Page 88 of Sunset Catchers

He bumps mine in return.

Bump. Bump. Of course, Win.

“Can we at least hug?”

“Like right now?” Levi sliding out of his side of the booth is answer enough. “Sure.” He’s waiting for me at the edge of our table. I slide awkwardly out of my seat, because there really isn’t any other way to get out a booth. It gives me plenty of time to worry about the hug etiquette here.

Should I reach up and link my arms over his shoulders? Or go for his waist? A sideways hug like an unmarried Mormon? In the end, Levi takes charge of the situation when he pulls my body flush against his, with one arm banded around my shoulder and the other around my lower back. My arms circled his waist while I lay my cheek against his chest.

The accelerated thrum of his heart soothes me.

Hugging Levi feels as natural as kissing him. I silently sigh.

“Just so you know, Winnie. I don’t think you’re someone to survive. You’re definitely someone to live by. You make life so much better. I’m talking a top tier encounter.”

My eyes prickle over. I let out a watery laugh. His arms tighten around me, then almost keel over when he drops a kiss onto the top of my head.

If Levi weren’t holding me, I’d be in a puddle on the floor right now. That’s a repeat on the big blob of jelly thing.

I let him hold me for a long while.

Once we’re seated back at our table to finish off our late lunch, and Levi has me smiling and laughing again, one staggering thought swirls in my brain, refusing to stand down, no matter how much I swat it away like it’s an annoying mosquito starved of blood.

Why did I tell Levi that we shouldn’t kiss again?

22

The receptionist’s long nails clink against the keyboard, Ashley her name tag says, while she checks on our reservation. She grimly bobs her head at whatever she finds on her computer.

“It seems there’s a mistake with your reservation.”

My polite smile falters.

“There is?”

I’m so ready for the day to be done. The last hour on the road had been mostly silent, a new playlist of slower tempo songs playing while I leaned my forehead against the window while Levi’s hold on the steering wheel grew stiffer ever fifteen minutes on the dot, a response to whatever he played back on his mind on a loop, I’d guess.

“It appears that you made a reservation for next month. For June.”

I scratch at my forehead where a headache is blooming.

“That’s totally my mistake. I know you have a two-week cancellation policy. So could we just cancel it and book new rooms right now?”

Ashley taps on her keyboard again. Twenty seconds later, there’s no improvement to her expression—awesome.

“Unfortunately, there are multiple events happening this weekend, and we only have one room left.”

“Okay, that’s…” I glance at Levi; he shrugs. “Fine. We’ll take it,” I tell Ashley.

We would’ve probably spent all our time together in each other’s room anyway, as we did at the cottages.

“Perfect. I’ll go ahead and cancel your previous reservation. You will receive your deposit back in 48 hours. Do I put the new room on the same credit card?”

“Yes, please.”

Kit is the one paying for our hotel. I had disagreed vehemently, saying it wasn’t necessary, but Kit had insisted, since we were here to find stuff to decorate both cottages. So if anything, we just saved Kit a few hundred bucks.

When done with setting everything up, Ashley hands us two room key cards. Levi carries his bag and my luggage into the elevator, up to the eighth floor, all the way to our room, where I use one of the cards, tapping it against the magnetic lock. I hold the door for Levi to roll my luggage in first.