Page 30 of The Heart Remembers

Katie’s easy dismissal of her father does nothing to calm my nerves. It must be written all over my face how I feel about his eldest girl.

“My panic attack wasn’t nothing,” I tell her as her dad walks away.

“I know it’s not nothing, and I am concerned, but it’s none of my dad’s business. Do these things happen often? Did something trigger it?”

“Yes, the thought of you drowning triggered it.”

“Levi,” she groans softly, leaning toward me and placing a hand on my chest. “I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere.”

I reach up and brush the hair from her forehead, tracing my finger down the side of her face before curling the hairs behind her ear.

“I know, but it still scared me to think I hurt you, and you blacked out, slipping down into that dark water.” I exaggerate a full-body shiver, but just the thought of something happening to her has me sweating once more.

“Babe, I’m right here,” she repeats, and the endearment on her lips has me wanting to capture it with my own.

“Fuck, Katie,” I mutter, looking over my shoulder. “Don’t talk sweet to me like that when I can’t be alone with you.”

Her eyes dilate, the pupils growing. “You want to be alone with me?” She can’t be that clueless.

“It’s been a rough twenty-four hours. Remembering the other night and how you taste—”

“Levi,” she groans, turning her head to look around and see if anyone is close enough to hear me. Her hand slides down my chest, resting on my abs, which flinch under her touch. I want her fingers on my skin.

“I’ve missed you the last day and more, and time is moving so fast. The party is tomorrow.” I don’t need to say more. Tomorrow will be a whirlwind of activity culminating with the birthday event, and then Sunday morning will arrive. The thought dampens my mood a little.

“We still have tonight and tomorrow. It’s not over yet.” Her eyes sparkle in the low light of evening, and how I wish I knew what she meant. Not wanting to read into things, but I so want to make her statement into something more.

My fingers slip into hers again, and I tug. “Follow me.” She sets down the wine glass she’s been holding and glances over her shoulder as I nearly pull her arm out of the socket, briskly walking us to the corner of the house and stepping around it, hiding us from the party.

“Levi, what the—” She doesn’t finish her statement before I have her pinned to the side of the house, kissing her like I’ve been wanting to do all day. Her hands lift for my head, fingertips dragging through my short hair until her elbows meet my shoulders. Then she’s leveraging herself, plastering her body to mine, and I grind into her, desperate and ready to take her up against the house. Family party be damned. Our mouths eagerly kiss, twisting from side to side, hungry for every inch. Our tongues clash, twirling with impatience. We need to be closer.

“Ahem.”

I break away from Katie so quickly that she falls forward, and I catch her by her hips.

“Mom!” Katie shrieks, her voice cracking a little. Her lips are swollen and moist as she looks at her mother, who has busted us making out like teenagers.

“You might want to reconsider your position,” Emily says, although she slowly smiles. Katie’s hands slip down my chest before she releases me, stepping back and bumping into the house. I clearly haven’t given us as much space as I thought. I don’t want any distance between us, but when I see Katie’s pink cheeks, I realize she’s embarrassed.

Is she embarrassed of me? Or is it just this compromising position?

“Levi, do you mind giving us a minute?” Emily asks, and I glance at Katie, hesitant to leave her alone. We aren’t teenagers, even if I feel like one at the moment, and I don’t want Katie to incur any wrath from her mom for what we were just doing.

Katie’s eyes shift back to me, and she pats my chest in a way I find patronizing. “I’ll only be a minute,” she assures me, giving me a smile before biting the corner of her lip.

I tip up my chin and step off to the side, circling Emily, who smiles back at me before I return to the party. With Katie off talking to her mom, I spend the next few minutes amidst her family, which is very much mine as well, wishing I could be a more permanent part of them.

13

[Katie]

As Levi walks away, I fall back against the side of the house where Levi had me pinned only minutes ago. How far would we have gone? With his stiff length grinding against me and my leg hitching up to his hip, I was ready to give into him despite the party only feet away from us.

No man would let you get down that hallway before pinning you against the wall and taking you.

We weren’t even naked, yet it was evident what he wanted with my body.

“Katie bug?” My attention snaps back to my mother standing before me. Shaky fingers come to my lips before I drop them to my skirt, clutching my fingers into the material. After a day on the water, I’m wearing a casual athletic dress that goes from beach to evening.