Page 9 of Resisting Your Love

I stared at myself in the mirror, loving the way this dress hugged my figure.

It had been a while since I dressed up and had fun doing it.

The wedding didn't count because I didn't like or enjoy that.

For the past month, Levi and I were getting to know each other.

I could admit that he wasn't as bad as I thought he would be.

He was actually a good person. Sometimes, it felt weird living with him since I was used to staying with my father.

He made me feel like I belonged there. We'd stay up late, eating snacks or just talking.

One night, we ended up falling asleep on the couch while watching a movie together.

A smile touched my lips as I thought about that night.

Sometimes, we'd go out during the day if he didn't have to work. Since I only worked at night, we had time to hang out during the day.

One night, when I got off work, Levi had cooked for me.

I was so surprised by that, and I didn't know what to say.

Then he stayed up to wait for me. It was thoughtful of him to do.

I didn't know what this all meant, but I liked it a lot.

He was a good friend to me. That was all we could be, and both of us knew that.

We didn't want a relationship, but we were stuck together whether we liked it or not.

Tonight, we had an event to attend as a married couple. Levi's parents would be in attendance, too. My father had been blowing me up also, but I refused to answer the calls. To me, we have nothing to discuss.

I was nervous about going downstairs to face Levi.

How would he think I looked to him dressed this way?

I'd be lying if I said I didn't care if he liked the way I dressed or not.

I did want his approval since I'd be on his arm as his wife — and his friend.

Hopefully, he thought I looked okay. I was stressing way too hard about this.

"Okay, girl. You can do this." I gave myself a pep talk.

I picked my clutch up from the bed and exited the bedroom.

With my heart pounding, I made my way down the stairs.

Levi stood with his back to me and his hands shoved in his pockets.

I hoped I hadn't kept him waiting too long.

He must have heard my heels because he turned around.

I saw the way his eyes traveled down my body, causing my breathing to get stuck in my throat.

I didn't know what to make of the look he gave me.

It was unexpected, but it warmed me as if it were a blanket caressing my skin. I shivered at the thought.

Levi stepped closer to me. "Wow, you look good as hell," he complimented.

I blushed, dropping my head before I lifted it back up. "Thank you. You don't look half bad yourself."

The man looked good as hell in a pair of black slacks and a white button-down shirt.

Levi had shades on his face, covering his eyes.

He had recently gotten a haircut and trimmed his goatee.

He told me he was going to grow his beard out to see how he'd look.

I told him not to because he looked good with his goatee.

His light-skinned face was shining from the lotion he had on it.

He brushed off imaginary lint before he popped his collar. "I know this."

I rolled my eyes. "So conceited."

We shared a laugh.

"Are you ready to go?"

I nodded. "Yes. Let's go face the music."

He grunted, and I followed him out of the house.

The party was in full swing when we showed up.

Once we stepped in, all eyes seemed to be on us.

I suddenly grew nervous all over again, not liking the fact that so many people had their eyes on me.

It felt like I was the center of attention.

I was about to run out of there, but Levi tightened his hand around mine.

It was nothing to jerk away from him, but I wouldn't.

I gazed at him with troubled eyes. His eyes held a look that said I could trust him, so that was what I was going to do.

His parents came toward us, as well as a dark-skinned girl with a smile on her face.

It made me wonder who she was to Levi. Just then, a man came walking toward us as well.

Both of them looked so familiar to me. Then it hit me. I saw them at the wedding.

Levi introduced us, and I found out the girl was his cousin, and the man was his best friend. Once everyone got acquainted, Levi and I mingled with everyone else. He was introducing me as his wife.

I sighed in relief when we were able to finally take our seats. Levi glanced over at me and chuckled.

"It is always like that. It takes a while until you can finally sit down and relax. Since these people don't know you, they wanted an introduction," he explained.

I nodded, understanding. "It's all good. I'm just happy to get off my feet."

He glanced down at the heels I had on. "Nobody told you to wear those high heels that high. That's your fault."

I rolled my eyes. "I know whose fault it is. When are they serving dinner? I'm hungry."

He grunted, shaking his head. "That's nothing new."

I playfully glared at him. "Whatever."

Over the past month, Levi had been saying a lot that I ate too much, which I did. Since I could remember, I always had something to eat in my mouth. My mother always called me Little Worm since I was a tiny child. It made me wonder what Levi thought of me.

I shook my head at that thought. I needed to stop trying to see what this man thought of me. We were only friends.

Later that night, it was time for the dance. I gulped, wondering if Levi and I were going to dance together.

"Do you want to dance?" he asked.

I met his stare and shrugged. "Do you normally dance with someone when you are here?"

"Whenever I show up, yes, I do."

I gnawed my bottom lip. "Okay, we can dance."

A sly smirk spread on his lips. It had me wondering what he was up to.

The couples on the dance floor were dancing too close.

Would he expect us to dance that close as well?

He got up from his chair and held out his hand for me to take.

Once I did, he pulled me out of my chair, and we made our way to the dance floor.

Many people moved out of our way as we made our way through the crowd.

My heart was thumping loud as hell, too.

Gosh, why did he want to get out on the dance floor and embarrass me like this?

I knew how to dance, but I didn't know how to slow dance.

In the middle of the dance floor, Levi pulled me into his arms. I gulped as my breathing grew shaky.

Up and close, touching him had my body going rigid.

"Relax," he whispered in my ear. "You got this, and I'm the one holding you. Wrap your arms around my neck."

I did as Levi instructed me to do. He told me to relax as if I could do that in his arms. This man had my whole body pressed against his.

Truthfully, it felt amazing, too. I couldn't understand the feelings I felt at this moment.

It had me wondering if he felt something, too. Was he as affected as I was?

"You are not relaxing. Have you ever danced with a man before?"

I was embarrassed to say I had never done so. Maybe it was best I kept that information to myself. I was already feeling some type of way about it.

"Well, for it to be your first time, you're doing a good job of it. Your body feels.." He didn't finish what he was going to say. "Damn, my bad."

"It's okay," I whispered.

Levi licked his lips, and my eyes followed the movement.

Air seemed to be closing in on us as he watched me watch him.

What the hell was happening with us right now?

We said we were going to be friends. We shouldn't be anything else to each other, but his lips looked so damn tempting.

Maybe one kiss wouldn't hurt us. Just one.

I couldn't help but lick my lips.

"You shouldn't have done that," he groaned.

I arched an eyebrow. "Why is that?"

He grinned. "Because now I want to kiss you."

Truthfully, I wanted him to kiss me, too. What if I liked it a little too much? Oh gosh, I shouldn't even be thinking about it too much. I should just go ahead and let him kiss me. It was what I wanted — to feel his lips against mine. It might feel so good, and his lips might be so soft.

"Amryn?" Levi called my name in that sexy voice of his.

"Yes?" I whispered in a daze. Yeah, I needed this man to kiss me right now. "You can kiss me." I had to go ahead and get that off my chest. It felt like I would suffocate if I didn't.

"Are you sure?"

I gave a slight nod. I didn't know how much closer I could get against his hard rock body, but he pulled me into him.

He lowered his head to mine, and I lifted my head and closed my eyes.

Our lips touched, causing me to gasp in his mouth.

Levi's lips were soft as cotton. I moaned when he pecked my lips again.

I started to lift my head, but he held the back of it.

"Nah, I'm not done yet."

He damned sure wasn't as he devoured my lips.

His tongue moved against mine. I couldn't help but to suck on his bottom lip.

I felt the center of my body throbbing, and that wasn't good.

It had been too damn long since I had sex, but I wouldn't have it with this man.

No way. It couldn't happen. He groaned and pulled away from me. I felt his erection and gulped.

"Damn, I got too carried away." Levi licked his lips and pressed his forehead against mine. "How do you feel?"

"Like I just got kissed." It was one of the best ones I had ever had, too.

He burst out laughing. "Well, you did."

We shared a smile that had us leaning in to give each other another kiss. Where did we go from here?

Later that night, I heard Levi's footsteps before I saw him enter the kitchen. He saw me with the bag of chips and shook his head. I dropped my head, trying to hide a smile. It wasn't like I was sneaking to eat them. I just knew he was going to say something.

"Of all places I found you, here you are stuffing your face."

I snickered. "You should have seen that coming."

He opened the refrigerator door and pulled out a bottle of water. "Do you want one too?"

"Yeah, you can bring me one, please."

I never thought we'd be here with each other. It all started over a basket of wings and fries we shared. Levi wasn't a bad person. I could talk to him about anything, it seemed like. One thing I noticed about him was that he listened to what I had to say, too. I loved that so much.

He set the bottled water in front of me and joined me at the table.

"Why are you up so late? I hadn't expected to see you down here."

"I couldn't sleep," I admitted. There was no way I was about to tell him the real reason I couldn't sleep.

We had been home for over two hours now. As soon as we entered the house, we went our separate ways. That kiss we shared had me feeling things. It was almost like it was meant to happen in that exact moment. Every time I thought of it, my heart skipped a beat.

"I haven't been to sleep yet. I was up doing a little bit of drawing,"

I shoved a chip into my mouth and chewed slowly. "What did you draw tonight?"

I found out that Levi had a love for drawing. He did a good job of it, too, but he still wouldn't let me look at his drawings. I was salty about that.

"A lion in his cage in the forest. I just have to color it now."

"Ohhh! Let me color it. It'll be my own personal coloring book."

He eyed me funny. "Nah, man. That's like you looking at my work."

I rolled my eyes skyward. "Your drawings must be ugly then."

He burst out laughing. "Never that. I never had anyone look at my drawings before other than my parents, best friend, and cousin."

I nodded, understanding. "Ahh, I get it."

Levi might as well have said I was an outsider. I wasn't going to let that get to me, but it did. Maybe he didn't want to share that part of his life with me since I wasn't anything to him. Only a friend — a person he was getting to know.

With a sigh, he got up from the kitchen table, leaving me alone. Maybe that was for the best since the conversation did bring down the mood. It wasn't going to stop me from eating, though. I knew I needed to stop and go to bed.

I was wrapping the chip bag up when he came back into the kitchen with a sketchpad in his hands. That caught me completely off guard because I hadn't expected him to come back at all.

"These are my babies. If you talk shit about them, I'm going to get offended."

I scoffed with a roll of my eyes. "Why would I talk shit about them? You are a tattoo artist, so you must be able to draw really well."

He shrugged, giving me the sketchpad. I scooted my chair up and looked through it. Some of them were colored in, while others weren't. Each drawing seemed to tell a story, capturing me.

"They're really good. I love them."

"Thanks. They all are a part of me. Drawing keeps me at peace," he admitted.

I lifted my eyes to look at him. "Watching the Discovery Channel does that for me," I confessed.

He burst out laughing. "Man, what?"

I joined him in his laughter, but I was serious.

I loved animals and was always learning about them.

"Yes, it's true. I love animals. Every time I go to the zoo, I stop and look at the signs for each animal.

It's been a while since I've gone to the zoo, though.

I got to find some time to go one day. Since it's not too hot or cold, I might need to start planning now. "

"Wow, I have never heard anyone say that before."

"It's a first time for everything," I stated.

"Yeah, you're right," he mumbled.

No matter what, Levi and I never ran out of things to talk about. That was something I loved most about hanging out with him. Plus, he kept a smile on my face. I loved that, too.