“Don’t say anything. I know a good lawyer.” My arms tightened around his torso as I stared up at him.
Levi’s brows rose. “Do you now?”
“What’s going on? Is Dad in trouble?” I peeked past him at Whit and Ash. Their deflated faces made me want to kick myself.
I didn’t think about the kids.
Great going, Mom.
Extricating myself from my husband, I walked to my girls and put a hand on each of their shoulders. “It’s nothing. We’ll get it sorted out.”
“But why are they here?” Ashley asked, pointing to Gabby and Kelso. “They’re cops. Did Daddy do something?”
Levi went to my side. “Just a misunderstanding, baby girl. Go back to your movie.”
“Is this a discussion for grown-ups?” Whitney scrunched her nose.
A brief laugh escaped me despite my anxiety. That excuse wouldn’t fly with my children for long. “Yes. Everything will be fine. Promise.”
“Okay,” Ashley said. “We got interrupted at a good part of the movie. Come on, Whit.”
My youngest skipped back to the living room, but Whitney hung back, brows still knit with worry.
“Go ahead,” I said. “Keep Ash company.”
When my eldest returned to the living room, our group moved to the sitting area.
“I should’ve let you stay with me last night,” I told my husband. “Then you’d have an alibi.”
Levi winked at me. “See, that would’ve solved our problem.”
“I don’t know why you’re so relaxed about this,” I snapped. “Tom is missing.” I was worried about my friend, too, and my husband finally cottoned to this. “And you could be a suspect,” I added.
“So which aspect are you more worried about? That Tom is missing or your husband could be charged with his murder. That is … if they could find his body—”
Kelso coughed into his fist. “Cops present.”
“Not to mention I am the father of your children.”
Levi’s expression turned stone cold. When he did that in the bedroom to mess with me, it turned me on, but when it was a matter of life and death—not to mention his future as a free man was at stake—it pissed me off.
“Don’t be an ass about this.” I glanced at Gabby who was looking at me with sympathy. A potential candidate as a man in my life was missing while my potential ex-husband could be the suspect.
“You’re putting her in a difficult position,” Gabby said.
“It was already a difficult position to be in last night,” I grumbled, glancing at the detectives. “It would be too stupid for him to go after Tom after everyone in the restaurant witnessed their fight.”
“I don’t know, Kelly,” Kelso said. “Levi said it could be an act of passion.”
I spun on my husband who still had his poker face on. “Are you fucking kidding me?” Then remembering that the kids had a penchant for eavesdropping, I lowered my voice, “Are you trying to get thrown into prison?”
“Oh, so now you care?” he said. “Wouldn’t that clear the way for Roth? Oh wait, he might be at the bottom of the lake somewhere.”
I snapped my mouth closed.
Kelso and Gabby turned away but their shoulders shook with laughter.
I was about to explode on my husband.
I was speechless.
Speechless.
That was when I saw the glint of amusement in his eyes.
“You have an alibi,” I whispered.
He snagged me around the neck in that possessive hold that made my knees go weak and brought his mouth to my ear.
“Maybe. But can’t say I’m pleased you’re worrying about the other guy.”
“I’m worried for a friend.”
“A friend? One you said you felt a tingle when he kissed you.” He leaned away to watch my reaction.
I glared. The desire to knee him in his groin was as overwhelming as my desire to ride his dick.
Levi, very slowly, swiped his tongue on his lower lip.
Or I could ride his face. Gah!
Stop.
“Is it getting hot in here?” Kelso teased.
We both turned to the detectives who were looking everywhere but us.
Levi chuckled. “Sorry. You caught us at a heated moment.”
“Obviously,” Gabby said dryly.
Kelso checked his phone. “The detectives on Roth’s case are ready to see you.”
“It’s ten.” It was a weak protest. Crime doesn’t have a time in LA.
My husband shrugged. “Let’s get it over and done with.” He looked at me. “Can you stay with the girls until I get back? I’m not sure what time it’ll be. Plan on staying the night, hmm?”
“Of course.”
“Use my bedroom.” His face was unreadable. “I have shit in the two other rooms.”
“You haven’t unpacked?” I rolled my eyes.
“I was hoping you’d help me.” He winked at me.
This man. “Go.” I gave him a shove. “Hopefully, there’ll be no problem.”
“Pretty sure it’s simply a formality.” Gabby split a look between us. “They may talk to you about your relationship with Tom, too.”
“There is no relationship,” Levi growled beside me.
I yanked him around and cupped his jaw with my hands. “Do not fuck this up, okay? Don’t let the detectives egg you into admitting something that will incriminate you.”
His jaw clenched tight before he gritted, “Not my first rodeo.”
“You know what I mean.” I cocked my head at Kelso. “Does he need a lawyer present?”
“We know Delgado and Chen. They’re good people,” the detective said. “I don’t think they’re going to look hard in Levi’s direction.”
That gave me little assurance.
Levi squeezed my hand. “Don’t worry. It’ll be fine. I promise.”
After they left, I rounded the girls back into the living room. Ashley was in tears while Whitney was close to breaking down, her face mottled red.
“But why did they take Dad away?” Whitney asked, her mouth trembling.
“They want to ask him a few questions. Your Uncle Tom is missing.”
“Is it my fault? I told Dad you were going on a date.”
As much as I wanted to lecture my daughter with a lesson about manipulating her parents, this wasn’t a teaching moment, especially since the consequences were unknown. I tried to beat back my own worry for Tom.
“No, honey. Tom’s disappearance had nothing to do with what you told your Dad.”
“Gramps said Dad could make people disappear,” Whitney declared.
“What?” I need to have a chat with my grandfather. “When did he say this?”
“A long time ago … when there were bad people going after Theo.”
I relaxed. “Well Tom isn’t bad people.”
“So bad people are after Uncle Tom? Does that mean Daddy will help find him?” Ashley asked pensively.
“There are cops for that.” Whit scowled at her sister. “Don’t mention that to Dad.”
I rubbed my brow feeling the beginnings of a headache. Even though Ash and Levi had come a long way in their relationship, and there was no doubt that my youngest daughter now favored her father over her Uncle Tom, it would still sting if Levi heard that statement. Any mention of Tom seemed to trigger my husband nowadays.
“Everything is going to be fine,” I repeated. “It’s getting late. You both need to get to bed.”
“How about you, Mom?”
“I’ll wait up for your dad, but if I can’t, I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“Dad has a real big comfy bed,” Whit grinned.
Oh my little matchmaker. “Go on, go brush. Lights-out in thirty minutes.” My daughters must have sensed my exhaustion and did as they were told. They shared a bedroom in Levi’s house that had an ensuite bathroom. After I made sure they had everything they needed, I did a little exploring.
With a four bedroom house, Levi’s crap occupied two of them. My husband still had the boxes packed up from when he moved out. I made my way to his bedroom. I had nothing to wear to bed so he owed me a t-shirt to sleep in. Without feeling guilty, I entered his master bedroom and couldn’t resist looking around.
My eyes caught a piece of black fabric on the nightstand. My panties from last night.
I couldn’t even summon feelings of outrage. Immediate heat pulsed between my legs. My pervy husband perving on me was hot as hell. Did he inhale my underwear last night as he jacked himself off on the bed?
Or did he wrap the scrap of fabric around his erection while he fucked his fist?
Oh, my God, my daughters were in the next room, and I was having X-rated visions of Levi’s massive body writhing on the bed.
Shaking my head, I reclaimed my panties and rummaged through his dresser for a t-shirt, opting for the softest and most threadbare one. I sniffed it. It smelled so good.
I took a quick shower and laundered the two panties I now had in my possession and ran them through the drier for a few minutes before hanging them up. Hopefully, by the time I actually went to bed, one pair would be dry. I wasn’t getting into Levi’s bed. I didn’t want to give him the wrong idea. The couch was comfortable enough, and it was only for a night.
I settled in front of the television with a bowl of cold spaghetti and turned on the television.
Kelly
“Babe …”
A rumbling voice was so soothing in my ear, I tried to burrow further into the pillows.
But they were hard. Not exactly rocks, but there was no give, and they were oddly warm.
Someone was carrying me.
“Levi?”
“Shh …”
“Did you just come home?”
“Yes.”
“Put me down. Tell me what happened.”
Wakefulness battled with my heavy lids.
“Tomorrow. I’m not rehashing anything tonight. Everything’s fine.”
“Okay.” My mind drifted off again.
“Why did you sleep on the couch?”
I inhaled his scent. He always smelled good. Sandalwood and clean soap. Comforting yet all man. “I was watching reruns.” I yawned. “I fell asleep.”
“Obviously.”
“I didn’t finish an episode I think.”
“You’re tired, babe, from working all day and the excitement of tonight.”
I let his voice surround me with serenity. Things might be really fine.
I was placed on the softest mattress. Consequences flew out the window. “You won’t fit on the couch.” Another yawn escaped me, and I rolled over to one corner of the bed.
“I don’t plan to sleep on the couch.”
Hmm, I muttered. “Put a pillow between us.”
“That won’t stop you.” There was laughter in his voice.
“I borrowed your shirt.”
“I see that.”
“I took back my panties.”
“I see that too.”
I yawned. “I’m not wearing any.”
I never heard his reply as sleep claimed me once more.
Levi
My hard-on kept me awake all night.
I needed sleep after the night I’d had, but did I think to move to the couch? No. For the obvious reason that it would be damned uncomfortable, I would cut off a finger before I gave up the chance to finally share a bed with my sexy-as-sin wife.
Not that it wasn’t heaven and hell. With sweat beading my skin, and my poor molars grinding against each other, I fought the urge to crawl between her legs and bury my face in her sweet pussy.
I put the pillow between us as she requested. Somehow, in her tossing and turning, she’d grabbed the stupid thing and had thrown it somewhere on the floor.
She’d been plastered to me for the last hour, a leg thrown over my thighs. Every time I ran baseball stats in my head and I thought I’d survive, she’d rub her bare pussy on my leg.
Jesus Christ.
That was sweet fucking torture.
I didn’t want to move.
I didn’t want to wake her.
I did not touch her inappropriately or seduce her.
One would say I was the one being seduced.
Again. Jesus Christ.
The back of my neck was drenched.
My cock was rock hard. It would take only a few strokes to give me relief. But since I liked to torment myself where Kelly was concerned, I refused to budge.
Sometime before dawn I fell asleep, but it must’ve been short since I was jolted awake to the sensation of fingers fluttering over my skin, inches above my morning wood.
Kelly was awake.
The hitch in her breathing was different, more pronounced, its rhythm erratic.
“Any lower and I won’t be responsible for the consequences,” I warned.
“What happened to the pillow?” Her husky voice was sex itself. Everything about this woman did it for me.
I choked with laughter. She was too cute. “I told you that wouldn’t work, beautiful. Hasn’t in the ten years we’ve been married.” When she was pissed at me, and we hadn’t settled our fight before bedtime, she always put a pillow between us.
The heat of her pussy branded my thigh. Our bodies were frozen, but need throbbed between us.
“I don’t know if this is a test from the powers above,” I groaned.
“You should have left me on the couch.”
She tried to extract herself, but my arms automatically came around her, locking her in place.
“Levi,” she mumbled. “We shouldn’t.”
“What were you about to do before I interrupted you?”
“Nothing,” she whispered.
“Don’t lie, babe.”
“I wanted to see your cock,” she said.
I inhaled sharply. “Do you want to take it out?” I wore athletic shorts so I wouldn’t be tempted to roll over and shove into her.
“I shouldn’t.”
“But you want to … You don’t have to finish me off,” I said. “I can take care of it myself.”
“What’s in it for you?”
I was staring up at the ceiling the whole time, but when I felt her gaze on me, I turned to look at her. “You know you’re gorgeous when you’re just waking up?” As much as I loved our scorching tear-your-clothes-off sexual encounters, sleepy Kelly sex was also a turn-on. She was extremely pliable, and she would take however I gave it.
Pre-cum beaded my cock. Could I really hold out and beat one out in the shower?
“Hmm.” She rubbed her face against the side of my chest. “That’s not an answer.”
“It’s going to be all about you, babe.”
She laughed briefly. “Somehow I think I’m going to be the recipient of endless orgasms. Need I remind you our kids are in the next room?”
“Then you’ll have to be quiet. Take me out.”
“Levi …”
“We’re not having sex. Not in the real sense. Consider this foreplay.”
“Foreplay to what?”
“Take my cock out, Kelly. Inspect it. You know you missed him. ”
“Since when do you talk about your cock in third person?”
I chuckled as I unwrapped my arms from around her so she could move freely. I crooked them under my head.
She propped up on an elbow and shot me a suspicious look. “I thought we weren’t going to confuse our talk with sex.”
Grinning at her, I said, “Don’t worry. I’m in control. We won’t have sex. And you’re not sucking me off either.”
She raised a brow.
I puffed a laugh. “Even if you insist, I’m not gonna fuck you.”
She narrowed her eyes as her hands slipped under the band of my shorts. “You seem so sure of that.”
When her fingers encircled my shaft, I groaned in pleasure. “Fuck, yes. That’s it, babe.” She squeezed. “Good girl.” I started to pump my hips.
“Are you sure I can’t lick it?”
“You’re killing me … just … just do that…”
“Levi, I don’t get it,” she whispered. “I can give you relief.”
I realized my eyes were shut. I popped one open and said, “Touch yourself.”
“What?”
“Tell me if you’re wet.”
She bit her bottom lip. And with one hand still holding my cock at her mercy, her other one reached between her legs. Her immediate whimper almost had me busting a nut. “So, so slick.”
“Fuck, you’re so hot right now.” I gritted and pumped my hips against her hand.
“I don’t see the point in this.”
“Don’t get yourself off,” I warned.
“You don’t make sense,” she whined. “I need … need …”
“I know what you need, beautiful, but you have to be quiet.”
“What?”
I pulled her over me, having her straddle my hips. She scooted her ass and rubbed her pussy against my shaft, and I could have exploded right there. I held back, keeping us on a razor’s edge of one of the most erotic mornings we’d had in a long time.
“Levi,” she moaned again. “I need you inside me.” Her wet rimmed the bulb of my cock that wanted inside so fucking much.
“Come up here.”
“What?”
“Ride my face, babe,” I ordered.
Without giving her a chance to protest, I hauled her up and sat her wet heat over my mouth and thrust my tongue right in. Her wetness gushed all over my mouth.
She was saturated with her juices, and I greedily consumed every last drop that fell on my tongue. Her musky scent surrounded me, and I didn’t care if I suffocated under the weight of her cunt.
She squealed. I gave her thighs a squeeze and got out, “Hands to the headboard and keep a lid on it.”
“Oh my God, oh my God,” she continued moaning. “Levi, oh my God, that’s so good.”
I assaulted every part of her pussy, putting as much of her swelling flesh into my mouth and went to town licking and sucking until her reedy cries reached my ears.
“I can’t anymore…”
She tried to climb off, but I held on fast to wring every last bit of her orgasm.
“Levi! Stop,” she hissed, but then promptly moaned again.
I flipped us over and braced my elbows on either side of her head, pumping my painful erection against her. It didn’t help that my cock happily found its place at her entrance.
Her legs went around me.
“I can easily shove in,” I said quietly. “But I won’t.”
“Why would you torture yourself?”
“Because I promised I wouldn’t fuck you until you gave our marriage a second chance.”
She looked away. “How is this different?”
I cupped her chin and angled it back my way. “I care more for your needs than mine. This is a shallow way to prove it, but it’s a start. I want to give you everything, Kelly. All I need is a clear shot. A clean slate.”
Kelly shook her head. “It’s not fair to ask me this right after giving me a mind-blowing orgasm.”
A grin curved my mouth. “That good, huh?”
She rolled her eyes. “You know it was.”
A timid knock sounded on the door.
Kelly and I looked at each other before I said quietly, “It’s not locked.”
I flipped on my back and shoved a pillow on my crotch just as the door opened and our two heathens peeked in.
“See, I told you it was just Mom making those strange noises because she’s with Dad,” Whit told her sister.
Kelly muttered something behind me, and I tried not to glance back at her with an I-told-you-so look.
“I thought it was that ghost from the cartoon we saw yesterday,” Ash whispered back.
I gave a choked laugh while Kelly punched my shoulder from behind.
“Can we come in?” Whit asked.
I checked to make sure their mother was decent enough. She’d gone to her knees, but her cheeks were flushed, and she sure as hell had the freshly fucked look.
I was a proud motherfucker to put that look there. “Sure, sweet pea.”
When they ran into the room, I braced for impact.
My six-year-old scrambled right over me to get to her mother. Thoughts of a broken penis flashed through my head. Whit, thankfully, approached from the foot of the bed and crawled between us.
The girls gave a satisfied stretch. A tangle of skinny bodies, skinnier limbs, and long hair separated Kelly and me, yet it was the closest to her I’d ever felt.
A feeling of family.
Her eyes caught mine and she mouthed. Talk later.
We stayed that way for a while until Ash complained about being hungry.
“I’ll get the girls fed. Why don’t you freshen up?” She probably wanted to put on panties and wear her own clothes from the night before.
“I want waffles and bacon, Daddy,” Ash put in her order. “Don’t forget maple syrup.”
“Is this how you spoil the kids and why they’re excited to see Daddy?” Kelly raised a brow.
“Busted.” Whit giggled.
“Oops,” Ash whispered and grinned her gap-toothed smile. “I forgot.”
“Looks like your dad and I need to have a conversation about your diet.”
