23
They pulled into the lot at the lodge where the event was being held, lights from the venue casting a warmth in the air. Jess put the truck in park, then turned toward Emery with a quick nod. “Alright, let’s go melt some rancher wallets for a good cause.”
Coming around to her side of his pickup truck, he offered his arm, and she took it with a grateful smile.
Heels clicking softly on the path as they walked toward the entrance, the hum of laughter and clinking glasses filled the air of the open barn-style venue, the strings of warm white lights wrapped around exposed beams and sparkled against the wide planks of the perfectly buffed wood floor.
The scent of barbecue and whiskey drifted with the sound of a live fiddle coming from the corner.
It was Cold Creek tradition at its finest. Polished boots, tailored suits, and the kind of ranch-town elegance that only showed up once a year.
Levi was standing near the far corner, his perfect smile flashing his white teeth in a way that only happened when he was genuinely happy.
He laughed with a rich and unfiltered charm, deep in conversation with the Sheriff and a few ranch owners, a glass of something amber in his hand.
His boots planted wide like he owned the floor until he saw her.
The second his eyes lifted and settled on her, everything else fell away.
He blinked once. Twice.
Levi let out a breath, slow and sharp.
“Jesus,” he muttered without taking his eyes off her. He barely registered Jess beside her; his whole world narrowed to the woman walking straight toward him. She had no idea the kind of power she had over him.
She was everything he loved in shorts and flip-flops—but like this?
Hell, this was dangerous.
He left the men he was chatting with mid-conversation and took a direct path to her, weaving in and out of anyone who stood in his way.
His hand found her waist the second he was close enough, pulling her in. “You tryna kill me, baby?” he murmured, voice low and rough in her ear. “’Cause you just might.” Emery’s chest fluttered as Levi’s eyes locked on hers, like she was the only person in the building.
His usual laid-back ranch uniform had been traded for something that sent her mind reeling and heat creeping to her cheeks.
Crisp dark Wranglers that clung just a little tighter than his everyday jeans, a fitted charcoal gray suit coat that accentuated his broad shoulders over a rich black button-down shirt tight across his chest, and his nicer boots, worn but polished.
He cleaned up nicely but was every bit still Levi.
Unapologetically masculine. Calm. Dangerous.
His hair, neater than normal, made her thoughts go straight to wanting to tousle it and run her fingers through it.
She took in his signature scent, which seemed richer than normal—maybe it was the absence of dust and hay to muffle it, just pure juniper and rosewood.
His gaze dropped, drinking in the dress.
The way the satin hugged her hips. The delicate spaghetti straps on her shoulders.
The glimpse of skin through the slit high on her thigh.
Her lips. Her hair, the complete opposite of her go-to messy bun.
He stepped closer until his chest brushed hers, the edge of his palm trailing along the bare skin of her back. “I was already obsessed with you,” he said quietly, “But you just made me lose any control I had left.”
Jess cleared his throat beside them. “Alright, y’all gonna make me stand here like an idiot or what, Levi?”
Levi didn’t break eye contact. “Go get a drink, Jess.”
“I’m under orders not to let her outta my sight.”
“Your job's done, good work,” Levi said, voice dropping as his hand slid along Emery’s waist. “She’s where she belongs.”
“You clean up pretty well yourself, cowboy.” Emery’s cheeks warmed, but she didn’t look away. She reached up, brushing a stray lock of hair off his forehead. “People are gonna start talking if we keep standing here like this.”
Levi leaned in, brushing his lips just shy of hers. “Let ‘em talk. I don’t give a shit. I’ve got everything I ever wanted in my arms. But Em, next time I’m picking the damn dress.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Why? You don’t like this one, is it too much?” she asked. Suddenly, the feeling of self-consciousness crept into her mind.
“No, baby, more like not enough,” he said and let out a low chuckle, one hand sliding to the small of her back—the bare, delicate skin. “This is doing terrible things to my restraint.”
He took her hand to walk towards their table, but leaned in closer so only she could hear. “I like it too much. I’m about ten seconds away from dragging you out of here and showing you exactly what this dress does to me.”
They mingled for a while, but Levi never let her stray far. His arm was always somewhere low on her back, curling around her waist, a hand brushing her thigh when they sat for dinner.
After dinner, Levi shrugged out of his suit coat, draping it over the back of his chair at their table as they stood to go to the bar for a refill, when someone asked her to dance.
Levi stepped forward with an easy grin that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
“Appreciate it,” he said coolly. “But she’s with me. ”
As if on cue, an old country tune with a slide guitar played, and Levi didn’t hesitate.
He offered his hand, palm up, eyes on her like nothing else in the world mattered.
“Dance with me.”
Emery took his hand without a word.
The second her reach met his, Levi laced their fingers together and guided her to the center of the floor. Barn lights twinkled overhead, casting soft shadows as couples swayed to the music, boots scuffing softly on the wood. He pulled her close.
One hand on her lower back, warm and strong, the other keeping her fingers locked in his.
She could feel the heat of him, the steady thrum of his chest as he pressed her against him.
His dark button-down sleeves rolled to the elbows, showing off sun-kissed, muscled arms that flexed with even the slightest gesture.
“You do this often?” she asked, voice low and teasing as she tilted her head up.
“Not in a long time,” he murmured, his thumb rubbing soft circles against the base of her spine. “Never like this.”
She gave him a look. “Like what?”
“Like I love you.”
The words hit her hard in the center of her chest. She blinked up at him, lips parting, but nothing came out.
“I’m in love with you, Emery.”
Her heart cracked open like the sky before a storm. “Levi—”
His eyes locked on her, dark and full of something that nearly knocked the wind out of her. “You don’t have to say it back, not until you’re ready. I just need you to know.”
But she didn’t hesitate.
“I love you, too, Levi Walker. I think I started falling the moment I met you.”
They swayed together in time with the music, Levi’s touch grounding her, his presence calming and completely intoxicating.
People around them blurred. His breath brushed her temple every time he exhaled.
His hand drifted over her back, like the open back of her dress was a temptation he couldn’t ignore.
Like he needed to take in every inch of her in this moment.
“You’re something else,” he said, his lips brushing her ear.
“I could say the same about you.”
“No,” he said with a crooked grin. “You’re somethin’ fierce. Brave. Smart as hell. You show up in my life, set everything on fire, and I haven’t been the same since.”
She felt her throat tighten. “I didn’t mean to set everything on fire.”
He pulled back to look her in the eye. “You brought me back to life.”
Her breath caught.
The music slowed even more, the singer drawing out the last line, the fiddle fading.
Levi pressed his forehead to hers, eyes closed, as he kissed her.
Right there in the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by twinkle lights and murmured conversation, Levi kissed her like it was a promise—a promise that there was no one else in the world he’d ever want more than her.
And when he pulled back, his voice was a low rumble against her lips.
“Let's go home, baby.”
The cab of Levi’s pickup was quiet, except for the soft hum of tires on gravel and the distant chorus of frogs singing from the creek that ran along the side of the road.
The dashboard lights covered Emery’s legs in a soft glow, the black satin of her dress catching just enough light to keep Levi riding the high of the way she looked tonight.
His hand never left hers, and he’d flipped up the center console of the bench seat so she could take the seat in the middle to eliminate any space between them, the warmth of his touch grounding her.
She turned to look at him, taking in the way his jaw clenched every time he sent a glance her way. His forearms flexed as he turned the wheel into the ranch driveway. He looked like every cowboy fantasy wrapped in muscle and quiet strength.
“You look pretty great tonight, too, you know,” she says, her voice soft. “But you always do.”
“Hmm,” he hummed. “You must’ve missed me sweating through that speech they asked me to give.”
“I saw you, you said, like, ten words and thanked the cattle.”
He cracked a smile and brought their joined hands to his lips, kissing the back of hers. “What can I say? They’re hard workers.”
The moment they walked through the front door, Levi knelt before her to unclasp and slip off her heels. With a sigh as her bare feet hit the floor, she let herself relax into the cozy familiarity of Levi’s home.
It was still. Quiet.
She realized just how rare that was now. No cartoons. No clatter of dishes or boots on the porch or farm equipment outside. Just them.
He stood to face her. Mesmerized as she shifted her hair, the soft waves tumbling around her bare shoulders. The black satin clinging to her every curve like it was made for her, and he just stood there for a moment, watching her like he didn’t want to blink and miss it.
“You know what I thought about all night?” he asked, closing the distance between them.
Emery arched a brow. “I think I might have a clue.”
He filled the space in front of her, running a strong hand over her shoulder and delicately tracing the bare skin of her back where the dress dipped low. “I thought about how this dress is gonna look on the floor.”
She shivered under his touch.
His hands slid to her waist, drawing her flush against him. She let her fingers trail up the open collar of his shirt, brushing the base of his neck as they kissed, long and deep and full of everything they hadn’t said earlier in front of the crowd.
“I want you to know I meant what I said tonight,” he told her between kisses. “About loving you. About wanting this—us. Not just here and now, but... for real. All of it.”
Emery’s hands framed his face, grazing across his stubbled jaw as she looked at him, her heart full and aching and light all at once.
“I love you, too, Levi. You make it so easy.”
He lifted her effortlessly, the high slit in her dress allowing her legs to wrap around his waist as he carried her toward the bedroom, his mouth never straying far from her skin.
He had no trouble finding the zipper and slowly lowering it before guiding the thin straps off of her shoulders, letting the dress fall to the floor, his fingers trailing lightly between her breasts. “You’re somethin’ else, Emery.”
“And you’re stalling, and still dressed,” she pouted .
That made him chuckle, low and full of gravel. He stepped back and, in record time, stripped naked, then stalked to her and picked her up again.
Smoothly, he turned and lay back on the bed so she was straddling him.
The heat between them surged—kisses growing deeper, hungrier.
She touched him with confidence, hands tangling in his hair as she looked at him with a grin.
“You gonna let me be the cowgirl tonight?” With that, he twisted a handful of her hair into his fist, tugging to tip her jaw up.
With an unexpected buck of his hips, she shot forward, just enough that her chest was in his face.
“I swear, you were made for me,” he said as his free hand cupped one of her breasts while he pulled the other nipple into his mouth, licking and sucking, marking her skin like she was his territory.
“Levi…” she gasped, her hips rolling instinctively into him. “Right here, baby,” he murmured, his voice steady despite the fire in his veins. “I’ve got you.”
She rose to create space between them, reaching down and wrapping her hand around his cock, her gaze hungry at the sight of him.
“Fuck” he growled, “you look so pretty with my dick in your hand.” A blush rose to her cheeks, and her dark eyes flashed, lining him up in a way that she could grind against him, coating him with her arousal.
Sinking slowly onto him, her nails dug into the muscles on his chest, sure to leave a mark.
“Levi, you feel amazing.” Picking up the pace, she rode him until her legs burned.
His hands gripped her hips as he began meeting her with his thrusts.
“So good—but you're not done yet, baby. Almost there.” The feel of skin on skin and the ragged breaths stole the air from both of their lungs.
They moved in sync, the lamp on the bedside table giving the perfect amount of moody light and creating shadows on the wall.
It wasn't frantic. It was charged. It was strong and on purpose.
Tense jaw and pressure building. “That's it, ride my cock,” he commanded as he drew circles on her clit with his thumb.
And she did. She tossed her head back, moaning his name to the ceiling as the most intense shock waves went through her body.
As she collapsed, he shifted, flipping her beneath him as he drove home with a few final thrusts before burying himself deep inside of her as his body tensed and he growled above her, filling her with his cum.
Her legs were tangled with his, one of his hands resting on her thigh while the other ran slow, lazy strokes across her back beneath the oversized shirt she’d borrowed from him.
“I don’t remember the last time life felt this calm,” she whispered against his messy hair.
“Me either,” he murmured, pressing a few kisses beneath her jaw, down her throat. “Feels like we finally got some peace. Just you, me, and a life worth building. This right here... this feels like forever.”
Lips brushing his jaw. “You're the only one who has ever made me feel like this. I could stay right here forever,” she whispered.
Levi angled his face up and kissed the top of her head, voice rough with affection and the hint of a smile. “I’m keeping you right here.”
Their breaths slowly synced, and a silence took over that came from pure contentment. The house was quiet.
The kind where everything, for once, felt safe.
Safe, for now. But it wouldn’t last.
Neither of them had any idea how much their world would shift by morning.