The Love at First Sight Box Set, стр. 60

"Ready?" he asked when I didn't say anything.

I had to fight to keep a pout off my face because I was expecting him to descend on me like a ravenous animal by this point, but apparently, I'd underestimated his willpower.

Which shouldn't have surprised me, in retrospect. He'd hid his feelings for five years. Clearly, he had a lock on his … urges. What an asshole. I wanted those urges unleashed. Unleashed on my entire freaking body.

"So we're still pretending we're going to do the exercises?"

"Who's pretending?" he said, staring straight-faced and unblinking. Like I could see clear through him, I knew the wheels and cogs were turning in that brain of his. Trying to process how serious I was.

"Come here," I pleaded.

He didn't.

It was my turn to narrow my eyes.

"Did I mention I'm not wearing underwear?"

Levi swiped a hand over his mouth, letting out a small, strained laugh. "You are determined to kill me, aren't you?"

I answered him as seriously as I could. "If by kill you, you mean have sex with you, then yes."

Tipping his chin up to the ceiling, he took a few chest-expanding deep breaths. "Joss." He laughed quietly.

"Levi. Great, we know each other's names."

With a growl, he dropped to his knees and prowled over me, moving one leg to the side until I had no choice but to lay back on the mat. Halle-freaking-lujah. I slid my hands up his back and felt the tension he held in all those muscles.

Even though he was over me, he didn't kiss me. Levi propped his elbows on either side of my head, caging me in so I couldn't really go anywhere, which was fine by me. I lifted my chin to find his mouth, but he evaded me.

"I had plans, you know," he said, looking deep into my eyes. His thumb tangled lightly with the hair next to his hand.

"Yeah?"

I shifted my hips, bringing us closer, and his eyes closed. Levi, my best friend turned first boyfriend, was hard. And big. There was one moment when I had the same thought that probably every virgin had.

Holy shit, how's this gonna work?

"Joss." He sounded like he was in a great deal of pain, and based on what I felt tight against my core, he probably was. "I am not making love to you for the first time on this ugly yellow mat."

I smiled a little, using my fingertip to trace the edge of his lips. I really, really liked his lips. "Okay."

He dropped his forehead to mine, then kissed the tip of my nose. Next to my eye. The corner of my jaw. With each tiny kiss, I got all melty. My whole body went warm and soft.

"I had plans," he repeated. "They were romantic and sweet. I want it to be perfect for you."

"Were rose petals involved?"

He laughed, finally kissing me on the mouth. We stayed there for a couple of seconds, and my arms went tight around his neck while I enjoyed the feel of his lips against mine.

I pulled back and cupped the side of his face. "Do you know what I need for my first time? The best thing that could possibly be in any plan that your brain could come up with?" I traced my finger over his forehead, where a few worry lines had popped up. "Just you. That's it. Just you and me, Levi. It could be anywhere, and as long it's you and me, it'll be exactly what I need."

His eyes searched mine, weighing the sincerity of my words. The moment he saw what he needed to see, a switch flipped in his brain.

"Hold tight," he told me quietly.

One of his big hands cupped my bottom as I tightened my grip on his neck. With an ease born of incredible strength, Levi held me to him and stood. I squealed when it made my head spin, and he laughed into my neck.

"Good?" he asked as he boosted me higher on his chest. My legs dangled on either side of his slim hips while his arms braced underneath my thighs and ass.

"Good." I kissed him. I kissed him deeply because even though we weren't moving now, my head was still spinning just a little bit. Our tongues tangled, his head turned, and I felt his fingers dig into my skin where he held me so tightly.

Levi broke the kiss and walked us out of the gym. He paused just as he cleared the door into the garage. "Do you want your chair? I guess I got presumptuous."

I grinned. "Presume away. I'm perfectly fine with a little manhandling today."

"Good to know," he murmured against my lips.

As he walked us to his apartment, my body tucked into him, I knew that Levi would never view anything that was about to happen as manhandling, though, and neither would I.

I pressed my face into his neck and breathed him in. This was the person who made me feel the safest, the strongest, who made me feel the best just exactly as I was.

He kicked the door shut behind us, the harsh clap of sound tightening the skin around my bones. It wasn't bright in his place, only brief pockets of the sun coming through the edges of the curtains. As he tipped me back onto his bed, I liked what those slices of light did to his body.

"Take off your shirt," I told him. "I want to see."

Levi lifted his chin in the direction of my sports bra. "Just remember, now that I know this kind of payback is on the table, you're not the only one who can use it."

"I do not think this is your style," I answered seriously. "The straps would do nothing for you."

Even though he grinned, I felt the joke dry up like sawdust in my throat when I yanked his shirt off, exposing row upon row of twisted, roped lines of tight muscle under his skin.

I ran