Travis smiled, reached up to the side of his head, and tapped his ear.“I’m good,” he said, turning to give her a view of an earplug.
Parker barked a laugh and beamed at the incredibly thoughtful and well prepared man.“What about the lights and the smells?The people?”
Travis looked down at Kit before meeting her gaze again.“Two people I’m with aren’t so bad.”He leaned over and brushed the shell of her ear with his nose.“And the lights give a better view of just how gorgeous you look tonight.As long as you’re right next to me, all I smell is you.”
When Travis pulled back, there was definitely lust in his gaze, but also so much affection that Parker thought she felt her heart crack from growing three sizes in two seconds.“That’s really sweet of you to say.”
Travis smiled.“Mean it too.”He gazed over to the dance floor, and just when she thought he would ask her to dance, Parker watched as Travis knelt before her little girl.“Think you can pass that unicorn to your mom so we can dance, Giggles?Been a while since I’ve done it.All you cool kids are the ones to learn from.”
Kit giggled, exemplifying the nickname he’d given her and nodded as she passed the stuffy over to Parker.“Mom, can you watch Horny for me?”
Parker coughed out a breath.“Horny?”Of course her daughter had given her stuffed unicorn the most obvious and inappropriate name possible.
Kit looked at her mother like she was the simplest person in the world.“Yeah, Horny is her name.She has a big horn, so she’s Horny.”Kit turned to Travis, rolling her eyes at her mother’s ineptitude.
Parker looked over to Travis whose face was turning an alarming shade of purple, hiding all his adorable freckles while his chest shook almost violently from holding in his laughter.“I will hold on to your unicorn, but let’s keep workshopping the name, okay?”
With another giant roll of her eyes, Kit dragged a chuckling Travis over to the dance floor.He helped her step up onto his feet before proceeding to drag her around the wooden platform.Parker watched the two of them, laughing with each other as they swayed this way and that to a country song she couldn’t identify, mostly because she was too busy trying to burn what she was witnessing into her memory for the rest of her life.Travis was being so careful with Kit while also making sure she was having the time of her life.He may grunt and growl like a bear, but his insides might as well have been made of marshmallow, he was that soft.
Parker’s own insides were feeling decidedly gooier since having known him, and she was smart enough to know what that meant.From the moment they had shared cherry pie and pieces of their pasts under the apple trees, she had been falling in love with Travis.What came of those feelings was still one big question mark, but maybe she didn’t have to have all the answers this time.Maybe she could finally slow down and enjoy something for once, not worrying about what the future would bring but instead choose to focus on a person who was bringing an incredible amount of happiness into her life.
When Travis and Kit joined her once again, Parker looked at Travis with new eyes, ones that may have a rosy tint to them that would wash away later, but ones that also chose to see the good for what it was.“Did you have fun?”
The answer was obvious from the huge grin on Kit’s face, but she nodded anyway as she took back her stuffy.“So much fun, though Travis needs to focus on his footwork a little more if you ask me.”
Travis grunted and knocked her with his arm, but he was smiling just as widely.When he turned to Parker his smile turned soft.“Think I can have that dance you’ve been saving?”
Her head started to nod, but then she remembered her daughter and wasn’t exactly sure how to go about dancing with Travis with a little girl between them.“What about Kit?”
Kit shot her mom a withering look and pointed to the first aid booth where Travis’s brother Beckett was hanging out with Willa and another firefighter.“I can go hang out with them.”She started to back away toward the booth, a smile on her face.“Maybe I can get Beckett to put my arm in a sling or something.”
Before Parker could tell her to behave herself, she was off running to the booth and jumping on one of the cots they had set up.Travis chuckled as he watched her go.“Sure she’s only eight?”He held out his hand for Parker and led her out to the dance floor.
Parker laughed as he spun her before pulling her into his arms as another of Dolly’s classics was played by the band.There was no singer, but Parker didn’t need one to hear the lyrics to “Yellow Roses” playing in her head.The song about the sweetness of first love followed by the longing for it once it was gone had always gotten to Parker, making her wistful for a love of her own to sing about, but as Travis gently swept the two of them around the dancefloor, Parker realized she didn’t have to do that anymore.Staring down at her with the most handsome face, lovely green eyes, and protective and caring nature was a man who she was certain she could have that kind of love with if she allowed herself the luxury.
Travis stared at Parker, his eyes drinking in her features as he pressed her body against his.With a smile, he ran his thumb over the apple of her cheek and cupped her face.“Go out with me,” he commanded.Parker didn’t even care that it wasn’t a question, willing to give herself over to him whenever he demanded it.“Let me take you out on a date tomorrow night?Please.”
Parker smiled and leaned up to kiss the same spot on his face that he’d just brushed on hers.“I would love to go out with you.”
There were a lot of things she would love to do with the man, some of which were fairly typical like making dinner together and waving Kit off to school, and some of which scared her.Things like having actual sex after having not for almost a decade, giving her heart over to someone who could crush it so easily if he wanted to, and picturing a future with more babies they would raise on the farm until they were both old and gray.The fear that came with taking the leap of faith required to try and love someone and let them love you was great, but as Parker leaned her head against Travis’s chest and listened to the steady beat of his heart, she knew that the possibility of more with him made that fear worth facing.
