by Amy Andrews
His hand slid higher, hot and firm and sure on the back of her calf, and every muscle in Darcy’s stomach went rigid. She shut her eyes, held her breath as a wave of goosebumps fanned like wildfire to her thighs.
Yes, higher. Higher. All the way up.
She bit back a moan as every muscle fibre cranked to attention and quivered in exquisite anticipation. Her nipples were so hard she was worried they were going to drop right off and she’d find them in her bra later.
Keep going, Levi. Don’t stop, Levi.
Levi... Bloody hell! Darcy’s eyes flew open. What was she thinking? This was Levi! She didn’t think about her roomie like this. Not ever. Well... not until recently anyway.
And he certainly did not think about her like that.
At all.
Maybe she was just supremely sexually deprived as Wendy and Shayla and Genevieve had suggested. Maybe she did need to invest in that vibrator—because she didn’t have the space in her life to invest in a relationship right now.
It was a plan. For the future. But she had to stop this now. Before her traitorous body did something she couldn’t take back. Like spread her legs so Levi could see right to the juncture of her thighs. See how wet he’d made her just from touching her feet.
God alone knew what he could do to her body if he went any further north.
Her heart beating as hard as it did during a game, Darcy sat abruptly and swung her feet to the floor. Out of his reach. Out of the path of temptation. He quirked an eyebrow and heat swamped her face. She knew the eyebrow wasn’t anything other than an innocent query but it felt like he could see right into her mind.
Her dirty, dirty mind.
‘That was great, thanks.’ She pulled the edges of the split together. ‘Think I’ll just soak them for a while now in a hot bath.’
‘Okay.’ He shrugged and nodded like it was no biggie. Like he’d just being doing the crossword with her and wasn’t bothered if they stopped. ‘A bath’s probably the best thing for them.’
Darcy wasn’t sure about that, but it might be the best place to do something about the screaming pressure between her legs. Followed by some online shopping. Sex shop shopping.
Both were depressingly solo. But she could live with that.
***
It was about four o’clock the following Monday before Levi got a chance to sit at his desk and go through the pile of mail that had been delivered earlier that morning. Most of it was for the clinic but both he and Darcy got their private mail delivered here too, this past year, due to a mail thief at their apartment block.
He sighed as he sipped on his coffee. It was his one major vice. He tried to look after himself, watch what he put in his body. He lived a healthy lifestyle—he didn’t smoke or do drugs, he didn’t drink much or eat a lot of meat. Although he’d never been able to give up bacon.
He also took a bunch of supplements as well as doing yoga every day. But no matter how hard he tried to kick coffee, he always went back to the bean. Darcy was the same. Between the two of them, they enabled the hell out of each other.
And... he was back to Darcy again. Back to last week, to her sighing and moaning on the couch, arching her back as he rubbed her feet. Sitting bolt upright as his hands had drifted higher of their own volition, practically running from the room.
He castigated himself over it again. What had come over him? His breath had stuck in his throat at her wide-eyed expression, at the way her hand had tried to close the slit of her dress, as if she knew that was where his fingers had wanted to be.
How he’d acted normal when his heart practically punched right though his rib cage, he had no idea. But she’d seemed fine the next day, like nothing had happened, like it had been nothing other than what it was supposed to be—a foot massage. And neither had mentioned it since.
It had put paid to his resolve to flirt with her, though. To soften her up, to hint at his feelings, to ease into something more with her. Her reaction had been telling. Pulling away from him, fleeing the room like that, had sent a message. She wasn’t ready to cross the line yet. Maybe she’d never be ready. But he knew better than to push her now.
Now she had to concentrate on her footy and he could cool his heels for a few months longer.
Sighing again, he pushed Darcy firmly from his mind as he attacked the pile of mail. There were a lot of small parcels—usually clinic equipment—which he tackled first. He’d been waiting for some new splints to arrive and he couldn’t wait to get his hands on them.
Levi’s phone rang as he opened the first parcel. It was Bradley Kemp, a rookie Brisbane AFL player, who was stressed out over his hamstring issues and anxious for a nonsurgical fix that could keep him on the field. He could hear the guy’s desperation and trying to soothe and assure him meant that Levi was on autopilot as he opened the parcels.
Talking Bradley off the ledge, trying to convince him his career wasn’t over before it had even begun, required all his concentration. He barely even looked at the labels on the parcels as he opened them. Parcels were always for him, anyway. So it was a shock—to say the least—when he finally ripped open a particularly stubborn parcel to pull out a clear plastic packet containing a huge, bright pink, silicone vibrator.
What. The. Fuck. Was someone taking the piss?
‘If you think that could work,’ Bradley said in his ear, ‘I’m definitely up for it.’
Levi checked the label on the front of the parcel. Darcy. He sagged in relief. It was for Darcy.
‘Levi?’
Wait. It was for Darcy? Levi stared at it in all its garish fifteen-inch glory, equipped with a dozen settings and its own clit tickler. He didn’t know whether to feel turned on or... inadequate.
‘Levi?’
Darcy had bought a vibrator. He tried really hard not to think about her buck naked on her bed, her hands kneading her breasts with it rammed to the hilt inside her.
He failed—miserably.
Christ, if she wanted dick, she could have his. God knew, it was hard as a freaking rock at the moment. Granted it wasn’t bright pink. Or as big. But it was flesh and blood.
It was real. And he knew what to do with it.
‘Levi!’
Levi dropped the offending object on the floor. ‘Yes, sorry...’ He shut his eyes, blocking the vibrator out as he finished up his call with Bradley, then transferred him back to Dennis who worked the front desk to make an appointment for tomorrow.
As soon as he opened his eyes, they fell on the vibrator and he reached down to pick it up. How on earth was he supposed to sleep now? Wondering if she was lying in her bedroom using this?
Wondering how often she used it.
Wondering if it got her off from just the penetration alone or if she needed the clit tickler as well?
Wondering if he could get her off from just penetration? Or if she needed more?
His fingers. His tongue.
Shit! Every muscle in his body tightened at the thought of tasting her and he thanked God for his yoga class tonight. Because he couldn’t go home in this state. Couldn’t hand the parcel over to her like there wasn’t a bloody ginormous fake dick in it.
As it was, he was going to have to fess up to accidentally opening it. To knowing what was inside. No way could he fix the ruined packaging enough to make it look untouched. It had clearly been opened and she’d know who by.
It was going to be embarrassing as fuck. For both of them. So he badly needed some Zen. Although there probably wasn’t enough Zen in the world for that conversation.
***
Darcy was contemplating hitting the sack when she finally heard Levi’s key in the lock. He was usually home by nine after his classes, but it was almost ten and she’d been in her PJs for a couple of hours because she was not a night owl. And between work and training she was worn out. In a good way. The kind of way that made sleep deep and dreamless. And totally restorative.
That had her leaping out of bed the next day to start all over again.
‘Hey.’ She smiled at him as he stepped inside in his yoga get-up. No man had a right to be sexy in such baggy attire but, God help her, he did. Her feet agreed, throbbing in remembered ecstasy.
‘Hey.’
He barely looked at her, though, before heading for the table, dumping his bag and his keys and a stack of mail, his back to her. Darcy frowned. Maybe she was irrationally hormonal at the moment but she always looked forward to seeing his face at the end of the day, which was obviously not reciprocated.
The insane urge to make him look threatened to take over. To shout hey! or stand up and dance a jig or pull up her top and flash him.
Anything to make him notice her.
But he probably wouldn’t be looking at her face if she bared her boobs.
He appeared to be sorting the mail and she stared at his back, willing him to turn around. Willing him to come over and sit beside her and tell her about the dude at yoga who always farted when he went into downward dog or the woman who grunted like a tennis player every time she stretched. ‘Any mail for me?’
She’d been expecting that special order for days now. Had even emailed the company to ask after it. They’d told her there’d been a glitch but it should be with her soon.
‘Yep,’ he said, but he’d gone exceptionally still, his shoulders stiffening.
Darcy frowned. What was with him tonight?
He turned slowly, a parcel in his hand. ‘A couple of bills and this.’ Darcy’s heart skipped a beat at the small parcel in his hands.
Was it her special order?
She stood and hurried over to take it off him, suddenly embarrassed that he was even holding it. But he held on tight when she reached him, not handing it over when she held her hand out for it. ‘I’m sorry... I accidentally opened it. I was talking on the phone to this player who was practically having a nervous breakdown and I was distracted and...’
Darcy didn’t need for him to finish. She didn’t hear anything past accidentally opened. Her cheeks washed with heat and for a moment she thought she might just drop on the spot.
He’d opened it. He knew what was in it.
Levi knew.
Well... it seemed she wouldn’t have to pull up her shirt after all. Who needed boobs when there was a fifteen-inch silicone dick between them?
She snatched the bag off him and turned away, too embarrassed to look at him, to speak to him.
‘I’m sorry. It really was an accident.’
Mortified, Darcy clutched the packet to her chest, taking deep breaths, her mind a total blank. If only a huge sinkhole would open up beneath her and drag her down into the earth far, far away from here and Levi standing behind her, staring at her.
And he was staring at her. She could feel his gaze at her back.
Damn it. Where was a perfectly decent sinkhole when she needed one?
‘It’s okay, Darcy. You don’t have to explain.’ His voice was low and reassuring. ‘Lots of women have vibrators.’
Darcy had two choices. To cringe and run—the option that battered most urgently at her brain—or to get pissed off and stand her ground. The second one appealed more to her competitive nature.
She could bluff this out, damn it. She’d been drafted in the women’s comp—she could do any-fucking-thing.
Damn right it was okay and she didn’t have to explain. Damn right that lots of women had vibrators. And damn right, this wasn’t any of his goddamn business.
She whirled around. ‘Thank you for your permission.’
His eyes widened in surprise. ‘I didn’t mean—’
‘I have needs, you know.’ Darcy clutched the packet harder.
He held up his hands in surrender. ‘Absolutely.’
‘I know men think that masturbation is a purely male activity but women do it too.’
She had no idea what she was spewing out now. She was hyped up and embarrassed as hell and so damn riled about both. Somewhere, some part of her brain was yammering at her to shut up already. But she was beyond listening to wise words.
‘Hey... I’m all for equal masturbation rights.’
Another time, this may have been exceptionally funny but his voice was low and soothing and that was pissing her off even more. ‘So what’s your issue with it?’ She knew the issues were all hers but blood vessels were popping like fireworks in her brain and all she could see was red.
‘I have no issues. Absolutely none.’ He opened his mouth as if he was going to say something else but thought better of it and shut it again.
‘Ah-ha! You do have an issue.’ She leapt on his hesitation, desperate for anything to deflect the massive cringe she was experiencing. Even if it did make her sound like a crazy woman.
‘No. It’s just that... it’s rather... big.’
Darcy rolled her eyes. Typical man—size obsessed. ‘Jealous?’ she taunted as she reached inside the parcel and pulled the vibrator out. ‘Does it intimidate you?’
She blinked at it as it was revealed in all its garish pink glory. Bloody hell. It was waaaay bigger in the flesh. So to speak. How on earth was it going to fit?
He shrugged. ‘It just seems a lot to... um... handle. I’m worried you might do yourself an injury.’
Darcy snorted. ‘Don’t you worry about me.’ She waved it at him for emphasis. He took a step back, regarding it with the kind of awe and horror usually reserved for light sabres. ‘I’m not some delicate flower.’ She jabbed it in his direction again. ‘You might be surprised what I can handle.’
Darcy had no idea why she’d say something so loaded. Other than bluster and bravado was her go-to when she was so mortified she wanted to die. But the flinty flecks in his whisky-coloured eyes darkened at her statement and the angle of his jaw whitened.
The urge to say I could take whatever you had to offer, buddy, beat like wings at her vocal chords.
But that was more irrational bluster. Not to mention insane. So she kept her mouth shut. She’d probably said enough for one night.
‘I know you’re not a delicate flower.’ Levi’s voice was quiet as he gently reached out and pushed her hand holding the vibrator out of his line of vision. ‘You don’t need to tell me that. But maybe it’s time you found a real live guy to help you with those needs rather than investing in something that looks like it was designed to maim.’
Darcy dropped her arm, the vibrator dangling limply—as much as a turgid fifteen-inch fake penis could—from her hand.
‘It’s been over two years, Darcy. Maybe it’s time?’
She was surprised to hear the husky timbre of his voice and see the bob of his Adam’s apple. She supposed they didn’t talk about this kind of stuff which made a lot of guys uncomfortable but he seemed... nervous more than embarrassed.
And she was... She didn’t know what she was. Finding love again hadn’t been high on her agenda. Not with her heart so battered from Tony. Footy had been her agenda. But it was more than that. Hearing Levi suggest she move on was discomforting.
And she didn’t know why.
Darcy shook her head. ‘This—’ She raised the vibrator again as if it was a sword and suppressed a smile as Levi swayed back a little. ‘Is not going to complain about how long I spend at training or want me to go clubbing until three in the morning or go away with it for the weekend.’
Levi laughed and the strange tension between them eased even as he sobered and regarded her more seriously. ‘It can’t cuddle you in the middle of the night either.’
That thought was suddenly depressing but Darcy quashed it. ‘Plenty of time for cuddling.’ She shook her head to dismiss the odd pang of yearning that squeezed her around the middle. ‘Playing with the Banshees is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. That has to be my focus. Vlad here—’ She waved her new toy around a bit more. ‘Is going to have to be enough.’
A thick, male eyebrow winged upwards. ‘Vlad?’
Darcy grinned, their usual easy banter suddenly returning, putting her back on an even keel. ‘It seems ap
propriate. Got a better suggestion?’
He shook his head. ‘I’m not playing name the vibrator with you.’
Darcy pouted. ‘Spoilsport.’
‘Okay...’ He turned away to gather the stuff from the table. ‘I’m hitting the shower.’
‘You could take it and use it as a back washer?’ She was smiling at his broad shoulders but the images that invoked were swift and sudden and very, very graphic. Levi wet and slippery in the shower, her spreading soap over his back with the help of Vlad, him using Vlad on her... sliding it in and—
He turned back to face her, catching her mid-fantasy and her cheeks heated as he said, ‘Goodnight, Darcy.’
Why in hell was she thinking about him in the shower? Thinking about them in the shower? Mortified, she went into bluster-mode again. ‘If my bed’s a’squeaking, don’t come a’peeking.’
The sudden flare of his nostrils and the tightening at the angle of his jaw was gratifying in a way she didn’t really understand. But he didn’t acknowledge either, just gave her a ghost of a smile and said, ‘Have fun.’
And then he walked away. Leaving Darcy alone with Vlad and absolutely no desire to use him.
Chapter 5
Levi stood at the crowded bar a few weeks later, waiting to be served. Everyone around him was in good cheer. Christmas was a couple of weeks away and several groups of local workers were all in party mode.
Him, not so much.
Darcy had roped him into coming along for Christmas drinks with the team. Everyone was bringing partners and he, as she’d informed him, was her go-to plus one.
The thought was a total downer as he sipped at the beer sitting in front of him at the bar. It shouldn’t be, it was the truth after all. They had been each other’s plus ones on numerous occasions. But he wanted more than that now. Which was why he was standing at the bar drinking by himself instead of rejoining the group.
Levi supposed he should be lucky she wasn’t bringing Vlad. Christ. He shut his eyes. Do not think about Vlad! Or how many times he’d lain in bed these past few weeks wondering if she was in her bed getting intimate with the jolly pink giant.
It’s Christmas for fuck’s sake! It seemed wrong—dirty—to be thinking such things during such a disgustingly clean-and-shiny time of year. He was probably killing a Christmas fairy somewhere every time he thought about asking her if he could stand in her doorway and watch.
