and his winter coat, a black crew neck sweater visible underneath and he looked gorgeously nervous.
Like he was up to something.
She glanced back at Selena and saw her wink at Levi.
Great. They were both up to something.
“What’s going on?” she asked cautiously. Had Levi told Selena about their time together in the shed? Had he convinced the star to help him try to...what? Seduce her? Too late for that. She hadn’t exactly needed much seducing to attack him earlier that day.
“Um... I was hoping you’d join me for dinner,” he said, looking unsure.
Ah, so this had been Selena’s idea. Had her client felt the energy shift around her and Levi that day? “Dinner?”
“Yeah, out here...well, actually,” he gently guided her around the side of the cabin, “in there.” He pointed to an inflatable igloo structure set up in the yard behind the cabin. Inside, she could see several blankets set up and cushions from the couch. Tea lights illuminated the space in a romantic glow and a picnic dinner sat in the middle of it all.
Her heart raced.
A picnic under the stars. With Levi.
“You did all that?” For her? Holy shit, her emotions were going wild. It was the nicest thing a man had ever done for her. Ever. Dawson hadn’t exactly been the romantic wine and dine type.
Neither was she. She’d never been the type to want wooing and a man to put in effort to impress her, but her reaction to this was betraying. Obviously some part of her did want someone to make an effort.
He nodded. “Selena suggested it, but I put it together, yeah.” He cleared his throat. “If it’s a bad idea—if you’d rather not...”
“No!” She forced a calming breath. “It looks...really nice.”
He smiled and it simultaneously eased some of the tension that had been simmering between them all day and increased it tenfold.
He looked so good and she was a mess. Not having expected this.
Thanks for the heads-up, Selena.
Though no doubt the secrecy was so that she couldn’t preemptively refuse. They both knew her well and she was grateful they hadn’t told her.
Levi led the way to the igloo and unzipped the door. He held the flap open for her to crawl in and she did, ignoring the way her pulse was racing. This was just a dinner. Their actions earlier that day had been far more intimate. Though not really. That day had been impulsive and physical, this had been planned and held a lot more meaning.
She took a seat, cross-legged on one of the cushions, and was surprised that it was actually quite comfortable. The temperature inside the igloo was just right. She’d expected it to still be either cold or humid, but it was big enough inside that it was neither.
Levi zipped the door and joined her, sitting on the cushion across from her.
“I’ve seen a few restaurants in LA do something like this,” Leslie said, desperate to keep the mood and conversation light.
Only in the city, it was nothing like this. In LA, the neon lights shone so brightly, you couldn’t see the real stars and the city was so alive and vibrant that the slow serenity that this kind of experience was supposed to provide just didn’t happen.
Here, the starry sky above, the snow-covered mountains and wilderness all around them, the glistening of the ice on the lake in the distance, the igloo illuminated by just candlelight was almost magical. Definitely the most romantic setting she’d ever experienced.
And she wanted to blame Selena and all her rom-com talk for the way she was feeling in that moment, but she knew it was all because of Levi.
What she didn’t know was what to do with that just yet.
She glanced across at him quickly, taking in their surroundings, and her chest tightened and she wiped the palms of her hands on her lap. “This is really nice,” she said again.
He looked relieved as he reached for a bottle of champagne. “I wasn’t sure you’d be into it...”
Into it? Or into him? Was he trying to gauge her feelings? Or was she reading too much into his words. “I think it’s one of those things that I didn’t realize I’d like until it happened.” Damn, now was she doing it too? Intentionally or was the subtext just coming out unconsciously?
He seemed to catch it too, but a second later, the cork popped on the champagne bottle and they both jumped. “Champagne?” he asked, pouring a glass.
“Thank you,” she said, accepting it.
He’d removed