“I said stop,” he snaps, and I blink at him in surprise. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I shouldn’t want to be with you, but it has nothing to do with what strangers are saying about us on platforms I don’t give a rat’s ass about, and everything to do with the fact that you suddenly seem to think I’m a child that needs protecting. I’m not a child.”
“I know you’re not.”
“The other night, after one of the worst days I’ve had on the force, you sought me out and comforted me. You said there would be rough days, and you’re right. Well, same goes, sweetheart. That’s just life.”
He walks to me. Slowly. Deliberately.
“Now, we’re going to get you back out of all these clothes. But the first thing you need to take off is your insecurities. If we’re in this together, we’re in it. Together. Whether I’ve had a rough day at work, or you have. Or anything else that comes up.”
I stare up at him in wonder as he peels my clothes off, and when I’m standing naked before him—both physically and emotionally—he picks me up and takes me to the bed, laying me down gently on the soft linens.
“You’re amazing,” he whispers, kissing over my shoulders and up my neck to my lips. “Stunning. Smart. Kind.”
“I’m not always kind.”
“Liar.” He bites my lip, then kisses my chin and works his way down to one breast. “You’re kind and sweet. And when it’s just you and me, it doesn’t matter if ten million people know your face or want to know about your life.”
“I have twenty-five million followers,” I say, sassing him.
He cocks a brow. “None of them are here. It’s just you and me.”
His hand blazes a trail down my belly to my core.
“You don’t belong to them.” He slips two fingers inside me, sending my hips up off the bed. “You belong to me.”
My eyes find his as his fingers work me over, and his lips latch around a nipple.
“Who gives a shit what anyone else thinks?” he says when he lets go of my flesh with a loud pop.
“I don’t like them saying horrible things about you.”
I gasp as he presses the pad of his thumb against my clit.
“They can’t hurt me.” He watches me with hot brown eyes as I climb higher and higher, riding the delicious wave of an impending orgasm.
But before I get there, Levi reaches for a condom, slides it on, and sinks inside me until he’s buried balls-deep. And then he stops. We’re both gasping for breath, staring at each other intently.
“They can’t hurt me. You’re mine, Starla. You’ve been mine for a long time. Maybe forever. It just took me more than forty years to find you.”
Tears spring to my eyes. My God, where did this amazing man come from?
“So all we have to worry about is what’s happening right here, between us. Fuck the rest of them.”
I press on his shoulder, and he rolls, switching our position. I’m riding him now and grinding down on him with every stroke, sending electricity through every nerve ending of my body. Being with Levi is so different from being with anyone else.
Anyone.
It’s like this is where I was supposed to be all along.
“Same,” I whisper as I lean down and press my lips to his. “We belong to each other. And you’re right, I’m too damn old to give a shit about what everyone else thinks about my love life. I’m happy. And if you’re happy too, that’s all that matters.”
He grins and wraps his arms around me, holding me tightly as he kisses and fucks the hell out of me, not just tipping me over the edge, but pushing me with everything he’s got.
I bear down, contracting around him as the orgasm consumes me. I’ve never felt anything this intense in my life.
I hear Levi moan, long and loud as he surrenders to his own release.
I don’t want to move. I want to lie on top of him forever, soaking in his warmth, his breath, everything.
He calms me and speaks truth into me in a way no one ever has. No one’s ever bothered to try.
“What is it?” His hand glides up and down my spine.
“I’m just happy.” I sigh and kiss his jaw. “Like, this happiness might be illegal.”
“I won’t arrest you.” He kisses my cheek before rolling us to our sides as he smiles in that mischievous way he does. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t use the handcuffs on you.”
“Can we do that next?”
He laughs and pulls me to him. “Easy, girl. Let me recover from last time first.”
“Well, hurry up.”“I had no idea that police departments had such nice facilities.”
We’re standing in the middle of a gym at his work, and Levi is squatting more weight than I’ve ever seen on a bar at one time.