Page 73 of Sidelined Love

Easier said than done.

The ride up to Levi's apartment feels like it takes forever, even though it's only a few floors. At least this time I didn't have to be escorted up because Levi now has me on a list of approved guests.

I don't want to spend time dissecting that right now.

When I arrive at his front door, I ring the doorbell, and I swear on everything, the sound of the bell bounces off every corner of my mind. Suddenly the door swings open and I find Levi standing in the doorway, looking perfect in a CrestwoodUniversity hoodie and gray sweatpants. Once again, he still manages to look put together, and I can't help but wonder if he wore those pants for my benefit.

“Good evening, Hailey.” He greets me with a grin and motions for me to come inside.

My stomach flips at the sight of him. I try to act casual as I follow him to the living room, but my nerves are getting the best of me.

“Would you like something to drink? Eat?” Levi asks. Although he's standing behind me, grabbing my coat, I can still hear the smile in his voice.

“Just water, thanks,” I reply, hoping he can't detect the slight tremor in my voice.

In a flash, he lays my coat across a chair and returns with two glasses of ice water from his kitchen. He places them on opposite sides of the coffee table. They are now in front of where each of us would sit down to play our match.

“Ready for me to kick your ass in chess?” he asks.

I roll my eyes. “In your dreams, Jamison.”

“That's not the thing that I tend to dream about…” his voice trails off. “But before we begin, how about we make this more interesting?” he says as he's about to move one of his pawns.

I raise an eyebrow. “What do you have in mind?”

“Strip chess. For every piece I lose, I have to remove an article of clothing and vice versa.”

“Were you thinking about this before I got here or is this something that just popped into your head?”

“I've been thinking about getting you naked again since before you left my bed days ago,” he admits without hesitation.

I swallow hard in an attempt to coat my suddenly dry throat, but I fail.Fuck.“What do I get if I win?”

He shrugs as if what is happening between us isn't rocking his entire life. “I'll give you a surprise.”

“What is it?” I don't care for how eager I sound, but it's too late to take it back and try again.

This time he smirks again. “Wouldn't be a surprise if I told you what it is, now would it?”

I do my best not to roll my eyes at his cockiness as I experience a sense of déjà vu from the last time I was here. “What do you get if you win?”

Leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees, Levi locks eyes with me. “Another one of those fantastic blow jobs you woke me up with.”

The memory of that morning floods my mind and sends a shiver down my spine. Doing that to him again is enough to make me debate losing so that we can take it there. I hesitate for a second, but the desire to wipe the smug look off his face overrides everything else.

I stick my hand out for him to shake. “You have yourself a deal.”

Levi's eyes widen before he catches himself. Is he surprised I decided to participate? I'm not sure, but he grabs my hand and turns it palm side down before he brings it up to his lips. He slowly kisses each of my knuckles and I can't help but be hyper-fixated on what it’s doing to me.

But now it's time for us to play this out on the chessboard.

Levi opens with a pawn to e4, a familiar move that has started countless games before. However with this being strip chess, it feels as if we are charting unknown territory.

I mimic his opening and push my pawn to e5. And so our game begins.

The room is silent except for the clinking of the pieces as they hit the board. It's hard to be focused on what is happening in front of me because the fact that I more than likely will be losing at least a piece of clothing is at the forefront of my mind.

After about ten minutes, I lose my first pawn, and I can feel the heat growing on my cheeks. I decide to pull off the black sweater I'd thrown on last minute, happy that I had the foresight to do so before leaving my apartment. What I hadn't done was wear a long sleeve shirt under said sweater. Goosebumps appear on my skin because of the slight chill in the air.

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