Chapter Seven

Four Hours Later

Katie waved goodbye to Kevin, Cassie, and the rest of the Faulk brood and closed the door behind them. She leaned against the painted wood and sighed in relief. She smiled when she heard Levi laugh and, after making sure the door was locked, she followed the sound of his amusement into the kitchen. He stood next to her trash can, pulling out the full bag. Katie could hear the whooshing sound of her dishwasher cleaning the dishes, and when she looked around the room, she realized that while she’d been saying goodbye to her family—and receiving final instructions from Cassie—Levi had been cleaning up.

She shook her head. “You don’t have to do that,” she told him. She reached out to touch his forearm, her fingers tingling at the contact.

When Levi looked up at her from where he was bent over, closing the trash bag, Katie’s breath caught in her lungs. She swallowed thickly and lifted her hand. She stopped when Levi grabbed her hand with a free hand and placed it back on his forearm. Katie looked down at where they were touching, then glanced up at Levi, who was staring at the same spot, his chest moving up and down behind his t-shirt, as if he’d been running after a suspect. When he lifted his gaze to collide with her own, Katie gasped at the darkening of his eyes. He was looking at her as if. As if…

As if he wanted her.

“W-wha—” she stammered, but her words were cut off by the pressure of Levi’s mouth on her own. She stood frozen in surprise for long moments, unable to fully process what was happening, but when she felt the flick of Levi’s tongue against her lips, she separated them instantly, welcoming his tongue to tangle with hers. The taste of him swamped her senses, making her dizzy, and when she lifted her hands to wrap them around the back of his neck, she moaned. It was his muscled forearm, the same one she’d just been touching, wrapping around her back, while the fingers of his other hand speared her blonde tresses that had Katie yearning, achy, desperate, longing, for more.

The harsh, hard sound of Levi’s growl, and his breathing, mixing, fusing, echoing and blending with her own, made Katie wetter than she could ever remember being. She pressed her body as close as she could, and her stumbling over the trash bag between them, only made her collide even harder with the hard planes of Levi’s chest. She gasped when she felt his large, blunt fingers grip her ass and lift her up onto the counter of the kitchen island. She whimpered when she felt those same fingers trail up her legs to the wet heat between her thighs.

She jerked when he grazed over that spot that suddenly felt so empty without him. Katie felt her panties growing increasingly wetter the longer that she and Levi kissed each other, his fingers drawing patterns along the inside of her thighs, just barely grazing her aching pussy.

Just when she thought she couldn’t take any more, Levi lowered his head and kissed down her neck. The possibility of where he might be going. The knowledge that Levi Stroud, the man she’d loved forever, was kissing her, touching her, his mouth leaving a trail of fire on her skin as he made his way to the hem of her shirt and lifted it to place a wet, sucking kiss on her stomach had her on fire.

And yet, as much as she wanted to feel him inside of her, had—in fact—been dreaming of the very moment they first made love since she’d first discovered how good making out with a boy felt, she would be denied that final wish. At least for now. Levi pushed her shirt up and yanked down her bra, taking her nipple in his mouth, sucking fiercely on it, flicking the hardened nub with the tip of his tongue. At the same moment, his hand pushed down into her panties, and he strummed her clit with two of his fingers.

That was all Katie needed. She gripped Levi’s shoulders and dropped her head back as her orgasm ripped through her. She shook atop her kitchen counter and chanted his name. She was distantly aware that Levi held her the entire time. When the tremors of her orgasm settled down somewhat, Katie opened her eyes and found Levi’s passionately dark gaze on her, his lips set in a straight line. Katie opened her mouth… to apologize or to ask what was wrong, she wasn’t sure, but Levi took her lips in another brutal kiss before lifting away from her. He fixed her clothes, then smiled down at her.

“Go get some rest, Katie-bug. We have your Christmas party to get to in a few hours and I would hate for you to be late.”

And with that, Levi bent down, picked up her trash with the hand that had not been in her panties, had not been drenched with the evidence of her satisfaction, and walked out the door to the trash chute.

Katie swallowed, attempting to wet her suddenly dry mouth and looked around her now deserted kitchen. She felt… out of sorts. Different. Changed. And yet, altogether, exactly the same as she had only twenty or thirty minutes before. She shook her head and slid off the counter. She glanced back at the space where she’d just been sitting and felt her face heat in embarrassment. She would never be able to cook in that room again without remembering. Without reliving it. Without her body wanting her to orgasm all over again.

Katie wasn’t sure what had just happened. What made Levi kiss her, touch her, bring her the most amazing pleasure she’d ever experienced in her life. But whatever it was?

Katie didn’t regret it whatsoever.

This was turning out to be the greatest Christmas ever.