Page 88 of Getting Wrapped Up

They made love once more in the night and then first thing in the morning when they awoke.

It felt so right waking up with her that Levi poured all of his happiness and feelings into their lovemaking. Kate was shaking from two orgasms before he eased inside of her and made love to her slowly and sweetly with the morning sun washing over them.

An hour later, Kate was out on the porch swing with a cup of coffee when Levi came downstairs from showering.

“Wow, it is so beautiful here,” she said as he stepped out onto the porch. She was wrapped in a blanket, a cup of coffee cradled in her hands. The morning air was chilly but the temps were in the upper thirties and the sun was shining brightly, sparkling on the snow that covered his yard.

“I could sit here forever and just be,” she said with a happy sigh.

He knew exactly how she felt. And it was as strange as everything else he’d experienced since coming to Sapphire Falls.

He was living in the country. Thecountry.He had cows in the field next to his house. Real cows. They weren’t his cows, but still, they were there. He could see and hear them from his front porch.

He also had a barn and a truck and boots.

And it had all happened in eight weeks.

Seven weeks ago he’d been living in Las Vegas, about as far from this world as anything could be. The lights, the people and the noise were just the beginning. Then there was Levi’s lifestyle of money, booze and women.

But all of that was behind him.

Well, he still had money and the beer in Sapphire Falls wasn’t too bad, not to mention the homemade secret-recipe liquor they all simply called Booze. The grape was his favorite and after just a few weeks’ time, he thought he might even choose it over the top-shelf bourbon he typically enjoyed.

The truth was, he had simplified his life and he was happy. He was eating eggs and toast for breakfast at the diner rather than eggs Florentine. He drank his morning coffee while bullshitting with men forty years older than him who had been to war, who had spent their lives raising kids and corn, and who felt rich because they had good friends, a roof over their heads and homemade pie on their Sunday dinner tables.

Levi wasn’t even sure when he had last had breakfast in Vegas, come to think of it. He’d rarely hit his pillow before three a.m. and didn’t generally open his eyes until after noon.

In Sapphire Falls, he spent his evenings shooting pool with the men his age and talking football, dirt bike racing, football, farming and football, rather than drinking expensive liquor around a poker table or entertaining high rollers in his suite. He knew nothing about football, dirt bikes or farming and he sucked at pool, and yet he had more fun around that table than he’d had around any casino table and loved bullshitting his way through a football conversation far more than he’d ever enjoyed talking about the family business he knew inside and out.

He was completely out of his element here and it was the best thing that had ever happened to him.

Next to the woman sitting on his porch swing admiring his view.

Sapphire Falls might have changed him, but Kate made him want to stay changed.

She smiled up at him. “Do you sit out here in the mornings?”

He did. But looking at her now, something hit him. Hard.

He’d been right innottelling her how much he loved it here over the past month.

She would never ask him to move to California if she thought he was happy and at home here.

They wanted to be together. He believed that she actually did want him with her in San Francisco. But Kate knew about his past life and his car accident and the concussion that had led him to moving to Sapphire Falls. She knew he’d lived hard and fast and was looking to settle down. She knew that all of this was good for him. And if she knew how much he loved it, she would never ask him to change his life yet again. For her. Especially after knowing each other for only eight weeks.

That time frame didn’t bother him. Levi had long ago learned to go with his gut—in business, in poker and now, with this relationship. Sometimes the deal justfeltright, sometimes he justknewwhen he held the winning hand, and with Kate, he knew. The number of days or weeks had nothing to do with it.

But she was already spooked about how fast things were moving. She would never ask him to take a chance on her, on them, if she knew how content he was in Sapphire Falls.

He’d been downplaying things ever since New Year’s Eve. All of this realization had hit him then. So he hadn’t told her any details about his investments in town or about using a snow blower—kind of—or about the calves he’d helped deliver.

He’d helpeddeliver calvesand he hadn’t been able to talk about it because she would have heard the excitement in his voice.

He felt like a kid with the things he was learning about a lifestyle he’d had no idea even existed seven weeks ago. And he couldn’t share it with the woman he loved.

She could move here, of course.

Technically.

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