Chapter 14

DIANA

“Let me take you out properly. Tonight.”

Coming from any other man, I would have disagreed in a heartbeat. Not just ~no~, but a vehement ~hell no~. Yet, when Levi Stark asked, I stuttered and stammered like a schoolgirl with a crush.

He’d made me come twice by midday. By the time the infuriating rock star asked me out, my brain had turned to jelly. The contents of my skull matched the wobble in my legs when I walked.

For the rest of the day, we made progress on Levi’s album. Minute by minute, I grew increasingly eager to go out with him. I was unsure how I made it through the second half of the day with all the daydreams running through my mind.

My carefully crafted walls were crumbling around me all because Levi made my kitty purr. I’d be a feral wildcat in heat yowling outside his windows next.

Where would he take me? What would we do? What did a date with Levi Stark entail?

Dangerous questions like these could land me in trouble. The only thing I knew for certain was that I intended to let him fuck me. I wanted it more than I’d wanted anything in the past ten years.

For a decade, I’d been confined in a hell of my own making, and I wanted out. Bantering back and forth with Levi, working with him on a project that sparked my creativity again, made me feel as if I were standing under the sunlight for the first time in my life.

His warmth kissed my skin like solar light on a hot summer day. I was ready to strip down and get a tan.

Without knowing where Levi intended to take me, I had to guess the outfit and shoes. For a late winter date on a Monday night, I opted for an ultra-dark green midi dress over opaque black tights, paired with flat-heeled ankle boots.

I thought twice about the easy access Levi had earlier. Then I hastily stripped the tights off. Second-guessing wearing underwear, I stopped at my thong.

~Fuck it.~

My panties joined the tights on the tile floor.

Facing the bathroom mirror again, I swiped away the condensation leftover from my shower, then finished my hair. Soft curls seemed simple enough for a first date with a rock star.

Right as I hesitated with lip-gloss against my bottom lip, six rapid-fire knocks echoed from my front door. The sound made my heart lurch into my throat, and the lip-gloss dropped into my sink.

“Oh, fuck. Ugh.”

Abandoning the pink gloss, I double-checked the rest of my makeup. Then I pushed a curl behind my ear, my stomach dipping with each second that I dawdled in my bathroom.

I tugged up the zipper for my boots and bolted through the bathroom door. Three more knocks on the front door sent me flying down my stairs, boots thudding louder than my heart.

“I’m coming!” I shouted.

At the door, with my fingers on the cold metal, I stole one last deep breath. It might be my last of the night because when I flung the door open, the man on the other side swept the air from my lungs.

Levi stood tall in his pristine black leather jacket and devilishly dark ass-hugging jeans. He’d brushed back his dark locks, and a few feather-light strands curled over his forehead.

Yet the red and pink rose bouquet in his hands caught my eyes. The pastel colors against his wide, dark frame tipped over something in my brain and kicked all the words out of my head.

“I…uh…got you flowers. I didn’t know what you liked, so I went with the classics.”

Levi shrugged nervously, one hand swiping over the back of his neck.

“Roses. They’re lovely.”

And completely unexpected.

I accepted the flowers, unaware of the amazed smile pulling at the corners of my lips. My eyes drifted shut as I cradled the flowers to my nose and breathed in the floral scent.

“Yeah, lovely,” Levi intoned.

His eyes weren’t on the roses.

His voice got my attention, and I looked up at him. The intensity in his gaze startled me, froze me, and my muscles forgot how to move. Each brittle breath filled my lungs with burning air.

“Why don’t you come in while I find a vase for these?” I asked over my dry tongue.

Levi shook his head, avoiding eye contact. “I don’t think I should.”

I paused, halfway turned away from the door.

“Why not?”

Levi leaned in, bracing his elbows on the doorframe. His wide silhouette blocked the outside world from view, and he was the only thing in my sight.

“If I cross this threshold, we won’t make it to our reservation, Diana.”

The dark rasp of his promise sent shivers through my bones and coiled around my nerves.

“Oh…okay,” I stuttered back dumbly.

Faced with the elation in my blood that reddened my cheeks, I pivoted and vanished into my kitchen.

Once I’d placed the roses in a vase and left them on my counter, I flattened my palms on the cold surface, hoping to cool myself down. An unfairly attractive rock star was leaning in my doorway waiting for me, and I was hiding in the kitchen to calm down.

Part of me wanted him to burst in here with his shirt half off like the models on romance book covers and sweep me off my feet. But this was real life, and I needed to cool my heels.

I grabbed my black clutch and sucked in a lungful of air until my cheeks inflated. With my nerves settled, I blinked rapidly, then blew the air past my lips.

My boots clicked on the floor, echoing through my ears on my way to the door.

“Your chariot awaits,” Levi joked, gesturing toward a black Charger rumbling in the driveway.

He opened the front passenger door for me, and his intoxicating cologne lured me closer.

“Thank you,” I breathed, stealing a whiff of his scent before lowering into the car.

When I sat down, the heated seats warmed my bottom and more of his aroma invaded my senses.

Caged in the dark interior of his car with nowhere to go, and his fiery sideways glances, I felt like I was trapped with a starving animal. The red lights from the road glinted in his dangerous eyes, like a demon materializing from the shadows.

When he smiled, I half expected to see fangs in his mouth.

His brief glances were full of hunger and a possessive desire that provoked liquid heat between my thighs. If he didn’t stop staring at me, he’d find a puddle by the time we arrived at the restaurant, and I’d hate to ruin his leather seats.

“So, where are we going?”

The words clung to the inside of my throat like tar. I glued my eyes to the road. Otherwise, I wouldn’t stop staring right back at him.

“I heard your favorite food was sushi.”

Levi left it at that, smirking like a devil.

“Well, you heard right.” The muscles around my mouth ached from the smile etched on my face. I kept my head turned to hide my expression from him. I didn’t want it to go to his head.

However, the embarrassing gasp that escaped my mouth when he parked the car was all the victory he needed to inflate his ego.

I whipped around, gaping at him. “Kogane? You got us a table here?”

His confident smile grew, and he winked. “One of the best sushi places in Los Angeles still isn’t good enough for you, but it’ll do in a pinch.”

Levi hopped out of the car. I was too stunned to do anything except watch him jog around the front of the vehicle.

When he opened my door and offered his hand, I made myself look away from the brilliant restaurant lights to accept.

My palm slid against his warm hand, and the heat of him tore the veil of shock from my eyes.

Under my breath to avoid his ears, I mumbled, “There’s an absurdly high deposit to get a dinner reservation here.”

If we made it through dinner, I was fucking Levi Stark tonight.