Test Drive - Samantha Chase Page 0,64

after everything that happened today…”

He held up a hand to stop her. “Staying at a hotel here in North Carolina made way more sense than trying to drive all the way to Richmond and going to Natalie’s again. I don’t care if I did nap earlier, I would have been cross-eyed by the time we got there.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“It’s really not that big of a deal,” he countered, hoping she’d just let this go. “I wanted to do this.”

“But I was supposed to be the one paying for the trip. This was all for me and…”

“You bought me a sombrero and a taco,” he said lightly. “We’re good, Willow. Trust me.”

The way she was frowning at him told Levi she wasn’t buying it.

And then her loud huff pretty much confirmed it.

“What? What do you want me to say? I’m not going to apologize for this. I paid for the hotel. It’s not a big deal. You can pay for gas the rest of the way home and all the meals if that makes you feel better.”

He knew he’d never allow it, but she didn’t need to know that.

“You’re mad at me,” she said after an uncomfortable minute.

“Um…what?”

She nodded. “You’re mad at me. Admit it.”

“Why would I be mad at you? I told you, we’re good.”

“Yeah, it’s not so much what you say but the way you’re saying it. You have a tone.”

“A tone?”

She nodded again. “Yup. A tone.”

Leaning back on his elbows on his own bed, Levi did his best to appear bored. “Okay, I’ll bite, what kind of tone do I have?”

Willow tossed her towel down as she stood and tried to look intimidating.

It was sexy as hell.

Wet hair, hot pink flannel sleep shorts and a white t-shirt that was a little clingy, yeah, sexy.

And her nipples were hard so…that was also a little distracting.

“You’re barely looking at me, Levi, and ever since we got to the room, you’ve been kind of short with me. Annoyed. If you wanted me to get my own room, you should have said so.” With another huff, she turned and reached for the phone.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m calling the front desk to see if they have any other rooms available.”

Groaning, Levi jumped up and put his hand over hers, preventing her from picking up the phone.

“Levi!”

“Willow!” he mimicked. “You don’t need to get your own room. We’re totally fine sharing one. We’ve been doing it for almost a week.”

That and a whole lot more…

Yanking her hand out from under his, she took a few steps back–as if even been close to him was a bad thing.

And if that wasn’t a message she was sending–loud and clear, no less–then he didn’t know what was.

“I…I just don’t want this to be awkward.” She paused. “We only have to get through tonight and then everything will go back to normal.” Then she looked away. “No big deal.”

Only…it was.

“Is that really how you feel?” he asked.

A shrug was her only response, and rather than push her and make things even more uncomfortable than they already were, Levi raked a hand through his hair and stormed off to the bathroom.

“I’m going to take a shower,” he murmured, slamming the door shut behind him. It was childish, and it wasn’t really going to solve anything. It wasn’t as if he was going to spend the night in there or sleep in the bathtub. All he was accomplishing was putting a little distance between them to give them each a little time to calm down. With any luck, Willow would decide to go to sleep early and then they won’t have to talk to one another again until morning.

He turned on the hot water and then turned to look at himself in the mirror and grimaced. He was pissed, there was no denying it. After the whole incident with the car, he thought they were fine. They had joked around for almost an hour in the gift shop. He had stood back and watched as Willow breezed around the entire space and touched everything in there. She tried on hats, sunglasses, jewelry…she was literally like a kid in a candy shop. They had laughed and taken silly pictures, and after she had purchased about a dozen things, they had gone and grabbed a few tacos–they weren’t his favorite, but they were still pretty good.

After that, they had walked out and taken a few pictures with the giant roosters before going to put gas in the car and heading