Well Played by Vi Keeland
CHAPTER 16
Presley
A week later, my warnings had become a running joke. Levi came into the kitchen while I was waiting on the coffee pot to finish brewing. I frowned to see him shirtless—not because the view was disappointing. Just the opposite, really. But I already felt my stance on not having sex again weakening.
“Did you wake up late?” he said.
I nodded. “I also forgot to set up the coffee last night before I went to bed, so I had to drop Alex at camp before getting any caffeine in me.”
“So Alex is already out of the house?” Levi’s voice deepened. He didn’t have to say anything else for me to know where his mind was.
I held up a finger in warning. “No. Yesterday was the last time.”
He grinned and moved closer. “Was it?”
“I’m not kidding, Levi.” I poked my nail into his chest. “Keep six feet away at all times.”
He caught my finger and lifted it to his mouth. Sucking on it, he nodded.
My voice shrank and had zero conviction. “I mean it. No more sex, Levi.”
He pulled my finger from his mouth, but nipped at it before releasing it. “Fine. No more sex.”
The next thing I knew, my feet were off the ground, and Levi had me up and over his shoulder.
“Levi, what did we just agree to?” I protested.
He swatted my ass as he marched toward his bedroom. “No sex. But we didn’t say anything about blow jobs.”
“Levi…” I laughed and flailed around. But when he set me down in his bedroom and locked the door, the look on his face was anything but playful.
He pointed to the floor. “On your knees.”
“But…” I lost my train of thought when he pushed down his sweats and fisted his cock, which was already hard.
He stroked it up and down. “On your knees, sweetheart.”
Considering my mouth was salivating already, I knew it was a lost cause. So I lowered myself. “Fine. But last time...”
He dug his hands into my hair and smiled. “Right.”
***
An hour later, we’d both gone down on each other and had sex. I stood beside the bed getting dressed as Levi watched me.
“I’m crazy about you…” he said quietly.
“You’re crazy about sex. Have you ever had your hormones checked? Maybe that’s why you’re such a good athlete.”
“I’m serious, Presley.”
My heart squeezed. “We shouldn’t be having this conversation.”
“Why not?”
“You know why not.”
“You want to know what I was thinking about while you were getting dressed?”
I buttoned my shorts closed. “Nope.”
“I was imagining you pregnant with a big belly. I bet you’d look fucking amazing.”
My mouth hung open. That might’ve been the sweetest thing a man had ever said to me. But I had no idea how to respond. So I decided not to. “I have to go to the lighting store to pick up the fixtures I ordered. The electrician is coming to install them tomorrow.”
“I also want to fuck you in my old bedroom at my mom’s house.”
My nose wrinkled. “Really?”
“I was thinking last night that there are two types of women—ones you bring home to your mom, and ones you want to fuck. But you, I want to take you to my mom’s for dinner and then sneak you into my old bedroom and fuck you while she loads the dishwasher.”
I frowned. “I have to run up to camp. I rushed out of the house so fast this morning that I forgot to give Alex lunch.”
Levi was quiet as I picked up my phone and looked around for anything else I might’ve forgotten. But when I got to the door, he stopped me.
“Tomorrow afternoon, I have to go to the high school. It’s their first day of tryouts for next season’s team. The coach asked me to stop by and say a few words and sign autographs after.”
“Oh, that’s nice.”
“Yeah, well…it was supposed to be nice. But I made the mistake of mentioning it to my agent when we were on the phone last night, and now he wants to turn it into a PR stunt. He asked me if he could arrange a photographer to come by and take some pics. I told him I might have someone who could do it. If you’re not busy, they’ll pay you to take some photographs.”
“I’d be happy to take some photos. They don’t even have to pay me. Lord knows I owe you a thousand favors.”
Levi smiled and looked down at my knees. One of them was pretty red. “I think you paid them all back an hour ago, and then some. Sorry about the rug burn on that knee, by the way. I guess I got a little carried away.”
I chuckled. “What time tomorrow?”
“Three. Maybe we can bring Alex? He’ll probably be playing on that field someday.”
“I’m sure he’d love that. Thanks.” I smiled and put my hand on the doorknob. “I’ll see you later.”
“Hang on. Can I ask you something?”
“What?”
“The only time you ever kiss me is when we’re in bed. Doesn’t it feel weird to leave this room right now without kissing me goodbye?”
It absolutely did. And each time I left him it got harder and felt less natural to just walk out the door. But I forced myself to do it because it also felt like something I needed to do to protect my heart. Though explaining that to Levi would be admitting I had feelings for him out loud, which would only make things worse. So instead, I ignored his question and waved. “I’ll see you around.”
***
Later that afternoon at football camp, the boys were taking a water break when Coach Jeremy broke away from the pack to come talk to me.
I’d been sort of keeping a low profile, standing under a shady tree when he approached. I’d ended up canceling our last date, so I’d been avoiding initiating conversation with him.
“Hey, Presley. Long time no speak.”
Clearing my throat, I said, “Yeah. How have you been, Jeremy?”
He cocked his head to the side. “I’m good. I’ve been thinking about you lately. Wondering if maybe we could grab a bite to eat again sometime. It’s been a while since we caught up.”
I’d thought maybe Jeremy would take the hint that I wasn’t interested after I bowed out of going to the music festival with him. But was I really not interested indefinitely, or was I so intoxicated by Levi that nothing else mattered at the moment?
“Things are a bit hectic over at The Palm Inn currently. I think for now, it’s best if I don’t take you up on your offer.”
He looked back toward the kids. “I’m getting a little too old for beating around the bush, you know? And I really like you. If you’re not interested in going out with me ever again, I’d prefer you just tell me so I don’t make a fool of myself and keep asking. I promise there won’t be any hard feelings.”
I decided to be as honest as I could right now. “I think you’re a great guy, and I did have a really nice time with you. But I have something…personal going on that I’d rather not discuss. And it means I’m unavailable to go out with you for the time being.”
“I had a really good time with you, too,” he said, crestfallen as he nodded. “Fair enough, though. No pressure. Just know that the offer is always open.” He looked past the tree I’d been leaning against and spoke to someone. “Oh, didn’t see you there.”
I turned around.
Levi.
He held two coffees. My stomach sank. Levi was supposed to have been at the house overseeing the work being done while I was at practice. It must have finished up early.
The tension in the air was thick as Jeremy said, “Anyway, I’d better get back to the boys. See ya around, Presley.” He nodded toward Levi and took off.
Levi’s cold stare made me uneasy as he silently handed me one of the coffees. He opened his and blew on it, then took a sip, continuing to say nothing.
“How long were you standing behind the tree?” I asked.
“Long enough to hear you promise Coach a date in the near future.”
Shit. “That wasn’t what I said.”
“Oh, you’re right. I believe it was that you have something personal going on, and you couldn’t go out with him for the time being.” He fiddled with the lid to his coffee. “This something personal guy—does he have a name? Let me guess, is it the chump who actually cares about you, but you only seem to view as a fuckboy?”
“Levi…”
“You’re keeping your options open. I get it.” He looked out toward the field. “Anyway, I figured I’d surprise you. Looks like I was the one in for a surprise.”
“I’m not interested in Jeremy,” I insisted.
“Not interested right now. Yeah, I got that much. But you might be after I’m long gone. Implying that things might change in the future said it all. Let me translate what you meant. ‘When Levi leaves and I no longer have him around to fuck me, I might be interested in fucking you, Jeremy.’”
I deserved every bit of his wrath. If the roles were reversed, and I’d overheard him talking to a woman, I would’ve been just as pissed. But this was my opportunity to set things straight.
“I’m just trying to be realistic, Levi. Pretty soon, you’ll leave town and go back to the life you came from. Playing house with me…it’s just a phase for you.”
Anger filled his eyes. “What have I ever done to give you that impression? Don’t use my past or even Tanner against me in your answer either. This is about you and me, Presley. Us. When have I ever given you the impression that I wasn’t serious about you?”
I couldn’t answer his question. And that terrified me. It made me wonder if my own fear had distorted everything. He’d been nothing but caring, attentive, and dare I say, loving with me. But fear was a bitch, and I couldn’t seem to come to terms with all of the obstacles we’d have to get through to actually be together. It wasn’t a realistic possibility, as far as I was concerned.
“You scare me, Levi, for so many reasons.”
“So you’re stopping yourself from getting close to me. Same reason you’ll let me fuck you in the ass but won’t even kiss me outside of the bedroom…”
I winced.
“Shit.” He closed his eyes. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for. I’m just frustrated. This is not the time nor place for this conversation.” He turned away.
When I followed and put my hand on his arm, he whipped around. “What is this really about, Presley? Is it just about Tanner, or do you really not trust me?”
I stayed silent, not wanting to admit that I did worry about his ability to be a one-woman man, even if he’d done nothing specific to warrant my insecurity. I knew old habits died hard, and I couldn’t accept that he’d changed.
He took my silence as an affirmative. “Well, then, I’m fighting a losing battle. If you can’t trust me, that’s worse than worrying about how Tanner would react. Without trust, we have nothing left to say to each other.” He dumped the rest of his coffee on the grass and crushed the cup in his hand. “And by the way, I’m just as fucking scared as you about all this. But I’m not gonna pretend what we have is nothing to try to neutralize it.”
He stopped talking suddenly when we saw Alex running toward us.
“Uncle Levi! I didn’t know you were coming today,” Alex said when he got close.
“Hey, buddy. Figured I’d try to make the end.”
“Why were you yelling at Mom?”
Levi blinked. “Did it look like I was yelling?”
“Yeah. It seemed like you guys were arguing about something.”
“No. I was just complaining about my day.” He lifted the crushed cup. “And this coffee stunk. Put me in a bad mood. Tasted like mud.”
“Oh. I thought you guys were fighting again, like you used to when you first moved in.”
“No, Alex,” I said.
“It’s all good, buddy. No one is fighting.” Levi ruffled my son’s hair.
“You missed a lot,” Alex said.
“I’m sorry. I’ll be sure to be here for the entire thing next time, okay?”
Alex looked toward his teammates. “I gotta go back!” he said, already running away.
I watched Alex disappear into the distance. “You see how affected he is by everything—just the mere thought of us arguing. If we take things too far and it goes wrong between us, it will devastate him.”
“I’m not discounting that.” Levi bit his lip and looked down. His ears turned red.
I could feel the emotions emanating from his body.
He suddenly looked up at me. “You’re right.”
“About what specifically?”
“About us. I think we should stop. For real this time. I’m not gonna push for something that’s not attainable if you don’t believe in me.”
He was giving me what I thought was right, but hearing him say that devastated me. We stood staring at each other. I didn’t know what to say. I’d essentially asked for this, right? Why did I feel so gutted that he’d agreed?
As he started to walk away, I called after him. “Levi?”
He didn’t turn around this time. Instead, he walked to the bleachers on the opposite side of the field. He watched Alex there for the remainder of practice while I stayed in my corner under the tree.
