Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

KRIS

“Hot cocoa break!” My mom and sisters brought a huge carafe of cocoa and trays of mugs into the barn, setting everything up on one of the long workshop tables. All at once, everyone stopped working and crowded around the table, all jostling to get a cup. I hung back with Levi, knowing there would be more than enough for everyone.

“Wow, your family really loves hot cocoa.”

“I know I’m not much for the holidays, but there are three things I do actually enjoy.”

“Only three?”

“Yep.”

“Well, don’t keep me in suspense. What are they?”

“In no particular order.” I counted them off on my fingers. “Snow, the carolers that sing in the square sometimes, and my mom’s hot chocolate.”

“Then why are we standing over here?”

“I didn’t want you to get trampled in the mad rush.”

Levi leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to my cheek. “Thanks, but if this cocoa is as good as you say it is, I’m willing to take my chances.” He grabbed my hand, weaving our fingers together, and tugged me across the room. “Let’s go.”

By the time we got there, everyone else had already grabbed a cup, and there were only two left on the tray. I picked up a green one with a snowman on it and passed it to Levi, then grabbed the last mug, a simple plain red one, for myself.

The line to fill our mugs moved quickly, the bottleneck occurring when it came to toppings and flavorings.

“What’s all that?” Levi asked after he’d filled his cup.

“Everyone likes something different, and my mom tries to accommodate everyone. There are mini marshmallows, big marshmallows, cinnamon-flavored marshmallows, chocolate syrup, caramel syrup, Irish cream, peppermint syrup, candy canes, chocolate chips, and whipped cream. Oh, and sprinkles. You know, for the kids.”

My sister Kimmy walked by, her cup topped with a huge swirl of whipped cream—a dot of which she had on the end of her nose—and a ton of sprinkles. She smiled. “Yep, the sprinkles are definitely for the kids.” She rubbed a hand over her baby bump. “Including this one.”

“You’ve got a little…” Levi gestured at his nose, and she reached up to wipe at it, licking the whipped cream from her fingertip when she found it.

“Thanks, Levi. This jerk would have let me walk around like that.”

I held up my hands in self-defense when she took a playful swing at me. “Hey, what are brothers for? And don’t pretend you’re all innocent. I know you and Kennedy were the reason we got stuck untangling the lights.”

Kimmy pretended to look offended. “Me? How dare you, sir. I would never.” She held a hand over her heart, her eyes glittering with mischief.

“Yeah, yeah.”

She looked over to the corner where we’d been working, and her smile widened. “Looks like you guys got through it all pretty quick. And, look, Levi hasn’t gone running for the hills yet.” She went up on her tiptoes and stage whispered, “I think he might be a keeper.”

Levi laughed. “It’s going to take more than some tangled lights to drive me away.”

His words were innocent, meant to be banter between him and my sister, but my heart did a happy flip-flop in my chest. I hadn’t realized until that moment how much it meant to me that Levi fit in with my family. They were holiday obsessed and sometimes collectively nuttier than my aunt Karen’s fruitcake, but I loved them, and I wanted Levi to love them too.

“That’s good to know.” Kimmy gave us another smile, then walked off to where her husband, Connor, was sitting with their seven-year-old son, Kyle. Like his mom, Kyle had whipped cream on the end of his nose and squirmed when his mom kissed it off.

“Did you want to add anything to your cocoa?”

Levi shook his head. “I’m kind of a purist.”

“Me too.” We took our cups back to our corner.

Levi slid down the wall next to where the strands of lights we’d untangled were laid out and blew on the steaming liquid in his cup before taking a sip. He closed his eyes as the flavor hit his tongue, his expression one of pure bliss, and I wondered what it would be like to see that expression on him in a context that had nothing to do with hot cocoa and involved a lot more nudity.

His tongue darted out to lick his lips, and I couldn’t pull my eyes away from the movement, my dick taking notice and perking up in interest. Levi took another sip, eyes still closed, and I had to will myself not to pull him into my arms and lick away the hot chocolate on his lips before he did.

“Okay, this is really damn good. I can see why it’s one of your favorite things about the holidays.”

Watching Levi enjoy my mom’s hot chocolate was too much for me to handle, and I didn’t trust my voice not to give me away, so I just nodded. But Levi turned my way, meeting my eyes, and there was no way I could hide the heat there.

“Kris? You okay?”

I nodded again but leaned closer taking in Levi’s scent that reminded me of a day out on the water, all fresh air and salty sea spray. Mixed with the warmth of the cocoa and the pine, peppermint, and cinnamon scents I associated with my family, Levi smelled like home, like mine.

And maybe that’s why I responded with the truth instead of trying to hedge.

“Watching you lick cocoa from your lips might be the closest thing I’ve had to a religious experience, and I’m not sure I can keep my hands off you.”

Levi’s honey-colored eyes went molten hot. “Good thing I don’t want you to.” He took another sip from his cup and held my gaze as he licked away the lingering chocolate from his lips.

My cock was fully on board now, and a million excuses ran through my head as I tried to figure out a way to extricate us from decorating duties so we could find somewhere private.

Then one of my nieces or nephews screamed, and the spell between us broke, dropping us back into the barn surrounded by my family.

“I don’t want to just steal a few minutes with you, Levi. I want us to be able to take our time.”

His eyes were still hot liquid honey when he nodded. “Agreed. I have plans for you too.”

I groaned. “You can’t say stuff like that.” I lifted myself off the floor and adjusted my pants the best I could. Levi tracked the motion, understanding my issue and glancing at where my dick was a hard bulge in my jeans.

He licked his lips again and grinned. “Sorry.”

I shook my head. “No, you’re not. But hurry up and distract me before I change my mind and come up with an excuse to get us out of here for a few minutes.”

“Um, okay. You said carolers in town were another thing you like about the holidays. That surprises me.”

“That’s because you’ve never heard their voices. I swear they’re magic.”

Levi’s face slipped into an expression I’d seen on him before, one that made it look like he was trying to keep his face blank—like he knew something I didn’t know—and he was trying to keep me figuring it out. The expression was gone a split second later, but seeing it on his face at all made me uneasy.

“Magic? Really?”

“You’ll just have to see for yourself. I can’t explain it.”

Levi nodded, then looked at where the lights were laid out. “Should we get back to this?”

I took in the progress around the barn. Most of the other groups were working on their tasks and several were at the point where they’d need the lights sooner rather than later. “Might as well. Let me grab the extra bulbs.”

Setting my cocoa mug next to me, I stood and tried to ignore the way Levi looked up at me from where he was still sitting on the ground. He was eye level with my crotch, and he smirked, his full lips tilting into a flirty smile. Naturally, my mind immediately flashed to what it would be like to feel his full soft lips stretched around my cock while he looked up at me with his molten honey eyes.

“You were on your way to get the extra bulbs.”

“Oh, right.” Reluctantly, I tore myself away from the fantasy and turned to carry out my task.

The bulbs were on the table near where my brother Keith and his boyfriend, Mike, were touching up paint on a couple of six-foot-tall nutcrackers.

“Dude,” Keith whispered. “Levi is hot.”

Mike raised his eyebrows and nodded his approval. “Yeah, like, call the fire department hot.”

My brother waved his paintbrush around. “And he seems really nice. I’m happy for you, Kris.”

“Aww. Look how cute that is.” Mike pointed across the room to where I’d left Levi. Kyle had found his way over and was sitting on the floor in the spot I’d recently vacated. They had their heads bent together as Kyle showed him something in his hand. Levi’s expression was serious as he gave our nephew his undivided attention.

My heart did the flip-floppy thing it had a habit of doing when Levi was around.

“Ooooh, somebody is a smitten kitten,” Keith teased, and I couldn’t deny it.

“Get back to work.”

Mike grinned. “Yeah. You too.” he shot me a wink as I picked up the box of bulbs and went back to Levi.

Kyle was still there when I returned.

“Uncle Kris, look.” He held out his skinny little arms showing me where he’d drawn on himself with a purple marker. “I have tattoos just like Levi.”

“Wow, kiddo, that’s so cool! Have you shown your mom yet?”

He shook his head, a dark brown curl flopping into his eyes. “Nope. I wanted Levi to see first. I’m gonna show her now.” He jumped to his feet and ran across the room, running straight into Kimmy’s legs.

Levi watched him go. “I really like that kid.”

“Yeah, he’s pretty great. I have a feeling my sister is going to have her hands full when my other nephew gets here.”

“No doubt.”

After that, we fell into an easy rhythm, testing lights and swapping out dead bulbs, and by the time we were done and had distributed the lights to the teams that needed them, it was almost time to head into town to pick up dinner.

“You guys are hanging out again?” Kori asked as he passed over the three boxes of food he’d packed for our order.

“I can’t get rid of him.” Levi’s hand intertwined with mine proved he wasn’t trying all that hard.

“Yeah, my family pretty much adopted him.”

“Uh-huh. Kris’s nephew Kyle even drew tattoos on his arms just like mine with a purple marker.” There was pride in Levi’s voice that made my heart melt for the man a little more.

Kori laughed. “Good thing he doesn’t know what those tattoos mean.”

Levi’s expression faltered, and Kori slapped a hand over his mouth. “Uh, I mean, that’s really cute, man.”

My gaze darted between Kori and Levi as they both gave each other significant looks I couldn’t decipher. Once again, I got the feeling I was missing something that was supposed to be right in front of me, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

Levi cleared his throat. “It really was.”

Back in the car, Levi was quiet, and by the time we pulled into the parking lot near the barn, I couldn’t stand it.

“Are you really going to make me ask?”

Levi’s head swung my way, his eyes stormy. “Ask what?”

“What do your tattoos mean?”

He closed his eyes, and for a heartbeat, I thought Levi wasn’t going to respond. Maybe it wasn’t really any of my business. But then he sighed.

“I promise it’s nothing bad. I don’t want to get into it right now, so can that be enough for the time being?”

“I guess.”

He reached over and took my hand. “I’m not trying to keep secrets from you, Kris. I swear. It’s just there are things about me that are…complicated, and I haven’t figured out how to share those parts of myself with anyone else yet. I haven’t ever had to.”

“But you shared with Kori?” I couldn’t keep the slight edge of jealousy out of my tone.

Levi squeezed my fingers where he held them between us. “I didn’t. Members of Kori’s, uh, family know members of my family.”

“So he already knew what you can’t tell me?”

“Exactly. I swear I’m going to tell you everything. I have to, but I just can’t do it right this second. Okay?”

“I guess it’s going to have to be.” I wanted to be annoyed, but a small voice in the back of my mind reminded me that this was only our second date. Maybe I’d jumped into the deep end bringing Levi to meet my family. Maybe this was moving too far too fast. We barely knew each other, even if it felt like Levi had been missing from my life forever. I needed to get my head out of my ass. Levi didn’t owe me his life story on day one, just like I didn’t owe him mine. “I’m sorry. I’m being a dick.”

Levi’s rich melodic laugh echoed around the cab. “You’re not. I get it.” To punctuate his point, he used his grip on my hand to pull me across the bench seat, his lips landing on mine in a quick kiss. “I think it’s cute you were jealous.”

“It’s not cute. Do we need to slow this down?”

“Do you think we need to?”

“I asked you first.”

“What I want is to kiss you again.”

I didn’t respond. I just shoved my fingers into his hair and pulled him closer to me, our lips and tongues tangling as the kiss went from sweet to hot until I was straddling Levi’s lap and his hands were shoved under my jacket. The same swirling warmth I’d felt during our first kiss on the sidewalk outside the record store pulsed through me. I’d never felt anything like it, and I wondered if I would feel the same rush like the world I knew was rearranging itself every time I kissed Levi.

“Stop making out and bring in dinner. We’re wasting away in there!” Kevin’s voice popped our little bubble, and I rested my forehead against Levi’s as we caught our breaths. We’d fogged up the windows, and I could barely see my brother through the mist.

“Leave us alone.”

“Give me the food.” Kevin moved, and I knew he was going to go for the door handle.

I slammed my hand down on the lock. “Never.”

“Then get your ass inside.” He shook his head. “Seriously, man. We’re hungry.”

For his part, Levi was trying to hold in his laughter, but he just ended up snorting, which made me laugh, my body rocking against his. Levi groaned beneath me. “I think you’d better get up before the food gets any colder or your family stages a mutiny.”

“Fine.” Reluctantly, I pushed up and off him, flopping behind the wheel.

“I’m going to need a minute, but you’d better take the food in.”

I couldn’t help myself from glancing at his lap. I’d felt his hard length against mine when we were kissing, but the bulge behind his zipper looked even bigger than it had felt.

Levi lifted his hips, taunting me.

“Shit, Levi. That thing’s a monster.”

A wicked grin split his face. “You have no idea. Maybe I’ll show you later.”

I groaned. “Or you could show me now.”

He shook his head and reached over to flip the lock. “Go. I’ll be right behind you. I’m still trying to make a good impression, remember? I’m sure your brother already told them what we were doing. I saw the way they decimated lunch. If they have to wait any longer for dinner, they might tell me I can’t come back.”

“Do you want to?” He raised a brow, and I clarified. “Do you want to come back?”

“Yeah, I really do. So go!”

He shoved me out of the truck, and I went with a smile on my face.