The Fall Up (The Fall Up, #1)(33)

And I knew I wanted them to stay.

I was a man, and it was time to start acting like it. I could survive the tumultuous wake Levee Williams would surely leave behind. But what I couldn’t survive was letting her walk away without even trying. In the span of five seconds, I’d thrown all of my apprehensions out the window and come to the decision that I desperately wanted something with her. I just needed to figure out a way to make her come to that decision too.

“C’mere,” I whispered, hoping she’d at least give me that.

A sob bubbled in her throat, but she rushed in my direction, not stopping until she collided into me.

“I’ve missed you so much,” she told my chest, and relief flooded my veins.

Well, that was easier than I expected.

I chuckled, wrapping my arms around her waist, kissing the top of her head.

“Don’t laugh at me,” she sniffled, squeezing me tighter.

Of course, that only made me laugh harder. Her head tipped back, and a scowl covered her gorgeous, tear-stained face.

Tucking stray curls behind her ears, I smiled down at her. “I’ve missed the view.”

Her gaze jumped away. “I’m not allowed to go to the bridge anymore.”

Using her chin, I tipped her head back. “Good,” I breathed, kissing her forehead.

“You haven’t been going up there either?”

“I’ve been there every night, but that’s not the view I’ve been missing.”

Her cheeks pinked, and her eyes smiled.

Her mouth didn’t.

Because it was suddenly on mine.

Her tongue invaded my mouth as mango overwhelmed my senses. Levee. My whole body slacked as I slid a hand down to her ass.

“Uhhh…” Meg’s voice stole my attention and reminded me that we weren’t alone the way I so fiercely wanted to be.

Levee giggled and tucked her face into my neck.

“Hey!” I greeted Meg awkwardly.

“Nice to see you too, Sam.” She rolled her eyes then flashed them to Levee’s back in a silent question.

I shrugged. “Well, it’s good to know your loud-mouth brother at least takes attorney-client privilege seriously.”

“Shut. Up,” she whispered. “Ryan knew about this and didn’t tell me!” Her face morphed from humor to anger.

“Yep.” I rubbed it in just to be sure Ryan thoroughly got his ass handed to him later.

“Mom,” Morgan choked.

We all looked down at her, including Levee, who spun in my arms. Morgan’s face was pale as tears welled in her bright-blue eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Meg asked, settling on the bed next to her.

“Does this mean that Levee is going to be my aunt?” A trail of tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Well…” Meg stalled then leveled me with an annoyed frown. “Sam? Levee? You got an answer here?”

Levee blew out a sigh of relief. “Maybe.”

Panic followed by a tinge of elation filled my chest as I swung an incredulous glare in her direction.

She shrugged then went back to talking to Morgan. “But maybe not. You mind if I step outside with Sam and talk about that?”

Morgan jumped to her knees and folded her hands in a prayer. “Oh, please say yes, Levee. Please. If you’re my aunt, you get to come to dinner at Nana’s every Sunday. And Christmas. Oh my God! Christmas is so fun. Sam always shows up smelling like smoke, but I promise I’ll put a toothbrush in his stocking in case you want to kiss him some more.”

Levee bit her lips to stifle a laugh.

“Uncle Sam, did you bring a ring? You need a ring if you’re going to marry her.”

I threw my hands up in defense and slowly backed toward the door. “I have no idea what you are talking about right now.”

Meg doubled over in laughter as Morgan’s expression turned murderous. “Girls need a ring! Come on, Sam. My friends would die if Levee was my aunt. Don’t mess this up for me.”

Levee barked a laugh. “Yeah, Sam. Don’t mess this up for her.” She flipped her hand up for a high five, which Morgan enthusiastically returned.

“Don’t encourage her,” I whisper-yelled at Levee, but the huge grin I was hopeless to hide gave me away.

After offering Morgan a quick hug, Levee headed toward the door, bumping my shoulder as she passed. “Come on, Sam. We need to talk about this ring.” Just as she got to the door, she shouted, “See ya later, Morgan!”

“See you at dinner on Sunday!” Morgan casually called after her.

I couldn’t help but laugh at the exchange, and as the door clicked behind her, I heard Levee laugh as well.

I quickly kissed Morgan on the top of her head then pulled Meg into a hug. “Thanks for the text.”

“You have so much explaining to do,” she bit out but immediately started shooing me out of the room.

I wandered into the hallway, where I found Levee whispering with Devon.

“Sup, big man.” I clapped his meaty shoulder, looping the other arm around Levee’s waist.

He glowered at me, but his words were for Levee. “We need to go. Time’s up.”

She shyly peeked up at me. “You want to maybe…come back to my place for a little bit so we can…talk.”