Page 59

I pick up the picture frame I’m after and hug it to my chest. It’s heavier than I’d expected, but I can manage.

Clicking off the drawstring light as I leave, I hurry back toward the stairs. I’m conscious of the total darkness at my back, the monsters it might be hiding, and that they could give chase, punishing me for taking something that belongs to them. By the time I reach the staircase, I’m practically running, my pulse thumping in my ears. As I reach the top, I’m nearly certain something is going to grab my ankles from behind and drag me back down the stairs.

“Whatcha got there?”

I let out a scream, my heart practically bursting from my chest. I take a couple of staggered steps back, almost falling back off the top stair, and clutch the frame to my chest like it’s a shield.

Levi is leaning against the doorframe, his head cocked. He’s got that look in his dark blue eyes, the one that says he wants to mess with me. Normally, it would irritate me, but I felt like something changed between us when we’d been out on the hike.

“Jesus, Levi. You just about scared the life out of me.”

I push him out of the way and step farther into the hallway, closing the basement door behind me, not wanting to have that gaping maw of darkness at my back.

“I saw the basement door was open and wondered who was down there.” He lifts his thick, dark eyebrows at the frame. “What’s that?”

“Nothing much. I just wanted to frame a drawing I did for your dad as a gift.”

“He’s all forgiven, then?”

“I don’t know about that, but I’m trying, Levi. And so is he, I think.”

Levi’s words from the hike echo in my head. Because you love him…

“Where’s my gift?” he growls, taking a step closer.

“I haven’t thought of one for you yet.”

That hungry look is in his eyes, and a throb of desire goes through me. Levi is so gorgeous, it’s hard to be around him and not want him. He knows he is, too, which is why he just exudes sexual confidence.

He moves closer still. “Maybe I should just take what I want.”

He reaches out, and my heart is thumping for a whole new reason. I think he’s going to touch me, but instead he removes the picture frame from my grip and places it on the floor, propped against the wall. I catch my breath, wondering what he’s planning.

Straightening again, Levi brackets my head with his strong arms, his body pinning me in. He brings his nose close to the side of my neck and inhales my skin.

“I know you want me. Your pupils dilate whenever I’m near. Your pussy gets wet. I can fucking smell you.”’

I press at his muscular chest with both hands. “Not now, Levi.”

“Why not? You can be my gift. I know you haven’t forgotten how fucking hot we are together. We’re the same, you and I, even if you won’t admit it to yourself. The desire, the fucking need, that I have inside me to bite your lip until I draw blood, and spank you until red marks show on your pretty, pale skin, or have to kick and scratch and fight while I press your legs apart.” He taps my chest, right above my heart. “You have it in you, too. It’s what you crave. Maybe you’ve never admitted it to yourself, but I recognize it in you. We’re two halves of one whole.”

My nipples tighten into bullets. His proximity is like electricity across my skin, tenderizing every nerve ending. All the air in the space has been sucked away, so that all that exists is him. A heat spreads between my thighs, scorching up through my core. He’s not wrong. Levi feeds into a part of me

Sex with Blake is hot, but it’s different. He talks me through it, praises me, nurtures me. Levi does the opposite. He takes without remorse. Is greedy for me with no apologies. He uses filthy words that I should hate, but that only turn me on more. I also know he enjoys the push and pull between us, as do I. He doesn’t want me to just throw myself at him. He likes me to make him work for it.

I turn my face to the side. “Levi, stop.”

“Stop what, Little Fox? I haven’t done anything… yet.”

He catches my jaw in one hand and twists my face back toward him. He presses his thumb to my lower lip and drags it down. I can’t help myself, I open my mouth for him. His brilliant blue eyes light up, his sculpted lips curving in a smirk. He slides his thumb into my mouth, across my tongue, and I close my lips around him and suck. The motion reminds me of his brother, except the vibe is totally different.

A low growl of triumph rumbles from his throat. “You know that sensation goes straight to my cock.”

My pussy pulses, flooding my panties with wetness. I scrape my teeth over his skin and bite, hard enough to hurt, reminding him exactly what I could do if it was his cock. He watches me intently, studying my face, drinking in every moment.

Then he leans in and whispers, his breath hot against my ear.

“Run, Little Fox.” He steps back, creating space.