The Heart Remembers: a friends to lovers romance (Heart Collection)

by L. B. Dunbar

  “What happened today?” he asks his daughter.

  “We were tubing and fell in. I blame Uncle Gavin,” Katie says, narrowing her eyes, pointing two fingers at them before swinging them in Gavin’s direction, insinuating she’s watching him. He laughs and throws up an arm while shaking his head, acting innocent. He’s a filmmaker, so he knows how to act.

  “But afterward?” Jess Carter asks, not giving up the topic, and I’m assuming someone reported how Katie and I clung to each other. Seeing as my hand was on her lower back when he approached, and then I ran it up her spine and around her nape, I’m not really fooling him. I’m into his daughter, but I release her, slipping my hand into my pocket to keep from touching her for five seconds.

  Katie looks over at me and then back at her dad. “It was nothing, Dad.”

  Still watching me, Jess doesn’t believe her, so I speak up. “I had a panic attack. I thought Katie went under.”

  “And you thought you could save her?”

  Holding her father’s eyes, which match the blue in Katie’s, I sternly reply, “I’d take a bullet for her, sir, if necessary.”

  Katie’s mouth falls open as she looks back and forth between her father and me. “No one’s taking bullets for anyone. I’m fine. Like Levi said, just a little panic. It’s nothing.” She leans over and pats her father’s chest. “Where’s Mom? Get a beer. Go distract her.”

  Katie’s easy dismissal of her father does nothing to calm my nerves. It must be written all over my face how I feel about his eldest girl.

  “My panic attack wasn’t nothing,” I tell her as her dad walks away.

  “I know it’s not nothing, and I am concerned, but it’s none of my dad’s business. Do these things happen often? Did something trigger it?”

  “Yes, the thought of you drowning triggered it.”

  “Levi,” she groans softly, leaning toward me and placing a hand on my chest. “I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere.”

  I reach up and brush the hair from her forehead, tracing my finger down the side of her face before curling the hairs behind her ear.

  “I know, but it still scared me to think I hurt you, and you blacked out, slipping down into that dark water.” I exaggerate a full-body shiver, but just the thought of something happening to her has me sweating once more.

  “Babe, I’m right here,” she repeats, and the endearment on her lips has me wanting to capture it with my own.

  “Fuck, Katie,” I mutter, looking over my shoulder. “Don’t talk sweet to me like that when I can’t be alone with you.”

  Her eyes dilate, the pupils growing. “You want to be alone with me?” She can’t be that clueless.

  “It’s been a rough twenty-four hours. Remembering the other night and how you taste—”

  “Levi,” she groans, turning her head to look around and see if anyone is close enough to hear me. Her hand slides down my chest, resting on my abs, which flinch under her touch. I want her fingers on my skin.

  “I’ve missed you the last day and more, and time is moving so fast. The party is tomorrow.” I don’t need to say more. Tomorrow will be a whirlwind of activity culminating with the birthday event, and then Sunday morning will arrive. The thought dampens my mood a little.

  “We still have tonight and tomorrow. It’s not over yet.” Her eyes sparkle in the low light of evening, and how I wish I knew what she meant. Not wanting to read into things, but I so want to make her statement into something more.

  My fingers slip into hers again, and I tug. “Follow me.” She sets down the wine glass she’s been holding and glances over her shoulder as I nearly pull her arm out of the socket, briskly walking us to the corner of the house and stepping around it, hiding us from the party.

  “Levi, what the—” She doesn’t finish her statement before I have her pinned to the side of the house, kissing her like I’ve been wanting to do all day. Her hands lift for my head, fingertips dragging through my short hair until her elbows meet my shoulders. Then she’s leveraging herself, plastering her body to mine, and I grind into her, desperate and ready to take her up against the house. Family party be damned. Our mouths eagerly kiss, twisting from side to side, hungry for every inch. Our tongues clash, twirling with impatience. We need to be closer.

  “Ahem.”

  I break away from Katie so quickly that she falls forward, and I catch her by her hips.

  “Mom!” Katie shrieks, her voice cracking a little. Her lips are swollen and moist as she looks at her mother, who has busted us making out like teenagers.

  “You might want to reconsider your position,” Emily says, although she slowly smiles. Katie’s hands slip down my chest before she releases me, stepping back and bumping into the house. I clearly haven’t given us as much space as I thought. I don’t want any distance between us, but when I see Katie’s pink cheeks, I realize she’s embarrassed.

  Is she embarrassed of me? Or is it just this compromising position?

  “Levi, do you mind giving us a minute?” Emily asks, and I glance at Katie, hesitant to leave her alone. We aren’t teenagers, even if I feel like one at the moment, and I don’t want Katie to incur any wrath from her mom for what we were just doing.

  Katie’s eyes shift back to me, and she pats my chest in a way I find patronizing. “I’ll only be a minute,” she assures me, giving me a smile before biting the corner of her lip.

  I tip up my chin and step off to the side, circling Emily, who smiles back at me before I return to the party. With Katie off talking to her mom, I spend the next few minutes amidst her family, which is very much mine as well, wishing I could be a more permanent part of them.

  13

  [Katie]

  As Levi walks away, I fall back against the side of the house where Levi had me pinned only minutes ago. How far would we have gone? With his stiff length grinding against me and my leg hitching up to his hip, I was ready to give into him despite the party only feet away from us.

  No man would let you get down that hallway before pinning you against the wall and taking you.

  We weren’t even naked, yet it was evident what he wanted with my body.

  “Katie bug?” My attention snaps back to my mother standing before me. Shaky fingers come to my lips before I drop them to my skirt, clutching my fingers into the material. After a day on the water, I’m wearing a casual athletic dress that goes from beach to evening.

  “Hey,” I whisper, my voice still no more than a croak. I’m embarrassed, but I’m more turned on than anything else, and the conflict of emotions leaves me rattled.

  “Dad wanted me to find you. He’s worried about what happened earlier.”

  Good cover, I consider. “He already asked me about it, and I told him I was fine. Levi and I knocked into each other when we flipped, but I was fine. I just scared Levi a little bit.”

  I’d take a bullet for her if I needed to. Jesus, who says that? Then again, my insides did a giddy backflip with the protective declaration. Levi’s tone turned deadly serious. He meant every word.

  “What’s going on with you two?” Mom questions, her voice hesitant. Her brows pinch, expressing her concern.

  “I don’t know,” I admit, tipping back my head. “I’ve had a crush on him forever, and this reunion has brought up some old feelings.”

  Mom brushes my hair off my shoulder and nervously smiles. “Don’t you think it’s a little soon after breaking up with Derek?”

  “I think Levi is just what I needed.” Our spontaneous combustion shows me what I’ve been wanting for too long and missing too often with Derek.

  “He’s also . . . fragile. I don’t want you to use him.”

  “Mom,” I groan. “I’d never do that to him.” If anything, I’m the one allowing myself to be used because Levi’s leaving on Sunday. I might not see him again until the next family function, and who knows when that will be.

  “I just want you to be careful. Both of you.”

  I stare at her, uncertain what
to say, uncertain how to explain what I feel inside, and equally afraid to admit what I think I feel. I’m in love with Levi Walker, maybe even more so than I was as a little girl. Definitely more so than a silly crush on someone unobtainable and older than me. We’re both adults now. The playing field is different.

  “You know, one of the first times I met your father’s family was during a party at Uncle Tom’s.” She looks up at the side of the house and then down the side yard protected from view of the back lawn. “Your dad brought me right here and kissed me just like I saw you kissing Levi.”

  “Mom,” I croon. It’s bad enough sometimes that my parents are still madly in love with each other and don’t hide it from anyone. They're affectionate and don’t hold back on the PDA. Thankfully, they don’t take it to the most embarrassing moments. I’ve seen my parents kiss, and while I’d typically turn away, there were times when my heart ached for what they had . . . still have. Deep down, I didn’t ever think I’d have that with Derek. Levi feels like a different story. A new story where the heroine saves the prince, not the other way around. It would be one of my mother’s favorite fairy tales.

  “I can’t say I knew at that moment that I was in love with him, but I knew that I didn’t want to walk away from him either. I wanted to be part of this family. I wanted what they all had. Love. Connection. Commitment to one another. You have that from us, but we also want it for you with a partner.” Mom swipes back my hair again. “If Derek showed up promising all those things, would you take him back?”

  It’s a strange question, considering she just caught me kissing Levi. Not to mention, I’ve already told her about Derek and me. I broke up with him, and I’m comfortable with that decision.

  I shake my head without answering her.

  “If you promised those things to Levi, I bet he’d jump at the chance.”

  “That’s a little backward,” I say, as she’s just mentioned Derek promising things to me.

  “Yes, but Levi needs those things. He has Tricia and Leon, but he’s never fully believed he deserves them. He wants a family, love, connection, commitment as well.” She tips her head. “You need to be careful with him. With his heart.”

  I nod as I lower my head, understanding that Levi has a stake in whatever we’re doing just as much as I do.

  “We all want a hero in life. My guess is, you would be Levi’s.”

  My head snaps up, and I look at my mom softly smiling at me with pride and fear. She doesn’t want me hurt. She doesn’t want Levi hurt. But she has to let us make our own mistakes, if that’s what’s happening.

  Then again, what if it’s not?

  + + +

  What a day.

  Curled up in my bed, I am too wound up to sleep, so I lie on my side, staring out the open window and listening to the lake lull against the boulders at the shore. Earlier, Levi mentioned the other night, reminding me of his mouth on me, and I just cannot get out of my head how much I want a repeat. I want to feel his tongue on me and touch him with my own. My eyes close with lustful thoughts. Then, a soft knock comes to the bedroom door before it slowly opens.

  “Hey, you still awake?” Levi whispers, although it’s clear from my shifting on the bed, I’m not sleeping.

  “Yeah. You okay?”

  Levi walks to the edge of my bed and stares down at me. The moonlight somewhere outside is the only light in the room, but I notice he’s holding the baby monitor in his hand. I’d like to think it’s a hint he wants to spend some time in my room.

  “Katie girl, after today, would it be presumptuous to ask if I could sleep with you?”

  “Please be presumptuous,” I tease. Levi sets the monitor on the night stand and folds down beside me. With a hand on my shoulder, he rolls me, so my back meets his front, and an arm slips over my waist. As I continue to stare at the dim illumination of the window, I realize Levi meant sleep—as in sleep-sleep—and I begin to giggle. My hand covers my lips because it can’t be helped. The tee-heeing escapes. I’m so stupid.

  “What’s so funny?” Levi asks and I shake my head. He props up on his elbow, presses a kiss to my shoulder, and then places his hand there so I look at him. “Tell me.”

  “You said sleep, and I just thought—” I cut myself off. I can’t say it. I can’t tell him what I had in my head.

  “Tell me.” His voice deepens, the tone roughening. Fingers come to my side, and he digs in, tickling me. I squeal and then cover my mouth with both hands at the sharp noise in the quiet of the night. Though I flip to my back in hopes to stop him, he continues to torture me.

  “Okay,” I say too loudly again. “Okay, I just thought you meant sleep as in sex, and it was silly of me because—”

  “Do you want to have sex with me?” Levi interrupts, flattening his hand and sliding it to my belly.

  “Well, I didn’t want to presume, but I obviously did presume, and now I just want to unassume and—”

  My mouth is stopped by his. His tongue rushes forward, and I instantly melt under him. His body shifts so he’s partially over me. Taking my lips with control and command, I follow his lead. My hands reach for the side of his head, slipping to the back and holding him there. His hand on my belly slides up my body and covers a breast as his mouth pays homage to mine. He squeezes, and I moan, the sound rolling from my throat to his.

  “I’d very much like to have sex with you,” he says, pulling back only slightly to look at my lips while massaging my breast. “God, I want more than sex with you, sweet girl.”

  I don’t have time to consider what that means as my nightdress is lifting, and I sit up only enough to slip it over my head, exposing myself to him. His eyes worship my body while his hand skims over my skin as if he doesn’t know where to touch first. He returns to a breast, and my back arches, forcing his hand to tighten over the achy globe and squeeze.

  “Yes,” I whisper until his forefinger and thumb pinch the peaked nipple and add a little twist. “Oh, God.”

  “Like that?” he teases, lowering his mouth for the sharp nub while placing his hand on my other breast, twisting and teasing it as his tongue tortures my nipple. I’m not easily stimulated here, but his tongue does wonders while his fingers work magic. My legs spread, inviting Levi to shift between them, and he does, fitting his hips snug between my thighs.

  “God, Katie girl, you are so beautiful.” His mouth moves down my middle, tongue circling my belly before fingers curl into my underwear and take their time to remove the flimsy material. Levi sits back to stare at my body, spread and primed for him. Fingers dance over my core, and I bow off the bed again.

  “I want to take my time but dive in at the same time.”

  “Dive in,” I beg. “We can take our time for round two.”

  “I get a second turn?” he teases.

  “You might even get a third,” I whisper, loving the way his fingers work, slipping lazily up and down my slit before circling me, teasing me. “Touch me,” I beg, and he does as I command, sliding a finger into me and quickly adding a second. My hand lowers for his wrist, holding onto it as his hand moves back and forth, fingers filling me.

  “Third time is the charm,” Levi teases. “And I’ll be taking all my chances.” His thumb finds my clit, and the combination is too much. With my fantasies of his mouth still haunting my mind, I quickly break, and he works me until I beg him to stop.

  “Nope,” he demands, lowering his head so his tongue can continue to tease me, spread me, and force me to spill. I quickly come again. “You’re fast.” A soft chuckle fills his voice, and I shake my head.

  “I never come this quickly. I’ve just been thinking about this for days.”

  Levi kneels to remove his shirt and lower his shorts. He’s commando under the sports material, and my mouth waters when I finally see the impressive bulge in the flesh. My fingers reach for him, and he allows me to wrap my hands around the thickness, tugging gently.

  “You’ve been thinking about this?” he asks, straining under my min
istrations. “Like that book you were reading the other night? Tell me.”

  The sharp command forces forth the words. “I was thinking about you spreading me wide and taking me deep, filling me like the next passage in that story.”

  “Fuck, sweet girl,” he mutters, reaching for his shorts and digging out a condom.

  “Was I a forgone conclusion?” I stare at him as he rips the package and covers himself.

  “No, but I was, and I want this. Hope is a dangerous thing.” Levi balances over me, using his hand to guide himself to my entrance. He drags the tip through my folds, ready and waiting for him. The anticipation builds, and my knees bend, opening me wider. One foot slides up the back of his leg, heel pressing under his backside.

  “Want something, sweet girl?”

  I bite my lip, but in my head, I scream for him to take me.

  “Say it, and I’ll give you anything.”

  “Take me,” I beg, and he slams into me. While I’d been expecting him, I didn’t expect the overwhelming rush or the fullness as filling as he is. My body bends forward a bit, looking where he’s sunk into me.

  “Oh my God, baby,” he mutters, brushing back my hair as I stare at where he’s disappeared.

  “Move,” I whisper, and he does, rocking into me like we danced the other night with subtle bumps and gentle taps as our pelvises meet and then draw apart. His thickness touches every part of my inside, tapping spots untapped, and I arch back, drawing him into me. One arm hitches under my knee, forcing my leg up to his shoulder, and he moves faster, diving deeper, and I soar to new heights as I’m so open to him.

  “Gonna be quick myself,” Levi strains. “Because you feel too good.”

  “So good,” I purr as my hands cup his backside, forcing him into me. His hips thrust, his dick surges, and the familiar ripple races to my middle. “Levi,” I warn him.

  “Let me feel it, baby. Come all over me.” I break at his words never having someone be so straightforward. The rush is even more than the first two, and I curl upward, tugging him down to me. I watch as he enters me over and over, dragging out the release. Falling back, my hands slide to his shoulder blades, and he increases his speed, pummeling into me. I meet him as best I can, but he’s taken control again, moving in a way that tells my body he’s close.