Page 59 of Moody as a Minotaur

He shuffled on his feet. “We should keep going.”

I nodded. As soon as his back was to me, I did a fist pump.Yes!

Just when I was about to ask where he was taking me, Levi glanced back at me and put his finger to his lips. I nodded, then mimed zipping my lips closed. He stepped up to a shelf that looked the same as all the other shelves filled with miniature scenes.

He tapped on a stool in a diorama of a bar scene that sat on the top shelf. Something clicked behind the shelf. Then he reached into the scene of an old-fashioned garage on the next shelf down. He pinched the steering wheel of the Model T between his thick thumb and forefinger and turned it gently. There was another noise, like metal sliding against metal. It was soft, though.Barely audible. I doubted the listening devices would pick it up.

The shelving unit jiggled.

Levi pulled on one side and voilà… A set of steps leading to the second floor was revealed.

Well. What do you know? Levi had a secret door. Man, I’d always wanted one of those. He motioned me inside first. I felt a little giddy as I skipped up the steps. This was it.

I was alone with Levi. It wasn’t like at the pub when we hung out while all of Willow Lake watched us. It wasn’t like when he came into the Flying Rowan Café and only stayed long enough to grab his coffee. It wasn’t like the last few hours we’d spent together because Nana had dogged our every step, quizzing us on The Plan.

We were really, truly alone. Finally.

I climbed the shadowy steps, feeling my way in the dark until I came to the landing. I paused, not sure where to go next. Levi was right behind me. He set his hand on my hip, as if to steady me, and reached around me with his other hand. His warm chest pressed against my back.

“I’ll just…” He flicked on the light switch.

I don’t know what I was expecting from his apartment, but this wasn’t it. The interior and the exterior of his motel were covered in bright colors, so I’d half expected his home to be the same. Instead, I felt like I’d stepped into another world.

Instead of a warren of small bedroom-sized rooms like I’d expected, the space was an open concept. I suspected it felt bigger than it really was because it was awash in white, varying shades of blue, and honey-colored accents in natural materials. It should have been austere and cold, but it wasn’t. The room was filled with carefully chosen colors and textures; everything blended into a beautiful tableau. The effect was soothing. I wanted to wrap one of his soft chenille blankets around me, curl up on that gigantic sectional, and forget the rest of the world existed. Especially after today.

“This is gorgeous,” I said. I didn’t know what to look at first. Everything was just so… unexpected.

I hadn’t taken any particular care when I chose things for my apartment. I went for what was comfortable and cheap. Whatever money I’d had when I moved to Willow Lake, I invested in the Flying Rowan Café, not my personal space. Since my apartment was functional, I hadn’t seen a reason to change it since. But it felt so dreary compared to this. I hadn’t really noticed until now.

“I… uh… I was feeling a little nostalgic when I decorated up here,” Levi muttered as he stepped around me. He moved deeper into the room and turned on more lights. With another flick of a switch, flames burst to life in his gas fireplace. He carefully set my bag on the end of the sofa.

I could see what he meant. There was just something about that blue in particular that reminded me of pictures I’d seen of Greece.

My gaze swept around the room as I spun slowly to take it all in. Thick wooden beams crossed the ceiling, spanning the width of the house. The honey hues of the beams matched the wide planked hardwood floors. A sweeping arch opened into a stunning kitchen withcobalt blue bottom cabinets and shiny marble countertops.

There were a couple of doors to my left. One was probably for a bathroom, the other his bedroom. I swallowed and pivoted to look in the other direction, so I wasn’t tempted to go over there. I didn’t need to think about Levi’s bedroom, not yet.

Oh, look, my hope was still alive.

I stepped over to peer around the wall to my right and froze. There was a bed. A massive, beautiful bed. I squeaked before I could smother the sound with my hand. Levi charged across the room to me. He pushed me behind his body and stared into his bedroom space.

“What? What happened? What did you see?” Levi stomped around his bed, peering into corners and under furniture. “Van didn’t think anyone had gotten up here. Was he wrong?”

“Nothing…” I choked out.

Levi’s gaze snapped to mine. The way he was clenching his fists suggested he was still considering ripping his bedroom apart to look for whatever had surprised me.

Oh God. Kill me now. My cheeks had to be hot enough to bake a pizza. “I… I wasn’t expecting to see your bed.”

Levi blinked. He looked at his bed, then back at me. Understanding dawned on his face. “Oh, uh… Yeah… I did have my bedroom in the room over there for a bit.” He nodded across to one of the closed doors. “But I didn’t like having my craft supplies out here all the time. It was too…messy. So, I switched it. I like it like this. Like a studio apartment.”

“Hey, you don’t have to explain anything to me.” I was trying hard not to look at the bed again. We really needed to go back to the sofa… or maybe the kitchen, which was on the other side of the apartment. Yeah. That would probably be better. “Do you have anything to drink?”

“Ouzo?”

I snorted. “Really?”

“No. It was a joke. I thought you’d probably expect it based on, well, everything else in my place.” Levi walked around me, leaving lots of space between us. “How about a beer?”