Away from work, he’d seen her softer side, and she liked it when he took control. He knew that.
Her mom had left her. Her dad had checked out after that, basically leaving her too. She’d had to give up her dog—Christ!—her figure skating, and all her friends to move to a new school.
And he’d done the same thing. When the going got tough, Levi got going…right out the goddamn door.
What an asshole he was.
He’d let her down just like everyone else in her life she’d cared about.
Even she had told him not everything was easy. Sometimes you have to work for what you want. And sometimes, the things you have to work the hardest for mean the most.
She meant the most to him, the most of anything. She was worth anything, no matter how hard it was. Fuck yeah. Madeleine was right. He was in love with her.
He’d never been interested in one woman forever…but Sloane…yeah. She was it for him. Forever. And that didn’t even make him want to vomit. Other than thinking that she might not feel the same about him.
Goddamn.
She hadn’t been attacking him in that meeting this morning. After he’d calmed down, he recognized she was right about the commercial. And it took practically nothing to fix it, just change up the way the women acted at the end. Change up who the women were. He’d gotten carried away with the image they were trying to portray with their guy who met all these challenges to demonstrate his masculinity. They could still get that across without the objectification part. He and Scott had fixed it by the end of the day.
Hopefully.
He wanted to go to Sloane right then and there, but he was stuck in that house with his sister’s sleeping offspring until she got home. So instead, he made plans.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sloane wasn’t going to try to contact Levi ahead of time. She’d just go to his place with the mugs he’d left behind and give them to him, and tell him how sorry she was. She was afraid to think too far ahead. Every time she remembered him saying I’m done and walking out, her heart felt like a knife was slicing through it. She wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t want anything more to do with her.
She asked the doorman to call up, but he shook his head. “He’s not home, ma’am. Saw him going out about an hour ago.”
“Oh.” She bit her lip. Damn. “Okay, thanks.”
She walked back out onto the sidewalk, the box still in her hands. Should she just leave it with the doorman? Or give them to him tomorrow? Or just forget the whole thing?
She didn’t want to do it at work. But maybe that would be a safe place to have that conversation.
Safe? Safe from what? Did she think Levi was going to yell and create a big scene or something? Not likely.
Still undecided, she got back in her car and drove home with the mugs.
Now she wondered where Levi was. Out with friends? Maybe even on a date.
Her stomach cramped. Maybe she was too late.
Now she did understand that he hadn’t been just angry. He’d been hurt. She’d hurt him and she hated herself for that. When had her own hang-ups mattered more than someone else’s feelings? When had protecting her heart turned her into such a stone-cold bitch?
She missed him. She’d come to need him for so many things—comfort and companionship, laughter and joy. Needing someone that much scared her.
Face your fears, baby. That makes them so much smaller.
Okay, this wasn’t a Ferris wheel, but Levi’s words made her realize she needed to get over her fears and think about his feelings. If she loved him, she needed to make things right for him, even if it was just by apologizing.
The next morning, Mason was in her office first thing. “When do you have time to have a look at Scott and Levi’s commercial? They worked on it yesterday.”
“Really? Already?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.” She clicked to open her calendar on her computer and peered at it. “How about ten thirty?”
“That should work.”
She walked into the meeting room at ten thirty with small birds beating their wings in her stomach. Levi was already there. She let her gaze roam over him while he was preoccupied, taking in his beautiful mouth, long dark eyelashes, that thick hair that was so wonderful to run her fingers through. He wore a casual short-sleeved golf shirt that hugged his broad shoulders and she admired his