Page 106 of Sunset Catchers

“I’ve never been more sure.”

But I’ve also never been more terrified for my heart.

26

There’s a boy in my bed.

Actually, scratch that. There’s a very handsome man in my bed. And it’s the first time that’s ever happened to me. I’ve never hooked up with someone in my own bed, in my own room. The thought of some guy leaving specks of his quick passage in a space that was entirely mine has always been an awful prospect for me.

But this is Levi.

There are specks of him everywhere.

His clothes left on a heap on the floor at the end of the bed. His phone on the bedside table next to the place where’s he’s still sleeping. His smell that will linger on the extra pillow he claimed.

Disappointment curls low in my stomach when I realize that this room is only temporarily mine. Once I’m gone, all these specks will be left behind. I wish I could scoop them and put them in a jar like fireflies, then unleash them in my room back home.

Levi stirs. My eyes trail over his naked back and roll down his spine all the way to the curve of his ass. His hair is a mess of dark waves. I double back when I get to his face, startling over the boyish quality there. By how much he seems changed to me.

I see his face much more clearly than I did that first time. He is as handsome as I’ve ever thought, but he’s in sharp focus now. His dark, slightly bushy brows. The way his eyes dip down the slightest at their inner corners. His teeth that are not as perfectly straight as I’d thought. The few scars marring his otherwise blemish-free skin. Imperfect details that I’m now seeing and loving.

I’ve yet to find a shade of him that I don’t like.

I love Levi at any moment of the day, under any light.

I love everything about him.

I love him.

I think I might be in love with Levi.

I rear back against the thought that flew out from my own mind.

Are you sure? I ask my frontal love.

How would I know?? Ask the hippocampus!

Oh, so sorry! So, am I in love with Levi? I ask my hippocampus.

Duh!!! It replies with a bit of an attitude.

The air wooshes out of my lungs at once.

My hand comes up over my forehead.

“Good morning, pretty girl.” Levi’s raspy voice is both a shock to my nervous system and motor oil to get me going.

“Good morning!” I half shout, voice high. I placate an expression on my face that I know looks wrong.

“You’re totally freaking out.”

“What? No! My central nervous system and I are fine!” I say while crossing my arms over my chest. He tracks the movement, then bobs his head. Lips hugging in a humorous line.

“Come here, Win,” he says. When I don’t as much as bat an eye, he raises his brows at me. “Get your ass here now.”

My legs are moving before I give them permission to splay me over Levi’s body. Talk about insubordination. His hands cup my cheeks immediately.

“What’s making you spiral?”