Page 56 of Sheltering Instinct

Chapter Eighteen

Tess

With breakfast complete, everyone moved along with their day, leaving Tess and Gwen at the table.

Gwen shifted over to her dad’s seat so the friends were kitty-corner and better able to see each other and speak in tones that wouldn’t carry.

“Who the hell are you?” Gwen thought friendship was no-holds-barred. Once a certain threshold of intimacy was surmounted, she took down any mask and said what she wanted.

Take it or leave it; that was who she was. And Tess, for the most part, found it refreshing because it meant she too could relax her social vigilance.

“Why are you acting that way around him?” Gwen pressed.

“Around whom? What way?” Tess knew; she was buying herself some time. She absolutely did not want to divulge her story to anyone.

“Levi, of course,” Gwen turned toward his voice out in the courtyard where a group of children had gathered around him.

As she turned back, Tess raised a sardonic brow in response.

“When you're around Levi, you're stiff as a board, and you avoid eye contact.”

Tess shrugged. “Maybe I'm just embarrassed that I was such a damsel in distress. That I needed to be scooped into this man's arms and carried feels ridiculous, even more so when there was absolutely nothing wrong with me. Yeah, grateful and embarrassed are weird bedfellows.”

When Tess was coming down the mountain, she was ultra-aware that she was in Levi’s arms only for pragmatic hero reasons. He would carry anyone. A guy, a grandma—it was nothing sexy or romantic.

God, he smelled so good.

Lying in her hospital room, unable to sleep with the constant nurse checks, Tess remembered all the times Levi had swept her into his arms and carried her to bed. When he was inthatkind of mood, what followed was always amazing.

When he was standing on the platform at the top of the hill before the breakneck descent that had her clinging to him with eyes squeezed shut, his voice caught as he said, “Tessy, I'm sorry if this is awkward, but we did this before. Remember when you sprained your ankle on the hike?”

Did she remember?

Of course, she did. They were new to dating, out hiking for the first time when her foot went in a hole. He carried her down the mountain, took her to the orthopedic emergency center, made sure nothing was broken, ordered her favorite food, and took her back to his place at their shared apartment building. He wanted her to stay at his place on the ground floor so she wouldn't be stuck in a 3rd floor walk-up apartment while on crutches. He’d offered his bed and slept on the couch. He even called Shanti that night, asking her to bring down clothes because Tess’s things were muddy, and she’d need her toothbrush and pajamas.

Shanti arrived, giggled, and left.

And Levi couldn't have been more amazing.

Shanti said that when Levi opened the door to her, he had been such a super alpha hero protector that even she'd gotten a rush.

And Shanti was a card-carrying Gold Star Lesbian.

From Gwen’s behavior this morning, she, like Shanti, had gotten the same kind of tingle when they saw Levi in full go mode.

It was completely understandable that Gwen found Levi appealing.

Who wouldn’t?

“Oh my god, the whole scene was movie-worthy,” Gwen gushed. “The way he lifted you, the way he held you—I mean, he treated you as if you were precious.” Gwen paused and stared over to where he was laughing with the children. “To be honest,” she said softly, “I’d like to be treated as precious at some point by a man who could scoop me up and carry me down the rocky trail, racing to save my life.” She turned back to Tess and forced a smile. “Sometimes, it’s hard to get my date to share his umbrella with me.”

“Wait a minute,” Tess scowled for oh so many reasons but voiced only one, “You wish you were the one that went through that yesterday?”

“Absolutely not. I would like that scene only if Levi wasn't actually racing to try to save my life. But you have to admit, that whole thing was rom-com worthy.” Tipping her head, she added. “You seem embarrassed. That's not at all like you.”

Embarrassment? She was just trying to make it through Gwen’s Levi-gushing.

It hurt. All of it. And yet, Tess had no right to feel that way.

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