Page 33 of Taken By Storm

She gasped, holding the cups up. “How the hell did you do that? I can’t getmyselfout of my bra that fast.”

Levi gave her a shit-eating grin, but she shook her head before he could respond.

“Forget it. I don’t want to know.”

“Thought you might be more comfortable without it on. I know my cousins always swear the bra is the first thing to come off when they get home from work.”

Kasi clearly agreed but refused to let him know that. Instead, she narrowed her eyes and quickly returned to bed, pulling thecovers tightly around her body, before drawing the bra off and dropping it to the floor.

When she managed to establish eye contact again, her expression had morphed from annoyance to sadness. “This thing between us…it can’t happen, Levi.”

It was the first time she’d genuinely tried to push back against the future he saw for them.

“Give me one good reason why not.”

This time, she held his gaze as she rattled off her list. “Because I’m too busy for a relationship. My life is a dumpster fire. Because up until a few days ago, you viewed me as one of your cousin Remi’s little friends. And because…” She paused, then gave him a look that was downright contrary. “I’m not interested.”

Levi couldn’t help it. He laughed. “I asked forgoodreasons, little bear. Not lame ones and outright lies.”

Kasi rolled her eyes, then winced in pain.

“You have a headache.”

She lifted one shoulder. “The doctor gave me something for it at the hospital. It’s starting to kick in.”

Levi walked to the windows, closing the curtains so that the room would be darker, even though, nestled as deeply in the trees as the cabin was, there wasn’t a great deal of sunshine getting in anyway. This particular cabin was one of the original three hunting cabins that had been on the property when his great-grandfather purchased the land. It had been renovated at some point, updated with modern appliances, but it still had a rustic feel to it that Levi liked.

Returning to the bed, he fluffed her pillow, tucked the duvet around her more tightly, then gave her a kiss on the forehead before leaving. He turned at the bedroom door to look back at her one last time. Unsurprisingly, she’d already drifted off to sleep.

Tiptoeing back to the nightstand, he grabbed her phone, taking it with him.

Closing the door behind him, Levi walked over to the couch and sank down, his thoughts jumping from one thing to another.

Sadly, none of his contemplations were peaceful.

Kasi was working herself to exhaustion day after day, and he was struggling to figure out a way to stop that. He’d thought helping with the chores would alleviate some of her stress and allow her more time to rest, but all he’d accomplished was freeing her up to do more…like dusting the fucking furniture at midnight.

It was also clear her family was in trouble financially. Levi wasn’t sure how bad it was, but it couldn’t be good if it was keeping her up at night, stressed out. Considering a huge portion of their farmland hadn’t even been planted this year, he feared their money problems were only going to get worse.

Someday very soon, he was going to sit down with Kasi and have a long chat about the chores and the finances. They’d come up with a plan together, one where she was crystal clear about the fact she wasn’t doing everything alone anymore, and he would be helping her.

Once he settled his mind to that, the third and final thing rattling around in his brain started to take precedence, and he was disturbed again.

In a hot and bothered way.

Jesus. Christ.

Seeing Kasi just now in her bra and panties had literally taken his breath away. He’d tried to convince himself he should be a gentleman and not look. After all, she was injured and hurting.

That lasted all of a second and a half before his inner caveman kicked the gentleman to the curb, drinking in every gorgeous curve on her body. Her breasts were full, the perfectsize to fill his hands, and her waist nipped in, creating an hourglass shape, that showcased her gorgeous ass. His dick stirred and started to thicken despite the fact it was not seeing any action today. Or in the near future.

Kasi still needed time to come to grips with what Levi had figured out in mere seconds.

They were meant for each other.

So he closed his eyes, gave his cock a “be patient” speech, then started making a mental list of next steps.

Kasi was too thin, her ribs protruding more than he liked. He had every intention of making sure she ate three meals a day from this point on. There would be no more leaving Kasi to her own devices. She’d proven today she couldn’t be trusted to take care of herself.

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