Page 3 of Taken By Storm

“Oh.” She could feel herself flushing, but this time the heat didn’t have a damn thing to do with it. “Uh. Wow. Quick reflexes.”

Why? Why couldn’t she speak to Levi without sounding like a complete moron?

Levi must have noticed her red cheeks because he grabbed another bottle of water and handed it to her.

She uncapped it and pretended to take a sip, just to appease him.

“How much sleep did you get last night?”

His question took her aback. So much so, she just answered it, albeit in a vague way.

“The usual amount.” Which was about four hours. Not that she mentioned that part.

“When did you last eat?”

“Breakfast,” she replied again, wondering if he would consider a few slices of the apples she was using in her pies as breakfast.

“What happened to lunch?” With each question, Levi’s voice got deeper, his frown more pronounced. Again, she didn’t get a sense he was angry at her. It was more like he was worried, but in a grumpy, sexy way.

Kasi worked hard not to let herself read anything into his concern, even as her romantic heart swooned. Levi was a nice guy, who’d known her most of her life, and she’d just fainted. He’d be concerned about anyone in the same position.

“I didn’t have time for lunch. The farm truck got a flat, and I had to change it before I loaded it with the trays of baked goods and buckets of produce.”

Levi glanced around, and she could practically read the question he left unspoken. She was surrounded by food right now, which meant, she could have literally eaten all damn day if she wanted to. The thing was, she didn’t eat the fruit stand food because they needed every penny they could earn from it.

Levi raked his hair out of his face with his fingers. God, she loved his hair. All of his brothers were more clean-cut, their hair shorter and more stylish. Levi didn’t go for that, allowing his thick, unruly hair to grow long enough that it brushed his shoulders, giving him this wild mountain man look that was ridiculously hotter than it should have been. Kasi knew his long hair and beard weren’t style choices so much as Levi was just a hard worker, and shit like getting his hair cut and shaving probably fell very low on his to-do list.

“You changed the flat?” he asked.

She narrowed her eyes, silently warning him to tread lightly. She might be a woman, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t take care of herself. “I did,” she answered shortly.

“Good. Sounds like my lesson stuck.”

It took Kasi a minute to remember that Levi had been the one to teach her and Remi how to change a tire the summer they turned nine. She wasn’t sure why he thought two young girls needed that particular lesson at that point in their lives. It could have simply been opportunity presenting itself because he’d had a flat, and they’d been driving Remi’s aunt Claire crazy, running around the yard and howling like wild banshees, while she was hanging laundry on the line. For thirty minutes, Levi had kept them entertained and somewhat quiet while instructing them on how to change a tire.

“It did.”

Levi crossed his arms again, drawing her attention to thick biceps she wouldn’t mind grabbing hold of and swinging from like a monkey in a tree.

“You’ve lost weight, Kasi. You’re too skinny. And those circles under your eyes are so dark it looks like you’ve got two black eyes.”

Kasi didn’t reply for a second because there was way too much to unpack in all of that. For one thing, she didn’t think Levi ever noticed anything specific about her, since her presence in his life was that of a background character. She was someone he acknowledged but didn’t pay much attention to…sort of like the mailman you give a quick wave to when he hands you your mail, or the grocery clerk you thank before picking up your bags and leaving the store.

And for another thing, she couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually said her name, their conversation limited to that damn “keep the change” exchange.

No. That was wrong. She did remember the last time.

It had been just after her mother’s funeral in January. He’d taken her hand, squeezing it gently, and said, “I’m sorry, Kasi.”

Half the town had said those exact same words, but for some reason, Levi’s were the only ones that had offered her a split second of comfort.

Shaking off that dark memory, she put one hand on her hip and tilted her head, trying to make light of his too-astute observations. “Levi, please. Stop with the compliments or my head will swell.”

His lips tipped at the edges. Not really a grin, but she still felt a sense of pride in it because Levi’s smiles were too few and far between. He wasn’t a miserable man. Not at all. Just a serious one. Whenever she caught a glimpse of his smile or heard him laugh, it felt special, so the idea that she’d almost made him smile…well, that was a big win.

Kasi rose from her stool, aware Levi was hovering close in case she went down again. Reaching for the lower shelf, she pulled out his pie. “Apple today.”

He took it from her, reaching for his wallet.

---