A Chip and a Chair (Seven of Spades, #5)(108)
With a guttural shout, Dominic yanked Levi’s ass flush to his hips and arched against him, grinding his cock deep inside Levi as he came. His hips slowed gradually, in time with his harsh breathing, but he was still thrusting a little when he captured Levi’s mouth in a kiss.
They were both too winded to kiss for long. Dominic flopped back onto the sand; Levi collapsed on top of him, keeping him inside. Levi’s own come smeared wet and warm between their chests, but they were so soaked with sweat that it barely registered.
Panting, Levi kissed Dominic’s Hebrew tattoo, then turned his head to rest his cheek on it so he could listen to the fast, strong beat of Dominic’s heart. Dominic draped one arm loosely over Levi’s back.
They lay joined together in the warm sand, with the summer sun beaming down on them and the lake washing softly onto the shore at their feet.
Levi did what he could to help Dominic with dinner, but he was limited to tasks with no chance of ruining the food, like setting the table and opening the wine. After the delicious meal Dominic grilled, they sat by the fire pit in the backyard to eat dessert while they watched the sun set over the lake.
Dominic had found the perfect compromise between his sweet tooth and Levi’s lack thereof: he’d made grilled fruit skewers for them both, and paired his own with vanilla ice cream. They chatted about his morning at the farmer’s market for a bit, but the sunset was so gorgeous that they soon lapsed into silence.
Even after everything that had brought them here, this was the happiest Levi had been in his entire life. He’d never felt this whole, this capable of welcoming the future instead of dreading it. And those feelings weren’t just the product of privacy, or time to relax, or the natural beauty of their surroundings.
They were thanks in large part to the man sitting beside him.
Levi glanced at Dominic, who was in deep communion with his dessert bowl. The possibility that had been tugging at Levi’s brain for a few days abruptly coalesced into a certainty. No-a necessity.
“I’ve been thinking,” he said.
Dominic shifted his attention to Levi, swallowing his mouthful of ice cream and fruit.
“About what’ll happen when we go back to Las Vegas.”
“That’s still a long way off.” His forehead creasing, Dominic set his bowl aside. “You don’t have to-”
“I do. We can’t pretend that this . . .” Levi waved a hand to encompass the woods and lake. “. . . is going to last forever, as much as we might like it to. The problems we left behind in Las Vegas will still be waiting for us when we go back. The notoriety, the media attention, the fallout from Natasha’s betrayal-none of it will have gone away.”
Though Dominic’s frown deepened, he didn’t speak.
“I know you’re worried about me, and for good reason. I didn’t exactly handle the past year well.”
Dominic scooted to the edge of his chair and leaned forward intently. “Nobody could have handled the past year better than you did. What Natasha put you through would have wrecked anyone else.”
“It wrecked me,” said Levi. “Which might have been okay, except I was already a wreck. I’ve been a hot mess for a long time. I can’t cope with stress; I run away from uncomfortable emotions; I don’t trust people. All of that made me an easier target for her-because I’ve defined my entire adult life by the pain I’ve endured.”
With a startled blink, Dominic sat back.
Levi spoke slowly, searching for the right words to articulate the realizations he’d made during weeks of self-reflection. “When I was attacked in college, I let it take me over. It filled me with an anger I’d never had before, drove me across the country, changed my personality. And when the Seven-when Natasha started up, it was the same pattern. The way I let my suffering define me, it’s like I’m saying that those painful events are the most important things that’ve happened to me.”
Dominic reached out to hold Levi’s hand.
“But they aren’t. Or at least, I don’t want them to be.” Levi intertwined their fingers. “If my life is going to be defined by anything, I want it to be defined by love. And the most important thing that’s ever happened to me is falling in love with you.”
“Levi,” Dominic said softly. In the darkening twilight, the radiance of the fire played in golden flickers across his face, setting him aglow.
“Even during the worst year of my life, you found ways to make me smile and laugh.” There was a time when it would have been difficult for Levi to speak like this, but now the words poured forth without effort. “You’ve seen me at my worst, and you didn’t flinch. You give me strength and courage and joy, and that’s why I’m not afraid to go back to Vegas. There’s nothing I can’t face if we’re together. There’s no pain that’s more powerful than my love for you.”
“Levi.” Dominic’s throat bobbed. His eyes were wide, his hand tight around Levi’s own. “You know I feel the same way.”
“I do. You make me happy, Dominic.” Levi’s heart thumped as anxiety finally set in. “And I want to make you happy for the rest of our lives.”
He drew one deep breath, then slid to his knees in the sand.
Dominic’s mouth fell open. “What . . .”
“I don’t really know how to do this,” Levi admitted. “It’s probably not as romantic as you would’ve made it, and I don’t have a ring or anything-I don’t know if I’m even supposed to-”