S.O.B.

  “We don’t even have to get dressed if we don’t want to,” Levi suggests. “If it’s late enough, we’ll have the place to ourselves and can go skinny dipping.”

  “Um, no. That defeats the purpose of using the pool.”

  “Actually, I think that is the purpose of using the pool. We evolved from the water, dear sister. Clothes are a modern form of decoration and a means to stifle our sexuality. We’re meant to be naked.”

  Leaving the bed, I cross the room to the bureau and begin searching the top drawer for a pair of fresh socks. “You’re missing the point. You need to exercise, and it’s my job to make sure that you do.”

  “All fun and no play makes Levi a dull boy.”

  “And all play makes David Black a very angry man. Come on, Levi. Your dad is going to have my ass if you’re not back on the field at the end of the month.”

  Sitting up, Levi props his elbows on his knees and leans into them. “Would it be such a bad thing if I stopped playing?”

  Brows knitting together, I ask, “What do you mean? You don’t want to play soccer anymore?”

  His shoulders lift. Staring down at his hands, Levi talks to the floor. “I’ve been playing the game for almost as long as I could walk, and I love it. I do. I can’t remember a time when soccer wasn’t a part of my life, but...”

  “But what?” I prompt. He said it himself. Levi’s whole life has been soccer. It’s all anyone ever talks about. It’s his career, and a lot of people are depending on him. Including me. If he doesn’t get back out there, what happens to me? Will I still have a job lined up at the end of this?

  “Do you know how many bones I’ve broken?” He waits a beat and then answers. “Yeah, me either. I lost count back in high school, but let me tell you, it’s not fun.”

  “Yeah, but you’re young and strong. You always bounce back. I’ve seen you.”

  “I used to bounce back,” he corrects me. “I’m still young, I know that, but try telling my body that. Every day is a challenge to get out of bed. Have you seen my medicine cabinet?” I shake my head, but he’s not looking at me. “I have to take a cocktail of pills just to function most days because sometimes the pain is just too damn much.”

  With my socks in hand, I walk back and sit down beside him. “I had no idea.”

  “No one does. My dad makes sure of it,” Levi replies with a bitter edge.

  “If you’re so miserable, why don’t you talk to him about it? I’m sure he’d help you find something else to do. With all your experience, you could go back to school and become a trainer or a coach. Something to keep you close to the game without having to be in it.”

  “I’ve already talked to him and he doesn’t give a shit. I’m David Black’s cash cow. Do you have any idea how much money we make off endorsements alone? It doesn’t matter if I want out or not. The only way he’s going to let me walk is if it’s in a wheelchair.”

  I can’t process what he’s just told me. I don’t know my stepfather well, but I know enough to say that he loves his son. “He’s your dad, Levi. I’m sure if you explained it to him like you just did to me, he’d help you. I doubt he’d be happy knowing you’re not.”

  “Then you don’t know my father. You know how he is with your mother. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Imagine living under his thumb your whole life.”

  I can’t imagine something I’ve never experienced. David may not be a good husband, but he’s always been kind to me. “Levi—”

  “You know what I want to do today?” Popping off the bed, Levi rounds on me, excitement flashing in his eyes.

  I frown at the sudden change in his demeanor, but it’s clear that he’s done talking. “What?”

  “Something fun. Something that will get our blood pumping.”

  “Sounds dangerous,” I muse. Anything that gets Levi Black this amped up is definitely a cause for concern.

  “Would you rather sit around here all day and be bored?”

  Parting my socks, I gather one up and slide it over my toes. “How about you tell me where you’re going and I’ll have the ambulance meet you there.”

  “Don’t be such a drama queen,” Levi chastises. Reaching out, he takes my hands and lifts me to my feet. “If you’re going to live with me, then you have to learn to live.”

  “I already lived enough for one day when I agreed to go for a ride on your motorcycle.”

  His eyes twinkle with mirth. “Tell me you didn’t enjoy riding on my hog,” he purrs as he loops his arm around my back and pulls me up against his chest.

  I ignore the blatant innuendo, but I can’t deny the truth because I definitely enjoyed myself. Being that close to Levi, having the excuse to wrap myself around him and feel every inch of his hard body against mine was the stuff of dreams. The power of that machine combined with his command and confidence behind the wheel still gets me hot under the collar just thinking about it.

  If whatever he has up his sleeve is even half as arousing as that, then maybe I should stop struggling and do what he said—live. Relenting, I ask, “What did you have in mind?”

  “Oh, princess. If I told you that, it’d ruin the surprise.” Releasing me, he slaps my behind and pushes me toward the bed. “Get ready and meet me downstairs in ten.” He heads for the door, but pauses before passing through it. “Oh, and don’t worry. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to use those magic fingers today. Just make sure you wear something comfortable. This is going to be the best day ever!”

  12

  This is the worst day ever.

  When Levi said he was going to surprise me, I should have known it’d be something crazy and death defying. He’s insane. A madman. I’m going to kick him in the nuts.

  “You’re out of your mind if you think I’m going to do this,” I yell over the deafening roar of the engines.

  We’re flying in a plane I don’t know how many feet up in the air, but it’s enough to see the top of the clouds and that’s not okay with me. My heart is pounding so hard it’s about to leap out of my chest and Levi has the nerve to laugh. I’m glad he finds my terror so amusing. I’ve decided to break his nose, too.

  “There’s no turning back now!” he shouts back.

  We’re inches apart, and we have to yell to hear one another. How awesome is that? I think I’m going to puke. Worse yet, the instructor claims that the only way to leave the plane is to jump. Ha! I’ll tell Levi what I told him.

  “Go fuck yourself. I’m not jumping out of a plane!”

  “Then why did you get on in the first place?” He’s still laughing, and I’m getting angrier by the second.

  “It wasn’t my choice, asshole!”

  When we arrived at the hangar, at few scenarios ran through my head. Maybe we were going to see an air show. Maybe he was learning to fix planes. Maybe he was taking flying lessons. I never minded flying. I just never dreamed Levi was planning to make me jump out of one. When I realized his plan, I spun on my heel with the intention of waiting in the car until he returned. If he returned. I was already planning a eulogy. Something heartfelt. Something a sister would say about her beloved asshole of a stepbrother. Now, all I’m planning is how I’m going to murder him.

  As soon as Levi realized where I was going, he chased me down—literally—and threw me over his shoulder. Of all the indignities, being carried off with your underwear exposed for all the world to see has to top the list—he could have at least warned me that a dress was not appropriate attire.

  Despite kicking and screaming, no one batted an eyelash. No one offered to rescue me. I guess being the son of a rich and powerful man and being a national heartthrob means you can kidnap people and get away with it.

  “Come on, princess, you’re gonna love it,” Levi swears.

  I don’t trust a damn word that comes out of his mouth. I’ve heard those words before, and look how things turned out.

  “Fuck you, Levi! If you want to be an idiot and risk your life, then go for it. But leave me out of it!
” One of the attendants or whatever the hell he is comes up behind me and loops a backpack onto my shoulders. When I look over my shoulder at him, he shouts, “Safety precaution!”

  Well, you can’t have too much of that this high off the ground.

  Lifting my arms so he can fasten the thing on me, I turn my attention back to Levi, ready to tear into him. “Does your father know you’re doing this?” He’s going to kill him, and I plan to be there handing him the weapon.

  “What?” Levi motions to his ears.

  Great, he can’t hear me.

  I lean in, raising my voice until I can hear myself speaking in my own ears. “Does your father know—ahhh!”

  That son of a bitch! Levi snatches me up by the straps on my shoulders and my body pitches off balance as he yanks me up hard against his chest. Then...

  We’re plummeting through the air. Racing toward the clouds...through them...Seeing the ground rushing up to meet us, I scream and grapple for Levi. I’m fighting the force of gravity as I struggle to climb his body, to wrap myself around him. My heart is in my throat, beating like a drum. Chaos is racing through my head, my life flashing before my eyes as I clutch Levi’s shoulders and bury my face in the side of his neck.

  He certainly hadn’t lied when he said I’d be using my fingers a lot today. They’re currently embedded in his shoulders. If I had it my way, they’d be clawing his eyes out, but I’m too busy hanging on for my life.

  “I’ve got you!” Levi yells.

  Surprisingly, that does make me feel better, but only marginally. I can feel my breakfast climbing higher up my throat. It’ll serve him right if I throw up on him.

  The wind whips around us, flattening our bodies together as we hurdle through the air. I hate him. I hate him so much right now. I want to punch him. I want to cry. I want to wake up and find that I never left Chicago. That I’m still in my bed, safe and warm, miles away from this madness.

  Just when I think I might actually have a heart attack, we’re jerked backward violently and then...everything grows calmer. We’re still in the air, wind whipping around us, but we’re no longer speeding like a bullet to our deaths. We’re sailing, coasting along on the air currents. That’s when I realize Levi’s pulled the cord on his pack, releasing his parachute.

  “Look, Vista,” Levi says softly into my ear. “You don’t want to miss this.”

  I shake my head, trying to catch my breath, to calm my frantic pulse, but I’m curious. I’m also freaked the hell out. I like my feet on the ground, and we’re so far from it.

  “Come on, princess. The hard part is over. Don’t puss out on me now. Just look.”

  I sneer at his remark. I’m not a chicken, and I’m entitled to have fears. It’s natural. Everyone has at least one and this is mine. Still...

  I find myself following his command. Lifting my head, I catch his blue eyes first, my stomach finally beginning to calm as I hold onto his gaze. The skin around his eyes crinkles, giving me silent encouragement, and I take it. Peering cautiously over my shoulder, I can’t help but to gasp at the sight surrounding us.

  Blue conifers. Rolling green hills. Houses that resemble Monopoly pieces, they’re so small. Farther out, I see a group of horses grazing and a thin stream cutting a winding path through the landscape. It’s so picturesque. I never knew nature could be like this.

  “Levi,” I breathe, struggling to take it all in.

  “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

  I nod, because I can’t find words eloquent enough to express what I’m feeling. Beautiful doesn’t begin to cover it.

  Shifting my weight, I twist my head around to take in every angle of the view. Levi’s strong arms cinch tighter around my waist, holding me securely against him, reminding me that he’s got me and he’s not letting go. And that’s when I realize...I trust him.

  Why? I don’t know, but for some reason, way up here, I feel safer than I ever have with anyone else. Levi’s hold on me is powerful, and I don’t just mean that in the physical sense. He’s held me since day one, and despite the time and distance that’s passed between us, here we are again.

  I can’t believe it took jumping out of an airplane to finally see it, but I do now, and I know I can’t go back. I can’t pretend that this month doesn’t mean something. I can’t continue pretending that Levi doesn’t matter. Because he does. Maybe too much.

  Of course, all of this is inappropriate. Our parents are married, which means there’s no hope for us. Even if Levi returned the feelings, we could never work. But this arrangement? It has to. Like it or not, my mother has given me an opportunity to excel. If I walk away now, it would be disrespectful, not to mention embarrassing. No doubt, Levi would think it was because I can’t handle being with him, and I’m not about to give him the satisfaction of proving him right. I’ll do what I have to do and stick this month out, but Levi was right. I might as well live while I’m here. So, I’ll take what I want from Levi, and when time is up, I’ll go. I buried these feelings before, and I can damn well do it again.

  As Levi brings us safely back to earth, his smile is so wide and filled with joy that I can’t help feeling it, too. He has this infectious quality about him that makes it impossible not to empathize with his moods.

  “So, what did you think?”

  “I think you’re crazy and I never want to do that again,” I tell him as I peel my fingers from his shoulders and feel the solid ground beneath my feet again. “But I’m also glad I went. I can cross skydiving off my bucket list.”

  “You have a bucket list?”

  “Yep. I made it when I was a kid.” I used to be a dreamer before I became an adult and realized that everything takes money and time, neither of which I have much of.

  Escorting me back to the hangar where we started this crazy journey, Levi asks, “How much of it have you checked off?”

  “This is the first.”

  Stopping in his tracks, Levi stares at me like I’ve sprouted a second head. “Are you serious?”

  “Yes, why?”

  Shaking his head, he continues on. “I just figured with someone as ambitious as you, you would have at least half of it done. I had mine almost done, but with all the traveling, I’ve been adding to it.”

  “You have a list?” I ask, looking up at him.

  “Doesn’t everybody?”

  I don’t know, but we do, and I feel strangely happy knowing that we share that common thread. Having something in common with Levi gives me a warm feeling in my chest that isn’t entirely uncomfortable but is completely worrisome.

  I can tell by the way he avoids eye contact that Levi can sense something has changed, too. Thankfully, he doesn’t look any more eager than I feel to talk about it. He helps me strip out of my pack, letting his hands linger a little longer than necessary before removing his own, and then we’re back in the car, speeding back to his penthouse.

  13

  “Dig in deep, princess. Oh, yeah, right there.”

  I’m laid out on the chaise lounge in the middle of the living room receiving the best massage of my life. Vista’s fingers are magic. They press down in all the right places, like they know exactly where the aches have formed and are on a mission to eliminate them. Ever since the skydiving stunt I pulled, she’s been quiet. Stiff. Reserved in a way that makes me want to draw out some of that fire I know she has inside of her.

  She thinks I didn’t notice the change in her, but I did. Something happened up there among the clouds. Something that makes her even more uncomfortable to be around me than she was when she first arrived, and I know exactly what it is.

  She hasn’t been able to take her eyes off me. I know, because I haven’t been able to take my eyes off her. Having sex with her wasn’t my brightest idea. Instead of working out years’ long frustrations, it’s only complicated things further. I can’t stop thinking about how it felt to be inside her and, God help me, once wasn’t enough. So, to distract myself from throwing her down on the floor and crawling bac
k inside her, I’ve decided to put her to work doing exactly what she came here to do: keep my muscles loose. I don’t know if it’s due to the talk we had or that she’s looking for any excuse to touch me, but I’ve somehow managed to talk her into a full-body massage, citing the aches and pains that require medicinal intervention most days. And it’s not a lie. My body is sore, just maybe not as much as I claimed.

  Best. Decision. Ever.

  “You can move the towel, you know,” I inform her as she reaches the base of my spine. For a split second, she freezes, and then sets back to work, grinding the pads of her fingers in deeper. “I’m not wearing any underwear, in case you were wondering,” I continue. I probably shouldn’t, but I can’t stop goading her. Reading her reaction is more entertaining than watching television.

  “I wasn’t,” she snaps then, much to my disappointment, she removes her hands and steps away. “You’re done.”

  I’m done. I hear the truth behind her words and it bothers me because I’m not even close to being finished here. Pressing my hands into the table, I sit up, allowing the towel around my hips to split open before closing the gap. Accident? Maybe. Maybe not. Vista’s eyes flare and dart away and I smirk, knowing she caught a glimpse of my package.

  “What’s wrong, princess?” I ask innocently as I set my feet on the floor. “You’re looking a little flushed.”

  “It’s hot in here,” she says with a dismissive flick of her hand. She works fast, shoving her oils back into the designated pockets of the bag before retreating toward the kitchen. “How are you feeling?” she asks distractedly as she pours herself a glass of water from the sink and gulps it down.

  Rolling my shoulders, I don’t feel the usual pinches and aches I’ve grown used to, which is impressive. Being active takes a toll on the body. “Like a fool for not hiring you sooner,” I say honestly. “Where’d you learn to use your hands like that?” It’s a rhetorical question, but she snorts in amusement.

  “I went to college, remember?”