Levi's Blue: A Sexy Southern Romance Read Online Free Page B

until the end of the class, but that’s out of the question now.  I’m sure Evie will recognize my voice.
    “I am,” I announce.
    Evie turns slightly in my direction, her smile widening welcomingly.  “Well, hello.  What’s your name?”
    I clear my throat.  “Levi.”
    I see the faint shadow of a frown crease her forehead, but it disappears quickly, like ripples fading from a pond.  “Welcome, Levi.  We’re glad you’re here, aren’t we, guys?”
    The kids clap and stomp their feet in a rowdy greeting that would bring a smile to the coldest of faces.
    “Thank you,” I reply to the dozen or so others in the room.
    “Who wants to show Levi how we do things around here?”
    “I will!” the little angel beside me yells.
    “That sounds like Alana.”
    “It is, it is!” she replies, her whole body jumping happily as she squirms with excitement.
    It must seem like a magic trick to someone her age—that a blind woman could identify her so easily.  Of course, it might seem like a magic trick to anyone of any age.  Evian de Champlain sure feels like magic to me right now. 
    It occurs to me again that I must be out of my mind to have sought her out this way.  It’s ludicrous.
    But I’ll be damned if I could help myself. 
    Something about her draws me.  Like gravity or a magnet.  Or the warmth of a fire on a cold winter’s night.  It’s cliché as hell, and I never would’ve thought myself capable of being taken with any woman so quickly—or maybe even at all after Rachel—but here I am.
    Taken.
    I watch as Evie straightens from the stool and feels her way to the cabinet along the wall at the front of the room.  There, she takes out several things and piles them in her arms.  When she turns, she’s smiling again.
    “Okay, y’all, help me get back there to him.”
    She starts slowly forward, and the kids tell her which way to go to avoid obstacles in her path.  By obeying their commands and directions, she weaves her way between easels and chairs without incident.  I can’t help but admire all that she’s teaching them in such a seemingly innocuous, mostly fun way.
    She’s showing them the importance of trust, the value of friendship, and how to be brave in the face of adversity.
    What she’s showing me is that she’s even more amazing than I’d first thought.
    But also that she’s someone I could never deserve.
    I push that thought out of my head when she arrives at my easel, bending enough that I can take the items from her arms.
    “Here you go, Levi.”
    There is no familiarity in her expression, no indication that I’m anything other than Average Joe who came to her class to learn or heal, or both.  That’s when it occurs to me that maybe she doesn’t recognize my voice. 
    It shouldn’t bother me that she doesn’t. We only met last night.  What the hell was I expecting? That she’s thought of little other than me , like I’ve thought of little other than her ? That she went to bed with me on her mind and woke up with me on her mind?
    Maybe I was hoping for that.  Maybe I was hoping she was feeling this insane pull, too. 
    Either way, it does bother me.
    A lot.
    I haven’t forgotten a single detail about her.  Not one damn thing. Yet it seems she put me completely out of her mind.
    “Thank you, but I could’ve come up there to get this.”
    “No, this is how we do things around here.”  She lowers her voice the tiniest bit before she says, conspiratorially,  “I’m just treating you just like I would any other man on the planet.”
    When her words sink in, words that reflect our conversation last night, I’m more relieved than I care to admit. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it makes me damn happy.
    She knows exactly who I am. 
    Her lips curve into a mischievous grin, and mine twitch up into an answering one. 
    It’s crazy as shit that I want to drag her into my arms and kiss that smiling mouth of hers, but that’s precisely what I want to do.
    I