Coming outside to realize all her tires had indeed been replaced while she slept had been another tick in his column. Then, all the while assuring her that the interview would go well and she had no need to feel nervous, he’d ever so courteously escorted her to his car and insisted on opening the front passenger door for her.
Okay, they were little things. But little things mattered. And they added up.
A downside of having Levi as her anchor was that he played havoc with her hormones. Like Olive said, though, the attraction would fade.
Piper simply needed to ‘friend zone’ him. She’d done it with other guys. She could do it with Levi as they got to know each other.
She’d need to do it fast, because she couldn’t afford to be uncomfortable around her own anchor … the way she was at this very moment.
Right now, the air was thick with the tension thrumming through her. Mostly because of the dream she’d had last night. She couldn’t recall all of it. But she remembered kissing him, remembered him gently pushing her away, remembered his pitying ‘I don’t think of you that way’ smile.
She’d woken with a renewed determination to ensure she never did anything—let alone stupidly kiss him—that would reveal that her attraction to him hadn’t yet given up the ghost. She never wanted to receive that pitying smile in real life. Ever. But being so careful and second-guessing her words and actions had left her strung tight.
Piper strived to breathe away her tension, silently ordering her feminine parts to pull themselves together. But it wasn’t happening. Then again, when you were in a small, confined space with over six feet of dark power and raw sexuality, the odds were low that you’d be anything close to relaxed anyway.
“You don’t need to be so nervous, it’ll be fine,” said Levi. “Harper won’t bite you. That’s more my thing.”
Oh, he thought Piper was so tense because of her upcoming interview with … She frowned as the latter words sank in. “Biting is your thing?”
His mouth curved into a panty-dropping smile that made her stomach flutter.
“Funny. I’m kind of partial to it, too.” Shit, had she really just said that? God, she had. The words simply popped out. Piper faced forward, ignoring the weight of his gaze.
“That so?” he asked, a gritty quality to his voice.
She didn’t respond. She wasn’t going to allow even the most harmless bit of flirting to go on between them. That would just be stupid.
Nothing more was said as they drove to the club that concealed the entrance to the Underground. Levi parked the car and skirted the hood, frowning when she opened her door and slid out.
“You don’t need to act all courteous and stuff,” she said. “Except when there are wasps in my house. You can come to my rescue then.”
“First of all, it’s not an act. Second of all, what’s your beef with wasps?”
“They buzz and chase and sting you for shits and giggles.”
A smile plucked at one corner of his mouth. “You’ve been chased by a wasp?”
“Multiple times. No provocation is required. They seem to hate me on sight.”
His smile kicked up a little more. Oh, he thought she was joking? Yeah, no.
Levi stayed at her side yet ever so slightly in front of her as they walked to the club. Well, it was more like he prowled, his eyes sweeping his surroundings in a very predatory way that appealed to her demon.
He was one big enticement to her inner entity. It wasn’t a simple case of the psychopathic shit finding his power a total turn-on. Levi was so very controlled and self-possessed, but there was an undercurrent of something wild that was barely leashed. That intrigued her demon big time.
In the basement of the club, he remained just as close as they headed to the elevator. They stepped inside, he pressed the down button, the doors slid closed … and her muscles again stiffened as she once more found herself alone with him in such close quarters. The atmosphere quickly turned thick, and she swallowed hard around a throat gone dry.
“Relax,” he coaxed, which might have helped if he hadn’t leaned into her. “You’ll be fine.”
Yeah, if he gave her some physical space. Which he didn’t. And so the wicked tension inside her remained.
Finally, the shiny doors opened. She took a long, relieved breath as they stepped out of the elevator.
Again, he prowled at her side but slightly in front, radiating protective energy. She knew he’d block any threat that might come her way. It was new and strange but not necessarily in a bad way. Still, it would take some getting used to. If, in fact, they spent much time together after the bond was formed. She highly doubted they would.
Levi had his own life—a busy one at that. You couldn’t be a sentinel and a personal bodyguard to a Prime while still having a lot of free time. And he’d likely want to spend much of that time with friends or running errands.