Levi
As if the class wasn’t torture enough, a few weeks into the selection, Wayne assigned us a field trip. A night at the museum, he chuckled, but he meant it. We would be spending the evening at the Museum of Science and Industry, a rare opportunity for small groups wishing to experience the iconic museum in a less traditional manner. I cursed Professor Erickson for the assignment, informing him of my concerns for AJ, without mentioning again, that I was a single parent to my child. I couldn’t bring an infant to the museum, so I had to beg Mrs. Hubbard for an overnight babysitting gig. Her daughter, Maggie, would be allowed to spend the night, with Mrs. Hubbard as back-up, one floor below. I was sick with the situation, but I didn’t know what else to do. Besides, Katie was attending, and although we hadn’t spoken to each other, other than in class, the thought of her spending the night in a dark museum with horny guys from our class upset me. I hadn’t missed Nate’s growing attention to her.
I didn’t want to play these foolish games, reminiscent of high school, like worrying about other boys asking her out or taking advantage of her. The thought had never crossed my mind when I went off to the Army. It was the natural course for her to date in my absence, and honestly, I had no ties to her or she to me. With other things on my mind, I hadn’t imagined these things one way or another. But in the dark recesses of my brain, Katie Carter haunted me, and I refused to think of her with other men.
Will you be a hero?
Somehow, I wanted to be one for her, if for no other reason than she had asked me if I would be. But I had failed, failed miserably. I had days where I didn’t give it a thought. I didn’t try to remember what happened, and other days where the darkness knocked me on my ass. One such day was coming soon, and I couldn’t let it pass without fully being immersed in memory. Before that day arrived, I decided to take this night as a free pass on life, allowing myself a break from AJ and catching some time with Katie. I owed her an apology, or an explanation at the very least.
Talking intermittently in class wasn’t enough to discuss our project, and weeks into the semester, we still hadn’t decided on a topic. She wanted something historically romantic, although she blushed when she told me, referencing some novel about love at the World’s Columbian Exhibition, otherwise known as the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. I wanted something traditional and militant, like the trail of Chief Milwaukee and the trading route from Chicago to Wisconsin. It wasn’t only a matter of eventual compromise, which we still had not reached, but after initial discussions, we didn’t know where to go next, so the science museum was intended to spark our interest.
“Can you imagine how romantic it was?” Katie blurted as we stood at the southern end of the museum. “Outside that balcony was a giant waterway, used to transport people to and from buildings within the White City. The gondolas. The candlelight. The sound of chatter as people promenaded around the waterway. It sounds…heavenly.” Her heavy sigh following the word, forced me to bite my cheek. Her head was most definitely in the clouds, and yet the glazed look in her eyes did something to me. I wanted to capture that innocence, that dreaminess, and I wished I had my camera. Yet, I knew no photograph would capture what Katie Carter did to me. My heart pinched and I rubbed at my chest as she stared out into the darkness, imagining a city over a hundred and fifty years ago.
I teased her for her romantic notions, but her gaze reminded me of something. When I couldn’t sleep at night, and the nightmares haunted me, I turned on the TV. I wasn’t much of a period man, but this movie was about the Civil War. A solider was going off to fight, and a girl had come to his room located over a saloon. She seemed innocent and uncertain, but determined. Knocking at his door, he answered quickly, startled to find her standing on the landing. He wasn’t dressed properly and the heat between them was instantaneous. She wanted to know if he’d carry her image into war. It was a sign of romantic interest. He took the “tin imprint” and closed the door. Confused, the actress stepped back, but almost as abruptly the door opened again. Dressed properly, the soon-to-be soldier went for her, kissing her with all he had. They dropped to their knees in passion, knowing they only had a few minutes before he’d be called away. That kiss would be a better memory. He’d carry it in his heart, closer than the image pressed to his chest in a pocket. The kiss would live inside him, fueling his desire to live. As I stared at Katie, the memory of our first kiss was so real, it choked me. The passion of that embrace from the movie turned to reality in the kiss Katie gave me all those years ago. I’d carried her image in my heart sealed with that kiss, and I wanted to find a way to capture it again, snap a permanent photograph and frame it with the confusion of emotions whenever I thought of her.
After wandering in the dark, using flashlights through the exhibits like children scavenging in the woods, we finally settled in the area assigned our group. Air mattresses were allowed and a few of the pampered students, like that putz Nate, brought one. Katie, I noticed, only had a sleeping bag, like me. I should have been used to sleeping on the ground in strange places, but something about the museum spooked me. I searched for Katie and found her pressed against a wall reading off a tablet. Her knees raised, the e-reader reflected on her face in the dull, dimness of the western balcony hall where we’d been assigned to sleep. Dragging my sleeping bag next to hers, I sat against the wall, my legs outstretched, my shoulder resting against hers.
“Whatcha reading?”
“Oh, you know, one of those silly romances you tease me about.” She didn’t look up from the screen, highlighting the blue in her eyes and whitening her skin. She looked angelic with the heavy darkness around her face, and I wished to capture her features again. At one point, she told me that Anne suggested the history course because she liked historical fiction—romantic historical fiction, Medieval things. Anne thought she’d get writing inspiration out of the class. I didn’t see how historical romance literature coincided, but I didn’t ask.
“I didn’t call them silly,” I chuckled.
“Oh, right. I remember, your words were, and I quote, we are not doing a project that involves some ridiculous romance bullshit.” She still didn’t look up at me but her tone teased.
“Let me see this.” I pulled the reading device out of her hand and began to read. Her hands followed, struggling to retain the e-reader.
“Oh my…no, Levi…give it back to me.” She gently tugged on the tablet, attempting to remove it from my grasp, but I began to read aloud:
Her hands danced through my thick hair, as she giggled, and then moaned. It was a silly combination of laughter and passion. Finally, I shimmied her jeans to her knees, forcing them to bend and expose her to me.
“Levi, please.” Between the words I read, and her begging tone, the sound of her whimpering set my dick to life, springing tight inside my jeans. “Give it to me,” she said, and I imagined her breathless tone whispering those words under me.
“What the…” I choked with the roughness of her voice, and the double meaning, but softened my own voice to continue. It came out raspy and unfamiliar.
“You aren’t going to…” Her voice faded off as I ran a finger through wet folds.
“Levi,” Katie groaned, but I continued. My imagination flooded with images of Katie begging me to touch her in the same manner.
“Aren’t what?” I growled low, reaching for the flask.
“You wouldn’t dare,” she warned, narrowing her eyes at me. Her hands fisted in my hair and held tight.
“Wouldn’t dare do what?” I chuckled, knowing what she meant and intending to ignore her. It wasn’t going to hurt her. My eyes shifted to look up the landscape of her body. Her head tilted upward as she glared back at me. I held the bottle precariously over the core of her, tipping it like I intended to pour. Those innocent doe eyes softened to that look of hidden fear, and I collapsed. She wasn’t fighting me. In fact, she was about to let me do anything to her, despite her concern. It was a momentary sensation of trust. She trusted me, and it was strange to witness her giving it to me.
My eyes met Katie’s in the dim back-light of the device, and my eyebrow rose as her hand stopped tugging on the e-reader. I was completely turned on and shifted uncomfortably to adjust. Her shoulders fell, and I dare say, she turned that sweet shade of pink in the dark. I read on.
I twisted my head and took a final swig, then put my mouth over her heated entrance, letting the alcohol cascade in combination with her flavor. Her hips bucked at the feeling of warm liquid over sensitive skin, ripe with desire. My attention turned from teasing to devouring her, which I did with full abandon. My thoughts were lost to everything, except the task at hand: bringing her to pleasure. I had no notion of my surroundings, other than her thighs on either side of my cheeks, while I sucked and lapped. Feasting on her, focusing on her…
“All right, that’s enough,” she muttered, slipping the device from my hands as I forgot my surroundings, submersed in the words. Did she want someone to do that to her? Did she wish someone would pour whiskey over her pussy and lap it up? Did she long to trust someone so implicitly? The thought stiffened me. I rotated to press my shoulder against the wall, facing her directly. Katie closed the protective cover of her reader, shutting out the light from the screen.
“Do you want those things?” I asked, my voice hushed as I inhaled her scent, breathing over her neck. The slow rise and fall of her chest exhilarated me while she struggled with an answer. I could give her those things. I would willingly lap her up and drink her in, but I couldn’t stand if she hated me afterward.
Her shoulder shrugged in response at the same time she said, “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”
“I could make it my business.” I lowered my nose to skim her neck, and her head tilted away from me, allowing me access to glide over her smooth skin and inhale her refreshing fragrance. “Has anyone ever given you pleasure like that?”
As if the hitch to her breath didn’t answer the question, the slightest shake of her head gave me what I needed. I could make her feel good. I could give her this kind of teasing, tempting torture, but somehow, I knew Katie would want more than warm whiskey on sensitive skin. She’d want a burn that ran deep, a love that singed, and I couldn’t give her that. I pulled back from skimming her throat and she turned to look at me. She tossed a lazy, seductive stare over her shoulder, and I was ready to take her in the darkened corner of the museum. Honor and emotions be damned. Sweet Katie had no idea the looks she could give, melting a man and making him think of all kinds of sin. My hand came up to cup her cheek.
“I shouldn’t kiss you here.” Her throat rolled and her fingers came to her shoulder.
“How about here?” I chuckled and tipped my head to press a weak kiss over her sweater-covered skin. Pulling back, I met those extra-large eyes. I couldn’t see the color but I knew the dark would almost surpass the blue.
“Or here?” she croaked, letting two fingers slide up her neck, exposing her tender vein. My kiss was soft once again, but the combination of her sweet scent and moist skin turned my tease to temptation. I nipped her. Her shoulder pressed back and her hand fell to the floor. Fists clenched as her body hummed in reaction.
“Tell me what you’re thinking.” She shook her head, but her skin vibrated. Her raised knees came together, and her fists opened to lay flat on the floor.
“Tell me,” I demanded. Shaking her head again, her chin quaked under my fingers, tracing her jaw.
“Tell me, or I’ll bite you again.”
“Oh God,” she whimpered low, before she hissed. “Please.”
Fuck me, she was sweet, so I took another taste. This time a little deeper, adding enough pressure to the tense vein, knowing it sent a jolt directly to a hidden target.
“Tell me,” I barked against her skin, blowing to soften the sting.
“I want to straddle you and pin you to the wall,” she hissed. I rolled back from her and stared straight ahead into the dimly lit balcony. I couldn’t take her here, in a darkened museum, but I was so stiff I couldn’t breathe. My Katie had a saucy side. I reached for her hand and tugged her to her feet. The movement was too quick for me and I stumbled a little, my hand coming to my right thigh. I hobbled a second, still cupping her hand with mine.
“Are you all right?”
“Not yet,” I groaned, but I’m gonna be, I thought. I tugged her gently behind me as we crossed the balcony and snuck down a flight of stairs. Tiptoeing at times, as if on a secret mission, I didn’t wish to alert security to our wanderings after the official call to remain in our sections. The lights dimmed throughout shone brighter in the main areas and we slunk around the great foyer for a second staircase.
“Where are we going?” she whisper-hissed, a touch of a giggle mixed in.
“You’ll see.” We entered a smaller exhibit room, the display within still lit.
“It’s a castle,” she whispered, her hands coming up to the glass enclosure housing a gigantic dollhouse. Katie read the caption: “Colleen Moore’s Fairy Castle was every girl’s dream home, built to miniature scale, it houses a grand staircase among its amenities within the antique castle.”
She stopped, her forehead pressed to the case.
“I love fairy tales,” she mumbled to the glass.
“Somehow, I figured,” I snorted softly behind her, unable to keep my hands from her. Katie’s eyes roamed the structure while my hands wandered her body, travelling the curve of her hips, dipping under her sweater to make contact with warm skin at her back.
“I had a playhouse when I was a child. Emily’s nana owned it before Emily inherited the house. You had to bring her a handful of flowers to play in it. Weeds were acceptable.”
“Hmm…” I hummed into her neck, chuckling at the memory. I vaguely recalled the white structure at the back of her parents’ yard. “And what did you play inside the house?” My mind raced with the idea of her pretending she was the mother of a family. Somehow, I didn’t like the thought of a boy making her his pretend wife. Would she pretend with me for a little while? I wondered. Be my fairy tale for just a moment, I thought but would never admit I wanted to make believe as well.
“I played princess to my best friend Gee slaying dragons for me. Often times, I slayed them myself and saved him instead.” She giggled softly as my nose skimmed her neck, and my finger tugged the edge of her sweater to get at her collarbone. My lips covered her succulent skin, and Katie’s hips bucked back.
“Tell me your fantasy. Inside that house, what would you want to do?” My hands dropped to her waist and I held her against me. Grinding forward, I pressed her into the case, balancing her against the ancient display. Her palms flattened and her forehead tapped the glass momentarily.
“I…” Her breath hitched as the heavy length of me laid at the seam of her jeans.
“Would you like to be taken on those stairs?” I whispered as I blew over her neck—her fine hairs bristling as she inhaled sharply. My hips rolled forward.
“Or maybe against the wall?” I could sense her eyes traveling the delicate rooms of the castle, tracing each wall for the perfect place for spontaneity. My fingers roved the supple curves of her body, dragging upward under her sweater.
“Or maybe hidden in a forbidden closet?” I offered as my eyes drifted to a small space on the second floor. My hands climbed her sides, teasingly close to her breasts.
“Although nothing could compare to that canopy bed.” The implication was clear. I’d spread her wide on the four-poster bed, draped in heavy material, and ravage her like her historical heroines.
She spun. Her hands delved over my short hair, cupping the back of my head, and her mouth leapt for mine. Our lips fought one another, searching, seeking control. This was my favorite type of battle, and I relished the struggle while her lips held firmly, forcing my mouth to connect with hers. Her center hit my thigh when I dipped my knee between hers. I pressed upward and Katie’s head fell back.
“Levi, we probably shouldn’t be doing this,” she moaned, meeting me thrust for thrust as the sweet heat between her thighs warmed my leg. Her leg rose, and I hooked a hand under her knee, hitching her thigh higher, shifting myself to align our centers and allowing myself to press deeper. It wasn’t going to be close enough.
“Levi…I…” The catching of her breath was the first signal. Her thigh firmly wrapped around my hip as she rocked against me. Her nails clawed down the back of my neck and her fingers stopped to rest on my shoulders. My mouth returned to her throat where I nipped her again on that vein near her shoulder.
“I thought you said we shouldn’t be doing this,” she whimpered, but her rocking body opposed her words. She should stay away from me. I was the fire-breathing dragon invading her castle, but God help me, I couldn’t stay away from her. I needed her, like the mythical creature needed heat. My solid length thrust heavily, speaking to her with my body. I was no longer listening to what we shouldn’t do. The only words I heard were Yes and Levi. I wanted to take her, fully.
She sang my name into my chest, the sound struggling like a strangled scream. Detonation a success, damn, she was hot. Her body slowly coming down from the high, her mid-section going lax, I released her knee, tightening an arm around her waist, and pulled her against me.
“Levi, you…” She didn’t finish as her hand skimmed to the band of my jeans. I knew what she would ask, but we didn’t need to go where this was headed. Taking her against a display case didn’t seem the way to claim Katie. Hearing her struggle to contain my name on her lips was enough for me. When I entered this girl, I’d want to hear her scream, and it wouldn’t be in the basement of a stuffy museum.
“I’m fine,” I whispered before giving her a final peck to the neck, ready to step back, but her arms encircled me.
“You hate those words,” she muttered, suddenly holding me tighter. My throat burned with emotion. There were other words I feared, and I didn’t want to ever hear them coming from Katie. She’d break me if she said them and left me. But the way she pressed against me, replete and trusting, I needed to get in touch with my feelings, or those feelings were going to escape me.