Page 17 of Resisting Your Love

"Why are you up so late? I hadn't expected to see you down here."

"I couldn't sleep," I admitted. There was no way I was about to tell him the real reason I couldn't sleep.

We had been home for over two hours now. As soon as we entered the house, we went our separate ways. That kiss we shared had me feeling things. It was almost like it was meant to happen in that exact moment. Every time I thought of it, my heart skipped a beat.

"I haven't been to sleep yet. I was up doing a little bit of drawing,"

I shoved a chip into my mouth and chewed slowly. "What did you draw tonight?"

I found out that Levi had a love for drawing. He did a good job of it, too, but he still wouldn't let me look at his drawings. I was salty about that.

"A lion in his cage in the forest. I just have to color it now."

"Ohhh! Let me color it. It'll be my own personal coloring book."

He eyed me funny. "Nah, man. That's like you looking at my work."

I rolled my eyes skyward. "Your drawings must be ugly then."

He burst out laughing. "Never that. I never had anyone look at my drawings before other than my parents, best friend, and cousin."

I nodded, understanding. "Ahh, I get it."

Levi might as well have said I was an outsider. I wasn't going to let that get to me, but it did. Maybe he didn't want to share that part of his life with me since I wasn't anything to him. Only a friend — a person he was getting to know.

With a sigh, he got up from the kitchen table, leaving me alone. Maybe that was for the best since the conversation did bring down the mood. It wasn't going to stop me from eating, though. I knew I needed to stop and go to bed.

I was wrapping the chip bag up when he came back into the kitchen with a sketchpad in his hands. That caught me completely off guard because I hadn't expected him to come back at all.

"These are my babies. If you talk shit about them, I'm going to get offended."

I scoffed with a roll of my eyes. "Why would I talk shit about them? You are a tattoo artist, so you must be able to draw really well."

He shrugged, giving me the sketchpad. I scooted my chair up and looked through it. Some of them were colored in, while others weren't. Each drawing seemed to tell a story, capturing me.

"They're really good. I love them."

"Thanks. They all are a part of me. Drawing keeps me at peace," he admitted.

I lifted my eyes to look at him. "Watching the Discovery Channel does that for me," I confessed.

He burst out laughing. "Man, what?"

I joined him in his laughter, but I was serious. I loved animals and was always learning about them. "Yes, it's true. I love animals. Every time I go to the zoo, I stop and look at the signs for each animal. It's been a while since I've gone to the zoo, though. I got to find some time to go one day. Since it's not too hot or cold, I might need to start planning now."

"Wow, I have never heard anyone say that before."

"It's a first time for everything," I stated.

"Yeah, you're right," he mumbled.

No matter what, Levi and I never ran out of things to talk about. That was something I loved most about hanging out with him. Plus, he kept a smile on my face. I loved that, too.

"I still can't believeI am at the zoo. Thank you so much!" Amryn exclaimed, jumping up and down.

The only thing I could do was smile at her. Since she told me about her love for animals and how she hadn't been to the zoo in a while, I surprised her with a trip this weekend. I'd do it all over again just to see the look on her face. Every waking moment I spent with her had me on a high I could barely explain. She was getting under my skin, and that was something I wasn't expecting. Not her. Not right now. We were just now getting to know each other. I didn't know if it was a good or bad thing. Since we shared that kiss the night of the event, we were kissing a lot more.

I didn't know when we got on the level that we were on, but I liked it. Maybe a little too much. I didn't know if that was best or not, but I was willing to explore it if she was down to do so. However, we were tied down by this arrangement, so I didn't know how we'd be able to overlook that. That seemed to be hanging over our heads. It was hard not to think about.

---