at something Mason said. Sloane’s feminine intuition spidey senses tingled at the way Bailey looked at Mason. Actually, Bailey watched Mason a lot.
Oh no. Bailey had a crush on him.
Mason was so unavailable. Sure, he was single, but he was definitely emotionally unavailable. He was also quite a bit older than Bailey.
Should she talk to Bailey about it? No. It wasn’t her business, and it was just a hunch. Bailey had to know that Mason dated a lot of women. A lot. And he had no intention of ever settling down with one woman.
Emotionally unavailable. Like her.
She swallowed through a suddenly tight throat, then sipped her coffee to ease the ache.
Of course Levi had walked away. Just like every other man she’d dated. And Mason had totally been right. She never let them get close enough to be really interested. Dad had said pretty much the same thing.
She’d let Levi get closer than anyone. But she hadn’t let him all the way in. So of course he’d walked away. Why wouldn’t he? She wasn’t worth the hassle.
She’d pushed away this really great guy because she was afraid to care, the one guy who’d cared enough to stick with her even though she was a bitchy workaholic with no life. The one guy who’d wanted to be there for her even when her life was a mess. The one guy who really got her and knew what she needed. She’d screwed up so badly, and in trying to protect herself, she’d hurt him. And now she was miserable too, because she did care about him. She loved him.
Was Mason right? Would an apology fix things? Maybe if she got down on her knees and promised she’d try harder. Do better. Or was it too late for them?
Chapter Twenty-Five
Levi arrived at Madeleine and Bryan’s place and was greeted by two excited ankle biters. “Uncalevi, Uncalevi!” He picked up both Emily and Elijah and propped one kid on each hip as he walked into their living room.
“Hey, rug rats,” he said. “I hear you’re babysitting me tonight.”
They giggled. “Noooo! You’re babysitting us!” Emily poked his chest.
“I am not a baby,” Elijah protested.
“No, you are not,” Levi agreed. “In fact, you’re getting so big I can barely hold you.” He pretended to drop them, bending his knees to catch them. They both screamed.
“Hey, don’t get them all wound up. They’ll be your problem if they won’t go to bed.” Madeleine fastened a bracelet on her wrist. “Thanks for coming at the last minute.”
“No problem. Had nothing else going on.”
Madeleine was super fussy about who she left the kids with. They had one babysitter who was now seventeen years old and not as available as she’d been when she was fifteen. This wasn’t the first time Levi had been roped into childcare duty, but honestly, he didn’t mind because his niece and nephew were the cutest kids in the world. And when he babysat them, he got to play with their cool toys.
“Stupid business dinner on a Monday night,” Madeleine grumbled. “Okay, they can have a snack before bed. Something healthy.” She outlined the bedtime routine for each kid. Levi ignored her because he already knew it. Or close enough.
“How’s Sloane?” she asked.
He gave her a sour look. “Sloane who?”
She frowned. “You’re not seeing her anymore?”
“Sloane’s pretty,” Emily said.
“Yes, she is,” Levi agreed. “Very pretty.” He sighed.
“Oh Levi.” Madeleine shook her head. “When are you going to grow up?”
His eyeballs nearly burst from their sockets. “What the fuck?”
Emily sucked in a breath. “Oooh, that’s a bad word.”
“Fuck,” Elijah said.
Madeleine rolled her eyes. “Thank you very much.”
Levi set the kids down. “Go play. I’ll be right there.” He glared at his sister. “What the hell do you mean, when am I going to grow up? You assume I did something to mess things up with Sloane?”
“You never stick with one girl very long.”
“True.” He hesitated. “But she was different.”
“Then what happened?”
“Long story. It wasn’t my fault. She… Fuck.” He rubbed his eyes. When he looked back at Madeleine her expression had changed from condemning to concerned. “Let me see if I can condense this. Did Mom tell you about Sloane’s mother?”
Her eyes clouded. “Yeah. That’s awful. It must have been so hard for her.”
“Well, apparently they found her mom. Last week.”
“Oh. Wow.”
“Yeah. But Sloane didn’t tell me. She was all torn up about it, I could tell, but she didn’t bother to share that with me.”