A few messages from Levi come, letting me know what time he’s picking up Nikki and Seth before coming for me, but before I can open his message to reply, another one pops up.
Nate: Call me, Ember. I’ve been trying to get in touch with you, but I need you to work with me. Call me, text me, just do something other than continue to ignore me. Please.
Yeah, no.
After the family dinner and a pity party I’m not proud of, I decided no more stupid thoughts of something that will never be. I should have moved on and I had done a good job of that after my graduation night … until his sister’s wedding and one too many drinks.
Inhibitions and fears went out the window as old feelings and dreams started trying to mend my broken heart that night. I had been coming around the side of the house, laughing to myself about getting lost on the way back from the bathroom, when I found myself colliding with a hard body. I’m still not really sure how things progressed from there; all I knew was that my panties were on the ground and I was burning from the inside out.
Then, of course, there was the figurative bath of cold water when I realized Nate had no idea who he was pushing his hard dick inside. The next thing I knew, I was no longer in his arms as I rushed from the darkened corner blindly.
Not even wanting to think about everything that followed, I ignore his message and go to Levi’s text.
Ember: Sounds good. ;) I’ll be ready in an hour. See you soon!
I don’t get a reply, but I didn’t think I would since Levi is the worst at responding. I shoot Nikki a similar message while walking to the back door and letting an overexcited Bam in from his run in the backyard. I leave my back room to head to my bedroom and get ready for a double date night.
I look across the table at Levi and try to focus on the conversation around me. He and Seth have been going on and on about some new training program they’ve been on to ‘bulk up.’ Whatever the hell that means. Something about their muscles getting bigger … or was it sharper? More defined? I don’t know.
Nikki nudges my foot under the table, taking a sip of her beer, and rolls her eyes.
“I hit the gym twice yesterday, man. My veins looked like they were going to pop through my skin by the time I finished.”
“So, Levi,” Nikki interrupts him and turns her attention to the man next to me. “How are things at the fire department?”
“Good,” he says, giving her a small glance before looking back across the table to Seth. “So I told Allen I would be there at six in the morning tomorrow to work my legs some more. Since I’m working a double this weekend, no gym time until Monday.”
Nikki gives me a shrug, not really caring that she was dismissed, and we both continue to eat.
The look of displeasure that I got from Levi when I ordered pasta almost made me regret my decision, but I’ve never been one to shy away from a hearty Italian dish. Just because he’s a health nut doesn’t mean I have to be. I should be annoyed that he tries to control what I eat, but I don’t really care. I’m not going to become someone else just to make him happy, even if my knee-jerk reaction is to do just that. I’m not a skinny girl, but I’m also not big. I’m just me, soft in all the right places.
“Are you sure you can’t get someone to take your shift?” I ask him before taking another big bite and smiling at him when he frowns at me. He gives me one of his devastatingly handsome grins when the noodle slurps loudly, just shaking his head at me. After two months, I might still get the looks and a few comments, but he knows I’ll be the last one who starts to worry about what goes in my mouth.
“Sorry, babe,” he responds, and I succeed in hiding my grimace at the pet name. “I tried to get Trenton to switch, but his little sister is getting married so it was a no go.”