Page 76 of Sheltering Instinct

She looked at him with surprise. “Why would I need protection from you?”

“Ha! I'm trying to get up the courage to say this. I won't turn away from any fight, and I, by nature, run into any danger. But this feels … I don't really have a word for it, but here I go. One of the reasons why I was angry—and have been angry—is because your decisions deprived us both of love.”

Those words hung between them, and Levi held his breath. Was that too much? Had he crossed a line?

Tess’s words were barely audible. “Mama Ya always talked about how Fortune’s Wheel turns, and it feels like the wheel is right back to the top again. Like the time that needed to pass has passed, that the things that needed to be done on our own were done, and that we're back to each other. I want to ask you if you think that—now that our lives have shifted, now that the kids are in college, and you are out of the military—do you think it's possible that we can find our way back to each other?”

Levi leaned forward, capturing Tess’s face between his palms, painting his thumbs over her cheeks, then angled his head to kiss her.

Her lips, soft and chilly, radiated warmth through his whole system, and his blood pulsed with joy.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Tess

As Tess reached the corner of the veranda, she heard the murmur of Gwen speaking to Levi.

Approaching, Tess was able to make out Gwen’s words.

“—that she was raised in Ghana. From her early childhood, I think something's there. I would never ask. I'll tell you this, though, Levi. Tess is one of the bravest women I've ever met. I mean, we have been in some very dangerous situations, and she seems to know somehow how to escape the bad guy, or the weather, or out-maneuver the destruction of force. I'm always glad when I'm assigned to work with Tess because, as fragile as she looks, it’s only one of her adjectives. She can think in the moment. And no insult, but I’d honestly feel safer with her than I would with like someone like you. You might have skills and brawn, but she has tenacity and creativity.”

“She’s a remarkable woman,” Levi agreed.

Tess looked behind her. Should she retreat? Make some noise so they knew she was there?

Iris waved good morning as she and Craig approached. Now, Tess was stuck there, waiting for them.

“Tess said she knew you back in school,” Gwen’s voice floated around the corner. Her voice was no longer flirty like it had been yesterday on the safari. There was a cautionary tone. Tess could imagine that Gwen had realized there was something between Tess and Levi and had adjusted to the circumstances.

“We knew each other in undergrad,” Levi said, “after I joined the Navy, we fell out of contact. Life gets in the way sometimes.”

“I feel big-sisterly toward Tess. Levi, listen to me. I am asking you not to hurt her.”

Before Tess could hear Levi’s response, Iris scooped an arm through Tess’s as she kept walking. “Looks like you’re heading out for an adventure.”

The sky was a brilliant blue, shining through patches of clouds.

As they rounded the corner to approach Levi and Gwen, a change of conversation was in order. Tess pointed up. “They look like the spots on a giraffe's hide.” Then she reached out and gathered the air.

Something waswrong. More wrong today than yesterday.

Tess scowled at the sky. Whatever this sensation was, it was new to her, and she couldn’t predict what would come next. That made Tess feel as vulnerable as Gwen had described her.

As the group approached, Levi and Gwen swiveled outward to include them in their conversation. “What are you seeing, Tess?” Gwen asked. “Those are just cirrocumulus clouds.”

Tess rolled her lips in as anxiety clutched her chest. Whatwasshe seeing?

Mojo left Levi and came to sit beside her.

“What’s this?” Craig tipped his head back.

“Those are high-altitude tropospheric clouds,” Gwen pointed.

Tess dropped her hand to Mojo’s head. “It shows that there’s convection and small amounts of liquid water droplets.”

“As opposed to ice crystals,” Gwen explained.

“Water?” Craig held his fists up as if he might be ready to thrust them high overhead in a victory dance. “Rain?”

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