Chapter 19 #2
At least he was honest. We moved back outside while we waited, taking our glasses with us.
I removed my shoes and curled into one corner of a wide outdoor sofa while Lev sat on the opposite end, with his posture relaxed but his attention still fixed on me.
The first hint of dawn had begun to show across the horizon.
He asked me about the hospital, and for the first time I got to talk about something that had nothing to do with Rome, stripping, stolen money, or surviving.
I told him what I liked about working in the ER, how fast everything moved, and how some nights made me feel useful while others left me sitting in my car wondering whether I could keep doing it.
“You ever think about leaving?” he asked.
I frowned. “What? The hospital?”
He nodded.
“Yeah, sometimes and then I remember I actually like nursing. I just hate what it takes out of me.”
“What would you do if money wasn’t a problem?”
The question made me pause because nobody had asked me that in years. Rome had always told me what made sense, what fit around his schedule, and what I should be grateful for. Somewhere along the way, I had stopped imagining a life built around anything I wanted.
“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “Maybe something slower. Somewhere I could still help people without feeling like I’m watching them fall apart every day.”
Lev leaned forward, resting his forearms against his knees. “You good at it though.”
“I am.”
He nodded in agreeance. The chef arrived not long after, carrying two bags and a tray of cut fruit.
He was a middle-aged man with sleepy eyes and a calm familiarity that told me this wasn’t the first unreasonable hour Lev had called him.
He set everything inside, spoke quietly with Lev, then left without asking who I was.
The burgers were exactly what I needed because the thin patties had crisp edges, melted cheese, grilled onions, and soft bread that soaked up just enough grease to make a mess just how I liked it.
The fries were hot, salted, and scattered with tiny pieces of herbs, while the fruit looked like each piece had been personally selected.
We ate at the counter, and the conversation lightened up even more.
Lev told me how he had gotten into real estate after losing almost everything during his case.
He didn’t give me all the details, but he gave me enough to understand he had built the life around us from the pieces left over after the government had tried to strip him clean.
He spoke about property the way some men spoke about women, and it wasn’t excitement, it was possession. He understood value, timing, and what other people overlooked. He could look at an old building and see what it would become before anybody else had the money or nerve to touch it.
“You love it,” I said, watching him talk about one of his first renovations.
His eyes were still focused on mine. “I’m good at it.”
“That isn’t the same thing Lev.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“But you do love it?” I asked with an eyebrow raised while eating a fry.
“Yeah, sometimes.” He admitted.
That was probably the closest Lev came to admitting he loved anything, but when Marv’s name finally entered the conversation, it didn’t happen by accident. Lev wiped his hands on a napkin and leaned back against the counter. “What you and Marv got going on?”
I stopped with another fry halfway to my mouth. I lowered it and asked, “What makes you think we got something going on?”
“He told me.”
Of course he did. I placed the fry back down and reached for my glass. “We’re not together Lev.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
I stared into the tequila. “We talk, we’ve spent time together, but it’s casual.”
“How casual?”
My cheeks got warm, and I looked toward the pool. “I don’t know how to answer that.”
“The truth usually work.”
I exhaled a deep breath. “I think he’s decent and he’s been nice to me, but we never said we were building anything. There wasn’t a promise or a title, and I’ve never slept with him or even kissed him for the matter.”
Lev watched me without moving. “Would he say that?”
I continued chewing my fry now. “I think so.”
“You think?”
The question irritated me, but not enough to make me forget who I was speaking to. “Marv knows what it is.”
“And what is it?”
I hesitated because the truth was more complicated than the label. “It’s comfort,” I finally said. “At least I think it is.”
Lev said nothing else, so I continued. I pushed a piece of fruit around the plate with my fork. “Marv almost died and then I felt guilty because of what I had done. Somewhere in all that, we got closer…. well talking every day. ”
“But you don’t love him.”
It wasn’t a question; it was more so reassurance. I looked up. “No.”
His expression didn’t change, yet the air between us did.
That was when I realized this wasn’t a casual conversation to him.
Lev was asking because he cared about the answer.
The thought should have made me stand up and leave because I still owed him money, and I still had Rome circling my life like a vulture.
I also had some unfinished, undefined situation with Marv, and Lev was the last man I needed to add to the confusion.
Still, I found myself watching him with that quiet confidence.
I paid attention to the way he listened and the way he never interrupted me just to hear himself speak.
He scared me, but not in the same way Rome did.
Rome made me feel small while Lev made me feel seen, and sometimes that was scarier.
We went back outside after eating, taking the last of the bottle with us.
The sky had begun changing quickly again now a soft pink through the gray with that golden hue in the ocean.
I stood near the pool with my arms folded, watching the waves brighten with the morning.
Lev came up beside me, close enough that I felt the heat of him before he even touched me.
When his hand slipped on my waist, I didn’t move away although I should have.
Instead, I turned toward him and the look in his eyes told me this had been building longer than either of us wanted to admit.
Maybe from the first time saw me at the hospital or maybe from the moment he realized I was afraid and I realized he noticed things other men ignored.
Whatever it was, it had finally caught up with us.
Lev placed a soft kiss on my lips and my God; he had the softest lips I ever felt on a man.
It was almost like his lips melted right into mine.
I effortlessly draped my arms around his neck as he looped his own arms around the small of my back before lifting me in his arms and walking me to the couch closest to the pool.
When I lay back on the couch, the gaze Lev locked in on me nearly scared me.
He gently brushed his lips across mine once more while I tried to control my breathing. Without ever breaking his glare, he asked me with so much care, it nearly shook me. “You sure?”
I nodded my head and slowly licked my lips pulling him further on top of me.
Lev took his time to remove my hoodie while places kisses on all the part of my skin that were hidden while removing it, like how?
I thought shivering at his touch surprised that he was actually gentle.
With ease, he unsnapped by bra allowing freedom and the first thing he did was lick me from my neck, down to my belly button right before he removed my tights and slid them down over my waist.
Meanwhile every part of my body responded to him in ways I didn’t think possible outside of Rome.
I arched my back and whimpered feeling his tongue on my pussy.
Lev took his time and made sure he touched every last single nerve on my clitoris, every last single ten thousand fibers.
“What the fuck,” I gasped in ecstasy arching my back deeper, spreading my legs wider.
Lev was in deep focus blowing, spitting, slurping, finger fucking me, blowing, sucking, finding that G-Spot with his fingers plunged deep inside of me, and then using the very tip of his tongue like a vibrator against my swollen nub until I was creaming all over his fingers and mouth.
“Lev… please… oh God,” I moaned, having the hardest orgasm I ever had in my life.
My breathing was hard as my chest rose and fell.
When Lev stood up, his mouth was covered with my juices. He cocked his head to the side knowing damn well I couldn’t talk after that. “I asked if you were sure.”
I slowly nodded my head licking my lips at the long, heavy print in his pants. “I… I… am…” I panted.
He whipped out his long dick, and I had to stop my eyes from bulging. Again, while looking me in my eyes, he jacked his dick as the precum began to ooze from the tip. “You can’t talk? Tell me what you want Navy.”
My hand involuntarily shot to my slippery opening as I began to run them up and down my slit. “I want you Lev… I want all of that.”
He smirked. “So you want daddy to fuck you then,” he said moving his hand up and down his shaft even faster while his pants formed a puddle around his ankles showing off his muscular, athletic legs, which were also heavily tattooed from his thighs on down.
Hell, his torso, chest and everything else was covered with tattoos but you’d never know that by the way he dressed during the day when he was working.
“Yesss,” I purred. “Fuck me Lev,” I said damn near feeling like I was begging.
He reached down into his pocket, ripped the extra-large condom on and glided it up in penis.
The condom couldn’t even roll all the way up since he was on the bigger side.
He then stepped completely out of his pants and leaned down hovering over me before placing both of my legs wide over his shoulders.