Chapter Three

 

Katie kept her gaze averted from Levi. She wasn’t exactly sure whom he was thinking about in that moment, but from the bulge in his pants, he liked that woman very much.

Lucky bitch, she thought to herself.

The guilt she felt for thinking uncharitably about a woman she didn’t even know rushed over her like a tidal wave, and she shook her head, turning her focus to the information she’d just received. Her life was in danger. Someone possibly wanted to kill her or get her involved with something that could cause her to be murdered or incarcerated. All because she’d taken Gabriella Montez’s case. The “single” mother who’d been sitting in the parking lot of a popular department store, breastfeeding her daughter.

When Katie had first heard of the case, not to mention the fact that the man who had reported her, had at first, stood two cars away and filmed her breastfeeding for a solid five minutes, she’d been shocked. When she’d gotten a copy of the man’s recording and realized that he’d only reported Gabriella because she’d rejected his advances? She’d been livid. But it was the actions of the manager of the department store which had prompted her to countersue for loss wages, emotional and mental stress and trauma, as well as the violation of Miss Montez’s civil rights to provide nourishment to her infant child. Especially in the privacy of her own vehicle.

Katie had gotten to know Gabriella quite well and had only met the father of her baby once, but that one time had been quite enough for her. Ricardo, or as he had initially been introduced to her, “Ricky the Undertaker”, had stared at Katie intently, not moving to shake her hand, or even to smile. After a moment of having her hand out, Katie had gone to drop it, only to have Ricky the Undertaker grab her wrist and ask her why she didn’t want to shake his hand. Katie had refused to let him know how frightened she was, instead, she’d done as Cassie had taught her so many years ago, and lifting her chin, she’d merely shook his hand and smiled at him.

Apparently, her refusal to show fear in front of him had caused him to take an interest in her.

I’m totally blaming Cassie for this, she thought unfavorably.

Turning back around, she found Levi’s eyes on her, unmoving. She noticed that besides crossing his muscled arms across his wide, barrel-like chest, Levi hadn’t made any other movements. Refusing to be the first one to speak, Katie simply mimicked his stance, folding her arms in front of her own chest, pushing on her breasts, and stared at him with an expression of false-ease.

After about two minutes of them simply looking at each other, during which time Katie could almost feel her heart attempting to gallop through her breastbone in an effort to get to Levi, and her panties dampened as well, growing wetter and wetter the longer they stood there—Levi was sexy no matter what he was doing—Levi finally smiled at her.

“There’s the Katie-bug I remember. Stubborn and fearless,” he said with a deep chuckle.

Katie could feel herself practically bristle like a cat and rubbed her hands along her forearms to make sure the almost invisible hairs weren’t standing on end. She scowled and narrowed her eyes at Levi who merely looked at her with amusement. “No one calls me Katie-bug anymore. It’s either Kathryn or Katie.”

Levi tilted his head to the side and Katie thought of her dog, Bruce, who was known to do the exact same thing when he found her confusing. Or just humans in general. She couldn’t wait for Cassie and Kevin to bring him back from the groomer’s. They’d offered to take him for her the day before, then because their children loved the dog as much as she did, had decided to let him stay over for a sleepover. Katie had missed the little furball, especially since he served as her bed companion on many nights, but she couldn’t deny her nieces and nephews the opportunity to be smothered with Bruce’s love.

She smirked at Levi and when he frowned at her, she burst into laughter. She covered her mouth after a minute when her dreaded snorts started to come out. She’d always hated the fact that whenever she laughed out of true amusement or hilarity that she was sure to snort. It had always been embarrassing. Though from the way Levi’s own eyes softened, she didn’t think he found her snorting anything to tease.

Why is he looking at me like that?

Katie wanted to ask, because the expression on Levi’s face made her feel warm inside, but the very possibility of him saying something about her being Kevin’s little sister, or “like a sister” to him, or “cute” or anything besides the L-word, caused her to simply lower her hand and smile at him. She shrugged at him and walked over to her couch to sit in the corner.

“I have a few questions that aren’t related to this case or issue and then I can answer any you may have about it. Okay?” Levi told her as he walked over to sit on the opposite end of the couch from her.

Katie couldn’t help but watch the flex and movement of the muscles and tendons in his arms, torso, and legs as he walked. When he sat down and turned to face her, she cleared her throat and turned her gaze away for a moment. She could feel the blush flowing up her cheeks, turning her normally pale peach skin a rosy red.

“I see you still blush for no reason,” Levi observed with humor tinging his words.

Katie stuck out her tongue at him, just as she used to do when she was a kid. Her laughter echoed his and she found herself being soothed, strangely, because of their common and comfortable interaction. She watched Levi as he sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, leaning forward to rest his thick, veiny, muscled forearms on his thighs. He smoothed the fingers of his right hand over his bristled cheeks and chin before turning back to her.

“Are you dating anyone?” he asked.

Katie blinked in surprise. Of all the questions she’d expected him to ask, that certainly had not been one of them. She opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again. She shook her head, even before she realized what she was doing.

“No,” she answered and watched as Levi nodded.

He then gestured around the room they were sitting in.

“Why’d you choose to move here? Why not closer to Kevin and Cassie?” Levi asked then.

Katie laughed. She got asked that question a lot. From her parents. Her friends. Even from Kevin and Cassie themselves. The happily married couple lived with their kids in what she could only term as Suburban USA. In a big five-bedroom home three streets over from her condo. Katie was happy for her brother and best friend, but it wasn’t time for her to settle down in a home just yet.

Not unless Levi was making an offer.

Stop thinking like that Katie. It’s never going to happen.

“You sound like Kevin,” Katie said with a small chuckle. She shrugged. “It’s just Bruce and I and we don’t need a lot of space. Besides, what do I need a home for? I have no children, no need for a big backyard, and no significant other to worry about.”

She shook her head and turned to look around the room. “You probably don’t understand,” Katie murmured.

“Understand what?” Levi’s voice sounded much closer to her than it had been before and when Katie swiveled back to gaze at him, she found that he’d moved to be mere inches away instead of a couch-length. Katie swallowed and offered him a small smiled. How would she be able to get her point across to him without making him feel bad? Or without making herself look like an ungrateful bitch?

Better yet, could she tell him without letting out her biggest secret?

“Understand what it’s like to grow up in a big family, with a nosey sibling, and two parents who insist on being involved in every aspect of your life and think no subject is off limits.” Katie chuckled softly. “Growing up I had little to no privacy whatsoever thanks to Mom, Dad, and Kevin. It was nice when I went away to college because then I didn’t have them breathing down my neck. But still, I didn’t have the privacy I so needed and desired, because I had a roommate in the dorms. Then Cassie and I moved in together in an apartment up through graduation and grad school—when she and Kevin were married and starting their family. So, I really couldn’t find any time alone, or to do what I wanted to do living with newlyweds, then a married couple and their kids.”

Levi snorted. “What did you want to do that required you to have so much privacy? Huh, Katie-Bug?” He lifted a hand and squeezed a strand of her blonde hair in between his thumb and forefinger, tugging on it gently. Katie reached up and swatted away his—not altogether unwelcome—touch. “What did you want to do? Walk around naked? Dance in your underwear? Sing, horribly, at the top of your lungs? Have men over for sleepovers?”

Katie narrowed her eyes at Levi over that last question. It was bad enough that he didn’t find her attractive. Didn’t see her as anything other than his best friend’s little sister. Fuck him for then turning around, and after rejecting her crush by just not seeing her as a potential love interest whatsoever, for him to then assume that her hooking up with or dating another guy was a joke? Well, she would teach him a lesson. The same way she’d taught Kevin one.

Standing up from the couch, Katie flipped her blonde tresses over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes at Levi who looked up at her with a smirk.

“Yes. As a matter of fact, yes, to all of that,” she retorted. Then, spinning on the heel of her feet, she walked away towards her bedroom. Her life may be in danger, but it didn’t mean she had to put up with a jackass just to stay alive.