Stars Over Alaska (Wild River #4) - Jennifer Snow Page 0,52

wouldn’t admit to Selena that her confidence and trust in him was fading a little. “We should go. Thanks for the use of your laptop.”

Selena stood and touched Levi’s arm. “Hey, do you want to show me around? Maybe go snowshoeing or something?”

Leslie pretended not to listen or care. If Levi wanted to entertain Selena, all the better. Get the woman out of her hair for a while so she could hear her own thoughts for a bit.

“Um... I can’t tonight. I have plans. Maybe tomorrow?”

Plans with Angelica or Tracey? Or both?

Damn it, she was jealous.

And unfortunately, she wished it was just because these women got the pleasure of Levi’s company, but she feared it went deeper than that.

Just another reason to get the hell out of there as soon as possible.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

SUNLIGHT CRESTED THE mountains in the distance and a mild cool breeze held that sweet promise of warmer days to come as Levi stood in the clearing behind the cabin while Smokester procrastinated doing his business, instead preoccupied with a tree branch he’d buried in the snow the day before. Usually, Levi loved rare warmer Alaskan spring days like this, but that morning’s brightness only helped to illuminate the shit show he found himself in the middle of.

The evening before, he’d been acting on instinct, following his gut and doing what he thought was the right thing.

That morning, all of the reasons that having Leslie and Selena at the cabin was a bad idea kept replaying over and over in his mind.

And the biggest one was that having Leslie so close was going to be the death of him.

Sleep had been impossible for Levi, lying in his bunk in the room next to where she was no doubt also not sleeping. All he could think about was the kiss and the slightly jealous looks he’d been catching when Selena flirted with him or when she’d seen the messages pop up on his computer screen... Was she actually attracted to him? He’d assumed their kiss had meant nothing to her, but what if it had?

She’d never given him any indication that she might have feelings for him before. But what if...

He groaned. What-ifs could drive a man insane and they had far more pressing issues at the moment. Like keeping Selena alive and both not losing their careers over it.

He also had the added pressure of the charity fundraiser. The night before he’d filled out the documents that Mrs. Powell had sent to him and scanned and emailed them back to her and it had only made him more nervous. There was no backing out now, but having to come up with a tribute speech to deliver in his best friend’s memory at the first event was unnerving. It wasn’t that he couldn’t sing Dawson’s praises or explain what had made him so amazing at his job... It was just that in doing so, it reminded him just how much the guy had meant to him and that only compounded the guilt Levi fought for having feelings for Leslie.

A kiss could never happen again. Nothing could ever happen between them. It didn’t matter if she was suddenly seeing him in a different light or not, he couldn’t act on his repressed feelings. Not and still be loyal to his buddy’s memory. He’d feel like a fraud.

He checked his watch and whistled. “Okay Smokester, time to head back in.”

The old dog glanced up at him, then reburied the stick in its hiding place and sauntered on over. He nudged against Levi’s leg and he bent to pet the dog. “I’m in trouble, aren’t I?” he asked, scratching behind the dog’s ears.

Smokester’s single bark confirmed it as they stood and headed back inside.

“Ahhhh the puppy,” Selena said excitedly, seeing them enter. The night before, Smokester had hidden out in his office, not exactly a fan of strangers, but when Selena stood and patted her legs, encouraging him to go to her, he did. “Oh! You’re so pretty! Look at the pretty girl.”

Smokester was a male dog, but it seemed irrelevant. The dog didn’t take issue with it, rolling onto the living room floor and allowing himself to be adored. “I miss my dog so much... We’ll be great friends,” Selena told the dog.

With Smokester taken care of, Levi glanced into the women’s bunk room on his way to the office, but he didn’t see Leslie. The sound of running water coming from the bathroom had him envisioning her in another towel