“That’s not what this is about,” Levi said, stepping closer to me. A foot away now, a foot away, and even though the sidewalks were busy around us, there was no one else in my field of vision besides him.
“Then what is it?”
Levi glared at me, practically furious. He was upset with me? Well ditto, buddy, fucking ditto. A muscle in his jaw ticked, and I wanted to push him. To hurt him. To yell at him. To do something that made him understand just how far under my skin he’d gotten.
Somehow, someway, Levi had crawled where no boy or man had crawled before. I hated it. I hated him. I hated him for making me feel these things.
“Did you ever think that maybe I want more?” Levi’s voice was low, stunning me into silence. “Did you ever think that, yes, I know it’s fucking stupid, but I want more of you?” All those times teasing him, all those times where he mocked me right back, the quiet looks—Levi was surely not saying he’d fallen in love with me.
That…that was just impossible. Someone like Levi didn’t love, and someone like me didn’t date. We were literally the same in that respect.
“I don’t know you that well, but I want to,” Levi went on, taking yet another step forward. Inches apart now. Mere inches, and yet, suddenly, he didn’t feel so far away. All of a sudden he wasn’t close enough. “I want to know you. All of you. I want to see more of the Kelsey I saw Friday night. The real you. I know she’s in there, somewhere.”
My heart was in my throat, pounding away. I could hardly squeak out, “Bullshit.”
Bullshit. It had to be bullshit, right?
“Bullshit,” Levi echoed, frowning down at me. His lips…they looked mighty inviting, even when caught in a deep frown. The shoulder carrying his backpack fell, and the bag’s strap slipped down his arm. The moment the bag hit the grass below, he was suddenly on me, his hands on my face, fingers weaving through my hair. His mouth met mine, a type of hungry that was vicious, and as he devoured whatever comeback I might’ve had ready, he pushed me back.
The bastard pushed me all the way back to the brick building, pinning me to the wall near the side entrance to the stairwell. Tasting him again was like tasting a drug I knew I shouldn’t have but wanted anyway. I didn’t fight him, didn’t push him away. My lips were eager to have his, to be subjected to his heated passion again. My lower gut burned, and I wanted this man to sweep me off my feet and take me somewhere private, somewhere where we could do so much more than kiss.
Yeah. That escalated quickly, didn’t it? I had the feeling things with Levi would always escalate quickly.
I had no idea how long we stood there, practically making out near the science building, but I heard quite a few snickers and chuckles before we finally pulled our mouths apart and were able to breathe in air the other hadn’t touched. Levi’s backpack sat a few feet away on the grass, my back hard against the brick behind me. His hands had released my head, now resting on the walls to my sides. The way his sapphire gaze looked down at me, how his lips were parted slightly, his cheeks flushed, I knew it wasn’t a good sign.
It was a bad sign. A really bad sign. A sign that things were so much more complicated than I wanted them to be.
Me and Levi.
It was crazy.
“If you tell me that was bullshit, you’re a liar,” Levi whispered, his stare narrowed at me. Still gruff with an attitude, still way too sexy.
I couldn’t tell him it was bullshit, because he knew he was right. I knew it, too. Wasn’t too happy about it, though. Levi could still fuck off. He could…oh, hell, who was I trying to kid? Me, Kelsey Yates, trying to be the tough one, trying to take a page out of Ash’s book and say what was up and what was down. I wasn’t Ash, and I sure as shit knew that I was in so much trouble when it came to this gorgeous guy.
“So,” I said, breaking my silence when I was sure my voice wouldn’t crack from the intensity of our sudden make-out, “what now? What is…what is this?”
“What do you want it to be?”
“No, you don’t get to make declarations like that and try to push it off on me,” I told him, frank. I would’ve been fine pretending that he meant nothing to me. Eventually, I would’ve gotten over him. It would’ve sucked, but there it was.
Levi waited a few seconds before declaring, “I want to try.”
Try. Wasn’t that all we could ever do in this life anyways? Nothing was for certain, not even love. I thought family was concrete, something to look up to, but even my parents weren’t together. No matter what happened with Levi, if we lasted a month or four years, we’d eventually end, just like ninety-nine percent of other relationships.
Could we try? Was it stupid? He was friends with Dean, after all, and a part of me did wonder if this was all some game, some joke to him. If Levi was only getting close to me to use me for Dean.
If that was true…I’d rip them both a new one. Hell, or maybe I’d skip the assholes and go straight for the dicks. Rip both of their dicks off, teach them to fuck around when it came to women and their feelings.
“Then I guess let’s try,” I said, biting the inside of my cheek. Huh. I’d never had a boyfriend before. This wasn’t how it normally went, I was well-aware,
