Page 86 of Code of Heart

If only he knew.

Levi swallowed the smirk threatening to break across his face. His mind flashed to the image of Aurelia sprawled across their bed, that sheer purple lace clinging to her curves. There was absolutely something he would rather be doing right now. Over and over again.

Tyler must have caught the tell—something Levi couldn’t quite keep out of his expression.

“You’ve completely lost your focus ever since you acquired that mail-order bride of yours,” Tyler sneered, his voice oily with contempt. “Maybe it’s time you stopped thinking with the head between your legs and—”

Levi cut him off smoothly, his tone edged with lethal calm. “You’ve taken a really strange interest in my sex life lately, Tyler. It’s becoming…obsessive. Should I be concerned?”

The room went still. Someone stifled a laugh.

“And while we’re on the subject,” Levi continued, standing and gathering his things with practiced efficiency, “you’ve managed to drone on about the same topics for forty-five minutes without a single new idea. If you’re here to listen to yourself talk, kindly schedule these meetings for a time when I’m less inclined to gouge out my own eyes.”

Tyler’s face turned a dangerous shade of crimson, which he didn’t think was possible, as Levi checked the time.

4:33 PM.

Shit.

Snapping his briefcase shut, Levi looked Tyler dead in the eye. “You scheduled this meeting to end at 4:30. I don’t appreciate your inability to run a competent agenda, interfering with my other commitments.” He paused, his smile sharp enough to cut glass. “But don’t end on my account. I’d hate to deprive everyone of the sound of your voice.”

With that, Levi turned on his heel and walked out calm, collected, and in complete control.

At least until he cleared the boardroom doors.

The second he hit the hallway, he sprinted like hell was on his heels. His office was a blur. Papers were shoved into his bag. Backpack slung over his shoulder. He barely tossed a wave toward Ivy as he tore past her desk.

“Don’t ask!” he called over his shoulder as the elevator took a full two agonizing minutes to arrive. He spent every second of it staring at his phone, thumbing over the photo Aurelia had sent him earlier, his version of paradise wrapped in purple lace.

The image was seared into his brain, and no matter how hard he tried, his body refused to calm down.

By the time he slid behind the wheel and tore out of the parking garage, it was 4:49 PM. The house was a solid fifteen minutes away—without traffic. Levi had zero intention of obeying speed limits today.

He cut through the streets like a bat out of hell, one eye on the road, the other on the ticking clock. If a cop pulled him over, he would hand over his license, show them the picture, and beg for mercy.

At exactly 5:00 PM, while taking the last turn home, his phone chimed.

An audio message. From his wife.

He pressed play over the Bluetooth…and almost lost control of the car.

Aurelia’s voice filled the cabin, low, husky, dripping with promise.

“Time’s up, husband.”

Levi floored it.

Aurelia

Aurelia had set out to drive Levi insane today…She just hadn’t expected to take herself right along for the ride.

The moment she arrived home, she slipped into that sheer scrap of purple lace, fully intending to snap a single teasing photo and be done with it. But something deeper, something darker and more primal took hold of her.

She never took it off.

Not even as the hours stretched by.

Not even as the ache between her thighs grew into a desperate, throbbing need.