Chapter Four

 

The scorching hot, forbidden image of Katie walking around her condo naked, sitting where he was sitting… only naked, cooking in the kitchen… naked… all rose in Levi’s mind and played like an adult theater slideshow over and over again. Levi’s cock grew hard behind his zipper, having only recently softened, and he let out a soft, low growl. Did Katie not know what she was doing to him? Or maybe she did, and she enjoyed teasing him. Torturing him. Tormenting him to the very point of madness.

Levi shook his head and rose from the cushions. He walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows that lined one wall of Katie’s condo and looked out over the beauty of New York. He could hear her in her bedroom, opening and closing her drawers, huffing, sighing loudly, muttering to herself. While he was concerned about the possibility that he’d said something to upset her, at the same time, he found her antics amusing. He knew it wouldn’t take long for Katie Faulk, little miss “I-Have-A-Mind-So-I’m-Going-To-Speak-It”, to storm back into the living room and chew him a new one for whatever slight he’d made towards her. She may have been years younger than him and Kevin growing up, but Katie had no problem whatsoever with putting other people in their place. Even if they were older than her.

So, until she got there, he would spend some time “alone” in her space. Find out every point of weakness for her—security wise—and determine the best place to set up cameras, alarms, and his center of surveillance. It was imperative that he had one central location, somewhere in Katie’s condo, where he would be all at once the most vulnerable and simultaneously the strongest. It was usually somewhere his back was exposed in one area, his front was exposed in another, and his sides were exposed as well. He would be able to see everything and be ready for an attack or breach from every angle.

He knew many of his fellow agents liked to sit with their backs in the corner or against the wall and that was an effective way to keep an eye on everything in front of you, but as far as protecting Katie in her home? Levi shook his head. No. Even if he had to pace around the entire condo, keeping his eyes on every inch and never getting a wink of sleep, he would do it. He would do whatever he had to do in order to protect the woman he loved.

The sound of Katie’s bedroom door slamming open caused him to turn around, a small smile already forming on his lips. Especially when the sound of Katie stomping towards him, no doubt building up a head full of steam, reached his ears. Katie stepped into the living room, wearing a pair of blue jeans and a white t-shirt, and a pair of sneakers. Levi let his gaze roam over her figure. From the top of her head, where her blonde hair now flowed down her back in loose curls, to her pale-peach skin, to her full breasts, lovingly covered by her white shirt, to her flat belly and rounded hips, down to her long legs, and finally to her tiny feet.

God she is amazing.

“And you listen here,” Katie said, her eyebrows pulled down into a frown as she poked him in his left pectoral. “Just because my life is in danger from some idiot drug dealer, doesn’t mean you get to come in here and be a jackass. I mean, it’s bad enough that you didn’t find me attractive. I mean, to you I’m nothing more than Kevin’s little sister. But there are a lot of men out there who find me extremely attractive, not just for sex, but they see me as a potential love interest. Someone that they want to date, or even marry.” She narrowed her eyes at him and Levi found himself searching for his words, for his ability to think.

Did she really think that he didn’t find her attractive? That he only saw her as Kevin’s baby sister? How could she not know how he felt about her? How much he longed for her, how he lusted after her and wanted her in his life forever?

“But for you to then assume that my hooking up with or dating another guy is a joke?” She poked him in the chest again. “How dare you? You have no right to make any sort of assumptions about my life, my condo, my activities or—”

Having heard enough Levi stepped towards Katie, smiling smugly when she stopped talking almost immediately. Especially when he leaned down to look at her directly in the eye.

“I don’t know who told you all of those lies you have in your head,” he told her in a low tone.

“L-lies?” Katie stammered.

Levi nodded. “Yes. Lies. But allow me to disavow you of them right now. First of all, I am here to protect you. To keep you safe. To make sure that no one ever has the chance or the opportunity to hurt you. That means it’s my duty, my every intention and need, to find out everything about you that I don’t already know. Things that someone would know if they’d been watching you every day. Monitoring your habits. Someone who knew your entire schedule. So yes, I do need to know all of those things. As to me not finding you attractive and only seeing you as Kevin’s little sister?” He shook his head.

“That’s another lie. As a matter of fact—”

“Hello!” A voice coming from the doorway startled them apart. Levi turned with a scowl on his face at the interruption, only for his lips to turn up into smile at the person who walked in.

“Cassie!” Katie exclaimed and rushed over to hug her best friend.

Levi watched the two women. Katie with her blonde hair was a few inches shorter than the tall, statuesque, dark beauty that was Mrs. Cassie Williams-Faulk. Though both women were curvy, Cassie’s curves were a bit more pronounced than Katie’s. Cassie wore a red dress, belted at the waist, with long sleeves, a sweetheart neckline, that fell to just below her knees, and a pair of black heels on her feet. Her strawberry blonde, curly hair fell to her shoulders and her hazel eyes gleamed with happiness as she and Katie chattered in the doorway.

Levi knew Kevin would be walking in just a few seconds later, he never went anywhere without his wife and vice versa. The only time the two of them were without the other was when they went to work. Cassie at the hospital and Kevin at the NY FBI Field Office where Levi worked as well. And even then, the two of them tried to have lunch whenever they could. Talking to the couple, or even being around them, one couldn’t help but feel the love the two of them had for each other.

Levi’s eyes drifted over from the open door of Katie’s condo to the woman herself. He wondered if he would ever find the same type of love with someone like his best friend had. Though he’d been on the verge of telling Katie exactly how he felt, how he’d always felt about her, reality had a way of sneaking up on one and smacking them in the face. Levi could never tell Katie how he loved her, he’d made a promise to Kevin and he intended to keep it.

Speaking of Kevin…

“What’s up little sister?!” Kevin’s voice boomed in the open space of the entryway as he led his children and Katie’s dog, Bruce, into the condo.

Levi’s eyes widened as he took in the scene. He knew how many children Kevin and Cassie had. He’d been by their home many times and had been attacked by their rambunctious children more than once. Okay, maybe attacked wasn’t the right word. The kids called it playing but Levi called it having the boys wrestle him, pulling on his hair and accidentally kneeing him in the balls, and having the girls tug on his fingers to go and play dolls or tea party or have him pretend to be a monster and chase them around the house or yard. Having progeny sure seemed to be exhausting, at least that was Levi’s point of view from his numerous interactions with his godchildren.

Bet you wouldn’t feel that way if the children belonged to you and Katie, his inner bullshit meter spoke up in his mind. Levi wanted to scoff at the very idea that he would feel any different if he was a father and the kids belonged to him and Katie, but he would never lie to himself. At least, not about something like that.

“Levi! Man, what are you doing here?” Kevin asked after hugging Katie and walking over to embrace Levi in a “bro-hug.” Two pats on the back with one hand, groins apart, and with their other hands clenched in handshake.

“Oh, you know,” Levi shrugged. He opened his mouth to tell Kevin everything but saw Katie shaking her head frantically and pleading for him to keep quiet with her eyes. He gave her the barest of nods and looked back at his best friend. “Just thought I would check up on Katie-bug, here. It’s been a minute since I last saw her.”

Kevin nodded. “Yeah, the Brass has you working nonstop. It seems as if every time I return to the office, they’re sending you out on another case. Or you’re just coming back from one.”

“Well, we don’t all have a gorgeous wife and five children waiting for us at home, you know? I mean, I don’t even have a pet I need to worry about,” Levi chuckled. He hoped that his best friend couldn’t hear the longing in his tone, or the loneliness in his words. When he’d first began working for the FBI, he’d been excited about the opportunities it afforded him. He’d also been excited about the different cases he would be able to work and hopefully solve. He’d wanted to make the world, the country, a safer place for everyone. Especially for those he knew and loved. But after a few years at the Bureau, Levi had begun to realize how… boring and empty his life was outside of work. He had no one who would be concerned about him if he died.

His parents hadn’t really been active or involved in his life when he’d been younger. As a matter of fact, they’d been downright neglectful and abusive. It was why he’d spent so much time over at the Faulk home. When their abusive tendencies had them turning on each other, resulting in a murder-suicide, a then twenty-two year old Levi had been… relieved. He’d felt awful for feeling that way, they had been his parents after all, but to no longer have to break up fights between them, to no longer have to worry that they would one day return their ire and hatred towards him as they had when he was a child. To be free of being responsible for the two of them had been a burdened that had been lifted from his shoulders.

It had also made him long for a family of his own. Though that was something he struggled with keeping hidden from everyone. Even himself.

“Oh, Levi, that is quite possibly the saddest thing I have ever heard in my entire life,” Cassie said as she held her youngest daughter in her arms. “And it’s six children. Not five.”

Levi’s mouth dropped open and he watched the surprise cross Katie’s face.

“You’re pregnant?” Katie asked in wonder.

Levi looked over at Kevin who grinned at him proudly. “Whoa man! You did it again? I thought you said you were stopping at five?”

Kevin shrugged. “What can I say? My wife is hot all the time, especially when she’s pregnant. I want to put as much of our amazing mixture of genes out into the world as she will let me.”

Levi scrunched up his face in disgust and shook his head. “What a disgusting visual, man.”

“I agree,” Katie said with a smile.

“So do I,” Cassie responded, rolling her eyes.

“Hey! I’m talking about you and me baby. We make some beautiful, talented, intelligent children,” Kevin murmured as he gathered Cassie in his arms, his palm settling over her stomach, which had the smallest of bumps ever. Levi wasn’t sure if she was showing now, or if it was just Cassie’s normal figure. She’d been pregnant so much over the years, Levi wasn’t sure he could remember her body without a baby in it or having just come out of it.

And you probably shouldn’t be thinking about that anyway, his subconscious reminded him.

Levi acknowledged the truth of that statement and turned his focus to Katie. She stood mere feet away from her brother and her best friend, who were kissing each other lovingly and softly, their youngest daughter—Levi’s namesake, Levia—falling asleep on her mother’s shoulder. Levi walked over to the couple and plucked his goddaughter from Cassie’s arms. She pulled away from Kevin and blinked up at him.

“Levi? Why are you taking my child?” she asked, cuddling up closer to Kevin.

Levi gestured at her and Kevin with one hand as balanced Levia against his chest with the other.

“Because of that. You two can’t keep your hands off each other and I’m not going to let you drop my goddaughter because you’re still in love,” Levi said with a mock frown.

“I know right? Disgusting,” Katie shook her head with a smile on her face.

Kevin chuckled, and Cassie huffed in annoyance. “Whatever. You know you two could have this too if you would just—”

“Find someone to be with for the long-term instead of only looking for short-term fixes to your problems,” Kevin interrupted his wife, giving her a pointed look.

Levi frowned then looked over at Katie. She looked just as confused as he felt. She shrugged when she returned his gaze, then went back to looking at her brother and friend.

“What’s up with you married people, or you happy-in-love couples? It’s like you’re miserable and you won’t be happy until we’re all as miserably in love as you are.”

Cassie laughed and shook her head. “We are not miserable, and we don’t want you to join in our misery. It’s just that we know how happy and full our lives are now that we have each other, and we want that same thing for those we love. Those we know. We want that same feeling of partnership, closeness, connection, of…” she whirled her hand around in the air, snapping her fingers after a moment.

“Of wholeness,” Kevin supplied, and Cassie nodded and patted him on the chest. “And we’re not saying you can’t be whole alone. As a matter of fact we encourage it. But it’s like… Katie, it’s like we’re all walking around as shoes, you know?”

“Shoes?” Levi and Katie simultaneously echoed in confusion.

Kevin bobbed his head. “Yeah, shoes. Some people are heels, some are boots, some are flip-flops, some are sneakers… some of us only have our heel. Some of us are a little more completed, but all of us are shoes. And yes, you can exist as a fully formed, completed shoe. Whole, with your colors, your design, the heel, the sole, the insole, the tongue, the straps, etcetera. And you can even walk through life and accomplish a lot with that one shoe. But there’s something about meeting the other shoe that matches you. That makes you a complete set. That makes you a pair. It’s fulfilling.”

Levi narrowed his eyes at his best friend then looked over at Katie. While Kevin’s analogy was crap, Levi understood what he was trying to say. He always felt… whole when he was around Katie. As if he’d met his other half. And while he couldn’t tell her that, it was nice to live I the reality of that truth.

It didn’t mean he wouldn’t give Kevin shit for his example though.

“Dude, I know you were trying to be deep or whatnot, but what you said was complete crap. All of this love, romance, and having children almost every year, has gone to your brain,” he said with a laugh. He was happy when his teasing was met with amusement by all of the other adults in the room, even the kids who he was sure had no idea what was going on.

So why did Katie’s smile dropping from her face so quickly concern him so much?