Page 58 of Breaking the Habit

Her throat bobbed before she carried the bouquet toward the bathroom. He wasn’t sure he’d get the answer until she came back out into the studio, carrying the flowers in a vase.

“My ex was a celebrity. When he cheated on me, the media came after me. Like I was the bad guy.” She sniffed, arranging the flowers. She’d grown distant, suddenly—almost icy. “They stopped caring so much, but only recently.”

Levi’s mouth parted as the meaning sunk in. “Fuck.”

“So I don’t like the paparazzi much.” She sent a grim smile his way, crossing her arms. “Not when I still get hate mail at least once a week.”

He crumpled at that, covering his face with his hands. “Jesus, Ri. I’m sorry.”

She drew a deep breath, running a finger up and down the stem of a rose, dancing a fingertip over the thorns. “The women-haters on Twitter are usually the worst. And after all that, well…I really don’t like the spotlight.”

Levi paced the studio as he worked over the new information. How was it possible she could still be getting hate mail? He needed to fix this. To help her somehow.

“Do people show up at your house and shit?” he asked.

“No. Thank God.” She wiped at an eye, and it was only then that he realized she’d gotten emotional. His heart cracked open, and he went over to her, swooping her into a hug.

“Sorry,” she whispered into his chest. “I don’t like to talk about this stuff. It was a really hard time.”

Levi tightened his arms around her, swaying gently back and forth. He would squeeze all the sadness out of her if he could. And he intended to. He’d hug her for twenty-four hours if she needed it.

“It makes me so angry,” he murmured into the top of her head. “I can’t believe how fucking stupid people are.”

“I was the one who got cheated on!” she said, her little hands snaking around his waist.

“It’s not fair.”

Riley buried her face into his chest. A sob wracked her body. She stayed like that for a few moments, and then she pulled away, wiping at her face.

“Oh my god. I don’t want to be crying about this.” She fanned at her face. “I told myself it was in the past.”

“Ri, it’s okay. You can cry into my chest. I’m not gonna tell Nikki. Your secret is safe with me.”

Riley dissolved into laughter, and he scooped her into another hug. With her in his arms like this, the whole rest of the world stopped spinning. It was just them inside this studio and the intoxicating warmth of this embrace. Levi didn’t want to move. Not now. Not ever.

“Okay, well, thanks for being my therapist,” Riley said, propping her chin on his chest to look up at him.

“I’ll send the invoice to your house.”

She dissolved into laughter again and untangled herself from his arms. Cold whooshed around him as she stepped away and headed for the bathroom. When she came back out into the studio, she looked refreshed somehow. Maybe the cry had done her good. Levi didn’t tend to cry, but he figured his need to fight was roughly the same thing, so he got it. Fucking someone up really made him feel better.

“Anything you’d like to cry about?” she said, that twinkle back in her eye. Hell, he had plenty of things that would make regular people cry. Which was probably why he needed to punch so many people so often. But he didn’t want to be sad today. He had something entirely different on his mind.

“I think I’m good. Do you forgive me?”

“Maybe.”

“Well, I need a yes or no, because if it’s no, then I’ve got some more work to do.”

The smile finally blossomed in full on her face. She looked so beautiful, he wanted to kiss her. He moved toward her again without realizing it, hooking his finger though the beltloop of her overalls, bringing her crashing hip-to-hip against him.

Riley tilted her head up to receive him, and then their lips were together, velvety and seeking and warm. Kissing her felt like going home, which sounded ridiculous, but Levi couldn’t ignore the thrum of intensity as their kisses deepened. Riley wrapped an arm around his neck; he slid his hands up to find the smooth dip of her waist, thumbs pressing at the edges of her breasts. When the kiss broke, Riley watched him with a ravenous look.

Levi knew what she wanted. The same thing he wanted. The same thing his cock wanted, trapped hard and eager beneath the waistband of his shorts.

“That’s a yes,” she whispered, and Levi cupped her face in his hands.

“Thought so. I’ll go lock the door.”

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