Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 82798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
“Not a game,” he drawled. “We need to head out. It was nice meeting you,” he told her, then looked down at me. “You ready to go, sweetheart?”
I had never felt more awkward in my life. I wasn’t sure if I felt sorry for her or for me. This man looked like a shirtless sex god, and he made women act crazy.
“If you are,” I replied softly, not wanting to speak at all.
“So, is she, like, your sister or something?” the woman asked.
He chuckled. “No.”
She shook her head, clearly annoyed. “Whatever,” she muttered, then turned and walked back to the pen.
Levi moved his hand to my lower back and led me through the stables and out to where he’d parked his car earlier. He unlocked the doors and opened mine for me. I said nothing as I climbed inside. When he was in the driver’s seat, I finally looked at him.
“Do you do that a lot?” I asked, needing to know.
I realized I had put Levi on this pedestal, and that was because he’d been there for me. He still was. I trusted him.
“What?” he asked, backing up and heading for the main road.
“What you just did.”
“What did I just do?”
I sighed and rolled my eyes, frustrated. He knew what I was talking about.
“Did you just roll your eyes at me?” he asked in an amused tone.
“You’re changing the subject.”
“No, I’m not. You’ve not been clear about what you are asking me.”
“Fine. Do you have sex with girls and then just ignore them like that?”
“I took her number, although I’d already told her I didn’t want it. And why do you think I had sex with her?”
I turned my head to look out the window. “She was loud,” I said simply.
He didn’t say anything.
Yep. He couldn’t lie about that now. That pedestal was getting wobbly.
“She asked to be fucked, Aspen. I didn’t take something she wasn’t offering.”
“I wasn’t saying you did. But that thing with you putting your arm around me messed with her.” And me. Which wasn’t fair.
“No, I was making it clear what I had already told her. She was a fuck. That’s what she wanted—to fuck me. I made no other promises. She had the clingy look in her eyes, and I pissed her off to make her go away.”
“By using me,” I pointed out.
He turned to look at me then. “I don’t ever use you.” His voice was stern. “No one gets to fucking use you.”
“It felt like it,” I whispered.
He muttered a string of curses, then pulled off to the side of the road. “Look at me,” he said gently.
I did because telling that man no was something I doubted any woman could do.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel that way. Honestly, it was just a reaction. I felt like … like she was trying to intimidate you or stake some claim on me. Fuck, I don’t know. I just didn’t like the way she looked at you. I did it because I wanted her to understand that you’re important. She wasn’t allowed to give you nasty looks.”
I swallowed. That was not what I’d thought he was going to say. And now, the pedestal was firmly back in place.
“Okay … then I’m sorry for thinking it was something else.”
He frowned and reached out to cup the back of my head and bring me to him. His lips touched my forehead. “Don’t apologize to me for shit. Ever,” he said before letting me go.
Was it normal for a forehead to tingle? Probably not.
“When I’m wrong, I apologize,” I replied.
His lips curled up at the corners. “Not to me.”
I smiled. It was hard not to smile at him when he was being like this. I leaned back in the seat and let out a sigh. He kept my emotions in high gear.
“Are we good now?” he asked.
I turned my head to him. “Yes.”
He winked at me. “That’s what I needed to hear.” He started to pull back on the road and stopped. “And I’m sorry you heard us.”
The memory of her screaming his name and the way Maddy’s eyes had widened when she looked at me made me feel a little sick in my stomach.
“It’s okay. She was the loud one.”
He didn’t say anything else—thank goodness. The rest of the drive, he asked about what I had done with Maddy, and I told him all about it. Happy to have him to myself again. Which wasn’t healthy at all.
The next night, Trinity had another movie night. The guys had all seemed relieved it was Top Gun. She had made a lot of different appetizers and was putting them out on the coffee table when I came back from going to Huck’s motorcycle repair shop with Levi. Kye had followed us home after Trinity texted them and said she had made snacks.