Page 39 of Getting Wrapped Up

“Hi, Adrianne told me you guys were coming out here. I had to stop by and say hi,” Lauren said.

“Hi, I’m Travis Bennett,” the man said, extending his hand to Levi. “You’re Joe’s brother, right? Joe’s been working out on my farm with me for a couple of years now.”

Levi recognized Lauren’s name. She was one of Joe’s bosses. And Levi knew Joe wasn’t actually doing farm work. He was the PR and government-relations guy for Lauren’s company, Innovative Agricultural Solutions. He hung out on the farms with the farmers so he knew what he was lobbying for in Washington.

“Nice to meet you,” Levi shook Lauren’s hand too. “Thanks for keeping my brother employed,” he told her.

“It is keeping him out of trouble?” Lauren asked.

“It’s keeping him from using our private plane at least. More availability for me,” he told her.

She laughed. “Joe’s the best. But don’t tell him I said that. He’s cocky enough.”

“Runs in the family,” Levi said smoothly.

“Oh, that and a few other things, I’m guessing,” Lauren said.

Yep, she was one of those women it was hard to charm. She saw through bullshit. He could tell within two minutes of meeting her.

Which meant she was the type he usually stayed away from.

He looked at Kate. Now though, he might not have to resort to bullshit. Maybe he could just be himself.

Kate was staring at Travis. In fact, she was checking Travis out.

Oh really? Levi turned to face her, watching her with a mix of interest, amusement and, yep, jealousy. He wasn’t used to feeling jealousy. It was an interesting emotion.

She looked Travis up and down…and clearly liked what she saw.

Was it the jeans that had clearly been washed a million times, or the heavy jacket or the clunky boots he wore? As far as Levi could tell, Travis Bennett fit the part of a down-home farmer perfectly.

“Bennett?” she finally said. “Are you related to Tucker?”

“He’s my younger brother,” Travis said with a nod.

“Do you…um…look a lot alike?”

Levi scowled.

Lauren laughed. “They’re definitely related. I got the hottest one though.” She slid her arm around Travis’s waist and he kissed the top of her head.

“Huh,” was Kate’s reaction.

Levi gave her a look. She seemed to shake herself slightly and had the grace to blush.

Yeah, he’d show her all kinds of reasons to be glad she’d mistakenhimfor Tucker last night when they got back to the house.

“What are you guys doing?” Travis asked, eyeing the tree behind Kate.

They were on a Christmas tree farm a few days before Christmas and Levi was holding a chainsaw. This seemed self-explanatory. “Picking out our tree,” Levi said, emphasizingour.

Which was stupid. Kate might like looking at Travis, but Travis was clearlywithLauren. Travis tucked one hand into the front pocket of his jeans and put the other on the back of Lauren’s neck under her hair. She leaned into him and Levi felt the damnedest ache in his chest.

He wanted that.

It was such a foreign thought that it almost knocked him over.

“You going to cut it down?” Travis asked Levi.

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