“Awww… I bet you say that to all the half-naked girls,” she teased.
He shook his head, and she narrowed her eyes at him.
“Okay…” he answered with a laugh. “Maybe I’ve said it once or twice, but I’ve never meant it like this. I’ve never…knownsomeone like I know you. When I say it to you, it means something entirely different.”
Her gaze softened, and Levi let out a relieved breath.
“Do you think we should be calling someone for help?” he asked, remembering that people were actually expecting them to show up at the inn in the not-too-distant future.
Haddie answered him by taking a step back and having the nerve to slide her bikini briefs down her thighs and over her knees until she kicked them out from under her.
“Oh…my…goddess…” he ground out.
She glanced down to where his erection protruded from his unbuttoned pants. “I have been waiting to see what’s on the other side of those boxer briefs forweeks. Something tells me the little guy isnotgoing to disappoint.”
Levi winced. “I’m a fairly confident man,” he told her. “But myguymight be sensitive to—uh—inaccurate nicknames.”
Haddie hooked her finger behind his elastic waistband and lowered the briefs to take in the view. Her eyes grew wide. “Myapologies,Big Guy.” She gripped him in her palm, and something feral tore from his chest as his back slammed against the locked door.
“No…condom…” he managed as she stroked him from root to tip. His blood felt like fire, and Haddie’s touch only stoked the flame.
She bent down and grabbed her dress with her free hand and tossed it over his shoulder so it hung over the top of the door. Then she let go of him and took a step back.
“Do the same with your pants,” she ordered.
Levi’s mouth fell open. “Did you catch what I just said?” he asked.
She nodded and gave him a wicked smile, and Levi physically ached not to be touching her. Holy hell, what had he gotten himself into?
“Yep,” Haddie replied. “Youdon’t have a condom. ButIdo.”
Chapter 19
Levi blinked at her. “Whoareyou?”
Haddie raised her brows. “Do you or do you not want to have sex with me right now?”
Levi swallowed. “I do. Jesus, Haddie.” He glanced down at his half-lowered pants and the rock-hard length that she could not believe she’d referred to as little. “But this is a fancy-ass store.”
“And?” She crossed her arms over her bare breasts, aware that she was standing naked in a bridal shop dressing room in front of the man she’d been platonically living with for weeks. How? How had she done it and not completely lost her marbles? Haddie was out of her mind with need for this man, but hell, if one of them wasn’t going to play it cool here, and it certainly wasn’t Mr. Big over there.
Levi let his head fall against the door and groaned. “This isn’t how I imagined our first time,” he told her.
Haddie wrapped a hand around his wrist and brought his palm to her breast.
Levi hissed in a breath. “Evil, evil woman,” he growled.
“But you have imagined our first time?” she asked.
He snatched his hand away and ran it through his hair, tuggingat it like it was the only thing keeping him standing.
“Of course I have.” He swore, then finally met her gaze again, his eyes dark as storm clouds. “We almost did that night,” he reminded her. “And then we didn’t. And then we were only supposed to be friends, and we seem to have failed at that too. Now…?” He scrubbed a hand across his face. “I can’t believe I’m asking this since I have never asked this of any other woman in the history of my existence, but what is this, Haddie? If we take this step, what the hell does it mean? What happens when I go back to Indiana and eventually back on the road? Are you going to give up what you’ve started here and come with me? Do we do long distance? Because I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I’m crazy about—”
“Friends with benefits!” Haddie blurted out before letting him finish. Because she couldn’t let him say it…couldn’t let herself hear it. Levi was right. No matter how he thought he felt right now in this impossible moment they’d somehow found themselves in, he was leaving. That was the way it always went when Haddie cared about someone. So what if they did this without the caring?
His expression fell, and Haddie hated herself for the gut punch she knew she’d just landed. But she would hate even more if she let him fall for her, if she let herself fall for him. Because he was right. Where would they be six months from now?
“Friends with benefits?” he asked, but she could hear the resignation in his tone.
