So he did.
***
Levi kissed her as they barreled through the front door to their apartment. He kissed her as they kicked off their shoes. Then he kissed her as she removed his shorts and undid his belt. As she reluctantly pulled off her Coach Rourke T-shirt, telling him how much better the game was, being wrapped in his scent.
“How did I live for weeks without doing this?” he asked as they stumbled trying to decide whose bed would be their destination tonight.
“Yours,” Haddie insisted, breathless. “I want to be surrounded by everything that smells like you.”
They made their way, hungrily kissing and touching, teasing and tasting, until finally she was splayed out beneath him.
He slipped a hand between her legs, but Haddie shook her head.
“You. Inside me. Now.”
Levi didn’t have to be told twice.
He pulled open his nightstand drawer, and Haddie reachedaround his hand and pulled out a condom. In seconds she had him sheathed and ready, guiding him with her hand to where she opened for him.
When he sank inside her, everything that had transpired that day hit him all at once. The coffee bribe and his unbridled need to protect her even when he knew she was perfectly capable of protecting herself. Tommy and the budget committee. Billy McMannus. Pulling off a half-filled stadium and whopping Middleton’s ass. And the part that seemed to overshadow all the rest—Haddie Martin being proud of him.
As he kissed her again, the words just slipped out without any conscious thought.
“I love you,” he told her.
She said nothing in return, just kissed him harder. And although it wasn’t the response he’d have hoped for, he also didn’t see a Haddie-shaped cutout in any walls or doors.
So there it was. Levi loved Haddie. But he also loved the job he’d been forced to leave. Hopefully, with several months ahead, he’d be able to figure out how to keep both.
***
Levi woke to a cold, empty spot beside him where Haddie’s body used to be.
Shit.
He’d spooked her. What kind of an asshole drops a bomb likeI love youright in the middle of sex? Apparently, the kind who had never spoken those words to anyone else before in his life other thanimmediate family and guessed the best time to do it was preclimax so she’d think twice about bolting.
Shit. Shit. Shit.He was in way over his head, and they still had months to go living in the wake of his royal, emotionally stunted stupidity.
He scrambled out of bed and was padding toward the bathroom to rinse away his humiliation under the hot spray of the shower when he smelled coffee.
“Birthday Girl?” he asked, his voice still thick with the remnants of sleep.
Haddie popped up from below the sink wearing her robe, her hair damp from having already showered.
Okay, so she hadn’t bolted, but she also hadn’t waited for him to shower. He figured they weren’t in crisis mode yet.
“Hi!” she exclaimed in a tone way too perky for how tired Levi still felt. “I was just grabbing one of those tablet thingies for the dishwasher.” She followed his gaze as it roamed over her attire. “Right,” she replied, reading his thoughts. “I woke up early and couldn’t fall back asleep, so I went for a run. When you still weren’t up, I figured I’d just shower and get the coffee going, and from the looks of it, you could really use a cup or seven.” She spun toward the gurgling coffeepot and reached for a mug in the cabinet overhead.
Levi took a chance and strode into the kitchen, settling behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist.
She sucked in a sharp inhale and froze.
“Breathe,Birthday Girl,” he whispered softly, and Haddieexhaled, lowering her hands to set two mugs down on the counter.
“It’s too soon,” he admitted, then kissed her cheek. “What I said last night. I was just overwhelmed by the game and having you to celebrate with. I got carried away. So how about we go back to how amazing things have been this week and not get all weird about my brain short-circuiting during some pretty fantastic sex?”
Haddie let out another long breath and finally spun to face him.
