Page 50 of Second to None

He hesitated just long enough for it to register. “I can’t.” His hand pressed flat against my stomach. “Emily and I need to pack. We’re going on holiday tomorrow—a week in Italy, just before school starts again.”

“Oh.” I strove for neutral and failed because this? This was the first I’d heard of it. Not that he needed to keep me updated on his schedule or anything, but we hadn’t even discussed the next outing or photo op. Mostly because he’d suggested that we‘play it by ear,’which must have shaved a decade off my publicist’s life expectancy. I hadn’t wanted to push him, though, because the truth was that he owed me nothing.

“Going to Sardinia.” Levi’s mouth curved into a curious tilt as he considered me. “We’ll have a whole villa to ourselves, up in the hills—pool, gym, a huge garden, sea views…”

My last real vacation had been, what, a year ago? I’d rented a private island in the Maldives together with some friends. While it had been good fun, a couple people had brought partners I didn’t know, so I hadn’t been able to relax completely even then.

“Sounds nice,” I said with a smile I didn’t feel.

“Yeah.” Another pause, then he cleared his throat. “You’ve probably got plans. Almost certainly since, you know—you’re you. But if not, you could come? There’s an extra bedroom. I kind of fell in love with the pictures on the website, so, yeah, it’s way too big.”

The tangle of words was unusual for him, and I needed a second to process what he meant. I could… come? To Sardinia, with him and Emily?

“Really?” Bright disbelief blurred the contours of my question.

“Well, yeah.” He gave a half-shrug that didn’t quite pass for casual, still propped up on his side. “If you’re not too scared of my parents. They’re coming too.”

Oh, hell. His parents were lovely people and had treated me like family—warm in a way mine never quite managed, not even with me. Geoff and Cecily. Six years, give or take, since I’d last seen them.

I looked away from Levi and caught sight of his sneakers—one upright, the other on its side where it rested near the bed. “Do they hate me now?”

“Why would they?” he asked, which, comeon. I shot him a narrow glance, and he let one side of his mouth curl up into something halfway to a wistful smile. “No. My parents still love you, Cass, even with how things ended. They’re sad about that, yeah. But I think they understand how scared you were. More than I did at the time.”

I blinked dust and sunlight out of my eyes. “Thank you.”

He paused. “What for?”

“Not making me the villain. With them, or with the other guys. You could have easily done that.” I circled his wrist with my fingers and realized that his pulse was beating a little too fast.Oh. We stared at each other, something raw in his eyes that told me he wouldn’t reject me. If I covered him up—I was maybe still loose enough from last night to just sink down, no condom,feelhim again…

But, no. Not like that.

I didn’t want to trick him into giving in. Last night had been his move, his decision—I owed him that. Back then, I’d walked away; if he let me in now, it needed to be his choice. All I could do was show him that this time, I was ready.

I released his wrist and shifted back just a little, but not to the point where it seemed like I was pulling away. God, this would be a balancing act. “So,” I said softly, “thank you for that.”

He nodded, slow, watching me for another beat before he glanced away. “I told them, by the way. That you’re planning to come out.”

“Your parents?” I asked—which, yeah, obviously. It just took me a moment to process that these two people I’d… well. Who I’d admired, once upon a time. Who I’d desperately wanted to like me because somehow, it lessened the sting of my mum’s and dad’s unspoken disapproval. And now they knew something I had yet to tell my own parents. “How did they react?”

“They’re proud of you.” His smile was true, if a little careful. “I also told them I’m helping, as long as Emmy stays out of it.”

“And they were just… cool with that?”

He looked a little shifty. “I’m an adult, you know.”

So they’d had some concerns—I couldn’t blame them. But this was getting too heavy when I wanted Levi to remember this as a moment drenched in warmth and brightness. I shot him a small grin. “Trust me, I’m well aware you’re all grown up.”

His expression relaxed, humor tugging at his lips. “I’ll take it as a compliment.”

“It’s meant to be one.”

“Oh, good. I aim to please.” He hesitated. “Anyway. About Sardinia—you’re probably booked out for the next couple of years, so. I just thought you looked a bit tired, is all.”

He was serious about this. And I shouldn’t read too much into it—we’d been friends first, and it didn’t mean... Well. How many people went from friends to lovers to strangers, and then jumped into a successful friends-with-benefits arrangement? It wasn’t what I wanted. Not when I was still—well,anyway.

But I’d take whatever he was willing to give.

“I was just going to catch up with a few people here, work on some music. Nothing I can’t cancel.” My heart thudded in my chest. “But it wouldn’t be part of the whole faking-it thing, right?”

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