Chapter Five: The Elevator Tension

We barely made it to the elevator.

His hand was on my lower back as we walked through the bar, a light touch, almost gentlemanly, except I could feel the tension in his fingers. The barely restrained need to touch more, take more.

The elevator bay was empty. Thank God.

He pressed the call button and we stood there, not touching, both breathing too hard as I also struggled to contain my need. I could feel the heat coming off him in waves. Could smell cedar and smoke and something that made my mouth water.

The elevator dinged.

The doors slid open.

We stepped inside.

The moment the doors closed, Levi moved.

He had me against the mirrored wall before I could blink, his body pinning mine, one hand braced beside my head while the other cupped my jaw. His thumb traced my lower lip.

“Tell me to stop. Tell me now, or I won’t be able to.”

I grabbed his shirt, pulled him closer. “Don’t stop. Please don’t stop.”

He groaned, a sound from deep in his chest, and then his mouth was on mine.

The kiss was nothing like Julian’s careful kisses. This was hunger and desperation. Levi kissed me like he was drowning and I was air, his tongue sweeping into my mouth, claiming, demanding. His teeth caught my lower lip and bit down gently, and the sharp pleasure made me gasp.

He swallowed the sound, kissing me deeper.

His hand slid from my jaw down my throat, fingers across my pulse point. He could feel how fast my heart was racing. Could feel what he was doing to me.

“Fuck. You taste…”

He didn’t finish. Just kissed me again, his body pressing harder against mine. I could feel him, all of him, hard and thick against my stomach.

Julian had always been reserved. Even when we were alone, even when we were intimate, there was always this distance. Like he was holding part of himself back. But when I caught him kissing Serena, I knew that was only reserved for me.

Levi wasn’t holding anything back. He desired me.

His hand dropped lower, skimming down my side, my hip, until his fingers found the hem of my dress. He paused there, his mouth still moving against mine, giving me one last chance to stop this.

I arched into him instead.

He made a sound, half groan, half growl, and his hand slid under my dress.

His palm was hot against my thigh. Rough. Calloused.

He kissed me deeper as his fingers trailed higher, teasing, taking his time. His thumb traced patterns on my inner thigh, each stroke bringing him closer to where I was aching for him but never quite touching.

I whimpered into his mouth.

“Patience.”

His voice was strained, like he was torturing himself as much as me.

His fingers moved higher. Brushed against the lace edge of my panties.

I gasped. “Levi…”

“So wet already.” His forehead dropped to rest against mine. His fingers traced the edge of the lace, feeling how soaked the fabric was. “Fuck, you’re drenched.”

Levi’s words made me clench around nothing.

“Please.”

“Please what?” His fingers hooked into the lace, pulling it aside. “Tell me what you want.”

“Touch me.” I almost cried with need.

“I am touching you.”

“Levi…”

His fingers slid through my wetness, and my head fell back against the mirror. He circled my clit once, twice, and I clenched against nothing.

“Like this?”

His mouth found my throat, teeth grazing my pulse point.

“Yes…”

He pushed one finger inside me.

The stretch was perfect. His fingers were longer, thicker, and the way he curled it, finding that spot inside me that Julian had never managed to reach, made stars burst behind my eyelids.

“So tight.” He added a second finger, stretching me further, and I couldn’t stop the moan that tore from my throat. “And wet for me.”

He set a rhythm, slow, deep thrusts while his thumb circled my clit. Each stroke deliberate. Controlled. Like he was learning my body, figuring out exactly what made me fall apart.

Julian had touched me like he was following instructions from a manual.

Levi touched me like he was worshipping at an altar.

“Levi.” I cried as I thrust against his fingers, wanting more, wanting all he wanted to give to me.

“Look at me.”

I forced my eyes open.

The sight of him nearly undid me. His hair was disheveled from my hands. His eyes were black with lust. His jaw was clenched with the effort of controlling himself. And the way he was looking at me, like I was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen…

“I want to watch you come. Want to see what you look like when you fall apart.”

No one had ever talked to me like this. Julian had certainly never…

“Don’t think about him.” Levi’s voice went hard. His fingers curled inside me, hitting that spot perfectly, and I cried out. “Don’t think about anyone else. Right now, you’re mine. Say it.”

“I’m yours.”

My hips bucked against his hand, chasing the pleasure building impossibly fast.

“Good girl. Now come for me.”

It wasn’t a request.

The orgasm slammed into me without warning. My whole body seized, inner walls clamping down on his fingers as pleasure crashed through me in waves. I screamed into his mouth, my nails digging into his shoulders, my legs shaking so hard I would have collapsed if he wasn’t holding me up.

He worked me through it, his fingers gentling but not stopping, drawing out every last tremor until I was boneless against the wall.

“Beautiful.” He pressed soft kisses to my jaw, my cheek, my temple. “So fucking beautiful when you come.”

The elevator dinged as we got to the fortieth floor.

Levi pulled his fingers out slowly, making me whimper at the loss. Then, maintaining eye contact, he brought them to his mouth and sucked them clean.

The sight made my core clench all over again.

“Delicious. But I want more.”

The doors slid open.

His penthouse was massive.

Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the beautiful city below. Modern furniture in blacks and grays. Art on the walls that probably cost a fortune. Everything sleek and expensive and impersonal.

I barely saw any of it.

Levi had me against the wall the moment the elevator doors closed, his mouth on mine, his hands everywhere. He kissed me like he was starving, like those few seconds in the elevator hadn’t been enough, would never be enough.

I clawed at his shirt, desperate to feel skin. He broke the kiss long enough to yank it over his head, and then I could touch him.

He was beautiful.

All hard muscle and olive skin. Broad shoulders and defined abs. A trail of dark hair disappearing into his pants. Scars scattered across his torso, evidence of a life I knew nothing about. Tattoos on his back linking to his waist and dipping down into his pants, making my mouth water.

Julian’s body couldn’t compare to this.

Levi’s body was the body of someone who’d earned every muscle, who knew violence and survived it.

I ran my hands across his chest, feeling his heart hammering beneath my palm.

“You’re staring.”

Amusement in his voice.

“You’re worth staring at.”

His eyes went molten. “So are you.”

His hands found the zipper of my dress. “Can I?”

I nodded, not trusting my voice.

He pulled the zipper down slowly, his knuckles dragging against my spine, making me shiver. The dress pooled at my feet, leaving me in nothing but black lace panties and my heels.

Levi’s breath left him in a rush.

“Fuck. You’re…”

He didn’t finish. Just looked at me like I had stolen his ability to speak.

Levi looked at me like he wanted to devour me.

“Come here.”

I walked toward him, my heels clicking against the hardwood. His eyes tracked every movement, the sway of my hips, the bounce of my breasts, the way I bit my lower lip nervously.

When I was close enough to touch, he reached out and pulled me against him.

Skin to skin.

The contact was electric. His chest against my breasts. His hands spanning my waist. The hard length of him pressing against my stomach through his pants.

“I want you in my bed. I want to taste every inch of you. I want to make you scream my name so loud the entire hotel knows who’s making you feel this good.”

A whimper escaped me.

“But first…” His hands slid down to cup my ass, lifting me effortlessly. My legs wrapped around his waist instinctively. “I need to know you want this. That you want me.”

I looked into his eyes, saw the hunger there, the barely restrained need.

I’ve never felt so beautiful.

“I want this. I want you.”

Something fierce and possessive flashed in his eyes.

“Good. Because I’m not letting you go until morning.”

Then he carried me toward the bedroom, and I knew nothing would ever be the same again.

I woke before dawn.

Levi was asleep beside me, one arm thrown over his eyes, his chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm. The sheet was tangled around his waist, exposing the defined muscles of his torso, the scars I’d traced with my fingers, my lips, my tongue.

We barely slept. Every time I thought we were done, that we finally exhausted ourselves, he reached for me again. Or I reached for him. Unable to get enough.

It had been different than with Julian in every possible way.

Levi had been wild and uninhibited. Like he couldn’t get enough of me, couldn’t touch me enough, taste me enough, have me enough.

He made me feel desired in a way I’d never felt before.

And in a few hours, I marry someone else.

The thought made my chest ache.

I slid out of bed carefully, trying not to wake him. Found my dress crumpled on the floor. My panties were torn, ripped off in his haste. My heels were somewhere in the living room.

I dressed quietly, my body sore in ways that made me flush remembering why.

As I reached for the door, I let myself look back one more time.

Levi was still asleep, his face peaceful in a way it hadn’t been when he was awake. His dark hair was tousled. His lips were slightly parted.

Beautiful.

And I would never see him again.

The thought made something in my chest crack. But I couldn’t stay. Couldn’t risk him waking up and asking me to. Couldn’t risk saying yes.

I had to marry Nate Blackthorne. There was no other choice. My father was too powerful.

I opened the door and left.

Left him sleeping in his bed.

Left the only night I ever felt truly wanted.

Left before I could change my mind and risk everything to know what this could have been.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​