Chapter Nine
Harper
I want to take a hot shower then climb into bed with my face buried in my pillow. Tonight was too much. Everything about it. Just. Too. Much.
Teague texted me earlier to say she was spending the night at Mateo’s so I don’t need to worry about waking her. I can leave lights on and bang around and not pretend that everything is okay.
I make it as far as the hallway when there’s a knock on the door.
He came after me.
There’s a second knock.
Shit. I’ve been standing here freaking out over the possibility that I’ve lost my chance to work for MASF, and unsure whether I want to answer the door. A big part of me is glad he’s here. Another part of me is mad. I told him to leave me alone, and he didn’t listen.
Rationally, I know it’s not his fault we got caught skinny-dipping, but it’s much easier to be mad at him than admit tonight was great. That everything about Levi is great, and I had a really good time with him.
Goddammit.
I open the door.
“Hey,” he says. “You forgot these.” He shows me my shoes. I’d completely spaced out about them.
“Oh.” That’s why he’s here. I’m such an idiot. Our fingers brush on the handoff, thawing the chill in my hand, and I toss the heels somewhere to my right. They make a thud when they hit the hardwood floor. “Thanks.”
“I thought you might need them for tomorrow.”
It takes me a few seconds to respond to that, the tension at seeing Levi on my doorstep melting away. I think he’s nervous. It’s a side of him I haven’t seen before. “At the pool?”
“Right. We’re shooting tomorrow. So, that’s not the reason I’m standing here.”
“No?”
“I just really needed to see you one more time.”
My heart beats faster without my permission.
“Not to make sure you’re okay. You set me straight on that score. But to make sure you got inside safe and sound.”
“I did.”
“I can see that.” He takes a step back. “And now that I have, good night.”
“Wait! Do you want to come in for a minute?” What am I doing? Danger! Danger! He came. He saw. I got my shoes back. I was supposed to say good-bye after that. Apparently my brain doesn’t care about permission, either.
“Sure.”
He grazes my arm as he walks into the guesthouse. All these accidental touches make me want to throw caution aside and go at it on every surface in my house. I close the door and turn around to find him facing me, his arms at his sides. I lean back against the door with my palms flat on the wood behind my butt. Less than an hour ago we were naked together, so the memory of Levi’s cut, lean frame is still very fresh in my mind. (And FYI, even in cold water, he’s really well hung.) I had to fight the urge to run my hands over his chest and abs, drop down to my knees, and give him a blowjob. Thank God I didn’t. “Fellatio in a Fountain” is not a story I want circulating around his family.
My unbidden thoughts remind me how much Levi protected me tonight. How he tried to hide my naked body from view and gave me his hoodie to keep me warm. Family or not, getting caught by the cops is cause for anxiety.
He moves closer.
He helped me at the fountain more than he knows. The last time I had to talk to police officers was when Joe drowned. One of the officers from that night had a mustache, too, and I was suddenly in my backyard again, watching them bag Joe’s body and carry him away.
I hate those memories. Hate them so much.
Levi’s care and safeguarding tonight got me over them quicker than ever before. I’d felt completely alone the night of Joe’s accident, but tonight I wasn’t isolated. Not for one second.
I think that deserves a proper thank-you. We both know I didn’t invite him in just to talk. I push off the door, erase the distance between us, and when I’m standing right in front of him, I jump up. He catches me with a surprised but happy grunt as I wrap my legs around his waist, cross my arms behind his neck, and fuse our mouths together. This is more than gratitude. I want to forget, and he helps me do that with nothing more than a kiss. It’s the reason I once again break my rule of keeping kisses to a minimum.
His kisses are earnest. Enthusiastic. They’re openmouthed, delicious, and send waves of pleasure through me. Not to mention, his hands are warm and possessive. One is cupping my ass, the other is pressed between my shoulder blades to keep us anchored, and it feels so good. Having his hands anywhere on me feels so good.
I curl my tongue around his to savor the taste of champagne and desire, and slide my fingers through his soft hair. He’s moving us somewhere. It could be anywhere for all I care, I’m so lost in his kiss. His mouth moves over mine with a sureness and a rightness that makes me dizzy, in hot need of so much more.
He sits me on the kitchen table and hikes my dress up so he can stand between my legs. His hands roam. They slip underneath the sweatshirt, up my sides, over my breasts, around the edge of my panties.
It’s not enough. I’m desperate for skin on skin. I gently bite his lower lip to slow his wonderful invasion of my mouth. God, his unhurried kisses are just as powerful as his fast and furious ones. Maybe even more so because they feel like a beginning with no end.
Stay out of your head, Harper.
We break apart so I can lift the hoodie off. His brilliant light-brown eyes wander over my face and body for several charged seconds. I’m about to peel my dress off, but then he’s undoing the knot on top of my head, freeing my hair to let the damp strands fall down my back and around my shoulders. He gazes into my eyes as he twists several ends of my hair around his finger. I hold his stare. He has this way of keeping me right here with him, unable to look away, even though a part of my brain is telling me to run like hell.
“I know you don’t think so, but tonight was pretty perfect,” he says.
“I can think of a way for you to make up the not-so-perfect part.”
“Yeah?”
“Uh-huh.” I start to undo his belt buckle. “It starts with fewer clothes.”
He stills my progress, covering my hands with his and sliding his tongue back inside my mouth. I’m useless at fine motor skills when he kisses me, so I abandon his belt and simply wrap my arms around him.
We make out until we’re both breathless, and Levi steps back. I could stare at his face for days. The square jaw, always covered in light stubble. Full lips, the bottom one just a little bit more so. Straight nose. Golden-brown eyes a shade darker than his hair, which turn downward the tiniest bit in the corners. Emotion sparkles in them, and I’m sure my own feelings of want and caring are reflected back. I blink to rid any warmness betraying me.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he says, surprising me.
“You’re leaving?”
“Sleep calls. You have a long day in a few hours.”
“Sleep here,” I blurt out, then immediately wish I could take the words back. I hate that I sound needy, like his walking out the door will leave me lonely. It won’t.
It will.
It won’t. I’m used to being on my own. I like being on my own.
He pauses his backward steps. “I…I need to be ready for tomorrow, too. Next time?”
That’s not the answer he was supposed to give after kissing me like he couldn’t imagine ever stopping.
And who made him in charge of sleepovers? Not me. There is no way I am ever making that invitation again. Doesn’t he realize how hard that was for me? “Probably not,” I say with childish certainty. I’m over him. Over every single thing about him. I was happy before he walked back into my life, and I’ll be even happier when we’re done working together and I only have to see him occasionally because of Teague and Mateo.
“I’ve missed my chance?”
“Yep.” I know I’m not being reasonable right now, but it’s that or admit my true feelings.
He is not supposed to smile at that. Why is he not eating his words and changing his mind? He reaches behind him to open the door. “We’ll see. Sweet dreams, Ham.”
I slide off the table, ready to push him out the door and slam it shut. “Oh, they will be.”
“Mine, too. Later, gator.”
“That’s the dumbest good-bye ever!” I say as he disappears around the door. I immediately close and lock it. I’m mad and confused. And horny.
So horny. I march to the shower and take care of myself. That I picture Levi’s hands and mouth on me while I do so is only natural. The guy is hot.
Nothing else.