The Wrong Girl

by M. Piper

  “Jesus, don’t apologize,” Levi laughs. “I’m just happy you’re safe.” I want to kiss him. I want him to hold me and tell me everything will be okay.

  Shit. Now I really wish I had showered today.

  “So other than me putting you through hell, how are things?” More like are you still married to my sister? Did you realize you really do love her? Are you here to break up with me?

  Those are pretty heavy topics, though, so we’ll start with ‘how are you?’

  “I’ve definitely been worse.” He chuckles. “When I showed up at your mom’s house and she said you decided not to come home… That was probably the worst day of my life.”

  “God,” I groan. “You went to moms?”

  “Yes!” He laughs but I see the pain still there. “It was terrifying, Squirt. I watched the news reports, unable to help you and knowing praying wasn’t doing shit for you. How did you survive that?”

  “It was a little terrifying, that’s for sure,” I whisper, trying not to remember the absolute fear I felt in my bones when I thought we weren’t going to make it out of her house alive. “But we’re good. DJ took us in before Alexa’s place flooded.”

  “Why did you lie to me?” His tone makes my stomach twist into knots. I hate feeling guilty.

  “Why does anyone ever lie? They’re scared. Hurt. Worried.” I shrug. “I don’t know why I stayed, to be honest. I should have gone home like I said, but I was scared that going home would give you the chance to realize you wanted to be with my sister and not me. It’d be easier with you two being married and all.” I shrug and his eyebrows lift with an amused look on his face.

  “That’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever said. You know that, right?”

  “Yes I do.” I laugh. “By the time I came to my senses it was too late to get ahold of you. Then everything just spiraled from there.”

  He’s silent for a moment as he watches me, running his thumb over the same spot on my hand. The more he touches me the more parts of me that went numb before the storm wake up. His touch has always done this to me. Woken parts that no one else could.

  “Finley, I’m sorry about what happened with your sister.” His eyes hit mine and I see through those swirling blue beauties and straight to the pain. Straight to the regret. “I hope you believe me when I say I don’t remember that night. Had I known I would have had it taken care of years ago. I was just as hurt and shocked as you felt that day.”

  I look into those eyes that I very easily get lost in and know he’s telling me the truth. The man wouldn’t travel through what he did to get here just to lie to me. That’s not Levi.

  “I know.” I smile. “Makes it hurt a little less, I guess. But it’s still not okay what she did.”

  “It wasn’t, you’re right.” He smiles at me. “But it’s taken care of. I told your sister everything, Finley. I’m sorry, I know you wanted to be the one to do it but with everything that went on between us I had to be honest with her.”

  “So she knows about us?”

  He nods.

  “How pissed it she?”

  “You should call her and find out.” He smiles softly. “I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised to know she’s not pissed at all. I think she’s hurt. Maybe a little jealous, but not mad.”

  “Well she doesn’t have room to be pissed. She’s the one who fucked up,” I grumble. I don’t want to call her. I don’t want to talk to her.

  “I signed the final paperwork before coming down here yesterday. It’s over.”

  My heart soars but I try not to smile too brightly.

  “So you’re officially divorced?” I don’t think I did too good of a job keeping the joy out of my tone because he lets out this light, carefree laugh.

  “Dammit you’re adorable.” He nods. “Yes. I’m officially back on the market. The papers are all finalized.”

  “I’m sorry I lied to you about going home, Levi. And I’m sorry I didn’t give you the benefit of the doubt when I found out.”

  He smiles. “I guess we both had something to learn from this whole ordeal.”

  “Yeah.” I smile and curl into his side. He wraps an arm around me and I inhale his scent. He smells so damn good. Delicious. Manly. Woodsy. Something I never thought too much about until I missed him so badly these past two weeks. I missed everything about this man.

  And by everything, I mean everything.

  The way his arms feel wrapped around me. The way his eye sparkle when he looks at me. The way his lips feel on mine. Listening to the moans coming from DJ’s room this week, as quiet as they’ve tried to be, has made me angrier than anything. Because I was insanely jealous. It’s because of my quick temper and inability to stick around and battle it out that got me into this situation. I went into hiding instead of staying put to see it through to the end.

  But I want to be here until the end now. With him. And with everything that happened I don’t know if he still feels the same way.

  “Hey Levi?” I whisper, letting my hand trail down his thigh. I want to touch him everywhere. I want to shed the layers and be with him the way my body craves to let me know we’re going to be okay. He tenses, shifting in his seat.

  “Squirt?” His tone is light and his arms pull me tighter against me as his lips move to the top of my head.

  “What do we do now?”

  He chuckles low and lies his head back on the couch. “Well. I heard you say it was naptime.”

  I laugh and shift to straddle him. His eyes hit mine and I get lost, yet again, in the beauty and swirl of the deep blues.

  “I’m serious.” I push my lips to his and his hands grip my thighs strong before pulling back.

  “Me too.” He sighs. “I haven’t slept at all for the last two weeks. I’m tired as hell and I finally have my girl back in my arms. So first sleep. Then shower. Then fuck. Because I haven’t done that either in a couple weeks now and my dick misses your pussy.”

  I let out a laugh and push my lips to his neck, grinding against him and feeling his erection start to push against me.

  “Goddammit, Finley,” he moans, then pulls us down to lie on the couch together and wraps his arms around me tighter than before. “I love you, woman, but nap first. Then fucking. We can skip the shower, but napping is non-negotiable.”

  “I like that plan.” I pull the blanket over us. “I love you, Levi.”

  “I love you more, Squirt. Now go to sleep.” His hand smooths down my hair and for the first time in weeks I can close my eyes knowing when I open them I won’t be living my nightmare anymore. “Oh shit!” He snaps up and stands, scaring me.

  “What?”

  “I almost forgot,” he blurts, running into the kitchen and coming back in holding something behind his back. “Close your eyes and put your hands out.”

  “Okay…” I hesitantly do as I’m asked and when he places something heavy and round in my grasp my eyes fly open.

  “Oh my God,” I whisper. “Levi, how…” A smile breaks on my face at the snow globe. The one he gave me. It’s nicked a bit but it’s not broken. “How…”

  “I went to check out our street and when I was standing there, staring at the remnants and remembering all the good times, my eyes caught something in the pile of rubble.”

  “Holy shit.” I twirl the snow globe in my hands, smiling as the willow tree branches wave in the water. “You climbed through rubble for a snow globe?” I ask and he nods. “That was dangerous, Levi!”

  “Probably, but you’re worth it. I knew you’d be devastated if you lost everything. I’m sorry I couldn’t get them all.” He winces and I sigh.

  “This one’s perfect. It’s always been my favorite.” I smile at him and he grins slyly.

  “Your sex toys were scattered all around too.” He smirks and I gasp.

  “No they weren’t!” I sit up straight, panicked but dying in laughter. I didn’t even consider that! Fuck!

  “No,” he laughs hard. “They weren’t. They’re prob
ably on some old lady’s porch right about now with all that wind. I’m not even sure how this thing survived, but it did. And I took it as a sign. If a snow globe could survive, so could my girl.” He rubs his hand over his head and sits back on the couch as I inspect the globe. “That day is the day I found DJ. The day I knew you were safe.”

  “You put your life on the line for a snow globe. That rubble pile could have collapsed and swallowed you. Or hurt you.”

  He smiles and pulls my face to look at him then gently presses his lips to mine.

  “I love you, Squirt. I’d put my life on the line every day if it meant seeing this smile on your lips.”

  Biting my lips, fighting back tears, I smile.

  “Thank you, Levi.”

  Epilogue

  Finley

  “Come on!” Anders barks from the living room and I giggle but Levi’s hand clamps around my mouth and I gasp when he thrusts his hip harder.

  “Shh,” he whispers in my ear, his breath on my ear and the way he nips onto my neck making me bite on to his fingers to stop myself from moaning.

  “Goddammit you’re fucking in there again aren’t you?” Anders lets out a groan and Levi chuckles.

  “We need to get our own place, babe.” He thrusts into me again and reaches his hand around, between my legs and pinches my clit so gently I gasp and push my head against the door.

  We were leaving. All was going as planned until I turned around and Levi saw my ass in this dress.

  Needless to say we’re going to be late to the party.

  “Finley, fuck.” Levi groans, slamming into me and the angle he’s hitting is making being quiet insanely hard right about now. He circles my clit and fucks me hard and deep and my knees go weak as my orgasm approaches.

  “I’m so close,” I gasp, pushing back against him. “Oh fuck!” I scream, then bite onto his arm that’s braced against the wall next to my head and he lets out a low growl.

  “Fuck, I love this pussy.” His thrusts hit deeper as my orgasm spirals out of me. My legs shake and threaten to give way as it rips through me. Levi’s isn’t far behind and as he releases he curses so loud that if Anders didn’t know what we were doing in here earlier he definitely does now.

  “Fucking hell. I’m hungry! Let’s fucking go!” He pounds on the door and I yelp then start to laugh.

  “Yeah. We definitely need our own place.” I turn and push my lips to Levi’s.

  “I love you, Finley Reeves.”

  “I love you more, Levi Walsh.” I shift to pull my dress down and move to grab my panties but he gets to them first and shoves them into his pocket.

  “These are mine. Thank you.”

  Rolling my eyes, I push to my tiptoes to kiss him and grab my purse.

  “Have at it. Just know I’ll be walking around this dinner and party later with this dress on and no panties. Around all your friends.” I wink and leave him alone to his thoughts in the room as I dip into the bathroom to get cleaned up. I hear him curse in the hallway and smirk, knowing it’s going to drive him nuts being around everyone tonight knowing I’m commando under this dress.

  Levi never went back home after he found me at DJ’s. We stayed there until we found a place to live and we’ve lived in this apartment for almost six months now. When we first moved in it was just the two of us but a few weeks without Levi in his life and Anders was like a lost little puppy. So he sold the house he and Levi had been renovating back home, moved down here, and the two of them have been running the new Florida branch of Walsh Construction ever since. The storm did enough damage to everything on our old street that we can’t live there anymore, but the new apartment is only a couple blocks from the beach so we still get our beach walks in.

  Having Anders here is entertaining. He’s a great roommate, at least he is now that the two of them made up, but when it comes to being alone with Levi I’d rather not have a crowd when we fuck. And we do it a lot. I can’t get enough of him and he can’t keep his hands off me. I worry that the day will come when we tire of each other, but when he looks at me with as much love and appreciation as he does my worry dissolves.

  The man’s crazy in love.

  Things are actually pretty amazing right now but it took a lot of hard work and difficult conversations to get here.

  My sister and I are on speaking terms and she and Levi, as awkward as they feel, are pushing through so we can all hang out without it getting weird. I know she’s happy and wants the best for us.

  I have what I’ve always wanted and I’m happy. He’s happy. It sounds selfish, but my whole life I held back on what I truly wanted and while I thought I was happy, I didn’t know what true happiness was. Not until Levi showed me what it felt like to be loved by someone. It’s more than an attention thing like my sister told me it was. It’s more than lust, which is what my mom worries about. Being with him feels like something that should have been happening for years. It’s comfortable and sexy and exciting and thrilling.

  It’s exactly what I needed in my life.

  I still work for the Parks Department. The new Visitor Center will be finished being built next week but we’ve been doing the tours for a couple of months and spent the months before that cleaning up the area and helping out where we could. Alexa stayed with DJ another month before moving back out on her own. Her house was destroyed in the storm but her crazy ass went and bought another one right on the water again. Some people you can’t talk sense into, I guess. She loves it there.

  As for all the rest of Levi’s friends? They like to come down whenever they can. This is the fourth weekend in a row King and Kellan have come down to visit and they’re growing on me. King no longer scares me and I’m slowly understanding Kellan. He doesn’t like sitting still. The man’s always on the move and when he’s not working for Walsh he’s online betting like a crazy person, dropping thousands a day on bets, sometimes to win it all back and sometimes to lose it all. He’s a dangerous type. I just hope it doesn’t kick him in the ass one day.

  King still has eyes for Alexa and I’m not sure if anything will ever happen with them or not. She seems hung up on DJ still and I feel bad for the girl because DJ’s too hung up on himself and the loss of his girlfriend years ago to go past anything other than fuck buddies with a girl. The two of them, King and Alexa, will be there tonight but I highly doubt anything comes of it.

  As for Levi and I? We’ve never been better. I wake up every morning next to the man I love. And tonight we celebrate his birthday with everyone we know and a rented beach house with an open bar.

  “Get your sexy ass in the car before I throw you over my shoulder and carry you out here, woman,” he calls from the driver’s side as I lock the front door. Anders is already in the back seat waiting on me and I grin.

  “You want me to flash everyone?” I shimmy my ass, sliding in the passenger seat.

  “Fuck, ” he groans, glancing back at Anders. “I may have to keep her home tonight, man.”

  “Fuck no you won’t. She’s a better wingman than you and I need to get laid tonight.”

  “I am a pretty good wingman.” I nudge Levi and wink back at Anders.

  “You’re my girl. No one’s wingman. Especially not his.” Levi laughs and pulls out into traffic then reaches across the console and takes my hand in his before bringing it to his lips.

  “You two make me sick,” Anders bitches but we both ignore him, lost in our own version of a happy ever after.

  The man makes my day feel complete just by smiling at me. We’ve talked about marriage and I know eventually it’ll happen. Just like kids and a house and all that shit…but I feel like we’ve been through enough in the last six months that for now I’m happy just being us and enjoying our time day by day.

  When Levi pulls up to the party my eyes immediately fly to his.

  “My sister’s here?” I haven’t seen her in person since the ordeal before the storm. We’ve talked. We’re okay. But I never assumed she’d be here tonight.


  “I invited her.” Levi shrugs as we get out of the car and he walks over to me. “If we’re ever going to get past this we probably need to start trying, right?” He glances back at Anders. “You can use her for your wingman tonight, bro. I’m not letting Squirt leave my side.” Levi nudges Anders and the man grins. There’s a twinkle in his eyes as he latches his sights on my sister.

  “Well that’s a disaster waiting to happen,” I say, laughing as Anders walks up to her.

  “Who knows. Maybe he’s just what she needs.” Levi stops us before we get to the party and spins me in his arms to kiss me hard, right in the middle of the parking lot. “What would you say if I said we skip the party and go back to the apartment and fuck as loud as possible since no one’s there to listen?

  I push my lips together and smirk at him.

  “Or, we say hi to everyone who came down to party for your birthday,” I say, patting his chest. “Then we take a nice long walk on the beach,” I whisper, pushing my hand between us and gently grabbing his dick, feeling it start to harden.

  He lets out a low growl and slams his lips to mine. Fisting my hair in his hand, he pulls me against him and I feel his erection pushing against me.

  “Dammit I love you, Finley.”

  “I love you, too, Levi,” I whisper on his lips. “Now. Let’s go make sure King hasn’t chained Alexa up yet,” I say, only half joking. Levi groans and adjusts himself, taking a deep breath.

  “Yeah. Fifteen minutes tops, then I need you to myself.”

  Laughing, I slap his ass and head towards my sister who’s mid conversation with Anders already. The smile on her face melts away the worry that this is going to be awkward and when she pulls me in for a hug I sigh.

  I finally feel like I have everything I’ve ever wanted.

  A sister who understands me.

  A boyfriend I love.

  Friends that love and accept me.

  And no more secrets.

  THE END

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