“You don’t need any makeup, Shelly,” he said truthfully as he reached up to stroke the curve of her cheek. “You never did.”
She tilted her head and looked up at him. “You say things like that to women … in that tone of voice with those dark eyes and … and …”
“And what?”
“You’re full of crap.”
“Some people would call it charming.” He slid his fingers between hers, locking their palms together.
“You don’t have to be charming with me. I’m going to love you anyway.”
He kissed her cheek for the third time that day, needing—not wanting—to put his lips on her skin. She was the only woman who had ever really loved him. Women told him they loved him all the time. But Shelly did love him. As much as Lolly and the mother he barely remembered anymore.
“Let’s buy you something pretty. We’ll cross something off your bucket list today.”
“Oh, I wasn’t serious about that.” She touched a dress that he could only describe as looking like tinfoil. “I thought we were just talking.”
She wanted such simple things from life. It would be so easy to make them all happen for her. To give her just a tiny bit of adventure. “Let’s be serious about it. Let’s do them. I think I’m back in Destiny for a reason, and that’s to get you to shake things up.”
She looked up at him and he could see the apprehension in her eyes. She had always kept him grounded when he was a kid while he had pushed her to do things outside her boundaries. But when he left Destiny there was no one to push her out of her comfort zone—and no one to pull him back when he was about to go over the edge. “I-I …”
“We’re doing this. Today. Right now.”
“I don’t think they make anything in this store over a size eight. I don’t think anything would fit me.”
“Actually, honey, we go up to a size eighteen/twenty here.” An older woman wearing tight leather pants seemed to pop out of nowhere. “And you are wearing your clothes about two sizes too big,” she said, eyeballing her. She walked a few feet away from them and opened up a dressing room. “You go in there. And you … You’re that race-car driver, TV guy aren’t you?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She gave him an appraising once-over. “I had wondered why my girls were acting like squealing ninnies. Come with me, Mr. Race-Car Driver man. We’re going to pick things out.”
“Uh,” Shelly said.
“You better do as she says, Shelly.”
She made a disgruntled face that he found charming. “I hate trying on clothes.”
“We’ll make it fun. Just go.”
She sighed and went inside. Levi followed the woman around the store. “Your girlfriend is real cute, honey.”
“Thank you, ma’am. I think so, too.”
“How do you want her to look?”
“Maybe that’s a question you should ask her.”
She raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m asking you.”
“She’s beautiful. I want her to feel that way.”
“Most of the time when I ask men that question they say ‘sexy’ and we end up pulling things that display their asses. You’re a good boy, aren’t you, Mr. Race-Car Driver man? Now I know why my girls have it bad for you.”
Chapter 6
Dear Shelly¸
Who doesn’t love a girl who loves love?
Maybe I should read one of those romance novels myself.
Do they have ones with monster trucks and aliens?
“Come on, Shelly. Let’s see it.”
Shelly sighed, trying to prevent herself from cursing Levi. She was in a dressing room with harsh unforgiving fluorescent lighting, trying on dress after dress after dress. It was her worst nightmare, but to her surprise the pile of clothing she was going to go home with was fairly big.
Levi and the manager, whose name turned out to be Fanny, brought her a bunch of flirty, age-appropriate dresses. But no shorts. She refused to leave the house in shorts.
“I’m waiting,” she heard Levi complain.
Of course he was waiting and seeming to thoroughly enjoy the fashion show she was putting on. He never let her get away without showing him what she was wearing, good or bad.
“I’m not coming out.” She turned around and glanced at her backside, which looked quite round in the black lace halter dress that clung to her body like a wet bathing suit. She couldn’t even get it to zip up all the way.
“Oh, come on.”
“No!”
“Let me see.”
“Shove it.”
She heard him laugh and before she knew it, he was standing before her in the dressing room.
“How did you get in here?” she hissed. “The door was locked.”
“Fanny gave me the key. Why won’t you come out?”
“I look ridiculous.”
“No, baby, you don’t.” His eyes traveled over her body and she wasn’t sure whether to be self-conscious or … the way he looked at her, she felt … all kinds of jumbled up.
“It’s too tight, too short, I can’t zip it up, and I don’t even think this is the type of dress you can wear a bra with. And Lord knows I need a bra.”
“Turn around.” His voice was low and slightly husky and she did as he asked. “It’s the wrong bra, Shell. You need a strapless one.”
“Look at you, knowing about bras. It’s probably because you have taken so many off in your time.”
“Maybe just one or two.” He pushed down her bra straps and for a moment she was shocked, too shocked to stop him as he slid them completely down her arms. His fingers brushed along her skin, sending tiny little zaps of sensation through her body as they did. And even when her arms were free of the straps, he didn’t stop touching her. He tucked the straps inside the dress and then focused on the zipper, his knuckles sliding up her back as he zipped, causing the air to vacate her lungs.
His hard muscular arm came around her waist and he pulled her into him, her backside, pressing against his front. She wanted to close her eyes and push herself closer to him. To rub herself against him and have those tingles travel throughout her body. This was the second time today they had ended up pressed together, heat surrounding them.
She didn’t know what was going on with her but she wanted things that she had never wanted before and she wanted them with Levi.
“Look at what you have been hiding from the world,” he said, his voice quiet. “Outstanding. We’re going home with this dress.”
“But I don’t have anywhere to wear this dress.”
“You will. We’ll find someplace. I promise.”
*
Levi followed Shelly back into her bedroom a few hours later, their arms filled with bags. He had bought her everything that looked good on her, and there was so much that looked good on her. Even stuff she didn’t want. Actually she didn’t want any of it, or at least she didn’t want him paying for it.
“I have a job! I can pay for it,” she complained.
But he wouldn’t let her. He didn’t splurge on things for himself. He didn’t take lots of trips, he never showered his ex-girlfriends with gifts, but he wanted to buy things for her. For his best friend who had been there for him during the hardest times in his life.
He remembered when he met her. He was eight, and his father had been gone for nearly a month. And for the month Duke and Colt had taken care of him. They thought he hadn’t noticed that there was only a bag of rice for them. They thought he hadn’t noticed when his brothers had gone with very little food so that he could eat. But he had noticed. And he knew that they were better off without their father. And he knew he wasn’t scared until Duke had been taken to jail for shoplifting.
A dozen eggs, a loaf of bread, and some cheese. And then the town found out they were living alone.
But Levi knew they knew beforehand that their father had skipped town. It was hard to miss a man like Cal King. It seemed like nobody had cared enough to check on his sons.
Levi had planned to run away. His eight-year-old self refusing to live in a place where he wasn’t wanted, but then he met Shelly. Quiet little Shelly who was all dressed up for church in a pastel-pink dress and a bow in her curly hair.
“Everybody talks about you King boys” was the first thing she said to him in her quiet voice. “My daddy says, judge not lest ye be judged.” She had quoted a Bible verse to him and it struck him. His father sure as hell wasn’t religious, but he had fuzzy memories of his mother. He remembered her reading from a thick black book. He remembered those words.
“I’ll be your friend, Levi King.”
“Okay,” he said. And they had been friends ever since.
“What’s the matter, Levi?” Her soft warm hand came up to cup his cheek, bringing him back to the present.
He looked into her big green eyes, seeing a touch of concern there, before his eyes traveled to her mouth again. Her sweet kissable mouth that he had to stay away from.
“Nothing, Shells.” He stepped away from her, away from her soothing touch. “I’m just tired.” He had taken a little too much pleasure in seeing her try on all those clothes. In seeing all her curves and the way that the fabric clung to them.
She didn’t bring home anything overtly sexy, except that black lace dress. But everything she tried on managed to turn him on.
“You’re tired!” She gave him a scowl before she plopped herself down on her bed, looking a little like a queen on the massive canopy bed. “I’m the one who had to shimmy in and out of the forty items of clothing you and Fanny picked out. I think I pulled a muscle trying to get into those skinny jeans.”
He crawled into bed beside her. His body moving faster than his conscience. “I think you looked damn good in those jeans.”
“They made my bottom look too big and round.”
He propped himself up on his elbow and looked down at her. “Shelly, men like big round bottoms.”
“Do they now?”
“Come on. You have to know that. You can’t be that innocent.”
“Big butts didn’t used to be fashionable. I remember my mother lamenting over the size of hers. Besides, how would I know what men like? They don’t tell me.”
He guessed they didn’t. Not many men were brave enough to mess with Deacon Walker’s daughter.
“Men do like round bottoms.” His hand grew a mind of his own and settled on her stomach. “And they like soft thighs and …” He trailed off, not trusting himself to go on.
“And big breasts?” she supplied.
He nearly choked. “Yes, those, too.”
“The only men in my school are the custodian and Mr. Bailey.”
“Mr. Bailey? He was teaching when we were kids.”
“I know. He’s as old as the rocks he teaches his third-graders about.”
“You have to see men other places.”
“I do when I go to church with my father. But no man there is telling me he likes big boobs and behinds.”
“I don’t think they would dare mess with the deacon’s daughter. He’s still the deacon there, right?”
“He is,” she sighed.
“Is that a bad thing?”
“No. Church became his life after my mother died. At first I thought it was a good thing and that the members of the church would help him get through, but the actual building has become his life. Instead of going to Bible study and church picnics, he’s tinkering with the plumbing and serving as the carpenter. He’s been in charge of the new building fund, but he kept up with the old building so well that a new one seems like a waste.”
“Why is that so bad? I thought your father was a deeply devoted man.”
“He is. Devoted to my mother. It has been twenty years and he still hasn’t moved on. I thought about moving out and moving away from here, but I worry about him. I worry that if I go, he won’t have anyone left. I think that’s why he wants me to get married and have children. I think it will fill up the hole my mother left behind.”
She was right. He had put the thought of Shelly’s father wanting her to get married out of his head. Thinking of her getting married and having babies with another man put a major knot in his stomach. He knew in the back of his head that it would happen one day, but selfishly he hated the idea because he knew things wouldn’t be the same for them when it did.
No husband in his right mind would allow another man to be in bed with his wife. Levi knew if Shelly was his wife … That thought brought him up short. It made him uncomfortable, but he knew he would never let another man get near her if she was his.
He slipped his hand beneath her shirt, feeling her soft tummy. He knew he probably shouldn’t be touching her like this, but the skin-to-skin contact felt too good and he couldn’t force his hand away.
“What do you want to do, Shelly?”
“I want to give my father what he wants. I know grandchildren will make him happy, and a son-in-law he could bond with.”
“But …”
“But not just yet.”
“Well, let’s get started on your summer bucket list so when the time comes you won’t look back and have any regrets.”
“Okay,” she said softly as she nodded.
“Tell me more things you want to do.” They weren’t doing anything. They were just in bed, talking, their bodies close, his hands on her skin. But he was starting to feel that rush sneak up on him. The rush he felt when he raced his car at over two hundred miles per hour. He didn’t want to slow down then, and he wanted to speed up right now.
“I can’t think of anything else.”
“I’m sure you can. Is there anything naughty you’ve wanted to do?”
“Maybe.” She looked embarrassed. Her cheeks were growing adorably pink.
“Tell me.”
“They make movies with people having sex,” she whispered. “Anything you can dream of there’s a movie for it. Nurses, schoolteachers, construction workers, old people. You name it and they probably have a dirty movie about it.”
“You’ve never seen one, Shells?”
“No!” She looked adorably flustered. “I’m curious as hell, but I’m too afraid to get caught.”
“You think the porn police are going to bust down your door?” He chuckled and buried his nose into her sweet-scented neck.
“Maybe.”
“Oh, honey.” He kissed her neck. “Every man in America would be doorless if that were the case.”
“I could never tell anyone else that. Only you. Everybody has all these expectations of me. I’m supposed to be sweet and quiet and kind. I’m only supposed to have pure thoughts. But I don’t. I think I’m so caught up in who my father wants me to be, the daughter my mother hoped I would be, that I’m not sure who I really am. I thank God for you, because if I didn’t write those letters to you I think I would lose my mind.
Levi inched a little closer to her, even though there was barely any space between them. “You can always come to me with anything. You know I won’t judge you. Lord knows you have never judged me even when I deserved it.”
“Have you ever watched a dirty movie?”
“I’ve seen them,” he admitted. “I’d rather be engaged in the actual dirtiness than watching the movie.”
“I hear people get addicted to it. Is it really that good? Is watching really something that people can’t tear themselves away from?”
“I guess it is. It’s sex. One of the most intimate things in the world. It’s something a lot of people think is forbidden and taboo. But there’s nothing wrong with sex. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to feel good, with wanting to make your partner feel good. The problem comes when you replace those human connections with two strangers doing it on a screen. Sex is a powerful thing, but it can be a beautiful thing if you’re experiencing it with the right person.”
“Oh.”
He no
ticed that her breath had quickened just a bit, making her chest rise and fall in a way that was alluring. Her mouth was opened just the slightest bit, and her eyes held a look that he couldn’t describe … but he knew what it meant.
His words had affected her. Hell, judging by the steel in his shorts they had affected him, too.
He wanted her so badly in that moment. He wanted to seal his lips to hers and taste them, but he knew if he did he wouldn’t be able to stop. He wanted to spend the summer teaching her how to live a little, but he had the feeling if he kissed her it would alter his life forever.
And he didn’t give a damn if it did.
The telephone on her bedside rang, bringing the inappropriate thoughts about his childhood best friend to a screeching halt.
She blinked at him before she rolled away to answer it.
“Hello?”
“Pumpkin?” Levi heard and he knew Shelly’s father was on the line.
“Oh, hi, Daddy. Did you get to your rental okay?”
If there was a way to douse the flame of his desire, hearing Deacon Walker’s voice on the phone was it.
Chapter 7
Dear Levi,
I dreamed about cookies last night. A vivid, very real dream about peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. There was milk involved. I can’t tell you about what went down in that dream, but when I walked into this kitchen this morning, my cheeks turned red when I opened the refrigerator and saw the gallon there.
It was staring at me. Judging me.
I won’t be able to eat cereal for a while.
Levi wasn’t sure what time it was when he woke up that night. But he knew he wasn’t in bed alone. Hell, he wasn’t in his bed at all. He was still there with Shelly. They had ordered in pizza and rented a movie, and somehow they both had fallen asleep before nine. Not a great start to Shelly’s adventurous life, but Levi wasn’t sure he cared at that moment.
It was a hell of a feeling to wake up with a warm, lush, beautiful woman wrapped around you. Her breasts were pressed against his side. Her leg was intertwined with his. Her arms were wrapped around him and her face slightly turned up. He wasn’t sure how they got like this. He knew they had started out lying next to each other in her bed, but somehow they merged over the course of the night. Somehow they ended up a mass of tangled limbs. Somehow he ended up hard again.
Heart of a Bad Boy (Bad Boys of Destiny #3) Page 7
