Page 68 of Breaking the Habit

“Thanks for the heads up, chica.” Blondie winked at her, and the women wandered away. Riley was left with a racing pulse, and she walked on wooden legs toward the far side of the gym. Travis had Levi doing pull-ups now.

“I don’t know what the fuck you think we’re doing here,” Travis was saying as she approached. “But this poor excuse for motivation is not gonna cut it.”

Levi grunted. Every muscle of his body flexed and gleamed as he hauled himself up toward the bar over and over again. He didn’t slow down; the exertion didn’t seem to register with him. Riley’s mouth parted for a moment before she remembered she needed to take pictures.

“How’s everyone doing?” she asked before she started snapping pictures.

“Just getting my ass beat,” Levi said breathlessly.

“You get your ass beat when you show up without your game face on.” Travis clasped his hands behind his back as he watched Levi’s pull-ups. “Give me twenty more.”

Levi didn’t complain. Riley lined up a few cool shots, including Travis’s disdain. But she had a feeling she knew what the source of the problem was. When Travis wandered back toward the gym doors to handle something the receptionist needed, Levi dropped to his feet.

“Are you okay?” she hissed at him.

His chest heaved, and he swiped at his face with his forearm. “Yeah. Great.”

“Why is he mad at you?”

Levi glanced over her shoulder, then he leaned forward for a kiss. All her thoughts evaporated.

“It’s ’cause we banged last night. Drained my vital energy and shit.”

Her eyes widened. “Did youtellhim?”

“No, of course not.” His breath came out in heavy bursts as he wiped at his forehead. “But he can tell.”

“Fuck, Levi.” Her stomach pitched to her feet. “I didn’t mean for you to get into trouble.” She watched as he squirted some water into his mouth. “Maybe I should keep my pussy away from you until your next fight.”

A sarcasticha-haescaped him. “Don’t even think about it.” He hooked her by the belt loops of her shorts, then slid a hand down the top of her thigh. Electricity shivered through her, and she realized how foolish that suggestion was. How terribly dumb and foolish.

“Levi! Get in the cage!” Travis’s voice boomed through the gym, and Levi snapped to attention. “Riley! Stop distracting my fighter!”

She rolled her lips inward, feeling a lot like a teen getting caught smoking behind the school. She’d never been on the receiving end of Travis’s wrath, and she didn’t intend to make it a regular thing.

“Sorry!” she called out, scurrying after Levi as he jogged toward the octagon.

Levi and Cobra prepped for a quick match in the cage. Riley tried to calm her racing heart as she switched lenses.

But the only thing on her mind was the feel of Levi’s lips against hers. The way he’d welcomed her into his orbit as effortlessly and naturally as anything. How it seemed like there really was something between them now, despite how much she believed there shouldn’t be.

The question from earlier came back to her: is Levi single?

What were they doing? It seemed wrong to question it when things were so fun. But it seemed stupid not to do her due diligence. To make sure that Levi wasn’t doing this same exact thing with a couple purple-melon-chested ladies on the side.

As the friendly matchup got underway with Cobra and Levi, Riley realized that she needed to talk to him about this. Since her getting back from vacation, their situation had rocketed from question marks to exclamation points.

Therewassomething between them. Levi had spent the night at her house. He’d apologized to her formally. He texted her daily.

If it looked and smelled like dating, was it really dating?

There was a bad dad joke in there somewhere, but she’d let Levi tease it out. That’s what he was good at. That’s what she loved about him.

And maybe that was the problem. She already knew what she loved about him. About Levi—the man who was destined for greatness, who had throngs of salivating fans, who posed an unlimited number of relationship difficulties Riley knew better than to dip her toe into.

Except her toe was already in the water, even though she’dswornshe wasn’t putting on her bathing suit.

Her past told her she knew better than to move forward with someone like Levi.

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