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  As I prepared to argue, the car jerked forward, propelling me backwards into Levi’s arms. “Easy does it, darling.”

  Carefully walking down the aisle, I slid into an empty seat and of course, Levi slipped in next to me.

  “So where are we going exactly?” I asked after glancing across the aisle to see Jess unabashedly flirting with Jared.

  “The Maple Leaf. It’s a bar that always has great live music. You’re going to like it.”

  “Glad to know you are now an expert on what I like.”

  “I’m an expert on a lot of things.”

  Levi’s thigh brushed against mine as he stretched out his legs, and I couldn’t ignore the way it affected me. Leaning against the side of the car, I moved as far away from him as possible. With the windows open, the breeze cooled me off as we continued uptown. I watched the city go by, all too aware of Levi’s proximity. As hard as I tried to fight it, there was no denying my attraction to him, and I had a feeling he knew it.

  “Beautiful, aren’t they?”

  I felt goosebumps from where Levi’s breath tickled my skin. His closeness was killing me. “The homes? Yeah, they’re gorgeous. Is this the Garden district?”

  “Yes. Home sweet home.”

  “Have you always lived here?” I asked.

  “Born and raised, and I never want to move anywhere else.”

  “Really?” My interest was piqued enough that I turned toward him. His face was only inches from mine.

  “Does that really surprise you?”

  “I mean you told me you were from here, but don’t most people our age want to explore new places?”

  “Why explore when you have everything you need right here?” His intense gaze implied he was talking about me rather than the city.

  “Yeah. Whatever.” If he thought his corny lines were going to work on me, he was going to be sorely disappointed.

  I looked back outside, watching the beautiful large homes lining the street while trying to ignore the electricity that clearly ran between us.

  A half-hour later, I turned toward Levi when I felt his hand on my leg. “This is us.” He pulled the cord to request a stop and we jumped off. “It’s only a few blocks from here.”

  “Have a nice ride?” Jess asked, grabbing my hand.

  “Splendid.”

  “It looked like you were enjoying yourself.” Her impish grin matched her tone of voice.

  I heard Levi laugh but ignored it.

  “Yeah, I wouldn’t have thought you noticed. You looked pretty distracted yourself.”

  “Unlike you, I’m not going to pretend otherwise.” Jess picked up the pace, virtually skipping as she towed me along behind the guys.

  With neon signs advertising beers I’d never heard of, the Maple Leaf was located in an unassuming two story building. Loud music hit me as soon as we walked into the bar. Still holding Jess’s hand, we followed the guys through the crowd onto the patio out back.

  “Owen!” a gorgeous redhead yelled out as she wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

  Unraveling himself from her embrace Owen snapped at her. “Aww, damn it Hailey. I should have known you would be here.”

  “Don’t bother hiding it, Owen; you know you’re glad to see your favorite sister.” She grinned.

  “You mean my only sister.”

  Hailey ignored Owen’s last comment, holding out her hand to shake ours. “Hi, I don’t think we’ve met.”

  It took me a moment to process that her focus was on us. “I’m Allie.”

  “Jess.”

  “Nice to meet you. So you’re friends with my brother then?”

  “Sort of…”

  “Enough of the twenty questions. We met them down at the hotel. Allie’s dad owns the place now,” Owen explained.

  “Oh!” I watched as Hailey tried to compose her face into a smile but the look of shock was undeniable.

  “Watch it, Hailey,” Jared warned.

  I opened my mouth to ask what the heck Hailey’s reaction was about, but she didn’t give me the chance. “It’s really nice to meet you both. My best friends deserted me to spend the summer abroad, and I could really use some other girls around.”

  “Wait, Beth and Jill both left already? Who are you here with?” Owen asked. It was funny watching him go all big brother protector on her.

  “I came by myself to meet up with Jamie. Not a big deal.”

  “Oh, okay, but don’t leave by yourself.”

  “Like I can’t take care of myself?” she said incredulously.

  “Just humor me, Hailey.”

  “Sure.” Hailey rolled her eyes. “God, older brothers can be annoying. Do you have any siblings, Allie?”

  “Nope, I’m an only child.”

  “So lucky.” Jess broke in. “I have four younger brothers and sisters.”

  “Four? Wow,” Hailey said with surprise.

  “Yeah, I know. Thankfully, I was always able to escape the chaos by crashing at Allie’s because her mom is cool. She’s so lucky.”

  “My mom is pretty cool,” I admitted. Mom more than made up for Dad’s absence. It’s part of why I knew I had to go to Princeton. My mom went there too and she wanted us to have the shared experience. “And my house is quiet. But I wouldn’t have minded a sibling.”

  “We all want what we don’t have, am I right?” Hailey asked.

  “Exactly.”

  “Are you girls done gossiping yet?” Jared whined, putting an arm around Jess.

  “Gossiping? Yeah, okay.” Hailey rolled her eyes again and this time I laughed.

  “I got your drink for you,” Levi said from behind and I realized I hadn’t even noticed him leave. He held a glass towards me in one hand, while holding an Abita beer in his other.

  I accepted the glass. “My drink?”

  “You seemed to like it the other night.”

  “And you still aren’t going to tell me what’s in it?”

  “Nope.”

  “Well, there are other ways of figuring it out.”

  “Are there now?” He arched an eyebrow.

  “Uh-huh.”

  “You care to share?”

  “Not right now.” I smiled and took a seat at a table next to Owen. Before Levi could sit down next to me, Hailey jumped into the seat. The dirty look Levi gave Hailey wasn’t lost on me.

  There were a few other guys sitting at the table that started laughing when we sat down. I couldn’t tell if it was about Hailey annoying Levi or the fact that Jess was sitting in Jared’s lap. All the seats were taken.

  I waited, curious as to how Levi was going to react.

  “You can have my chair.” One of the other guys at the table stood up quickly.

  “That won’t be necessary. I’m sure Allie and I can share.”

  Taken aback by how the guy was so willing to defer to Levi, I almost missed what Levi was suggesting. “You wish.”

  “Why? You afraid you might actually like it?” Levi said arrogantly. Almost everyone at the table laughed, even Jess, which annoyed me. Only Hailey stayed quiet.

  His words sent chills down me because a part of me knew he was right. “Not a chance.”

  The laughter stopped, and I got the distinct impression that people didn’t usually argue with Levi.

  The whole situation seemed so dumb that I got up and walked inside. I watched the band play, drawn in immediately. I had never heard anything quite like it before. The band was comprised of a tuba, trombone, trumpet, and drummer. The music had a jazzy feel with a funky beat. Without meaning to, I started moving to the beat; this was not the kind of music that let you stay still. I finished my drink before placing it on the bar.

  “I told you you’d like it here.” Levi leaned on the bar next to me.

  “I admit it’s pretty cool. Who is this, by the way?”

  “Oh, it’s the Rebirth Brass Band. Heard of them?”

  “I don’t think so, but that isn’t surprising. I’m not exactly up on the New Orleans mu
sic scene. Anyway, what was that all about back there?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Why do people act like you walk on water or something?”

  “How do you know I don’t?” Levi handed me another drink, and I sipped it slowly this time. I needed to avoid getting drunk, my willpower around Levi was weak enough sober.

  “Don’t what?”

  “Walk on water.”

  “Wow, you are even cockier than I thought.”

  Levi laughed and I hated how sexy it sounded.

  “All right, I can’t walk on water, but I can do other things very, very well.”

  “Oh yeah?” I sounded flirtier than I wanted to. The alcohol hit me harder than I expected, probably because I had skipped dinner.

  “Let me show you.”

  The heated look in his eyes told me he was going to kiss me, and I didn’t bother to stop him. Instead, I closed my eyes. His lips brushed mine lightly, and for a moment I thought that was it, but just as I prepared for him to pull away, his lips crushed mine more urgently.

  The chaste kiss became much more as his strong arms went around me, pulling me against him. I reached up, twisting my hands in his hair. His mouth tasted like a mixture of alcohol and sweetness, like a perfectly mixed cocktail.

  He pulled his head back just enough to look at me but didn’t move his hands. “Still going to pretend you aren’t interested, Allison?”

  Dazed, it took me a moment to answer. This only made Levi laugh which, of course, made me angry. “I told you to call me Allie.”

  “You said everyone calls you Allie. I’m not everyone.”

  “Are you always this frustrating?”

  “Depends on who you ask.”

  Groaning, I placed my half-full glass on the bar and walked back outside. I didn’t glance back, but Levi’s laughter carried over the music and conversations, letting me know he was still right behind me.

  Some seats had opened up at the table, so we avoided that drama the second time around. Of course, this time I would have had a harder time denying my interest in sitting on Levi’s lap.

  We hung out for hours, listening to the music pour into the courtyard from the bar. With Jess preoccupied with Jared, I got to spend a lot of time chatting with Hailey and we really hit it off. It turned out she had the same love of action movies that I did.

  “Okay, so who would win in a fight, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Stephen Segal, Bruce Lee, or Jackie Chan?” Owen asked, after listening to Hailey and I dish on our favorite movies.

  “Easy, Jean-Claude. I mean he’s hot and bad ass. Can you get any better?” I answered immediately.

  “Wait, so I’m not the only 18-year-old Jean-Claude fan? Nice!” Hailey gave me a high five.

  “That’s who you find hot?” Levi smirked. “But anyway, Owen, you left out Chuck Norris.”

  “Please no. Someone stop Levi from starting in on Chuck Norris. There are only so many of those jokes I can take.” Hailey’s hand hit the table hard, spilling some of our drinks, which for some reason seemed incredibly funny, so I started to laugh which only made her laugh too.

  Thirty minutes later, we were no closer to reaching a consensus.

  “Wow, is it really 2:30?” I squinted to look at the hands on my watch. I could barely keep my eyes open. I wished I had my glasses with me so I could take out my contacts. I settled for putting a few drops in my eyes. I was glad I’d remembered to throw them in my purse.

  “Did you guys drive?” Hailey asked.

  “No, we took the street car.” Once I discovered how late it was all I wanted to do was go to sleep. I so didn’t want to sit on a streetcar for a half hour.

  “Why don’t you guys come back to our place? It’s really late anyhow,” Jared suggested.

  “That sounds like a great idea,” Jess said quickly.

  I fought back the urge to roll my eyes. “I’m sure it does, Jess.”

  “I’d have to agree.” Levi smiled impishly.

  “I’d invite you guys to crash at my house, but my parents will flip if they see that I’ve been drinking. I’m going to stay over at their place anyway,” Hailey explained.

  “You still live at home?”

  “Yeah. I just graduated from high school.”

  “Oh, duh. You said you were eighteen.” I thought about it for a minute before answering, weighing my options. “Okay, I’ll stay at their place then.” Somehow knowing Hailey was going to be there made it seem better. Besides, I was too exhausted to argue.

  “I knew I’d be taking you home tonight,” Levi whispered as we walked the few blocks to his place. I shrugged his arm off my shoulder instead of saying anything. He only laughed.

  I barely noticed the outside of the house when we arrived, but I took notice of the inside. It’s not like I had been in too many college boys’ apartments before, but it wasn’t what I expected. My image of dirty laundry and beer cans littering the floor was way off. The large living room was furnished with two black leather couches and a love seat. The only evidence that a bunch of guys lived there was the mess of video game controllers on the floor.

  Giggling, Jess let Jared lead her to his room as soon as we arrived. I sat down on one of the couches.

  “You are more than welcome to sleep in my bed.” Levi slumped down next to me, putting his feet up on the circular ottoman that matched the couch.

  “As tempting as that offer is, I’ll take my chances out here.” I slipped off my shoes and curled my legs up under me.

  “Wow, Levi, you’ve never offered to let me take your bed before,” Hailey said with exaggerated insult.

  “And I’ll never offer you my bed. If you don’t want to sleep on the couch talk to your brother, or better yet, go home.”

  “Aww, you are always so sweet to me.”

  I laughed lightly at their banter. I liked how Hailey wasn’t afraid to stick up for herself. No one else ever seemed to challenge Levi.

  Owen joined us and we all talked for a while, mostly about all the trouble Levi, Owen, and Jared used to get into as kids. It turns out they all grew up together. I laughed more than I had in ages, and eventually I must have fallen asleep.

  ***

  I was so comfortable when I woke up. Warm and more content than I had been in a while, I tried to stretch. I didn’t have any room which was odd because my room at the hotel had a king size bed. I opened my eyes and first only saw the quilt; it was draped over me and someone else. I turned my body and looked right into those darn blue-gray eyes again.

  “Good morning, beautiful.”

  “Oh god.”

  “Sleep well?”

  I struggled to move, but he still had his arms around me. Relief flooded me as I discovered we were on a couch and not a bed.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “You’re in my apartment, or did you forget?”

  “I mean why are you sleeping on the couch with me? Why aren’t you in your room?”

  “Oh, I gave my bed to Hailey.”

  “But I thought you’d never…”

  “I was just messing with her. Besides, I thought we could use the privacy.”

  “Was I really so zonked out I missed all of this?” I asked.

  “You fell asleep in the middle of a conversation and were leaning against me. You looked too comfortable to disturb, so I just moved us a bit.”

  “I see. Well at least we’re on the couch and not your bed.” I was only pretending to be calm. I couldn’t believe I had spent the night snuggled up with Levi. I was admittedly surprised, yet relieved he hadn’t tried anything.

  “Don’t sound so relieved about it.” His voice was playful but there was definitely a note of offense there.

  “Hmm, yeah because it would have felt great to wake up in bed with a guy I don’t know.”

  “You do know me, Allison.”

  “That again?” I asked him, still struggling to move out of his arms and off the couch.

  “You are really cute when you get angry.
”

  “Just shut up and let go of me so I can get the heck out of here.”

  “Wow, calm down. Aren’t you going to let me make you breakfast? It’s the least I can do for the girl I just spent the night with.”

  “I did not spend the night with you, we were on the couch.” I blinked a few times, trying to get rid of the dryness in my eyes from sleeping in contacts.

  “You spent the night in my arms, sweetheart. Sex or no sex, you can’t argue that.”

  I groaned. Sudden laugher reminded me that we weren’t really alone. I struggled against Levi again, and he finally relented so I could sit up. Owen walked into the room just as I stood up and made an attempt to get some wrinkles out of my dress. Levi remained lounging on the couch.

  “Good morning. Did you enjoy the wonderful accommodations of our living room?”

  “Where’s Jess? Please tell me she’s here somewhere,” I said, not bothering to answer Owen. I was so over being made fun of.

  “She’s in with Jared,” the guys both said at once.

  “Um, could one of you please get her for me?” I asked, slipping my flip-flops back on and picking up my purse from the floor.

  “There’s no way I’m taking the chance of seeing Jared naked,” Levi said sitting up and stretching.

  “Gross. Fine, which room is his?”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yes, seriously. We have to be at work in like 20 minutes.”

  “Well, if you are already going to be late you might as well stay for breakfast.”

  “Which room is his?” I repeated.

  Ten minutes later, I was walking out the front door with Jess trailing behind me. The cab was supposed to arrive any minute. “You could have at least let me get dressed!” Jess struggled to strap on her sandals.

  “Thanks for an amazing night, Allison!” Levi laughed.

  “I didn’t tell you that you had to leave, just that I was leaving.”

  “Why are you so mad?”

  “I so don’t have to answer that.”

  “I thought you and Levi hit it off. You two were pretty cozy last night.”

  “Don’t start. He has some nerve insinuating anything happened between us.”

  “Wait. So nothing happened?”

  “No, thankfully I slept on the couch.”