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

belies her perceptive limitations. She doesn’t need help.  She didn’t when she walked back here.  She was having the kids guide her not because she needed it, but because they did.
    Once again, I’m amazed by her.
    I take up the load of stuff she just brought me, and I follow her to the front.
    “You can set your things here,” she says, indicating the table where her supplies are laid out. 
    “Won’t they get mixed up?”
    Her smile is tolerant, something I might expect to see on the face of a woman who is humoring a child.  “No, I can tell the difference.  Levi, is there a stool over there?” She points at the wall to my right. 
    “Yes.”
    “Would you grab it, please?”
    I do as she asks, bringing the stool back and setting it beside hers.  She turns to face her class.  “Does anybody have something specific they’d like us to paint in class today? Or do we all want to work on something different? Darwin, I know your answer already.”
    She smiles and I look back to see Darwin’s lips curve around his paintbrush.  Although Alana is really the only one who has interacted with her, I have no doubt that every person in this room adores Evie.
    And I can see why.
    “Flowers!  Let’s paint flowers. Yellow ones,” Alana pipes up.
    When no one else offers any suggestions, Evie agrees. “Flowers it is. How about a sunflower? It’s yellow and it’ll be a good starting place for Levi, too.”
    Evie turns to me, a plucky smile in place. It feels like that smile is just for me.  “I hope you’re ready to get dirty.”
    Oh, hell yeah, I am!
     

 
    CHAPTER 5
    EVIE
     
    I BUSY my hands sorting through my painting accoutrements to keep them from trembling.
    The man from last night.
    He’s here.
    And his name is Levi.
    Levi.  God, that’s a really good name. Strong, manly. Handsome.  Conjures up a mental picture that I’d love to be able to actually see.
    But he had a date last night.  Even though he said she was a friend, he had a date.  A date!  And he was flirting relentlessly with me. 
    I should be aggravated. Cool and aloof.
    But I’m not. 
    None of the things that should matter seem to. They aren’t making a bit of difference to my pattering heart and pounding pulse.  All they seem to care about is the fact that he’s here. 
    That he came to find me.
    That he wanted to see me again.
    As much as I secretly wanted to see him.
    I draw in a calming gulp of air and clear my throat before I speak. “I’ll draw the outline, and then I’ll blindfold you and you can help me fill it in, ’k?”
    “Okay,” Levi replies.
    His voice is close, so close it gives me chills. It’s almost like he’s speaking right into my ear, like we’re the only people in the room. It seems so…intimate. 
    I reach for my paints, trailing my fingers over the braille lettering on the side of the first few until I find what I’m looking for.
    “This is quick-drying paint with an applicator tip. I use this kind for class to draw a quick sketch, but when I have more time, I use puff paint for thicker lines.  The idea is to make lines I can feel so then use those borders as guides for where to fill in with the oil paints.”
    Levi is silent, but I can feel his attention on me like a physical touch.  It makes me nervous and twitchy, and warm and excited.
    “Okay, y’all, let’s start with the stem.  Pick one of your brown or dark green paints and use a thin, light stroke.  Start near one corner of the bottom of the canvas and make an arc that sweeps up toward the center and stops.”
    I draw what I described to my class, only I use my white paint instead. I walk them through outlining the leaves and then the center, and, after that, each delicate petal arising from it.  In my mind, I can already see the hues I’ll use—the brightest yellows and the deepest golds, the richest browns and the muddiest greens.
    When the outline is dry, I rub my fingers lightly across it.  I feel a sunflower. I can feel