A Good Day for Chardonnay (Sunshine Vicram #2) - Darynda Jones Page 0,20
over. You didn’t have to.”
He shrugged a shoulder. “’Course, I did.” He took a hand from behind his head, reached up, and captured one of hers.
She let him. Let him entwine her fingers with his. Let him rub a thumb across her palm. Let him pull that very same hand down so he could place a soft kiss on the back of it.
There was something so gracious about him. So gentlemanly. He completely respected her for who she was. Her ideas and opinions and dreams mattered to him. And when he kissed her, his affection carried that same hint of respect, but there was something else there, too. Like he wanted to do more but held himself back to let her take it further if she wished to.
Every time they were together, everywhere they went, it was like he had to touch her. He put his hand on the small of her back when they went through a door. He tugged on a strand of hair when he sat behind her in class. He rubbed his shoulder to hers when they were talking to kids at school. Never suffocating. Never possessive. Just …there.
If she didn’t know better, she’d swear he had ESP. His touches were warm and reassuring and perfect. Exactly what she needed at any given time, as though he could sense her every desire. Which was a distressing thought.
“I’m sorry about Mr. Ravinder,” he said softly, brushing a thumb over her knuckles. “And I get why you’re so upset seeing him like that, but who is he to you? I mean …” He groaned and covered his eyes, then started over. “That came out wrong. I just meant—”
“It’s okay,” she said, letting him off the hook, though watching him squirm was fun. “He’s just really special. He … he helped me when I was a kid. And he’s always been there for me.”
His brows slid together. “How did he help you?”
She pulled back her hand and tucked it under her chin. She remembered it so clearly. The time she’d decided to take her own life. When she stood on the cliff over Del Sol Lake with that very intention.
Just one step. One tiny step and the product of all her mother’s woes, the product of her mother’s rape, would be gone and her mom could get on with her life. She could live and be happy and fall in love without the burden of an unwanted child dragging her down. But Levi and his nephew Jimmy showed up and started talking to her about the most everyday things. They didn’t try to stop her so much as just listen.
She’d only recently admitted the truth of that day to her mother. The conversation that followed healed years of misery and self-doubt, and she now knew that her mother wanted her no matter what. That her mother loved her. Had always loved her.
Cruz had overheard a conversation about that day she’d had with Jimmy, so he knew that much. He did not know what Levi did for her though.
She lifted a shoulder instead and whispered, “The time I considered jumping off the cliff at the lake.”
He looked away. Based on past experience, the subject upset him. A lot. If she remembered correctly, the words fuck and you popped up during that conversation.
“He stopped you?” he asked, snapping her out of her musings.
She tilted her head, appreciating his profile. “Let’s just say he was the first person to ever save my life.”
He refocused, training his powerful gaze on her. “The first person?”
She nodded but didn’t elaborate.
A lock of her hair fell over the side of the bed. He took it and let it slide through his fingers as though fascinated. Auri just liked watching his biceps bunch up with the movement. She wondered how much he worked out because, even as a freshman, he was more sculpted than most seniors. Including the athletes.
“How many times has your life been saved?”
She squinted in thought. “A few, most likely. But two to be certain.”
“Ah. So I have Mr. Ravinder to thank for keeping the enigmatic Auri Vicram alive and kicking.”
“Enigmatic?” She snorted softly. “Have you looked in the mirror?”
“Me? Hardly. What you see is what you get.”
And what a sight it was. “So, for real? You?”
He frowned in confusion.
“What I see is what I get? I see you.”
He stilled, his eyes shimmering in the low light. “I’m all yours.”
A soft knock sounded at the door. “Auri, sweetheart?”