by Bethany-Kris
Lev asked nothing.
He hadn’t forgotten, after all. If all he could offer was fun, then he didn’t want her to think he was willing to give anything else by making her think he cared. Oh, he did care. He just couldn’t let it matter.
Look at his life.
This wasn’t a place made for two.
Gigi drummed her fingernails to the bar top, drawing his attention down. Filed into an almond shape, she had painted them in soft pink that faded into white tips. “I just thought ...”
“What?”
“I wanted to celebrate. For some reason, even though I really shouldn’t be here, this is still where I came. It’s not like I’m going to be around much longer, and I don’t really want to linger, but I do want to celebrate.” He opened his mouth to respond, not even sure what he would say, but she rushed to interject with a laugh and a quiet, “Stupid, I know. And you’re working so—”
She had started to push up from the stool. Lev’s heart about jumped from his chest at the very idea she might leave because, for whatever reason, he had a feeling he wasn’t going to see her again. He couldn’t have that even though every part of him screamed that he was being stupid by thinking whatever interest he had in this woman could go beyond the four walls of a bedroom. His mouth worked before his brain could stop it.
“Do you want a drink?” he asked.
She hesitated, glancing between the bottles on the wall behind him and then at his mouth. Did she want to kiss him? Hell, he’d love another taste of her. Another bite. A nibble. A single fucking lick. He’d tasted the salt from her skin for days after. Heard her moans in his dreams. The image of her spread wide for him on a bed was the only thing letting him beat one out in the shower every morning.
Fucking her had been a dream. Yeah, he would definitely do it again.
If she wanted ...
“I’m not even twenty-one,” she admitted. “Just turned twenty a couple of months ago. Probably shouldn’t be drinking. Don’t you ask for ID?”
“Usually.”
The bar was trying to stay above board for a bit. Just long enough that the attention died down and the reporters stopped coming around to ask if the place was mob-connected. Lev knew the rules and what he should do.
It also seemed like this woman—still a stranger to him, really—could make him break every rule with nothing more than a smile and a flick of those green eyes.
Goddammit.
He kind of liked it.
“Pick your poison, Gigi. Whatever you want in the bar—it’s on the house. All yours.”
Her grin grew wider.
Sexier.
“Anything I want?” she asked.
He nodded.
She winked. “Let’s start with a whiskey sour. Then I think I’ll move onto you.”
Well ...
He was just fine with that.
Six
“SORRY,” LEV said at Gigi’s left, noticing the hole in the wall of the basement-level stairwell inside the Harlem apartment building. “It’s new—just showed up one morning last week. The building isn’t that great, but it does what I need it to, and it’s safe for the most part. Just old and falling the fuck apart.”
She heard how the tone of his voice changed; it was the same way he spoke back at the bar after last call when Gigi mentioned if they were going home together, it would have to be to his place. Her roommate was back at hers, after all, and Cassie was too nosy for her liking on the rare occasion that Gigi even mentioned a guy, let alone brought one home.
They passed one apartment on the right before coming to a stop at the second apartment on the left side. His place, apparently, if the keys he pulled out of the back pocket of his jeans could be trusted.
“Hey,” she said, leaning her back against the peeling yellow wallpaper on the hallway wall. He didn’t look at her, instead focusing his effort on sticking the key into the deadbolt on the door. She couldn’t have that so she poked him in the shoulder just because. “Hey.”
Those ice-blue eyes of his—cold only in color because his gaze always felt so warm when it landed on her—turned her way. The grin that curled his lips up at the edges was the sexiest thing she had ever seen. The heat growing deep in her belly was made worse when that intense stare of his dropped down the length of her bare legs to the strappy black heels that crisscrossed up over her ankles before tying into bows at the back of her mid-calf. He was such a leg man.
Then, his gaze snapped back up to hers without warning when he asked, “Did you just poke me?”
“I said hey first.”
Without warning, Lev pushed away from the door, leaving the keys hanging from the lock, and stepped up to Gigi. In a blink, his legs pushed between hers while his hands landed on either side of her head against the wall. Her mini skirt inched higher on her hips when his body flattened against hers. That gorgeous mouth of his hovered above hers, making her edgy and needy all at the same fucking time. The fresh, crisp scent of his cologne—with notes of the sea and smoke—pulled into her lungs with every breath she dragged in.
The sudden rush of lust that flooded her veins was only aided by the way he stared at her like he was ready to fuck her right where she stood; as though she was some prize he could claim with his cock or hands or mouth. Any and all of it, she was up for it. With him? Why not?
Look at him.
“What is it with us and hallways?” she asked, hearing the tremor of want racing through her voice like the way her heartbeat thundered at the pulse in her throat. “We’re always ending up in one.”
“Do we?”
“Oh, you forgot what you did to me right outside my door in the hallway?”
Lev laughed a dark sound that dripped over her senses like warm, dark chocolate. “Sweetheart ... Gigi, I didn’t forget a second that I spent with you. That would be impossible.”
And just like that, he took her breath away.
He didn’t have to try.
“You’re something else,” she told him. “Something special, maybe.”
Lev shook his head. “I don’t think so. Look around—here I am, twenty-four, stuck in a place like this, working for a guy like Nickie ... taking home some random girl because it’s all I have time for.”
Gigi arched a brow. “Does twice make it random?”
That made him pause.
“You know I can’t do anything more than this, right? If you came around tonight looking for me because you think I’m in a place to offer you anything more than a night, Gigi ... I can’t. I’m not even in a place where I’m doing a great job of taking care of myself.”
“I’m not asking for more.”
She couldn’t.
Her life was in upheaval, too. Maybe in a different way than his, sure. That didn’t change her circumstances or that she couldn’t afford to get involved with Lev on a deeper level than they currently were together. She didn’t mind his honesty, and if anything, appreciated it.
“And hey,” she said, leaning in close so that her lips brushed his as she spoke, “I don’t mind the building. Or the man I came here with tonight. Don’t worry about it. My mom told me once that it doesn’t really matter where you are or have been because it’s all about where you’re gonna be someday. I try to keep it in mind. You should, too.”
Lev made a noise in the back of his throat. “That’s quite a dream to believe in.”
“It’s a dream that happened to me. Why couldn’t it happen to you?”
Something in her words spurred him to crush his mouth against hers in a bruising kiss that yanked the breath from her lungs. Those hands of his left the wall to find her jaw and his warm palms slipped down to cup her throat, too. Pushing her head to tilt back against the wall, that kiss and those teeth of his traveled down her throat, pulling moans from her chest with every inch he tasted.
And each time, she pulled him closer and pushed into him. Before she knew it, the two of them were acting like a pair of teenagers in yet another apartment building
hallway. They couldn’t get close enough. Couldn’t touch enough. Couldn’t get enough. Without shame, she widened her legs again to get his grinding hips closer to her aching center.
Fuck.
All of her ached.
“Are we going inside yet?” she gasped when his kiss trailed over her earlobe, and his pleased hum had her pussy clenching and likely soaked. His hands slipped up under her crop top, and the deep yes that came out of his mouth when he found her tits bare of any bra had her whimpering, knowing how this was going to end. With a good, hard fuck. Exactly what she wanted, too. “Inside, remember?”
She had to remind him.
Or else she was going to forget.
His hands flattened to her rib cage when another of his hard kisses landed on her mouth. Her tongue sought his, lips parting to take him in and find that taste of him, too. She adored the way he kissed her. It overwhelmed her senses in a way that made her forget about the rest of the world around them.
“Lev,” she breathed against his next, softer kiss, “Inside. Now.”
Before they caught a charge together. It was like she couldn’t control herself with him, and he didn’t even bother to try, either.
“Can’t wait to get you stripped and on your fucking back in my—”
“Could I help the two of you with something tonight?”
At the new voice, Gigi’s back slammed hard against the wall. Lev, on the other hand, chuckled at the raspy tone coming from behind him to the left. His stormy blue gaze caught hers, and he winked before murmuring low, “Building manager—sweet lady; I help her out sometimes.”
Then, louder and over his shoulder, he said, “No help needed here, Martha Mae. We were just—”
“Taking that inside, according to the young lady. So, go right along and do that, Lev. You know the hallways of this apartment building aren’t the place for extra curricular activities ... or whatever you were just promising to do to that pretty young woman.”
“Yep. Going inside right now.”
Those words squeaked from Gigi. Every single one of them.
Lev’s laughter chased her inside his apartment that she opened up after slipping out from under his arm. She hadn’t even bothered to give the woman—older, by the sound of her voice—a look before she went, either.
What would be the point? She would only get to see Gigi turn as red as a tomato. She simply saved them both the embarrassment. Or just herself.
It all worked.
• • •
“You’re not allowed to touch me in hallways anymore,” Gigi told the smirking man who helped her out of the jacket. She continued her rant, only slightly meaning it as he hung her jacket and his own on waiting hooks next to the door. “That settles it. That woman probably thinks I’m a whore or something.”
Gigi’s declaration was responded to with a hearty laugh and a hard smack to her ass—which he punctuated with a firm grab—before Lev passed by her in the entry of his apartment. It wasn’t a big place. The front door walked into a small kitchen with only a couple of feet of counter space beside an old stove. Just beyond the open concept kitchen with a small table that only toted one chair was a living room with a couch and recliner.
That’s where Lev headed.
He paid no mind to the flatscreen on the wall that flickered with whatever channel he must have left it on before leaving his place. Underneath the TV was probably the most bachelor thing about the entire apartment. A gaming system with a decent stack of games next to the console and controllers.
Lev dropped into the waiting recliner that he spun to face her, a wicked grin tugging at the edges of his sexy mouth when he said, “Who the hell cares?”
“What?”
“Who cares what someone else thinks? Fuck, I forgot how good your legs looked there for a minute.” A low grunt, pleased and deep, echoed from Lev as he tipped his head to the side, and his gaze took a slow trek down her body. “We didn’t come here to chat about the building manager.”
Like she needed a reminder.
Just his stare alone was enough to make her hot and trembling. He sealed the deal when his tongue peeked out to wet the edge of his lip. She had already had him once—she knew what came next and she wanted that.
A lot.
“You could at least pretend to apologize,” she muttered.
Half-heartedly.
Because honestly, she couldn’t look at Lev and not think about sex. So even as she tried to keep some semblance of seriousness to their conversation, she was already getting lost in his hungry stare from across the room.
“For what?”
“You nearly flashed my ... everything ... to the old lady down the—”
“She doesn’t like it when you call her old. Also ...”
Lev leaned forward in the recliner, pointing a single finger at her with one eyebrow cocked higher than the other. Every part of this man screamed cocky and confidently so. Like he had a reason to be, he knew it, and he didn’t mind letting everyone else in on the secret to. She liked that about him too damn much. Not many men could pull it off, but he could.
“What?” she asked the longer he left his statement hanging.
“She couldn’t see anything, so I have nothing to apologize for. I like that red, by the way. Now let me take it off.”
Gigi’s skin flushed with heat, instantly knowing what Lev meant by red. Her mini skirt had ridden high enough on her thighs that now she was flashing someone. Him. Not that he seemed to mind in the slightest.
“Keep the heels on,” he murmured, leaning back in the recliner. “And I’ll take the panties off myself. Everything else can go. Strip.”
There was something about the way the low demand crossed the room to reach Gigi’s spot that had her drawing in a quick breath. Then again, it could have been the fact that he gave her a little nod that spurred her on to do exactly as he asked.
Her crop top went first. Then, she tugged the skirt down, too. In nothing but the red silk panties that she’d been allowed to keep from a shoot a couple of months earlier and the strappy heels, Gigi edged forward, stepping around the table and chair until she stopped a couple of feet away from Lev.
“Not fair,” she told him, “only you’re getting a show.”
Lev grinned, a gleam lighting up his eye as he glanced up to meet her stare. With his hand laying against his jaw with one finger resting against his cheek, he arched a brow suggestively. “My bad, but see ... now you’re just as I wanted you.”
“For?”
“This.”
He leaned forward again, only this time his hands found her body. One dipped between her thighs, his palm flattening to her sex overtop the silk panties, while his other grabbed her waist. She had no control when he yanked her forward all at once. His thumb stroked her clit through the soft fabric before his mouth replaced the digit. She lifted her leg to rest on his thigh and sighed at the access that gave him to her center.
Her fingers clutched at the top of his head, the buzz of his haircut tickling against her palms when his tongue worked its way under her panties. With the help of his fingers moving the silk aside, of course.
Problem was, as soon as he was eating at her cunt, and his fingers filled her full at the same time, Gigi was lost to sensation. How three of his fingers stuffed up her pussy was enough to make her knees weak. The way he took his time teasing with his tongue between lapping at his fingers to taste them coming out of her and then back to her clit with a faster pace that had her dragging in fast breaths.
He didn’t talk.
Didn’t say a damn thing.
He just ate her pussy like it was his last meal, and he’d never been more grateful for it. The pleased, throaty hum that vibrated from his mouth to her sex had her rocking her hips into him to get more of that. It was only when she started to shake with an oncoming orgasm that he finally stared up, lips wet with her and blue eyes stormy with desire, and he watched her break all apart for him.
No doubt, just as
he wanted.
Her loud shout of his name when her knees finally buckled from the crushing wave of her bliss bounced off the walls of the quiet apartment. The flickering light of the TV almost made Gigi feel like everything slowed down when Lev lifted from the chair, his hands traveling over her shaking form to keep her standing but also explore.
Calloused palms.
A warm touch.
He was a comfort to her senses.
And sin.
All at once.
She didn’t know how to deal with that.
That was fine—Lev didn’t plan to make her think very much about anything at all except him, apparently. He was so very good at that. She barely even noticed them moving from the living room to his bedroom because she was too focused on the way his hands worked over her body, and his kiss drowned her in need on the way.
When the backs of her knees hit the edge of a mattress, his kiss broke from hers for him to murmur, “Ass high, babe.”
She did exactly that but not before watching the sight of him drag the T-shirt over his head with one arm pulling at the material from his back. His chest really was a work of art. Defined bands of muscles that flexed with every movement, and the dark dusting of hair that trailed from his chest all the way down past the waistline of the boxer-briefs peeking out the top of his jeans.
Soon, that chest was leaning over her back and pressing her into the bed. His mouth found the back of her neck while one of his hands fisted the hair at her nape, gathering it all in a tight bunch.
“Higher,” he said into her ear.
Her ass pulled as high as he wanted her to be when he slipped an arm under her stomach and dragged her upward. The roughness as he yanked the silk from her body and down her legs was enough to have her whining. She was lost in him again. Lost in the way his hands left her hair to stroke her cheek with a soft touch before two of his fingers pushed past her parted lips. She found the taste of herself there—tart and heavy on her tongue in the best way. Grinding her ass into the erection straining through his jeans, she felt only one thing.
Need.
