Page 70 of The History in Us

Katie

That night Levi snuck into my room at my aunt’s.

“What are you doing here?” I didn’t want our relationship to appear any more than it was. Heck, I didn’t even know what it was. Playing house crossed my mind again, and I refused to believe what we had was pretend. We lived in the moment, not some fantasy, but the lies I told myself haunted me.

“I didn’t want to sleep without you,” Levi muttered into my neck, inhaling against my warm skin. Out of respect for my aunt and uncle, I blew off the offer from Tricia that we could sleep in the same room. I suggested Levi set up AJ’s portable crib in a separate bedroom and sleep near his son.

“I don’t think I can sleep with you under my aunt’s roof,” I giggled.

“Oh no, not that follow-the-rules girl, again,” he teased, his voice playful with alcohol and the high of an unexpected homecoming. The greetings of appreciation for his service and endearment of his return had to have Levi second-guessing the long-term absence from his hometown.

“What are you thinking?” His question interrupted my thoughts.

“I think of you,” I said quietly. It was true. I’d been thinking of all he said outside the bar. He wanted to be a hero for me. I thought of him too much. His child. His future. His hands on my body. I didn’t know where I fit, and with him curled around me, I was too comfortable right here.

“I think of you, too,” he said after a short pause, dragging the words out like he surprised himself. A thick hand cupped my jaw and twisted my face to his. His lips brushed mine tenderly at first before delving deeper. His mouth covered mine, slow but desperate. Sipping and sucking, drinking me in, and I wanted to be swallowed. Take me, my brain screamed. Take me as yours, yet the sultry slowness to his mouth over mine was more penetrating than anything else we had done. It was different. It was deliberate. It was deeper. I felt that kiss travel to my toes and back and didn’t wish to break it. Neither did Levi.

He slid his body to half cover mine. His knee between my thighs. His chest crossed over mine, and yet I felt weightless. With his hand on my cheek, no other movement signaled our kiss would go further. He guided our mouths, gently commanding I follow his lead, and I did. I chased each stroke, each nip, each luscious lingering press of his lips with mine. I wanted to keep kissing him for eternity.

Our bodies squirmed and shifted. Both his legs slid between mine. His hands drifted into my hair, but his mouth remained. He balanced on shaky elbows to keep his weight off of mine when all I wanted was him to cover me. The length of him rested at my core, yet we did not move. I pulsed, I pleaded, but I could not let go of that kiss. He kept at it, drugging me, addicting me to his mouth. He marked me to be certain in the history of my life, there would be no other kiss like his.

And then he pulled back, with a delaying drag of my bottom lip between his, before releasing me.

“I think of you,” he whispered, his meaning somehow deeper as his eyes searched my face. He picked no set point before dipping to my mouth one last time. The kiss was sweet, but it felt final.

My stomach dropped, and I swallowed hard. Tears pricked behind my eyes. There was something not right about the finish to that kiss. He slid off me to prove he was done and turned me to my side, curling around me, pressing me tight to his chest. A soft squeeze at my mid-section emphasized his words.

“Thank you for bringing me home.”

* * *

The next day, I woke early after a restless night of sleep. I couldn’t toss and turn as Levi had a firm grasp on me, locking me to his chest while he breathed heavily into my hair. My thoughts raced with each breath he took, though. My mind sensing something omniscient in that tender, soul-marking kiss.

“He’s changed so much,” Aunt Tricia had said. “I hardly recognize the boy in him, but then he smiles.” I had turned to see what she saw—those mischievous dimples on a man’s face covered with scruff.

“Such a rough life,” she offered and my head swung back to hers. She knew more truth of Levi’s past than I did. Instantly, I knew she thought of his older brother and I wanted to question that long-gone relationship, but I didn’t ask. Tricia’s smile at Leon proved all thoughts of Trent Walker were buried, along with him, and only one man walked in her memory. “I worried certain…things…would harden him. He’s edgier, but that’s to be expected. The military, I suppose, had that effect on him.”

As well as a child, the loss of the mother, the lack of family, I thought. Levi had nothing, and yet he had everything. The love of a child, the support of amazing mentors, and me. I counted myself in his blessings, even if he didn’t see me as that. I stole another look at him and found his face in that jaw clenching smile, the false one that said: stay back. Whatever Leon and Levi were discussing had turned more serious, and the frozen expression on his face proved he was trying to hold steady on a line he didn’t wish to cross.

I found Levi in the kitchen looking sexy and refreshed. He smiled brightly, his dimples shining, blinding us all with his happy mood.

“Let’s go out and play,” he suggested of the freshly fallen snow from a gentle storm the night before. The world was shiny and bright to match his mood. A crystal blue sky without a cloud reflected the brilliance of ultra-white snow piled high along the streets and neatly shoveled driveways.

“You can take the snowmobile,” Leon offered, suggesting the one at the back of their yard. “It might need gas, though. First snow fall and all.” Leon wasn’t a fan of the snowmobile as much as his motorcycle. He claimed the control was different and he didn’t trust icy paths. On the other hand, Levi’s face lit up like a kid on Christmas. It was as if his body twitched to get on the snow toy for adults.

“You don’t mind watching AJ?” Levi turned to Tricia. Tricia and Leon didn’t have children of their own. After years of trying, she teasingly admitted they had hundreds of children each year that they could return to their parents at the end of eight months. The jest was a way to cover years of heartache when babies didn’t happen. She laughed in response Levi’s request.

“Are you kidding? Give him to me,” she said, nearly ripping his child from his arms. Instantly, AJ laughed as if Tricia’s nature were contagious. She bounced him on her hip as she skipped out of the kitchen where we stood mulling around, sipping coffee. As soon as Levi saw AJ out the door, he turned to me, eyes sparkling.

“Be back in ten.” He smiled, stepping for the kitchen exit. “No, five.” He took off at his own sort of gallop for the staircase. I laughed outright at his excitement and found Leon watching me.

“He’s got it bad for you, Katie Kat. Bad.” His Hispanic accent exaggerated the final word, menacing, but teasing. My smile faltered, and I remembered the night before. My father had said something similar. Setting my coffee mug on the counter, my palms gripped the edge of the flat surface. I shook my head, lowering my eyes.