She sighed. “Fine. On top of livid and confused, I’m raring to fucking kill someone. Namely him. But I don’t have his name. It’s seriously bugging my demon that we don’t know who we’re up against so can’t even go hunting—”
“You won’t need to, I will do the hunting for you.” His demon growled its agreement. “That bastard takes up enough of your mental space as it is—that’s as much as he’s getting. It fucking offends me that he’s on your mind at all. I hate it.”
“So do I. Jesus, it was annoying enough when he was vandalizing my shit. I thought he’d get bored and back off. Even if I’d expected him to escalate, I never would have thought he’d escalate to this extent. But he did. And now we’re both stuck dealing with it instead of being able to focus on getting to know each other. Add in Celeste’s stunts and it’s just one massive clusterfuck. Him I can’t presently do anything about. But her? I’ll call her and—”
“No. I get that you want to make it clear you won’t stand for her seeking me out. But she’s counting on that, Piper. She knows I’m right in that you and I being anchors has nothing to do with her. So she’s trying to make herself relevant to us. She’s trying to get our attention in the only way she knows how. You call or confront her, you’re playing into her hands.”
Piper rubbed at the back of her head. “I know. But it’s grating on my last nerve that she won’t just leave you alone. It has to be driving you nuts. A lot of your time and attention is already being taken up by all the crap going on around me. She’s only going to make it worse.”
“She won’t run me off, Piper.”
Unhappy he’d sensed the worry she’d hoped to hide, she shot him an annoyed frown.
He closed the small distance between them, loosely cuffing her arms with his hands before she could even think to take a step back. “She might think she has that power, but she doesn’t. No one and nothing does. Not even you.” The silken warning ghosted down her spine.
She swallowed, her mouth drying up at having him loom over her, his eyes glittering with something she couldn’t quite name. The compelling bastard could fluster her without any damn effort. “I’m not trying to chase you off.”
“Not anymore, no. But you’re still holding back from the bond. From me.”
“You said you’d give me time.”
“And I am.” Levi slid his hands up to settle on her shoulders, and his thumbs dug into her skin just right as he began a light massage, almost pulling a moan out of her. “That doesn’t mean I like it.”
She needed to pull back because, dammit, his touch felt a little too good, and it affected her a little too much. Especially now that sexual restlessness simmered low in her belly courtesy of that freaking kiss. It didn’t help matters that the potent, testosterone-laden pheromones he gave off were a distinct threat to her composure. Or that her demon was ushering her to pounce on him.
“I’m supposed to strengthen you, center you, mark you as mine, but I can’t do any of those things yet—that eats at me,” he went on. “I’m not trying to guilt you into giving me what I want. I’m simply explaining why it’s hard to grant you time.”
She bit back a groan as he moved his hands a little closer to her neck, his fingers still kneading and gliding. “Are you thinking I’m doing it so you’ll get fed up and walk away?” It was kind of hard to follow what he was saying when he was touching her this way.
“No.” Levi dipped his head, and his warm lips grazed her cheek. “By now, you know better than to think I’d ever give you up.” He left a trail of barely-there kisses along her face as he moved his mouth to her ear. “Don’t you?”
She shivered, her skin prickling as goosebumps rose on her flesh at the feel of his breath whispering over her ear, stirring the little hairs there. The air became thick, hot, electric. The rising tension made her pulse quicken and her breathing speed up.
Teeth scraped her earlobe. “Don’t you?” he repeated.
She squeezed her eyes shut, letting out a groan of frustration. “I’m trying to friend-zone you, Levi. You’re making it hard.”
A low chuckle rumbled out of him. “That doesn’t have a prayer of working.” He brushed his mouth over hers. “You and me … there’s something between us. The kind of something you can’t ignore. The kind that needs to be explored. So we’ll do that.”
She eyed him warily. “I’m not sure I want us crossing those sorts of lines.”
“We’ve already crossed them. I know your taste now. You know mine. There’s no undoing that.” He splayed one hand over her throat and let out a pleased hum. “Your pupils just swallowed the color of your eyes.”