“You go first,” I said.
I was still suspicious. As if Levi Wheeler, anti-fun extraordinaire, was going to huddle himself onto a tea tray and take off down a hill. It was too funny.
But Levi didn’t object. He lined the tray up on the top of the hill with the concentration of an Olympic tobogganer, then folded himself up into a well-dressed pretzel. His lanky limbs jutted out precariously, but he made it work, wedging himself into the snow and pushing off.
It was a shaky run, but the first ones always were on fresh snow. I watched with delight as he got stuck a couple of times on the way down and had to maneuver his way out of it. He finally made it to the bottom and thrust his fists victoriously into the air, looking back at me.
“Your turn,” he called.
I set up the laundry basket and squeezed into it. My legs stuck out at the bottom and the plastic bit into my arms uncomfortably, but I was already so exhilarated that I didn’t care. This was so crazy. No, not crazy- ridiculous. Levi responded to a deep emotional conversation the way other people would a head wound, earning himself a complete change in personality.
“Go!” Levi called, pulling himself out of the way.
My basket fit snugly in the tracks Levi had left and followed the same path the whole way down. I even picked up a little speed, and giant snowflakes whipped me in the face, melting on my tongue when I opened my mouth and laughed.
Levi was waiting for me at the bottom and held out a hand to help me up. “I haven’t been sledding in years,” I said, still giggling. “Not since I was a kid.”
“Me neither.” He grabbed the laundry basket and his tray. “Again?”
I went first the next time around, and Levi gave me a strong push that sent me careening down the hill. He followed soon after, nearly bumping into me as I tried to get out of the way. We climbed the hill together again, and I found myself looking over at him, studying his features like I might be able to read him, even though I’d already failed to do so a dozen times since we’d first met. He seemed more open all of a sudden though, more relaxed. I liked it. I’d seen Levi smile more in the past fifteen minutes than I ever had before.
Even though my feet, hands, and face were wet and frozen, a warmth radiating out from deep in my chest made all that easy to forget. It was like we were in an alternate universe where the rules of the world no longer applied. I was playing in the snow but didn’t feel the cold. Levi Wheeler was smiling. I was smiling back.
Levi and I were hanging out, and I was enjoying myself.
That didn’t seem right.
It was one thing getting along for the sake of Valerie, but could I allow myself to let Levi in like this when he’d dedicated so much of his time to making me feel unwanted? One instance of kindness didn’t negate the entirety of our relationship, which had been built on Levi’s condescending glares and snide comments. He was a jerk. I couldn’t let myself forget that. The way he was acting tonight almost made me like him, and that was dangerous. I would be crushed when he inevitably went back to being an asshole.
“I can hardly feel my feet,” I announced, knocking the snow off my basket. “I’m gonna head inside. But don’t let me stop you from having your fun out here.”
I turned toward the deck and was surprised not to hear any protest from Levi.
I’d just made it to the steps at the bottom of the deck when the first snowball hit me on the back of the shoulder. I craned my neck to look back at Levi. Another snowball nailed me in the side of the head.
Levi was grinning, and he looked just like he had in my dream, except covered in a lot more snow. For a second I stared at him in disbelief,
“Did you just...throw a snowball at me?”
Levi bent down and started collecting snow. I tossed the laundry basket up onto the deck, reacting more than thinking, and immediately scooped up some snow and rounded it into a ball. I finished just in time to see Levi’s latest creation whizz toward me, but I managed to duck out of the way and toss mine at him. It hit him square in the chest.
“Ha!” I cried.
“I’ve still got two hits to your one,” he taunted.
I frowned. “Take your victories where you can. I grew up with two brothers, remember?”
We began a careful dance of cat and mouse. I was the cat, obviously. Between short breaks to restock ammo, Levi and I circled and pelted each other with snowballs. After only a few minutes, I was completely soaked under my jacket from snow getting down my collar. Icy water dripped down my face, but I kept my eye on the prize, steadily working my way closer to Levi until I was in range for my final attack.
I caught him off guard. It was reasonable, I supposed, that he wouldn’t expect me to launch myself at him like an angry monkey. I found there was only one way to summarily end these kinds of fights and it wasn’t with snowballs.
I tackled Levi’s middle, and he cried out in surprise, tilting off balance and falling back in the snow. Our panting breaths misted the air as I gathered up two handfuls of snow. His hands found my waist, but he’d made a tactical error. This part wasn’t about wrestling.
“Yield or I’m going to give you the world’s most unpleasant face wash,” I said, demonstratively lifting my snow-filled hands.
“Hmm. Sounds kinky.” Levi’s lips quirked and my heart fluttered.
“It’s not,” I assured. “It feels like someone rubbing icy shards of glass on your face.”
He sighed. “Fine. You win.”
He gave in easily. Too easily, if my experience told me anything. But when I clambered to my feet, Levi made no move to attack me. He grabbed the tea tray from where he’d tossed it just before our fight and ruffled his hair. Snow from his hair dusted his shoulders.
“I’m starving,” he said, walking onto the deck.
I followed, and my stomach grumbled. “Me too.”
Strange that I hadn’t noticed until now.
Levi and I slipped out of our outer layers just inside the patio doors, then headed to our separate rooms to get changed into dry clothes. When I came back into the living room, Levi was on the floor in front of the fireplace. The dancing flames beckoned merrily, and I slumped down next to him.
“Want to order room service?” he asked.
“Let’s.”
We each picked out a meal, and Levi called it in on the phone in the kitchen. He came back to sit beside me and we watched the flames for a while in comfortable silence. The heat from the fire felt nice on my cold face and wet hair. I only wished I had a mug of hot cocoa.
Our food came and we ate it where we sat.
There was a wordless agreement that we weren’t going to give up our spot at the toasty fire, even if it would have been easier to eat at the table.
When I finished my mac and cheese and Levi his sandwich, we sat back on our hands with our toes pointing toward the glass. We’d barely talked since coming inside.
“So...” I glanced at Levi.
He returned my gaze, the corner of his mouth lifting ever so slightly. A five o’clock shadow was just beginning to shade his jaw, giving him a roguish charm.
“So what?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I’m just bad with awkward silences.”
“Who said it was awkward?”
I twiddled my toes and stared at them. “If it wasn’t, it is now.”
“How would you like to fill the silence?” Amusement laced his tone and a shiver zapped down my spine. When he spoke quietly, as he did now, his voice came out like low, rolling thunder. I could almost feel it vibrating my skin.
“We’ve got the fire, the dark, stormy night. I feel like we should be telling ghost stories or something.”
“Ghost stories?” Levi looked at me incredulously. “There is nothing spooky about our night so far. Unless you hear some rattling chains that I don’t or something. I mean, come on. We’re sitting in front of a roaring fire after spending the afternoon sledding and having a snowball fight. It couldn’t be less spooky.”
He had a point. The inherent intimacy of the moment caught me by surprise.
“You’re right,” I said, chuckling. “If it were Garrick and Val up here instead of us, the whole thing would be pretty romantic.”
I expected Levi to balk at the suggestion that our evening had been romantic, but instead he looked at me and smiled. “It’s pretty cliché, isn’t it?”
“The only thing that could make it more cliché would be if we had sex on this rug while Careless Whisper played in the background,” I said.
His dark eyes made me want to lean in closer, and I struggled to keep from dipping my gaze to his wickedly carved mouth. I’d already been caught thinking about kissing him once today. As much as his ego probably loved it, I was beginning to wonder if I was going insane.
Levi broke eye contact first, leaning back to grab something off the couch. I realized a second later that it was his phone, and was about to ask him what he was doing when the first few soulful strains of Careless Whisper began to play through its speakers.
A giggle bubbled up my throat. “You’re ridiculous.”
Levi dropped the phone next to him, and I thought he was going to make a snarky retort. Instead, he leaned over, rested his palm against my cheek, and crashed his mouth down against mine.
Out of all the potential outcomes of this evening, this was the one I had least expected. I hadn’t even considered that it might happen. And I couldn’t deny how good it felt, even if I knew that kissing Levi was a mistake.
I let myself live in it for a moment, gave in to the sensation of Levi’s warm mouth on mine. His deft tongue grazed my bottom lip, and I opened for him. He kissed me sweetly, but with a lingering burn that made me wish he wouldn’t hold back quite so much. I found myself leaning closer to him, one of my hands reaching out for his shirt to pull him closer.
And then I realized who I was kissing, and that hand jammed against his chest, pushing him back.
“What the fuck, Levi?”
His eyes fluttered open and he licked his lips like he had all the time in the world to answer. My heart pounded in my ribs.
Levi smiled lazily. I wondered if he would try to kiss me again. I wondered if I would let him.
Chapter 15
Levi
Frankie tasted like sunshine. The compulsion to kiss her had come out of nowhere, but the second I did, I knew that one taste wasn’t going to be enough. She was sweet, and her lips were impossibly soft, and the way she sighed as I probed her mouth with my tongue made my cock stiffen instantaneously.
Then she pushed me away. Fair call. The kiss caught both of us by surprise, and given our history, I would have found it a little odd if she didn’t push me away.
“What the fuck, Levi?”
I swiped my tongue over my bottom lip and watched her, trying to decide what to say. I still needed to untangle my own thoughts on the matter, after all.
“It was the George Michael,” I said finally, smirking. “Always gets me in the mood.”
Frankie tried to look angry, but her pink cheeks betrayed her. She reached for my phone and silenced it, shaking her head. “I don’t understand you at all.”
“Come on, Frankie. You’ve thought about it.” I sat up, pulling my legs in and turning to face her. “It’s like scratching an itch. We’re here. We’re alone. Nobody has to know.”
She worried on her bottom lip, and I wondered if she had any idea what it did to me. How long had I been fantasizing about that mouth of hers? My cock throbbed, and I considered pushing her down against the carpet right then and there.
“Tell me you don’t want to and I’ll leave it alone,” I challenged. I knew she wouldn’t be able to do it.
We were like two caged lions on opposite sides of the ring. Her consent was the only thing keeping us locked up, and the second she gave in to the ache between her thighs, we’d be on each other like the snarling beasts we were.
The firelight cast shadows over Frankie’s features, but her eyes burned brightly. She took a breath and her expression transformed from one of uncertainty to something statuesque and fierce.
“This doesn’t change anything,” she said fluidly. “I still think you’re an asshole.”
“Fine with me, sweetheart.”
No more words.
I placed my palms on her shoulders and pushed her back, jamming my hips between her legs as my mouth descended on hers. I kissed her hard, plunging my tongue into her waiting mouth. I had every intention of moving things to the bedroom, but she moaned, and it was so goddamn sexy that I wondered if I would make it that far.
Frankie kissed like she did everything—no holding back, no compromises. She tangled her fingers in my hair and hung on tight. I palmed one of her breasts, flicking her nipple through the fabric of her t-shirt.
“You’re not wearing a bra,” I murmured against her mouth. “Naughty girl.”
“It got wet.”
I chuckled and nipped her bottom lip. “Whatever you say.”
Frankie opened her mouth to complain but I pinched her nipple, and a moan came out instead. She was putty in my hands, just like I always thought she would be. I slid my hand under her shirt and squeezed one of her fleshy globes as I ground my bulge against her.
Frankie’s hands moved down my back. She scratched a path to the base of my spine, and a shiver ran through me. I wanted her hands everywhere. My ass. My chest. Wrapped around my swollen rod. There wasn’t a thing I wouldn’t do for this woman at that moment if she asked.
I kissed down her neck as my hand skimmed her belly and found the button on her jeans. Frankie arched up toward me like a purring cat. My head spun. It was taking everything in me not to rip her clothes off and toss her over the back of the couch for a quick, wild fuck, but I wanted to make this sensational for her. If I never got to feel this woman’s hands on me again, I wanted to make sure she remembered mine.
My fingers dove into her heat and Frankie’s nails dug into the muscles of my back. I growled against her neck, so turned on I thought my cock might bust out of my jeans. She was hot and amazingly wet. Her silky folds parted for me like butter, and I drew circles around her clit that made her breaths turn ragged.
I backed away just far enough that I could pull her shirt off. She had amazing breasts, but that was no surprise. Soft and round, with dusky nipples that made my mouth water just looking at them. I took one into my mouth and began to suck, sliding one finger into her sex.
“Oh my god,” Frankie moaned. “That feels amazing.”
“You feel amazing,” I said, letting her nipple fall from my mouth. Her breast bounced enticingly. “You’re slick and ready for me. It’s so fucking hot.”
Her eyes, half-lidded and dark with want, found mine. Knowing her, she was probably about to say something snarky. I didn’t give her the chance. I grinned and pressed another finger inside, twisting until my fingers rubbed against her g-spot. Frankie’s eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she mewed with pleasure.
The feeling of urgency returned, and I shoved my face between her breasts, biting and sucking her ripe flesh as I pleasured her with my hand.
Frankie surrendered herself to me completely. She whimpered and shook as I pushed her relentlessly. I wanted to see her undone. Shattered. I wanted her to find heaven now because when I finally got inside of her, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hold back. All my fantasies of this moment didn’t even touch on how charged I felt when the real thing happened, like a direct surge of electricity was running from her pussy to my balls. She might not know how badly I wanted her, but I was going to show her.
Frankie’s moans grew, and her face contorted with ecstasy. I could tell she was close. I worked her other nipple, sucking in time with my probing fingers. A little longer and I’d have her.
“You’re so sexy Frankie,” I growled. “Cum on my fingers, sweetheart. Show me how good I make you feel.”
She mumbled a litany of curses, and I rubbed faster on her clit. Frankie began to thr
ust against my hand. I let her control the pace, riding my fingers to her climax. She opened her mouth in a wordless scream, those pillowy lips forming a perfect O, and then her whole body convulsed. She cried out and it was music to my ears. Her pussy clamped down on my fingers, sending a hot shiver through me as I imagined her cumming like that on my cock.
I rewarded her with a firm kiss on the mouth, and through her panting breaths, Frankie made her first demand of the evening.
“Are you going to fuck me now?”
I groaned. “God, you have no fucking idea.”
Frankie pulled my shirt off and ran her fingers down my chest and abs. I stopped her before she reached the button of my pants. If she touched me now, that would be it. She would end up with carpet burns on her face. Ignoring the confusion on her face, I pulled Frankie to her feet and grabbed her chin in my hand, looking her square in the eye.
“I want you to go to the master suite,” I said. “Take your clothes off and lie down on the bed.”
She licked her lips and nodded, then was off without another word. I made a pit stop in my room first, grabbing a condom from the box Garrick had jokingly bestowed on me. Hell, maybe it hadn’t been a joke at all.
I stripped off on my way to the master suite, meat throbbing at the thought of Frankie waiting in there for me.
Like a fantasy come to life, she was lying on the covers when I came into the room, legs spread to show off her pink, juicy pussy. I stopped dead in my tracks and something like a groan escaped my lips. She propped herself up on her elbows and looked at me.
“You are ripped,” she observed. Her eyes dipped below my waist, and I watched her eyebrows shoot up.
I loved watching women react to the sight of my cock. Though not aggressively long, it was thick with a bulging pink head that never failed to satisfy. As beautiful as my dick was, though, Frankie was miles prettier. Her curvy form was a smorgasbord for the eyes. Flaring hips. Thick thighs. Supple breasts. She was everything I’d ever hoped for.
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