My breath caught in the back of my throat, my eyes widening at Levi. Kiss? Did she just saykiss?
I knew the word hit Levi just as hard. His palms instantly got sweaty, his throat moving with a hard swallow. But then his eyes dropped to my mouth, and he licked his lips. Licked them like he could already taste me, sending heat blooming beneath my skin.
That same pull I felt in the coffee shop last Saturday tugged deep within me. The same pull I felt every other time I saw him. Except now I didn’t have to fight it because Levi was my husband.
Levi was myhusband.
We reached for each other at the same time. The metal of his ring was cool on my cheek when he cradled my face, but it did nothing to tame the blazing heat that roared through me when his lips met mine.
Kissing him was like the big drop on a roller coaster. That exhilarating, wind-in-your-hair, lightness-in-your-soul feeling that had you coming back for more. His tongue gave a timid lick against my lips, and I parted for him right away. And nothing about the way he kissed me after was timid.
I went boneless as his mouth moved against mine, his hand firmly planted on my lower back, fingers digging into me like he never wanted to let go. I forgot where I was, who was watching, what we were doing. Nothing mattered but Levi. Need rushed through me until I was dizzy with it. Until I was clinging to him to keep me upright.
“Goddamn, are you two gonna consummate this thing right here?” Weston asked with a shocked laugh.
We sprang apart, and I turned away from everyone, wiping my still tingling lips.
“Sorry,” Levi murmured to everyone with an awkward chuckle. He sounded just as breathless as I felt.
I touched my lips again with a singular thought: that was the best kiss I’d ever had in my life.
And that was him faking! What was he like when he was kissing someone for real? A shaky breath left me, and I glanced over at Levi. He looked bewildered, his cheeks the faintest shade of pink. Had…had that kiss been pretend? Because that reaction looked too genuine to be anything but real.
The rest of the ceremony blurred by in flashes. The officiant’s final words, Gran dabbing her eyes, the rustle of people standing to clap as we walked back down the aisle. My cheeks still burned, my lips still tingled. Every time I dared glance at Levi, I found him already looking at me, and it made my knees wobble all over again
By the time the courthouse doors closed behind us, I was practically floating. It wasn’t until we were in his car and the engine rumbled to life that the world finally caught up to me. But it was pin-drop silent, only the roar of the road between us. It was terrible and awkward, and I hated that there was this weirdness between us now.
Levi cleared his throat. “Sorry for uh…” He scratched the back of his head. “For all of that back there.”
“For what?”
He shifted in his seat. “The kiss.”
Oh right. That. It wasn’t just any kiss, butthekiss. Like the shot heard round the world, it was the kiss felt in every atom that made me who I was.
I bit my lip, a flush creeping up my neck. “It’s okay,” I murmured.Pull over so we can do it again, I nearly added, but didn’t.
“Had to make it look real,” he murmured. The words stung like a slap, even if it did sound like he was trying to convince himself of it, too. To me, there was no making it real—it was real.
“Right,” I forced out, and stared out the window the rest of the ride. I knew then that nothing about what happened earlier was real to him.
Cars were already lining the driveway when we pulled into the ranch, and my stomach twisted into knots. Levi shut my car door behind me and scanned the reception area that we put together yesterday: a dance floor beneath some oak trees and a few decorated tables scattered around. All of it was blanketed in the soft glow of fairy lights woven through the curving branches. It was cute and simple, perfect for what we needed it to be.
He looked down at me with a tight smile. “Ready?”
I slapped my hand into his. “As I’ll ever be.”
First, there were pictures, and if those hadn’t nearly killed me, I was convinced this first dance would. Most of the town was watching while we slowly spun under the fairy lights, “Can’t Help Falling In Love” playing softly. Some stripped-down, achingly beautiful version I’d never heard before that made it hard to look at Levi for more than two seconds.
“What made you change your hair?” he asked, his voice a little strained, but I didn’t know why.
My hand left his shoulder, smoothing out the loose red curls quickly. “Why? You don’t like it?”
“No, no,” he assured me. “I love it. I just didn’t know if there was a reason, or if it was just because.”
“Oh.” My frown faded with relief. “I wanted to look like myself on my wedding day.” I shrugged. “Like the girl I used to be, I guess.”
His head tilted slightly, eyes narrowing at me. “What’s wrong with the girl you are now?”
