I was halfway to the hospital by the time I realized how ridiculous my reaction to the news had been.
Sam Murphy had come to mean a lot to me, but leaving Levi chasing after me in a spray of gravel was nearly ridiculous.
Sam wasn’t my grandfather, and I wasn’t Grace.
But the lines had so easily blurred.
When you spent all of your time trying to get into the mind-set of someone else, training yourself to live their reactions, their thoughts, and their wants, it eventually took effect.
That was, frankly, the only explanation I had for the churn in my gut and the unsteady pooling in my eyes. I saw Sam Murphy as more than a friend—and it was because, at times, I could see myself as Grace.
I only wished I was smart as she’d been with her feelings around Levi.
Pulling into the parking lot on a screech of tires, I slid to a stop in a parking space near the emergency door and shoved the shifter into park.
Evidence and reason said I’d jump out of the car and haul ass inside, but the reality was different. Unsure and questioning my welcome, I sat still in the driver’s seat of the silent car and gnawed at my lip.
Would Grace’s family even want me here?
Would they see my arrival as an imposition?
Would I call unwanted attention to them?
I was still running the gamut of questions through my mind when a hard knock sounded on my window. I jumped at the unexpected noise and grasped at my chest, but the beating slowed to a reasonably normal pace when the hips bent and showed me a familiar set of blue eyes.
Levi didn’t wait for me to roll down the window, instead, reaching for the door handle and pulling it open for me.
I didn’t move from the seat, so he leaned down into the open V of the door and raised an eyebrow.
“You know…with the speed you used when leaving my house, I figured you’d be moving at at least a quarter of the pace when you got here.”
I bit my lip and dropped my face into my hands, mumbling, “I’m not sure this was a good idea.”
“What?” he asked. “Why the hell not?”
I jerked my face out of its cover, and the skin under my eyes pulled as I scrunched my nose. “Are you kidding? I’m not family. I care about Sam, so making sure he was okay was a knee-jerk reaction, but now that I’m here…I just…”
Levi squatted in the open space of the door, and the new position afforded me the opportunity to look directly into his eyes. They were open and surprisingly sympathetic given our history and how this all fit into it.
My chest squeezed, my subconscious poking at it to point out the change. But my brain didn’t trust the validity or longevity of such a sharp swing. I followed the reasonable path and listened to my mind.
“Sam will be happy to see you. They all will. From what I’ve heard, the whole family has really taken a liking to you.”
“From what you’ve heard?”
He rolled his eyes. “Yeah. Hard not to hear it.” He smirked. “Everyone is talking about the fabulous Ivy Stone.”
My voice dropped out, leaving nothing but the scraps at the bottom. “Everyone?”
He shook his head. “Not me.”
My lips opened and closed, gulping for words like a fish. Not him.
He grabbed my chin and turned my face back up, back to a place where his eyes could easily capture mine. I fought the pull, but I was no match for his power in the end.
“Not me,” he repeated like a fucking sadist.
I got it already.
He laughed at the rapidly degenerating look on my face and winked. “Not me, Ivy. But not because of you. It’s not me talking because I don’t talk.”
He stood up suddenly and pulled me up with him, setting me on my sock feet on the cold pavement. The shock of the chill running through my feet and into my body pulled at my awareness.
“Oh my God,” I screeched. “Look at what I’m wearing! I can’t go in there like this!”
He ran his eyes up and down my body. He tried to hide it, but I couldn’t have missed the way he smiled if he’d hidden it under a layer of concrete.
“Ugh,” I whined. “Don’t look at me like that. This isn’t funny.”
“Oh, yes, it is,” he disagreed. “After weeks of seeing you in nothing but designer wear, this is funny.”
“These are your clothes.”
He smiled. “They don’t look like that on me.”
“Shut up!” I snapped, smacking him on the shoulder. “And I haven’t been wearing designer wear for weeks. I ordered new clothes when I got here.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Still look pretty fancy to me.”
“Obviously, I just wear them well.”
He smirked, dragging his eyes over my appearance now once more. The bastard.
“I’m not going in there,” I declared, my determination renewed. He shook his head.
“Yeah, you are. Come on.”
I leaned back into the car, but his strength compared to mine was a joke. The body tug-of-war lasted all of a second.
“Levi! I don’t want to go in!”
“Yes,” he said, “you do. You’re just too embarrassed about your goddamn clothes to admit it. But I can tell you right now, Sam Murphy doesn’t give one shit about your outfit. He cares about a woman with a soft enough heart she would rush to the bedside of someone else’s grandpa. Now get your ass moving before I move it for you.”
Fearful of what he’d do if I didn’t, I moved—sock feet and all.
“Oh my goodness, Ivy!” Mary Murphy gasped as she shot to her feet in the waiting room. “What’s going on?” She looked down to my feet and worried her lip. “Are you okay?”
Embarrassment flushed my cheeks scarlet, and my tongue tied in a permanent knot.
Jesus. How the hell am I supposed to explain this outfit?
Levi spoke up from behind me. Close behind me.
“She got caught in the rain, Mary. I lent her some clothes.”
“Oh,” Mary said, getting the totally wrong idea. I rammed an elbow back, hoping desperately I was short enough to catch Levi where it really hurt.
He flinched, but I knew by the fact that he was still upright that I’d missed my target.
“I’m sorry I’m a mess,” I apologized. “I just heard about Sam and couldn’t stop myself from coming down to make sure he was all right.”
“Oh, sweetie,” Mary cooed, stepping forward to pull me under her arm lovingly. “He’ll be happy to see you. He’s doing fine, by the way. No broken bones so far, but they’ve got a few more scans to do.”
I didn’t look back as she pulled me away—I couldn’t.
Something had broken the barrier between Levi and me tonight, and the more moments I spent with him, the more I worried I wouldn’t be able to control myself or my heart for much longer.