Page 11 of Puck My Stepbrother (Pucked and Possessed #2)

QUINN

“ S o, I found a DJ,” I said. “He’s not one of the people I researched before. I just stumbled across him, but he has really good online reviews and is a little cheaper than the other ones.”

“Awesome,” Levi said. “Good work.”

“And you’ve got the venue figured out?”

“Yeah, I’m going with the place on Delaware Avenue.”

“Good. I’ll pass that info along to the DJ.”

So far, I hadn’t lost my mind, I realized. For what good that did. I couldn’t deny the tension that’d arrested me the moment we’d sat down at the kitchen table. Each syllable spoken required effort. I was meeting with Levi only because I had to. Otherwise, I would’ve completely avoided him.

He’d texted me to say he wanted to talk wedding details at some point today. He hadn’t expected me to simply drop everything I was doing and instantly meet up with him. That was progress, I guess.

I didn’t believe for a moment that he’d really wanted to discuss the wedding, though. No one could experience what I had in the last few weeks and believe that was all he wanted from me. My stepbrother-to-be had set a trap that I’d had no choice but to walk right into.

And now it’d reaped results.

Every time I glanced at Levi, I saw the guy who’d kissed me in the shower.

I practically felt the warm water raining over us.

I wanted to forget the whole thing, but I couldn’t.

I continually undressed the hockey player mentally until he was as naked as he’d been in the shower.

I basked in the memory of his powerful body, but most of all the massive cock I’d taken in my hand.

Oh my God…

“Something’s wrong,” Levi said. “Don’t tell me there isn’t. I can tell.”

“But nothing’s wrong.” I shook my head to underscore my words.

“How can you say that?” he asked. “It’s written all over your face.”

“Oh, stop it, would you?”

That marked my only firm command to him, and it made him pause. It might not work in the long run, but at least I’d mounted some defense.

What I told him didn’t matter anyway. He’d invent whatever he needed to hear for his advantage.

My strong front dissolved almost as quickly as it’d appeared, though. The memory of his hands caressing my shoulders returned like they’d never left. Worse, the gentle touch of his lips on my collarbone and neck returned like a phantom. My knees would’ve given way for sure had I been standing up.

Levi kept staring at me. Not a hard stare, or even one that said, I’ve got all day to wait for you to talk to me . For all I knew, he could’ve been mentally undressing me like I was doing to him

“So why did you run out on me the other night?” he asked.

“I didn’t run out on you.”

“Then what would you call it?”

I didn’t answer. The silent treatment had kept him at bay so far, and I didn’t know what else to do.

“What you did was seriously weird,” I said. “You know that?”

“What I did was red-hot—and seriously fucking exciting. It was sexy as hell, bro. Can you honestly say it didn’t give you at least a little bit of a thrill?”

He had me there. As frightening as it’d felt in some ways, I couldn’t deny the rush of excitement that’d torn through me.

And my dick had never felt harder. Deep down, I’d wanted something to happen.

Oh yeah, my sensible side had fought like crazy, but part of me wanted Levi to take me back to the shower right now to finish what he’d started.

My sensible side had forced me out of the shower. I did want to be touched, but only by Jeff’s hands, and I wouldn’t negotiate.

Still, I had questions for Levi, and I decided asking them was my best defense.

“So how long have you wanted to do something like that?” I asked.

Levi paused because I had him on the ropes for the first time. I refused to believe the idea had only struck him recently. He couldn’t have woken up one morning and randomly decided to kiss the guy he’s tormented for years.

“You needed help,” he said.

“Help? Levi, what the hell are you talking about?”

“I know you’re still a virgin, and Jeff hasn’t given you the good stuff. I know he probably never will. So I wanted to be there for you, change your luck. Stepbrothers help each other, don’t they?”

Oh my God, could this guy get any weirder? But I couldn’t say that to him, and not only because of his intimidating presence. Levi Dunn had an answer for anything and everything I said, no matter how stupid it sounded.

“I don’t need help, thank you very much,” I said.

“Oh, you so do.”

“You don’t stop, do you?”

“Why would I? Persistence pays off in my world. And like I said, I thought you needed help, so I came to the rescue.”

Well, congratu-fucking-lations, Levi, I wanted to say. You should win the goddamn Nobel Peace Prize for Virgin Sympathizing .

Instead, I paused, again feeling like anything I said or did would be instantly twisted to Levi’s advantage. As it was, I was sinking deeper into an ocean of desire for my stepbrother-to-be. I couldn’t deny the want was there. I had to fight it.

“I don’t understand why you’ve got this fixation on me,” I said.

“Because you’re cute, that’s why. More than cute, really. Hot. That’s why I don’t feel weird about helping you out.”

I rolled my eyes, knowing a load of crap when I heard it.

Finding me cute—or hot, or whatever—wasn’t complete nonsense, or else he wouldn’t have started with all this crazy business.

The whole stepbrothers-help-stepbrothers rap was the load of crap, and another ridiculous page out of the Levi Dunn playbook.

Why he’d made such a hard push for me, and how long he’d had these feelings, remained a mystery.

“I really do think you’re cute,” he said.

“I find that a little hard to believe…at least I would have.”

“Why?”

“The past aside, I wouldn’t have thought someone like you would ever look at someone like me.”

He waved a hand, dismissing the idea outright.

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, isn’t it?”

“I guess so.”

“I totally dig the ginger hair. I’ve always been a real sucker for that, you know. And everything else about you…not everyone needs to be a rough and tough athlete to be sexy as fuck, you know.”

“I guess not.”

I must’ve felt numb to some degree, because I didn’t bat an eye at his comments. I waited for him to address a slew of things, namely if he’d been gay all along or if his attraction to me was a one-off.

The hard-on that now stiffened in my jeans stopped that thought in its tracks. He had a reason for bringing this stuff up yet again, and I had a good idea why.

My defenses weakened further. Now I wanted to ask him to take me back to the shower. Only thoughts of Jeff and what I wanted us to have stopped me.

“You still haven’t answered my question,” he said. “Why did you bolt on me the other night?”

“Because I worried where it would lead.”

“What was that? I’m sorry, bro. I didn’t hear you.”

I realized how weak my voice really sounded. Had anyone else pestered me so badly, I would’ve snapped at them. But not Levi Dunn, who’d taken my lunch money for years. Not Levi Dunn, who’d stuffed me into a locker. Not Levi Dunn, who’d touched my bare cock before Jeff had the chance.

“Because I worried where it would lead.”

“I’m sorry, could you say that one more time?”

My fist thumped the table like a gavel. That didn’t startle my old bully, but it triggered a smile that reminded me of the overconfident look of cocky jocks everywhere.

“Where did you think it would lead?” he asked.

“Dunno.”

“Of course you did. You wouldn’t have bolted on me if you hadn’t.”

By saying that, Levi displayed another maddening trait: sounding so fucking sure of himself I honestly could’ve puked.

“I get it,” he said. “You’re a virgin. You were nervous. I don’t judge.”

“It’s not because of that.”

“You might not believe it, but I was nervous my first time. I was fumbling around all over the place like a total idiot. You would’ve sworn to fucking God I didn’t even know where to stick it.”

Then he howled with laughter like he’d said the funniest thing in history.

“I told you it’s not about that,” I said.

Levi paused, but that didn’t mean the conversation was over.

I expected him to cup a hand over mine or rub his foot against my leg. In fact, I wondered if Levi had convinced my dad to task us with wedding planning as an excuse to spend more time with me.

I’d put nothing past Levi Dunn.

“Look,” I said, “I’m gonna go.”

“Right now? We’ve still got things to go over.”

“Text me about anything you want to know.”

You had your chance, I wanted to say, but instead I spent the last of my courage standing up and marching out of the room. I didn’t look back until I’d reached my bedroom.

Once inside, I flopped down onto the bed, where I felt sure Levi had once lain. In my hottest fantasies, he’d been naked. I touched myself as that image swirled through my mind. Then I fought even harder to push those thoughts out of my head.

But I couldn’t. They kept inching back like an incoming tide. And I worried that my plan of saving my virginity for Jeff would snap under the weight of my desire for Levi Dunn.