When Life Happened by Jewel E. Ann

Chapter Twenty-Five

Levi was the salve to Parker’s hurting heart. When they were together the grief was bearable. When she smiled and laughed with him, it felt good. No guilt. She wondered if he felt the same.

“Now that’s a shed.” Levi crossed his arms over his chest as they stood back a few yards inspecting the finished red shed.

“It’s the perfect color.”

He grinned. “I think so too.”

Parker turned to him. “Thank you. That was several hundred dollars in brand-new paint.” Her lips twisted to the side. “Weren’t you afraid of someone else taking it before we got there?”

“I’m hungry. How about you?”

“Levi …”

“I told the guy at the recycling center to hold it behind the counter for you.”

“You told him?”

He shrugged. “With some cash, I told him to save it for you.”

“You paid for the paint, and then you paid for someone to save it for me?” Her head jutted forward. “Wouldn’t it have been cheaper to just take me with you to buy the paint in the first place?”

“Would you have let me do that?”

She thought about it. “No.”

“Then there’s your answer. Now, food. Can I take you to dinner after we change our clothes?”

“No.” She looked down at her paint-splattered clothes. “Dinner is on me. But I’m starving too, so let’s go.” She started toward Old Blue parked by the fence.

“Where are we going?” He followed her.

“Get in.”

He grinned as he hopped in. “We’re a mess.”

She got it started on the second attempt. “We are. Here.” She tapped her finger on her phone. “When they answer, order a large pizza to go with your favorite toppings.”

He took her phone as she pulled out. “What do you want?”

“I’ll eat anything.”

When they pulled up to Casey’s General Store, she grabbed some cash from the glove compartment.

Levi laughed. “Great place to keep cash.”

“I know. Right? Be right back. Don’t let Blue die.”

A few minutes later she returned with a pizza box and a twelve-pack of bottled beer.

“Where’s the party?” Levi inspected the beer as she handed him everything.

“You’ll see.”

They drove back toward the house, but she pulled off the road into a field just before reaching her drive.

“What are we doing?”

She opened her door. “It’s my field, nothing got planted this year. So we’re going to eat, drink, and look at the stars.”

Levi got out. “It’s not dark quite yet, and we’re under a sky full of clouds.”

Parker opened the tailgate and climbed in back. He handed her the beer and pizza then climbed in beside her, their backs resting at the front of the bed, near the back window.

“That’s why I got a twelve-pack of beer. By the time we’re done, we’ll think we see the stars.” She grabbed a beer and twisted off the top then handed it to him.

“Did I mention that I really like you?”

She twisted off the top to her beer and clinked it against his. “I like you too.”

“Twelve beers might not make us legal to drive.”

She took a long swig. “That’s why we’re in walking distance from home.” She set her bottle on the edge of the truck and opened the pizza box between them. “Have you ever had pizza and beer in the back of a pick-up truck in the middle of a barren field?”

Levi grabbed a slice of pizza and took a big bite then shook his head. “No,” he mumbled, “never.”

“Then you really haven’t lived.” She stretched out her legs and crossed them at the ankles, releasing a deep sigh after another long pull of beer. “Here’s what you can expect. It’s going to be a little rough going with the mosquitoes as the sun sets. But once we get enough alcohol into our systems, we’ll be good. Mosquitoes? What mosquitoes?”

“Tomorrow we’ll be hungover and itchy as hell, probably with some mosquito-transmitted disease settling into our bloodstream.”

Parker giggled. “So you have done this before.”

“No. Just an educated guess.”

They drank more than they ate, which wasn’t a good thing. By four beers Parker was slipping into her drunken state.

“So let me get this straight…” Parker leaned back flat to look at the stars that weren’t there “…you played lacrosse in college and you still play, but sex is your workout of choice? Maybe you’re just a sex addict and you’re trying to justify it by making it seem like it’s heart-smart.”

Levi spit out part of his eighth beer as he laughed. “Where did that come from? You asked me about college. How did my playing lacrosse turn into a sex addiction problem?”

She sighed then giggled. “I don’t know. It’s your problem, not mine.”

He lay down beside her. “I’m so fucking buzzed right now, I can’t even defend myself against your crazy accusations.”

“It feels so good to not feel.”

He chuckled. “That makes no sense.”

“Is it the amount of time you have sex that makes it workout-worthy or the positions?”

“Fuck me … your thoughts are so damn random.” He slurred his words a bit as he laughed.

“Tell me! How much alcohol do you need before you can tell me what I want to know?”

“Fine. It’s both.” He rolled onto his side, head propped up on his hand.

She rolled over, facing him, mirroring his pose. “Favorite position?” Her body tingled from the alcohol, and her judgment was delayed, but her mouth asked the question anyway.

“For pleasure or workout?”

“There’s a difference?”

“Of course.” He wet his lips and let his eyes roam down her body.

Drunk Parker liked it. Sober Parker would be very disappointed in her.

“Workout,” she said.

“Standing.”

“Against a wall?”

“No wall. Just standing.”

Parker let her eyes drift shut.

“What are you doing?”

“Imagining it.”

He chuckled.

“So nothing? No wall. No desk. Nothing? Just you doing all the work?”

“Are you … imagining me?”

Her eyes blinked open. “No. Yes. No.”

“Were you imagining you?”

“Yes. No. Yes.” She giggled. “I don’t know. Stop making me blush. I can’t think right.”

“You started this.” He bent his leg and nudged hers.

She nudged him back. “Pleasure?” She bit her lip.

He reached over and pulled at her hair, removing some dried paint. “Don’t you think this is a dangerous conversation after twelve bottles of beer? When my brain is fuzzy, and my eyes can’t focus, and my hands feel like they want to wander a bit.”

Parker sat up, a little wobbly. “I need more pizza. Did you eat the rest?” She spotted the box on the other side of him. “There it is.” She threw a leg over his midsection and leaned up, stopping when his hands gripped her waist. “Oh …” Her gaze dragged along his torso as she sat astride him. She giggled. “Well, now you know my favorite position.”

As she started to reach for the pizza, Levi sat up, bringing them face to face.

Shallow breaths. Drunken gazes. The lingering scent of whatever made Levi smell so fucking irresistible—like a crisp, cool day lost in a grove of pine and cedar wood trees. Parker couldn’t decide if she wanted to inhale him or devour him.

“When’s the last time you did something really stupid?” he whispered in a throaty voice, sliding his hands up the back of her shirt.

He could touch her or she could breathe, but the two couldn’t coexist.

“I-I’m drunk. And this is … wrong.” Her words came out breathy as she gripped his biceps to steady herself or stop him. Maybe stop herself. She didn’t know. But buying a twelve-pack of beer in an emotionally vulnerable state and drinking it with a man who looked like all kinds of trouble—that was the answer to his question.

Levi grinned. “So am I. And it probably is. But … do you wanna do something stupid with me?”

Her eyes blinked slowly as her lips parted. “How stupid?”

With one flick, he unfastened her bra. “Pretty fucking stupid.”

The screech of crickets and croaking of the toads by the pond across the road marked time while they both waited for Parker’s next move. It hurt to think. So she didn’t.

“I hope you’re good at stupid.” She lifted her arms.

Levi’s eyes lit up the night. “You have no idea.” He pulled off her shirt and then shrugged off his.

Her sluggish gaze shifted between his eyes and his bare chest. “Well, damn …” She wet her lips and grinned.

He pulled her bra off her arms and tossed it over the side of the truck.

“Hey—”

He shoved her hands behind her back, clasping her wrists in one hand, tugging them down just enough to force her chest forward and her head back. “Shhh …” He ran his tongue down her neck. Cupping her breast, he brought her nipple to his mouth and sucked it so hard she jerked and moaned, head falling back even more.

In the half seconds of reprieve where his mouth moved with precision from one erogenous zone to the next—and he knew them all—Parker’s brain tried to find sobering thoughts. But after that much alcohol, it was fruitless.

“Don’t come …” she whispered, eyes fighting to stay open as Levi manipulated her like a rag doll, making her body bend and submit to him.

He released her arms, and she fell forward. He cupped her face in his hands and devoured the skin along her neck and jaw. “What did you say?” he whispered in her ear.

“I told…” she feathered her fingers down his chest “…myself not to come yet.” She grinned when she felt his lips pull into a smile against her cheek. “I think it’s a lost cause.”

“God, I hope so.” Levi pressed his mouth to hers, thoroughly exploring it. He tasted like beer and every ounce of desire she’d craved since Gus pinned her against the fridge.

Parker unfastened his jeans with clumsy hands then pushed against his chest, breaking their kiss. “Back.” She beamed, feeling drunk, high, and overly-confident.

Levi grinned, inching back while she teased his abs. His eyes drifted shut when she scooted down, releasing him from his briefs, and did what she only did after four beers, a week from hell, an unexplainable death, the loss of something that was never hers, and a man who made numb feel like nirvana.

“God … damn …” Levi fisted her hair controlling her every move.

After a minute or so, he pulled her away, sat up, and lifted her hips like she weighed nothing. “Stand.” He laughed as her legs buckled like spaghetti.

She giggled, grabbing his hair to steady herself. “The cars driving by see my headlights. Get it?”

He peeled off her jeans and panties, tossing them over the side of the truck too.

“Not cool.” She frowned.

“Turn.” Holding her hips, so she didn’t trip over his legs, he helped turn her so her ass was level with his face.

“Ow! Did you just bite me?”

Levi licked the bite mark on her ass and grinned. “Down.” He guided her into a squat.

“You could ask nicely.” She laughed, falling back into him, not a shred of balance left in her body.

“I could. But I’m so fucking buzzed all I can feel is my dick, and all I can think about is where I’m going to put it.”

“Thanks for your honesty, Drunk No Lie Levi …” She sighed a small laugh. “Hope you don’t flub up.”

He jabbed her entrance with the head of his cock.

“Jesus…” she gasped “ …Christ …”

He pressed his hand to her back, pushing her forward until her hands rested on his legs.

“Flub up?” He chuckled. “I’m not that drunk. Hold on, this could be a rough ride.”

He lifted her up a couple inches and jerked her back down onto him.

“Fuck!” Her chin dropped to her chest and the second his right hand slid between her legs, she saw the stars.