Page 22 of Kringle and the Kraken

“Fine.” Reluctantly, I pushed up and off him, flopping behind the wheel.

“I’m going to need a minute, but you’d better take the food in.”

I couldn’t help myself from glancing at his lap. I’d felt his hard length against mine when we were kissing, but the bulge behind his zipper looked even bigger than it had felt.

Levi lifted his hips, taunting me.

“Shit, Levi. That thing’s a monster.”

A wicked grin split his face. “You have no idea. Maybe I’ll show you later.”

I groaned. “Or you could show me now.”

He shook his head and reached over to flip the lock. “Go. I’ll be right behind you. I’m still trying to make a good impression, remember? I’m sure your brother already told them what wewere doing. I saw the way they decimated lunch. If they have to wait any longer for dinner, they might tell me I can’t come back.”

“Do you want to?” He raised a brow, and I clarified. “Do you want to come back?”

“Yeah, I really do. So go!”

He shoved me out of the truck, and I went with a smile on my face.

CHAPTER EIGHT

LEVI

“I had a great time today.Thank you for inviting me.” Once again, Kris and I were on the sidewalk outside my shop and apartment, and I was stalling, hoping he would kiss me so we could continue what we’d started in the car before dinner.

“I’m glad you had fun, and I know my family appreciated the extra set of hands.”

“I can’t believe how quickly that came together. Like I walked into a barn, and when I walked out, I could have sworn we’d somehow been transported to a different world.”

“They have it fine-tuned down to a science.”

“Yeah, I get that now.” A beat of silence settled between us, ratcheting up the tension. “Do you want to come up for a drink?”

“God, yes.”

A laugh tumbled from my lips, echoing on the empty street, and I turned to shove my key into the lock. As I crossed the threshold and started up the stairs, I felt Kris’s heat at my back, and my body tingled with anticipation. It was impossible to keep my tentacles under control during sex, but I thought maybe I could handle it if we just stuck to kissing. Not that that had gone well the two times we’d kissed so far. Kris had thought I needed to get my hard-on under control after our little make-out sessionin the car, but my tentacles had been out under my coat, and I’d needed to calm them into submission too. They were already twitching under my coat, anxious to wrap around Kris, to feel his skin under the sensitive suckers. But I couldn’t let them out to play until I’d come clean, and I didn’t think dropping that bombshell on him after a long day with his family and when I was hoping he would kiss me was the right move.

“What can I get you? I’ve got beer, wat—” I never finished the list. Kris grabbed the lapels of my coat and turned me, shoving me back against the closed door of my apartment, his lips landing on mine.

His hands moved to my hair, his fingertips scraping along my scalp as he deepened the kiss, tilting my head to the angle he wanted. My hands found their way around his neck, my fingers toying with the hair not covered by the knit hat he still wore.

Ley line magic rushed through me just like it had the two other times we’d kissed, and the power pushed my tentacles away from my skin so they coiled and writhed in the confines of my jacket.

Kris’s thick thigh pushed between my legs, and I dropped my hands from his neck to his waist, pulling him closer and seeking friction against his body. Just like in the truck earlier, our bodies found a rhythm that matched the cadence of our kiss, and I was rock hard by the time Kris broke our kiss, his breaths ragged, to trace his tongue and teeth along my jaw to my earlobe, leaving sucking and biting kisses and a trail of heat in his wake.

“Fuck, Levi. I’ve never felt like this with anyone. Every time I touch you, it’s goddamn electric.” His breathing was still ragged, and his voice was deep with desire and arousal.

“I know. It’s the same for me.” My fingers found his belt loops, and I tugged him even closer so the weight of his body pressed me harder into the solid door at my back. There was no way to miss how hard we both were, and Kris adjusted ourpositions so our cocks met through our layers of clothing, the contact making my hearts race and my body heat as more of the ley line magic filled my veins until I wasn’t sure what was the magic of Kris’s touch and what was the elemental magic pouring into me from the sea. It all felt volatile like my body was a lit match next to a can of gasoline. My head fell back against the door as Kris’s lips skated down my neck, and my hands fumbled between us as I sought the waistband on his pants, working the button open and the zipper down until I felt the heat of his bare skin.

The tip of one tentacle slid from the cuff of my coat, brushing my wrist as it twined around my fingers, hell-bent on getting to Kris. The second it brushed Kris’s skin, a shudder ripped through both of us, pleasure rolling through me from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. My tentacles were straining the seams of my coat, and I heard the thread giving way.

Shit.

“Kris, wait.”

He stopped immediately, pulling back just enough to look down at me in the darkness of my apartment. I hadn’t even had a chance to hit the lights before Kris had me pinned against the door.

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