Breaking the Habit: The Breaking Series #4

by Leigh, Ember

  Levi moaned through a kiss, guttural and raw. She shivered against him, and he cinched his arms tighter around her.

  “Levi,” she gasped when the kiss broke.

  He squeezed the flesh of her hips, then moved his hands down to her ass cheeks. One healthy squeeze sent all her fluids and rationale jolting for her pussy. She squeaked, pressing her forehead into his chest.

  “Mm-hmm,” he said, his pelvis grinding into hers.

  Her eyes fluttered shut. This wasn’t fair. This wasn’t allowed. Every single thing he did felt amazing and promised the sexual encounter of her life. Except they were here—in the dressing room.

  This was not where she wanted it to happen.

  “Levi,” she said again, he lips brushing his collarbone. “We can’t…”

  “What?” He pressed his lips to her temple, hoisting her against him. “Finish your sentence so I can tell you how wrong you are.”

  “We can’t do this here,” she said, the words barely making it out. His cock was pressing against her vagina. And it could only be his cock, unless he’d hidden an iron rod in his pants somehow without her noticing. The heat and friction of it, pressed to her pussy, made thoughts nearly impossible.

  He bit his lower lip, eyes hooded with desire. She’d never been looked at like this, not even by Braden. Maybe she’d never known what true passion felt like. Because this right here? This was blowing the lid off everything that came before it.

  And they hadn’t even fucked.

  “Let’s go to your house,” he murmured, voice lazy. His abs flexed as he rolled against her so slowly. She gasped when his cock pushed against her panties in just the right spot.

  “I…” She clamored for a response, knowing somewhere that wasn’t possible. But why? Her mouth hung open and she stared at the ceiling for a moment, trying to recall anything from her life. Where did she live? Who did she live with? Would Levi always gyrate against her like this?

  “It’ll be the easiest,” he whispered, then tugged at her earlobe with his teeth.

  “You’re right,” she murmured, but as soon as the words came out, everything came crashing back to her. Her roommate. Her house. The situation with Nikki’s mom and the ice machine. “Oh, God! We can’t!”

  Levi didn’t let her enthusiasm dull the decision. “Oh, come on.”

  “No. M-my roommate, is…” Her words dissipated once Levi hoisted her again, his lips brushing the side of her neck. A shiver wracked her body. “My roommate has family in tonight. They’re going to be—”

  “We’ll be quiet.”

  Her eyes fluttered shut. She laced her arms around his neck, wondering if anything had ever felt this good before. This solid. “No. Her mom is a light sleeper, and her sister will be there. We’ve had conversations about this. The ice maker clicks. I can’t—”

  Levi grunted, his lips leaving a damp trail over the fabric of her dress covering her chest. He nipped at where the cleavage would be. “Yeah, you won’t be quiet when I get my hands on you. Let’s get a room.”

  She huffed. “Levi, I—that’s—”

  “I’ll pay.”

  “No.” She frowned. “That seems…like a little much.”

  “We’ll go get your car, and fuck in the backseat, then.”

  His ideas were getting worse. She deflated. “Why can’t we go to your place?”

  He paused, and some of the romantic airs evaporated between them. “Uh…that’s not really an option.”

  “Why?”

  Levi jerked his head. “I’m…not set up for that.”

  “You have an apartment, right?”

  Levi stilled, something strange clouding his face.

  “Levi?”

  “Yeah, it’s just…” He lowered her slightly, so her ass touched the dressing room table again. She nibbled her lip, feeing like someone had stuck a pin in their overinflated sex balloon.

  “Then…maybe tonight’s not the night,” she said softly, pressing her palms to the flatness of his chest. “It’s fine. My roommate’s family won’t be in town for very long, so—”

  Levi sighed tersely, squeezing his eyes shut. He hoisted her again, which prompted a soft gasp. Then he shook his head. “No. We’ll go to my place.”

  Chapter 12

  Levi’s lips buzzed, and his heart pounded, and every step toward his apartment had him questioning if this was the stupidest mistake of his life.

  Riley’s kisses in the back of the ride share to his apartment building told him no, this was smart, very smart.

  But his gut told a different story.

  “Okay. Let me check on things before we go in,” Levi said in a hushed voice outside his front door. It was almost ten p.m., so Gage was more than likely in his bedroom for the night. Tammy usually got him all prepped for bed, so he could dick around on his laptop or tablet until he was ready to sleep.

  Riley watched him with wide eyes. “Do you live with your parents or something?”

  He scoffed, unlocking the door quietly. He poked his head in. The apartment was unlit. Good sign. He cleared his throat and pushed inside, scanning the apartment as he led Riley in quickly.

  “Nice place,” she said, in a normal voice.

  “Shhh.” Levi couldn’t have even a hint of something amiss. He wasn’t ready to broach this new horizon with his brother. This was an emergency arrangement, and if all went well, he could sneak Riley out in the wee hours before Gage got up for the day.

  That was the plan. It had to work.

  “This is my room,” he said, flipping on the lights before shutting the door quietly behind them. He had a king-sized bed on a black boxy mattress stand, with no additional furniture beyond a nightstand and a dresser, both of which matched the matte black bedframe.

  “Wow.” Riley dropped her camera bags, gaze darting around the room. “This is…kind of not what I expected.”

  That admission thrilled him, but he couldn’t say why. He cocked his head, shedding the HOLT zip-up. “Why? You thought I’d be a messy bachelor or something?”

  “Kinda though you’d live in the middle of a bunch of punching bags,” she said, laughing. Her eyes sparkled. He really liked this side of Riley. The side that had finally decided to open up to him.

  He got lost in her gaze, and it felt like minutes had passed.

  “Hang on. I need to grab something. Stay in here, okay? Do you want anything? Water? I don’t have any alcohol in the house, obviously. I might have some orange soda.”

  Riley smirked. “Water is good. You drink orange soda?”

  “No. It’s—” He huffed. “It’s not worth explaining. Hang on.”

  Levi slipped out of his bedroom, heart hammering as he crossed the hallway to Gage’s room. At least their bedrooms weren’t adjacent. The apartment had decent sound protection, so as long as Riley didn’t groan like a virile moose, they’d be fine.

  Levi tapped gently on his brother’s door and then pushed it open a crack. Gage was up in bed, headphones on, staring at his laptop. When he noticed Levi, he jerked his headphones down.

  “Oh, hey!” Gage said.

  Levi narrowed his eyes. “You sound suspicious.”

  “What!”

  “You’re either watching porn or you called Uber Eats to deliver you a pallet of soda.”

  “Neither. I’m talking to someone.” Gage frowned. “Not a bad idea about Uber Eats, though.”

  “You good for the night?”

  Gage sniffed and nodded, typing something out on his laptop. “Yeah. I saw you won the fight. Good job, man.”

  “Thanks, bro.” Levi paused, rapping his knuckles along the molding. Part of him wanted to share the good news that not only was he advancing in the league, but that their future was looking more secure. Once Gage became an adult, his costly medical visits, home health nurse expenses, and ongoing equipment needs would turn into a whole new type of financial burden.

  In the beginning, when Levi first became Gage’s caretaker, he made barely enough to make
ends meet. He’d been able to rely on state assistance in Chicago to help with the fact that their parents’ insurance no longer covered Gage’s needs. But even with assistance, the unseen costs remained. The missed work because of a late home health care worker, the random visits to the hospital because of questions or concerns that his parents had always taken care of.

  They’d left behind a sizeable life insurance policy, which had been the lifesaver they both needed. But that money was running out.

  Now, between his all his various sponsorships and the new league contract, Levi made way too much to qualify for assistance in California. There was no hope. Which meant that if he was going to make money, he needed all the money. He wanted to be able to buy their way into a solid plan so neither of them had to worry about this shit anymore. It wouldn’t be cheap—it never was.

  But Levi said nothing. Gage was still a kid. He didn’t need to worry about this shit. He needed to keep growing up and getting smart.

  “I’m gonna head to bed. My whole body hurts after demolishing my competition.” Levi winked at his brother. “Night, Gage.”

  Levi hurried into the kitchen next, filled up two big glasses of filtered water, and headed back into the bedroom. Riley had shrugged off her leather coat, and now, legs crossed in that skin-tight teal dress, peered at the display screen on her camera.

  His thighs tensed from wanting her. He had to count to five to get the water out of his hands and onto the nightstand.

  “Whatcha looking at?”

  Riley showed him the camera as he eased onto the bed next to her, stifling a groan. The adrenaline was wearing off, so the real-life aches and pains of his fight would be settling in for the next week or so. Each fight was different, and this one promised to be a doozy.

  “I captured it.” A smile tugged at her lips, and some of her silky hair, glinting black in the low light, slipped out from behind her ear. “The way you were looking at me, when I came into the dressing room before the fight. Nobody’s ever looked at me like that before.”

  There was a heartbreaking honesty in her words, and it made him pause. He knew intuitively that she didn’t say shit like this to just any guy.

  “Like you’re a sexy dark angel descended from the heavens?” he asked.

  She snickered, setting the camera aside. “Yeah. I guess.”

  “Mmm. That’s hard to believe.” He scooped her up into his arms, maneuvering her onto his lap. “Basically, you’re saying I’m the only man with functioning eyeballs in the world.”

  She melted into him, pressing her forehead to his. Her arm slung around his neck, the weight of her in his arms felt right. Like he’d been waiting for her to come along and fill them.

  “LA is weird,” she murmured into his neck, her breath leaving a damp spot there. Chills shivered through him. This was new for him and a little weird—not getting straight to the sex. But he liked it. With Riley, he’d see it out. “Everyone is trying to be someone or be in the right group that knows that someone. Plus everyone is gorgeous. You’ve probably noticed that already.”

  Levi traced the curve of her ass as she spoke. His cock had stiffened under the waistband of his briefs the second he saw her perched on his bed. Seeing her there felt as much like a fantasy as a vision from the future. That second part he didn’t understand; it pushed him into an area he didn’t think about often. Didn’t have time to think about.

  “I only notice one gorgeous person,” he said, and it wasn’t a lie. Normally, in the six weeks he’d known Riley, he’d have six new notches on his bedpost. He’d hit the scene hard in LA the second he got here, but after he met Riley…that changed. Without him even deciding it.

  “You don’t have to flatter me,” she said into his ear, which made his cock twitch. “You got me alone in your bedroom—your work is done.”

  “Oh, no. Far from done.” He kissed a path along her jawline, then back up to her impossibly soft lips. “It’s just beginning.”

  He snagged her lips in another kiss. Urgency rushed through him, and he was so eager and anxious and hungry for her all at once that he could have fucking unraveled.

  His composure snapped. All the remaining patience, gone. He’d waited six weeks for her to send him one heated glance, and he wasn’t about to delay this any longer.

  “Jesus, Riley,” he groaned once the kiss broke. “I need you to take this dress off.” He slid his hands further up her thighs, pushing the fabric of her dress all the way up to her hips. Black satin panties awaited him underneath. All the air in his lungs escaped him in a whoosh. “Were these for me too?”

  She laughed throatily, and he took the opportunity to trail kisses up her neck.

  “I might have had you in mind,” she whispered, dragging her fingertips back and forth over his bicep. “Though I didn’t honestly believe you’d see them tonight.”

  “Really? You mean you didn’t know it was over the second you stepped into the dressing room?” His kisses wandered down over her collarbone, then down to the valley between her breasts. He needed more of her—now. He pushed his hands beneath the sides of her panties, unable to break the stream of kisses for even a moment.

  A laugh escaped her, followed by a shiver as he bunched the dress up to her natural waist. He plunged his tongue in to meet hers. Electricity skated through his limbs. He didn’t think he’d ever wanted someone this much. This intensely. He was losing a piece of his mind.

  “How did you know?” she asked, tipping her head back again as his kisses drifted down her neck. “That I—you know—”

  “The way you looked at me.” He buried his face between her breasts, then took a soft bite of her cleavage. He groaned, pushing the dress higher, up to the line of her bra. “Oh, damn. Let me—” he tugged the dress up and over her head. She giggled when the fabric crested her head. He tossed the teal garment aside, groaning appreciatively as his hands roamed the newly exposed skin. Her black satin panties matched her black satin bra, a detail that sent his mind spinning.

  “Fuck.” His lips found the dip between her breasts again. “What was I saying?”

  “I have no idea.” Her head lolled back. He took a soft bite at her neck, and she moaned.

  Yeah. This was going to be a great night.

  Levi shifted, grunting as he slid out from underneath her to lay her back on the bed. The air whooshed out of him as her weight left his arms, and he crumpled to her side.

  “Damn. Do I weigh that much?”

  He laughed into her shoulder, tried to prop himself up, but his wrists protested the decision. His entire body wanted to shut down. But that didn’t mesh with his plans, which involved continued physical exertion, possibly until daybreak.

  “It’s not you, I swear.” He sucked at his teeth as he pushed to sitting, moving his shoulder in a slow circle. His whole upper back burned.

  “You act like you just got into a huge fight with one of the world’s most skilled fighters,” she cracked.

  “Everything hurts, but my forearms hurt the worst.”

  “You don’t have four arms. You only have two.”

  Levi let her words wash over him. She watched him with a glinting expectancy. And then it hit. He whooped with laughter.

  “Damn! Did you just out-dad joke me?”

  Riley shook with contained laughter, nodding. Warmth spread through him. Hell, after that? He might be in love with her now. Levi stifled a groan as he tore his shirt off. The sight wasn’t pretty. Bruises had already blossomed along his ribs and biceps.

  “Oh my god,” Riley murmured as she brushed her fingers over his skin. It was meant to be consoling, but it only brought his mind back to the full woman on display. Mind over matter. And his mind wanted this. “Maybe you should take it easy. We don’t—”

  “Don’t even suggest it,” Levi warned, carefully threading his legs out of his shorts. When he was left in his boxers, cock straining against his briefs like someone desperate to join the party, Riley curled up at his side.

  “T
hen you need some TLC,” Riley said, pushing at his shoulders so he plopped back on the bed. She grinned down at him, mischief mingled with tenderness in her eyes, and he would have framed this moment if he could. Riley’s hair slipped out from behind her ears. Everything about her made his muscles go taut with expectation. Her pitch-black eyelashes. The sexy pout of her lips as she traced the ridges of his abs. Those thighs that made him lose his damn mind.

  “Yeah,” Levi said, his abs jerking as she danced her cool hands near the edge of his briefs. “Lots of TLC.”

  Riley urged him into the middle of the bed, and then she straddled him, those sexy thighs cinching tight on either side. He groaned, melting back into the bed.

  This was exactly where he was meant to be. Trapped between Riley’s legs. Her delicious weight pinning him to the bed. He cupped her round ass cheeks in both hands, unable to prevent himself from thrusting up against her. She gasped, rocking her hips, inviting a slow bump and grind between the two of them.

  Riley’s eyes fluttered closed, her lips parting as their rhythm turned serious, methodical. Levi’s aches and pains faded away as she rode his cock from above. The friction was delicious enough that he could have come this way—he really could have. With this view from below, her silky skin gliding against his, those thighs wrapped around him. Hell yes.

  “Fuck, Riley.” Levi pushed himself up, his wrists aching with the effort, and wrapped his arms around her. He exhaled with satisfaction. Now this was a special type of bliss. She giggled, wiggling her hips to settle on top of him in just the right spot. She hooked her ankles behind his back, and he got lost in her cleavage.

  “I’m never leaving,” he mumbled into the mounds of her breasts.

  “I’ll allow it for a night.” She rocked against him, snapping him out of his booby daze. “As part of your TLC.”

  “Mmmm.” He tugged down the cups of her bra, and her breasts spilled free. He scooped up each pebbled, rosy nipple in his mouth, one at a time. Riley pressed her forehead to his, her hips bucking.