Page 17 of Puck My Stepbrother

“Quinn?” I heard Levi speak my name through my mental fog. “Quinn?”

I startled back to attention. I didn’t panic like I might’ve before. Part of me wanted to offer myself to him despite knowing I could never let that happen.

“You still with me?” my stepbrother-to-be asked.

“Uh, yeah.”

I glanced at Levi and found him smiling. Not that I’d never seen one from him before, but this one seemed different somehow. It shone so bright, radiating beauty. And then he flashed his perfect white teeth, allowing the smile to accentuate his dimples. Any smile I’d seen from him before paled by comparison.

And I found myself growing weaker, my defenses almost depleted.

Something had to break this tension.Anything.

“How are things going with finding entertainment?” he asked.

Right then, I realized I hadn’t taken even the first step in completing the wedding task I’d agreed to take on. My heart quickened because I could just imagine how Levi would react over me accomplishing nothing after he’d all but finished his task.

“Um…uh…” I said.

Levi eyed me closely and I wrung my hands, feeling like I’d landed under a microscope.

“Well,” I said, “you see, I, uh…”

Holy crap, I’d never felt so lost for words in my entire life. But it wasn’t just because I had no answers. Staring at Levi’s gorgeous face had all but paralyzed me.

“You don’t have anything,” he said. “Is that it?”

“It’s not as bad as it sounds. I did Google a few services, mostly DJs. There’s a jazz band that plays out of Lockport whose pricing wasn’t all that bad.”

“But you haven’t actually reached out to anyone?”

When I shook my head, Levi’s smile remained intact. You know, that would’ve been the perfect time to wallop me with some smartass remark, but he left his shot on the table. Even crazier, he seemed in no rush to insult or degrade me over anything else, either. He’d sounded remotely kind, even. Nothing could spoil his good mood, I guessed.

“Hey, that’s okay,” he said. “Not like we’re in a rush or anything.”

“I know, but the wedding?—”

He waved a hand as if to say problems work themselves out. In his world, things flowed that smoothly. My heartbeat slowed a little and I drew a deep breath, but I couldn’t relax completely. With Levi Dunn, you were never really out of the woods.

“Maybe reach out to a few of them in the next day or two, and let me know what they say,” he said. “And then we can go from there.”

Okay, this is going to sound like the weirdest thing yet, but I had another hard-on. I couldn’t stop it. Levi hadn’t touched me, but I was ready to go. It wasn’t just seeing his hands or his million-dollar smile. It was…

Fuck, I didn’t know what was going on. Desire was brewing deep inside me. I hated feeling so strongly about Levi, but I couldn’t deny those feelings existed, for better or worse.

“Sure,” I said. “I can do that.”

And then an agonizing silence settled over us. I heard Levi breathing, but nothing else. Something was about to happen. Any moment now, Levi’s hand would brush mine and I’d glance up into those icy blue eyes. Then he would make a move.

That didn’t sound so crazy anymore, not now that he’d put his hands on my shoulders and rubbed against me. That couldn’t have been an accident, right?

And I wanted him to do it. That was the worst part. Maybe those thoughts had summoned the unwanted hard-on he must’ve known I had, even if he couldn’t see it.

“You know, Quinn, I owe you an apology.”

“You do?”

“Uh-huh. I was thinking, and realized I never should’ve gone in your room without permission.”