Before - Bethan-Kris Page 0,20

up, convince you to jump in the shower with me, but then I got a call.”

Her tongue peeked out to wet her lips.

A dangerous thing because it only sent memories flooding through his mind in the best and worst way possible.

“That so?”

“My boss—about the shooting. The cops were hounding him about employees. Someone mentioned my name, so they were already rabid about finding me for a statement. Anyway, I thought maybe it was better if I didn’t linger anyway. You didn’t ask me to stay, and I didn’t want to assume I should.”

“You’re right, I didn’t.” Gigi grinned. “And maybe I’m lying.”

That had his attention.

Lev stepped closer to the bar, tossing the rag over his shoulder. “About what?”

She waved a finger in between them, replying simply, “I was in the neighborhood—I did see the tape was gone. But maybe I purposely came this way to check and decided to come in and see where things went from there.”

Oh, really?

“What things?” he asked, a grin starting to form.

“Things,” she teased, offering nothing else.

Her teasing was what found them in bed together in the first damn place, whether she realized it or not. Had the woman not gotten enough their first night? He didn’t usually go back for seconds, but shit ... Gigi was exactly the kind of woman he wouldn’t mind breaking his usual rules for. It wasn’t like he could afford anything more than fun with her, but it didn’t hurt anybody if that’s all they were both looking for.

Right?

She hadn’t answered him yet.

Lev didn’t miss it.

Placing both hands to the bar, he leaned across the top and closed what distance was between them. The scent of his mint gum filled the inch of air between them and while her head was still tipped down, he watched those full, round lips of hers form a smile that showed off the space between her two front teeth. All at once, she glanced up, and those green eyes of her—the same color of fresh, new grass in the spring—met his.

“Guess what?” she asked.

He arched a brow. “What?”

“My face is going to be in magazines.”

That had him blinking.

But only for a second.

“It should be—it’s the most beautiful I’ve ever seen.”

It wasn’t a lie.

Gigi laughed. “That’s what you have to say?”

Lev shrugged. “It’s all that should be said.”

Peering to the side, Gigi took in the quiet bar and the obvious change in scenery since her last time there a few days prior. Andino hadn’t been wrong. The cops quickly finished their investigation of the shooting, gave Nickie the green light to open for business again, and that was that. They didn’t talk about what happened. The employees knew better.

Including Lev.

“Doesn’t even look like anything happened,” Gigi whispered.

“That’s the point.”

She drew in a quick breath that stuttered on the inhale. Lev knew that feeling all too well—how the violence of the world could be so strange. How it could set one person off-balance, yet it wasn’t even a blip on someone else’s radar. He’d never been fully in that world, but his connections and work put him in a place where he toed the line and saw more than he wanted to.

One foot in, and one out.

Nothing was ever simple.

“So, magazines, huh?” he asked, wanting to make her smile again.

She did.

It was fucking brilliant.

“I signed a contract today,” she told him, her eyes glittering with joy and pride.

Fuck, he could practically feel it radiating off her. One part of him wanted to ask all the questions drifting through his mind. What kind of contract? What magazine? Was that what she did for a living—modeling?

Lev asked nothing.

He hadn’t forgotten, after all. If all he could offer was fun, then he didn’t want her to think he was willing to give anything else by making her think he cared. Oh, he did care. He just couldn’t let it matter.

Look at his life.

This wasn’t a place made for two.

Gigi drummed her fingernails to the bar top, drawing his attention down. Filed into an almond shape, she had painted them in soft pink that faded into white tips. “I just thought ...”

“What?”

“I wanted to celebrate. For some reason, even though I really shouldn’t be here, this is still where I came. It’s not like I’m going to be around much longer, and I don’t really want to linger, but I do want to celebrate.” He opened his mouth to respond, not even sure what he would say, but she rushed to interject with a laugh and a quiet, “Stupid,