Not So Suddenly Soulmates, page 8
“Don’t even go there. I know you too well.” Rhi sat back down and loaded her plate with food. “What do you want to do after lunch?”
“Kiss you some more?”
“Okay, stop.” Rhi held up her hand. “You’re giving me a complex about my kissing ability.”
“I was being serious, Rhi.”
She shook her head. She couldn’t take it anymore. “Freeze. We’re done. No more talking about the kiss or any real or joking feelings associated with it.”
“But what if…” Levi nodded. “Freeze it is.” He ran a hand through his hair. “You wanna finish the movie after lunch?”
“Sure.” Rhi turned her attention to her plate. “Things aren’t going to change between us now, are they?”
“Of course not. We’re still friends. Nothing is going to change that. I just know I like to kiss you now.”
Rhi tapped her fingers on the counter. He couldn’t be serious for anything but that was one of the things she loved about him. She shoved the plate away and reached for another container. “I think it’s a dessert first kind of day.”
Levi opened his mouth to say something but smiled instead. “Me too.”
Chapter Sixteen
LEVI
May 31st
Levi draped his arm around a bottle blonde whose name he could not remember.
She played with the buttons on his shirt and stood on her toes to press a kiss to his neck.
This was his first date in two weeks. He wouldn’t have gone but Rhi had said something about checking out one of her Tinder matches. He’d be turned on in short enough order but the chemistry wasn’t there. Was this how he wanted to go through the rest of his life? He raked his other hand through his hair.
“You’re so hot. How are you still single?”
“Confirmed bachelor usually turns everyone off.” Levi folded his arms across his chest.
She ran her fingers over his arms and down to his stomach. “No one is a confirmed bachelor forever. There’s always one.”
Yeah, her name’s Rhi and she lives with me. Levi shook his head. Nope not thinking like that. She was his friend. Always would be. He smiled down at the girl as the elevator stopped at his floor. He put his arm around her as they stepped into the hallway, his smile fading.
Rhi stood outside their door with another man, laughing at something he said.
Levi glowered and his body heated. He cleared his throat. “I thought you were gone for the night.”
“We decided to come here rather than go there.” Rhi met his gaze and mouthed, “help.”
Levi scowled.
“Who the hell is she?” The blonde planted her hands on her hips.
“This is my wife. We’ve got an open relationship.” Levi put his arm around Rhi. “Monogamy got boring, so we’re trying to pick up random people to meet our needs.”
The guy with Rhi checked out the blonde. “I’m down. As long as there’s no dick touching. Not into guys.”
Levi crossed his arms. “You won’t be in charge. If Rhi breaks out the whips and chains, we’ll all be hanging from the ceiling before too long.”
Rhi reached out and pinched the blonde’s wrist. “She’s a little skinny. Are you sure she’ll hang up?”
“I don’t know. Did you print the waivers this morning? I forgot.”
The blonde pulled away from Rhi and marched away to the elevator. “Everyone at the bar is going to know exactly what kind of person you are, Levi.” She pressed the down button repeatedly.
“Everyone at the bar already knows.” Levi turned to look at the guy. “Still in? We have waivers in the apartment. I’ll try not to touch you but when you’re rolling around in spaghetti sauce, things get confusing.”
“Spaghetti sauce?” The man raised his brows.
Rhi nodded. “Yeah the whole place is lined with plastic. Between the spaghetti sauce and the blood, it gets messy in there.”
The man raced to the elevator as it opened for the blonde. “Hey! Wait up.” He climbed onto the elevator.
Rhi opened the apartment door. “Thanks. You didn’t have to ruin your date too though.”
He shrugged. “It wasn’t going anywhere. She’s determined to change me from a bachelor to a husband.”
“Women can’t seem to get that through their head, can they?” She chuckled as she hastened inside. “Thanks again for the save. I’m going to bed. If you go out and need cover again, text me.” She plodded toward her room.
Levi closed the door behind him. “Rhi.”
“What?” She turned to look at him.
His eyes blurred and he let his imagination take hold. He strode across the room, backed her against the wall, and planted a hot kiss on her lips. “There’s only one person I want tonight and you’re her.”
“What?” Rhi snapped her fingers in front of his face. “Levi.”
He shook the vision out of his head and forced a smile. “Sorry. Must still be tired.”
“Who were you talking to?” Rhi walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, fine.” He took a deep breath. “Hey, your dad texted me earlier and said they’re going to the island on June eighth and asked if I wanted to go.”
“Good. We can go together. I won’t have to fly with the twins then.”
“We’re not going to all ride in he same vehicle to the airport? Big family van like we did in school?”
“No. No way.” Rhi shook her head. “We’ll leave a little earlier and arrive before them.”
“I’ll book the flights then. First class to spoil you as usual.” Levi laughed and headed to his room.
He checked the text from her dad to book the flight. His mind drifted back to Rhi. He wanted to have a serious conversation with her but every time he tried, she thought he was joking. He exhaled as his phone chimed.
LEON:
If you’re coming on vacation with us, I want to talk to you about my offer.
LEVI:
I’ll be there. I’m very interested in your offer.
LEON:
Good. I’m working through the legal aspects and should have a contract to go through while we’re there.
Levi smiled. Owner of a company at twenty-four. How many of his friends could say that?
LEVI:
I’m ready.
He rushed through the flight plans.
Her door was closed and he knocked before he walked in.
Rhi stood in her room dressed only in her lacy peach bra and matching panties. “What’s the point of knocking if you’re just going to come in?”
Levi stared at her, his gaze raking over her curves. His body heated and he swallowed hard.
Rhi grabbed her robe from the bed and wrapped it around her. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I…um.” He took a deep breath and shook his head. “I wanted to tell you the good news first.”
“Tell me.” She plopped down on the bed and patted the comforter next to her.
Levi’s mind went blank. What was he going to tell her? He couldn’t get the image of her half naked out of his head. He cleared his throat and sat down. “Your dad said he’d be drawing up a contract for me to take over the company.”
Rhi threw her arms around his neck. “That’s amazing! I’m so proud of you.”
Levi returned the gesture, relishing the feel of her against him. He fought the desire to kiss her. “Rhi?”
“What?”
He took her by the shoulders and held her away from him. He was never going to get through this conversation if she was close enough that he could smell her shampoo. “Would you consider changing our relationship? Don’t answer right now. Give it until we leave for vacation. But I can’t stop thinking about our kiss.”
“Is it just a sex thing? You want to do friends with benefits? Or more? You remind me frequently of your confirmed bachelor status.”
“Think about both. Because I know I have been.”
“You? You’re considering more than one night…and monogamy?” Rhi quirked her brow.
“I’ve never been monogamously challenged. Only one girl at a time.”
Rhi took a deep breath. “What about our friendship? It will change.”
“I know. But I can’t stop thinking it already has. The moment we started talking about kissing something changed.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about this now?”
He shook his head. “I can’t. I’ll call a limited freeze if I need to but if we start right now, we will end up in bed.”
She laughed. “We’re in bed right now.”
“You know what I mean.”
“You’re trying to be funny again, aren’t you?”
Levi tipped her head back and moved his lips over hers in a quick but sensual kiss. “I’m not kidding, Rhi.” He pulled away from her, stood up and raced out of the room. His head spun. What the hell did I just do?
Chapter Seventeen
RHI
June 4th
Rhi paced back and forth across her brother’s living room. The wait was killing her.
Edge glanced up from his phone. “How am I supposed to sell this house if you make a hole in my floor?”
Rhi growled and plopped down in the chair next to the couch. “Why did he have to call a temporary freeze? He knows I won’t say anything about it until he calls it off. But no. Now I’m stuck waiting until the damn ride to the fucking airport.”
“Going somewhere?”
“Did you turn dumb on me? We’re leaving for vacation in four days. Four of the longest days ever. Well, after the last five long ass days I’ve been through.” She threw her hands in the air. “Freeze! Damn it. Why?”
“Tell him you love him and get it over with. Freeze or not, I’m pretty sure ‘I love you’ beats it.”
She stared at her brother. “You don’t even know who I’m talking about. Why in the world would you tell me to tell some stranger I love them?”
He stood, walked over to her, and put his hands on her shoulders. “Levi. You’re talking about Levi.”
Rhi blew out a deep breath. “Why does kissing your best friend have to complicate everything?”
Edge smiled. “Because you’re at the point you realize you were too young to recognize love when you first met.”
“I don’t think I’m in love with him. At least not in the romantic way.” Rhi looked over at him. “How did you and Sara do it?”
“I started looking at the things we were doing as friends and realized it was what I wanted in a relationship. I looked at my other relationships and saw they weren’t good for me.”
“You were all of sixteen when you and Sara got together. You told me she was your first and only.” Rhi picked at her nails.
“I’d dated a couple girls before her. They couldn’t deal with my friendship with Sara and they didn’t have the same ideas I had when it came to a relationship. I wanted someone I could trust implicitly. Someone I could spend days with and not get tired of them. Someone I could have comfortable silence with. Someone I could be myself around and not have to pretend to be something I wasn’t. You can’t tell me that’s not what you have with Levi.”
“The person you can eat whatever you want in front of them and not have to worry about them thinking it’s not feminine. The one who’s always there for me. The one who’ll lay on the couch with me and watch stupid movies until we both fall asleep. Or who can order my favorites from any takeout place without asking what I wanted.” Rhi smiled.
“You can tell them anything. They’ll drop everything to do something with you.”
“The guy who kicks everyone at his party out of the apartment so he can come in and make me feel better. Or who rescues me when the woman I thought was a good friend tried to rob me blind.”
“To be fair, if you’d called me, I would have come for the last one. And the police would have handled it differently.” Edge laughed as he sat down again. “And while all of that is friendship, it can be so much more as well.”
“We’ve always said we were going to live with each other forever and no one was going to break us up.”
“If you’re a couple, no one can break you up.”
Rhi nodded. “I want to tell him I want to try the whole dating thing now but he wants me to think about it until we go on vacation.”
“He may be thinking about things as well. He needs his own time to make sure this is what he wants. To talk to his friends and family. This will be a big change for him. He’s never done more than one date. He’s been a confirmed bachelor for so long, it has to be weird for him to think about being in a relationship.”
“I guess you’re right. Waiting the last five days has been hell. I want to tell him so much but he’s barely been around.”
“From what I understand, he’s also getting ready to take over Dad’s company and move back to Bryton. I’m sure there are a few other things he needs to get figured out.”
Rhi smiled at her brother. “You’re right, as much as I hate to admit it. I need to give him his time too. It’s probably as hard on him as it is on me.”
“Exactly.”
She yawned. “I suppose I should go see if I can bunk in my old room tonight. I’m not feeling up to driving back to Indy.”
“We have extra rooms and I know Sara will have more insight into your plight than I do. You’re more than welcome to stay here.”
Rhi glanced over at him and nodded. “Thank you. I guess it would be better. Otherwise Mom’s going to drag it all out of me.”
“You bet she will.” Edge pointed to the stairs. “There’s three bedrooms upstairs. Make yourself at home.”
Rhi stood and opened her arms to Edge. “I came to talk to Sara but I think you were the one I needed to talk to.”
“Sometimes older brothers know a thing or two.” He hugged her tight and released her. “Get some sleep, sis. And wake up knowing your life will be changing from this point forward.”
She smiled and rushed up the stairs. He was right. Her life would be changing.
Chapter Eighteen
LEVI
June 5th
Levi pulled up in front of his father’s small house in the outskirts of Bryton. He climbed out of the car and hurried to the house. He opened the door and stepped into the living room. A mismatched array of thrift store furniture filled the room. “Hey, Dad?”
“Levi.” Fletcher Morris walked out of the kitchen and over to hug his son. “What brings you up my way? No date on a Friday night?”
“Not tonight.”
Fletcher raised his eyebrows. “You have them all planned out for tomorrow and Sunday then?”
“Nah, Rhi and I leave for the island on Monday, so I’ll be packing.” Levi shoved his hands in his pockets. How long had it been since he’d been on a date that didn’t end early?
“Well, shit, son. You’re slowing down. How am I supposed to live vicariously through you if you don’t have a new girl every night?” Fletcher laughed and motioned for him to follow. “I’m working on a new recipe.”
“Torturing food again, Dad?”
Fletcher shot him a glare. “I’m getting better.”
The smell of garlic and Italian seasonings wafted through the air.
“Smells all right.” Levi sat down at the kitchen table. “I stopped by to talk to you about something.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that?” Fletcher stirred the pot of food on the stove
“Leon Edgerly contacted me about a possible job opportunity.” Levi focused on his hands. “He wants me to take over his part of the company.”
Fletcher turned and smiled at his son. “That’s one helluva opportunity.”
Levi nodded. “I know. He’s not retiring yet, and he’ll be around to help me out and get everything settled.”
“Congratulations, son. I’m proud of you. How long before this goes into effect? A couple years?”
Levi’s cheeks heated. “We’re going over the contracts next week. I gave my two weeks’ notice today. I’m spending the next month finding a place to live up here so I can get started by the end of the summer.”
Fletcher leaned against the counter. “That was quick. What’s with waiting to tell your old man?”
“I didn’t want to just call you up and tell you. I wanted to come up here and tell you in person.”
“If it wasn’t for Leon and Jen, I’d still be working in a factory, trying to make ends meet.” Fletcher turned around and stirred the contents in the pot.
“I know.” Levi smiled. He’d spent many a night at the Edgerly’s while his dad was going to school.
“You’re excited about taking over the company, right?”
“Yeah.” He sighed.
“Something else seems to be bothering you.” He turned off the stove then grabbed a couple bowls and put them on the table. “I have some noodles in the fridge. Can you get them for me?”
Levi found the bag of noodles and handed them to his dad. “There’s nothing bothering me. I’m just overwhelmed.”
“I understand. Everything always happens fast with the Edgerlys. They have the money to get things done and they tend to do it.” He put the cold noodles in both bowls and spooned the tomato-based sauce over them. “The sauce should warm them up.”
Levi laughed. “Makes sense to me but every time I do that, Rhi rolls her eyes.”
“How is Rhi? I haven’t seen her in a while.” Fletcher sat down. “Sit. Try it.”
Levi sat then stirred the sauce into the noodles and waited a moment before taking a bite. “Not bad, Dad. Not bad at all.”
“Rhi or the food?”
Levi laughed. “The food is good. And Rhi, well, I guess she’s okay. I haven’t talked to her much the last few days.”
“You live with her. The woman has spent the last seventeen years taking out the trash after your one-night stands. What do you mean you haven’t talked to her?”
