by A. K. Evans
“I won’t be alone. They’ll all be there,” she retorted.
“Not saying they don’t all love and care about you, but none of them has the training and experience that I do. If something bad went down, I’m liking your chances of survival more with me there.”
“Survival?” she repeated nervously.
She set her plate down on the coffee table. She hadn’t even finished eating.
Fuck.
“Sorry, Elle. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Do you think they want me dead?”
Fear was written all over her face. Her eyes got wet and her breathing grew shallow.
I leaned forward and dropped my empty plate on the table.
After I leaned back on the couch, I held my hand out to her and demanded, “Come here.”
She immediately crawled over to me and curled up into a ball next to my side. I wrapped my arm around her back and held her tight.
She was terrified.
I could feel her body shaking.
With her head on my chest I offered gently, “I don’t know yet what we’re dealing with, El, but no matter how bad it is I will protect you. I promise you I will keep you safe. Do you trust me to do that?”
She nodded and pressed her body further into mine.
“I promise, sunshine.”
Her body had so much tension coursing through it. I did what I could and held her close. I alternated between running my hand up and down her back or through her hair. Eventually, she began to relax.
“Are you ok?” I asked.
She pressed her hand into my chest and pushed off. When she pulled her face away, she looked at me and apologized, “I’m sorry. I’m ok now.”
“There’s no reason for you to apologize. You didn’t ask to be put in this situation and it’s normal to feel scared. I just want you to know that I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
She nodded her understanding before she decided, “I usually try to get a good night’s sleep the night before a performance. It’s been an exhausting day for me. I think, if you are alright with it, that I’d like to go up and unpack some of my things, take a shower, and get to bed early.”
She needed time to herself. I’d give her that.
“Sure. I already told you to make yourself at home. I’m going to go change and then head down to the weight room to get a workout in.”
“Yeah, I’m definitely not going to do that, but you have fun.”
I gave her a grin, happy to see she was no longer looking frightened, and then moved to take the cutting board and plates to the kitchen. Elle followed behind me with the glasses.
The two of us climbed the stairs.
She went to the guest bedroom.
I went to my bedroom.
After changing my clothes, I walked out of my room and knocked on her door.
“Yeah?” she called.
I opened the door and saw her sorting through her bags. “I’ll be working out, but if you need anything just yell.”
“I will. Thanks again, Levi.”
“No problem, Elle. Good night.”
I walked out of the room and closed the door behind me. I needed to get a workout in immediately. The frustration was building and I needed a release. Nothing a tough workout wouldn’t cure.
I put in a brutal workout attempting to tamp down some of what I was feeling. I had been pissed off and angry that someone was targeting Elle. My mission now was to protect her and make sure I didn’t see that look of fear on her face again. On top of her stalker issue, I now had her staying with me. I needed to keep myself focused and professional, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how all I wanted to do was taste those lips of hers. She had all those damn lip products in her car earlier. When I first saw them, I thought she was crazy, but then I assessed her lips and realized that she clearly knew what she was doing. It wasn’t just her lips either. It was her sexy-as-fuck, honey-colored, bedroom eyes that I wanted to look into while I brought her to the height of pleasure.
My workout was doing little to help with the mix of emotions I was dealing with, so I decided to call it quits just over an hour later when I was dripping with sweat. I grabbed my t-shirt that I’d removed in the middle of my workout and went to the kitchen. I downed two glasses of water and went upstairs to shower.
When I made it to the top of the steps, I walked toward my bedroom. The bathroom door across from the guest room opened.
Fucking fuck me.
Elle walked out and stopped dead in the middle of the hallway. Her eyes roamed my body and I watched as they turned to liquid honey. I was now fighting an internal battle with my brain and my dick because my little ray of sunshine was standing there looking at me with her sexy bedroom eyes wearing nothing but a delicate satin, yellow nightie.
Yes, she most definitely was a ray of sunshine.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Seeing her now without the oversized, loose-fitting clothing confirmed what I already knew to be true. Shapely slim legs, a trim waist, a great ass, and a perfect set of tits were all that made up her gorgeous body.
And then there was her neck.
Slender and exposed.
I wanted to run my tongue along the skin of it, up her jaw, and to those lips. I wanted to do that while I was buried deep inside her. My dick was hard at the sight of her, but thinking what I wanted to do to her sexy little body had me struggling to appear unaffected.
Neither of us moved.
I watched as her hardening nipples poked at the satin fabric covering them.
Fuck me again.
She was just as turned on as I was.
Finally, she spoke.
“You don’t have an ounce of fat on you,” she exclaimed, her voice husky.
“I eat well and I exercise. Though, you do the exact opposite and, judging by what I’m seeing right now, that’s not exactly been a bad thing for you.”
Her face flushed and she looked away.
I walked toward her. When I stopped in front of her, she tipped her head back to look up at me.
Those fucking eyes.
I couldn’t help myself. I pressed a kiss to the top of her head while my fingers wrapped around the hair at her neck.
I pulled back, saw the liquid honey, and with my throat tight I rasped, “Good night, sunshine.”
Her voice was just a touch over a whisper when she replied, “Good night, Levi.”
My hand fell from her hair and I walked into my bedroom. I sat down on the edge of my bed just to try and catch my breath.
What the hell.
Ten minutes later, I was still sitting on the edge of my bed trying to get my head together. I needed to figure this shit out and I needed to do it quick.
A nice cool shower is what I convinced myself I needed.
I stood and was about to walk into my bathroom when I heard it.
Elle.
Her moans.
I was convinced that I must have done something bad in my life to deserve this kind of torture.
Elle Blackman was in the bed in my guest room touching herself.
She was in the room right next to my bedroom doing that while I did everything I could to stop myself from going in to watch her.
It wasn’t even two minutes later when she climaxed.
Fuck me if it wasn’t the most beautiful thing I had ever heard.
In that very moment, I made a decision.
Tomorrow, this was changing. I was going to do whatever I had to so that I could keep Elle safe. There were no doubts about that. I was also going to do whatever Elle needed me to do to help her deliver the news to her brother, sister-in-law, her parents, and her friends about what was going on and the fact that she had someone who was actively stalking her to a level that was of great concern. And lastly, I was going to make sure that Wes knew that while I planned to do everything in my power to keep Elle safe and find out who was targeting her, I was also not going to hold
back any longer and continue to fight the attraction between the two of us.
I didn’t need Wes’ permission and no matter how he responded I wouldn’t back down from her, but I respected him enough to not do it behind his back. I also didn’t want Elle being in a position where she felt she needed to hide whatever would happen between us.
On these thoughts, knowing that Elle was likely fast asleep, I jumped in the cold shower.
My efforts to quell the heat and sexual tension I was feeling by taking a cold shower were futile because all I could do was thinking about her little body in that nightie, liquid-honey eyes staring up at me, and the moaning coming from the guest room only minutes prior.
Chapter 3
Elle
I was in trouble.
On the one hand, there was the frightening, scary trouble with some crazy psycho stalker, who may or may not want to kill me, with which I had to deal.
And then there was this issue with Levi.
The stalker issue was trouble. Big trouble, in fact.
The Levi issue, though? That trouble was so big I wasn’t sure there was even a word for it.
I just woke up and was currently cuddled up under the blankets in the guest room just outside of Levi’s bedroom.
Yesterday afternoon I realized someone had broken into my apartment and was stalking me. Somehow, that translated into me ending up in this very spot. The sad thing is, I wasn’t sure which was worse.
It hadn’t even been a full twenty-four hours since I went to his offices and my attraction to him was already growing stronger. Throughout the day yesterday his insistence that he would do whatever he had to do to protect me only served to deepen my attraction to him.
Then, last night happened.
I unpacked most of my things while Levi went downstairs to get in a workout. After unpacking my clothing, I grabbed my bag with my toiletries and went to the bathroom. I also took a nightie with me. Once I had set out all of my beauty products and toiletries, I turned on the shower and hopped in.
While in the shower, my thoughts drifted to my stalker situation. I did a mental inventory of everyone I knew. Images of people I had encountered over the years as a performer went through my mind, but nothing stood out to me. I knew there was a very real possibility that I had an obsessed fan and it was likely that I hadn’t ever met the person. The thought, despite the burning-hot water from the shower, sent shivers through my body.
I finished my business in the shower, got out, dried off, and pulled my nightie over my head. After, I dried my hair, put on my body lotion, and finished off with my lip moisturizer. I was hoping for a good night’s sleep free from worry over this horrific situation.
On that thought, I turned toward the door, opened it, and stepped out to walk to the guest bedroom.
That’s when I saw him.
And all of the gloriousness that was him.
Well, not exactly all of him, but certainly more than I had ever seen before. And it was all that I had imagined it would be and then some.
Levi had apparently finished his workout. It resulted in a lot of sweat. So much so that he no longer had a shirt on. I stood there watching as the beads of sweat glistened on his impeccable body. I had just gotten out of the shower, but right then and there I was ready to press myself up against his sweaty body so I could lick every square inch of him.
After I spent an unreasonable amount of time checking him out, I let my eyes drift up to his face. He was checking me out. I was standing in the hallway in a nightie and nothing else.
No bra.
No panties.
Just a nightie.
All I wanted to do was rip it off, jump into his arms, and wrap my legs around him. Unfortunately, while I knew that he found me attractive, he had already made it very clear that nothing would happen between us.
I decided to give props where they were due and complimented him on his body. Actually, it was more like I made an observation to the fact that he had zero fat on him. He chocked it up to his healthy lifestyle and moved to compliment me. He made no apologies for the fact that he appreciated what he saw when he looked at me.
I felt heat spread through my body at his admission.
Then, he had to make it worse by standing inches in front of me and kissing the top of my head before he wished me a good night and went into his bedroom.
I was so turned on and restless. How could he do that to me? Walk up and show off all that was sexy and beautiful and then just kiss me on the head and walk away. I felt a bit devious in doing so, but last night in Levi’s guest room bed I lifted my nightie up past my hips and slipped my hand between my legs. Within minutes of touching myself, replaying the good parts of my day that were littered with Levi, I moaned and came apart. It wasn’t much later when I fell fast asleep.
It had now been hours since all that happened and I could still feel his hand in my hair and his lips on the top of my head.
Fuck.
This was not going to be a good long-term solution. There was no way I was going to be able to continue staying with him for the foreseeable future and not be with him. I was going to take the next few minutes to collect my thoughts on it and hopefully I’d be able to talk to him about it this morning.
I threw back the covers and got out of bed.
Bathroom, change, talk with Levi.
In that order.
I’m not sure what crazy universe I lived in that wanted to punish me, but when I stepped out of the bedroom, Levi’s door opened.
His eyes did a full body scan and when they came to mine he gave me a wicked smile and greeted, “Good morning, sunshine.”
“Morning, Levi.”
“We’ve got to stop meeting this way,” he shared.
The perfect opening.
“I was just thinking the same thing. I need to talk to you.”
“Ok. About what?”
“Well, I was planning to use the bathroom, put on real clothes, and then talk to you.”
“I’m fine with what you’ve got on now, Elle.”
I rolled my eyes at him.
“Please?” I asked.
“Alright. I’ll meet you downstairs for breakfast. Eggs and bacon?”
My eyes rounded and I nodded.
“The bacon is what did you in, isn’t it?” he teased.
I bit my lip and looked away.
He groaned and ordered, “Do what you’ve got to do and come down.”
“Ok,” I murmured and shimmied past him into the bathroom.
I did what I had to do in the bathroom, went back to the bedroom to change into a pair of cut-off jean shorts and a V-neck tee, and made my way downstairs. The scent of bacon was intoxicating. It would be the perfect way to start my day preparing for a performance tonight.
I stepped out into the kitchen and Levi’s eyes did another body scan. His grin was back and he mumbled, “Definitely fucking changing things today.”
“I’m sorry?”
“You first,” he insisted as he flipped the bacon in the frying pan. “How do you like your eggs?”
“Over easy.”
He nodded and went about making the eggs. He already had a heaping pile of scrambled eggs set on a plate.
“I can eat scrambled if you’ve already made them.”
“I’m willing to share with you if that’s what you really want, but I normally eat that many every morning.”
My eyes bulged out of my head.
“How many eggs are there?”
“Six.”
“You eat a half dozen eggs every morning?”
“Just about.”
“With bacon?”
“I don’t usually add the bacon. Only on special occasions.”
I tried not to let what that could have meant even penetrate my skull. I had enough problems to manage.
“Holy crap. I’ll just have two over easy then.”
He grinned at me and gave me a wink.
Fuck.
He was so hot a
s it was.
The wink and the grin didn’t help in my need to stay strong and focused on what I needed to discuss with him.
Levi finished cooking the food and set it in front of me at the kitchen island. He had water in a glass for himself.
“Coffee?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No, I don’t drink coffee. Do you have hot tea?”
“Do I look like the kind of guy that sits around sipping hot tea?”
“Not exactly,” I remarked.
“We’ll stop and get some later today so you can have it here for tomorrow.”
I swallowed. We wouldn’t need it for tomorrow because I wasn’t going to be staying here.
“Just water then.”
He nodded, filled up a glass, and set it in front of me.
“Ok, shoot,” he said as he sat down next to me on one of the barstools.
I was nervous and unsure of how to start the conversation, so I quickly picked up a piece of bacon and took a bite. I chewed, swallowed, and took another bite. I did this several more times as Levi watched and laughed.
He might have thought I was being funny, but I was a bundle of anxiety and nerves.
We both ate in silence a while before I realized that I was beginning to feel sick. I needed to stop eating and start talking.
“Ok,” I started, putting my fork down. “We need to talk.”
“Yeah, I’ve been waiting for you to tell me whatever it is that you want to discuss.”
“Right. Well, I wanted to let you know that I really appreciate what you’ve done for me for the last however many hours it’s been and I can’t thank you enough for being willing to look into this whole stalker situation for me. That said, I can’t stay here another night.”
Levi pushed his empty plate back, took a huge gulp of water, and turned to face me.
“And the reason for that would be?”
I didn’t have a reason that I could tell him.
“Um, well, I just feel that it would be best if I stayed somewhere else. I won’t go back to my apartment until we know more and you feel that it’s safe to do so, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to stay here anymore.”
