He needed to move on, to get out of Whiskey Creek before he did something else he’d live to regret.
“Levi?” Callie shouted above the roar of his engine.
He blinked. He’d reached the farm but was still sitting astride his bike. She stood next to him, waiting for him to notice her.
Putting down the kickstand, he cut the engine.
“You coming in?” She gestured at the door she’d left open.
Her beautiful smile made his chest tighten with the kind of emotion he hadn’t felt, hadn’t been willing to feel, in a long time. “Yeah,” he said. But he couldn’t stay.
God, she was going to be hard to leave.
* * *
Levi was hungry. His stomach rumbled at the smell of the food Callie had prepared. But eating suddenly seemed like a terrible waste of time. As soon as he crossed the threshold of the living room, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her as if he hadn’t seen her in weeks.
“What is it?” she asked, startled by his intensity.
He shook his head. There was no point in telling her. She couldn’t stop Stacy because she couldn’t change what Levi had done. No one could. As much as he wished he could go back and live that night in Nevada over again, he couldn’t. It was the same with Behrukh.
Why did mistakes always have to be so...final?
Anyway, even if Callie could do something about Stacy, Levi wasn’t willing to hide behind her, refused to have a woman do battle for him. She’d had no problems with the people in her hometown before he came. He wanted to be sure there’d be no problems after.
“Levi?”
“Nothing,” he breathed against her neck as his mouth moved lower. “I just missed you.”
She held his face so she could look into his eyes, but he allowed that for only a second before stripping off her shirt and kissing her br**sts. He was driven to possess her in a way he hadn’t possessed her before, couldn’t wait to escape into the completeness she’d begun to offer him.
“I missed you, too,” she said, “but—”
But nothing. He wanted her. Now. She seemed to understand that when he interrupted her with a demanding kiss, then removed the rest of her clothes.
If she was surprised by his sudden aggression, by the urgency in his touch, she didn’t complain. She gasped as he claimed her with two fingers but arched into him as if she completely trusted him, and that made him grow even harder.
Although he was afraid she might press him for answers about his behavior, continue to question him about whether something had happened, she didn’t. She was already panting and moving against his palm, getting as swept away as he was.
“What do you want?” he whispered.
“I want you,” she said, and peeled off his shirt. Although he’d washed his hands at work, his clothes were no cleaner than they’d been earlier in the week, when he’d insisted on washing up before touching her. But a shower, or any other kind of delay, was out of the question. Today nothing seemed to matter except feeling her naked body against his, her softness yielding to his hardness, skin on skin.
“No one’s ever made me feel like you do,” she murmured.
Levi derived more satisfaction from the passion with which she’d said those words than the words themselves. It was exactly what he was looking for. But he refused to let the momentum carry them away too fast. This time their lovemaking wasn’t going to blow out in a gust of energy and enthusiasm. This wasn’t about meeting his needs. He wanted to make Callie shiver and quake and come apart in his arms again and again.
Even as that thought went through his mind, he recognized it as a juvenile, misguided attempt to ensure that she remembered him. But being able to give her pleasure seemed important, regardless.
“Again,” he said after she’d already climaxed several times. He urged her to roll on top of him, in case she was getting carpet burn, but she shook her head.
“I’m done,” she gasped, her chest rising and falling from exertion. “I’m too exhausted.”
That was the signal he’d been waiting for. She was satisfied. Pinning her arms above her head, he enjoyed the sight of her bare br**sts, completely open to his view, with the necklace he gave her resting at the base of her throat.
“That was wild,” she whispered when he finally slumped over her.
He didn’t answer. He was exhausted, too. Mentally exhausted, more than anything else.
Shifting to one side, so he could bear his own weight, he laid his head on her shoulder and felt her hand cup his cheek.
“Levi?”
He was breathing deeply, enjoying the scent that was so uniquely her. “Hmm?”
“Please tell me that wasn’t goodbye.”
He closed his eyes. He hated this part. He’d never thought he’d feel so strongly about a woman again. “I’m sorry,” he said.
* * *
Although Levi had packed his few belongings and put them in a bag by the door, Callie had talked him into staying one more day. They’d gone for a ride on his bike this morning, had stopped in the mountains and gone skinny-dipping in a stream. Now she was getting ready while he surfed sports sites on her laptop. According to Baxter’s latest text, her friends were on their way. She just had to get through their “intervention.” Then she’d have the rest of the day with Levi before their time came to an end.
She couldn’t believe that she’d managed to keep her condition from him, despite his proximity. Just yesterday, she’d been kicking herself for not telling him the truth. She’d been positive he was going to find out and then hate her. But now there was no reason to think anything would change before he left. She was feeling pretty good, overall, so she was glad she’d stuck to her decision. Thanks to her silence, they’d had two incredible weeks together, something that probably never would’ve happened otherwise. And just as she’d planned from the beginning, he’d go on with his life, untouched by what she was about to undergo.
“How do you know they’re coming?” Levi asked.
She fished her mascara out of her makeup bag. “Baxter tipped me off.”
“I don’t get it. What do they think is wrong?”
“I haven’t been returning their calls and showing up at coffee on Fridays.”
“Because...”
“I’ve been busy. First the farm. And then you. But they’re convinced I’ve been acting strange.” No doubt she had been acting strange. She’d been struggling to cope with her own mortality, no easy thing at thirty-two. So this was one more lie...to him and to them. But after he left, she was ready to tell her friends and her family. Having Baxter’s support at the hospital had been wonderful. She was ready for more of that—even if it came with a cost.