I’d let people treat me the way I thought I should be treated. I’d let them walk all over me and talk about me and even sleep with me without ever expecting them to care about how I felt or what I thought or what I wanted in life.
Levi was the only person that had ever seen me for who I am, for someone that had worth and beauty that had nothing to do with my upbringing or home life.
And after a lifetime of not knowing any better, he’d scared me. He’d been too good to be true. Out of my league. Too close to the sun.
Yet when I finally allowed myself the grace to see his love and affection for what it was, I was able to shed the skin of my circumstances and step into the beauty and joy of a real, genuine, soul-deep relationship with a man I truly loved.
God, my heart was going to explode in my chest from happiness.
We fell on the bed together, a tangle of arms and legs and his glorious, muscular, gorgeous bare chest. A bare chest I got to touch now.
“People are going to talk about us,” he murmured as my dress disappeared somewhere over the side of his bed. “They’re going to have opinions about Max and what that should mean for us.”
“I don’t care what they think,” I told him honestly. And I really didn’t. Maybe for the first time in my life, it didn’t bother me one bit what the people of Clark City, Nebraska thought of me or my life.
“Good, because if we’re going to do this, Ruby, we’re going to keep doing this. I want you in my life from here on out. If you give yourself to me now, I won’t ever be able to give you up.”
“That’s what I want too. That’s what I should have always wanted.”
His forehead touched mine again and he closed his eyes, bracing himself against my answer. “You really don’t care what everyone else is going to think? Our parents might have something to say.”
I kissed the corner of his eye and then his cheek and the curve of his lips. “Levi,” I murmured, honesty ringing true with every word. “I’m ready to stop fighting you and start fighting for you. I promise.”
His eyes popped open and a wicked smile turned his lips in the most breathtaking smile I’d ever seen. “Love you, little Ruby Dawson.”
My heart pounded at those beautiful words, letting them sink into my bones and put all the remaining puzzle pieces together inside me. “And I love you, Levi Cole.”
This time when he kissed me, he didn’t stop. The rest of our clothes disappeared and soon enough we were naked and panting and he was moving inside of me, pulling out the most outrageous sounds and pleas.
His body was a piece of art and I relished every second I got of him like this. I had never been treated like this before… adored, loved… worshiped.
Our bodies were perfectly in sync, moving together in a primal rhythm of need and want and love. My back arched on his bed as he did delicious, wicked things to me. I clutched his shoulders, finding purchase in their strength.
It had never been like this for me. Not that I had a long list of sexual partners, but I didn’t even know it could be like this.
He pumped his hips and hit wonderful places and by the time I was gasping for breath and my toes were curling as a soul-shaking orgasm coursed through my body, I had decided I would never leave his bed again. I would have to live here. Someone else was going to have to take care of Max, because I needed a hell of a lot more of that asap.
I watched him finish in awe of his masculinity and strength, of the hard planes of his face and the erotic expression he made as his body flexed and hardened all around me. He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, a kind of beauty I didn’t know existed.
He was mine.
And now I was his.
Levi collapsed next to me, immediately pulling me into his arms and cradling me against his warm, solid chest. “Knew it would be that good,” he gloated.
I looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really?”
He grinned down at me. “Okay, I hoped it would be that good.”
“Will it always be that good?”
His smile turned tender, gentle, all the things that made my insides jelly and sent my heart skipping. “With you, Ruby, I have a feeling it’s only going to get better and better.”
We laid there together until we couldn’t resist the touch of each other any longer. The second time was even more intense, filled with more adventure and exploration.
By the time we fell asleep, we were wrapped so tightly in each other, both physically and emotionally, I knew there would never be a way to tell where we began and where we ended.
Our rivalry had ended in the most explosive coming together of all time, neither of us coming out the victor, but both of us winning in the end.
