Page 142 of Between Never and Forever
He takes my hand and pulls me into a small bedroom. The size would suggest it’s a guest room, but it’s obviously Levi’s room. The bedding is rumpled. The closet is full. There’s a phone charger plugged in by the side of the bed and a book lying on the nightstand. I look around for an attached bathroom, but I don’t find one.
“Is this the primary bedroom?” I ask, and he freezes, swallowing once before he answers.
“No. The primary is down the hall.”
“This is a guest bedroom?”
He shrugs. “It’s my bedroom. The primary is the guest bedroom now.”
I study him, lips pursed, as I try to untangle the meaning behind this. I wait for him to tell me more. He blinks slowly, and I can’t tell if his pause is due to the concussion or a reluctance to explain further. Just as I’m about to ask, he speaks.
“The other bedroom was Julianna’s. Once she passed, I just made it a guest bedroom. No point in me moving rooms. I like it here just fine.”
“You and Julianna didn’t share a room?” I ask in disbelief.
I let the rest of the question hang between us.They didn’t share a bed?
“Never.” Levi shakes his head. “I told you. I didn’t love her. I married her to help out, to keep Brynn safe, but I didn’t love Julianna, and she didn’t love me.”
I swallow, trying to force back the lump that’s formed in my throat.
“Was that weird for Brynn?”
Levi chuckles once, and it’s dark sounding. “Brynn understands.”
“Wow. I guess I thought...well, I guess I don’t know what I thought.”
He was married to Julianna for almost four years, and they never shared a bed. Does that mean they never slept together at all? When I glance at him, the question must be written in my expression, because he gives me a sad smile.
“Just the once, Rockstar. That was it.”
The once.Just the once.
“Come lie down with me,” he says, taking my hand once more and leading me to the bed, and I follow. When he winces taking his shirt off, I stop him, and bring his hands to his sides.
“Let me.”
I keep my eyes on his face as I untie his swim trunks, then push them down his thighs until they drop to his ankles. I put my hands on his waist and walk him backward until he sits on the bed. He spreads his legs wide for me and I step between them before reaching for the hem of the shirt he’s wearing. Slowly, I inch the shirt up his back, careful not to bump the bandages covering his cuts, and work it over his head until I can pull it down his arms and drop it on the floor next to the swim trunks.
The desire to look him over is almost too much, so when he leans back, propping himself on outstretched arms, I don’t fight it. I let my eyes take him in. I look over every single part of him, glowing silver in the moonlight streaming from the windows.
His chest, though marred now with scratches from the river, is sculpted to perfection. I want to trail my fingers down his abs, tracing the strip of hair that leads to his pelvis. When I get to his hips, I suck in a breath and my thighs squeeze together.
Levi is hard, dick jutting out proudly between his muscular thighs, and my fingers tingle. My mouth waters. None of my memories, not a single drunken dreamscape, did him justice. How long ago was it that I had him in my hands? In the rainstorm after he’d made me come on his tongue. A week? Two weeks?
It was too long.
I lick my lips and force myself to bring my eyes back to his.
“Your turn,” he rasps, and I don’t waste time.
I strip off my tank top, then my cut off shorts, until I’m standing in just my simple Walmart one-piece swimsuit. He sits up straighter, and I walk to him without a word. I know what he wants because I want it too.
I step back between his legs and drop my arms to my sides as he reaches up and hooks his fingers in my swimsuit straps. Slowly, he pulls them down my arms, then tugs the snug fabric down the curves of my hips and over my ass. It drops to the floor, and I step out of it.
Like he did for me, I let him look. My skin burns where his gaze touches. My nipples pebble. My pussy throbs. With a featherlight touch, he trails his fingertips over my skin. My collarbone, between my breasts, circling both nipples before brushing down my stomach to my belly button.
By the time he reaches my pelvis, I’m panting. My chest is rising and falling rapidly just inches from his face, and he slides his fingers through me. I gasp, and he drops his head to my chest with a groan.
