Thought it was half-past eleven by the time we’d arrived at my house, Ivy and Camilla had already managed to make themselves comfortable and settle into the spare guest rooms of my house.
Surely, I had enough room.
We probably could’ve brought another four guests, and the house still wouldn’t have been filled.
I’d lain awake for the past hour or so, trying not to eavesdrop on their conversation, but despite how quiet they were trying to be, their voices carried through the otherwise silent rooms and hallways with ease.
“So, what happened?”
Instantly, I knew that voice was Camilla.
Although the sisters were identical, near replicas of each other in every physical attribute, their voices, their tones, the way they pushed their words past their lips had distinctive differences.
Where Camilla was generally more soft-spoken, her words a low hum or a lull, Ivy was all rasp, and her voice carried, even when she was trying to whisper.
“Nothing,” Ivy responded quietly.
“Oh, come on,” her sister answered, amusement and annoyance highlighting the edges of her voice. “You ended up at his house earlier today. You were late to dinner with Sam because you were here. And, to top it all off, you were together when you came and picked me up from the house.”
“Well, technically, Sam and I didn’t meet up for dinner,” Ivy responded. “He had a fall and ended up in the hospital.”
“Oh my God!” Camilla gasped. “Is he okay?”
“Yeah. He’s fine. Both Levi and I went to visit him before we…well…before we picked you up.”
“So, you basically spent the whole day with him?” Camilla questioned.
Ivy didn’t respond, but that apparently didn’t stop Camilla from continuing the conversation.
“You know you can tell me anything, Ivy,” she said. “I feel like you’re not wanting to tell me because you think I still have some misplaced feelings for him. I also think you’re forgetting the fact that the only reason I kissed him in the first place was because I had no idea something had been going on between the two of you. If you’d actually given me a heads-up, I never would have made a move.”
“Do you have feelings for him?” Ivy asked.
“I’m not going to deny I was interested in him, but to say I had feelings would be a pretty big fucking stretch,” she responded with a giggle. “I’d just met him. And sure, he was sweet to me in the beginning and had shown me some attention, but I wasn’t, like, planning our marriage and shit. To me, he would’ve just been someone to fill the time with while we were stuck in this godforsaken frozen tundra.”
A soft laugh reverberated down the hall, and I knew it was Ivy’s.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you from the beginning about Levi. I was just confused. We fought…a lot. Then, between all that fighting, we’d kiss. And it…well…I didn’t know what the fuck was going on. He’s not exactly the easiest egg to crack. If anything, he’s the exact type of man I should avoid.”
Straight to the chest, her words, the ones I knew I wasn’t supposed to hear, hit me hard.
And, God, it stung like a motherfucker.
But I couldn’t deny that what she’d said was true.
With the way I’d been from the very first day she’d arrived in Cold, I was the exact kind of man Ivy Stone should avoid.
But I didn’t want to be that kind of man anymore. I wanted to be the man Ivy would run toward with open arms. The kind of man she could trust and rely on. Someone who only made her feel good and safe and fucking happy.
“Today”—Ivy’s voice filled my ears—“I went to his house to return the flowers I’d thought he’d sent me. And, well, I ended up throwing them at him, and then, we did what we always do. We fought…a lot. Then, we kissed.”
“Jesus. I’m disappointed in myself for not catching on to all the sexual-tension vibes flowing between the two of you.”
“We do not—”
“Shut up.” Camilla laughed. “Don’t bullshit me, you little bullshitter. You two are attracted to each other like fucking magnets. And you know what I think?”
“What do you think?”
“I think you need to just give in to it and fuck his brains out.”
“Cami!” Ivy shouted on a whisper-yell.
“Oh, come on,” Camilla retorted. “You know you’re curious. You know you want to. I think you need to just give in to all the pent-up sexual tension and have some goddamn fun.”
“That’s an awful plan.”
“But is it? I mean, really?” Camilla questioned.
“Well, considering everything that’s happened, I’m not sure it’s the best plan.”
“You mean everything that’s happened in the past?” her sister questioned. “Ivy, sometimes, you just have to let go of the past. Sometimes, people make mistakes, but that doesn’t make them bad people. And, from what I’ve seen, Levi Fox has been trying to make some serious amends for his sins.”
Silence stretched between them for a few quiet moments, until Camilla spoke up again. “You’re single. You haven’t had that kind of fun in a long fucking time. I think it’s time, honey. Between your crazy work schedule and all of the other bullshit that comes along with being one of Hollywood’s sweethearts, you deserve a little fun.”
“And what about you?” Ivy asked. “Your work schedule is just as crazy as mine.”
“That’s exactly why I’m going to make damn sure I have some fun while we’re spending our days and nights in the fucking arctic.”
“Is this where Dane Marx comes in?”
“He’s definitely on my list of fun possibilities.”
Ivy giggled. “I love you, you know that?”
“I love you too. Now, get the hell out of my room and go get some sleep. We’ve got an early day tomorrow.”
More giggles and soft laughter filled the house until a bedroom door opened and shut.
As what I assumed were the sounds of Ivy’s soft footsteps moving across the hardwood floor of the hallway reached my ears, I turned over on my side and adjusted the pillow underneath my head until I found the most comfortable position.
Another bedroom door opened and closed.
Eventually, all that was left was utter silence.
I let my eyes fall closed, and for once, I felt like sleep might come easy tonight.
A turn of a knob, the creak of the door, the sounds filled the space of my bedroom, and I opened my eyes, searching the darkened space for a visitor.
Softly, footsteps moved toward me, and I sat up in bed to find a petite figure approaching me.
“Ivy?”
“Yes… Wait—” She paused, her voice and her steps. “Oh my God, are you checking to make sure you know which sister I am?”
Of course I wasn’t fucking checking.
Even though Ivy and her sister were identical twins, and it was the middle of the fucking night, I knew the difference by now. Where Camilla would be careful with her steps and her movements, Ivy was the type of woman who walked into a room and made damn sure you knew she was there, even when she was attempting to be quiet.
I nearly wanted to laugh at her accusation, but instead, I decided to roll with it.
“Would you rather I didn’t check?” I asked sarcastically.
“Are you fucking serious, Levi?” she spat out on a whisper.
“Now, calm down for a second,” I muttered and pushed the sheets off my body to free my legs. I moved them until they hung off the edge of the bed and my back was vertical. “It’s late. I’m half asleep. And there are literally no lights on. So, please, give me a break here. I wasn’t trying to be an asshole.”
“Kind of seemed like it.” She huffed out a sigh, and my gaze adjusted to the darkness until I could really see her. Ivy stood before me, dressed in her version of pajamas—silky and soft and leaving little to the imagination.
Fucking hell.
The light of the moon shone in through the windows of my bedroom and only added to her beauty.
“Is everything okay?” I asked, and she just shrugged. “Do you need something?”
Say me. Say you need me.
She shrugged again.
I couldn’t not laugh at the irony of the situation. She’d made her way into my bedroom in the middle of the night, but she appeared hesitant to tell me why.
“Don’t laugh at me.”
I raised both hands in the air. “I swear I’m not laughing at you.”
A hand to her little hip, she tapped a determined foot against the ground. “You’re a horrible liar, Levi Fox.”
I patted the spot on the bed beside me, but she didn’t budge.
I patted it again. “I don’t bite. Promise.”
Another sigh. A few more taps of her foot. But, eventually, she moved toward me and sat down. Vanilla and silk and a scent that could only be Ivy hit me like a freight train.
Everything about this woman called to me, even the way she fucking smelled.
“The song,” she whispered, but her eyes didn’t meet mine. She stared down at her fingers that were now fidgeting in her lap. “Why don’t you like that song?”
“Is that why you came in here?” I asked, and she just shrugged…again.
“I’m just curious. And you said…” She paused and lifted her gaze to mine. “You said you’d tell me.”
Ivy deserved my truth. And even though a large part of me just didn’t want to discuss the very subject she was trying to broach, I knew I’d never gain her trust without being willing to push through my own discomfort, my own hang-ups, my fucking past that I’d let haunt me for far too long.
I inhaled a long, slow breath and let out the air on a cleansing sigh. “That was the song that was playing when…” I paused for a brief moment, until I found the strength to explain. “‘Blue Bayou’ was the song Walter Gaskins had playing inside his house when Grace died. That fucking song was what filled my ears as she took her last breath.”
Ivy’s eyes widened and her lips parted, and without hesitation, she reached out and placed her hand in mine. “God…that’s horrible,” she whispered.
“Yeah,” I whispered back. “It was his song, apparently. The one he played when he was…” I paused, not because I couldn’t say the words, but because I didn’t think Ivy actually needed the words. My silence was answer enough.
She stayed quiet, and her gaze searched mine for a long moment.
“I don’t like that song anymore either,” she said, and for some odd reason, it urged the corners of my mouth to lift up ever so slightly.
All at once, with her emerald eyes staring into mine, she hit me like a ray of sun. Everything I needed and more was written all over her. An angel beneath the soft glow of the moon, she might as well have had a fucking golden halo hanging over her head.
I swore I’d never fall again.
But this wasn’t even falling.
This was being awakened.
All of those walls I’d built, I watched as they tumbled from around my soul and hit the ground in a rubble of dust and dirt.
Every rule I’d had, she’d broken.
Every promise I’d made to myself, she’d forced me to reconsider.
Before Ivy, I hadn’t wanted any risks.
But now, I’d take every fucking risk if it meant being with her.
I’d risk it all.
Without thinking or second-guessing, I did the one thing I’d been dying to do.
I slid my fingers into the soft and silky locks of her hair and pressed my lips to hers. She responded with fervor, her full lips moving against mine in a rough and unsteady rhythm.
Our kiss grew deeper and deeper until her arms were wrapped around my neck, and I pulled her into my lap, her thighs straddling my hips.
God, she felt so good. Tasted so good. Everything I’d been imagining for the past several weeks did not live up to the real thing.
I needed her. This. Us.
I needed to taste her. Touch her. Feel her.
I needed to be inside of her.
I wanted to mark her as mine. Claim her. Show her that she belonged to me.
Because she did.
Ivy Stone belonged to me.
And I belonged to her too.