Twenty-seven
Jillian lay beside Levi, his fingers trailing up and down her arm. The sensation sent tingles along her already tingling skin. They’d moved so their heads were on the pillows. Or, at least, his was. Hers was nestled into the crook of his arm, the heat of his body warding off the chill of the cabin.
She watched his chest rise and fall, her hand moving with it, and the moment didn’t feel real. It was like a dream. Nothing in real life could be that good. Except Levi Bright.
“You’ve got the softest skin ever,” he said, his voice a little hoarse.
Tipping her head back, she looked at him, her fingers traveling down to his stomach. “You’ve got the best everything ever.”
Her hand moved with his laughter even as he cupped her cheek, pulled her closer to kiss her. The blanket they’d pulled over them slipped, and though she hadn’t turned the heat up, she couldn’t be cold wrapped in the warmth of his arms.
His kisses trailed from her mouth, over her cheek, and finally to her forehead. When he leaned back, he stared at her like he felt just as awestruck as she did.
“I hope I’m not showing my hand too much if I tell you you’ve ruined me for all other women,” he said with mock seriousness.
She laughed even as delight filled her. Fair was fair. No other man had or would compare to him in any way.
Pretending to get up, she said, “Then my work here is done.”
Levi grabbed her around the waist, making her squeal as he rolled them over on the bed until he was perched above her. “Mine isn’t,” he whispered as he kissed any thoughts of leaving right out of her.
Tucked in a cocoon of blankets and Levi, Jillian forced her eyes to stay open. Levi snored softly beside her, and even that appealed to her. She realized that she missed some of the little things about sharing a life with someone: laughing, for one. But also things people took for granted, like rolling over in the middle of the night to the feel of a solid presence.
Ollie had asked about Levi moving in and the question shocked Jillian because she hadn’t thought about the future in that way. The idea of their lives changing so drastically to where they’d live with another person—even the idea of living with just Ollie—seemed unfathomable. But whether she could fathom it or not, life was changing. They were changing. She had changed. She wasn’t teenaged Jillian—shy, reserved, and a little uncertain. She wasn’t young-adult Jill—navigating the ups and downs of marriage and motherhood. She was Jilly. Still navigating a hell of a lot but she felt like, maybe, she was doing it with a bit more grace. She felt confident about herself as a mother (mostly), a daughter, sister, and employee. But this Jilly was more than those things. Levi made her see herself as a person again. A woman. A desirable, funny, adored one, at that.
He startled awake, his fingers pressing into her arm. “Did I fall asleep?”
She smiled against his skin. “Yes.”
“Sorry,” he said, brushing a sleepy kiss over the crown of her head.
Oh yeah. I like this Jilly and the life she’s living right this second.
Levi turned on his side, trailed his fingers up the center of her body. “Should we head back?”
No part of her wanted to. “If we do, we’ll have to sneak into the lodge and into separate bedrooms.”
“Or the same one, since we’re sneaking anyway.” He played with the wayward tendrils of her hair. She was sure it looked completely tousled in a way she wouldn’t want to explain if Gray caught her sneaking in.
“How about we just stay here and set an alarm? We’ll sneak back before anyone wakes up.”
Shifting herself into a seated position, she looked around for her phone. When she realized that she’d left it in the kitchen, she turned to tell him, but he was pushed up on one elbow, grinning at her like a Cheshire cat. A mischievous one.
“Phone in the kitchen? Jump out of bed and grab it,” he said, tugging on the blanket she kept held around her.
Jillian gripped the blanket tighter, schooled her features. “A gentlemanly thing to do would be for you to go get it.”
He pushed up so he was sitting too, his side of the blanket dipping low enough to distract her. With a finger under her chin, he lifted it so their gazes met.
“There’s nothing gentlemanly about the things I want to do with you,” he said, yanking her close for a kiss that scrambled her senses, her pulse, and her thoughts.
He pulled away just as suddenly, a wide grin on his gorgeous face. “I’ll grab your phone. Any chance there’s some water in that fridge out there?”
Placing a hand on her chest, she nodded. That kiss had stolen her ability to speak. Which, if his laugh was any indication, he was all too aware of. And quite honestly, she was happy to sit there in her lust-hazed stupor while Levi—wearing absolutely nothing—rolled out of the bed and walked out the bedroom door.
He came back showing not one hint of shyness and passed her her phone. No texts. She wasn’t being missed. Once she set the alarm, while he stood beside her guzzling half the water, she set it on the nightstand. Levi passed her the rest of the water. Taking a long drink, she put it down beside her phone, then dropped the blanket and went up on her knees, locking her arms around his neck.
He wasted no time returning her touch, with his hands and his mouth. As they fell back into the bed, lost in each other, he whispered sweet, seductive, and wonderful words in her ear.
As the moonlight shimmered through the blinds, Jillian tucked every word, every sigh, and every caress in her memory and her heart and forgot about absolutely everything else. Levi Bright was magic.