7. Luca

"What didyou say the reason you dropped by again?" I asked Levi, raising a brow.

"I wanted to check up on you," Levi said nonchalantly. "Did you think there was another reason why I came by?"

I wanted to wipe that mischievous smirk off his face.

Would someone checking up on you bring you coffee and a bag of donuts, take you out on a morning walk in the park, and drag you to the weekend farmer's market?

No, they would not.

They might bring the coffee and donuts, but once the person being checked on repeatedly says they're fine, that they had a healer look into their wounds and there was barely any bleeding left, the other person should have left.

Not held their hand, kept them close on a busy street, and tasted various free food samples at the farmer"s market.

Yet, I wasn't complaining. Far from it, in fact.

Any arguments I had with myself about whether or not to see Levi again didn't matter since he came to me himself.

And I couldn't just say no, right? Especially not on a beautiful day like this. Besides, my leg still hurt from the fall, so going for a walk to stretch my legs should be good for me.

"What?" I asked when I noticed him looking at me.

"You seem to have a lot on your mind, but for some reason, I feel like you're thinking about me," Levi said with a smirk.

I clenched my jaw tight, scared that if I didn't, it would just drop to the ground. How did he know? I could feel a flush rising to my cheeks and looked away quickly.

He chuckled softly, thankfully changing the subject. "I hear you like peaches," he said.

"What?" I was puzzled.

"It says so in your file," Levi said.

I didn't know what he was talking about and had to take a second before it dawned on me. "You have a file on me?" I asked a little too loudly.

Levi smiled as I coughed in embarrassment. "Don't you have one on me too?"

"I didn't read it," I admitted sheepishly.

Levi gasped dramatically, his expression feigning shock.

"But how would you know what I liked? How would you get me to take you out on a date?" Levi asked.

I smirked. "I guess I didn't need to. You came by to get me to go on this date with you right now, didn't you? I didn't even have to lift a finger."

Levi looked surprised for a moment, but I noticed he never denied that this was a date. He broke into a wide smile and bowed his head in defeat.

Pulling me closer, he placed his hand on my shoulder and kissed my temple, as if he had been doing it for years. It felt kind of nice, actually.

We continued walking like this until we reached our destination—the fruit stall.

"Do you have any peaches?" Levi asked, eyeing the fruits on display.

"We just sold the last punnet," the fruit lady replied, her expression sympathetic.

Levi hummed, looking genuinely disappointed.

"It's okay—" I started to say.

"We'll have more tomorrow, but you'll have to get here early. They sell out pretty fast since they're in season," the fruit lady interjected.

Levi looked at me, his eyebrows raised. "What do you think? Should we come back?"

To be honest, I thought he was joking about the peaches, like it was just a flirty line to get a laugh out of me.

I didn't expect him to actually go and find some, let alone make it the reason for our next potential date. Which, now that I thought about it, I didn't really mind at all.

I was ready to answer him with a yes, but Levi quickly said, "Oh shoot, I'm going out of town tomorrow." He looked at me apologetically. "It's my brother's birthday."

"We might still have some the day after next. I could always save a punnet for you boys," the fruit lady offered.

I paused, sliding out from Levi's arm and taking a step back. "I can't that day. I have an…important meeting." I cleared my throat, finding it hard to say the last few words.

I avoided looking at him, unable to tell him I was meeting Theo Blackwood that day. My heart throbbed at the thought.

Levi was suspiciously quiet. When he still didn't respond, I took a chance and looked up. There was a faint golden ring around his iris, but it was slowly disappearing.

He couldn't have known that was what I meant, right? How could he?

I was definitely overthinking things. For all I knew, maybe he was just disappointed we couldn't go on another date.

"We'll just see if we can make it then," Levi said with a smile to the fruit lady.

It wasn't as wide as his earlier grin, but at least his eyes were back to the deep green I was familiar with.

He cleared his throat, and I felt the tension from earlier slowly easing away.

"I also wanted to ask for your help in choosing a gift for my brother," he said.

I looked around the market. Most of the stalls were packing up, as it was getting late in the afternoon.

But the one I had in mind was still open, with some customers lingering around their table.

"C'mon, I know just the thing," I said.

I led him to a stall selling some local handmade pottery. Levi browsed through the different items they had displayed.

When he seemed unable to decide on anything, I helped him choose a pair of mugs.

Throughout the whole time we were at the pottery stall until the ride home, we made polite conversation.

Too polite. It was nothing like how we had talked earlier in the day, up until the fruit stall.

It made me wonder whether he knew who I was meeting the day after tomorrow. And it brought me back to the reality that what I had with Levi wasn't a sure thing.

I still had to choose, and more importantly, I had to take into account my family's opinion in the matter since the decision won't just affect me, but the whole coven.

He parked the car in front of the main gate and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel.

I couldn't stand the awkward silence any longer.

"Thanks for today. I guess I'll just head in," I said.

"Wait." Levi ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to ruin things."

"You didn't?—"

"No, I did." He smiled, the usual wide smile that I was so used to already. "But before that, before what happened at the fruit stall, what did you think?"

"About what?" I asked.

"Me."

I raised my eyebrow at him, still unsure of what he was getting at. Instead of asking him to clarify, I just crossed my arms and stared, trying to figure out what he was up to.

"How did I fare?" Levi asked, his voice soft yet filled with anticipation.

Still, I didn't answer. How could I respond to a question I didn't even understand?

He leaned in, one hand resting on the backrest of my seat. Our noses were almost touching, and I could feel his warm breath on my lips, as if we were about to kiss. My heart pounded loudly in my chest.

"How did I fare as a husband?" he asked, his words sending a jolt through me.

"Huh?" I stammered, caught off guard by his unexpected question.

"That's what I'd do once we're married," he explained. "I'd get you breakfast, take you out on dates, and on weekends, we'd go into town, see what they have going on."

"What if there was nothing going on?" I asked, surprised by my own willingness to go along with whatever this was.

Levi hummed, as if seriously contemplating our weekends in the absence of fairs or festivals in Fox Haven.

"Grocery shopping," he said, his tone serious.

"Grocery shopping," I repeated slowly, trying to wrap my head around the idea.

"Yes," Levi said, his gaze unwavering, daring me to criticize his choice of activity.

I chuckled and nodded. "I guess we will need to top up our fridge."

"Or we could just stay in and not leave the bed," Levi suggested, his eyebrows wiggling suggestively.

Uh oh. We were treading on dangerous ground. Levi"s close proximity, his intoxicating scent of eucalyptus and leather, everything about him was pulling me in again.

I knew if I didn't leave right now, I could get lost in this banter with him forever.

I grabbed his collar, gave him a quick kiss, and hastily opened the car door, stepping out before he could say or do anything else.

Because if I stayed any longer, just a little nudge would make me tell him to drive off together with me, as far away from my house as possible, and never look back.

No more meeting with Theo Blackwood, no more family responsibility.

But I didn't. Instead, I punched the code on the keypad at the gate and opened it.

As I heard him calling after me, wishing me goodnight, I waved my hand, fighting the temptation to look back.