“In many families, the ‘step’ part wouldn’t be considered significant. But it is to Celeste—she never lets Piper forget they’re not blood relatives. I don’t yet know if their poor relationship will make the anchor situation easier or harder on Piper.” He’d claim her either way.
“One would think that Celeste would cease immaturely resenting Piper and Whitney.”
“She’s a bitch toward both women, most especially Piper.” Levi felt his jaw harden. “That ends now that I’m around. I won’t allow it to continue.”
“Sadly, I doubt it will go as smoothly as you’re hoping. If you need to take some time off to get this situation sorted so you can claim Piper as your anchor, do so. This is important. Larkin can take over for you as my personal bodyguard until then.”
Levi gave him a nod of thanks. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
After parking the Bentley in the garage, Levi switched to his own car and drove en route to Piper’s home. He knew where she lived. He knew plenty about her. He’d kept a subtle eye on her over the past six years.
Essentially, he’d channeled his attraction to her into looking out for her, since he hadn’t been able to act on what he wanted.
He’d officially met her for the first time when—only two weeks before he and Celeste went their separate ways—she’d reluctantly introduced Piper to him … and he’d found himself caught up in pale green eyes so striking they could steal the breath from a man’s lungs. She’d been barely eighteen at the time. Just a baby. And the mere thought of touching her had made him feel like a cradle-robbing bastard. But that hadn’t stopped him from looking.
Slender with soft, subtle curves, Piper had legs up to her shoulders. Her long dark hair was thick and glossy as a panther’s coat. He loved her voice—it was velvet and whiskey and pure sin. Her high, perky breasts made him think of apples. He liked apples.
She had strong cheekbones and slightly tanned skin that looked smooth as silk. He thought she might have some Romanian in her heritage, but he wasn’t sure.
Back then, he’d ignored his attraction to her. He’d blocked it out. Or tried. He’d so spectacularly failed that he hadn’t been able to bring himself to even touch Celeste. He would have ended things with the banshee if she hadn’t beat him to the punch.
Despite Piper’s age—he’d tried to let it matter but he’d failed with that as well—he might have made a move on her. It wasn’t like he’d been in a serious relationship with Celeste. It had been short and shallow and non-exclusive, and they hadn’t seen much of each other due to his work commitments.
However, the aftermath of their split had been far from plain sailing. And there was already so much bad blood between the two women … He hadn’t wanted to make it worse, so he’d stayed away. And whenever they’d come across each other, he’d taken the opportunity to drink in every inch of her.
He thought of Piper from time to time. She simply popped into his thoughts. Some women did that. They gripped you somehow and never let go. They slipped into your mind, made a place for themselves there, and brought on the ‘what ifs.’
It wasn’t purely about her appearance, it was the sheer guts she showed, over and over. Whenever she used her ability to walk through a person’s nightmarish memory, Piper experienced it through their senses … as if it were happening to her. She had to block out the victim’s fear and pain to break down what happened and identify the culprit. It left her wiped, but she never hesitated to help if called upon, despite that she often had to deal with bullshit from said culprits or their families. Levi had personally intercepted many times on her behalf, though she didn’t know that.
Finally arriving at her house, Levi cut the engine and headed up the narrow path that slunk through her front lawn. He knocked on her door, which opened mere moments later. Piper stood there, a glass of red wine in hand. Her gut-grabbing eyes fixed on his, making his body tighten.
“We need to talk,” he said.
She muttered what sounded like, “Fuck my life,” and then walked inside, leaving the door open in a reluctant invitation.
He bit back a smile and followed her into the living room. Moving to stand in front of the fireplace, she observed him closely as she sipped her wine, saying nothing. His demon returned her scrutiny, perversely pleased by how prickly she was right then.
Levi planted his feet. “You ran from me. Actually, that’s not right. You ran from what you learned.”
“You didn’t exactly jump for joy yourself.”
He flexed his fingers as her molten-sex voice slid down his spine. “I think it’s safe to say it came as a shock to both of us, and neither reacted as we should have. I saw you needed time to process it, so I didn’t follow you. Was that the wrong call?” He didn’t believe so.