“Blackmail?” Piper scoffed as waves of sexual awareness converged in every corner of her body. “I can’t believe my ears.”
Levi didn’t defend his actions. Instead, he brushed his lips across Piper’s forehead, doing the same to the tip of her nose. Nothing new. He’d given her similarly placed brotherly kisses more times than she could remember. Tonight, the difference was palpable.
Nothing about the way Levi held her, or looked at her, or touched her was remotely the way a brother would treat his sister.
“Is your answer no?” he asked. “Five seconds.”
“Levi—"
“Five.” He began the countdown. “Four. Three.”
Stop him. Tell him no. Piper knew the smart thing to do. But as her time ran out, her logical brain lost the war with the carnal needs of her aching body. One kiss. One time. Get it—the curiosity she’d always felt—out of her system, once and for all.
“Two.” Levi gave her an extra second. Then another. When she remained silent, her lips parted, he let out a sigh of relief. “One.”
Telling herself not to give in, to remain stoic, passive, unengaged, Piper did her best to keep her eyes open. She lasted three heartbeats, counting each one before she lost track and her lids fluttered shut. Numbers were her thing, her joy, her comfort. Yet one touch of Levi’s lips against hers, and she was hard-pressed to figure out the solution to the simplest of equations.
Two plus two? No idea. Piper was too busy dealing with Levi, one on one.
Piper slid her arms around Levi’s waist and sank into the kiss. Oh, Lord, she thought. He knows what he’s doing. Deep, slow, sensual. His tongue enticed, entreated, seduced. He taught a master class and she was his willing pupil.
Cupping the back of Piper’s neck, he pulled her closer. He tasted like the richest, most intense dark chocolate. He tasted like heaven dipped in sin. He tasted like…
“Levi.”
Piper sighed his name. Her skin was flushed, her pulse raced; she was more alive than she could ever remember. If the world could change in an instant, so could a person’s heart. Hers had always belonged to Levi but only as a friend. Now? She would figure out the answer later when she was back in control.
“I’ll stay the night,” he said, backing away.
Levi looked fine, unaffected by their kiss. Damn him. Piper forced herself to move. Concentrating on each step, she was relieved when her legs held her weight and carried her across the room. The more distance and pieces of furniture that she could place between them, the better.
With her back to Levi, Piper shook her head. She knew they needed to talk out what just happened. They had to agree nothing like that would happen again while establishing a whole set of rules for their relationship heading forward. But not now. Not when she wasn’t sure how she felt or what she wanted.
They would talk tomorrow.
“Go,” she told him. Her voice wasn’t strong, but unlike her nerves, it was steady.
“Your apartment in cozier than my big, empty house,” Levi said as he headed down the hallway toward the spare bedroom. “Sleep tight.”
Piper had few options. She could follow and insist he leave her apartment. If he flat out refused, which was more likely than not, her options were reduced to nothing. Arguing with him would be pointless, and potentially embarrassing, depending on what was said in the heat of the moment.
Physically, Piper had no recourse. She couldn’t throw him out and though she knew he’d never hit her back, kicking him in the shins would make her look like a petulant child throwing a temper tantrum.
The best solution was to retreat to her bed, relax, sleep. In the morning, she would be back to her calm, reasonable self, not hopped up on the aftereffects of Levi’s kiss.
Studiously, Piper went through her usual nighttime routine. Face washed, teeth brushed, wearing her favorite nightie, she climbed beneath the covers and settled in, closed her eyes, and waited for blessed sleep. And waited. And waited.
Frustrated, Piper turned on her side. Picturing Levi’s too handsome face, she punched the pillow. Falling asleep was never a problem. She’d been known to will herself into an unconscious state in the noisiest, most uncomfortable, inconvenient locations. Yet alone, in the comfort and quiet of her bedroom, she could only stare into the dark and curse the source of her newfound insomnia.
Damn you, Levi Reynolds.
CHAPTER SEVEN
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SLOWLY, PURPOSEFULLY, LEVI rotated his head in a slow circle. When something cracked, he winced but wasn’t deterred. With the same deliberation, he changed direction and suffered through another series of popping noises.
Levi hadn’t waited until the crack of dawn to arrive at the Knights’ workout facility. Instead, after five solid hours of sleep, he left Piper’s apartment well before the sun’s first rays of light crept over Mt. Rainer’s familiar peak.
Standing to the side of a circular track, Levi stretched, loosened his muscles. Taking a deep breath, he hit the timer on his watch and took off, running at full speed as though his life were on the line. During a game, with the opposing defense out for blood, his death—at least the death of his career—was a definite possibility.
At the quarter-mile mark, Levi checked his time. Not bad for a thirty-two-year-old man. For an elite quarterback, he was middle of the pack. Determined, he reached down for more and made his legs move faster.
Half-mile. Three quarters. Spying the end, Levi pushed himself farther, harder. Three yards from home, he found one last burst of reserved energy and burst across the finish line, simultaneously stopping the timer.
Gasping for breath, he collapsed onto the grass that covered the inner part of the circular track and rolled to his
