Chapter 10

10

Awkward. The only word to use when getting ready to sleep alongside the man who made my pulse thump something fierce.

Actually, it might be better described as frustrating. I lay in the bed staring at the ceiling because I couldn’t help but think of Levi. Dumb, I know. With all the things I should be worrying about, whether he liked me or not shouldn’t be one of them. As a grown woman, why did I care? Not to mention, we were completely mismatched. Me, gentle and nonviolent, versus his brusque, let’s-kill-things-first attitude.

I’d assumed he’d fallen asleep until he said, “You don’t have to worry.”

“Who says I’m worried?”

“You’re still awake.”

“So are you,” I pointed out.

“I don’t need much rest.”

“Who says I do?”

He grumbled, “Is there a reason why you don’t like me?”

The query floored. “Why would you think I don’t like you?”

“For one, I’m the only person you argue with.”

Valid, so how to explain? “You are, but in my defense, you’re bossy.”

“So is Hilda, and yet you do your job without argument at work.”

“That’s different.”

“Not really. This is still work.”

“For you maybe, but for me, this is very personal.” I paused then added. “I’m an office agent so not usually the one dealing with the side effects of curses. Not since the ball decades ago has it ever focused on me.”

“That must be disturbing.”

“Very. Mostly because I don’t understand what it means.”

“We’ll figure it out.”

I snorted. “Scientists and everyone with a brain cell has been trying since the Grimm Effect emerged to find answers. We’re still waiting.”

“I think it’s obvious the curse is attempting to murder you.”

“But why? I’m not even a contender for the prince’s hand.”

“Maybe it wants you to be. Would it be so bad? Killian seems a decent sort.” His voice turned gruff as he said it.

“He’s not so bad. However, like I said before, I want love.”

“Even if it means your life?”

I thought about that before shaking my head on the pillow, only to realize he couldn’t see the motion. “I’m a person who wants her happily ever after but on my terms, not because of some curse. I want a man to fall in love with me, for me. Not because of magic.”

“Some people say love is its own form of spell.”

“Do you think love is magic?”

“I don’t think about love at all.” A flat reply.

“Surely you’ve cared for someone in the past.”

He made a noise. “Yeah, and it was a mistake.”

“Oh, what happened?” Yes, I pried, but given he seemed willing to talk, I wanted to understand him better.

“Let’s just say it didn’t work out. Before you ask, she decided I was too emotionally detached. She wasn’t wrong.”

“Then it wasn’t love.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Because when you love someone, you do everything in your power to make them feel special. You understand them and their needs. You want them to be happy.”

He didn’t say anything for a second, and I thought he’d fallen asleep, only for him to say, “But what if that person doesn’t reciprocate?”

“Then perhaps they weren’t the right person after all.”

Funny how his words and my own advice applied to me. Levi didn’t see me as a possible love interest no matter how he made me feel. Could it have been love? Most definitely, but I wouldn’t chase after a man who made it clear he had no interest.

The room went quiet after that, and I eventually fell asleep, only to wake up to tiny feet scratching and scampering. I sat up and, in the faint light from the window, discerned my mice racing up the bed frame and across the mattress to the nightstand to climb onto the digital clock with its red numerals.

Since I didn’t want to wake Levi, I didn’t speak. Even more oddly, neither did the mice. It bothered to see my little friends sitting there swaying above a time of 12:56 a.m.

Despite me not making a sound, Levi suddenly asked, “What’s wrong?”

“The mice are acting odd.”

I heard the rustle of sheets as he slid out of his bed. “Odd how?”

“They just ran up to the clock. I think they might be sleepwalking but as a group?” I ended my statement on a query.

He groaned. “Oh for fuck’s sake.”

“What?”

“Don’t tell me you don’t know? Hickory, dickory, dock.”

I could have slapped my sleep-muddled mind. “You think they’re caught in the rhyme.”

“Guess we’ll find out in two minutes.”

I didn’t expect him to perch on my bed to watch with me as the numbers flipped to 12:59. Having him so near made me shiver, and he noticed. His arm went around me, tucking me into his side.

“You’re okay, princess.”

Should I explain that lusty thoughts and not fear made me quiver when he got near?

Nope. I snuggled closer, inhaling the scent of him.

His arm wrapped around me far enough his hand rested on my outer thigh. The thumb lightly stroked, and that didn’t help my awareness of him.

At exactly one o’clock, the mice ran down and scurried off to the nest they’d made. But Levi didn’t move.

It led to me quipping, “See. Not all the rhymes are deadly.”

“Don’t be so sure of that.”

“My mice wouldn’t hurt me.”

“Wasn’t talking about them,” he muttered.

I shifted sideways so I could see his strong profile. “Guess we could go back to bed.”

“Yeah.” One word and yet, as his gaze met mine, he didn’t leave.

I reached up to lightly touch his cheek.

He inhaled sharply. “Princess…” He had a warning tone in the word.

“I’m not a royal.”

“Close enough.”

I shifted until I knelt beside him, aligning our faces. “Do you like me?” I asked bluntly, the darkness giving me the courage to ask.

“Of course. You’re a good agent.”

“I’m not talking like me as in work,” I grumbled. “I mean like me, like me.”

“That wouldn’t be appropriate.”

I sighed. “I guess that’s my answer.” I slumped and looked away. To my surprise, calloused fingers lightly gripped my chin so I faced him once more.

“It’s not appropriate, but at the same time, I can’t seem to help myself.”

Wait, was he saying?—

Rather than ask for clarification, I chose to be bold and pressed my mouth to his then gently slid them in a soft kiss.

He froze, only for a second, before his arms wrapped around me and he returned the embrace, his mouth hard and commanding. Coaxing as well. My lips parted to deepen the kiss, our tongues twining, as did our breaths.

I found myself in his lap, straddling him, cupping his cheeks and kissing him as if he were the most decadent dessert. In a sense, he was. I’d never tasted something so intoxicating. Kissing him woke all of my nerve endings and had me tingling in a way I’d never imagined.

He groaned against my mouth. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”

“Why not?” I whispered before I nipped his lower lip.

“We’re coworkers.”

“There’s no rule against it.”

He growled. “There should be since I find you distracting.”

“Thank you.” I took it as a compliment to hear the stoic Levi admit I made him weak.

“You don’t want to be involved with me.”

“Probably not,” I agreed. “But I can’t seem to help myself.”

“You’re making this hard.”

I squirmed on his lap and agreed. “Indeed, I am.” His erection bulged against my bottom, and I wanted nothing more than to strip his clothes and see it.

My hands went to his shirt.

“Princess, we really shou?—”

“Oh shut up and kiss me, Levi.”

I’d shocked him. Shocked myself too. But in good news, he didn’t dump me from his lap. He lay me on the bed and covered my body with his, the weight somewhat dispersed by his forearms as he held himself over me, kissing me while grinding against me.

The clothes separating our flesh did nothing to diminish the sensation. He rubbed, and I gasped. He rotated his hips, pressing that hidden erection against the core of me. My fingers dug into his shoulders as my hips thrust.

He uttered a low rumbling noise as he kept a steady thrusting rhythm that had me panting and holding on to him.

His kiss stole all the sounds I made. And I made quite a few as he brought me to the peak. He even caught my cry of pleasure as I came.

Came simply from rubbing.

He shuddered a second later and then brusquely said, “I need to use the washroom.”

I might have been more offended but for the wet spot that had seeped through his track pants to leave me slightly damp.

He’d come too.

A man with his rigid control had lost it to me.

When he emerged from the bathroom, pants changed, he didn’t say anything but crawled into his bed.

I might have been offended, only I knew he probably suffered from embarrassment. I’d read enough romances to know how men felt about their virility. Did I leave him to wallow by himself, though?

Nope.

I crawled from my bed to his, ignoring Levi’s rough, “What are you doing, princess?”

“Snuggling. It’s what I like to do after sex.”

“We didn’t have sex.” His voice sounded raw.

“Oh yes we did, so now you have to cuddle me.”

“Have to?”

“Yes.” I scooched into him until my butt hit his groin. Rather than protest further, he threw his arm over me and tucked me closer.

That night I didn’t dream of Levi. I didn’t have to because we stayed tucked together all night long.

Until a pounding at the door in the morning.