Page 69 of Broken Vows

Finally, he pulls back and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.

“God?” he says, voice wrecked. “Flattering…but I prefer Levi.”

I’m still trying to catch my breath when Levi stands up. His breathing is rough and uneven, his eyes dark with want. For a moment I feel the full force of being desired by him.

Then he grabs my arm and pulls me up from the couch.

Before I can steady myself, he turns me around and pushes me forward, bending me over the back of it. My knees sink into the cushions, my hands braced against the couch back.

The low metallic rasp of his belt cuts through the quiet.

Something inside me goes cold.

It’s such a small sound—a buckle, leather, a zipper—but suddenly I’m not here anymore. I’m back in another room, with another man behind me. Maverick, quiet and efficient, turning me away from him like eye contact was too much trouble. No kissing. No warmth. Just the cold, wordless expectation that my body was his to use.

My stomach twists.

“Wait,” I say, sharper than I mean to.

Levi stops immediately.

Everything stops.

His breathing is ragged, his chest rising and falling hard, but he doesn’t touch me again. He goes still behind me, waiting.

I twist around quickly and pull my robe tight across my body, suddenly too exposed. “I…maybe not tonight.”

For a second he just looks at me.

“Okay,” he says.

He does up his jeans with jerky movements, looking anywhere but at me, as if he’s afraid it might make things worse.

My chest aches.

I should explain. I know I should. I should tell him it’s not him, that he did nothing wrong, that my body had simply remembered something my mind had no intention of bringing into this room.

But the words are too tangled.

“I think you should go,” I whisper.

He nods.

“Right.”

He heads for the door, then pauses with his hand on the handle.

“You alright?” he asks quietly.

I press a hand to my robe, holding it closed at my chest. “Yes.”

It’s not quite true, but it’s all I can manage. Levi watches me for another beat, then leaves.

The door clicks shut behind him. Only then do I let out a long, exhausted breath and drop my face into my hands.

I know Levi isn’t Maverick.

I know that.