When her hand came to his thigh, her fingers curling into the fabric of his jeans and her breath hitching, he moved back to her mouth because he couldn’t fight it. His fingers sank into her thick, luxurious hair and he lost himself in the feel and taste of her. The feeling that everything he’d gone through, all of his roads, had led right back here. Home. To Jilly. To happiness.
As they kissed on the dock under the moon and the stars, Levi knew it was more than falling. This feeling, the emotions he had for this woman, were stronger than anything he’d felt before and he knew they’d just keep spinning, keep growing, until she was as much a part of him as his skin, his limbs, his heart. Shewashis heart. This wasn’t falling; it was crashing. Crashing headfirst into love with Jillian Keller.
Twenty-five
Jillian’s heart beat so fast she wondered if she should be concerned, but she was too wrapped up in Levi to truly process anything but him. The feel of his mouth against hers, the gentle slide of his lips along her skin, his fingers dancing along the hem of her shirt, slipping under and driving her mad. The kids were asleep. Gray was staying in the lodge. Two parents had offered to sleep outside in tents while the others had gone into the lodge for the night.
She and Levi were completely alone on the dock and in this moment. She didn’t want it to end, and though a little bubble of logic tried to burst through her desire and her need for him—Ollie might wake up. Someone might want something—she ignored it. For the first time in her entire life, Jillian let her feelings rule her entire being.
She pulled back, awed by the look of passion and love in Levi’s eyes. It’d been a long time since she’d felt it but she was pretty sure that’s what she was seeing in that dark gaze.
She stood up and he quickly joined her. He pulled her close. “I’m sorry. I’m moving too fast. I just… I lose my head when I’m with you, Jilly.”
Grinning, she took his hand and led him off the dock. “Don’t apologize for that.”
“Where are we going?”
Hoping the little smile she gave him over her shoulder was more seductive than creepy, she answered, “You’ll see.”
The cabin that Beckett had stayed in the previous summer was closest to the dock. Jilly led them around the side of the yard because it was closest, through the back gate, and up the few stairs of the back porch.
At the door, she turned to him, pushed her hands up to loop them around his neck. “You’re moving at the perfect speed and this cabin is empty. Everyone is asleep. And you don’t need to make breakfast until sevenA.M.”
Levi sucked in a sharp breath and it was like fire flared in his gaze. His hold shifted as he yanked her closer, then one hand grazed up and down her back, bringing their bodies flush, as his other hand moved to the back of her head. Even with the height difference she could feel the steady beat of his heart against the front of her own body.
“Are you sure?” he whispered, earning another little chunk of her heart with his gentle tone.
“So sure. Are you? What do you want?”
The moon wasn’t as bright back here but she saw his smile, felt the tension coiled tight in his body. “You. I want you, Jillian. More than I ever thought possible.”
Jillian dropped her arms but caught one of his hands in hers, used the other to dig the master key out of her pocket. She unlocked the back door, let them in, then released his hand so she could switch on a lamp next to the door, blinking when it cast its low light over the room.
She set her phone and keys on the counter. Tomorrow didn’t exist and yesterday didn’t matter. Facing him, she forced herself not to fidget. She hadn’t been with a man since Andrew. She’dloved him when she married him, with all the affection and optimism of nineteen-year-olds just discovering themselves. But this was different. For one, it was Levi. Two, she’d never felt this sense of rightness combined with the overwhelming longing for anyone other than Levi. This was more than she ever could have imagined. She clasped her hands together, wanting him even as nerves flared to life inside of her.
“Jilly.” Levi’s whisper was hoarse, nearly gravelly.
Be brave. Take what you want.She inhaled deeply, held his gaze, because in it, she saw herself the way he saw her: sexy, alluring, desirable. She stepped closer to him, put her hands on his chest, her heart rate ramping up again.
“I’m yours, Levi. Part of me always has been.”
Levi growled out something that might have been a swear or a word or just an unintelligible sound. His hands went to her hips, closed around them as he lifted her onto the counter, stepping between her legs before his hands moved up to frame her face again. When he did that, she felt like the heroine in one of the rom-coms Presley loved. Until this moment, she hadn’t realized how much she craved being looked at, being needed and wanted the way she was right now. The fact that it was by Levi just magnified everything, making her hyperaware of each second, each touch, whisper, and breath.
No man had ever looked at her the way he was now.
They moved in slow motion, his fingers trailing up her thighs. How could so much sensation happen when she was wearing jeans? She felt him everywhere from just a gentle caress. Jilly scooted forward, bringing them closer together, locked her legs around his waist, reveling in his groan. Her hands cupped his face and his traveled under her shirt, the heat of his palms radiating into her skin.
She ran her thumb over his lip, sucked in a breath when he closed his mouth around it. Nothing else existed and it was both the most terrifying and exhilarating feeling she’d ever experienced. He didn’t give her long to dwell on that, though.
He captured her mouth in a demanding kiss that had her arching against him, digging her fingers into his back, needing him closer. When he shifted against her, she moaned softly, then pressed her lips to his neck, loving the sharp hiss of air that left his mouth, the way his hands tightened in her hair. He lowered his chin, his thumb caressing her cheek, his mouth claiming hers again. His kiss was all-consuming, energizing, and nothing short of electric.
Her body was all nerve endings and Levi was lighting every single one of them on fire. The kisses deepened and the feel of his tongue against hers was a detonator. Everything inside of her shattered into a million pieces of want and need.
Tugging at his shirt, desperate to feel his skin on hers, she yanked it up, and he finished the job, throwing it to the floor. She wasted no time pressing her mouth to the hard planes of his chest. Her fingers danced in the light dusting of chest hair as her tongue tasted his skin. Little ribbons of pain radiated when his fingers tightened in her hair but she liked it. It made her want to get closer, to drive him mad the way he did her, to make him want with this untethered urgency she’d never felt.
The urgency would have shocked her if she could have felt anything other than Levi. Finally. After all of these years, she now knew what it was like to be treasured, wanted, and loved by Levi Bright.
He rained kisses over her face as her hands wandered up and down his body, over his hard stomach, as she moved against him, locked her legs tighter. She let her fingers trace the ridges of hisabs, her nails trace the thin strip of hair that went from his navel to his jeans.
