Page 57 of Sheltering Instinct

“Obviously, you hadn’t planned for your foot to slip off a rock,” Gwen pressed on. “There’s nothing embarrassing about your actions. So that'snotit.”

Still nothing from Tess.

“He knew your name. He calls you Tessy. At least he did on the hill. That seems intimate.”

“I knew Levi a long time ago, back in college.”

Gwen leaned forward. “And he did something heinous? Some frat brother douchery?”

“Levi?” Tess pulled her chin back. “Never.”

Gwen canted her head, assessing Tess for a long moment, gears obviously whirring as she tried to make sense of her clues. “You knew him when you were married to Abraham?”

“Before my marriage. Abraham and I were married during Levi’s first deployment.

“But Abraham knew him?” Gwen was starting to see the picture.

“Yes, they liked each other a lot and got on very well.”

Gwen tipped her head back and forth. “So, is there something going on between you two now?”

“Levi and me?” Tess looked away. “No, why?”

She pushed harder. “He’s fair game then?”

Tess forced her focus to land on Gwen, forced her voice to sound unaffected. “He’s his own person. Why would you ask me about that? I don’t know anything about his life. I haven’t seen him in almost two decades. You should ask Levi if he’s relationship-free.”

Everything in Tess’s body clenched. And it shouldn’t. Tess wasn’t a jealous person by nature. But she hadn’t asked, and he hadn’t said—there very well could be a Mrs. Elliot and their children at home waiting for Levi’s return.

It was probable that was the case.

There was no reason for her to be jealous about any part of his life, and equally, there was no reason to be jealous of Gwen’s interest.

All that was left of Levi and her were memories. Their separation was something she had imposed on him. And now she was a thorn in his side, a moment in time he needed to get through until they could both go on their merry ways, tossingthis chance encounter into their memory boxes and shutting the lids.

Gwen had turned her full attention to the yard.

Mojo was outside with Reaper, Levi, Goose, and Enrico. The kids were nearby playing with their jump ropes.

“What are the men doing?” Tess asked.

“See that pole near them?” Gwen pointed. “Enrico uses it to train the puppies to bite the rope and play tug of war. It builds their jaw strength and the endurance of their hind legs as they pull. The working dogs still have fun with that when they’re here making their etiquette rounds.”

“Etiquette rounds,” Tess laughed, relieved that the conversation had turned to something else.

“The K9s need to keep up their people skills. So they come here to hang out with visitors in a domestic setting instead of the kennels.”

“But why is the rope coming out of a pipe?”

“Enrico explained that pipe is chest-high on a man. They want to make sure that they don’t allow the dogs to train too high up for fear the dog wouldn’t just take someone down but catch the neck where they could puncture an artery.”

Tess gave a full-bodied shake.

Levi pointed at one of the kids, and the boy handed over his rope. He pulled out his phone and tapped until a song blared out.

A moment later, there was Levi doing his rope thing. He’d told Tess back in the day that he’d learned to do a hip-hop dance with a rodeo accent with a jump rope because he wanted to impress the head cheerleader at his school. And he had. She was very impressed with his skills. But that didn’t make her any less a lesbian, so he’d put in the work and had this fun skill but never got the kiss. He did gain a friend, though. They were still close when Tess was in the picture.

That song over, the kids were jumping up and down, begging for another dance.

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