“You know what I mean.”
Stacking Levi’s empty plate on top of hers, Piper stood and moved to the kitchen. She placed the dirty dishes in the sink before taking a roll of plastic wrap from a drawer. Carefully, she covered the cake before setting it aside.
“What did you wish for when you blew out the candles?” She asked as Levi cleared the table. “You get to start Sunday’s game, so not that.”
“Even if I hadn’t been named starting QB, I would never waste a wish on something that’s out of my control,” Levi told her as he loaded the dishwasher.
“Sometimes you’re too pragmatic for words,” Piper scoffed. “Not everything should be cut and dried. A wish can be impractical. Or whimsical. Or a heck of a lot of fun.”
An odd twinkle entered Levi’s gold-flecked eyes. Intense, yet the kind of look that made her feel bubbly—as though she’d just downed a glass of champagne in one gulp.
“I know how to have fun,” Levi assured her, his voice deep with smokey undertones. “Let me show you.”
Holding her gaze, almost daring Piper to look away, Levi lifted her hand to his lips. Slowly, torturously so, he licked a dollop of chocolate from her finger. Like the frosting, she melted. With her free hand, she gripped the edge of the counter as her traitorous legs wobbled.
Piper forced a laugh, desperate to keep things light.
“What are you doing,” she asked, tugging at her hand.
“Playing,” Levi told her. His tone was matter of fact while his gaze continued to sizzle. “Aren’t you having fun yet?”
With an athlete’s speed, Levi reversed their positions until Piper’s back was flat against the stainless-steel refrigerator door. Inching closer, he pressed his body to hers. Hot on one side, cold on the other. She let out a shivery sigh.
Somehow, Piper had lost control. Of Levi, and herself. Closing her eyes, she focused on regaining the upper hand. When she lifted her lids, all she saw were his lips, inches from hers and her mind went blank.
“I… Um…” Piper stuttered, and Levi grinned. The jerk. “Did something happen that I don’t know about? Did you hit your head?”
“No.”
“Then who are you?” Piper demanded. “What did you do with my Levi?”
“I’m the same man I was yesterday. And the day before,” he assured her.
As Levi spoke, his lips brushed Piper’s ear. She bit back a moan.
“Let me go,” Piper whispered.
“All you have to do is slide down a few inches and walk away,” Levi told her. “I won’t stop you.”
Slide and walk. Slide and walk. No problem. Except Piper’s body refused to cooperate with her brain’s command. Searching for a reasonable excuse, she latched upon the first thing that came to mind.
“I need answers,” Piper said more for her benefit than Levi’s. “You save the broody, sexy routine for other women. Not me. Never me. Why now?”
“Why do you think?” Levi asked, his mouth hovering over hers.
Piper jerked away but she had nowhere to go. The back of her head rapped against the refrigerator. She winced. Levi grinned.
“Don’t you dare kiss me,” she warned. “Don’t you dare.”
“Let me,” he whispered. “Please.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m sad,” he said.
“You were sad,” Piper argued. “Past tense. For the past hour, you’ve been back to your old self.”
Head cocked to one side, Levi tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Red is my favorite color,” he sighed.
Well, crap. How was she supposed to mount a logical argument when Levi knocked her legs out from under her with such sweet sincerity? The man was killing her!
“Don’t change the subject,” Piper said, her fists curling into a ball.
“If I start to feel overwhelmed during practice tomorrow, or the next day, or the next, the memory of your lips on mine will be my lifeline.”
As a buffer, one last act of self-preservation, Piper placed her hands onto Levi’s chest. Almost immediately, she regretted her choice of action. His shirt did nothing to stop her palms from tingling or her breath from hitching in her throat as the hard, hot flesh filled her hands.
“Blackmail?” Piper scoffed as waves of sexual awareness converged in every corner of her body. “I can’t believe my ears.”
Levi didn’t defend his actions. Instead, he brushed his lips across Piper’s forehead, doing the same to the tip of her nose. Nothing new. He’d given her similarly placed brotherly kisses more times than she could remember. Tonight, the difference was palpable.
Nothing about the way Levi held her, or looked at her, or touched her was remotely the way a brother would treat his sister.
“Is your answer no?” he asked. “Five seconds.”
“Levi—"
“Five.” He began the countdown. “Four. Three.”
Stop him. Tell him no. Piper knew the smart thing to do. But as her time ran out, her logical brain lost the war with the carnal needs of her aching body. One kiss. One time. Get it—the curiosity she’d always felt—out of her system, once and for all.
“Two.” Levi gave her an extra second. Then another. When she remained silent, her lips parted, he let out a sigh of relief. “One.”
Telling herself not to give in, to remain stoic, passive, unengaged, Piper did her best to keep her eyes open. She lasted three heartbeats, counting each one before she lost track and her lids fluttered shut. Numbers were her thing, her joy, her comfort. Yet one touch of Levi’s lips against hers, and she was hard-pressed to figure out the solution to the simplest of equations.
Two plus two? No idea. Piper was too busy dealing with Levi, one on one.
Piper slid her arms around Levi’s waist and sank into the kiss. Oh, Lord, she thought. He knows what he’s doing. Deep, slow, sensual. His tongue enticed, entreated, seduced. He taught a master class and she was his willing pupil.
Cupping the back of Piper’s neck, he pulled her closer. He tasted like the richest, most intense dark chocolate. He tasted like heaven dipped in sin. He tasted like…
“Levi.”
Piper sighed his name. Her skin was flushed, her pulse raced; she was more alive than she could ever remember. If the world could change in an instant, so could a person’s heart. Hers had always belonged to Levi but only as a friend. Now? She would figure out the answer later when she was back in control.
“I’ll stay the night,” he said, backing away.
Levi looked fine, unaffected by their kiss. Damn him. Piper forced herself to move. Concentrating on each step, she was relieved when her legs held her weight and carried her across the room. The more distance and pieces of furniture that she could place between them, the better.
With her back to Levi, Piper shook her head. She knew they needed to talk out what just happened. They had to agree nothing like that would happen again while establishing a whole set of rules for their relationship heading forward. But not now. Not when she wasn’t sure how she felt or what she wanted.