Chapter 26 #2
Oh, that’s right, because I’d had a run-in with one of his exes, who was everything I was not, and I decided that the only way I could prove my worth was through sex.
Years of therapy hadn’t been enough to undo that fucked-up conditioning.
The doorknob turned, and Levi entered the room, eyes cast downward as he loosened the knot of his tie.
“Sorry I’m so late,” he breathed out in apology, headed for the walk-in closet without sparing me a glance. “Last home game means fan appreciation, so there was a lot post-game that required the players’ involvement.”
Levi continued to ramble on, but when he realized he was having a one-sided conversation, his words died off, and he called out, “Arizona? Are you still with me?”
I hummed in the affirmative, wringing my hands on my lap.
He walked out of the closet, shirtless but still wearing his navy-blue suit pants. When his eyes landed on how I was dressed, they widened. “Whoa. You look . . .” Straight white teeth bit into his lower lip. “Fucking incredible.”
Normally, the praise would send me soaring, but tonight it felt like I was chained to an anvil, my feet unable to leave the ground.
A smirk tugged onto his lips as Levi prowled toward me like a predator stalking its prey. “Is this all for me?”
I lifted one shoulder. “If you want it to be.” My tone was flat, hollow.
His steps halted, his brows drawing together. “Wanna tell me what’s going on? Because you’re kinda giving off mixed signals here, babe. Your appearance says one thing, but your words are saying something completely different.”
Blowing out a breath, I confessed, “I met Bristol at the game.”
“Bristol,” he repeated, slowly, as if he was trying to work out why I might be upset. Then it dawned on him, and he huffed out a laugh. “You’re not . . . jealous, are you?”
My face flamed. I felt like a fool for even bringing this up.
“Did you not happen to notice that she’s pregnant? With her husband’s baby?”
Averting my gaze, I said, “I could tell she cared deeply about you once. She said Maisie could have been her daughter in another life.”
His heavy sigh sounded. “Bristol and I had a thing when we were in our early twenties. She viewed our relationship—if you can even call it that—as far more serious than I did, so it makes sense that she may have fantasized about having a family with me back then. But that’s ancient history.
None of it matters now. She’s married, and I’m married. End of story.”
“Fake married,” I corrected.
A scoff fell from his lips as he ran a hand through his hair. “I’m getting pretty sick and tired of hearing you call what we have fake.”
I shot off the mattress, giving him my back because it was too painful to look at him when I croaked out, “We had an agreement.”
“Fuck the agreement!” Levi roared, his hand gripping my wrist to spin me around.
The fire blazing in his intense dark brown stare stole my breath away.
“Look me in the eye and tell me this is fake for you,” he demanded.
Defiantly, I lifted my chin, ready to lie through my teeth, but when my lips parted, I just couldn’t do it.
Whisper-quiet, I confessed, “It’s not fake.”
All the air left his lungs in a rush, relief written across his face.
He cupped my cheek. “When did it stop being fake for you?”
Swallowing, I licked my lips. “When you taught Austin how to shave, then held me as I cried afterward.”
The softest smile touched his lips. “I didn’t realize it back then, but I think I started falling for you when you stepped up for Maisie in the hospital.”
My eyes widened, and I stammered, “F-falling?” That implied love, which was a huge leap from admitting our relationship had become real.
Sheepishly, Levi ducked his head, the tiniest hint of pink coloring his cheeks. “Yeah.”
“B-but it’s been less than a month,” I protested.
“Is it supposed to take longer than that?” he asked earnestly.
“This is all new for me, so I don’t exactly have a frame of reference.
All I know is what I feel in here.” Grabbing my hand, he placed my palm flat against his chest so I could feel his racing heart.
“And what it’s telling me is that I never want to let you go. ”
“I—uh—” Stunned, I was unable to convey a coherent thought.
He pressed a finger to my trembling lips. “You don’t have to say anything back. Just know that I want this—us—for the long haul. And that I’ll spend every waking minute we have together trying to convince you that I can be the man worthy of your love.”
All I could do was blink up at him, at a complete loss for words.
Eyes shimmering with emotion, Levi slid a hand into my hair, cradling the back of my head. “Be mine tonight.”
I managed a shaky nod. “O-okay.”
His mouth descended on mine in a kiss unlike any other we’d shared.
Instead of hungry and demanding, it was soft and slow and achingly intimate.
The tip of his tongue traced the seam of my lips, and I parted for him on a moan.
He dipped inside, teasing and tasting as if we had all the time in the world.
Clutching at his shoulders, I hung on for dear life, never wanting this to end.
Levi’s fingers skimmed down my sides, and I arched into his touch, silently begging for more.
Before I knew it, his large palms found the back of my thighs and lifted. Strong arms carried me across the room before I was set down on the mattress gently, his hot body covering mine.
My back lifted off the bed as he trailed a path of open-mouthed kisses down the side of my neck, a sharp cry tearing up my throat when his lips closed over my nipple through the lace of my bra.
The friction was exquisite, each scrape of his teeth over that sensitive bud sending bolts of ecstasy straight between my thighs. His fingers plucked at its twin, and my core clenched around nothing, desperate to be filled.
“Patience, beautiful,” Levi rasped against my skin as he moved lower, my stomach going concave at the contact.
How was I expected to have patience when the simple act of foreplay was driving me so wild I could barely see straight? If it was this intense now, there was a very real risk that I might spontaneously combust once he was finally inside me.
Calloused fingertips found the waistband of my high-waisted silk panties before tugging them down my legs. Then his tongue darted out, tracing the thick, raised line of my C-section scar before descending lower.
My thighs were pressed wide, his grip firm enough to hold me in place without causing any pain.
His shallow, ragged breaths fanned my slick flesh. The anticipation of the moment he put his mouth on me reached a fever pitch. Frustration leaked over, my needy whine floating toward the ceiling.
The resulting chuckle vibrated through my core—he was that fucking close—and I tried desperately to lift my hips so that I could feel those lips where I needed them most.
My lungs burned, desperate to draw in air. I simply wasn’t able to breathe while I waited for him to put me out of my misery.
Finally, his tongue dragged a path through my slit, and I let out a sigh of relief. But it was short-lived because after one lick, he stopped, his forehead dropping to my mound.
Throbbing and unsatisfied, I dropped both hands to his head and gripped the short strands of his hair. Despite how hard I tried to urge him to resume, Levi didn’t comply.
“Holy hell, I’m sorry,” he panted out the apology. “The taste of you always makes me a little lightheaded, and I just need a minute.”
“Oh.” I let out a surprised exhale.
His fingers flexing on my inner thighs was the only warning I got before he went back to work, eating at my pussy like it was the ripest peach.
He slurped up my juices hungrily, the sound of it so damn filthy that it only turned me on more, making it so that I soaked his face with never-ending gushes of my arousal.
The tip of his tongue flicked over my clit, and I let out a little shriek. I was sensitive beyond belief, and his skilled oral attack sent me careering toward release.
Tears fell freely, blurring my vision as tension coiled in my lower belly, and when I peeked down, I gasped, finding his gaze locked on me while he feasted between my legs like a starving man.
God, that eye contact was so fucking hot. As was the sight of him humping the mattress while he went down on me.
“Don’t—Mmm.” My words were cut off by a moan, and I was forced to try again. “Don’t come without me.”
His loud growl at my request set off the impending explosion.
Head thrown back, I succumbed to the euphoria crashing over me, each wave stronger than the last. It went on for so long that black spots danced before my eyes, and I feared I was in danger of passing out.
His regrown stubble scraping at my inner thighs only heightened the sensation, making it so that by the time I came down, I was tingling from head to toe, every nerve ending feeling raw and exposed.
Fuck, I’d never come like that in my entire life.
“Delicious.” The praise was murmured as Levi pulled away, rising to his feet.
He quickly undid his belt before kicking off his pants, leaving him gloriously naked.
My mouth instantly went dry. The man might as well have been carved from marble.
And if what he said earlier was true, he wanted to be mine forever.