Oakley
Forty-Two
Levi sets me down in front of the shower, and I swat his arm playfully for carrying me up here like a caveman.
He chuckles and adjusts the temperature of the water, my hit on his arm as effective as a moth in a windstorm.
Once he deems the water warm enough, he steps under the spray and pulls me in behind him.
Before I know what’s happening, he spins me until my back presses against the tile wall.
The air rushes in my lungs, coming too fast and not fast enough all at once, as he closes me in with his body, his forearms perched against the wall on either side of my head.
Steam from the hot water billows and swirls around us, and the cool tiles send a shiver over my naked flesh.
He captures my mouth in a searing kiss, and the fire in my belly reignites.
This kiss is gentle and exploratory, as if he’s trying to map every curve and inch of my lips.
I surrender to him, meeting each stroke of his tongue with one of my own.
I’ve never been kissed like this before.
It’s all-consuming, exhilarating, maddening, and intoxicating.
I can’t get enough of him.
The dam keeping this at bay is shattered, leaving the two of us in pieces before the other, but together—with each touch, with each kiss—we rebuild into something new.
It’s much too soon to put a label on this, to call it what I so desperately want to call it, but with each brush of his fingers through my hair, with each heated glance and carefree laugh, Levi slowly stitches my heart back together.
Everything changed the night I met my ex, and I knew my heart would never be the same. Travis left my heart in tatters, broken and bruised, but Levi feels like healing. It’s not just his touch. It’s in every single way he’s taken care of me, from the first moment we met, and every single one after.
Levi gives me space when I need it, but along the way, he’s demanded something in return. He demands I pick up my own pieces and fit them back together. And now, being here like this, without anything separating us, I realize that he’s the glue that holds my fractured heart together.
I never planned on falling for him, but maybe that’s the thing about love. It’s as easy as breathing, and you don’t even realize you’ve started to fall until after you’ve found a soft place to land.
Levi is my soft place to land.
His hands trail down my body in fervent desperation while my arms wind around his neck and pull him closer to me. He lifts my leg, and I don’t hesitate to wrap it around his waist, already finding him hard against me.
He guides himself to my entrance, and the subtle stretch of him filling me again causes a moan to fall from my lips. His thrusts are deep and unhurried, as if he has all the time in the world to claim me like this.
I pepper soft kisses against his jaw, his neck, his lips, and everywhere I can reach, trying to convey the depth of my emotions with each brush of my mouth over his smooth skin.
We climb together, moving as one, reveling in the feel of each other, until we’re standing at the summit, ready to freefall into oblivion together.
My orgasm crashes through me in a tidal wave, and I shake in Levi’s arms as he holds me, finding his own release a moment later, roaring my name as he comes.
His movements stutter and falter as he spills inside me, and the weight of this moment, of us, is enough to send another torrent of shockwaves through me as I pulse around him.
We take our time coming down from our high, neither of us speaking, for fear of breaking this bubble we’ve found ourselves in.
Words aren’t necessary, though. Everything he wants to say echoes in the way he carefully cleans me and then himself.
He turns off the water and climbs out, leaving me standing there for a moment before returning with a fluffy towel and a change of clothes for both of us.
We dry off, and as I pull his large T-shirt over my head, the hem of it brushing over the tops of my thighs, I breathe in the masculine scent of him and bask in the feeling of being surrounded by him.
Only once we’re both dressed, and after he’s combed out my long hair, do we walk back downstairs and into the kitchen. My eyes widen in shock, and my hand flies to my mouth.
“Oh my God,” I mutter with a laugh, heat blooming on my cheeks when I take in the sight of the kitchen. My clothes are in a pile on the floor, where Levi tossed them. The groceries I bought earlier lie forgotten on the ground, spilling out of rumpled brown paper bags.
“It looks like a family of raccoons ransacked the place,” I observe as I bend to pick up the items.
Levi laughs and joins me. “Totally worth it, though. What’re we making?”
“Well, I had planned to make pasta primavera, but someone had other plans for how the night was going to go.” I glance at the clock, and it’s already well past nine P.M. Jesus, how long had we been going at it?
“Why don’t you get started, and I’ll join you once I’ve let Bandit out?”
I glance at the back door where Bandit is doing a little tap dance in front of the glass, clearly needing to do his business.
“You want to help me cook?” I ask.
Levi gives me a soft smile and tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. “I want to do everything with you.”
My stomach does an excited flip at the gravity of his words, but I don’t linger on it long, instead shaking myself free of my daze and turning to the counter to survey the items I purchased. My skin heats at the memory of being on this very counter while Levi coaxed me to orgasm with his fingers.
None of that. Focus.
If I let myself reminisce for too long, I’m liable to hop back up on the counter and declare myself his meal tonight. Though, judging by the hungry look in his eyes as he pushed inside me for the first time, and then again the second, I don’t think he’d raise any complaints.
I busy myself with starting a pot of water to boil for the pasta.
Then line up the veggies and begin to trim and chop.
Levi returns a moment later with a much calmer Bandit in tow.
He comes up behind me, bracing his hands on the counter on either side of me, and plants a kiss on my neck.
I arch into the warmth of him, loving the feel of his lips coasting along my skin.
He does it again before I playfully nudge him away, shooting him a stern look.
“Make yourself useful and start browning the chicken.”
He laughs and reluctantly lets me go so he can grab another cutting board to start preparing the chicken.
“Bossy. I like it,” he comments, and I roll my eyes in fake annoyance at his flirty teasing.
We work in a comfortable quiet, the smell of olive oil and simmering chicken filling the space around us and making me feel more at home than I have in a long time.
Pretty soon, the dish is done and we’re sitting together at the counter, forks in hand and steaming bowls of pasta in front of us.
Levi takes a bite, and I wait nervously for his verdict. His eyes go wide.
“This is amazing. I had no idea you were such a good cook.”
I brush off his compliment with a wave of my fork. “It was one of my favorite meals growing up, but I haven’t cooked anything of substance in forever. It can’t be that good,” I say dismissively.
“Don’t do that,” he admonishes, and I look up in question. “Don’t downplay yourself like you aren’t worth the compliment. You are worth all of that and more.”
“Thank you,” I quietly amend.
I love the way he challenges me, the way he calls me out on my bullshit without any real judgment.
He nods his head once and gathers another bite of his pasta. “You’re welcome.”
The rest of the meal is spent catching up on the last few days, and it’s nice to speak comfortably with him about mundane things. It already feels like we’ve been doing this forever, and the ease with which we talk and eat together warms something deep in my chest.
A part of me was worried that, with sex in the mix, things would feel awkward, as if everything we thought we were feeling for each other was this crazy, built-up sexual tension and nothing deeper.
But that’s not the case. If anything, things feel easier, more comfortable, and being here with Levi feels like where I was meant to end up all along.
We clean the kitchen together; Levi clears the plates, and I load the dishwasher. Once everything is put away, I follow him into the living room and settle next to him on the couch right into the curve of his arm when he opens for me.
His chest is hard and warm, and I sink into him as he mindlessly flips through the different movie options. I don’t care what we watch, but he pauses on a few titles he thinks I’ll like before settling on a rom-com.
Ugh.
“You like rom-coms?” I ask, looking up at him and trying to keep the bewilderment out of my voice. He hesitates only briefly.
“Yeah. Yup. Sure do.”
“You dirty liar.” I shake my head in disbelief.
“Yeah, I actually hate rom-coms.”
My laugh turns into a snort, and he chuckles as he pulls me closer.
“Me too,” I say.
“Let’s watch it anyway.”
Exhaustion weighs us down as we stare absently at the screen. Bandit curls up next to me and places his fuzzy head on my thigh, and I can’t help but give him extra scratches behind the ears.
“What are we going to do about your ex?”
Levi’s question is so quiet, I almost miss it.
At the mention of my ex, it all comes flooding back. Unease pools in my stomach and makes my palms sweat.
Something changed between us tonight, but something else changed too, and I can’t put my finger on when exactly it happened. Maybe it’s the feeling of being safe with Levi, or maybe it’s delusion, but I’m not as afraid of my ex as I was earlier.
Sure, there’s still a healthy amount of apprehension, and I certainly don’t want to run into him, nor have a conversation with him. But if my time here in North Creek has shown me anything, it’s that I deserve to live and thrive somewhere safe.