Flight (The Crescent Chronicles #1)

Chapter Fifteen

There was something so natural about waking up in Levi's arms. I snuggled into him as he kissed the top of my head. Rolling over I looked at him, enjoying the look of contentment on his face. I had a sudden feeling that this was the real Levi. Maybe it was his rumpled hair, or the sleepiness still evident in his eyes, but there was a rawness about him that made it hard to believe he was the same arrogant man I met at the beginning of the summer.

"Good morning, beautiful," he said playfully, picking up a few strands of my hair where they lay on the pillow.

"Good morning." I smiled.

There wasn't even an ounce of awkwardness between us. You would have thought we had been waking up next to one another for years. I laughed to myself remembering that this was actually the second time we'd awoken together.

"You are so beautiful when you sleep," he said quietly.

"You watched me sleep?"

"Yeah, I couldn't resist. It's not often I'm around you when you aren't being all feisty and defensive. It was nice to see you completely peaceful for a change."

"I didn't get to see you sleep... too bad."

"You can always watch tonight."

"Tonight? What makes you think this is ever going to happen again?"

He raised an eyebrow "Sweetheart, you and I both know that there was nothing one time about last night."

I knew he was right and said nothing, realizing my silence was tantamount to agreement.

"How about we just stay here all day?" he asked, pulling me up on top of him.

I rolled off him. "Very funny. You know I have to meet Hailey for brunch." I looked at the clock on the bed stand. "Wow, I need to meet her soon, we slept late."

"Yeah, I guess we did. You could always call and cancel."

"Cancel on Hailey?" I said skeptically

"Okay, maybe not. She'll blame me and I'll be the one dealing with it." He laughed.

"Besides, you have plans this morning too, don't you?"

"As if I would choose basketball with the guys over this?"

"Well, either way I'm going, so you need to leave."

"Fine. But we're having dinner tonight. I have something to talk to you about."

"Dinner sounds good, but what do you need to tell me?" I asked curiously.

"Relax, it's a good thing." Levi fingered the ruby ring. "This looks good on you."

"Thanks, I like it." I had nearly forgotten the ring with such a whirlwind evening, but it looked just as beautiful in the morning.

"I'm glad." Levi watched as I slipped out of bed to find some clothes to throw on.

"If you're done staring, get dressed." I tossed his pants at him.

Catching them in one hand, he grudgingly got out of the bed and started dressing. "Okay, okay. Are you always this bossy in the morning?"

"I'm not exactly used to having company this early."

"Too bad, you're going to have to get used to it." He winked, fishing his shirt off the floor.

Pulling me into his arms, he trailed light kisses from my ear to my neck, almost making me forget how late I was running.

I pushed him away. "You better stop that, or we're never getting out of here."