I'm Your Santa (6 page)

“I know.”

The way he said that twisted Beth's heart. “It surprised me that you liked it.”

“Liked it?” Levi gave a short laugh. “I hated it. It sucked. It was too sappy and over the top emotional. Give me a good old-fashioned action flick any day.”

“But you rented it!”

“Yeah.” His tone softened and became every bit as sweet as the movie. “Because like the soup, I knew it was your favorite.”

Beth held silent for several moments. Brandon hadn't known about her favorite soup, or her favorite video.

Was Levi that much more observant?

“You watched it with me,” she accused.

“I watched you watching it,” he corrected. “There's a difference.”

When Levi turned back onto his stomach again, Beth could not only see the glow of his eyes in the darkness, she could actually feel his gaze touching on her.

“Back then,” he whispered, “I guess I was into masochism, because being there with you, so close when you were so untouchable, was pretty torturous.”

In the same whisper, Beth asked, “So why did you do it?”

“Because not being with you was worse.”

Oh God. An invisible fist squeezed her heart, and Beth couldn't bear it. She came to her knees on the lumpy cot mattress. “Levi?”

He sat up to face her, only inches away. “I'm right here.”

Beth laced her fingers together to keep from reaching for him. “Why do you want me?”

“You're smart.”

That ultra-quick answer surprised a laugh out of Beth, and helped to put her need in check. “And brains turn you on?”

“Your brains do.” He said that with a lot of gravity. “Especially when they're mixed with a great sense of humor, and sensitivity, and a big heart.”

Beth inhaled his scent, somehow warmer now, more potent. “So it's not how I look?”

Sounding darker and deeper, he asked, “How do you look, Beth?”

“Female.”

He fell silent for a moment. “Very female.”

She sensed his restraint and it turned her on, making her feel powerful, seductive, and sexy.

In near confusion, he whispered, “I always thought I preferred dark women. Rich, dark hair, chocolate brown eyes. I always thought long legs were the sexiest. And big boobs.”

“Gee, that's a surprise.”

He paid no attention to her mocking interruption. “And lots of confidence.”

“I'm confident.”

“Maybe. Sometimes. But you're also petite and fair skinned, and you have beautiful legs, but honey, they're not super long.”

Quickly passing the point of no return, Beth sighed. “I guess I'm not really overly endowed in the chest department, either.”

Somehow, even without the aid of light, his hands found her face. They were big and warm, and oh so gentle as they touched her. “You are perfect.”

“I am?”

His thumbs brushed her cheekbones. “And very sexy.”

Beth thought about that. “If you could change one thing about me, Levi, what would it be?”

“Your worries.”

Her heart melted. So he wouldn't make her better endowed, sweeter, less headstrong?

“Levi,” she chastised, because he hadn't taken any time to think about it, to consider all the possibilities. Still, his answer touched her. “I meant physically.”

“Weren't you listening when I said you're perfect? You are. You're the most beautiful woman I've ever met.”

Beth figured she could pass for pretty, but beautiful wasn't a word to describe her. She hesitated to speak her mind, but fair was fair—and fair was easier now, in the dark and in the quiet. “I think you look pretty perfect, too.”

Levi said nothing.

“And…I have thought about you.”

A sexual charge broke the stillness of the room, splintering it like static electricity. Then Levi's hands fell away from her. “I would love to hear more about what you thought, but I made a promise to you, and that means I need to go take a cold shower. Right now.”

Thinking that he joked, Beth started to laugh, until she heard him leave the bed and she felt him move past her. “Levi!”

“Stay put, honey. I'll be back out in two minutes. Five if I decide I have to take care of business first, in order to keep my word.”

Beth almost fell off the cot. She did stumble to her feet.
Take care of business?
Surely, Levi didn't mean what she thought he might mean.

Or did he?
“Levi.”

His only answer was the closing of the bathroom door. A light came from beneath the door, and then the lock clicked into place with a quiet snick.

Staring through the dark and mostly empty room toward the bathroom, Beth stood there utterly mute.

Seconds later, she heard the shower come on.

In disbelief and pounding disappointment, she crawled face down onto the cot and pulled the pillow down over her head.

She would have screamed in frustration, but she was so turned on she couldn't draw a single deep breath. Her sisters-in-law and stepmother were right. She had to face the facts that her feelings for Levi were physical, but they were more than that, too.

She wanted him, yes indeed.

But because she admired him and appreciated him, and had always respected him; talking with Levi only made the physical need more acute.

Brooke, Grace, and Sierra knew what she hadn't wanted to accept: Levi was the guy for her. For too many years she'd missed the obvious. She'd been so blind that she'd almost married the wrong man. Brandon's unfaithfulness had given her an opportunity to set things straight.

Now she had to decide what to do about it.

Levi stood beneath the spray of the icy water and called himself ten times a fool. He couldn't touch her. He
couldn't.

God, had he really made such an asinine promise?

Idiot.

Moron.

He pictured Beth on the cot, heard again her quiet confession, and knew he'd never survive his stupid promise without taking care of business first.

Letting his imagination go, he wrapped a hand around himself and slowly stroked. His teeth locked.

He saw Beth's eyes, dark with excitement. His muscles twitched.

He remembered the bite of her nails on his shoulders when he'd given her a third climax. Tension coiled inside him.

He felt again the way her teeth closed on his shoulder in an attempt to muffle her own shouts of pleasure. Close, so close.

He remembered when he took her from behind doggy-style, how he'd touched her belly, and lower. He visualized the mix of pleasure and uncertainty when he'd put her legs over his shoulders and entered her so deeply that she couldn't have taken any more of him.

He recalled the taste of her when he'd knelt on the floor and opened her thighs wide…

With a low groan, icy water streaming over his body and visions of Beth spurring him on, Levi came. It wasn't the same. It sure as hell wasn't enough.

But for now, it'd have to do.

With the edge of tension removed, Levi slumped against the hard-tile wall and tried to even his breathing as the cold water washed away the evidence of his release.

What was Beth thinking?

Would she be as ashamed for his behavior now as she'd been of her own during their long weekend? Would she even be waiting for him when he returned?

That thought got him moving and he dried off in record time. Without bothering to dress, he switched off the light and jerked the door open. “Beth?”

Like nails on a chalkboard, she gritted, “What?”

Uh oh.

She didn't sound embarrassed. Nope, she sounded pissed.

Oddly enough, that relieved Levi. He'd take anger over her humiliation any day. “Just making sure you didn't skip out on me.” He refrained from saying
again.

“Where would I go, Levi? What would I say to Ben if I up and left?”

There was a punching sound as if she mauled her pillow, then she heaved an angry, frustrated sigh.

Poor baby. He doubted a cold shower would have the same effect on her. She was too new to satisfaction to take half measures.

“You know, Beth, you could say that you're so irresistible I couldn't take it anymore, but that I made you a promise I didn't want to break, so I had to excuse myself to—”

“Argh! It was a rhetorical question, you jerk. I do
not
want a blow-by-blow report of your…shower activities.”

Levi stepped into his boxers. “No?” And just to tease her, he asked, “Are you sure?”

A pillow hit him square in the face.

Levi stumbled back into the wall, nearly falling. Good shot, especially in the dark. She impressed him, but he wouldn't tell her so. “Damn it, woman. Don't throw things at me.”

Another pillow barely missed him, but knocked a lamp off the dresser. It crashed to the floor.

They both went silent.

“Now see what you made me do.” Beth flipped on a light, turned to Levi, and froze.

Dressed only in black boxers, he straightened. “Sorry. I left the shower in a hurry when it occurred to me that you might flee.”

She stared.

He nudged the fallen lamp with a bare toe. “It isn't broken, luckily.”

She blinked, swallowed audibly.

Taking a relaxed stance, Levi let her look. “You've seen me before, Beth.”

Without shifting her gaze to above his neck or below his knees, she said, “Shut up about that.”

Exasperated, Levi put his hands on his hips. “I meant even before last weekend, actually. We've swam together so you've seen me in trunks plenty of times. And you've helped with practices, so you've seen me play shirts and skins in soccer. You've even seen me—”

“Yeah, yeah. But this is different.”

Because now she knew what was under the boxers, and she knew how good they were together? Levi wanted to hear her say it. “Why?”

“Because now I know you…intimately.”

“And that makes it different?”

She nodded.

“Beth?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you think you could look at my face?” At his leisure, Levi leaned against the wall. “I mean, I did just come, I won't deny that. But I'm not sure how helpful that'll be if you keep looking at me like you want to eat me alive.”

Her gaze clashed into his. Her hands fisted. Lips stiff and voice low, she growled, “You are such a jerk, Masterson.”

“Maybe on occasion. I'm human. But you want me anyway,” he taunted. “Don't you?”

Her teeth sawed together. Her eyes sparked. Then…on a sigh, she said, “Yes.”

That knocked the humor right out of him. Levi straightened. “I wish you'd have admitted that before I made my promise.”

“Forget your promise.”

If only he could. “You might feel differently in the morning, honey. You might be mad at yourself again, and you'll take it out on me.”

She bit her lip. “What if I swear not to?”

Heart hammering, Levi lifted the lamp off the floor and plunked it back onto the dresser. As he gathered his thoughts, he approached Beth's narrow cot. Though he didn't like himself for trying it, her need right now could be a bargaining chip toward their future.

Anticipation burned through him. “What if you swear to me that tonight won't be the only night? What if you marry me and—”

She blanched.

Damn it.
“I take it that appalled look on your face is a no?” Propping his hands on his hips, Levi shook his head. “You think I'm asking for too much, don't you?”

Pleading, Beth whispered, “It's too much for so soon, yes.”

For her, maybe. But not for him. Levi knew how he felt, how he'd always felt. He'd never acted on his feelings because Beth was as off-limits as a woman could be.

Was.

Not anymore.

“Sorry,” he muttered, unwilling to torture himself further tonight. “Let's just go to bed and forget about it.” Ignoring her stunned and disappointed expression, he stepped past Beth, stretched out on the bed, and pulled the covers over his body.

Beth kept her back to him. “No.”

Levi eyed her militant stance. Her disheveled hair tumbled down her back. Pajamas a size too large swallowed her petite body. And still he could see the rigid way she held herself. “What did you say?”

She turned and began marching toward his bed. “I said no.”

She looked so resolute that Levi hurried to sit up. But she'd already reached him and before he could stop her, before he even realized her intent, she grabbed the covers and ripped them right off the bed.

Wow.

Forget the shower; Levi was hard in a nanosecond. His heartbeat thundered, but he said calmly enough, “Now Beth…”

Flattening both hands on his bare chest, she shoved him onto his back. “You started this, Levi, and you can damn well finish it, whether we have a lifetime together, a year together, or even just tomorrow together.”

As Beth threw a leg over his waist to straddle him, Levi gave up. He was only human. And male. And madly in love.

He cupped her face. “At least give me tomorrow, Beth.”

She bit his chin, his bottom lip. “Tomorrow,” she agreed. And then her mouth was on his, her kiss grinding and brutal and devouring him. Her tongue slicked over his lips, and then past them to tangle with his.

When she switched to his throat, he said, “Beth,” meaning to slow her down.

“No more talking,” she commanded. She nipped his earlobe, his collarbone.

“But honey…” Levi fought to remember his promise. “Beth, my willpower is dwindling fast.”

“Good.”

But his love for Beth was too important to give up to a flash of sexual satisfaction. “I promised you that I wouldn't—”

“Wouldn't touch me unless I begged.” She sat up on his abdomen, looked down at him, and said, “Please, Levi.” She spread her fingers over his bare chest and purred, “I'm begging.”

His control evaporated. “Come here.”

Full of enthusiasm and need, Beth fell on him. Trying to slow her down, to dredge up a bit of much-needed finesse Levi gentled her with a deep kiss.

When she went soft and warm against him, he coasted his hands over her narrow back to her waist, where he encountered the baggy pajama bottoms. With no more than a tug, they slid easily to her knees. Hooking his toes in the material, Levi kicked them away from her body and then off the side of the bed.

Beth raised herself above him. Her eyes were glazed with need, her lips parted. One by one, Levi opened the buttons of her pajama top and parted the material, leaving her breasts exposed. He wasted no time lifting himself up for a leisurely tasting of each swollen nipple.

Beth dropped to her elbows with a groan. Her thighs tightened around him, her eyes closed.

Carefully, without releasing her nipple, Levi turned her to a more submissive position under him. Giving her all his weight, he pinned her down and took his time licking a puckered nipple. He loved the texture of her, the scent that clung to her body, the broken sound of her breathing as he went from licking to sucking gently, then not so gently.

Her hips lifted against him in a frantic rhythm.

“Levi…”
she begged again.

Never would he tire of hearing her say his name, especially in such a pleading way. “Patience, honey.” He went back to kissing her breasts.

She tangled her fingers in his hair and forced his gaze up to hers. “Now, please.”

Doing his best to hide a smile, Levi nodded. “You've got it.”

She tried to pull him up to her then, but Levi had an alternate plan. Kissing a lazy, damp path down her rib cage to her belly, he let her know his intent. She groaned again, this time in eagerness for what he would do.

Voice hoarse and rough, he murmured, “Let's get rid of these panties.”

Beth lifted her hips to accommodate his request, and Levi skimmed the slinky scrap of material down her legs. On his elbows, he looked up the length of her.

So beautiful. And all his, whether she accepted that yet or not.

Except for the pink-flowered flannel shirt framing her shoulders, she was completely naked.

Levi wanted to tell her that he loved her, but she wasn't ready to hear that, not yet. Hell, he'd barely gotten her to commit to tomorrow, when what he really wanted was a lifetime. If he rushed things, he could scare her off. Again.

For now, for right this moment, Beth only needed the relief he could give her.

He laid a heavy hand on her belly. She kept her eyes closed, her bottom lip caught in her teeth. Her breasts shimmered with each anxious breath she took.

Tonight she admitted to wanting him again. That was more than he'd had yesterday.

He'd drown her in pleasure, and maybe tomorrow she'd acknowledge that what they shared was more than sexual, and more than temporary.

Then she'd ask for a repeat. Tonight, tomorrow, the day after, and the day after that…until finally she realized that their friendship had grown from a mutual belief in life and love, a bone-deep compatibility enhanced by sexual chemistry and a shared view of the future.

She'd understand that love made it so special between them, and then she'd agree to a lifetime with him.

Keeping his hand on her belly, Levi said, “Open your legs, Beth.”

Her muscles twitched—and she complied. But not enough to suit him.

“A little more, honey. Bend your knees, don't be shy…that's it.” And just to tease her, he added, “I want to taste you.”

Her breath shuddered out. Her belly sucked in.

“You're going to come for me, Beth. And you're going to love it, just not as much as I will.”

Her neck arched, and her body bowed as she lifted herself toward him. “I want you to come, too.”

With his mouth touching her heated skin, he groaned. Yeah, he'd come. No doubt about that. She was so soft that Levi loved touching and kissing her. And she had a unique scent that affected him more than a potent drug. He got near Beth, and his head swam, his heart raced, and heat suffused him.

Even before he could make a move on her, he'd known she was the woman meant to be his mate, just by the primal reactions of his body.