“I’m sorry.” He didn’t even try to whisper it so Kye didn’t hear him.

  I blinked back the moisture in my eyes. “Okay.”

  I started to turn my head away, and he reached up and cupped my face to stop me.

  “Don’t hate me.”

  As if I could. That was a pointless request.

  “I don’t.”

  He leaned down and kissed right beside my eye. “Please don’t cry,” he whispered.

  I was trying not to. I took a deep breath and nodded.

  He kissed in the same spot on my other eye. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  I knew that. That was what hurt the most—knowing he hadn’t done it to hurt me. He hadn’t thought I would care. He had no idea what he meant to me and how I felt about him.

  When I said nothing, he moved away. I felt cold without him and started to look away again until I realized he was taking off his shirt. I stared at him and his glorious chest. He threw it in the back. Then, he put his arm behind me and pulled me against his side.

  “I smell like me now,” he said simply.

  He really hadn’t smelled like her. I’d just wanted to say something mean. But being against his naked chest felt good. I let myself enjoy it. The rest of the ride, he caressed my arm as we stayed quiet.

  Once Kye parked us in the garage, Levi took my hand and opened the door. I let him help me out, and then I took my hand back. He stared at me with a small frown on his face.

  “It’s been a long day,” I told him. “I’m going to bed.”

  “In my bed.”

  I shook my head.

  “Aspen,” he started, and I stepped back.

  “No. I can’t. I’m sorry. I just … I can’t, Levi. I don’t know how to explain it to you. I wish I could, but I can’t.” I turned and started for the door. When he didn’t grab me, I knew he was going to let this go.

  Just last night, I had been curled up in his bed, thinking about him coming back. Having his warm body wrapped around me. I’d played several fantasies in my head about what we might do. Maybe that was it. All the things I’d hoped we would do had been ruined by what I’d heard at the shop.

  Thankfully, no one was in the living room, and I was able to escape without more pitying glances and are you okay questions. I glanced at Levi’s bedroom door as I passed it, and the pang in my chest was so strong that I thought I might break down and start sobbing. I hurried into my room, closing and locking the door behind me, then began stripping off this stupid sundress I’d worn for Levi. I felt silly now. How naive could a girl be?

  Taking out the pajamas I hadn’t worn in a while, I slipped them on and went to brush my teeth. Looking at the bed, my eyes filled with tears, and I gave in, letting them fall. I’d wanted to cry all night. I might as well get it out. I crawled up in the bed and covered up, then buried my face in the pillow to muffle my cries.

  It took some time, but they finally slowed, and I was left with a sniffle. I wiped at my face and closed my eyes. Just before I started to fade, I heard the doorknob jiggle. I wasn’t unlocking it. This was just the way it needed to be.

  The door opened, surprising me, and I turned to look up at Levi, shirtless in a pair of boxers with damp hair, coming inside my room. His gaze found mine.

  “Don’t lock me out,” he said.

  “Obviously, I didn’t. You got in.”

  He walked over to the bed and put his palms on the mattress as he stared down at me. “I can smell you on my sheets, Aspen. It’s driving me fucking crazy. I can’t sleep without you in there. I need to hold you. I fucked up. I’m sorry. I just … please, baby. Please, come back to my bed.”

  He reached over and touched my face and frowned. “You’ve been crying.”

  I didn’t say anything, and he threw my covers back and scooped me up.

  “You’re not going to lie in here alone and cry. Fucking beat on my chest, claw my eyes out—I don’t care, but you’re doing it in my bed. Not alone. You’re not going to be fucking alone. I won’t let you.”

  We walked into his room, still carrying me, and he closed the door behind us. He walked over to his side of the bed and put me down, then climbed in beside me, wrapping his arm around me. He tucked my head under his chin, and I wanted to sigh as I sank into his hard body.

  “Mine,” he said softly. “I take care of you. Even if it’s me who fucking upset you.”

  “I’m not yours.”

  He tensed, then pulled back and looked down at me. The fierce look in his eyes made me shiver. “Yes, you are. You need something, I handle it. I keep you safe. I give you what you need.”

  I shook my head. “No. That’s not happening anymore.”

  “I’d like to see you try to stop me.”

  “You have this thing about taking care of me. I don’t know what I would do without you. You’re the closest thing I’ve ever had to a … I don’t even know what to call you. A friend, but you’re more than that. You do everything for me. It’s just … what I am saying is … the sexual stuff. No more. I think that’s too much for me.”

  His arms tightened around me. “You’ve had an orgasm, baby. You’re gonna want more.”

  I swallowed and nodded. “Yes. And just like you get to do things with other women, I can get that need met by someone else.”

  Anger flashed in his eyes as he rolled me onto my back and hovered over me. “No fucker is touching you,” he growled. “I told you that I take care of you. That pussy is mine to take care of. This body is mine to make feel good.”

  “But that’s why tonight was hard. I can’t let you do that and then see you with other women. I can’t do that. I’m sorry.”

  His teeth were clenched, and his nostrils flared. “I will kill someone if they touch you,” he said angrily. “That’s not a threat, baby. It’s the fucking truth. Do you understand me? I can’t handle it. I wanted to rip Kye’s arm off tonight.”

  I sighed and pressed my hand against his chest. “Well then, maybe you could imagine how it felt for me to listen to you come in another woman’s mouth. I won’t ever get to do that. Not with you.”

  He closed his eyes and swore. “You saying you want my cock in your mouth?”

  “Yes, I want a lot of things you’re not willing to offer. And even if you were, I’d want it exclusively, and you don’t want that.”

  He dropped his head to my chest and let out a ragged breath. “What other things?” he asked in a hoarse whisper.

  He wasn’t looking at me, so that helped my ability to just tell him the truth.

  “I want to have sex. I want to do all of it. I’m twenty, and the fact is, my life might be halfway over already. I don’t know how long I’ll get.”

  His head snapped up. “Don’t say that. Do not say that. Your life isn’t halfway over.”

  I touched his face. If only him saying it made it true. “You don’t know that, and neither do I. What I do know is, what you did to me and how you made me feel showed me I am missing out in life. I want to feel it all.”

  He took several deep breaths as he stared at me. The distressed, almost-panicked look in his eyes made me wish I had said nothing.

  “I can’t do love and relationships.” He sounded in pain. “I’m not a man who can do that. But if what you want is to have sex, then I can give you that, and while we are doing it, I won’t touch another woman.”

  Although my chest ached, I managed to smile. “That’s sweet, but I would never ask that of you.”

  He scowled. “You’re not asking me. I’m telling you. No other man gets to touch you.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  He grabbed my chin and leaned closer to me. “Don’t push me.”

  “I’m not pushing you. I just don’t understand.”

  His gaze dropped to my lips, and the way he looked at them made my heart race. He’d never kissed me. I hadn’t asked because that felt like asking him to love me. It was something he had to choose to do.

  “I don’t trust myself not to be like my dad. I’m afraid I’ll always want a variety of women. But, fuck … I have this need to own you. Protect you. Meet all your needs. It’s a goddamn beast inside me, and I don’t understand it. The idea of anyone else touching you sends me into an enraged spiral I can’t control. I want to murder, destroy things.”

  I licked my lips as he continued to look at them.

  “Fuck,” he groaned just before his lips met mine.

  It felt like the world had fallen away and I was floating. His tongue flicked at my closed lips, and I opened. When he plunged inside, the taste of mint and whiskey suddenly became my favorite flavor. His hand gripped my waist, and he jerked me tighter to him.

  Brent’s kisses had been nothing like this. Levi kissed me as if he couldn’t get enough. It was aggressive, powerful.

  He let go of my hip and moved his hand up and under my top until he covered one of my breasts. Squeezing, he made a deep sound in his chest. His thumb and forefinger pinched my nipple and started to twist it. A low keen came from me that I’d never made before.

  He tore his mouth from mine and shoved my top up further before kissing my collarbone, then lowering his head to pull the other nipple into his mouth.

  “Yes! That feels so good.” I ran my fingers through his hair.

  He stopped sucking to look up at me. His eyes went to my mouth again. “Fuck, baby, that mouth. I should have stayed away from it.”

  I was panting. How had we gotten here? I had wanted to stop this, and now, I was kissing him and letting him suck on my boobs.

  I tried to get some form of control. “We should stop.”

  His heated look went back to my breasts before he slipped his hand between my legs. My arousal was obvious. Those hazel eyes that seemed to undo me shot back up to meet mine.

  “This pussy is soaked.” His voice was a husky whisper.

  I let out a small whimper. I couldn’t help it.

  “You need to come,” he said, pressing kisses on my stomach. Then tugging down my bottoms and panties. “My sweet little pussy is weeping; it’s so needy.”

  Not the words. His words would do me in. I shouldn’t let him touch me.

  “But tonight, I heard you with her. Don’t …” I tried to verbalize why I should stop, but I was struggling.

  He threw my bottoms on the floor and shoved open my legs. “I’m going to make you forget that. I swear to God,” he growled.

  Then, he moved, and his face was there between my legs. He lifted his eyes, watching me as he ran his tongue along my sensitive flesh. I almost came off the bed. His deep chuckle vibrated between my legs as he began to taste me. I wanted to weep from the pure nirvana of having his mouth on me.

  “That pussy is already clenching my tongue.”

  His dirty words …

  I began to quiver just as my release erupted, and I held his head while I rocked against his tongue, crying out his name. Nothing mattered at that moment. Just how incredible this felt.

  When I released his head, he lifted his eyes to look up at me with a wicked grin. “Such a good girl.” He moved back up my body, his eyes taking me in. “My good girl,” he whispered.

  I trembled, watching him.

  He finally moved to the side and pulled me with him. “Go to sleep, baby. I got you.”

  Closing my eyes, I smiled. I liked being his good girl.

  Twenty-Six

  Levi

  There had been little sleep for me last night. I’d replayed every damn thing she’d said to me. Battling with what I should do and what I was going to do. They were not the same. My gaze went to her as she began to stir. I’d been sitting on the sofa for the past two hours, watching her sleep. The damn sun had come up while I sat here.

  Aspen wanted more. I should have expected it.

  The one thing that had come from my being awake most of the night was that I’d come to terms with the truth. I wouldn’t be able to let someone else give her more. Putting her in my bed the first night had been a mistake. But it was done now, and I couldn’t change the past. Even knowing that she deserved to be loved, that she deserved a man who would give her all the fucking romance and a house with a picket fence, I wasn’t going to let it happen.

  She was mine, and she was stuck with me. My fucking chest tightened as her eyes fluttered against her cheeks before opening and focusing on me. I saw the small frown touch her face before she sat up, clearly confused. The sunlight touched her messy, long locks, and it reminded me of fire. I wanted to pull it, tangle my hands in it, grab ahold of it while I sank so deep into her that she screamed my name.

  “What’s wrong?” Her voice had a thick huskiness to it from sleep.

  “Nothing.”

  The nervous way she bit her bottom lip and let it pop loose always made me want to suck on it.

  “Why … why are you on the sofa?”

  “Couldn’t sleep, and I didn’t want to disturb you.”

  “Oh,” she replied softly, staring at the covers.

  Her expressive face made it easy to guess the thoughts running through her head. She thought I was pulling away after last night. I wanted to laugh. She couldn’t be further from the truth.

  “Aspen.” I said her name, and her eyes snapped back up to meet mine.

  “Yes?”

  “I won’t allow someone else to touch you. Only I get that privilege. You wanted to get off, so I pleasured that needy pussy with my fingers and mouth. Now, you want fucked. It’ll be my cock that takes your sweet cunt. I don’t do exclusive. I don’t do relationships. I just fuck.” I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees. “That upsets you, and I don’t like you being upset. But I promise, it’ll just be you I fuck. No one else.”

  Aspen licked her lips, and the excitement in her eyes made it hard for me to remain on this damn sofa and not go bury my dick in her now.

  “What about … other things? I don’t … I don’t want you having oral sex with anyone either.”

  I tilted my head as a grin tugged at my lips. “You telling me you want to suck my cock, sweetheart?”

  The flush that crept over her body was so fucking sexy.

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  “I’m demanding. Rough. I’ll shove it so far in your throat that you’ll gag,” I warned her.

  The pulse in her neck drew my eyes to it as her breathing quickened.

  “Okay.”

  “Okay? You’re gonna let me fuck your mouth like that?”

  She nodded, her eyes wide. Damn, she was gonna ruin me.

  “Then, it’ll just be your mouth on my dick,” I told her.

  The uncertainty swirling in her green eyes as her gaze dropped to my obvious erection, pushing against the boxer briefs I’d pulled on last night, made my damn cock leak. This hadn’t been my plan. I was going to tell her how things would be from now on, then tell her that I was taking her to the hospital today to meet with the child life specialist who oversaw the pediatric activity rooms at the local hospital. She wanted to volunteer, and I wanted to make her happy.

  “Do you want me to suck it now?” she asked.

  I laughed. Only Aspen would think she needed to ask that question. “Sweetheart, there will never be a time I don’t want you to suck my dick. But you just woke up and you need to eat breakfast. I’m taking you somewhere today.”

  Her eyes lit up. “You are?”

  I nodded my head.

  “Where?”

  “You want to volunteer. We’re going to set that up at the local hospital. I already made the call.”

  There was only one thing that was more stunning than Aspen beaming, like she was in this moment, and that was when she was having an orgasm.

  She threw back the covers and jumped out of bed before throwing herself into my lap. Her arms went around my neck. “Thank you!”

  Vanilla and honeysuckle surrounded me. Wrapping me up in the sweetness. I’d made her happy. Fuck, that felt good. My hands settled on her waist, and I moved her so that she was straddling my lap. When my erection brushed against her bare pussy, she jerked her eyes, locking on mine.

  “First thing you need to remember is,” I told her, licking a trail along her collarbone, “if you throw this sweet body at me, I’m gonna want to fuck it.” I moved to press a kiss at the pulse in her neck. “But it’s still a virgin cunt, and I won’t take it like this.”

  Lifting my head, I held her gaze as I sank my fingers into her wild hair. “I’m demanding, Aspen. I’ll be gentle the first time, but I need to fuck hard, baby. There won’t always be foreplay and kissing. I’ll just use your cunt to shoot my load in. I need you on birth control.”

  Her little pink tongue darted out of her mouth, licking her lips. “I’ve taken birth control for a year now. Just as a … precaution when I started dating.”

  My eyes dropped to her nipples poking through the satin fabric of her pajamas. Watching her face, I moved a hand between her legs and slid inside the silky wetness already coating her thighs.

  “Did that make you wet? Me talking about fucking you hard?”

  She was panting as she stared at me. “Yes.”

  “Fuck,” I groaned. “I think you might be naughty.”

  A small gasp caused her tits to bounce. I wouldn’t fuck her now, but I was gonna need to feel her. I grabbed her waist and pulled her up onto her knees so that she was holding herself over me as I shoved my boxer briefs down, freeing my leaking cock.

  I stroked it a few times, letting the pre-cum coat it before laying it against my stomach and pulling her back down on me. When the hot, slick folds pressed against my swollen shaft, Aspen grabbed my biceps and moaned.

  “You like that, don’t you, sweetheart?”

  She nodded, her mouth slightly open as she stared at me. I cupped her face and brought her lips to mine. I sucked that bottom lip she loved to bite into my mouth. Savoring the feel of it before letting it go and thrusting my tongue against hers.