Page 75 of Breaking the Habit

The only thing in his favor was that the bulk of these arrests were when he was younger. But since knowing him, over the past three months? He’d gotten into trouble with the law at least twice.

Wasn’t that a little much?

Riley forced herself to stop the snooping once she realized a full two hours had gone by in this spiraling click hole. Paparazzi were already trailing Levi with regularity. The more recent articles had pictures of him walking into Holt Body Fitness, leaving a lunch spot in Beverly Hills, and even hanging out the window of his car in traffic.

The tone was clear: Levi was a sought-after MMA hottie. The next Conor McGregor, but taller, with better hair and a different accent. And he boasted tons of fans that extended way beyond the contact sports world.

She could see the writing on the wall. It was only a matter of time before the marriage proposals started rolling in. The private messages on his Instagram, sending naked selfies in an attempt to woo him.

Did she trust Levi? Her gut reaction to that question wasn’t good. A virile, drop-dead gorgeous man like him, when faced with temptations like that, did things they weren’t proud of. Because these temptations were coming. If they hadn’t started filling his inbox yet, they would. He could count on it.

And sure, things had been nice. They’d felt almost fated for a time.

The truth was that the sex was bomb, and he was the kind of man who could get every single woman who looked his way. Not just most of them, but all of them. Riley had tried to be the exception to that rule…and failed.

Which meant her window for having a normal pseudo-relationship with Levi was rapidly shrinking.

In fact, if she had any smarts left, she’d realize it had already closed.

Chapter 24

Levi couldn’t catch his breath the entire day. Anxiety had his pulse streaking.

It wasn’t just the sex-a-thon, though that had been amazing. It wasn’t the fact that he was in the final round of the league, set to square off against the second-best WFC fighter and possibly rake in fifty thousand dollars as the league’s title holder.

No, it was largely about the fact that Riley was on her way over, and they hadn’t seen each other for mere hours. The time apart made him desperate and wild. So hungry for her he might devour her when she showed up.

It didn’t make sense to him. He only knew that he wanted her around. Always.

Even when he was training or hanging with Gage or going grocery shopping, Levi wanted Riley around. He thought about her constantly. No amount of her was enough. And that shit was scary.

But Levi didn’t have time to be scared. He only had time for now. So why not invite Riley a little deeper?

A soft knock came at front door. It had to be Ri. Levi trotted toward the front door of his apartment, muscles still burning from the day’s workout, and pulled it open.

Brown eyes peeking out from under pitch-black lashes. A sexy smirk waiting for him. And then her style, which today featured a flowy, black cardigan over jean shorts and a very tight black crop top. Levi sucked at his teeth, grabbing for the sliver of skin exposed by her top.

“There you are.” He tugged her inside the apartment, kicking the door shut with his foot. He cupped her face in his hands, coaxing sweet kisses from her lips until a sharp “Ew!” broke the reverie.

Gage had arrived.

“Nobody asked you to look,” Levi shot back, leading Riley by the hand toward the living room.

“Hi, Gage,” Riley said, pure sweetness and smiles for him.

“Hi, Riley.” It was fun to see Gage get a little shy whenever she directed her charm his way. Hell, even Levi felt that way sometimes.

“Did you have a good day at school?”

Gage shrugged. “Yeah. It’s been good. We had a huge school meeting about Instagram.”

“Again?” Levi asked.

“Some kids are taking their following too far, and apparently the hot girls started mass-unfollowing the smart girls until some sort of war broke out.” Gage heaved an exaggerated sigh. “I don’t know. I was too busy studying to notice.”

“Oh, sure, act like all you do is study.” Levi and Riley sat on the couch as Gage maneuvered into the kitchen and started rummaging through the fridge.

“I get straight A’s. I don’t know what you’re on,” Gage shot back.

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