Mine To Honor (Southern Wedding Series Book 7) (Southern Weddings)
Mine To Honor: Chapter 21

“What time is it now?” he mumbles from beside me as I crash into bed on my side. My feet are still off the bed, but I’m pretty sure I can fall asleep on the wooden floor.

“I think a little after four,” I reply, not even bothering covering myself up. “How has she been up most of the night and she’s not even tired?”

“I think she’s overtired,” he offers and I look over at him annoyed.

“No one asked you, Levi,” I snarl before turning back to my side of the bed. Ever since I woke up with my ass pushed against him and my legs tangled with his, I’ve been literally stuck to my side of the bed.

I curl into a ball, feeling the bed move from his laughing. “I get it now,” he remarks and I groan out.

“What do you get?” I don’t even know why I’m talking; I should be saving my energy.

“The movie with Al Pacino in it. Insomnia. I didn’t get it before, how he went crazy from lack of sleep. But now,” he mumbles, “now, I get it. I think I’m getting delirious.”

I can’t keep from laughing now, my whole body moving as I laugh. “You are also,” he declares, and we both hear it at the same time.

The fucking wail makes us both groan. “Is it possible?” I look over at him. “Like should we take her to the ER?”

“No.” He gets up. “I may or may not have read online that teething and sleep don’t go hand in hand.”

“Did you or did you not?” I roll out of bed, looking over at him.

“At this point right here.” His eyes are still closed, allowing me to check him out. His chest is bare and very defined. His shorts ride low on one side of his hips, there is just a hint of hair on his stomach that is almost like a flashing arrow leading down to his cock. I’ve been around him for a long time, seen him pick up girls, but I’ve never seen his dick as defined as it was a couple of hours ago. “I have no idea.”

He shakes his head and I turn and walk out of the bedroom toward her room. “Baby girl,” I groan, taking her out of her crib. “There is nothing that I can do for you.”

“Bring her to me!” Levi shouts from our bedroom.

“Do you want to come to sleep with us in the bed?” I ask as she sucks her pacifier and she points at the door. “Ugh, don’t tell me you’ve fallen in love with him, too.”

I walk back to the bedroom. “Who else is in love with me?” he questions as soon as I clear the doorway.

“Every woman but me falls for the Levi charm.” I avoid looking in his eyes, because at this point I’m not sure of anything that is going on. My nipples are getting hard looking at his cock, my ass feels like it’s a magnet for his body, and it’s just been a very, very long night. I place her in the middle of the bed on her bum. She smiles when she sees Levi and turns toward him and places her head on his chest. “Ugh,” I say, getting in bed, “another one bites the dust.”

He can’t help but laugh. “The only one who has never fallen for my charm is you.” He rubs her back. “What’s up, baby girl?” He looks down at her, his five o’clock shadow showing, his voice thick with sleep. “You’re tired, aren’t you?” In one swift movement, he brings her on his chest and moves more into the bed.

“You are smashing the barrier,” I tell him as he turns his face toward me.

“Your ass broke that barrier less than four hours ago.” He turns his head back and closes his eyes. “Now, why don’t you stop talking and let’s see how long she sleeps?”

“This is probably why I didn’t fall for your charm,” I grumble, “you are the most annoying person I know.”

“Shh,” he says to me, my eyes going to Cici. I see her eyes are getting heavier and heavier.

I move the pillow to the other side of me, against my back, as I watch the two of them, the soft light coming in from the sun rising outside. Both of them sleeping, his arms protective around her. That is the last thing I see before I fall asleep.

My eyes blink open and I’m in the same position I was when I fell asleep. I blink a couple of times and see the bed next to me is empty. “Levi?” I call his name, turning to look at the bedroom door but it’s closed. Getting out of bed, I walk over and pull open the door, going downstairs where I replace them.

Cici sits on her foam carpet in front of Levi, who is wearing exactly what he did when he went to bed. His hair looks like he ran his fingers through it, and his back is up against the couch while he holds a cup of coffee in one hand. “This is blue,” he says, holding up a blue ball in his hand and rolling it to her.

She squeals as she grabs the ball in her hand. “Blue,” he says again. He smiles at her and must feel me staring at him because he looks over at me. “Good afternoon.” He smirks, drinking his coffee.

“It’s not even,” I counter, turning my hand over to see that it’s after one in the afternoon. “Oh my God,” I huff. “Why did you let me sleep so long?”

“You were out, like out-out. Like drool-coming-out-of-your-mouth out.” My hand immediately flies to my cheek to feel if it’s wet, making him laugh at me.

“How long have you been up?” I ask, walking over to the coffee machine.

“About an hour, she just finished her bottle.”

“An hour?” I ask, looking at him as the smell of coffee fills the room. “Did she have a fever?”

“No, fever-free.” He puts his one hand up in the air. “I also tried to feed her cereal and she was like, not having it.”

I carry my cup of coffee over to the couch, sitting on it, watching them. “She looks better,” I note, taking her in as she smiles with her pacifier in her mouth. “Oh, now we’re happy?” I ask. “If you want to go to sleep, I can watch her.”

“Nah.” He shakes his head and all I can do is watch it. “I’m up, coffee drank. It’s a new day.”

I don’t answer him because his phone rings from upstairs in our bedroom. “I’ll be back.” He jumps up and runs to the stairs, and I watch him take them two at a time.

I turn back to look at Cici who is just staring at me, like yeah, I see you staring at him. “Oh, please, you fell asleep on his chest.” I get up, going onto the floor with her. “So you can’t judge me.” I lean over and rub my nose with hers. “He’s got a nice body, I never denied that.” I take a sip of the coffee. “Now let’s talk about why you were up all night and now you didn’t eat your cereal.” She looks at me, her pacifier dropping out of her mouth as she babbles to me. “Yeah, is that so?” I nod at her. “Let’s see if you are hungry now.”

Picking her up, I walk her over to her high chair and place her in it, buckling her in. “Do you want some fruit this morning, or actually, this afternoon?” I walk over to the refrigerator and take out some strawberries I know she loves, washing them and then cutting them into tiny pieces. She grabs the pieces in her hand, eating some but then dumping the rest on the floor. “We might have to get a dog.” She starts crying from her high chair as I wet a facecloth, walking over and wiping her face. She tries to move away from me. “It’s just for a second,” I tell her, “there, done.” Her soft cries now turn into a high-pitched cry. “Oh my goodness,” I coo calmly, picking her up. “What is the matter?” I put my cheek on her head and she’s really warm.

“What’s going on?” Levi comes down the stairs, looking as if I’m the one making her cry.

“She’s warm,” I tell him, walking back up to her bedroom where I left the thermometer last night or this morning. “I’m going to check her temperature,” I state. As soon as I walk into her bedroom, she projectile vomits all over me. I literally stop mid step as her vomit goes down my shirt.

I close my eyes, thinking this isn’t happening. “I guess that is why she’s crying?” Levi says from behind me.

“Oh my God,” I gag, turning my head to the side, not breathing. “I’m going to throw up.”

“Okay,” Levi jumps in, “I’ve got her. I think someone needs a bath.” He holds her at arm’s length. “Like a full bath and shower.” He puts his hand to the side. “I think she also pooped.” He gags. “How attached are we to these clothes?” he asks as he turns her and I see that she did poop and it’s going up her back. “We are tossing everything, except the kid.”

“I’ll change and come and get her,” I say, walking toward my bedroom.

“Don’t worry about me,” he throws over his shoulder, “worry about yourself. It’s all over your legs.”

“Oh, good God,” I mumble.

“Throw out those clothes, too,” he urges, and all I do is walk into the bathroom, closing the door behind me.

I take one look down and see chunks of white mixed with pieces of berries. “Maybe we should have not done the fruit.” I peel the clothes down my body, tossing them into the trash bin, before turning and starting the shower. I place my hand under the warm water stream before getting in.

Putting my head back as the water washes over me, my eyes close and it’s immediately visions of Levi. “Fucking hell,” I mumble, grabbing the loofah and adding some body wash to it before lifting my leg, starting to lather it from my ankle up. “Looking at my dick is getting your nipples hard.” His voice from before plays in my head. I look down seeing the same nipples that were hard when I was looking at his dick. The memory of his dick now plays over and over in my head. I place the loofah at my neck, my nipples getting tight as the soap suds wash down. I rub my nipples with the loofah and my breath hitches. “Fuck,” I whisper when I close my eyes and I picture him here with me, naked in the shower. The loofah falls from my hands as my fingers move down my stomach and toward my pussy. I slide a finger inside me as I picture him getting on his knees, his eyes looking up at me as his mouth devours me. His blue eyes turning a dark emerald color as his tongue licks me from my clit to my opening before sliding it in there. “Yes,” I hiss, slipping in another finger as my thumb plays with my clit, the sensation making me moan. My eyes close, picturing they’re his fingers, his tongue, his teeth. “Oh, God,” I moan so loud it echoes.

“You okay in there?” I hear him knocking on the door, and my hands drop away from me.

My heart speeds up as I try not to stutter. “Um, yeah,” I call back, closing my eyes and almost banging my head on the tiled wall.

“Are you sure?” I look at the closed door, turning off the water and grabbing a towel.

“Of course I’m sure,” I tell him, waiting for him to say something else. “Nice,” I scold myself, picking up the loofah and hanging it on the handle before stepping out. “Smooth.” I dry myself off, grabbing a pair of shorts and another tank top from the clean clothes basket I haven’t put away yet. Getting dressed and pulling open the door, the last thing I expect is to walk out and see him lying on the bed. “Where is Cici?”

“She’s in bed napping.” He looks over at me. “Gave her a bath and she was practically sleeping when I was dressing her.”

“Oh, good.” I walk over to the monitor and see her in the middle of her crib on her back, sleeping.

“How was the shower?” My eyes fly back to his and I can see the twinkle in them.

“Fine, why?” I try not to let it show on my face what I was doing in there. Unless he put up a camera in there, he knows nothing.

“I don’t know, I think I heard you moaning.” His eyes never leave mine.

“Well, you didn’t because I wasn’t.” My head screams at me to deny until the end.

“Oh, baby,” he says and just the way he says baby my pussy contracts and my nipples get hard. Motherfucking traitors, I yell internally at them both. “You were moaning.”

I roll my eyes at him. “No, I wasn’t.” I try to sound annoyed but he gets up, standing in front of me. The basketball shorts hang low on his hips and I’ve decided that I hate them. I hate them all. I also am ninety-nine percent sure he’s not wearing anything under them.

“Trust me.” He points at me as he walks to the front of the bed. “I don’t know a lot of things, but moaning—” He chuckles. “That I know.”

I glare at him. “I bet you do.” I fold my arms over my chest to hide the fact that my nipples also know what he knows.

“I’m just saying, if you need a little help.” He puts his hands on his hips and cocks one of them.

I clap my hands and laugh. “You are going to help me?”

“Hey, as a friend.” He puts his hand on his chest and I wonder if it feels as hard as it looks. It must be a little soft if Cici wants to sleep on it all the time. “I’m just trying to be helpful.” I glare at him for two reasons. One, because he’s right, and two, because I’m almost tempted to just take him up on his offer. My stomach gets tight, my nipples tingle, and I swear I’m getting wet just standing here in front of him.

“I’m going to take a shower.” My eyes betray me and roam down his chest and to his dick. Showing me he’s hard again.

“If anyone needs help”—I point down at his dick—“that would be you.”

“You offering to help me?” His voice comes out thick with lust, so I think my mouth almost blurts out yes.

I don’t think it’s ever been this hard to say this word before. “No.” I shake my head. “I’m going to go check on Cici.” Turning to walk out of the room, my whole face feels like it’s on fire.

“Pink looks good on you,” he teases, right before I step out of the bedroom.

I look down at my black shorts and top. “I’m not wearing pink!”

He smirks and chuckles walking to the bathroom, and right before he closes the door, he says, “I meant your cheeks, baby.”