Page 81 of Taken By Storm

“Can I get you something to drink?” The idea of entertaining Scottie was low on her list of what she considered a good time, but she wasn’t above stalling.

Scottie shook his head. “No. Thank you.”

“Why don’t we go into the living room and sit down?” She gestured to the left, pushing away from the door, as Scottie followed.

She took a quick study of the furniture, then opted for the lone armchair in the room, unwilling to encourage Scottie to sit next to her.

He claimed the center of the couch, directly across from her.

“Well,” she hedged, praying for some flash of lightning, some inspiration that might save her.

Nothing came.

“What’s going on with you and Levi Storm?” Scottie asked, when the silence drifted too long. His brows were furrowed with obvious annoyance.

“What?”

“Levi? I saw the two of you dancing at Whiskey Abbey. You looked pretty familiar with each other, kissing him on the dance floor. You realize the man is barbaric, right? A brute who doesn’t have two brain cells in his head to rub together.”

Kasi flushed with anger. “That’s not?—”

“Besides, he’s too old for you,” Scottie interjected. “The man is pushing forty.”

She swallowed down what she wanted to say to that jibe, fighting hard to keep her cool because her back was up against the wall here. She wanted to rip him a new one for insulting Levi.

“I’ve been best friends with his cousin Remi forever,” she said, in an attempt not to answer the question. “And?—”

“So you’re dating the man?” Scottie pressed.

Kasi hesitated. There was no love lost between Scottie and Levi, so telling him they were dating was a bad idea.

But the idea of denying it wasn’t a possibility.

While she and Levi hadn’t put any labels on their relationship, she couldn’t downplay it. They may not have said the labels aloud, but they were still there, bright as the midday sun. Levi obviously considered her his girlfriend, and dammit…she wanted to be his.

She’d given herself to him, and not just her body. Her heart had been his for most of her life, and these past few weeks had been some of the best she’d ever had. If this thing between them had started earlier, if they were further along, maybe she would have felt more comfortable talking to Levi about this.

But how much could she continue to take from him before it became too much, and he walked away?

The silence lingered too long, so Scottie filled it. “Everything you’re doing just proves you need help, Kasi. Apparently, it’s not just your brother who’s running wild, vandalizing, breaking and entering, stealing stuff.”

“He’s never stolen anything,” Kasi replied hotly.

The slimy smile on Scottie’s face instantly set her on alert. “Levi didn’t tell you about him and Theo catching Keith and Archie breaking a window at the brewery night before last? Sounds like they did a bit of damage before stealing some beer.”

Kasi frowned. She was at Levi’s that night. He’d been in bed with her. “That’s a lie.”

“No. It’s not. Archie’s dad, Gerry, is good friends with Sheriff Anderson. You know what a hard-ass Gerry is. He asked if the sheriff would put the fear of God in his boy because he didn’t like the path he was on. Sheriff scared the kid a bit, told himwhat sort of jail time he was facing if the Storms decided to press charges.”

“They’re pressing charges?”

“Possibly.”

Levi said he couldn’t come the past two nights because of the harvest. Had he lied? He obviously wasn’t a fan of Keith’s bad attitude, but he wouldn’t press charges against her brother, would he?

Unfortunately, the fact he hadn’t told her about the break-in left her in doubt. Why would he keep that a secret?

“If they do press charges, Keith could be in some legal trouble. That’s not cheap. He’s eighteen now, so he would be tried as an adult,” Scottie added.

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