CHAPTER 33LeviAureliaLevi #2
“That’s how I met my best friend, Selene.
We didn't hit it off right away when I got placed into the same home. She tormented me at first. Tried to take my clothes and personal items, which led to several brawls. She and her friends made fun of me in school. It almost got her moved to a new foster home. After that, she left me alone and started trying to get to know me. We’ve been good friends ever since. ”
“I’ll have to meet her at some point so I can get the real dirt on what teenage Aurelia was like,” Levi teased. “You at least managed to graduate high school. What happened then?”
“I did well in school academically. I always loved reading and can learn virtually anything from a book. It wasn’t enough to get scholarships or aid for college though.
I couldn’t afford to do the extracurriculars that admissions wanted to see or afford the cost of tuition, so I started working right away. ”
As they layered sauce and toppings on the dough, Aurelia recounted how she worked part-time jobs from the moment she was old enough, saving every dollar. How she eventually bought a car and lived out of it for years. How a YMCA membership gave her a warm place and a hot shower.
How every single decision had been about survival…until Eleanor.
That one unexpected opportunity, being hired as Eleanor’s personal assistant, had changed her entire life.
Levi said nothing the whole time and simply listened, eyes never straying, until the oven timer chimed. He carefully pulled out the hot, bubbling pizza.
They ate at the small table in quiet companionship, and for a while, it was enough. Up until Aurelia finally asked what had been lingering in the back of her mind.
“What made you decide to seek out a matchmaker?”
Levi nearly choked on a bite of pizza. “Well…that's an interesting story,” he said after coughing out a nervous laugh. “You’re really going to judge me, but…the short version is I got mad and accidentally told my company’s Board of Directors I had a fiancée—which, as I’m sure you are aware, I certainly didn’t have.
I understandably needed to find one. With limited options, my friend Ivy suggested a matchmaker. ”
Try as she might, there was no way Aurelia could have hidden her shock in that moment.
He took a long swallow of beer and ran a hand through his hair.
“Then it became an intervention with my friends about how I work too much, and this would be a good thing for me. I could break up with my fake fiancée and be done, but the truth is, I wanted more than that. I wanted something real and figured this was a blessing in disguise…and here we are.”
It was a strange set of circumstances, but somehow, it made her feel a little better about how she had ended up in this mess. Weirdly, they were perfectly matched.
“You're right, I’m totally judging you on this,” Aurelia joked. Levi cracked a reluctant smile. “Now I want to hear how this unfolded.”
And so, grumbling playfully, Levi began from the beginning and told her everything.
Levi
“This Tyler person sounds like a complete ass,” Aurelia said humorlessly as Levi wrapped up his matchmaking story.
Levi snorted. “That’s because he is an ass. Thinking about him makes me want to set his car on fire.”
She smirked. “And I thought I was the impulsive one.”
“What about you?” he asked, his tone shifting with genuine curiosity. “What made you go the matchmaking route?”
“Oh, mine’s a tale that might rival yours.”
“Impossible. Mine was peak sketchiness.”
“The jury is still out on that one.”
Levi laughed harder than he had in months as Aurelia recounted the events of Eleanor’s farewell party. The absolute chaos of backhanded eulogies, the surprise inheritance with marriage requirements, and the video message that caused a minor senior citizen uprising, had him in stitches.
But his laughter lessened when she reached the part about the personalized video message Eleanor had left her, the one with instructions, hopes, and consequences.
Authenticity laced her words as she admitted how little she had left to lose when she agreed to this matchmaker plan, stirring something deeply possessive within him.
She sat back, her fingers nervously tapping the armrest. “That part of it, the inheritance, needs to stay between us, okay? I understand why making an effort is a requirement, so I figured…why not? After all my disastrous relationships, it felt like the least risky option left.”
Levi gave a thoughtful nod, then raised his beer in salute. “I stand corrected. Your story wins. It’s insane.”
Relieved, Aurelia laughed, clinking her glass of iced tea against his. “Here’s to creating even more insane stories together.”
As the last golden rays of sun dipped beneath the horizon, Levi leaned forward on the kitchen island, his eyes on the rippling lagoon outside.
They had opened the back doors, letting the warm breeze drift in.
The soft hush of water and the scent of salt and jasmine mingled in the air.
It was peaceful, grounding—and utterly exhilarating.
Then he felt her.
Aurelia’s hands slid up his back, slow and deliberate, her touch mapping the contours of his muscles. Her body pressed against his from behind, her curves fitting perfectly into the lines of his frame.
Levi froze, not out of discomfort, but anticipation. He had been thinking about tasting her again all day, remembering the wild beauty of last night…and now, as her arms wrapped around his waist, it was like she had read his mind.
He set his beer down, turned to face her, and slid his hands to her waist. She looked up at him with what was becoming a familiar fire in her eyes as her hand trailed from his jaw down his chest, pausing at the waistband of his jeans.
With a wicked glint in her eye, she gave him a slow, purposeful stroke.
“I think it's time for dessert,” Aurelia purred, her voice silk over heat.
His thoughts vanished as instinct roared to life.
Levi pressed his mouth to hers in a kiss so deep and dominating, it left them both breathless. His hands gripped her hips, pulling her flush against him, grinding into the soft give of her body. She moaned, pressing harder against him, lips grazing his neck.
“There's always room for dessert,” she whispered, her hand now stroking him through the denim with maddening slowness.
Levi growled low in his throat. “My hungry wife,” he murmured, nipping her earlobe as he angled her soft curves up against the kitchen island.
With one deft movement, he slipped a hand beneath her waistband, bypassing her leggings entirely, fingers finding her hot and soaked.
“Sweet hell, Aurelia,” he groaned. “So ready for me already…Tell me what you want, sweetheart.”
“I want you inside me,” she gasped, rubbing against his fingers. “ Now .”
Levi needed no further invitation.
Their mouths collided again as he unhooked her leggings and panties, dragging them down with a sense of urgency.
She reached for his jeans, freeing him in seconds.
Her hand wrapped around him was electrifying, her thumb teasing the sensitive head, sending a jolt straight through him, and he nearly lost it.
In one swift motion, he turned her around, bending her over the counter with practiced ease.
He guided her hands to the cool stone surface, his hard body engulfing her.
Seeing her flushed skin and knowing he was the reason for it was the final blow that shattered his restraint.
He thrust into her in a single powerful stroke unable to hold back any longer.
Aurelia cried out, throwing her head back as she stretched to accommodate his size. She was unbelievably warm, soaked, and tight—her walls clenched around him, pulling him deeper. Nothing else existed outside of them and this moment.
Levi’s hand slid between her thighs again, finding that aching spot and pulling a desperate sound from her lips as he drove into her with a brutal, demanding rhythm. Her moans tangled with his ragged breaths, filling the kitchen and spilling out into the night like a secret too wild to keep.
“Levi,” she whimpered, trembling beneath him against the cool countertop.
“I’ve got you, baby,” he whispered hoarsely, slamming into her harder, angling until she shattered with a strangled cry. Her orgasm ripped through her, and he felt her pulse around him as he let go, losing himself in her.
They collapsed against the counter, breathless and tangled in the quiet aftermath.
Levi didn’t care that the back doors were wide open.
Didn’t care that the night air carried their sounds into the dark.
All that mattered was the way she fit against him, like they were beginning to head down a path that led to something that felt like home.
As the stars began to twinkle outside, Levi ran a slow, reverent hand down her spine, smiling against her neck.
“You were right,” he murmured. “The view from this angle really is breathtaking.”