I specifically remembered Levi telling me we shouldn’t replace the AC system if we were going to sell the place. He’d said we could get away with repairing it until the sale, after which it would be the new owner’s problem.
This was a huge investment. My heart filled with hope.
I nodded, the man called in his crew, and they got to work.
While these guys were invading with all of their equipment, I went to the kitchen to make some coffee.
As it brewed, I texted Levi.
Presley: You’re replacing the AC?
My phone dinged with a response. But it didn’t address my question.
Levi: I’m out getting supplies for some other stuff we need to do around here. I left you something in your bedside table drawer while you were sleeping, btw.
After I prepared my coffee, I walked to my room to find a large manila envelope in the drawer. Inside were a couple of pieces of yellow notepaper and what looked like a DVD. A large sticky note on top of the paper read:
Presley,
I made a to-do list so we can keep track of what needs to be done around The Palm.
I’m handling number one—replace the air conditioning system.
I’ve got items number four, six, and ten today and have already gone to Home Depot to get materials.
Maybe you should work on number six on the second page?
When I flipped to the second page, I realized page two wasn’t part of his list. It was the Levi to-do list Harper had jotted down the other night. How the hell had he gotten this? He must have snuck into my room and found it. Damn it!
Number six was: Masturbate while looking at Levi.
My heartbeat accelerated. What the hell is this disc?
My hands were shaky as I popped it into the DVD player.
Before my eyes appeared a montage of Levi, a highlight reel of him—throwing the football with no shirt at practice, pouring an entire bottle of water over his bare chest. Clip after clip, every muscle of his gorgeous, bronze upper body was on full display.
He was giving me material to facilitate my work.
I was ready to burst into flames.
Oh my God.
CHAPTER 10
* * *
Levi
“How’s your to-do list coming along?” I asked Presley the following morning at breakfast.
She took a sip of her coffee. “What ever could you be referring to?” Her face turned beet red.
Smirking, I decided to drop it. I didn’t want to scare her out of the kitchen. I was enjoying this coffee time with her. Alex had a sleepover at my mom’s last night, and I’d done everything to stay the hell away from Presley, making myself scarce after what I’d pulled with that DVD.
Maybe I’d crossed the line, but damn, it was fun watching her face change colors right now as she clearly thought about it. The elephant had stayed in the room all day yesterday. Neither of us had mentioned it. I had no idea whether she’d actually used the DVD. But the thought of that had kept me hard for a while as I lay in bed last night.
After her face returned to its normal color, we made easy conversation over coffee and eggs. We actually managed to talk about neither our sexual tension nor The Palm Inn. And the more we talked, the more the feelings brewing in my chest grew as invigorating as they were unsettling.
Presley then decided to make smoothies. As she got out the blender, she asked me if I would trust her to put something in my smoothie I’d likely never agree to if I knew what it was. She bet me I wouldn’t be able to taste it. Always up for a challenge, I let her do it.
She made me look away while she blended it.
When she finally told me I could turn around, she handed me a tall, green drink.
I took it and sniffed. “This better not be disgusting.”
“Just drink it.” She laughed.
As I drank it down, I tasted nothing but peanut butter and banana. It was actually really good—nice and icy, too.
After a few sips, I said, “Okay, tell me what you put in this.”
She flashed an impish grin. “Chicken liver.”
I nearly gagged. “Really?”
Presley giggled. “Yup.”
I didn’t want to seem like a pussy, so I drank more of the drink down even though it now grossed me out.
“Turns out,” she said, “you can hide the taste of almost anything with ripe banana, sweet vanilla milk, and peanut butter. Besides the liver, I also put in spinach and ice.” She smiled. “This is how I get Alex to eat his veggies. I hide them in shakes.”
“So why does he just get veggies, and I got liver?” I asked, sucking the last of the smoothie down.
“You were my test subject. They say organ meat from time to time is good for your immune system. I pan fried some last night and planned to blend it for myself, but figured I’d have you try it first to make sure the flavor wasn’t overbearing.” She winked. “I actually had no clue whether you’d be able to taste it.”
“I was your test rat. Great.”
“Exactly.”
As we cleaned up breakfast, I made some wise-ass comment, and she got back at me by grabbing the sprayer attached to the sink and pointing it in my direction. That turned into an all-out brawl for control of it. We were both laughing so hard.
I managed to grab it and spray her, proclaiming, “This is what you get for tricking me into eating liver, woman.”
I hadn’t thought that move through, though, and now she had a full-on wet T-shirt. Feeling bad and a little turned on at the same time, I let her win, loosening my grip on the sprayer. She proceeded to drench my shirt.
We were both still cracking up when my mother and Alex walked in.
“What the hell is going on here?” Mom asked.
Presley quickly placed the sprayer in its rightful spot.
“We were playing with the water,” I said. “Things got a little out of hand.”
Alex’s eyes lit up. “Cool! A water fight!”
Realizing her shirt was wet, Presley quickly covered her chest. “Your uncle and I were just having some fun. But it’s over now.”
“Next time I wanna do it, too!” Alex said, rushing past us and toward his room.
Presley continued holding her arms over her chest as my mother looked between us.
“I’d…better go change,” she said, disappearing from the kitchen.
This sucked. Presley and I were damn adults. But right now, I felt like we were two kids who’d been caught doing something bad. And I didn’t like the way my mother was looking at me.
With Presley gone, she dug in. “I’ll ask it again. What the hell are you doing?”
“Lower your voice,” I whispered.
“Let’s go outside,” my mother said as she started toward the door.
To make matters worse, Fern was in the hallway snickering as Mom and I made our way out to the yard.
I hoped Presley didn’t look out her window and get the impression we were talking smack about her.
Once outside, I faced my mother on the lawn. “What?”
“You know what.” She crossed her arms. “It’s obvious what’s going on here.”
“Nothing is going on, Mother. We were just having a little fun. You should want us to be getting along—for Alex’s sake.”