Page 58

Story: Ill Will

His hands moved to my hips and he pulled me close. The kiss could have lasted forever or for mere seconds. But just like when he’d been down on one knee proposing, time felt weird.
When he pulled away, his eyes were locked intensely on mine.
“Was that enough practice for you?”
I nodded, though my body begged for more.
I had just enough self-control to cut this now, it seemed. If I let it continue, then I’d take him to my room and let him do whatever he wanted to me, and that was a complication I didn’t need in this fake marriage.
As hard as it was, I needed to keep my head on straight.
His hand traced my cheek. “One thing’s for sure. We’ll have the perfect wedding kiss.”
Oh boy.I’m in more trouble than I thought.
“Yeah,” I said, trying to sound as normal as possible. “The line of people getting into marriages for revenge will be coming tousfor advice.”
I stepped away to put some healthy distance between us.
“We should eat before the food gets colder than it already has.”
Levi gestured for me to go ahead, and I tried to calm down as we walked.
I’d justkissedLevi. For no reason. Sure, I could say it was practice. Maybe he thought it was. But the reality was that he’d done something so sweet and romantic that I did it because I wanted to.
And that wasn’t my best idea.
I mechanically sat at the table, grabbing the Styrofoam packaging and taking a bite. I didn’t even taste the food. I was too busy replaying the kisses over and over in my head.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you be so quiet.” Levi’s voice was soft, and when I finally looked up, his eyes were firmly on me.
I didn’t want him to know how hard I was thinking about what had just happened, so it was time to divert. “As hard as it is to believe, I do think sometimes.”
“Why would that be hard to believe?”
“Just an observation people usually make. I can be a little impulsive.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re not thinking about things. You do what you want. A lot of people have secret agendas. It’s nice that you don’t.”
Secret agendas. Like he had with Calvin? Sure, all of it was a secret. This was for revenge, after all. But he had to have other tricks up his sleeve, something he was going to do to make Calvin pay for what he’d done.
Levi always had in the past.
“You’re quiet again,” he commented.
“I have a lot on my mind,” I replied. At his raise of an eyebrow, I added, “Planning a wedding in only two weeks is a whirlwind. And on top of that, I told my sister today.”
“Was she mad?”
“Curious, but not mad. Why do you ask? Was your family angry?”
“They were.”
“That’ll be fun to deal with at the wedding. Hopefully, I can smooth it over and be normal enough?—”
“You don’t need to smooth anything over. The only reason they’re mad is because they didn’t get to meet you.”
“Meet me? Why would they be mad about that?”

Table of Contents