Levi's Blue: A Sexy Southern Romance (12 page)

CHAPTER 11

EVIE

AFTER LEVI left, I dove even more energetically into the canvas that will soon represent how I see him.  I painted furiously, adding slashes of bright color, adding the passion that’s still coursing through my veins.  Apple red, flame orange, blackest black, and, of course, Levi’s blue.

I’m short of breath as I work.  I wanted him to touch me.
Everywhere. 
I know he didn’t want to stop, and with one word…with the slightest encouragement on my part, things could’ve gone differently.

But that one little part of me kept insisting it was too soon, too soon,
too soon. 

I’m lost in thought, in emotion, so once again, I jump when a voice sounds at the door.  “Evie?”

“Shit, you scared me,” I tell Cherelyn.

“Sorry. I thought you heard me. You have a visitor.”

My stomach doesn’t twist with anticipation.  Something about her voice told me immediately that it’s not Levi.  “Who is it?”

I hear the abrupt snap of heels as a woman begins a rapid, purposeful walk. Across the living room, down the hall, closer, closer. Then, seconds later, “Excuse me, but I asked you to wait. I told you I’d bring
her
to
you
,” Cherelyn bites frigidly.

My hackles prickle as I come to my feet. 

“Hello?” I ask of the visitor, who I know, who I can
feel
is in the room with us now.

The clicking resumes as the woman approaches me, stepping into my most private place.  My first thought is of Levi, where he rests behind me, living and breathing on a canvas.

I have the inexplicable urge to cover up my painting, only I can’t. Instead, I put my body between it and this woman, whoever she is.

“Can I help you?” I ask when she doesn’t speak.

In the silence before she responds, I get a whiff of her perfume. My gut winds into a knot of apprehension. I know
exactly
who it is that’s standing in my makeshift studio.

Julianne Pine.

Protectiveness washes through me.  I feel territorial, possessive. She’s the lioness stepping onto my plain. The viper invading my den.  The enemy infiltrating my inner sanctum. 

She is anything but welcome.

If I had claws, they’d be bared. If I had fangs, they’d be dripping with venom. 

“This is…unexpected, Ms. Pine,” I say, moving toward her rather than away. 

I can almost
hear
her pause. It tends to take people by surprise when I recognize things they believe only sighted people should be able to recognize.  What few understand is that the remaining senses of a blind person are so sharply honed, it’s sometimes more difficult to hide things from us than from people who can see.

“You
are
good,” she concedes.  “And so is this.”

I don’t have to see her to know she’s referring to my painting.

“It’s nowhere near complete.”

“That doesn’t matter. The likeness is…amazing.”  The awe in her tone is grudging. 

“It looks like him?” There’s no way to ever really know if what I picture in my head is accurate, but this tells me that I’m not far off.

“The features aren’t exactly right, but you’ve captured something about him that I’ve never noticed.”

“What’s that?”

“Heart.  The Levi Michaelson I know doesn’t have much of one. Never has.”

“Maybe I see a different side of him.”

Her laugh is soft yet decidedly bitter.  “You see what he wants you to see. In fact, that’s what I came to talk to you about.  I’d be very careful with him if I were you.”

“Why is that?”

“There are things you don’t know about Levi, things that would most assuredly change the way you view him.”

“Such as?”

“Well, I’m not one to tattle, but let’s just say he’s not who you think he is.”

“Then who is he?”

“Someone who will hurt you if given the chance.  Someone who is
already
hurting you.”

My emotions rise like tidal waves, conflicting, crashing against one another.  Anger surges, anger that she has the nerve to show up here, unannounced and uninvited. Suspicion heaves, suspicion that she’s only here to come between me and the man she wants. Unease swells, unease because her accusation seems…genuine.

The turbulence leaves me feeling off balance, confused, defensive.

But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a nauseating sense of trepidation, too. 

Because I do. 

I have trust issues anyway, and I have to admit that Levi
does
seem a little too good to be true.  When I agreed to the four dates, however, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.  To risk it.  To risk
him.
Maybe that was a mistake, but I’ve come too far to turn back now.  Especially at the word of a vicious woman like this one.  This could all be part of a plan to get me out of his life, for all I know. But she’s gonna have to do better than this if she expects me to just walk away.

I jack up my chin, tossing her what I hope is a withering look.  “I appreciate the warning, but I’m a grown woman. I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time. I think I’ll get along just fine without your help now.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, but it’s up to you, of course.  You can’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Neither of us speaks for a few seconds before I hear a muted hissing sound fill the room. It’s the scrub of the sole of her shoe quietly scuffing the hardwood as she turns on her heel. 

“I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks for stopping by.”  I hope she can hear the derision in my tone.

Still, she says nothing as she crosses the room. Not until her footfalls stop near the door.  “Will you sell this when it’s finished?  I’d be interested in purchasing it, whatever the cost.”

“I’ll let you know if I do,” is my noncommittal answer.

There’s a pause before her footsteps resume and I hear her tell Cherelyn that she can let herself out.

I sag back onto my stool, undeniably bothered by her visit. I mean,
God,
who wouldn’t be?

Moments after the front door closes, I hear the hurried scamper of my roommate heading in my direction.

“Who the hell was
that
?”

“Julianne Pine.”

“Pine? As in the Pines that own half of Louisiana’s real estate?”

“One and the same.  I had the scary, funhouse, clown-with-sharp-teeth pleasure of sharing a table with them for about fifteen minutes last night.”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“I was kinda focusing on the better half of the evening, thank you very much.”

“Wow. She’s just…wow.”

I slump.  “Awwww, don’t tell me
that
!”

“Tell you what?”

“That she’s gorgeous.”

She didn’t really have to, though. I already knew.  A guy like Levi wouldn’t be interested in anything less.

Which is why I have good reason to worry when it comes to Levi and me.  I’m Plain Jane in his world, I bet. Hell, I can’t even put on lipstick without five minutes and complete concentration.

“I didn’t say she was gorgeous.”

I sigh loudly. “You didn’t have to.”

“You didn’t let me finish.  Let me spin you a tale, Evian de Champlain style.”  She clears her throat before she continues.  “You know those fish? The ones with the teeth and they eat people in like two seconds?”

“Piranha?”

“Yep.  That’s the one.  Imagine one of those with bubba teeth and hair like one of those trolls that you used to put on the end of a pencil. You know the one I mean? That fuzzy red hair that sticks straight up?”

“Yeah, I know the ones.”

“Okay, so she’s like a piranha with buck teeth and troll hair, but on really skinny legs.”

I nod. “You’re definitely giving me a mental image.”

“I suck at this, don’t I?”

I laugh. “Maybe a little.”

It’s her turn to sigh.  “Fine. She’s beautiful. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

“No!  That’s not
at all
what I wanted to hear. But I knew it anyway. I can just tell.”

Cherelyn walks across the room toward me, not stopping until my hands, paint and all, are enveloped in hers.  “I’m being one hundred percent completely honest when I tell you that you’re
even more
beautiful, though.”

“Don’t even try to—”

“I’m serious,” she interrupts vehemently.  “She’s beautiful in a cold fish kind of way. No pun intended. She’s put together like she’s ready for the red carpet at a moment’s notice. She’s just…fake somehow.  She
pales
in comparison to you, even with that red hair of hers.  Evie, you’re gorgeous inside and out.  Even if you didn’t have hair that looks like honey and eyes the color of cocoa, even if you didn’t have the most perfect skin I’ve ever seen and an ass that I’d need surgery to achieve, the
light
that shines from you is positively breathtaking.  If I didn’t love you, I’d hate you. I’d be so jealous I couldn’t stand myself.  And she is.
That woman
knows she has nothing on you.  And she’s pissed.  I could tell by the way she walked.  She was really having trouble with that stick up her ass.”

That
makes me grin. 

Sometimes I try to imagine what my life would be like without Cherelyn, and I can’t. I just can’t imagine it. And I don’t want to.  She is more like family to me than my own blood. I just hope that one day, I’ll be able to be the rock, the support, the
constant
in her life that she’s been in mine.  I owe her everything.

“I love you.”

“This, I know,” she says, pulling me in for a hug.  “Don’t let her get to you. She’s just jealous.  Probably never heard the word ‘no’ before.”

“Especially not from a man.”

“Yeah. But she’s never had to go up against Evie de Champlain either.”

“Oh, right. Because I’m
such
the catch.”

“You
are
a catch.  Being blind doesn’t detract from all your other million and one qualities. It’s just
one thing.
”

“But it’s one
huge
thing.”

“The right people don’t see it that way.
I
don’t.  And I don’t think Levi does either. That guy… He’s got a thing for you.”

“How would
you
know? You just met him!”

“I’ve seen enough smitten men to know what that looks like. And lemme tell ya, he’s
smitten.
”

My belly warms at her words.  It should probably worry me how much I want that to be true.  “Cher, Levi, uhhh, he asked me to go to New Orleans with him.”

“
What
?”

I nod. “So he can take me out on the bayou and we can get to know each other better.  He has business down there Friday.”

“What did you say?” She’s holding her breath. I can hear the way it changes her words, shortens them.

“I…said yes.”

“Eeeeeeeee,” she squeals, but lowers the volume when I cover my sensitive ears.  “Evie! Ohmygod, this is so great! I’m so happy for you!”

“I just don’t want to make a mistake.”

“I know, babe.  I don’t want you to either.  Unfortunately, there’s risk in
everything.
We just have to hope they pan out to be worth it in the end. And I think this will be. I think
he
will be. I’ve got a good feeling about him, E.”

Relief, warm and soothing, washes through me.  “I hope you’re right. I’m so tired of being disappointed.”

“I know you are.  But the right man won’t disappoint you. You just have to find him. And maybe you have.”

“I’d just about given up.”

Until Levi.

Honestly, I thought I had. I thought I’d resigned myself to living out my life alone, without a mate.  But Levi makes me want to try
one more time.
To have hope
one more time.

“You can’t give up. Promise me you’ll give him a
real
chance.
Promise me
,” she demands, giving me a light shake. 

“What about what Julianne said?”

“She’s a vicious, jealous whore who came
here,
to where the
competition
lives to work her devil magic. To tell you lies. Put that bitch right out of your head.”

It
does
reek of suspicion that she would make such an effort to come here and dissuade me about the man
she
wants for herself. It’s not like we’re
friends
or something. For her to seek me out that way, only to fill my head with doubts… Yeah, that’s bullshit.  It
has to be.