by A. K. Evans
“How long is your meeting going to take?” I asked, my throat tight.
Levi cocked an eyebrow and answered with a question, “Who wants to know?”
“Your honey maker,” I rasped with a roll of my hips against him.
He growled.
“I’ll make it as quick as possible,” he promised. “We’re going straight to my place afterward.”
I lifted my head to his and gave him one last taste of birthday cake. After getting his fill or, at least, as much as he could have without someone coming to look for him, Levi stood and helped me off the desk. We made our way to the conference room, where Levi and his team discussed the details of my case up to this point and their strategy moving forward.
I sat back and looked around the room. My stalker situation sucked, but on the bright side, I was in the company of some incredibly beautiful men, who were doing everything in their power to keep me safe.
Best of all was my man. I hated what Becky was doing and how her actions were negatively impacting my life, but I had to admit that what she did only seemed to make my life better. The reality was that Levi and the members of his team would find Becky and put a stop to her harassment and threatening actions. Once that stopped, she will have been nothing more than a blip on the radar and I’ll be happier than I can ever remember. Part of me wanted to know why Becky was doing this and I was certain that curiosity would never leave me, but another part of me was beginning to think that if I got the opportunity I should thank her. There had been an attraction between Levi and I for quite some time now, but it wasn’t until Becky that we acted on that pull to each other. That attraction turned into love.
A love that resulted in Levi finishing his meeting quickly because I tasted like a celebration.
A love that allowed me to give Levi bedroom eyes and honey.
A love the likes of which I’m unsure how I ever lived without.
Chapter 22
Elle
“Aren’t you worried that it’ll escalate tonight?”
My dear sister-in-law’s worried voice came through the phone.
Levi and I had arrived back at his place about an hour ago. He made good work of demonstrating just how much he loved my birthday cake-flavored lip balm. I still had a couple hours left before my performance tonight at Lou’s and knew that Levi was nowhere near finished with me. If I was being honest, this made me extremely happy since I was in the mood for some serious lovin’ from him.
I was currently lying on the couch in the family room with Levi’s arm under my waist, his head resting on my belly. When we returned from his office, he was intent on making sure we wasted no time dealing with climbing stairs to get to the bedroom. So, we ended up here in the living room on the couch. The fact was I didn’t care where he had his way with me, I just knew I’d been burning up for him since he came to settle over me when my back was pressed against his desk.
When we were pulling into the driveway earlier, my phone rang. I saw that it was Charley and Levi explained, “You want to answer it, go ahead. But let it be known that I’m not waiting any longer, Elle. I’m getting you out of this truck and I’m going to have you immediately.”
I decided it was wise to wait and call Charley back.
Now that I’d given Levi what he wanted, what we both wanted, and we were settling in for a brief rest before we went at it again, I decided to return Charley’s call. She was concerned about me performing again tonight given the events of last night’s show.
“I can’t say for sure that it’ll be tonight, but I suspect that it’s going to escalate at some point, regardless. The way I see it, the quicker it escalates, the faster she’s caught.”
“I’m so afraid for you, honey,” Charley continued to fret.
“I know, love. I understand what you’re feeling, but to be honest, there’s a part of me that hopes she tries something tonight.”
“WHAT?!” she shrieked. “Are you crazy?”
I had to laugh, but I did so only briefly so that I could fill Charley in on why I’d made such a ludicrous statement.
“The entire team will be there tonight. Becky’s not aware of that. Quite frankly, tonight would be the perfect time for her to make a move.”
Charley stayed silent a minute before she finally repeated in a questioning tone, “The entire team?”
“Every single one of them,” I reassured her.
“Wow,” she whispered. “Levi’s not messing around, is he?”
My heart squeezed. I loved that Charley saw how much Levi cared about me. “He’s got a thing for my lip balm flavors.”
Charley laughed. “I’m frightened for you, but I’m also so very happy that this has helped you and Levi to stop avoiding what I saw happening between the two of you back when Emme was going through her stuff.”
As I ran my fingers through his hair, I admitted, “I was just thinking the same exact thing earlier today.”
“I’ve got to go get ready since we’re meeting up at Emme and Zane’s before heading over to Lou’s tonight. Can’t wait to see you tonight, honey. Love you.”
“Same here. Love you, too.”
I disconnected the call and tossed my phone to the end table behind my head. When Levi heard it drop to the table, he stated, “She’s worried.”
It wasn’t a question. He already knew how Charley felt, but I responded anyway. “Yeah.”
“So, what is it that the two of you were on the same page about?”
“What?”
“You just said to her that you were just thinking the same exact thing earlier today. What were you thinking about earlier today?”
“Part of me is a mix of scared and angry about what Becky’s doing, but there is the part of me that feels thankful she’s done this.”
Levi lifted his head from my belly and pressed me further. “And what exactly are you thankful for?”
I knew my eyes went liquid the second his bored into them. After giving myself a moment to settle into that feeling, I answered quietly, “You.”
A devilish grin spread across his face. “You’re finally feeling the way I did about a day into this.”
“I despise what she’s doing; I hate it. It’s creepy and it makes absolutely no sense. I won’t lie and say I’m not scared at times, but she gave us the push we needed to pursue this thing between us. Charley said she knew back when Emme was going through her ordeal that you and I had sparks flying. Becky is seriously irritating me, but I have you now. People go through all sorts of obstacles to find love. If this is what I need to go through to deserve love, then I’m willing to endure it.”
Levi’s voice was husky when he spoke. “You deserve love, sunshine. And you don’t deserve to go through this just to have it. I made a bad decision back then to not pursue you. I hate that you think this was needed for you to get what you should have gotten from me a long time ago.”
“Don’t do that,” I started. “You saw the bright side in this at the beginning; it took me until now to really see that bright side. Don’t start questioning what didn’t happen between us before this situation arose. All that matters to me now is the fact that you’ve done nothing but prove to me that I’m the luckiest woman alive. I feel beautiful, loved, and cherished because of you.”
“Elle…” he trailed off.
“Kiss me, Levi.”
I thought he would move and slide his body up mine to kiss me, but he didn’t. Instead, Levi’s mouth touched the skin just below my bellybutton. He pressed a kiss there. Then, he began moving his mouth up my body. He kissed the spot just below the center of my ribcage. His hands slid up my sides and came to cup the sides of my breasts. He kissed the skin between them before he peppered kisses across each one, ultimately landing on my nipples.
Yes, I felt beautiful.
I felt loved.
His mouth moved along my collarbone to the skin at the side of my throat. I hooked a leg around his hip and he slid inside me.
“Love you, sweetness
. Love you so fuckin’ much,” he whispered when his mouth reached my ear.
I turned my head slightly toward his so my mouth was at his ear. “I know,” I whispered back. “I feel it every day.”
Levi took my mouth and moved inside me. He did this for quite some time before he tore his mouth from mine, lifted himself up, gripped my hip in one hand, and my thigh in the other. One of his legs dropped off the side of the couch, where his foot went to the floor and he hiked my leg up higher. His eyes looked to where he was moving in and out of me.
His expression changed.
He picked up his pace.
“Oh, Levi,” I whimpered.
The sound of our bodies colliding mixed with the scent of sex in the air was satisfyingly stimulating. I grew more and more aroused with each thrust of Levi’s cock into me.
“Faster,” I panted. “Please, harder.”
My ankle was now up on Levi’s shoulder, one of his hands wrapped around that thigh as he continued to power into me, harder and faster.
“Slick and sweet as honey,” he growled.
“More, Levi.”
He gave me more.
He gave it hard.
He gave it deep.
It was so good.
“Are you going to come with me, Elle?”
My eyes closed and I nodded.
“Give them to me, sunshine. Give me those eyes and take what’s yours.”
My orgasm ripped through me. It started at my soaked center and seized my limbs. My eyes were focused on Levi’s. I was torn between trying to keep my focus on his reaction to finding his release and thoroughly enjoying what he just did to me. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I could easily do both.
Levi slowed his thrusts until they eventually stopped. He stayed there inside me, looking at me. I had just had my third orgasm in a very short period of time and was completely spent. When Levi’s hand left my thigh, I didn’t have the energy to keep it up on his shoulder. It began to fall; his hand caught it and guided it safely down.
“It’s still early, right?” I asked.
“Just after lunchtime. Why?”
My eyes began to drift shut. “I think I need a nap before getting ready to go to Lou’s. I’m exhausted.”
“You need to eat,” he said softly.
I shook my head. My eyes were still closed as I proposed, “How about food after a nap? I’m too tired.”
“Ok,” Levi conceded as he pulled himself from my tired body.
Not even seconds later, I felt his arms slide between the couch and my upper back as well as under my knees. He was going to carry me upstairs.
More proof of how much he loved me.
Minutes later, Levi settled me into his bed, slid in next to me, and pulled the covers up over our bodies. With his body pressed close to mine and the warmth I felt, it was a matter of seconds before I drifted off to sleep.
*****
“Elle?”
Levi’s voice filtered into my ears in the darkness.
I was still in his bed.
I rolled to my back and opened my eyes. Levi was hovering over me.
“Hey.” My voice came out sleepy.
Levi smiled at me and cautioned, “Can’t keep sleeping if you’re going to make it to your show on time tonight. It’s getting late and I know you’ll need time to get ready.”
“Thanks for waking me.”
“I want to make you something to eat. Most everything substantial is frozen. Figured I’d could make some tuna sandwiches since that’ll be quick and easy. This way, you can have a pile of potato chips with it.”
I knew he had been on tour with me and got used to my pre-show rituals, but it still made my belly flutter when he did sweet things like plan food to include my pre-show chip consumption.
“I love you, Levi.”
His face softened as he tilted his head to the side. Then, he held my phone out to me and noted, “When I was downstairs, I heard this going off with text message alerts. Your girl has been trying to contact you.”
“Leah?” I wondered.
He nodded and added, “Yeah. Figured I’d bring it up so you could reach out to her. I’ll go make some food in the meantime.”
I grinned up at him, sat up in the bed, and took the phone from him. “My hero.”
He gave me the phone, leaned over and pressed a kiss to my lips before he walked out of the room.
Looking down at my phone the screen showed that Leah was, in fact, trying to reach me. I read her text.
How was the flight? Are you back in town?
That unanswered text was followed up with a missed call and another text shortly thereafter.
Did you get in yet? Worried about you after last night -- and I never heard back from you.
There was another missed call after that.
I quickly tapped out a text to let her.
Sorry, LP. I was napping. I’m back and everything is good.
She responded immediately.
Napping?!?! I’ve been worried out of my mind that something bad happened again.
Me: I’m sorry. We came back, went to Levi’s office, and then here. I was exhausted and needed to get a couple hours to rest before tonight. You’re coming, right?
Leah: Yes, I’ll be there. Wouldn’t miss it! Can’t wait to see you.
Me: You too. Going to get ready. See you tonight! So much to fill you in on.
Leah: Later, E!
I set my phone on the bedside table and decided to go meet Levi downstairs to eat. A large majority of my clothing was still in my suitcases, which were still in Levi’s truck. On that thought, I found one of Levi’s t-shirts and threw it over my head before I walked out of the room and down the stairs.
As I descended the stairs, I heard Levi talking. I made my way into the kitchen and found that he was on the phone. He must have seen me out the corner of his eye because he turned, did a full body scan, and gave me a grin and a wink.
“As we discussed earlier, the original plan was to arrive an hour ahead of her performance. Let’s do an extra thirty minutes to account for this new information,” he said into the phone.
Fuck.
What now?
I was half-tempted to run back upstairs to grab my phone and see if there had been any new postings from Becky, but Levi disconnected the call, set his phone down, and walked toward me.
His hands came around my waist while he buried his face in my neck.
“I love this look on you, sunshine.”
“A t-shirt?”
He pulled his face from my neck and shook his head while smirking at me. “No. You in my t-shirt. Hungry?”
I gave him a quick nod.
At that, we moved to the stools at the island, where Levi had already set the food. I felt a smile tugging at my lips as I looked at the plates. A tuna sandwich, lots of carrots, and a handful of chips on his plate. A tuna sandwich, lots of chips, and a handful of carrots on mine. I loved his heart for trying to offset the unhealthy chips in my diet by adding a few carrots.
I picked up my sandwich and took a bite. Levi took that opportunity to start the conversation.
“You talk to Leah?”
I answered with a nod.
“All good?”
“Yeah. She was just worried since the last she spoke to me was after what happened last night in Vegas. I didn’t reach out to her after that and never said anything after we got back in to town. She just wanted to check in, but I let her know that everything was good and confirmed that she’d be at Lou’s tonight.”
He acknowledged everything I said with a downward jerk of his chin since his mouth was full of food. I took the opportunity to shift the conversation at this juncture.
“We’re leaving to arrive at Lou’s thirty minutes earlier now?”
Levi set his sandwich down and stated, “That was Cruz. As it turns out, Becky went live today.”
“Really?” I began, shocked. “That’s great. So, was he able to confirm that
she looks like the woman that delivered the flowers in Vegas?”
He shook his head. “No, she never spoke or showed her face.”
I stayed silent, waiting for him to give me more information.
“She went live outside of Lou’s late this morning.”
I gasped.
Then, I quickly pulled myself together.
“This is perfect, Levi. Everyone is going to be there. This madness is finally going to end tonight.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself; we can’t guarantee anything. She may or may not try something. Regardless, I wouldn’t say it’s worth getting excited about. I get you want this to end, but I’m not exactly thrilled about any of this having to happen at all.”
I popped a chip in my mouth and admitted, “Well, I’m hopeful that we’re getting close and I’ll be able to get back to actually enjoying my life without this constant annoyance.”
He shook his head at me.
“What?” I asked defensively.
“The change in you from when this started until now. It’s amazing to me. You went from being terrified about this to now practically wishing Becky shows up at Lou’s tonight. I’m proud of you and how courageous you’ve become.”
His words made my heart swell. Still, I needed to be honest. “It’s all thanks to you. What you and your team have done for me, making me feel safe and protected, that’s given me the confidence to face this head on. And I wasn’t joking -- starting this week, I want Dom to start training me in self-defense even if this situation gets dealt with tonight.”
“Not going to say no to giving you the tools you need to protect yourself,” he began. “I hope you never need to use them, but I’ll make sure you have them.”
At that, we both turned our attention back to the food and finished eating. After, I took off upstairs so that I could get ready for the last performance of my tour. As I did that, I took the time to reflect on what Levi said while we ate sandwiches and potato chips.
He was right. It had only been a couple of weeks, but I was finding that my mindset surrounding the stalker situation had changed drastically. I didn’t think I’d ever forget the fear, anxiety, and pure terror I felt that day I walked into my apartment and found the photo on my bed. Even still, from the moment I ran into Levi’s office and he held me as we sat on the couch in his reception area, I began to feed off his confidence. It took time, but the more we learned about the stalker, the more I tried to stop being fearful and start being smart. I didn’t want someone else controlling any part of my life; though, I guess it was actually the opposite. The obsession Becky had with me was really controlling her life. She couldn’t seem to survive without watching my every move.
