Page 7 of Puck My Stepbrother (Pucked and Possessed #2)

QUINN

I couldn’t believe I’d let Levi get away with it.

Derailing the entire conversation, I mean.

Think about it: I’d gone to him, all gung-ho, ready to say all the things I’d rehearsed beforehand, and really put him in his place.

In the end, I’d only said some of what I wanted to, but he’d knocked me back down to size before I could cook up a decent comeback.

And why shouldn’t he have done that? He was Levi Dunn, asshole extraordinaire. Being a jerk was in his DNA.

But I felt helpless, like a swimmer fighting a rising tide.

I’d tried going to my dad about the bedroom issue, but let’s face facts—he didn’t give a shit.

And my attempt to confront Levi directly couldn’t have fallen flatter.

Worse, I couldn’t even see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I felt weak and listless, and that weakness would only worsen until I completely lost my mind.

A text from Levi arrived a day after our talk in the kitchen, telling me he wanted to talk wedding tasks.

Surprising he’d texted me first instead of approaching me on the fly and expecting me to drop whatever I was doing.

We met in the kitchen, which might as well have been our spot and, you guessed it, he sat right beside me, personal space be damned.

“I’ve found the venue,” he said. “There’s this place on Delaware Avenue I think would be perfect.”

“That was fast. Have you looked at any others?”

“I did, yeah. The place on Pearl Street was too expensive and, if I’m being totally honest, nowhere near as good as the Delaware Avenue venue.”

“Is this all set then? Have you made a deposit with the Delaware Avenue people?”

“Not yet. I still want to look at this place on Franklin. Has more space than we actually need, but I think our parents would be willing to switch gears if the price is right.”

I couldn’t help peering down at his hands as he scribbled notes onto a pad.

Okay, fine, I didn’t normally examine other people’s hands, but I couldn’t help myself.

His hands were enormous, for starters. They looked so powerful, like he could twist steel with them.

As I studied his hands, I noticed the squiggly veins and thatch of hair that continued onto his arms. But those were just details. I considered the possibilities, too.

I lost myself dreaming of those hands settling over my shoulders, just like when he’d left my room the last time. Only in my imagination, he caressed me, his fingers sinking into my skin.

When he’d touched me in my room, I’d honestly expected my knees to buckle, causing me to wind up on the floor in a heap.

I wanted him to touch me again, no matter what my rational mind said.

I wished he’d lean in and plant kisses along my neck and shoulders, allowing me to feel his warm breath on my skin again.

And then I wanted those hands to travel up and down my body, discovering every secret place.

When I fell deep enough into the fantasy, one of his powerful hands closed over my cock, moving slowly up and down, then hard and fast.

But he’d done none of those things in my room. He’d just won an argument he should by all rights have lost, and then left.

“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.”

“Really?”

So far, so good. I mean, he’d used my proper name and not Quim, which suggested a sarcasm-free apology. In fact, he’d been a lot nicer during this conversation than ever before.

“Yeah, really. It’s just that I would’ve thought that, since we’re going to be brothers, it wouldn’t be a big deal.”

“Stepbrothers, Levi. Not brothers.”

“That’s not how I see it, Quinn. To me, we should be as close as birth brothers. Why put up walls?”

“Because I like my privacy.”

“I get you. But I’ve made my room open to you any time you want to see me, right?”

“That’s okay, I guess.”

Of course. I had no idea when or why I’d ever go visit him in his room. Desire for him had taken root in me, I couldn’t deny that, but I wouldn’t let my defenses crumble completely. I wanted to be with Jeff and no one else, and that was non-negotiable.

Levi sounded so sweet, though. Every syllable dripped with honey. I wondered if he used that same tone to lure girls into his bed, and how many fell for it.

“You say you owe me an apology,” I said, “but aren’t you going to say you’re sorry?”

“No way.”

“Seriously?”

“I said I owe you an apology because I was wrong, and I admitted that. But I have limits. Those are two words that aren’t in my vocabulary.”

He offered a tiny shrug like he felt no shame. Of course, the words “I’m sorry” didn’t exist for him. He was Levi Dunn.

Something was up, though. Seriously. Guys like Levi didn’t talk the way he had for no reason.

It reminded me of times in school when he’d done something seriously bad, like stuffing me into a locker, and would sweet-talk me out of reporting him to a teacher.

Only he wouldn’t have needed to avoid me snitching on him now.

He wanted something else, and I had a good idea what.

Only that couldn’t be right. It sounded so crazy, and yet I couldn’t deny that he’d touched me several times and seemed to be finding excuses to talk to me every day. Worse, I couldn’t deny the mounting tension in the room.

But I wanted Jeff and only Jeff. I wanted him to take my virginity and whisk me off to places I’d never been before. I had to fight this temptation with every fiber of my being.

When I saw Levi’s hand move across the table, I felt certain it would clamp over mine. He’d touch me again, this time commanding me to succumb to his power. The more I thought about it, the more reasonable the idea seemed.

Levi Dunn wanted me.

I wasn’t going crazy.

My heart stuttered again, seeming to skip a beat. When I popped up from the table, my stepbrother-to-be threw out an arm to stop me, but I dodged it.

“Uh, uh, um, I’ve got to go.” The words sputtered from my mouth like an old motor trying to start.

“So soon?”

“Uh-huh.”

And I darted out of the room like we’d finished making love and I’d come to my senses. One thing was abundantly clear to me: my willpower hung by a thread. Any more of this and that thread would snap.

Right then, I realized I’d never survive under the same roof with Levi Dunn…for reasons I never would’ve dreamed of.