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We stay locked together for a long moment, trembling and breathing hard.

Then his grip softens. He presses slow, tender kisses along my neck and shoulder.

“You okay?” he asks.

I nod, still catching my breath. He kisses me again, softer this time, like he can’t stop touching me.

Carefully, he helps me down from the dresser, keeping a steadying hand on my waist until my feet are firmly on the floor. My legs are shaky, but he doesn’t let go until I’m stable. Only then does he disappear into the bathroom to deal with the condom.

When he comes back, he reaches for my robe where it’s draped over the end of the bed. For a second, I think he’s handing it to me. Instead, he steps behind me and settles it around my shoulders himself, drawing the soft fabric closed over my chest with a tenderness that makes my throat tighten.

Then he pulls on his underwear and sits on the edge of the bed.

He looks at me for a moment, quiet and unreadable, then taps his thigh.

I go to him.

His good arm slides around my waist, and he draws me onto his lap until I’m sitting sideways across his thighs, tucked securely against his chest.

He doesn’t say anything. He just holds me there.

“You should get back to Theo,” I murmur, even as I settle deeper into him.

“No.” His voice is quiet but firm. “Haven’t talked to you all day. You haven’t told me how school was or if Fifi lost another fight with a blanket.”

I smile and rest my head against his shoulder, one hand splayed over his chest. “Paul looked at my test again today. Somehow, I passed.”

“A pass,” Levi repeats, sounding genuinely pleased. “Told you.”

I tilt my head back to look at him. His mouth twitches, that small smirk that does ridiculous things to me.

I keep talking, Levi listens quietly, his hand moving in soothing strokes up and down my arm, his thumb brushing my skin in a steady rhythm that makes it easy to keep going.

Eventually I glance up at him. “What about you? Anything exciting happen today?”

“Had a meeting. Nothing important. Then Doris accused me of stealing her hose.”

“Did you?”

“I borrowed it,” he says with a shrug. “She came out waving a rake, telling me I was ruining the neighborhood.”

I bite back a laugh. “And what did you say?”

“Was gonna say something…then I thought about you and shut up instead. Gave the hose back, too.”

“Did you apologize?”

His silence is answer enough.

I laugh and tuck my face into the crook of his neck, breathing him in. “You’re impossible.”

His arm tightens around me. “Yeah, well…you like me. That’s all I care about.”

I do like him. I really, really do.

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CARMEN