Their kiss in the fitting room had been wild and unbridled, but this felt like something feral. Like if they didn’t devour each other, they’d both disappear.
She pushed his back against the shed so she now stood under the steady waterfall of rain that made its way in between the two roofs. She licked her lips as the water streamed down her face, and Levi groaned. Then she braced her palms against the shed on either side of his shoulders, her body slamming against his.
She rocked her pelvis against his unmistakable erection, and a growl tore from his lips.
Levi slid her soaked shirt up above her bra and cupped her breast, his thumb and finger pinching the taut peak of her nipple. Even amid the storm he could hear her moan, and the sound of her pleasure—of him being thecauseof that pleasure—set his blood on fire.
“Haddie,” he ground out, his own voice unrecognizable to his ears. “Is this… Is it friends with benefits…or more?”
“I don’t know,” she answered, her lips still against his. “I justcan’t not do this anymore.”
He swore. “Me neither.”
They kissed and nipped and tasted, moans and whimpers escaping their lips as Haddie’s fingers teased the waistband of his shorts, and he remembered his words in the fitting room.
This isn’t how I imagined our first time.
And neither was this.
“We need to get back to the apartment,” he said, not believing the words that were coming out of his mouth when he knew instant gratification was only a matter of her hand sliding just a tiny bit lower.
Haddie opened her mouth to protest, but his hand was already around her waist. “Come on!” he called, and then they dove headlong into the storm.
Chapter 22
Haddie was breathless, soaked, and shivering by the time they burstthrough the front door of the apartment. Levi must have been just as cold because goose bumps peppered his arms and legs.
They toed off their muddy shoes and peeled away their wet socks before padding into the living room, small puddles from their dripping clothes forming in their wake.
“We need to dry off,” he told her, his voice hoarse. “I’ll get us some towels.”
He spun toward the bathroom, giving her a moment to think, to wrap her head around all the events of the day that led them to right here. What came next? What happened after they peeled off their soaked clothes?
Haddie knew the ball was in her court. If she chose to call thisfriends with benefits, he’d probably let her. Levi would let her live in her blissful world of make-believe, claiming that whatever they felt wasn’t real or wouldn’t last. Friends with benefits. Cut their losses before they even happened. Safety. Her line in the sand.
“I’m crazy about you too!” she blurted out instead, and despite the cold, wet clothes clinging to his shivering torso, Levi Rourkestepped out of the bathroom, towel in hand, and smiled the kind of smile that could make the clouds part to reveal the biggest, brightest rainbow she’d ever seen. “Oh la vache,” she added, burying her face in her hands.
He laughed. “Whatisthat?” he asked.
She met his eyes again. “What is what?”
“The…the thing you just said. Was that French? You did the same thing that night in the hotel and today in the dressing room.”
Haddie’s cheeks burned. How had he noticed her tell so quickly? Maybe the more astute observation was that Levi had noticed her. He’d seen her, even when he barely knew her.
“When I get flustered…which is not often, by the way…my brain sort of short-circuits and I start spouting aphorisms or idioms in other languages. I got it from…um…from my grandmother.” She cleared her throat. “We weren’t super close, but when we’d watch soccer together, she used to swear in other languages at bad plays.” Haddie shrugged. “Now it’s my thing too.” He stepped closer, his smile fading, and dabbed the folded-up towel under her eye. “Oh god,” she said, a slight tremble in her voice. “Are my eyes leaking? Did I just turn things from romantic and cute to ugh-this-girl-has-issues weird?”
He wrapped the towel around her neck and tugged her close. “I like weird, Haddie. And I like you. But you have to tell me what happens next,” he said, his voice layered with hesitation and hope.
Since Haddie was six—six—and lost her mom, she’d kept everyone at arm’s length, preparing for the moment when they’d eventually disappear. And it still hurt when Emma moved backhome. It still leveled her when her grandmonster died, because despite their complicated relationship, they were all the other one had. And what had it gotten her, other than a lonely existence even when the people she was meant to love were right in front of her?
Levi was right in front of her. Would depriving herself of the chance to feel something for him make it any easier to lose him once he was gone?
Haddie’s shoulder rose in a small shrug. “Why can’t we see where this goes and deal with that when we get there?” She cupped his cheeks in her palms and kissed him softly, drinking in the rainwater on his lips as he sighed against her. Then she stepped back with just enough room to peel off everything she was wearing, letting it fall to a wet heap on the floor.
Levi sucked in a breath as she wordlessly helped him out of his clothes and backed him—naked, hard, beautiful, and hers—into his room.
He lay down on his back, and Haddie crawled over him, staring down at the man she didn’t want to run from anymore.
