Then comes the bride. Levi’s oldest brother, Brayden, walks Ava down the aisle and kisses her cheek before taking his seat at the front. She looks stunning. She turns to her groom, and Jake shakes his head, wonder and love clear in his eyes. That thickness returns to my throat, and my eyes fill with happy tears.
The ceremony is short but touching. When the officiant references the family who couldn’t be there, Jake cups Ava’s face in his hands and wipes away her tears with his thumbs. They’re beautiful together, and witnessing their love as they exchange vows fills me with hope, but as much as I try to stay in the moment and focus on the joy, it also fills me with an odd surety about my feelings for Levi. Maybe I’ll never know why I took Colton’s ring, but I trust my heart, and it’s drawing me toward Levi Jackson. Maybe something changed in my chemistry the night of the assault or maybe I have a different perspective now, but I don’t need my memories to understand where I belong.
“You promised me a dance.”
At the sound of Levi’s voice, I look up from my untouched meal. “I actually think you promised me, but I’m pretty sure there are no losers here.” I take his hand and let him lead me to the dance floor. He pulls me into his arms and against his chest, like we’re every bit as much a couple as the others dancing are.
The whole afternoon has been a blur of joy and happiness: the ceremony, the receiving line, all the way to the cocktails at Jackson Brews and the bride and groom’s first dance before dinner was served.
I’ve watched Levi through it all. I’m drunk on lust and something more—a heartache that keeps pulling me back to what Levi said about Jake and Ava getting married despite all the bad happening around them. “They decided to put love first.”
“I thought Ethan would never finish his damn speech so we could get to this part. I’ve been dying to get you close.” His voice is all gruff and sexy, and it makes the butterflies in my belly do slutty dances. “You had to wear that dress, didn’t you?”
“You don’t like it?”
He coughs. “No. I don’t like it. It makes me want to break the promises I’ve made and find the nearest flat surface where I can fuck you senseless.”
“Oh. Well, that doesn’t sound awful.”
He chuckles softly and pulls me closer. “I remember the first time I saw you in it. You wore it to the bar after Ava and Jake got back together. You looked so damn beautiful, and Colton was there but seemed totally oblivious to you. Every time you looked at him, I thought you were going to cry. I wanted to shake him for not seeing what was right in front of him.”
I close my eyes, remembering that night—one of the many after things deteriorated between Colton and me but before we broke up. “I wanted to tell him I was pregnant, but he was acting weird. I was afraid he already knew and was trying to figure out how to get out of being involved.” I study his dark eyes. “I’d become invisible to him, but you always saw me. From the beginning.”
“When he made you happy, I wouldn’t let myself think about my feelings for you. But once he started making you so damn sad, it was all I could do not to pull you aside and beg you to ditch his ass and be mine.” He exhales slowly. “Who needs enemies when you have friends like me?”
I pull back to study his face. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Didn’t I? I made love to you the first chance I had. Before you even knew what had happened between Colton and Molly, I jumped in.” He shakes his head. “And here I am, trying to do it again.”
“And here I am,” I whisper, “wanting you to.”
He kisses the top of my head.
I lean against his shoulder and watch the bride and groom dance a few feet away. “They’re so happy.”
“They fought for that. No matter how easily love comes, happily-ever-after isn’t simple.”
“It seems like it should be.”
He buries his nose in my hair and breathes deeply. “Yes, but if you’ve only ever seen sunshine, how do you know you can face the storm?”
I close my eyes and focus on the heat of his body against mine. Is that what this is? The ring I took from Colton, the assault, and my subsequent recovery? Are Levi and I simply weathering a storm that’ll leave us stronger in the end? Could we have a chance together? Despite everything?
“Can we go somewhere private?” I ask. I was going to wait until tonight to tell Levi about my latest memories—to confess I remember our night together—but now I don’t want to wait another minute.
He looks around the reception before giving a sharp nod. “Yeah. Sure.” He releases my waist and takes my hand, leading me off the dance floor.
We walk through the kitchen, weaving around staff members who are busily preparing trays of appetizers for the party. Opening a door at the back of the kitchen, he steps into Jake’s office. I follow him in, shutting the door behind us and blocking out some of the noise from the kitchen.
When I turn to him, his eyes are all over me, moving up and down my red dress, my legs, pausing a beat at my hips, my cleavage, my lips. When he meets my eyes, he swallows hard. “Thank you for coming today. It means a lot to my family, and my family means a lot to me. You mean a lot to me.”
I shake my head. “I wouldn’t have missed it.” I stalk toward him and shake my head. “Did I tell you I remember the night at the lake? You built a fire, and we spread a blanket out in the back of your truck.”
“You do?”
Nodding, I slide my hands beneath his jacket and up his chest. “You didn’t take advantage of me, Levi. You gave me what I asked for. What I needed.”
He draws in a breath through his teeth.
“You make this suit look so good.” I push the jacket off his shoulders.
He shrugs out of it and lets it fall to the floor. “If you like it so much, why are you taking it off me?”
“Because you make shirtless look really good too,” I whisper, my fingers already working on the buttons of his dress shirt.
“Ellie,” he murmurs, a warning in his tone. “I can’t pretend I don’t want this, so if you’re looking for me to be the noble guy . . . if you’re thinking we can take this further than we have and I’ll step aside for Colton if he comes back, you’re wrong.”
“Good to know,” I say. “I don’t have any idea why I would have walked away from you.” I release the last button on his shirt, then move to the buttons on his pants. “But I’m here now.” I drop to my knees before him. “And I don’t want to be anywhere else.”
Levi
On her knees, Ellie slides my pants and briefs down my hips. Her gaze goes straight to my cock, and the little noise that slips from her throat makes me even harder. I’m so fucking turned on that I’ll have to fight like hell not to come the second she puts her mouth on me.
She runs the tip of her tongue along the underside of my dick, and I lean against the wall to get my balance. When she looks up at me through her lashes, she licks her lips. “I dreamed about this.”
“You too, huh?” I grin, trying to hold on to my control when everything inside me wants to turn caveman and make demands.
She circles her thumb over the head of my cock, spreading out the bead of moisture there and sending shivers of pleasure racing across my skin. “Have I ever . . . for you?”
“No.” One word. One syllable. But I’m so fucking desperate that I can’t even get that much out without breaking it into two. “It was only that night. That once.”
“I want to.” Without another word, she takes me in her mouth. She doesn’t hesitate to pull me deep. The pleasure is intense, and I have to bite back a groan.
I slide a hand into her hair, needing to touch her, to reassure myself that this is more than some epic, vivid fantasy. She’s real. She wants me. “You’re beautiful like that.”
She grips my ass, her fingernails biting into the flesh as if pleasure is throwing her off balance too and she needs to hold on as desperately as I do.