The Family You Make (Sunrise Cove #1)(23)

But this wasn’t that, she reminded herself. “Have you spoken to Charlotte?” she asked Sandra.

“Not yet. Thought I’d check in with you first.”

The thing was, Charlotte was such a bleeding heart, Jane knew the woman would sleep on her own couch to make sure Sandra had a place to stay.

And then there was the fact that Charlotte would make more money off Sandra, a lot more, because she never took enough money from Jane to begin with.

But the real truth was that Jane wasn’t sure she could handle Charlotte asking. She’d rather leave on her own than face that ever again. “I’m contracted for work until the season is over, but maybe we could work out a shared-room situation. See what Charlotte wants to do and let me know.”

Sandra squeezed her hand. “Thanks, hon.”

When Sandra walked away, Jane drew a deep breath and headed toward Levi’s table. He looked up, smiled in a way that pushed the lingering bad memories away, and stood. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

He pushed a tray loaded with food to the center of the table. “I know you’re short on time, so I got one of everything.”

It was ridiculous how much this charmed her, and she laughed as she grabbed a grilled cheese and a cup of soup, and then on second thought, also the French fries.

Looking pleased, Levi took the burger and small salad. “I really enjoyed watching you handle the big guy today.”

“Nick?” She smiled. “He’s okay. He’s really just a gentle giant.”

Levi laughed. “Whatever you say.”

They were eating their food when Levi leaned in. “We’ve got an audience. Your three o’clock.”

She turned and looked and found Sandra, along with a few other nurses, watching them with avid interest. She gave them the shoo gesture and they scattered. “Sorry,” she said. “It’s like they’ve never seen me with someone before.” She paused. Grimaced. “Okay, so they’ve never seen me with someone before. They have no idea this is just a lunch between two people who nearly bought the farm together.” She laughed.

Levi didn’t.

She paused with a French fry halfway to her mouth. “It is just a lunch between two people who nearly bought the farm together, right?” she asked.

“It’s whatever we want it to be.”

For some reason, this kicked her heart into gear.

He pushed a white box across the table. It had a pretty red bow on it, and she stared at it like it was a coiled snake. “What is it?”

“It’s a Thanks-for-Not-Letting-Me-Die present.”

“No. I don’t do presents.”

“Would it change your mind to know it’s a cookies ’n’ cream cupcake from Cake Walk?”

She gasped. “Don’t you tease me.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

She practically tore off the bow, making him laugh, but she didn’t care. Calk Walk’s cupcakes were the gold bar of cupcakes. They were better than a day off. They were better than sex—at least she was pretty sure. It’d been a while. “You actually remembered,” she said as she sat staring down at the huge perfect cupcake, lunch forgotten, mouth watering.

“Yeah. You moaned a little when you were talking about it.”

Well, that was embarrassing. And true. “So you wanted to hear me moan again?”

“You already did.” He smiled a bit wickedly, and . . . damn. It was a good smile. The kind that could give a girl some seriously dirty thoughts, which she also hadn’t had in a while. Uncharacteristically ruffled, she grabbed a knife, carefully cut the cupcake in two, and handed him half.

“You absolutely positive they’re even?” he asked.

She eyeballed them again. “Yes,” she finally said and caught his grin. “You’re still teasing me. But you should know, I take these cupcakes very seriously.”

“Then I’m seriously touched that you’d share.” He held up his portion in a cheers. “To not dying.”

“To not dying.” She took a big bite and moaned again. “I can’t help it!” she said when he grinned at her.

“Not complaining.” He took a bite as well and . . . let out a very male moan himself.

Laughing, she pointed at him. “See? Better than sex, right?”

His smoky eyes heated. “I’ll admit, the cupcake is amazing, but nothing’s better than sex. Not if it’s done right.”

Well, you walked right into that one. Determined to get out of the danger zone, she concentrated on her next bite, not even realizing that her free hand had gone to her necklace, back around her neck where it belonged.

Levi’s gaze went there too. “Looks good on you.”

Earlier when he’d dropped her grandma’s necklace into her palm, she’d had to fight tears. He’d noticed, she knew he had, but he hadn’t pushed her to talk. Instead he’d remained quiet, letting her recover. “Thank you again,” she said softly.

“The way you touched it when you got on the gondola, I figured it was important to you.”

It took her a minute to be able to speak. “Very. It was my grandma’s.” She opened the locket and looked at the picture of herself, the happiest she’d ever been in her life up to that point because they’d just gone to see The Nutcracker. “It’s the only thing I have of her.” She paused. “Actually, it’s the only thing I have of my childhood.”