Carefully, I lift Levi’s arm and extract myself. Tiptoeing into the bathroom, I empty my bladder, brush my teeth, and splash water on my face to wake up. When I see myself in the mirror, I pause. The woman looking back at me isn’t someone I recognize. Her skin is flushed, her kiss-bruised lips upturned into a faint smile, and her eyes are filled with happiness.
This is Levi’s doing. It used to be that when I thought of him, there was no stopping the scowl, no silencing the snarling voice inside my head that wanted nothing more than to burn his memory to the ground and bury it beneath pounds of dirt. All of it was built on nothing more than lies, though. Baseless, teenage lies founded by a hateful man who isn’t happy unless he controls everything and everyone.
Now, though, those dark memories have been replaced by a hopeful jubilance that makes my heart soar. I can’t contain my smile as I think of all the time we’ve spent together just having fun and enjoying each other’s company. I’ve lived more in the few short weeks I spent with Levi than I have in my entire life. He’s forced me to experience the world, afraid or not. He’s shown me that he’s more than the carefree, reckless playboy the world knows him to be. In fact, he’s proven that he can also be a strong and supportive man just as easily as he can be a playful, full of life boy who knows how to make me smile. Without the dark memories tainting my impression of him, I’ve come to realize that Levi is much more complex than I gave him credit for.
When I leave the bathroom, Levi is laying on his back with his arms folded behind his head, watching me. My heart stutters as his baby blues follow me across the room, and I don’t think I’m imagining the growing heat lurking in their pale depths.
“Did I wake you?” I ask as I climb back into bed and curl up on my side facing him.
Turning so he faces me too, Levi tucks his arm under his pillow and lifts his free hand to brush my hair back over my shoulder. His gaze follows his hand as his fingers trace the curve of my shoulder and down my arm, causing a shiver to track through me.
“Nah, I’ve been awake since the sun came up.” My eyes widen and he chuckles. “It was cute watching you try to sneak away though.”
I mock scowl at him. “Cute, huh?”
He nods, a wide smile creating creases around his eyes. “Fucking adorable. I especially enjoyed the view,” he drawls as he reaches around and grabs a handful of my ass.
“Oh yeah?” I challenge. “I thought I had a flat white girl ass.”
“It’s unfortunate, but you work with what you have.” He shrugs as he says this, as if it’s just a sad fact of life.
“You’re such a bastard!” Swatting his bare chest, I belt out a laugh that triggers one of his own, and the sound is so deep and smooth that I’m instantly ready for him.
Snatching my wrist, Levi pushes my arm over my head and twists his body over top of mine, forcing me onto my back. The playful smile is still there as he pins me beneath his solid frame and situates himself between my thighs.
“I thought I was a son of a bitch.” The glittering of mischief mixed with heat in his aquamarine eyes drains all the playfulness right out of me and instantly sends coils of heat through my veins.
“You can be both,” I say, breathless as I stare up at him.
Narrowing his eyes, Levi’s jaw clenches. It’s the slightest movement, but it informs me that he’s thinking hard about something. Whatever that is, he doesn’t say it. Instead, he lowers his head and plants the sweetest kiss on me that I’ve ever felt. It’s slow and soft, his lips moving over mine unhurried. When his tongue seeks entrance, I open to him easily. The muscles in my legs contract, drawing him closer, wordlessly demanding more.
I’m ready for so much more that when Levi pulls away, I release a groan of displeasure before peeling my eyes open.
“What—” The tenderness in his eyes stops my protest.
Releasing his hold on my wrists, Levi wordlessly moves down my body. His lips touch my chin, my jaw, the base of my neck as he places sweet kisses on my skin. He works his way lower, paying extra attention to my naked breasts, licking and sucking each nipple into his mouth, before moving lower once again.
By the time he’s reached his destination, my body is a live wire, ready to be detonated with the slightest touch.
But Levi pauses, his face suspended over the swell of my belly. I say nothing as I watch him, waiting for whatever it is that he’s about to do.
With more care that I thought him possible of, Levi frames my stomach with his large hands and rests the side of his face on my stomach. His eyes slip closed and he just lays there, still as ever.
Sensing this is an important moment, I bite my lip and settle in, holding my breath as I wait. Then in a soft voice, Levi starts talking.
“Hey, baby. It’s me, your daddy. I just wanted to say hello and tell you that me and mommy can’t wait to meet you. But until then, I want to apologize if the ride gets a little rough, because mommy is too sexy to resist and sometimes daddy gets carried away.”
“Levi!” I bite back my laugh as Levi looks up at me from beneath a thick fringe of dark lashes and grins shamelessly.
“What? I’m just stating facts here,” he defends. “I don’t want to start his life out with lies.”
Tilting my head, one eyebrow arches. “I think he can wait a few years before you give him the birds and bees talk.”
“It’s never too early to learn,” he responds matter of fact. Smoothing his hand over my stomach, he kisses it just above my belly button and then moves back up until his chest touches mine and I’m secured in his embrace. “I just want to make sure that he knows everything he needs to know about life.”
Looking into his eyes, I see the sincerity burning in them. I see his doubt, his nervous energy, and I see desire, too. Desire to do well in this new role that is terrifying for both of us because neither of us knows what the hell we’re doing.
Combing my fingers through his soft, wavy hair, I say, “You’re going to be a good daddy, Levi.” The words are sincere. The way my chest tightened as I watched him speak to our baby and kiss him like that gives me hope that this future we’ve decided to build together just might work out after all.
Pain or doubt, I don’t know which, flash across Levi’s face, tightening the skin around his eyes and setting his mouth into a firm line. Wiggling in closer, fitting every hard line of his body against mine so that we’re as close as two people can possibly be, he holds my face between his hands and says in a guttural rasp, “You really think so?”
Doubt. That’s what that look was. It pains me to see how much damage David has inflicted on this man. He’s never had a chance to prove himself. Until now. “Baby, I know so,” I say fiercely.
“But my father—”
“Is an asshole who doesn’t know the first thing about being a dad,” I say, cutting him off. “But you’re nothing like him.”
“I’m everything like him,” Levi argues. “I’m arrogant, cocky, stubborn, demanding. I don’t know the first thing about being a parent other than the example he set.”
“And that’s why you’re already a better parent than he’ll ever hope to be,” I say softly. “Being able to recognize your faults, to question them and worry about being good enough is what makes you better. It’s because of that, that you’ll try, every day, to be nothing like David. If anything, it’s because of his example that you’ll be a great dad.”
His gaze is steady on mine, his doubts and insecurities plain to see. But as he continues to stare me down, I see the battle of wills he’s waged begin retreating, leaving behind stark realization. Of what, I don’t know, but I hope it’s that he knows I’m right. That he’s more than capable, more than worthy, because I know he is.
His hands already framing my head, edge in to hold it, cupping my face firmly. Levi’s stare grows intense and he drags the pads of his thumbs across my cheeks and over my bottom lip.