Page 13 of Getting Wrapped Up

But then she’d swiveled to look at him and everything hot and urgent and pulsing in his gut had risen to a soft, warm ball in his chest. He’d wanted to run his hand over her cheek instead of her ass. He’d wanted to make her laugh rather than scream with an orgasm. He’d wanted to know how she drank her cocoa rather than how she took her martinis.

It was the craziest fucking thing that had ever happened to him.

And he’d embraced it.

This was it. This was how it was supposed to feel when sweet, normal, happy things happened to someone. When liquor and money and sex were not part of the equation. When two people met for the first time and connected.

Maybe it was Sapphire Falls. Maybe it was the concussion. Maybe it was that he was dressed in denim. Maybe denim made people instantly normal. Or maybe it was her. Maybe this woman really did have the power to cure him of the selfish, superficial, ego-driven crap he had bottled up inside.

He cupped her cheek, simply tasting her. The kiss wasn’t about arousal or a step toward sex. It was only a kiss.

And he fucking loved it.

“Ahem.”

The sound of someone clearing their throat pulled them apart.

She stood staring up at him, her eyes wide, her lips pink. And he grinned. He couldn’t help that—he really did love having an obvious effect on women.

But again, this was different. Rather than wanting to see her nipples get hard and her panties get wet, he wanted a faint blush on her cheeks and a sparkle in her eye.

It had to be the concussion.

But he was going to go with it.

Hear that, ghosts? I don’t need any midnight hauntings. I’m good here.

“What are you having?” the guy in the window asked.

“Two hot chocolates, extra-large, with marshmallows,” Levi told him. Those words sounded so foreign, like he was speaking another language. That also made him grin.

There were four guys inside the booth working to make drinks, taking orders and money.

Two got to work on their drinks as the one at the window said, “That’ll be four fifty.”

Levi handed him a hundred-dollar bill.

The guy stared at it. “Dude, I can’t make change for that.”

“Keep it.” Levi pushed the money across the counter.

“You want to pay me a hundred dollars for two cups of cocoa,” the guy clarified.

“It’s a fundraiser, right?” Levi said. “That’s my donation.”

The guy was still looking at him strangely, but he took the money. “Well, then you can have free refills. Forever.”

Levi grinned and accepted the two cups. “Deal.”

He offered one to Hailey.

Hailey Conner. She was the mayor here. He wondered how people would feel about their mayor getting kissed by the stranger in the town square.

“You okay?” he asked when he realized she was staring at him.

“Stunned, actually.”

He smiled and sipped. The hot chocolate was delicious. Practically perfect. But it would never beat the taste of this woman’s lips. “That was a hell of a kiss.”

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