Well Played by Vi Keeland
CHAPTER 23
Levi
Candy wrappers covered the end table by my bed. I had this nervous habit of pigging out on hotel vending-machine junk when stressed. I had no idea how long I’d be staying here, but I needed to be somewhere other than The Palm Inn. Not wanting to deal with questions about this fucked-up situation, I couldn’t go to my mother’s either.
After Presley’s text, I did tell her where I’d checked in, and now she was headed over here. As much as I dreaded what we’d inevitably talk about, I ached to see her. Excitement ricocheted through my body, as it always did when I knew we’d be alone together, except this time it was bittersweet.
The TV was on, but I couldn’t have told you what was showing as I paced back and forth. I didn’t know what was worse: the guilt or the jealousy.
This wasn’t how everything was supposed to go down. I wasn’t supposed to care so damn much about my estranged brother. But something had changed with Tanner. And I couldn’t ignore it. Knowing that he genuinely seemed to regret his actions over the years made it much harder to disregard his feelings, like I’d planned. Now I was second-guessing everything. Hadn’t he lost enough when his career ended? Didn’t he deserve a chance to have his family back? The problem was, his family now also felt like my family. And I didn’t want to give up Presley and Alex. How do you choose between the woman of your dreams and your brother? Is blood automatically thicker than water? I honestly didn’t have the answer, but losing either of them didn’t seem like an option.
Presley was dead set against Tanner ever finding out about us, and I was starting to agree with her, even if I’d been adamant about telling him the truth just a day ago. If he could never find out, how the hell did Presley and I stand a chance? We couldn’t hide forever. My stomach churned. It seemed more and more like this decision was being made for us. I just couldn’t accept it.
There was a knock at the door.
I opened to find Presley standing there in a short, flowery dress and denim jacket. Her eyes were filled with worry, and despite all of this guilt, I wanted nothing more than to take her on this damn hotel room bed so we could drown our sorrows in each other.
“Why have you been avoiding me all day?” she asked as she stepped into the room.
“I’m sorry.”
Her chest heaved. “I know you and Tanner talked this morning.”
“Yeah. That’s why I left. It shook me.”
She nodded, looking down at her feet. “He told me he let you know he plans to try to get me back.”
I exhaled. “I’m glad you convinced me not to tell him about us. I don’t know what I was thinking. Now I realize it would devastate him.” Fighting the urge to pull her into my arms, I looked her up and down. “What else did he say to you?”
“He told me he wants to earn my trust back. He thinks we can get back together once that happens. He has no clue how complicated this situation is.”
Jealousy burned through my body. I looked up at the ceiling and shook my head. “Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“Would you consider taking him back if you and I had never gotten together?”
She paused. “I honestly don’t think so. But it’s hard to say, given that I would probably be a different person altogether right now if we hadn’t happened. But we did happen. I know now that I deserve better. And the way you treat me is the way I want to be treated. I’ve never wanted anyone like I want you, Levi. I can’t just forget about us. At the same time, I don’t want him to find out.” Her voice cracked. “It’s messed up.”
While I could tell Presley believed what she’d just told me, it was possible she was confused.
“How do you know your feelings for me are the real deal?” I asked.
Her eyes narrowed. “What do you mean? When you know, you just…know.”
“There’s no doubt we’re addicted to each other sexually, but what if this is just a strong physical attraction that’s clouding your judgment?”
Her voice grew louder. “Because I think about you all of the time, even when you’re not physically with me, and because you make me happy. I’m not going to deny that I’m extremely physically attracted to you. That is a big part of it. But what we have is so much more than sex.”
“It means more to me, too,” I whispered.
“You make me feel safe, Levi—in a way no one else ever has, certainly not Tanner.”
I finally drew her into my arms and held her tight. But the longer I held her, the deeper the seeds of doubt seemed to grow.
Pulling back to look at her, I said, “Even if by some stretch of the imagination we could keep being together a secret, Tanner isn’t the only complication. Our relationship has worked thus far because I’m here for you day in and day out, but soon it won’t be anything like that. We’d be living apart for a big chunk of the year, and that’s the opposite of what you need to continue to feel safe with me. It’s unstable. Things are about to change in a big way. And I’m starting to doubt whether I’m really what’s best for you and Alex.”
Presley closed her eyes, as if my words pained her. When she opened them, she said, “You just told me every reason we shouldn’t be together, Levi, and yet I’m still standing here in front of you, wanting you more than anything else. That’s not going to change.” She placed her hands around my face. “I’m scared to lose you.”
The fear in her eyes was palpable. I had no answers. All I could offer her right now was physical comfort, because the words wouldn’t come. And I needed her so damn badly, too.
So even though this was the last thing I should be doing, I pressed my lips to hers. Presley melted into me with a sigh, and I knew what she was feeling. All day, my hands had been balled into fists, my jaw locked tight, and my forehead was going to have a few new wrinkles with a matching set of frown lines. Yet the moment we connected, everything seemed to fade into the background, as if nothing in the world was more important than this kiss. Scooping her up into my arms, I kicked the hotel room door closed and carried her into the bedroom.
It felt like a dream as I set her down on the bed. Never in my life had I had such feelings for a woman. Presley lay in the center of the bed with her golden hair fanned out all across the pillow, and I hovered over her, staring down. I ran my thumb over her soft cheek.
“As much as things between us are complicated, falling for you was the simplest thing I’ve ever done. No matter what happens, I want you to know I will never regret you. You’ve changed me, Presley.” I had to swallow to keep from getting choked up.
She smiled sadly. “Make love to me, Levi.”
This time when I kissed her, it felt different than all of the other times—more passionate and more intimate. I didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, but right now, I was absolutely head-over-heels in love, and I wanted nothing more than to show her with my body.
After I undressed us, I reached for my wallet on the end table to take out a condom. But Presley covered my hand, stopping me.
“I’m on the pill, and I haven’t been with anyone other than you in a long time, if you’d want to…not use one.”
I blew out a jagged breath. “I would love that. I just hope I don’t embarrass myself when I get to feel you without anything between us.”
She smiled and slipped my wallet from my hand, letting it drop to the floor. “You can always make it up to me with a second time. Now, c’mere and kiss me some more.”
I smiled. “Yes, ma’am.”
We kissed for what seemed like hours, slow and deep, just the way I wanted to be inside her when it was time. But for now, my focus was on lavishing Presley with all the attention I hadn’t been able to give her lately. I lowered my mouth to her creamy neck, sucking along her pulse line and trailing wet kisses across her collarbone from one end to the other. Then I kissed my way up to her ear and whispered, “I’ve dreamed about coming inside of you. Filling that beautiful, tight pussy until it’s so full, I watch my cum drip down your legs.”
Presley moaned. It felt like I might explode if I didn’t get inside of her soon, so I gripped my cock, dragged the head over her clit, and swirled it around before lining myself up at her opening. Without a barrier, her wet heat was already better than anything I’d ever felt, so I pushed inside slowly, hoping I could make it a few minutes. But she was so tight and warm, with only the crown inside of her I already wanted to let go. The urge to fill her was carnal, almost animalistic, like I was a lion who needed to mark my territory to ward off other predators. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to think of anything that might slow me down, but the feeling of being inside her raw was too consuming to allow my thoughts to wander.
Presley reached up and touched my cheek, making me open my eyes.
“Don’t hold back, please. Just let it happen. There’s nothing I want more.”
I swallowed and nodded before taking one last deep breath and pushing the rest of the way inside. When my balls hit her ass, my body started to shake.
Presley locked eyes with me. She looked as desperate as I felt. “Fill me, Levi. Please.”
After that, I lost it. Presley wrapped her legs around my back, and I let go of any attempt to make slow, passionate love, in favor of fucking her into oblivion. We grinded and groped, scratched and screamed, and I penetrated her so hard that I was certain I’d never been this deep inside a woman before.
“Levi…faster...more.” She gasped. “Oh God…I’m gonna…”
My body vibrated from head to toe. The sound of our sweat-slicked bodies slapping against each other was the only thing that mattered. There could have been a fire raging under the bed, and I wouldn’t have been able to stop. Presley’s jaw went slack, her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and then I felt it—her muscles contracting around me, squeezing my cock like a vise, and I started to come with her.
“Fuck…Presley…. Fuck, fuck… Fuuuck.” My cock pulsed inside her as I let go. I visualized what I’d dreamed about—only now it wasn’t a dream. It was actually happening, and I could picture it so much clearer—my cum filling her pussy as my cock slid in and out, so much that it seeps out around where we’re joined, and warm, thick cream slides down her legs. Imagining it while it’s actually happening took things to a whole other level.
After, we both panted as I continued to glide slowly in and out.
“Wow…” Presley breathed out with a smile. “That was…”
“Yeah, it was.” I smiled and brushed my lips with hers. “You’re incredible.”
“I’m glad we did that for the first time without a condom here and not at home. Alex definitely would have heard that.”
I smiled. “Fern might’ve enjoyed hearing it.”
We both laughed, but a few seconds later the euphoric look on her face fell, and we locked eyes. Neither of us needed to say what had crossed our minds, but that didn’t make it any less of an eye opener.
Tanner would have blown a gasket.
