Page 12 of Taken By Storm

“Only?” he asked, but Kasi didn’t pick up on his tone.

“That went so much faster with your help.”

Levi decided he’d bake cakes every night for the rest of his life if it meant getting to see the smile Kasi was giving him right now.

But then her comment clicked, and he frowned. “What time do you usually finish?”

“I don’t know,” she said, washing up the countertops. “Eleven thirty, midnight.”

Levi had asked her at the fruit stand how much sleep she’d gotten last night, and she’d successfully dodged the question by saying “the usual amount.”

He was wise to her tricks now. “Is that what time you normally go to bed?”

She nodded. “Yeah, after I take a shower.”

“And what times does your alarm go off?”

Kasi bit her lower lip.

Levi took her chin between his forefinger and thumb. “The truth.”

“Four thirty.”

It was worse than Levi had even imagined. He was an early riser, up and out of bed most mornings by five. Such was the life of a farmer. But he sure as shit wasn’t crawling between the sheets at midnight. Things in the house he shared with his brothers settled down around nine, all of them retreating to their own rooms since every single one of them was up with the birds.

He now understood the dark circles under Kasi’s eyes—and he wasn’t happy.

“So you’re getting four hours of sleep a night,” he growled. “When is your day off? You take the weekends?”

Kasi really needed to get better at reading his tone because her laugh was the wrong response. It took at least twenty seconds before she realized he was being serious.

She tilted her head. “It’s a farm, Levi. You know there are no days off. Animals like to eat every day, and on the weekends. I open the stand even earlier because those are our best-selling days. People drive down here from the city for fresh produce.”

He knew because of his daily pie purchase that the only day the stand wasn’t open was Monday, but given Kasi’s response, it was clear she still worked on that day too, doing other chores.

So if he was understanding what she was saying, she was working long-ass hours, seven days a week. “And you’ve got no one helping you?”

“The Riley twins work here. They keep the crops going.”

“Thought Jeb Wilson and Cal Rogers worked here too?”

Kasi’s eyes darted away, only for a moment, but he could tell she was uncomfortable with his question. “Not anymore,” she said, offering no further explanation.

Levi had a million more questions he wanted to ask, but doing so would just cut into her sleep time. Considering the work he’d done to help her finish her chores early, it would be counterproductive to keep her talking.

“I should be going,” he said, forcing himself to step away from her. Leaving her alone in the middle of all this felt wrong, but he didn’t belong here.

Yet.

That was going to change very, very soon.

Kasi walked him to the door, thanking him again for all his help. It was a friendly enough farewell, but it was clear Kasi was viewing tonight as an anomaly. No doubt in her mind, tomorrow they would be returning to their acquaintance status, and she’d be on her own again.

His girl was in for a rude awakening.

Chapter Three

Kasi had just poured some creamer into her coffee when she heard a knock at the door. A quick glance at the clock told her it was a little before five a.m. It was still dark outside, so who the hell would be knocking on her door? The Riley twins usually didn’t arrive until six, and they never stopped by the house first, always just bypassing it and heading straight out to the fields. When they’d first started working here, Mama had offered them breakfast and lunch, but they’d refused, claiming their mother always made sure they had a big breakfast before leaving the house and packed them bagged lunches.

---