The Family You Make (Sunrise Cove #1)(56)

Since she had no idea how to respond to him—well, okay, her body knew exactly how to respond to him—she did as she should have when she got to work: she turned off her phone and went back to her shift.

At six fifteen, she headed out to the parking lot and stopped short at the man leaning against her car, boots casually crossed, head down doing something on his phone. Long before he could have heard her coming, he looked up and unerringly landed that see-all gray gaze on her.

She faltered, then lifted her chin and strode directly toward him. Remember, you’re not happy he gave you a present. You’re not at all charmed. This is pretend. Just pretend. Presents have no place in a pretend relationship. Especially presents that make you feel decidedly . . . un-pretend-like.

And here was the thing. She’d spent most of her life living by certainties. The sun would rise, and no matter what part of the world she was in, she rose with it and went to her job. Then she’d go to bed and stare up at whatever ceiling happened to be over her head and tell herself that even though much of her life hadn’t been ideal, she was doing her part to make people’s lives better.

But then a certain blizzard had put her in a situation up close and far too personal with the man watching her approach. A man who had no place in her regimented, planned-out world. None. And as un-grown-up as it was, she felt a stirring of frustration with him for standing there looking like the best thing that had ever happened to her.

So she did what she did. She went on the defensive. She went toe-to-toe with him, pulled the box out of her pocket, and pressed it against his chest. “We agreed this isn’t real, so why in the world would you do this?”

He opened the box and looked at the ornament, nothing showing on his face.

She stared into his eyes. Okay, not his eyes. She stared at his mouth. She didn’t know why. “Your turn to talk,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Well, thanks to my niece, I know this is a sugar plum fairy from The Nutcracker. Although I gotta say, you make a far cuter one.”

“Why, Levi?”

“I don’t know. Why did you tell me you didn’t want to kiss me the other night, when all you’ve done since you got out here was look at my lips?”

Gah! She jerked her gaze off his lips, then rubbed her hands over her face. “I swear, I have no idea what that is.”

He looked at her for a long beat, then set the box with the ornament on the hood. “This is why,” he said and nudged her up against the vehicle. Moving slowly, clearly giving her time to resist, he reached out and removed her sunglasses. Then he closed the gap separating them and kissed her. Slow. Sweet. Almost as if he was asking a question.

Her heart drumming in her ears and throat, she pulled back and stared at him, her only thought being that this hadn’t been nearly enough. Reaching out, she grabbed the front of his jacket and yanked him back into her. He went with the forward momentum, letting them bump into each other, chest to chest, thigh to thigh, and everything deliciously in between. “This is just a kiss,” she informed him, her voice annoyingly soft and breathy.

This had him laughing softly against her as he nibbled her lower lip, then sucked it into his mouth. Someone gasped. Her. Dammit. With another of those sexy laughs, he kissed her. Really kissed her, nothing sweet or questioning about it this time. She moaned, closed a fist in his hair, and did the only thing she could: held on for the best kiss of her life.

Levi was slow to pull back, slower still to lift his head and reveal those sexy eyes.

“Okay.” She nodded and licked her lips, because apparently she needed that one last taste of him. “So we got that out of the way, which means we’re done with that now.”

He looked pointedly at her arms, which were still wrapped tightly around him.

She yanked her hands from him and shoved her fingers in her hair, turning away from him while she tried to catch her breath and gather her thoughts. “You make me crazy.”

“Ditto.” He paused. “And I didn’t give you that ornament.”

She whirled back, took in the truth in his eyes, and felt her heart sink. She believed him.

That left only her grandpa. Which meant he knew she was in town.

Guilt flooded her because it was one thing to avoid the man when he didn’t know she was here; it was another entirely if he was aware of her trips to Tahoe and knew she’d been avoiding him. And then there was the disappointment that he’d chosen to communicate via the gift instead of in person, or the guilt for avoiding him in the first place—she wasn’t sure which.

“Jane? You okay?”

She dropped her head to his chest. His hard chest. Slowly shook her head.

“What can I do? Name it.”

“Feed me.”

“Done.” He led her to his car and drove them toward town, parking at one end of the Lake Walk. All the shops, storefronts, and restaurants were lit with a myriad of lights, as were the old-fashioned lampposts, making the place seem like a movie set.

In less than five minutes, they were seated inside a pizzeria, near a huge brick fireplace that took up one entire wall. The heat felt wonderful, the scents teased her cranky belly, and as much as she didn’t want to admit it, her dinner companion was a sight for sore eyes.

They ordered, and when they each had a beer in front of them, Levi met her gaze. “I’m guessing you have an idea who the ornament is from.”