Page 31 of The Holiday Fail

I mentally berated myself. Sure, I’d love to help Levi with a problem he obviously seemed down about, but the last thing I needed right now was to go on another date-like outing with him when I couldn’t even helpmyselfstop these stupid hormones from raging at his scent. A bigger part of me was reluctant to continue and said I needed to back out of this, even if I came off like an asshole.

“About that,” Levi said, his hot hand still resting on my thigh. His voice was low and almost had a raspy air about it. “If you don’t mind, maybe you could help me now?”

My heart lurched, and my fists clenched to my side. I should tell him no, tell him I didn’t want to help him try to snag another man because I was feeling weirdly possessive of him right now.

But I didn’t say any of those things and nodded silently. My eyes fell to my lap, looking anywhere but him.

“Well, I was hoping I could run something by you. Maybe I have a problem with the way I kiss, so if it’s no trouble, maybe you could test it out for me?”

My body registered the words before my brain could. Before I knew what I was doing, I was pressing against him, actually knocking the popcorn bowl over this time, but I didn’t have the mind to care. Instead, I crashed my lips against his, hard, eager, and wanting to taste more of him so badly.

That delicious pine and sunshine and all his goodnessinvaded my senses, making me dizzy and unable to think about anything but the way his lips felt against mine.

There was no mistaking he was pure man with the way his short stubble scratched my skin or his rough hands that pulled me closer to him until my body was flushed against his and hisreaction. It all led to one undeniable fact…

I kissed a boy…and I liked it.

Chapter Fourteen

LEVI

Hot breath tickled against my skin as he moved his mouth across the edge of my chin and down to kiss the pulsing vein against my neck. I was hot, so fucking hot with lust, that I found it hard to think. Along with these confusing emotions for Andy—who I definitely shouldn’t be making out with—it meant it was time to just shut off my brain andfeel.

And feel I did. The way his mouth slid against my hot skin was tantalizing, but when he stopped at my exposed collarbone and justnibbled, I swore it was a direct shot to my cock. I was painfully hard and needy for more of that mouth on me. My fingers slid through his hair. It was still damp from his shower, and little strands of his long bangs fell onto my skin during his exploration. The edges were prickly, but the coolness from the damp hair might as well have caused a sizzle from how hot my skin felt.

It wasn’t enough, and I pulled his head up for another kiss, moaning at the taste of him. My hands cupped his ass and pressed him harder against me. I was pleased to find I wasn’t the only one having a reaction to this kiss. That knowledgespurred me on, and had me take it further than I had the courage to do earlier.

Apparently, I hadn’t learned from my past mistakes. Things never worked out well when I got too greedy.

I tried slipping my hand under his T-shirt, wanting to feel more of his silky skin, but Andy suddenly jolted back, as though my touch scorched him. He sat back on his haunches, still on top of me, but now everything was completely different.

He couldn’t have hidden the horrified expression on his face if he wanted to. It was a damn cold slash of cruel reality.

“I, um…there are no issues with your kissing,” Andy said with a nervous chuckle, but he wouldn’t look at me.

He tugged his shirt down, probably trying to hide his erection, though I found that a bit pointless when he’d had it pressed against me just seconds prior.

I opened my mouth, ready to say something,anything, to remedy the situation, but the words died on my tongue.

Andy suddenly stood, still not looking at me.

“Sorry, I need to call it a night,” he said, then turned to leave. The scattered popcorn on the floor crackled under his feet as he fled, an auditory representation of how I currently felt.

Broken, unworthy.

I slumped onto the couch as I watched his door shut firmly closed, feeling horny, confused, and cold. Even the voice of my dear Gomez and his delectableCara Miacouldn’t thaw the block of ice that had once been my heart.

I didn’t even know how I got to bed last night, but when I woke early the next day, the spilled popcorn had been cleaned from the floor, and the living room looked neat and tidy.

It looked sonormalthat I could almost trick myself into thinking that absolutely nothing had happened last night. And when I bumped into Andy at the B&B later, all he shot me wasa bright smile and gentle greeting. I doubted if I’d imagined the entirety of last night’s interactions.

The rest of the day went by on autopilot. Thankfully, we didn’t have any scheduled tours today, so I was able to do the mundane tasks that didn’t involve needing to think or socialize. I’d been working here for so long that I didn’t need to give a single thought to my actions and was able to let the rest of the day pass like this.

Pops caught me zombie-walking around and used his hand to check my forehead for a fever. Concern marred his face when he sent me home early with clear instructions to get some rest.

I crashed as soon as I got home and woke hours later to the outside world already covered in darkness. The only sounds in my house were my deep breaths and the steady thumping of my heartbeat. But that was quickly shattered by the sound of a door shutting.

That had me scrambling out of bed. I couldn’t see Andy. Not when I was still all tangled up about what happened last night, because itdidhappen. And right now, I couldn’t face seeing him pretend it didn’t.

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