Page 91 of Moody as a Minotaur

“Now. I’m ready,” I urged when I didn’t think I could wait any longer.

“Do you want to ride me?” Levi asked.

“I want to be close to you. To feel your arms around me.”

Levi brushed his lips across mine again, turned me to my side. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me tight to his chest. This was what it was like to be cherished. I didn’t think I’d ever been treasured like this before.

I reached behind me for his still-hard length. I tried to guide him to my opening, but my hand was shaking too badly.

“Let me,” he whispered in my ear.

“Yes,” I whispered at the first brush of his cock against me. My eyes fluttered shut. “More.”

He pressed forward and my body opened to allow him in. The sting and the stretch were so fucking good. I felt him everywhere. In me. Around me. I never wanted to leave this moment. His arms cinched tight around my chest as he sank deeper into me. I grabbed his hand and entangled my fingers with his, holding on as our bodies joined. His scruff grazed my heated skin as he pressed his face into the crook of my neck. He groaned and the deep sound reverberated through his chest.

When his hips finally hit mine, he didn’t move for a long moment. I savored the feel of him, so deep inside me.

“I love you,” he whispered against my neck. We’d already exchanged those three precious words, but I loved hearing them again.

I’d dreamed of this moment for years, but now that I was living it, it was so much better than I could ever have imagined. Everything felt… perfect. Emotion overwhelmed me and tears gathered in my eyes.

“I love you too,” I rasped. “And I need you. Please…”

I rocked my hips back, tearing another moan from Levi. Then we started moving together. The rhythm was erratic, right from the beginning. We were already both taut with emotion and desire. Every glide of his cock in and out of me pushed me closer to release until I came with a shout. My body clenched around him, and he bucked harder. Once. Twice. Then he came too.

Levi stayed buried inside me long after we’d climaxed. Neither of us wanted to separate, despite being sweaty and messy. When I yawned for the fourth time, Levi pressed a kiss to the side of my neck and untangled our limbs. He slipped from the bed. I wanted to grab him and haul him back, but the need for sleep was making me sluggish.

A moment later, he returned with a warm, damp cloth. He wiped it over my heated face first. I waved my hand around to take it from him.

“Let me,” he murmured.

I didn’t have the energy to argue, so I grunted my agreement. He whispered hushed words of praise andaffection as he cleaned my skin. My body tried to rally again, but it was a lost cause. If I’d had the least bit more energy, I would have insisted on another round or possibly suggested we relocate to the shower. But I was done. I couldn’t even open my eyes as he dragged the cloth over me.

When I was reasonably clean, Levi returned to the bathroom again. On his way back to bed, he turned off the lights and the fireplace, wrapping the world in darkness and quiet, like we were in our own little protected cocoon.

When Levi was beside me again, he drew me into his arms. He pressed kisses along my shoulder and neck. He dropped one behind my ear that made my breath catch again. I wiggled closer, and he tightened his arms to hold me close.

“Good night, Parker,” he whispered.

And I swear I’d never felt safer and more loved.

31

AN UNEXPECTED OFFER

LEVI

I didn’t know how to describe the feeling of walking into the Willow Lake Pub with Parker at my side. The room was the same. The people were the same. But everything had changed.

This feeling of same but completely foreign was becoming a standard thing for me lately.

I paused and scanned the pub to see if anyone else was experiencing the same thing, but no one seemed any different. Carter was standing by the pool table waiting for us. The balls were already racked and ready to go. Jake was behind the bar, laughing at something Sally said, while his mate Gage was watching him from a table on the other side of the room. Hayden and his mate Ryley were seated with Gage, and they were pointing at something on the set of architectural drawings they’d spread across the table. They seemed oblivious to everything that was going on around them,but I knew they weren’t. At least not Hayden. He was our alpha, and he was always in tune with the pack. Brodie was peering out the door to the kitchen, frowning. It didn’t take an expert in relationships to figure out the kid wasn’t happy to see Weston talking animatedly with Fin. The merman was a flirt, but I knew he hadn’t taken anyone home in months, despite what the rampant Willow Lake rumor mill might say. Jeremy was in a serious discussion with Paws, while his mate Adrian sipped on his beer and made heart eyes at Jeremy. Edith was another new addition to the crowd, but she already looked like she belonged at the table with Nelson, Isaac, and Teague. It might have something to do with the way Davina had her arm flung around Edith’s shoulders that cemented her place in the community.

While I’d been gawking, Parker had grabbed his pool cue. He had a quarter resting on his thumb when I got over there. “Heads or tails?”

“You know he always chooses tails,” Carter said.

“Oh my God. You do too! Is that a shifter thing? How did I not figure that out before now?”