He frowned. “It doesn’t sound well maintained. You sure the place is to code?”
She smiled, but he didn’t see what was so funny. “Once a firefighter, always a firefighter?”
He rubbed his jaw, his mouth pulling in a light smile. “I guess it’s hard to turn off. Though your place really doesn’t sound safe.”
She shook her head. “It’s fine. I mean, it’s not ideal, but I’m only living there temporarily. I’ll find a better place once I save up. How did you find your house? It’s perfectly located. You’re away from the bustle, but still close to everything, and you have lake views.”
“It was my job to know these mountains.”
She turned off the faucet, and a sad look crossed her face. “Do you miss being a firefighter?”
He pointed at a towel attached to the upper cabinet. “I used to.”
She dried her hands on the towel. “But not anymore?”
Levi rubbed Grace behind the ear, considering. “Good question. If you’d asked me one or two months ago, I would have said yes without hesitation. Now…I don’t know. It’s not something I’ll ever be able to do again.”
Emily faced him, leaning against the sink. “Your father said there was an accident, but he never mentioned what happened.”
Levi traced the bright red scar above his eye. Small for something that caused so much damage. “Cement block to the head.” He smirked. “I must have a hard head, because it should have killed me.”
Emily’s chest rose and fell heavily. “That’s horrible.”
He shrugged. “I lived, and the boy who’d started the fire in the abandoned building survived too, so it all worked out. Could have been a lot worse. Someone could have died or I could have lost more than partial vision.”
Levi’s worst nightmare was to lose someone he loved. Being able to save people had been his main reason for becoming a firefighter. Without his job in the fire department, he’d felt adrift. But he could protect the people he cared about while he ran Club Tahoe. Just in a cleaner setting.
“So you lost some vision?”
“Not enough to matter—except as a firefighter. Even a small loss of peripheral vision was enough to stick me at a desk.” He frowned at the kitchen table Jaeg had made. It was one of his favorite pieces in the house, but right now he stared through it. He might have accepted that his dream career was over, but that didn’t make it easy to swallow.
“Maybe it’s for the best,” she said.
He looked up. “Excuse me?”
“Not the vision loss, but that your father put you in charge of Club Tahoe. If you had remained with the fire department, watching your friends go out while you had to stay back, it would have been a constant reminder of what you’d lost. This way, you get to wear fancy suits, which I know you love.”
He smiled. He hated the monkey suits, and tugged at his collar enough at work that she must have noticed.
“And,” she said, “you get to boss around us minions.”
He rubbed his jaw again, grinning. “I do enjoy that part.”
“Right? Who doesn’t want to spend time with a brainy girl who obsesses over the fine details you hate?”
“Yet another perk.” This time he sent her a full smile. Emily really had made his life easier. No—not easier, because being around her and not touching her wasn’t easy. She made his life better. With the help she offered, no doubt, but also her presence made every moment lighter and more enjoyable.
She grinned shyly, then looked around. “What should I do while you’re gone? Besides lots of dog rubbing. Feed her? Give her a bath?”
“I already fed her, but a walk or two wouldn’t hurt. You don’t need to give her a bath. I wouldn’t subject you to that. You’d come away with one as well, except instead of being cleaner, you’d be dirtier.”
“Got it. No bath.” She looked past him. “How far up does this road go?”
He walked across the living room to the window overlooking the other end of his property, and Emily followed. “About a half-mile.” He gestured to the north. “It isn’t paved, but it’s well worn and Grace knows the way. You won’t need a leash; she doesn’t like to be away from her people.”
Emily beamed, and Levi’s heart lurched to the side. “Am I one of her people?”
He cleared his throat. “She made you her pillow the other day. I’d say so.”
She glanced at Grace—his elderly, tongue-bathing, rescued pet. “I like the sound of that. I wouldn’t want to be a doormat, but being a pillow? Now that’s something to aspire to.”
His heart pounded heavily as he took in her position at his side. She was adorable, and she was chiseling his cement-hardened heart with that velvet hammer of hers.
Emily must have noticed how close they stood. She might have even sensed the heat his body was generating in her presence. She took a step back. “Don’t let me keep you. Grace and I will be fine.”
“Right. I better get going.” He strode to the side table near the door and grabbed his keys and phone. He paused, looking around. It seemed strange to leave Emily in his home…and also comforting.
Next time he’d hire a professional dog sitter. Even if they were friends, he was having very friendly thoughts about his assistant. Of the naked variety, and it wasn’t helping his restraint. She was trying to do him a favor, and all he could think about was pulling her into his arms and running his hands and lips across her skin.
“We’re taking a small plane into SFO,” he said. “I’ll be back around eleven. Grace will be fine for a few hours on her own, so don’t feel you need to stay late on her account.”
“Sure. Fly safe.” She sat on the couch, and Grace joined her. Emily immediately started petting and rubbing her, making his dog as happy as he’d ever seen the old girl.
Levi nodded and got the hell out of there before he did something stupid like kiss Emily goodbye. And why did walking out without touching her feel like torture?
This was a bad idea. A stupid, no-brained plan. All for what? To get closer to Emily outside of work? Which he’d decided was a bad idea anyway, because they’d never be a couple. She was his most important employee, helping him more than she could know, with her clever ideas and knowledge that made Club Tahoe run smoothly.
“Don’t screw it up,” he mumbled to himself as he walked to his SUV.
He climbed into the driver’s side wearing dark jeans and a button-down. Thank God he didn’t have to wear a suit. Dressed-up casual was good enough for Wes’s buddy, even if this was a working dinner. He pulled out of the driveway and tried to not think of the beautiful woman he’d manipulated into watching his dog. He’d kick himself for it later.
Once he got home and had a stern talk with himself about boundaries.
Chapter Twenty
Levi opened the car door and stepped out, yawning and stretching his back. The meeting with Wes’s golf pro buddy was a bust. They’d made it into the city and had just sat down for dinner when Wes and his friend started slamming shots. Work talk quickly went out the window, and Wes ended up taking a woman home. Which left Levi to listen to giggling and other noises he’d rather not have overheard on the small jet he’d paid an arm and a leg for. Levi didn’t care or want to know how Wes planned to get the girl back to SF. He was too pissed at his brother for setting up what amounted to an expensive hookup, and on the company’s budget, no less. It had been a total waste of Levi’s time.
He headed for the house, and stopped in the middle of the driveway. He frowned at Emily’s small silver car still parked there. In his exhausted state, he’d somehow missed it when he drove in.
He checked the time. It was nearly midnight. She should have gone home hours ago.
He opened the front door and slowly walked inside. The lights were dimmed, and at first he didn’t see her. And then he glanced at the couch.
Someplace deep in his chest, his heart pulsed and expanded, warmth spreading throughout his limbs. Emily was lying on her back asleep—with
Grace on top of her. Just like he’d found them in her office the other day. Only this time, Emily didn’t wake. Her arm lay across Grace, and their heads were close together.
Levi stared at the ceiling. If she were only attractive, he could stay away. He’d been able to keep his distance from beautiful women for months and it hadn’t been difficult. But with Emily, things were different. This show of beauty had nothing to do with appearance, and he was defenseless against it.
He hadn’t planned for her in his life. Nor had he mapped out their future the way he had with Lisa, visualizing something bright and shiny, never to be achieved. This business with Emily was messy, and also the most real thing he’d experienced in a long time. Maybe in forever. He hadn’t planned on her, but she’d become an important part of his life regardless, and not simply at work. She’d hooked him without him realizing it, and now he teetered on the edge of doing something more stupid than the stupid shit he’d already found himself in lately.
He had to wake her. Get her out of here, before he acted on his impulses. Because nothing had changed. Club Tahoe was still his top priority. But he didn’t want her driving home tired…
He set his keys and phone on the side table, and Grace looked up. She challenged him with her doggy eyes to take her from her new cushion.
He shook his head and walked toward the back of the house and his bedroom, Emily still sound asleep. He’d change, then wake her and drive her home. Or offer for her to stay the night—no, that wasn’t a good idea. He’d toss and turn on the couch thinking of her in his bed.
He’d drive her home and that was that.
Levi closed the bedroom door partway and grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt. He unbuttoned his shirt and tugged it off, pulling his jeans off next. He’d just gotten the band of his sweatpants around his hips when he heard a creaking sound outside the bedroom door.
He turned and Emily was standing there, not four feet away, staring at his bared chest.
Her face flushed, and he hastily reached for the T-shirt. But she wasn’t looking away. Instead, her gaze rose to his.
Levi swallowed and took a step closer. Bad idea. Leave the woman alone.
She still didn’t turn or step back, which would have made his decision easier. Nope. Instead her tongue darted out and she wet her lips.
No man was this strong. Not when a woman like Emily was staring at him with desire in her eyes.
“Sorry…I heard something and came back to see what it was. I’ll just…go,” she said.
“You came back here because you heard a noise?” He frowned, bracing his fingers on his hips. “What if I had been an intruder?”
Her gaze was locked on his body. “I couldn’t leave Grace,” she said absently.
“So you risked your life for my dog?”
She nodded, still not looking away from his chest.
He let out a slow breath. His decision was made whether he wanted it to be or not. “So I should thank you…” He took that final step forward until he was right in front of her.
Her lashes fluttered and she looked up. “Thank me?”
He wrapped his arm around her back and dragged her to his chest. It was the excuse he’d needed. Because right now he wasn’t acting with logic.
He took her mouth in a kiss filled with all the pent-up lust he’d been holding inside for her. His hands spread down her back, and he grabbed her ass in those butt-hugging jeans that had teased him earlier.
Her arms eagerly climbed to his shoulders, and she kissed him in equal measure.
He broke the kiss to run his lips down her silky neck. “We shouldn’t do this.”
“Why not?” she said breathily.
“It’s a terrible idea,” he mumbled. “But I’m a weak man and I want you.”
She pulled back and eyed him. “You didn’t before. You kissed me and pretended that nothing had happened. Are you sure you want this?”
He had ignored her, but not for the reasons she thought.
“You question my desire for you?” He brought her hips to his, showing her the evidence of his lust straining against his sweatpants.
She gave him a sexy smile.
He sighed. “Believe me, I want you.” That was a stupid answer, but he didn’t want to tell her everything he was thinking. That he wanted her around as much as he wanted her body. He was supposed to be setting boundaries. And he’d clearly failed. “Tell me to stop.”
She shook her head slowly and grabbed the back of his neck, bringing his mouth to hers and dragging her tongue across his bottom lip.
Fire hit his lower spine in a punch of lust. Levi picked her up and carried her to the bed, laying her on the mattress and following down next to her. He kissed the bottom of her neck and her collarbone, and she rolled into him, pressing her thigh against his hip.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said.
“You won’t. You’re gentle.” Her chest rose and fell, her breathing elevated.
Wouldn’t he, though? Women weren’t good at flings. They usually wanted more. “Physically, no, but…I don’t want to hurt you in other ways, either.”
Her hands flattened against his chest and she spread them out and down his torso, the seductive feel of which had him taking a quick breath. She was killing him. “Are you going to stop kissing me?” she said. “Because that would really piss me off.”
He gazed at her seriously. “If you tell me to, I will.”
“But only if I tell you to?”
Was that a trick question? He was operating on low brainpower. Too much blood flowed south. “I—Yes, if you tell me to.”
Her gaze flickered to his chest. “Don’t stop.”
Levi braced his weight on his forearms and settled his hips between her thighs. He took her mouth, rubbing the part of him hard and straining against her softness. He groaned and felt her heartbeat pick up beneath his chest, her breaths coming faster. He slid his hand down her side to her hip and back around to her ass. Lifting her leg, he wrapped it over the back of his thigh, where she dug in with her heel.
He was ready. Right now. Wanted to strip her bare and make love to her.
Not love. Sex—just sex. Kissing was okay too. No woman had ever had her heart broken from a kiss, right?
And touching. Lots of touching. He definitely needed to touch her.
Levi slid his hand up and under her knit shirt to bare skin and a silky bra, and unhooked it in seconds.
Emily bit his lip lightly, and he had to stop. To slow down. Take a deep breath.
At all costs, he had to remain in control.
He smiled and slid her top up and over her head, tossing it beside the bed. Her bra went next, and then it was just flesh on flesh, her pretty, pert breasts pressed against his chest as he kissed and ran his mouth over her collarbone. “You’re so beautiful.”
Had Emily been told she was beautiful before? Sure. But never by someone she was in love with. And slowly she’d begun to fall in love with Levi. She shouldn’t. He’d made it clear even now that he thought the two of them were a bad idea. But the pull in her chest for him was more powerful than anything she’d felt before. Oh, there were times when he frustrated the hell out of her, but that was how she knew her feelings for him were genuine. Because even during those moments, she’d still rather be with him than anyone else.
Levi slid his large hand over her breast, and she nearly gasped. He kissed her other breast and wrapped his mouth around her nipple, flicking it with his tongue.
Emily squeezed her leg around his thigh tighter, causing more friction. But not enough. Not nearly enough.
She slid her hand between their bodies and beneath the conveniently stretchy waistband of his sweatpants. She didn’t need to go far to find what she was looking for. He was hard, the tip of him reaching out of his boxer briefs.
Her heart thundered in her chest and she squeezed his thick, silky length.
Levi jerked and slowly rolled away, his chest rising and falling. “Gotta stop.�
� He covered her with a blanket from the bottom of the bed, and swung his legs off the mattress and onto the ground, leaning his forearms on his thighs.
“What’s wrong?” She rose upright. “Did that not—feel good?”
He closed his eyes and choked out a laugh. “It felt good. Too good.” He looked over, his eyes warm. “I think we should stop there. I wasn’t expecting any of this when I came home. I thought you’d be gone by now.”
She wrapped the blanket around her chest. “I told you. Your dog is a cuddly little thing.”
“Little?”
She grinned. “Maybe not so little. Anyway, we went for one last walk and I was about to head home, but then she needed a quick back rub… You know how things go from there.”
“With you giving her an hour back rub and falling asleep?”
She smiled. “Yes, exactly.” Her lips pressed together and twisted to the side. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten so relaxed.”
“I like it that you feel comfortable in my home.” He twisted around, bringing his legs back onto the bed and tucking her body against his. “It was nice finding you here.”
“You’re sure you don’t mind? I do feel a bit like I crashed your pad without permission.”
He tucked her head beneath his chin. “Lucky me. Usually it’s my brothers I find on my couch. They’ve been crashing here for the last eight years. At one point or another, we all needed to get away from…”
She tipped her head back and looked at him. “Were things that bad with your father?”
“Sometimes.” He looked off, running his hand up and down her arm.
She wasn’t sure why he’d stopped what they were doing, because her body wanted to explode, she was so ready for him. She figured he still had reservations. She worked for him… And there was his past with Lisa. Both solid reasons to pause before getting involved, but she was hopeful he’d come around. Tonight was a good start.
“When my mom was alive, she brought out the softer, more approachable side of my father,” Levi said. “I think he believed he needed to always be strong for us after she died. Which meant he never gave us an inch. My brothers and I were as stubborn as he was, so that left a lot of room for arguments.”
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