Newmar, Lola - Unzipping Levi [Scarlett Rose and the Seven Longhorns 4](Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) (6 page)

She’d chosen to wear another one of the summer dresses Devlin had gotten her from Target several days before. The soft cotton material was turquoise with bright pink and yellow flowers. It had spaghetti straps, and the hem hit just above her knees. Since the flowing dress would just hang straight down otherwise, Scarlett had cinched the waist with a cream-colored patent leather belt that matched her ballet flats.

Her mouth watered as she looked her blond cowboy over. His sex appeal definitely put hers to shame. She might as well wear a black plastic garbage bag when that sexy man was around. He wore a fresh white T-shirt, dark, distressed jeans, brown cowboy boots, brown belt, and a brown cowboy hat.

“How ‘bout we hurry this up?” she asked as she leaned in a little closer. He always smelled
so
damn good. “I’m already missing that hammock.”

He laughed then kissed her on the top of the head before patting her butt affectionately.

Scarlett proudly held Levi’s muscular arm in hers as they walked up to the diner entrance. She laughed happily as he told her a childhood story of the time he’d tricked his triplet brothers in to believing Santa Clause was stuck in the attic and needed a full dish of lasagna in order to be lured out. Apparently, it hadn’t gone so well, and the boys had spent almost seven straight hours cleaning up the marinara sauce and ground beef the triplets had decorated the entire kitchen with. She couldn’t wait to hear the revenge story on that one later. Levi pushed the diner door open for her to walk through, and a small bell chimed. It was a small diner with teal vinyl booths lined up among the right and left side of the entrance. Scarlett was happy to recognize the song playing from the jukebox as being “Crazy” by Patsy Cline, one of her favorites among the old tunes Levi’s youngest triplet, Rhett, loved so much. He had taught her so much about Western music after spending time with him.

Straight ahead of them was a long counter with a row of spin stools in front, where a few late-shift ranch hands had gathered. Their screeching voices were loud and obnoxious. The waitress and cook ignored them as they cracked obscene dirty jokes as they drank their bottles of beer.

Levi led her over, and they approached the old, tired-looking waitress, decked out in a pale brown waitress’s uniform, wiping down the counter.

“Why howdy there, baby!” the old woman exclaimed when she saw them walk up. “It sure has been a while since I’ve seen any of you Lenox boys in here.” Then she squinted her creased, aged eyes and adjusted her glasses as if trying to get a better look at him. “You’re Levi, right?”

Levi and Scarlett both laughed as he replied, “Yes, Mrs. Perkins, it’s me.”

Mrs. Perkins smiled wide as if proud to have named the correct triplet. Then she turned her attention to Scarlett, her eyes growing a little wide. “And who, may I ask, is this lovely creature you’ve brought to us?”

Levi politely removed his brown cowboy hat. “This here is Scarlett Rose, the newest member of the Lenox family and my new fiancée.” His face radiated pride as he grabbed her hand in reassurance.

“So nice to meet you, Mrs. Perkins,” she replied enthusiastically. It was so exciting to finally meet someone—anyone—that was a part of the Lenox world.

Mrs. Perkins stood a little straighter and placed her hands on her gaunt cheeks as if in shock. “Fiancée? My goodness! Well, congratulations, baby.” She reached over the counter and gave them both big hugs. “Oh, I can’t wait to see the beautiful babies y’all are sure to make together.”

“Well, we might want to focus on making it to the altar first,” Levi said with a chuckle. “But believe me, kids definitely won’t be too far behind.

“Anyways, I was telling my new fiancée about the pies here, and I wanted to see if we could order a couple of slices to take home with us.”

Mrs. Perkins already had deep lines around her mouth before she even managed to smile. “Of course. We have the best pies in town, little lady. Tonight we have pecan pie and blueberry pie, each made this morning. How does that sound?”

“Sounds lovely.” She’d worked up a great appetite after spending all afternoon having barnyard sex with her blond mate in the Texas autumn breeze.

Mrs. Perkins wrote down the order and turned to the lanky, old cook peeking through the expo counter. Scarlett looked around, noticing that besides the obnoxious cowboys looking at her like some wounded animal with tits, there weren’t any other customers in the establishment.

“Hey, baby, I’m going to the restroom really quick,” Levi said and then kissed her softly on the lips. “Don’t run off anywhere. I’ll be right back.” He looked back at the expo and called out to the cook, “Hey, Roger, will you keep an eye out on baby girl for me?”

“Sure thing, Levi,” Roger responded from the small kitchen.

She nodded and watched him make his way across the diner, his gorgeous ass tightening beneath his Western jeans like enticing fruit, teasing her with each swift movement he made. Just as the men’s door closed, the heckling from the dirty old cowboys began.

“I like your dress,” said the stubby, round one, giving her an unwelcomed, toothless grin as his three other douchebag friends chuckled at her expense.

She only briefly glanced at him for acknowledgment before turning her attention straight ahead as she took a seat at one of the stools, purposefully several seats away from the rude men. “Thank you,” she said softly. She hoped that they would realize she hadn’t exactly come to the diner to be picked up by a man who looked like he skipped a few steps on the human-evolution ladder. All she wanted was to finish the amazing evening Levi had shown her then head back to his warm, soft bed, back in his thick, fragrant arms again.

That same man didn’t seem to really take the hint. He began to inch closer as he continued his teasing. The smell of cow manure and stale chewing tobacco enveloped her, and she had to hold her breath and turn the other way in order not to gag.

“Excuse me, sir,” she said, her head still slightly turned away, “but I’m waiting for my fiancé. He should be back any moment.”

Roger peeked through the expo window. “Hey! You boys better leave that lady alone. I’m warning ya.”

But the awful man acted as though he hadn’t heard him. His head leaned in a little closer still, and he inhaled, the snot in his nose making a disgusting, loud sound. Then he grazed his greasy, unwashed nose across the side of her shoulder. “You smell pretty.”

“And you sure as fuck don’t.” Scarlett’s fist pulled back then flung against the side of the small man’s face. She hissed from the sharp sting in her knuckles, shaking her hand in the air as she tried to relieve the pain.

His friends all began to roar with laughter as they held their big bellies, laughing, tears in their eyes. The man looked at her in shock, which quickly subsided into anger.

“You stupid little cunt. I can touch you where I want to,” he spit out before painfully grabbing her right butt cheek.

Before she could even pull away, a gust of air flew by her, taking the dirty hillbilly with it. She heard the old waitress scream at the top of her lungs at the same time. Her hands flew over her mouth when she realized Levi had the man’s upper body pinned to the top of the counter, his short legs kicking in the air above the floor. Levi’s fiery orange eyes radiated rage as he looked down at the man. “No one is allowed to touch my fiancée, and that especially goes for inbred rats raised by a dumb bitch of a mother.” The man screamed out in agony as Levi seemed to push his hand further against the side of the man’s face that lay on the counter.

“Look, boy, how ’bout you just let him go,” the tallest of the men suggested, his voice shaking nervously.

Levi turned to the group of men and growled so loud Scarlett’s hands flew up to cover her ears. She’d never heard any of the Lenox men sound like that. The other men almost ran over each other as they flew out of the restaurant.

“No! No! Don’t leave me!” The man held against the counter flung his arms and legs in obvious panic, but his head was still kept perfectly still as Levi held down on it.

By this time, Roger had come around the corner, and he held the shaking, terrified Mrs. Perkins in his skinny arms as they both looked on with horror.

“Levi,” Scarlett said gently as she made a slow step toward him, her hand reaching out to touch him. But he slapped her hand away before she could touch him.

“Get the fuck back, Scarlett!” Levi yelled at her, his angry eyes now burrowing into her.

Anger now boiled inside her. How dare he put a hand on her. “You mean ol’ sonuva—” Suddenly, she flew back as the hillbilly’s leg kicked right into her gut. She fell on the ground holding her stomach, struggling to regain the air that was knocked from her.

Levi growled angrily, picked the man up by the front of his shirt, and threw him across the diner where he landed against the jukebox, breaking the front glass easily. In the blink of an eye, Levi’s body was on top of his, his fist raised in the air.

“I didn’t mean to, young man. I swear I couldn’t see where I was kicking,” the man pleaded, blood from his busted lip spackling everywhere as he talked.

Scarlett ran over and grabbed Levi’s fist. He turned to her and gave another earsplitting growl, but she decided she had to ignore his protests if the situation was going to be put to any kind of stop. “Levi, get off of him.” Tears ran down her cheeks and blurred her vision, making his face a cloudy entity, but she kept her voice stern and insistent. “Please, baby, please, I just want to go home.”

Just as she dropped her chin to her chest, she felt his warm body embrace her. She heard a fading rustling sound behind him, and she didn’t have to look to know the hillbilly was making his escape out of the diner while Levi was distracted. Her body shook with adrenaline, and she buried her face into his hard chest, his chiseled muscles flexing against the thin material of his white shirt.

He held her like this just for a moment before reaching into his back pocket. She stepped back a little to see what he was pulling out. He walked over to the counter to stand in front of Roger and Mrs. Perkins, both of whom scattered back in fear. Levi held his hands up to show he meant them no harm. She could tell from the embarrassed expression on his face that he regretted the way he’d acted. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you. Let me make it up to y’all.” He placed a checkbook on the counter surface, and Scarlett watched as he wrote out a check for ten thousand dollars. He ripped it from its book then slowly and cautiously slid it over to them. “For your troubles. I didn’t intend for that to get so out of hand the way it did.” Still facing them, he slowly took a few steps back then turned to the broken jukebox. “I’ll take the broken pieces with me out to the dumpster on the way out.”

He protested when she tried to crouch down with him to gather the shards of glass.

“Don’t, baby. You’re going to hurt yourself. I made the mess, so I can clean it.”

He completely avoided eye contact with her as he cleaned. The more she looked at the trembling old waitress and terrified cook, the more she, too, grew shameful.

So Scarlett decided to wait in the pickup until he was done picking up the mess. She slid into the bench seat, closed the passenger door, and then locked it. A deep breath cleared the tightening in her lungs, and she rested her throbbing head in her hands as she waited for the pain to subside until he got back.

Although she loved Levi for defending her honor against the disgusting pig who placed his grubby paws on her, she couldn’t help but feel angry at him for making such a big scene. The logistics weren’t completely worked out yet, but Scarlett knew she would likely settle here in Knotty, to raise her kids and care for her husbands. How could she settle down in this town when Levi’s temper seemed so much worse than she could have ever imagined?

She’d just been thinking how wonderful it was to have such a caring, sweet man. Little did she know her beautiful Prince Charming had a temper like no other. Sure, many women may find that sexy, but Scarlett had to think about their future. She wanted a family and lots of kids. There was absolutely no doubt about that. Would that be the way he reacted when one of the children acted out of line? If he lost his temper on some meaningless hillbilly, there was no telling what he’d do when there were fussy toddlers running around the ranch, breaking everything and everyone in sight.