19. Levi
LEVI
I ’m just saying, once the beast transformed, he was not the growly man I expected, and I’m disappointed,” Mila says, washing a plate from tonight’s dinner while I dry.
It’s difficult because I have to keep pulling my long sleeves down, so she doesn’t see the bandages around the rope burn on my arms.
I woke up this morning in my own bed, cleaned up with bandages on my wrists. Part of me was surprised, and I’ll admit, grateful to know he took care of me after . . . whatever that was last night.
The other half is angry that I even let myself get into this predicament in the first place.
Levi now knows whoever Black is sent me to find information on him, and that I did it only because they threatened him. He said he’d take care of it, whatever that means, but I still have nothing to go on when they approach me again.
“Did you hear a word I just said?”
Whoops.
“Yeah, you were talking about the Beast and how un-beastly he was when he turned back into a human.”
“That was ages ago. What’s the matter with you? You’ve been staring into space all night?”
“Nothing,” I lie. “I’m just tired.”
“I get the feeling you’re not telling me something,” Mila says, eyeing me with that knowing look. As my best friend, she’s come to learn how to see right through my lies, and I’ve got to say, it’s a nuisance.
“Well, I don’t know what it would be. I have nothing to hide.”
Mila shrugs, going back to washing the dish in her hand.
“If you say so. Just know, I’m here to talk if you need it.”
“Thanks, Mila.”
She smiles. “So, how’s Levi?”
I shake my head, lost in thought. “I haven’t seen him since last n—”
Fuckkkkk.
Mila grins, wagging her brows at me.
“I knew it.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I grumble, cheeks hot enough to fry an egg. “I was just going to say I haven’t spoken to him since the other day.”
“Is that when he left that giant hickey on your neck?”
Dammit.
“I shouldn’t have come here,” I grumble, and she laughs.
She only smirks triumphantly.
“I think it’s great. You both deserve someone worth a damn.”
“It was nothing,” I lie.
It was definitely something. In fact, I can still feel the brush of his hands on my body.
Under my clothes, my skin is marked with his touch.
His hands. The hickey on my neck is a constant reminder of what we did, and every time I see myself in the mirror, I can’t decide if I should be ashamed or turned on by the memory.
Not that he cares. I haven’t seen hide nor hair of him all day.
Complete radio silence.
I won’t lie and say I didn’t contemplate running the moment I woke up.
It wouldn’t do any good, and I know it.
“So how was it?”
“Shhh . . .” I growl under my breath, listening to make sure I can still hear Christian in his office. I can just make out the deep baritone of his voice from here.
“Fine,” Mila grumbles, dropping her voice to a whisper. “How was it?”
My mouth runs dry, and the rope burns on my wrist sear underneath the bandages.
“It was fine.”
“Just fine?” Mila taunts, staring at my neck balefully.
“Okay, fine,” I huff, tossing the towel in my hands down. “It was amazing.”
She grins. “Define amazing.”
Might as well let her have it. She’s going to come to her own conclusions if I don’t.
“He may or may not have chased me down in the forest. Is that what you want to hear?”
“Actually . . . yeah. How did you convince him to play naked tag in the woods?”
“It wasn’t naked tag,” I correct, dropping my voice. You never know who could be lurking around here. “I just . . . maybe, may have told him if he could catch me then . . . well, he could fuck me.”
Mila’s jaw hits the floor.
“Ava Lynn Ryan. You told Levi Cross— my brother-in-law , might I add—that he could fuck you if he caught you?”
“That’s what I said,” I grit, a little too aggressively. I scrub a hand through my hair, ripping out my ponytail holder. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because I think I’ll be able to hide the blush on my cheeks behind a blanket of hair.
“I’m surprised at you, Ava. I’ll be honest, I didn’t think you had it in you.”
“Rude,” I remark, and she shrugs. “It was a total lapse in judgment. I shouldn’t have said that. I’m surprised he didn’t laugh in my face.” Or murder me for going through his room.
“Can you blame him? I mean . . . look at you. You’re a walking wet dream.”
“Ew.”
She chuckles, tugging my hand when I attempt to walk away.
“I’m just saying, you’re shy. I get it. I am too, if it’s not with Christian.”
“You literally handcuffed your husband to a chair and gave him a lap dance,” I point out, and she blushes.
“Okay, but that was with him. With anyone else, I would never be able to do that. Besides, that was to prove a point.”
“That you could do it?”
“That he doesn’t control me.”
Damn . . . She has a point.
“Well, it doesn’t matter. Levi is—”
“Charming?”
Both Mila and I freeze before a wide grin spreads on her face.
I don’t have to turn around to know the literal devil is standing in the doorway behind me.
God, I hope he didn’t hear any of that.
“What are you two up to?” Christian asks, completely oblivious to the obvious tension in the air when he steps into the kitchen behind Levi and places a kiss on his wife’s forehead.
Levi, on the other hand, stares straight at me, a knowing smirk on his face.
He heard everything . . .
Asshole.
My entire body vibrates with irrational desire. I can’t stand him, and yet, I also can’t get the feeling of his hands out of my head.
There’s also the trickle of fear sliding through me, reminding me that he knows my secret and there’s nothing stopping him from making me disappear somewhere on the Cross’s some three hundred acres.
Is there a kink for being scared, but also turned on?
I hope so, because if not, I’m defective.
“Just girl talk,” Mila says, but I know she’s going to tell Christian everything the moment they’re alone.
God, why did I open my big, fat mouth?
“I think I’m going to head out,” I say, clearing my throat past my heart that’s somehow taken root there. “Busy day tomorrow.”
“So early?” Mila asks. I don’t know what she’s talking about. It’s nearly ten at night.
“Yeah, you know. I like to get up early.”
I actually hate it, but I’m betting on no one in this room knowing that.
“I picked you up. Let me take you home,” Mila says, releasing Christian and looking around for her keys.
“I’ll walk back,” I say, but no one listens to me because Levi interjects.
“I’ll take Ava home. I was just on my way.”
The wink he shoots in my direction may as well be a threat.
He’s either going to kill me or fuck me again. The worst part is, I would welcome the latter, though I know it would only be a mistake in the end.
“That’s a great idea,” Mila beams, and Christian stares between the three of us curiously. Poor guy. “Is that alright with you, Ava? I really am tired.”
I shoot her a narrowed look. She’s a terrible liar.
“Then, it’s settled,” Levi says, grinning wolfishly at me. “Grab your things, Ava. I’ll make sure you get home safe and sound.”
My heartbeat thunders in my chest from the wicked gleam in his eyes.
Something tells me that won’t be the case.
Levi Cross is going to kill me.
The moment we step out into the night, and the door shuts behind us, I take off in the other direction down the path, but of course, Levi’s faster than I am.
He wraps an arm around my waist, dragging me back into his hard chest with a sinister chuckle. “Not so fast, rope bunny.”
“Don’t call me that,” I snap, heat rushing to my cheeks.
He doesn’t acknowledge what I said, instead pushing me back into the side of his fancy black car and looming over me in the darkness. I can’t help but glare up at him through my lashes, though when his lips tip up in that devil-may-care grin, I can’t stop the shiver that slips through me.
Of course, he notices that too.
“What do you want, Levi?”
He reaches up, and I jerk in his grasp when his fingertips brush along my lip. Moving lower, he pushes the hair back from my neck where I applied a pound of concealer to hide his mistake—unsuccessfully. I know he’s looking at the marks he left, as if he’s proudly inspecting his handiwork.
Knowing Levi, he probably is.
He boxes me in with his body, looming over me in the darkness. His lips hover inches from mine, and my heartbeat skyrockets at the simple thought of kissing Levi Cross—a man I’m supposed to hate.
“Have you been thinking of me?” he asks, his voice taking on that husky rasp it did last night. The slightest touch of his fingertips on my skin has my heart beating out of tune and my core clenching. I’m already wet, and he’s barely touched me.
“No.” Lie . “Why would I?” Because last night was the most intense orgasm you’ve ever had in your life.
“What’s the matter, baby girl?” he murmurs, and his voice may as well be his tongue brushing between my legs.
Warmth slips through me, straight to my core, and my traitorous body begs for his touch. His hand brushes over the bandages on my wrist, as if he’s reminding me of last night.
As if I even needed to be reminded. It’s all I can think about.
“Afraid of people learning you like to be tied up and edged until your face is soaked with tears and you’re begging to come?”
Desire washes over me at the same time as shame. A shiver ghosts through me, and I look away from his prying eyes.
Whore.
“Absolutely not,” he breathes, gripping my chin in his hand and forcing my gaze back to his icy blue one. “Don’t do that. Don’t look away from me. You enjoyed it, didn’t you?”
Enjoyed it? That’s the problem. I did, and it’s fucked up. What kind of person likes that?
“It was . . .” My throat threatens to close over my voice. “I’ve never done anything like that before.”
I’m ashamed to admit my lack of experience, especially with a man like Levi who probably knows things I couldn’t even begin to fathom.
It just proves him right. I am a prude.
“That didn’t answer my question, Ava. Did you enjoy it?”
“I didn’t use the safe word, did I?”
He chuckles under his breath, his lips lingering over mine.
Kiss me , I want to beg, but what kind of loser begs a man to kiss her? If he wanted to, he would have done it by now.
Finally, he steps back, releasing me, and I shiver in the cool night air.
“Get in the car, Ava.”
“Levi, I’m sore—” I breathe, cheeks flaming hotter than the sun when he fixes me with a look.
Uh-oh.
“No one said anything about sex.” He opens the door, a wicked smirk on his face. “Get in. You and I need to talk.”