He taps it lightly against my lips. Once. And then again.
“Open,” he demands. “Pretty mouth. Show me.”
I moan, lips parted and desperate, my breath catching as he slides back in, inch by inch. My lips stretch around him again, my throat relaxing as he uses my mouth for his pleasure.
“That’s it, baby,” he mutters, his hand cupping my jaw. “Just like that.”
I match his rhythm and let him use me. He groans, his entire body tightening above me. His hands grasp the sides of my head, fucking my face as his chest rises and falls in uneven breaths. “That’s it,” he grinds. “Swallow it all, baby. Deep breath. Let me feel you take every fucking inch.”
I take him deeper, so deep I gag on his cock, but I breathe through it. Levi’s hips twitch with every stroke. I slide a hand under his thigh, roll his balls, tugging the way he likes, and he nearly sobs.
“Hayden, I’m gonna…” he chokes.
I hum in response, holding him there and watching with awe as he tips right over the edge.
He breaks with a sharp, perfect sound, spilling his sweet cum into my mouth, whole body shuddering as he rides out the aftershocks of his orgasm. I take it all, swallowing every single delicious drop, one hand still stroking him through it, the other steady on his trembling thigh.
When he finally opens his eyes, he’s wrecked. Flushed and beautiful and mine.
I press a kiss to the inside of his knee, then rest my forehead there, catching my breath. Levi slumps back against the stairs, panting, eyes heavy lidded as he looks at me, a lazy grin tugging at his lips.
His fingers brush my jaw, voice still rough. “Pretty sure I just saw god.”
“He’s busy,” I say, grinning against his skin. “But he’s thinking about you.”
Petals from the shop floor cling to his ass as he stands, and I pluck one free, slipping it into my pocket. His lips curl with amusement.
“And what are you doing with that?”
“Adding to my collection,” I tease, patting the pocket with the delicate flower.
He laughs, pulling me into another kiss, messy and desperate. “It’s like you’retryingto be the death of me.”
I kiss him back, slower this time. “Why fight type?”
Behind us, the shop is quiet. Ahead of us, his loft awaits. For once, it doesn’t feel like walking toward an ending.
It feels like a beginning.
23
Levi
The thing aboutfalling for someone, really and truly falling, is you rarely notice it in real time. It’s not fireworks or orchestral swells or some grand revelation.
It’s quieter. Walls you didn’t know you built crumbling. A person weaving into your life so seamlessly you can’t remember any of it before them.
It’s in the way I keep showing up at Hayden’s place, teasing past his hesitation, pretending I don’t notice how he softens whenever I walk in.
It’s in the way we’ve starteddating.
Wild, considering he doesn’t “do” that, invite people in or let someone wander through the spaces he’s curated, but he lets me.
And it does something to me.
Because the more time we spend together, the more I notice the subtle ways he’s changing. How he lingers at my shop longer, how he makes excuses to stay rather than leave. How his pantry is suddenly stocked with my favorite snacks. How there’s a new throw blanket on his couch, the exact green I once said I liked.
At the same time, I feel it. The heaviness edging in, the familiardarkness that always seems to find me this time of year. The calendar knows before I do. It always does. The reminder of what’s coming, pressing down, clawing at the edges of my happiness.
