“I don’t know about you, but for me this is real.” He brushed his mouth to her temple. “Has been for a while now.”
She lifted her head again, suddenly having trouble drawing air into her lungs. “But you promised. You promised not to fall for me.”
His gaze met hers, his own warm and loving. “Some promises are meant to be broken.”
This had her breaking out into a cold sweat of sheer nerves. “How can you be so sure?”
He shrugged. “I’ve been sure on my end of things since that night you stood over me bleeding on the floor of that gondola, stripping out of your clothes.”
She choked out a laugh past the emotions clogging her throat. “I didn’t strip out of all my clothes!”
He smiled, but then let it fade. “You’re a tough nut to crack, Jane. I’ve only been able to hope that I was slowly worming my way into your heart as well. But now . . .”
“Now what?” she whispered.
“Sometimes I catch you looking at me like I’m a cookies ’n’ cream cupcake,” he whispered back.
Was he right? No. Because he was better than a cupcake. “Maybe I’m really just thinking about a cookies ’n’ cream cupcake.”
He smiled. “You’re a cute liar.”
Maybe, but she wasn’t capable of baring her heart and soul. She didn’t know how. “I’ll show you cute,” she said, needing to change the direction of this conversation.
His eyes said he knew she was holding back, but he didn’t call her on it. Instead he smiled and said, “Please do.”
So she did.
All night long.
She’d been trying to prove a point to herself, but hell if she could remember said point. And it didn’t matter because what had started out funny and teasing ended up being the most meaningful night of her life.
Chapter 26
The next morning, Jane jerked awake at the sound of her alarm.
A long arm reached over her and hit snooze.
She turned and faced the naked man in her bed. The naked man with sexy scruff on his jaw and a glint of intent in his eyes as he pulled her into him and kissed her.
“Wait!”
Levi pulled back a fraction and lifted a brow.
“Um, hi.”
His mouth quirked. “Hi.”
She squirmed a bit, and not just because she didn’t know how to do morning-afters, but because she was naked too, which was a whole lot of nakedness pressed up against more nakedness. He felt warm and sexy and . . . hello, ready to start the day.
“Ignore that,” he said. “What did you want to tell me?”
“I don’t remember.”
He laughed softly and lowered his head again.
It was two snoozes and an orgasm later before she gasped and leapt out of bed. “Oh my God, I’m going to be late.”
“I thought your shift didn’t start until eight.” He squinted at the clock. “It’s not even the butt crack of dawn.”
She was hopping into the clothes he’d so helpfully got her out of the night before. “I’m meeting my grandpa for breakfast. I’ll grab a shower at work—”
He caught her at her bedroom door. He’d had time to pull on only his jeans, but hadn’t fastened them. Gently he pressed her back against the wood, cupped her face, and gave her a drugging kiss so full of longing and desire and affection, she forgot she was in a hurry.