Chapter 29
LEVI
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
I had no idea how long this dream was going to last, so I intended to take full advantage while I could. And whether I was lucid or not, a dream was exactly what this was. Harper, her body soft and pliant against me, looking at me like she never wanted it to end. Despite our history, despite our present circumstances.
And that was the danger here.
Right now, we were in this cocoon where nothing outside could reach us. Not real-life responsibilities, not the regrets from the past or the demons that never seemed to fully leave me, just recede once in a while, and certainly not the circumstances that proved Harper wasn’t meant for this life.
She wasn’t meant for me.
I’d known the moment she’d realized the tattoo on my chest had been for her. Knew she had questions about it, too. Fortunately, she hadn’t voiced them. And I could only hope I’d be able to come up with a plausible lie by the time she did. Because there was no way I was telling her it was for her, that they all were for her. Every inch of me branded with her name, even if it didn’t spell it out.
If she looked close enough, she’d notice the coordinates on the compass rose were the exact spot we’d met twenty years ago, and the script blending into the sparrow was a passage from her favorite book. She’d notice the Ferris wheel on my inner bicep and the sailboat nestled in the waves on my forearm and the peach tree on my shoulder blade.
Every one of them blended together, overlapping to be a coalescence that passed as being random. No one had ever questioned it, not even Chase. And that was where I’d gotten cocky, not doing more to hide the sparrow from her.
But I couldn’t go back. And truthfully, I didn’t know if I’d want to. If I did, it might shift everything. Maybe that little change would thrust us into an alternate reality where none of this had happened.
Fortunately, we were in this reality. One where I was curled around her, her body tucked up tight in front of mine. I’d lost count of how many times I’d been inside her in the short hours since this all began. While Harper had dozed on and off in between rounds, I hadn’t wanted to, knowing with complete certainty that tonight was all I had.
So when she stirred awake and arched into me, a soft little hum in her throat as she pressed her ass against my dick, I wasn’t going to say no.
I’d never say no when it came to her, and that was part of the problem.
I lowered my face into the crook of her neck and kissed along the column until my lips rested against her ear. “Does my greedy girl need it again?”
She reached back, digging her nails into my ass, her voice just a soft rasp. “I’m not the only one who’s been greedy tonight.”
That much was true, though she hadn’t complained. Especially when my greed came in the form of making sure she got off as many times as possible. If my last count was to be trusted, she’d passed double digits a while ago.
“Don’t even try to pretend you don’t love how greedy I am.” I reached down, hooking my hand under her knee and tugging her leg back over mine, opening her wide for me.
She hummed, arching as she reached up and slipped her hand around the back of my neck, a spark of satisfaction rolling through me as she sought me out. This wasn’t—couldn’t be—forever between us, but we had right now. And right now, Harper wanted me. Something I had no intention of denying her.
I ran my fingertips up and down her inner thigh but didn’t give her what I knew she needed. Not yet. I’d spent years edging myself, never knowing how gratifying it could be to edge someone else.
“Levi.” The single word was nearly enough to coax a smile from me, her tone laced with frustration and irritation.
“Yeah?”
Rather than answer me with words, she reached down, threading our fingers together and guiding them straight to her pussy. As soon as we connected with her skin, we both let out groans.
“Jesus, sparrow. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you got started without me.” I ran my fingers through her slit before dipping one inside her. “Did you have a naughty dream about me?”
“Can’t seem to stop dreaming about you, actually,” she murmured.
My fingers stuttered against her skin, her admission shocking the hell out of me. I wanted to tell her that she and I were the same. That when my nights weren’t plagued with nightmares of the day my mom died, Harper’s was the only face I dreamed of.
But I couldn’t admit that to her. Not now, not ever.
What I could do was be here, in this moment. Take everything she was willing to give me and stockpile my memory bank so I had something to recall the rest of my life.
“You feel that?” I asked, guiding both our fingers inside her. We pumped them together, side by side, as Harper let out a soft moan of pleasure. “You feel how fucking wet you are? How fucking much you need it?”
“Yes,” she breathed, guiding our fingers faster inside her. “I do…I need it. Need you.”
Even though I knew she meant me making her feel good, my heart still thumped painfully in my chest, aching for something I could never have.
“Look at you.” I brought my face next to hers, running my beard along the curve of her jaw, my lips a whisper against her skin. “So fucking greedy for it. Tell me what you need.”
Instead of answering, she gasped and arched harder against me, pressing her ass all over my cock while we fingered her together.
“That perfect ass and your little fuck-me sounds aren’t enough, baby. I want you to tell me how bad you want it. How much you’re dying to have me fuck you. I wanna hear you beg for it.”
It was a sick game to play with her, considering it was something she’d never usually do. She’d never stoop so low…not unless she was desperate for it. I was just fortunate enough that right now she was desperate for me.
“Levi…”
I hummed into her neck, scraping my teeth along her delicate skin, and slipped my finger from inside her. She let out a soft whimper, one she probably didn’t want me to hear, but she didn’t stop fingering herself. Her hand moved faster as she rolled her hips in time with her fingers, each pass pushing her harder against my cock.
“That’s how you want it?” I asked. “A mediocre orgasm by your own hand? Take it, then. If you’re so greedy you can’t wait for me, let’s see how hard you can make yourself come.”
I reached up and pinched her nipple, eliciting a gasp from her in response, her fingers moving even faster now. Her breathing grew stuttered as her entire body stiffened, then a shudder worked its way through her as she let out a low moan.
Jesus Christ, it was hot watching her make herself come. But it was even hotter when I was the one doing it.
“How was that, sparrow? Did that satisfy your needy little cunt?”
“No.” She huffed out a frustrated breath and slipped her fingers from her pussy, reaching back for me. I caught her wrist and brought her fingers to my mouth, sucking them deep between my lips. I moaned as soon as her taste hit my tongue, my cock throbbing against her ass. Just as eager for her as she was for it.
“That tastes like you don’t need another one since you already got yourself off. Was a lackluster orgasm better than the alternative?”
“Don’t be an ass. I know you want it just as bad as I do.”
That was true. The difference between us, though, was that I’d had more than a decade of practice at deprivation. And even though Harper writhing against me was one of the biggest temptations I’d ever experienced, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that I could hold out longer than she could.
“That doesn’t sound like begging, sparrow.”
Rather than say anything, she grabbed my hand and tugged it between her legs, guiding my fingers against her clit. I allowed her a moment of reprieve, letting her lead my movements until she melted into me, a satisfied hum leaving her throat. And just when that next whimper passed her lips, I pulled my hand away before bringing it down sharply against her clit.
She yelped and shot me a wide-eyed stare over her shoulder. “What the hell was that for?”
“I believe I told you to beg. And until you do, I’m not giving you anything.” I brushed my lips against her neck and murmured, “Despite how badly I want to.”
As those last words left my lips, her ire melted away, her gaze softening in a way that affirmed I’d said too much. That she was getting the wrong idea and that this could be more than what it was.
But she didn’t ask about it, didn’t confront me. Instead, she wrapped her fingers around my cock and stroked up the length. Unable to stop myself, I let out a groan into her neck, my fingers digging into the soft flesh of her inner thigh as I held her open for me.
“What do you want me to say?” She swiped her thumb over the head of my cock, driving me fucking wild. “You want me to tell you that my fingers aren’t enough anymore? Not after I’ve had this”—she gave my cock a firm squeeze—“stuffing me so full, I can’t breathe. That I already crave it? Or maybe I should just get straight to the point and tell you I want you inside me again. Please, Levi. Give me what I need.”
I groaned, my cock jerking at her words. “That’s my fucking girl. Go on, then. Fuck the cock you’re so greedy for. Take every inch inside your needy cunt, and let’s see how loud I can make you scream.”
She hummed, slipping my dick through her slit before shifting it to her entrance and slowly sinking down. With every inch she took, she gasped. And even though her pussy was primed, so fucking wet and swollen from our night’s activities, it still took effort for her to take all of me.
As she sank down on my length, I growled and dropped my forehead to her shoulder, getting lost in the feel of her. As incredible as her pussy felt wrapped around me, it was nothing compared to the deep ache that had settled in my chest. A constant reminder of everything I had to lose—of everything that wasn’t mine to keep.
“Come on, sparrow,” I said, interlocking our fingers and guiding them faster over her clit. “I know you can come harder than you did. And I want to feel it on every inch.” I abandoned her fingers against her clit so I could press against her lower stomach, at the same time making my thrusts shallow as I dragged my piercings against her G-spot.
“Oh my God. Oh fuck.” She strummed her fingers faster now, her soft whimpers rolling into low moans. Her entire body tightened as she arched into me, her cunt like a vise around my cock.
I groaned into her neck, clenching my teeth as I continued to fuck her, my restraint slipping away with every roll of her hips, every moan that left her mouth.
“Levi.”
My name on her lips did it for me every fucking time, made me damn near lose my mind. My orgasm was too goddamn close, breathing down my neck, but I wasn’t going to give in. Not until she got hers. “Time to fucking come. You had your little orgasm. Now this one is mine. Give me what I worked for and come all over my cock.”
I pressed harder against her lower stomach, adding my fingers against her clit, and that was all it took. Harper’s scream pierced the air, her cunt pulsing around me as she came, and I had no hope of holding anything back.
I sank deep, settling my cock as far inside her as I could. My orgasm tore through me, her name the only thing I allowed to pass my lips. Knowing, without a doubt, everything else had to remain unsaid.