Page 105 of Burning for You
“Mr. Holt, are you going to get a new tattoo dedicated to Miss Meyer?” one asks.
Levi smiles. He doesn’t answer. Instead he kisses me, which sends the flashbulbs around us berserk.
When he withdraws, I can see his glistening eyes. I mouth ‘thank you’ to him for being my true other half.
He puts his arm around me and hurries me into the car.
* * *
Still in his tuxedo,Levi sits on the bed, wringing his hands.
“Why don’t you join me?” The bath is running.
“You look like nothing happened,” he says.
“Levi, I just want to have a bath. It’s been a long night.”
“I’m gonna go to bed, if that’s okay.”
I turn off the tap, and when I come back he still hasn’t moved. I whisper to him, “Thanks for being by my side.”
“I’m always by your side, on your side.”
“I’m thinking… maybe you can move in with me permanently?”
He sits up. “Why don’t you move in with me? Why do I have to fit into your life?”
My lungs go heavy, weighed down by his mood. “Levi?”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean that.”
“Tonight was hard. I know. Those reporters were relentless.”
“I can’t do this, Carolyn,” he sighs, lips kissing his steepled hands. “I need a pause.”
Somehow this doesn’t surprise me.
“We won’t have to do it again,” I say. “We should move to Montana permanently soon.”
“How realistic is that? And it’s not just this city and the press. There are a lot of things that don’t gel between us. No matter where we are, you’ll always be Carolyn Meyer,” he says. “Gossips, news, headlines, statements, business, money, dynasty. God! This isn’t what I want.”
“I love you. I’ll move to Montana with you and leave all this behind.”
“I want us to work. But you see, Carolyn? You didn’t even ask me what I wanted after you bludgeoned Josh Bright inside the Brilliance meeting room. You just assumed I would be following you around, and we’d become a couple and have our happily-ever-after.”
Realization fills me. I bow my head. “I’m sorry. What do we do now?”
“You dressed me up like a doll. I wished you’d listened to Bear and I hadn’t had to wear the suit. And this tux!” He yanks the bowtie from around his neck and throws it to the floor. “God, it’s choking me.”
I’ve rushed him, and I’ve only thought about what I considered best for him. But I never intended to try to control him or turn him into someone else. “I’m sorry, Levi. It feels so right with you, and I just raced to the finish line, I guess, without you. We’ll take it slow, like you said.”
“I don’t want you to change just for me. Just now, you didn’t have a bath because I wanted to go to bed.” He points at the bathroom. “It’s not right, Carolyn. And there’s no way you’ll leave this city. New York is you. You have plans, you have visions for it. I don’t want you to change. And I don’t want you to hate me because you feel you ought to change.”
I nudge myself closer to him, resting my shoulder on his back. “You’re worth it. Please, let me try…”
His shoulder slackens, but in the silence I can hear his heart beating fast. “The pregnancy question,” he says. “Carolyn, no one talks about pregnancy lightly.”
“Unless you’re press looking for some juicy gossip,” I bite out. “Zac Moss—that reporter is trouble.”