.

I brought the phone to my ear. “Let me call you back.”

“Is the delivery guy hitting on you?” he demanded, his tone barely containing his fury.

“Relax, he’s just a kid.” The boy’s expression fell for a second, but he was back to his cocky self in no time. “I’m handling it.”

“Put him on the phone,” Levi growled. I was about to argue but then I thought, why the hell not? Let him be the bad guy.

I held out my phone. “My friend Levi Matthews wants to talk to you,” I explained. The kid’s face made it clear that he thought I was making it up to get rid of him. “Find out for yourself if you think I’m lying.”

Warily, he approached me and took my phone carefully, as though it might explode. “Who is this?” he asked. Then he sucked up his chest and put more confidence in his tone. “You’re interrupting a private,romanticmoment.” I covered my mouth, hoping he wouldn’t hear my snort-giggle.

He listened for a second then his jaw dropped like a lead weight and his eyes turned into saucers. “Holy shit, you’re Levi Matthews,” he breathed. Levi’s voice was low, so I couldn’t hear what he was saying. I was surprised he wasn’t yelling at the kid, but by the time he muttered, “Yes, sir,” he looked sufficiently freaked the fuck out. “I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t know she was yo—no, sir. Yes, sir.” I felt a little bad for him, but it was overpowered by the hilarity of the situation.

One last, “Yes, sir,” and he was handing the phone back to me and making a beeline for the door. He stopped and said, “Sorry, for swearing ma’am and for treating you disrespectfully,” and then rushed out the door, slamming it behind him in his haste.

“Um, that was interesting,” I said to Levi. “What did you say to him?”

“It’s not important.” His voice was still tense with irritation. It sounded like he was angry with me too, which didn’t make any sense. “Brooklynn, you were about to take a bath before the food arrived, yes?”

Even more confused at his change in subject, I conceded, “Yes.”

“And what were you wearing when you opened the door?” His tone was still dark, and I could hear the spoken warning. Oh, that’s what was chafing his ass. I considered lying, but I sucked at it, so I shrugged and told the truth.

“My robe.”

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