5. Levi
CHAPTER 5
LEVI
I leaned back in my chair and scanned the interior of Ace’s while my buddy Garner rattled on about his latest conquest. I’d tuned him out, my mind too full of thoughts of Brooklyn. She’d been living under my roof for almost a week, and it was driving me wild. Seeing her in my space, sitting on my couch, cooking in my kitchen, hell, even petting my dog… it was chipping away at my willpower, one tiny bit at a time.
The brunette I’d hooked up with last week spotted me from across the room and headed my way. She had on a tight cropped tee that left little to the imagination. The look in her eyes promised a night of complete distraction. For half a heartbeat, I considered it. Then I thought of Brooklyn back at my place, curled up under the covers in the spare bedroom, probably with Gus asleep by her side.
She was the one I wanted.
“Hey.” The brunette sidled up next to my barstool. “Want to buy me a drink?”
I offered a soft smile. “Not tonight, babe.”
Her forehead creased, and her eyes slightly narrowed. “You sure about that?”
“I’ll buy you a drink,” Garner called from across the table.
She gave me a final, lingering look like she was hoping I might change my mind before heading to the bar with Garner.
“What’s gotten into you?” Huck asked. He was one of my oldest friends, though I hadn’t seen much of him since he’d moved a few towns away after high school.
I reached for my beer and took a long sip.
“It’s Brooklyn, isn’t it?” One side of his mouth ticked up. “I bet you’re jerking off in the shower every night, aren’t you, big guy?”
My gut twisted, and I immediately tried to deny his spot-on accusation. “It’s not like that. She was my brother’s girl. I’m just letting her crash at my place until she gets back on her feet.”
Huck slowly shook his head. “And I bet you’ve got your fingers crossed that it takes her a hell of a long time to do that, don’t you?”
My fingers speared through my hair, definitely not crossed, but his question hit a little too close to the truth. Frustrated didn’t begin to describe how I’d been feeling lately. I wanted her to have the chance at a new life and was fucking ecstatic that she’d gotten away from my brother. But ever since she’d moved in with me, I’d been lost. Brooklyn didn’t seem like she’d be up for a roommates-with-benefits fling, and I was too damn chickenshit to think about anything beyond my usual MO.
I didn’t take the bait, so Huck kept talking. “She seems like she’s doing okay. I saw her and Kyle arguing in front of the Merc last week, but?—”
“What?” She’d seen Kyle? And hadn’t told me about it? “When was that?”
Huck shrugged. “Tuesday maybe? No, it was Wednesday because I had to run into town to pick up some tile to fix the bathroom floor in that house I’m trying to flip. I probably would have been better off just replacing it, but it’s vintage. What’s old is new again, I guess. You give any more thought to pooling our resources and trying to do a bigger job together?”
I tuned him out and tried to think. Wednesday… that was over a week ago and she hadn’t said a word. I pushed back from the table and grabbed my jacket.
“Hey, where are you going?” Huck asked. “Next round’s supposed to be on you.”
“I’ll catch you next time.” I needed to see Brooklyn. Hear it from her. How she’d had a run-in with Kyle and not even bothered to mention it to me.
She was sitting in the corner of the couch with Gus snuggled up against her when I walked through the front door.
Her eyes met mine from across the room as she looked up from the book in her lap. “I didn’t think you’d be back this early.”
It didn’t sound like an accusation, more like an observation. I’d spent most nights since she’d moved in down at Ace’s. It was too hard sharing space with her in the evenings when all I wanted to do was claim her pretty mouth with mine.
“When were you going to tell me?” I stopped in front of the couch and crossed my arms over my chest.
Gus stretched out, wagged his tail, and nuzzled closer to Brooklyn. Damn dog had clearly picked sides, though I didn’t blame him. I’d give just about anything to trade places with him.
She let out a huffy sigh. “Tell you what?”
“You ran into Kyle in town? He picked a fight in front of the Merc? Ring a bell?” I’d stopped by his place the other day to grab some of her clothes for her and exchange words with my brother, only he hadn’t been there. He hadn’t been at work for the past few days either. I’d checked. The two of us needed to talk about what happened. Brooklyn still hadn’t given me any details, but I wanted to let him know I was watching out for her now. And someone needed to teach him a lesson about how to treat a woman.
“It wasn’t a big deal.” She pushed the blanket off her lap and stood. Her hair was still damp from a shower, and she had on a pair of fuzzy pink pajamas that shouldn’t look sexy as fuck, but they did.
I followed her into the kitchen where she set her half-full mug of tea in the sink. That was another thing I was starting to get used to… seeing her lipstick print on the mugs in my dishwasher. I loved and hated it at the same exact time. My whole life was turning into one giant mindfuck. “Not a big deal? I don’t believe that for a second.”
She put her hands on her hips and tilted her chin up. “I handled it.”
“And fell on your ass in the process from what I heard. Did he push you?” Thinking of him having his hands on her again made me see red. If he’d hurt her again…
“No. I stepped off the curb and went down. Not one of my finer moments.” She crossed her arms and stared at me like I was the asshole, not my fucked up older brother.
“How am I supposed to protect you when you keep things from me?”
She tilted her head and offered a barely-there smile. “I’m not your problem, Levi. Not yours to protect.”
I couldn’t argue with that, no matter how much I wanted her to be mine. “You don’t have to handle everything by yourself anymore. I want to help, I want to…”
Fuck… I didn’t know what I wanted beyond pulling her against my chest and trying to inhale her. She stepped closer, reaching up to cup my cheek with her palm. Her touch unleashed something inside me. A desperate need coursed through my limbs, but I refused to act on it.
“What is it you want?” she whispered into the sliver of space between us.
My fingers itched to touch her, to skim under the ridiculously fuzzy top and graze over her soft skin. But something held me back. Bottom line was, I couldn’t be the type of man she needed. Sure, I could fool myself into believing I had her best interests at heart, but I wasn’t cut out for the long haul.
“I don’t want you to get hurt,” I finally said.
She tipped her chin up at me, the hint of a challenge in her beautiful eyes. “You’d never hurt me.”
“Not like he did,” I admitted. “You can trust me to never lay a hand on you in anger.”
“Promise me you’ll never lie to me as well and that’s all I need.” She rose to her tiptoes, her mouth so close that I could feel the warmth of her breath on my chin.
I searched her eyes, both hoping she’d pull back and praying she’d give me the go ahead I craved.
Her head tilted. “If you don’t kiss me right now, this is going to get really awkward.”
My willpower shattered. I slanted my mouth over hers and finally got my first taste of her sweet lips. She gasped at the contact, and I took the kiss deeper. Slow and gentle, I slid my tongue beyond her lips. My cock throbbed while blistering heat raced through me, urging me to back her against the counter and part her thighs.
She fisted my shirt in her hand and swayed. I wrapped my arms around her, holding her close. One kiss was all it took for me to know without a shadow of a doubt—my heart was hers now.
And I was truly, absolutely fucked.