Levi: Chapter 1

Chapter One

Katie

I used to think life got easier as you got older, but clearly that isn’t the case.

Leaning on the fiberglass handles of a post hole digger, I wiped the back of one hand

across my damp forehead. With the coming of fall, the temperature had already begun to dip in

Maine. I was too distracted to enjoy the cool breeze.

A few feet away, my cousin Ollie muttered something as he deepened the last hole I’d

dug, but my attention wasn’t on him either. No, no matter how many times I told myself not to

look, my gaze returned to our friend Levi as he hauled cement bags from the back of his truck to

place them beside the holes we’d dug. I watched him toss a fresh bag of cement onto one

shoulder, effortlessly carry it to where Ollie was working, then lay it beside the hole before

returning with a heavy wooden post. Levi was tall and lean, but strong from a lifetime of

working his small farm. His jeans were stained with grease and paint. His faded T-shirt had

definitely seen better days, but its tight fit clung to his muscular back in the most distracting way.

There likely wasn’t a single woman in a hundred-mile radius who wouldn’t have been flirting

with him if she were in my place that day.

I forced myself to look away again because he and I could never be more than friends.

Topping the list of why? How well I knew him. I’d grown up watching him break the heart of

every woman he dated and make a fool of himself chasing the only one who’d ever turned him

down—Mary. Even if I could put all that aside, he was Ollie’s best friend and I never wanted to

be the reason that changed. Levi had always been and would always be off-limits.

My gaze returned to him as he made another trip to his truck. No man had the right to

look as good as he did in a pair of old jeans. Damn.

Despite his reputation with women, Levi had never been anything but wonderful to me.

Maybe because he didn’t have a sister to look after, he’d watched out for me. He was the one

who’d taught me to double-knot my shoelaces so I’d stop tripping over them. When both my

brother, Tom, and Ollie had become impatient with my reluctance to remove the training wheels

from my bike, it had been Levi who’d held the back of my bike and encouraged me until I’d sped

off on my own.

It felt wrong to see him as anything but someone who’d always been kind to me. When

he’d found himself suddenly alone in high school, Aunt Reana had rallied friends and neighbors

to support him as he became the man of the house his parents had walked away from.

“Back to work,” Ollie said with the same voice of authority he used when I lingered on

break while working for him at his restaurant, Little Willie’s.

I shot him a side-eye warning but lifted the hole digger again. “You realize I’ve dug more

holes than you have today.”

“I’d be digging my own if I didn’t have to finish all of yours,” Ollie said without missing

a beat. He was being an ass because he didn’t want to be there, and it was beginning to get on my

last nerve.

I held out the digger toward him. “Okay. Show me how it’s done.”

From the corner of my eye, I caught Levi returning with several posts stacked on one

shoulder. “You tell him, Katie. Or if he wants, he can take this job.” The smile he flashed sent a

flush of warmth through me. It wasn’t difficult to understand why so many women took a chance

on him despite his reputation for loving and leaving. He had the bad boy, I-dare-you-to-try-to-

redeem-me persona down to an art. It wasn’t an act. Whenever he and Ollie headed off

somewhere together, Aunt Reana said a prayer aloud for their “damn fool souls.” Together,

they’d made a fair share of poor choices. If the three of us hadn’t agreed to train with Bradford,

Ollie and Levi would already be downing the lunchtime beers I’d reluctantly be serving them.

It wasn’t that I’d done much better with my own life, but I was trying to turn that around.

Really, really trying.

I bit my bottom lip as Levi bent to gently lay the wood posts in a pile near us. He was

already strong. How would he look after weeks of physical training with Bradford? For the sake

of the local women, I hoped not too much better.

“I’m done,” Ollie said. “We could have finished hours ago. Levi, go get your auger.”

“No.” Levi placed another post beside a bag of cement before answering him. “This isn’t

about convenience.”

“Right. It’s a punishment,” Ollie growled. “Meant to humble us.”

I inhaled sharply. “It’s not like we don’t deserve it. Bradford didn’t ask us for anything

the first time.”

Ollie snorted. “Deserve it? We saved a woman’s life. How does that equate to us

becoming Bradford’s free labor?”

Levi ran a hand through his hair. “Are we doing this, or not? We agreed to take the

training seriously this time. If we’re just going to fuck around, I have shit to do back at my

place.”

“No,” the word was wrenched out of me with such emotion both of them turned to me

with concern. “You will not take this opportunity from me again. I want to learn everything

Bradford has to teach us. I intend to be strong, skilled, and capable of making a real difference. If

either of you ruin this for me—”

“Hey,” Levi said gently. “No one is going to ruin anything for you.”

“No one made you quit with us the first time,” Ollie pointed out.

My temper flared. “I was scared. I didn’t think I could do it without you, but I’d probably

be better off alone. Fine. Go. I don’t need your negativity.”

“You think you’re such a ray of sunshine?” Ollie slammed the blade of his shovel into the

earth. “I’m getting tired of you lecturing me like you’ve lived this perfect life while I’ve been—”

“Breaktime,” Levi announced. “Who’s hungry? I picked up sandwiches from Manju’s.

They’re in my truck. Why don’t you go get them, Ollie?”

Ollie grumbled, “I’m not hungry. It’s not even eleven.”

Levi continued, “Go get the fucking sandwiches, Ollie. Use the walk to remember how

much you love Katie, then come back and apologize.”

“For not enjoying putting in a fence in the least time-effective way possible?”

I folded my arms in front of me. Sobriety was turning my usually easy-going cousin into

a real asshole.

Levi held Ollie’s gaze. “You said you’d take it seriously this time.”

Ollie threw his hands up in the air. “Of course you take her side.”

Levi’s attention turned to me. “When he apologizes to you, say something nice to him.

We’re just as scared as you are that we won’t pass Bradford’s tests.”

Ollie snarled, “I’m not—”

“You’re afraid too?” Levi? I didn’t know he was afraid of anything.

Levi shrugged. “Of course I am. It’s a big deal. It could change all of our lives. I know

that. Ollie does too.” He leaned in close enough that I flushed. “And neither of us is going to let

you or ourselves down this time. We’re in this together. When one of us stumbles, we reach

down, haul their ass up, and keep going. Deal?”

I swallowed hard, doing my best to remember all the reasons he would be bad for me.

“Deal,” I whispered.

He raised his head and nodded toward Ollie. “Deal?”

“I never said I was quitting.” Ollie grumbled. “And Katie knows I love her.”

I tore my attention from Levi to meet my cousin’s gaze. “I love you too.”

Ollie cleared his throat. “I know how important this is, Katie. I won’t let you down.”

It was such a sweet softening, I said, “I don’t mean to lecture you. I do that when I worry

about you, Levi . . . and me.”

“I know,” Ollie said. “It’s fucking annoying, but since you’re family . . .” He followed

those words with a smile.

“Go get the damn sandwiches,” I said with a laugh of relief.

Left alone for a moment, Levi and I fell into an awkward silence. I wasn’t used to things

between us being strained, but lately they definitely were. In a quiet tone, Levi said, “I meant

what I said. I’m not going anywhere. I’m all in. We’re going to do this, Katie—together.”

I wondered how many women wished he’d said those words to them. The irony wasn’t

lost on me. The reason he could easily proclaim his loyalty to me was because he didn’t see me

as a woman. In his eyes, I would probably always be the little girl he’d taught to play chess

because our high school had scholarships for being on the team and I’d dreamed of leaving

Driverton to attend college.

Not that I’d gone. No, I’d made plenty of bad choices as well. Together, though, we were

vowing to leave all that behind. “Thank you.” I placed a hand on his arm. “I need this.”

“We all do.” He laid his hand over mine. “And never apologize for caring enough about

people to worry about them. It’s part of what I’ve always found beautiful about you.”

He stepped back then and walked after Ollie.

I stood there watching him go.

Beautiful? Me? Was that how he saw me?

Was it how I wanted him to?