Running into Love
Page 24

“I thought you were going to call when you got home.” Pulling my eyes from Muffin, who has forced her head under my hand, I lift my head to look at Fawn, feeling my mouth run dry when I finally take her all in. Christ, she’s gorgeous. Her blonde hair is in wild curls down around her shoulders, her big blue-gray eyes are soft with sleep, and her cheeks are a sweet shade of pink. Running my eyes down her body, I fight back a groan. She looks like a living wet dream in a pair of plain cotton panties, her nipples visible through a thin tank. Fucking breathtaking.
“I was going to call, but I needed to see you.” I take a step toward her without telling my feet to move, watching her eyes flare as my hand wraps around her hip.
“You needed to see me?” she repeats, sounding breathless.
“Yeah, I needed to see you,” I say, gently rubbing my thumb over the exposed skin of her stomach where her tank has ridden up. “Were you sleeping?”
“No, I was waiting for you to call,” she says, then ducks her head, taking her eyes from me—something she does often, something I honestly find adorable but frustrating as hell.
“Don’t hide from me.” I pull her into me until we’re pressed together from hip to chest, then wrap my free hand around her jaw, forcing her to look at me. “I want you to care,” I say, then drop my voice. “I want you to think about me as much as I think about you.”
“You think about me?”
“More than is healthy,” I tell her honestly, since from the moment she literally ran into me she’s been a constant thought in the back of my mind.
“Oh.” She swallows, melting into me. Jesus, this woman is going to do me in. I don’t know what to do with her kind of sweet, but I do know I’d a be fool not to try to figure it out.
“Come on.” I take her hand and lead her to the door, where I turn out the light before tugging her back across her living room.
“Um . . . Levi, what are you doing?” she asks nervously as we walk through her bedroom door.
“We’re going to bed.”
“We’re going to bed,” she repeats on a whisper, sounding even more nervous than she did seconds ago.
“Yeah, baby, we’re going to bed.”
“You’re . . . you’re going to sleep in my bed with me?” she asks, and I flip on the light, needing to see her face.
“Is that okay?”
“I have my period,” she blurts, then covers her mouth as her cheeks darken.
Fighting back a smile that I know she won’t appreciate, I duck my face closer to hers so she’s forced to look at me. “Baby, I just want to hold you, and like I told you before, we are not having sex until I know you fully understand exactly what that means,” I say, and she blinks.
“What it means?”
“What it means,” I confirm. “Get in, babe,” I mutter while lifting my chin toward the bed. There is nothing I want more than to feel her wet heat strangling my cock, to hear her moaning my name as she comes with her nails digging into my back. There is nothing I want more than her under me, but until I break down her walls and know she understands me having her in that way will make her completely mine, I won’t take us there.
“My bed’s only a double. I don’t know if you’ll fit,” she informs me, and I watch her ass as she climbs across the bed, scooting over as far as she can possibly go without falling off the edge.
“Oh, I’ll definitely fit,” I mutter to myself, kicking off my sneakers and stripping off clothes, watching her bite her lip as her eyes scan over my chest and abs. Hitting the light, I get into bed, then listen to her squeak as I grab her wrist and drag her across until she’s half on top of me with her arm over my gut. She lets out a whoosh of breath against my pec as I wrap my hand around the back of her knee and pull up until she’s straddling my hip.
“Are you going to be comfortable like this?” she asks, holding herself stiff against me.
“Oh yeah.” I run my fingers down the smooth skin of her thigh, loving the way her breath comes out in small pants every time I touch her. “How was your visit with your parents?” I ask, and her muscles tense as she tries to pull away, but there is no way I’m letting her go—not when I’ve got her exactly where I want her.
Giving up with a growl of frustration a second later, she finally answers. “It’s always good to see them, but . . .” She pauses, and I feel her shake her head. “I’m so, so sorry about how crazy everyone acted.”
“Baby”—I kiss the top of her head—“I swear once you meet my family, yours will look tame.”
“No one could possibly be worse than my mom,” she mutters, and I try to fight it, but I can’t. “Are you laughing?” she asks in disbelief as my chest shakes with silent laughter.
“A little,” I admit through a chuckle.
“My mom is so embarrassing,” she groans, and I smile, kissing the top of her head once more.
“Does she always suggest you get knocked up by the guys you’re dating?”
“No, you are the first,” she sighs, burying her face against my chest, and I grin.
“I’m gonna take it as a compliment,” I say, giving her a squeeze.
“It was a compliment.” She pauses, then lets out a breath. “A weird one, but a compliment all the same.” I laugh, feeling her body relax completely against mine as her cheek moves, letting me know she’s smiling.
“Sleep, gorgeous,” I whisper, tilting her chin up so I can touch my mouth to hers softly.
“Okay,” she agrees, resting her cheek against my chest and pulling the blanket up around us. “Night, Levi,” she says quietly, turning her head to kiss my chest. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Jesus.” I hold her tighter, closing my eyes and wondering how the fuck this happened. It’s been forever since I’ve been even remotely interested in being in a relationship. I haven’t wanted to feel obligated to someone, but every second I spend with Fawn makes me want those things with a ferocity I would have thought impossible. I want her to need me, and that fact alone should scare the shit out of me, but it only makes me feel more determined.
“Night, baby,” I whisper, listening to her breathing even out as she falls off to sleep against me.
“No, Muffin.” Hearing that and feeling Fawn’s ass shift against my hard-on and thighs, I open one eye, then the other, finding the room lit with the morning sun coming in through the closed blinds covering the window. “Muffin, I said no,” Fawn growls, sounding frustrated, and I watch her up on an elbow with her hand on Muffin’s chest, trying to push her off the bed where she’s standing with both paws on the mattress.
“Ruff.” Muffin barks loudly, attempting to push forward against her palm.
“There’s no room you,” Fawn cries as Muffin reaches her goal of getting all four paws on the bed and lies down. “I swear, you are the most stubborn dog in the whole world,” she huffs, falling to her back, and I pull her against me, kissing her shoulder and feeling her shiver.
“Does she normally sleep in the bed with you?” I ask, and her eyes come to me over her shoulder. Her tongue comes out to touch her bottom lip, making my cock—which has been hard since last night—throb painfully.
“Not always. Some nights she’ll sleep on the couch.” Nodding, I run my fingers down her creamy-smooth cheek, watching her eyes as they fill with something soft.
“Tonight we’ll sleep in my bed. She can have the couch, and I’ll shut the bedroom door.”
“Your bed?”
“Yeah.”
“Tonight?”
“Tonight,” I confirm, then lean back as she rolls over to face me.
“That would be three nights in row we’ve slept in the same bed,” she says, holding up three fingers between us.
“I wasn’t keeping count, but you’re right,” I agree, then drop my eyes to her mouth when her bottom lip disappears between her teeth. Something she does when she’s overthinking, something she does normally right before she blurts something out that either makes me laugh, pisses me off, or leaves me frustrated.