Perfect Kiss (20 page)

Not only had she taken him by complete surprise, she’d also impressed the hell out of him. She didn’t play games. If she wanted something, she didn’t expect him to be a mind-reader or skirt around the topic, she said it flat out.

Seeing her, the
real
her, last night and then again this afternoon was both bitter and sweet. The girl he remembered meeting was shining through like rays of sun breaking through clouds on a stormy day. Bright. Breathtaking. Beautiful. But those rays were only so spectacular because of the backdrop of the storm.

Levi wasn’t a stranger to life not being fair. To life knocking him down. To life giving him the shit end of the stick. When he’d finally been free to leave home, his promising boxing career and life as a carefree young adult had been ripped away from him in one phone call. Once his mom had passed away, he’d moved home and raised his brothers full time.

It hadn’t been easy. There were times he was sure that either he or one or both of his brothers weren’t going to make it out alive. Somehow, against all odds, they all had. And thrived, at that.

He’d never gotten angry at the cards he’d been dealt. Never felt sorry for himself or thought,
Why me?
But seeing Shelby, a shell of herself, scared, nervous, and afraid? Hearing what he was sure was just the tip of the iceberg of what she’d endured? He
was
mad. He was thinking,
Why her?
And he definitely wanted to hunt down the asshole who’d hurt her, and, if he did, he knew for a fact that one of them—not him!—would not make it out of that meeting alive.

In the short time he’d really gotten to know her, his feelings had evolved into something he wasn’t even sure he wanted to accept. It was more than physical. It was more than emotional. It was like she’d found her way not only into his heart—he knew he loved her—but also into his DNA. He felt more than just connected to her. He felt like she was a part of him. Hell, maybe that’s what love was.

Flipping the television off, he accepted the fact that nothing on the screen could possibly get his mind off all the ways he wanted one plus one to equal two with Shelby. Standing up, he grabbed his plate of half-eaten pizza, dumped the crusts in the trash, and then moved to the sink to rinse his plate.

Don’t look up.

Every night, he’d torture himself by leaving the window open but not looking out to the clear view of Shelby’s bedroom. Since the first week she’d moved in, he’d made a point of not lifting his head whenever he was in close proximity to his sink. Could he have just closed his blinds? Yep. He could have. But he hadn’t.

Tonight, for some reason, that probably had to do with their lunchtime chat about math equations and movie ratings, his thin thread of self-control broke. Even though it was the middle of the night and he was sure she was probably sound asleep, before he could stop himself, his head rose.

Holy shit!

In a split second, he became aware of several facts. The first thing that registered in his brain when his gaze landed on her window was that it was open. The second was that a dim light from her bathroom illuminated the room. The third was that Shelby was standing in profile, framed perfectly in the square outline of the window,
naked
as the day she was born, one foot propped on her bed while she rubbed her hands up and down her calf.

He wasn’t sure exactly what he’d expected to see when he looked at Shelby’s window. Of course, he’d hoped he’d catch a glimpse of her. But he sure as hell hadn’t expected to see
all
of her.

For a moment, he was paralyzed as his mind processed the signals his eyes were sending it. Then a thought hit him. If
he
could see her, then so could anyone else passing by.

The plate slipped from his hands. He had enough sense to turn the water off before racing down to the cabin, but not enough to throw a shirt or shoes on. Not that he noticed. While he ran down the short dirt path that was covered with pine needles, sticks, and rocks, he didn’t feel anything on the bottom of his bare feet. It was like those people who walked on fire or glass—he had so much adrenaline racing through him that it was blocking his pain receptors.

When he finally reached her door, he knocked. Loudly. She opened on the third pound, not looking even a little bit surprised to see him.

“Hi,” she grinned.

Looking down at her petite frame, he was both relieved and disappointed that she was covered in a long T-shirt. Now that he’d gotten a teasing glimpse of what was beneath it, he wanted her even more, which was something he would have said wasn’t humanly possible.

“Want to
come
in?” She stepped to the side to allow him to pass.

Did he want to
come
in? Hell yes, he did. But he knew that that was the last thing he should do.

“No,” he barked harshly. His body was strung so tight he could barely breathe.

Shelby’s hair was piled up on the top of her head, her face scrubbed clean. Her blue eyes were a deeper shade of aqua than he’d ever seen. Her full lips were shiny, either from gloss or from her tongue wetting them. It was killing him not to lean down and kiss her to find out.

Her left eyebrow rose. “Can I
do
something for you?”

Levi’s brain was so lust-fogged that he wasn’t sure if it was his overactive imagination or if she was intentionally emphasizing suggestive words. His body didn’t care which it was; his libido was running with it.

“Close your window,” he growled then turned on his heel to leave before he did something he still wasn’t sure she was ready for, even though there did seem to have been a tectonic shift in her personality over the last twenty-four hours.

“Seriously?” she questioned in frustration.

He didn’t answer and was halfway down the steps when she said the word that stopped him in his tracks.

“No,” Shelby said defiantly. “I won’t close it.”

When he spun back around, the words flew out of his mouth. “You were naked. Anyone could’ve seen you!”

“The only person I wanted to, obviously did,” she said, irritation in her tone as she crossed her arms, causing the shirt that had reached mid-thigh to rise to upper thigh. His mouth watered at the sight.

He took a step back up onto the porch trying not to let his body’s reaction sidetrack this conversation. “You did that on purpose?”

“Yes,” she confirmed unapologetically.

Running his hands through his hair in frustration, he took a deep breath. “You wanted people to see you without your clothes on?”

“No.” She calmly shook her head. “I wanted
you
to see me without my clothes on.”

At her bold words, lust surged to dangerous levels through him. His blood pumped fast as it rushed to his hardening length. Every nerve in his body felt raw with the knowledge that she’d wanted him to see her. His jaw clenched, he somehow managed to push past those facts and ask the only question that was louder than the one screaming for him to lift her shirt up and get a good look at what she wanted him to see.

“What if someone
else
would have seen you?”

“Who?” Shelby moved farther outside and looked around. “It’s three a.m. The bar’s been closed for an hour, and we don’t really get a lot of foot traffic through here, even during broad daylight. Who else would see me?”

Levi couldn’t believe that she was actually copping an attitude with him. He was the one who should be pissed. She was driving him crazy.

“No more peep shows. Keep your window closed.” He turned again to leave and again was stopped by her words.

“Okay, but fair warning, I read an article that said the best way to refinish cabinets was in the buff,” she singsonged. “So you may want to divert your eyes if you pass through the kitchen tomorrow.”

His back was to her, which he was glad about, since she couldn’t see the smile that was now on his face or his steel-hard erection his sweats were not doing the best job of covering up. He shook his head and closed his eyes as he sighed.

“Are you trying to kill me?” he asked.

“Nope.”

The wood porch squeaked as she stepped closer to him. He felt her featherlight touch as she ran her fingers over his shoulder blades. Then her hands traveled lower, her nails raking across his skin, causing his dick to throb painfully.

“I’m not trying to kill you. I’m just trying to have sex with you.”

Before he could respond, her lips were on his back, pressing kisses along the path her hands were exploring.

“Shelby, I’m trying like hell to do the right thing here.” He was just a man. He honestly didn’t know how much more he could take.

Against his back, Shelby’s lips turned up in amusement. “The right thing to do is
me
.”

Not knowing what else to do, and feeling like he was walking the razor’s edge, Levi voiced his deepest concern. “After all you’ve been through, I don’t want to hurt you.”

As she slowly moved around him, his heart thudded wildly in his chest. “Then don’t.”

He was panting like an obscene phone caller, his chest rising and falling in short breaths as desire flowed powerfully through his veins. When she stopped in front of him, she picked his hand up, pulled it to her mouth, and gently kissed it before laying her cheek against it. When her trusting, crystal-blue eyes gazed up at him, his heart swelled.

“Your hands, your touch, would heal me. Not hurt me.”

A primal groan ripped from his soul. He knew, in that moment, even if she didn’t yet, that she was his. That he would do anything to protect her. Anything to keep her safe. Anything to make her smile. She owned him.

Tangling his fingers in her hair, he crushed his mouth to hers while his other arm slid around her waist and picked her up. Her long legs tightly wrapped around his waist, which brought his throbbing dick in intimate contact with her core.

Within seconds, he had them inside the cabin, the door shut, and her up against the wall. His tongue explored every crevice of her mouth, and with his hand still in her hair, he tilted her head to give himself total access to what he needed more than he needed his next breath—her. Using his other hand, his fingers cupped and kneaded the firm flesh of her ass cheek… rocking her against his straining erection. He could feel the damp heat radiating from her core as he did, causing carnal lust to rage through him. His body was already surging towards completion, and he knew that, if he didn’t slow things way down, this would be over before it started.

As his devouring kiss swallowed her needy moans, Levi deliberately slowed the frenzied pace. His tongue was taking long, sweeping passes along hers as his hand moved beneath her shirt and onto the soft bare skin of her midsection while he rolled his hips in sensually slow thrusts. All-consuming need flooded him every time his rock-solid length pressed firmly against the moist heat of her sex. His sweats were damp with their combined arousal.

“I want to…” Shelby pulled away from him, panting as she reached down and struggled with her shirt. After unsuccessfully yanking it up, she said in frustration, “Feel you.”

Once he’d released his grip on her hair, Levi lifted her shirt, clearing her head and tossing it on the floor with one swift movement. Before he had a chance to take in her perfect breasts and naked torso, her arms flew around his neck as she plastered her body to his. Her nails dug into his skin as her lips sucked on his neck. The sensation of her plump lips and wet tongue against his heated skin caused pleasure to whip through him. Moving both hands down her body, he gripped her ass firmly as he grinded his manhood against her neediest place.

“I love how you feel against my skin,” she whispered, her lips brushing his neck as her breasts and stomach slid against him with delicious friction.

Wanting to feel just how much she loved it, he moved his hand lower, over her rounded backside, dipping between her legs.

“Fuck,” he let out in a strangled whisper as his finger slid beneath her panties and grazed the slick seam of her opening.

She was so wet, so ready for him. As he rubbed the tip of his finger up and down her soft, dewy flesh, teasing her, he could feel her body contracting against the pad of his middle finger.

“Oh…that feels…so…good.” Her trembling murmurs were barely audible between gasps of breath.

Levi continued grinding his hips against the top of her mound as he rubbed her pulsing sex with increasing pressure. His finger was being coated with her arousal, fanning the flame of wild heat spreading through him.

“Yes… Don’t stop… Please…don’t…stop…”

He’d barely registered her pleasured pleas when her stomach muscles began spasming against his torso and her fingers dug into his shoulders.

He held Shelby as she shuddered against him from her powerful release. A rush of moisture covered his hand while he continued intimately stroking her as she went up and over the edge. Her body bucked and convulsed, each movement lighting every fiber of his being up with fierce, hot need.

As her body relaxed, sated from her climax, her arms fell off his shoulders and she leaned her head back against the wall. Levi’s finger was still positioned at the entrance of her sex, and he was tenderly running it up and down her slick skin.

Shelby’s half-lidded gaze met his as she licked her lips before softly sighing. “That was so…amazing.”

“
That
was just the beginning.” All Levi could think about was how good she was going to feel when he finally pushed inside her.

Moving off the wall, he left one hand between her legs as his other held her tight against him. He thought about taking her to her bed, but then he remembered the open window. He didn’t want to be worried about anyone seeing them. He didn’t want to take the time to close the window. Not that either of those things mattered when he factored in the fact that there was no way he could make it that far.

The two steps he had to take to the couch felt like a mile as it was.

“I love being in your arms,” she confessed as she nuzzled against his neck while he lowered them down on the cushions.