Travis smirked, knowing where my thoughts had gone. He changed quickly, and insisted on carrying his bundle of soaked clothes to my prehistoric washer. I wasn’t kidding about our washing machines, they were almost as old as I was and they’d only lasted as long as they had because of Braden’s mechanical skills. As it was, the dial button was broken so we had to twist it withpliers.
Once the washer was running, we went back upstairs. Aiden had grabbed the aerosol can of whipped cream from the refrigerator and was impatiently waiting in the living room for us, bouncing on his heels. He held it up with an excited grin on his face. “Travis, you’refirst!”
I closed Aiden’s door gently. He was having so much fun with Travis, so I’d let him stay up a little later than usual. He’d been so tired that he almost fell asleep on the couch during the game ofMonopoly.
Pausing in the hallway, I stared into the living room with my mouth agape. Travis had been busy cleaning while I was putting Aiden to bed. The games we’d played were stacked up neatly on the coffee table, and our plates from the frozen pizza I’d made for dinner were gonetoo.
He was waiting for me on the couch, and he patted the vacant space beside him, motioning for me to join him. I was bone tired, so I sank willingly into the cushions, curling up into hisside.
“Not exactly how I imagined our first time using whipped cream together,” he remarked, a playful smile on his lips as he looked down at me. “But, excellent none-the-less.”
I snorted with laughter, then flushed with embarrassment. He titled his head down to mine, capturing my lips in the sweetest, briefest of kisses imaginable. He caught himself, wincing with apology. “Should I not have done that?” he asked withuncertainty.
I felt bad. I could see what my hesitation was doing to him, and I didn’t like it. He was cautious, afraid to rock the boat lest I hightail it away like all the times before. I had to admit, he was right toworry.
“You know…when you first showed up, I was a little mad,” I admitted, adverting my eyes. I was trying to take everyone’s advice to heart. I knew we couldn’t build trust if I didn’t start giving him more of myself. “I was scared, more than anything…and I still am. It’s not just my heart in this, Travis. It’s his too,” I looked at him as my eyes filled with tears that I refused toshed.
“I know that, Becs,” Travis assured me, his hand came up to cradle the side of my face. I leaned into it, biting down on my lip, trying to hold back the floodgates. His eyes didn’t leave mine, and they didn’t waiver. In that moment, I knew hedid.
That knowledge stilled the erratic racing of my heart. “I see that now,” I told him, my eyes dancing with his. My chest rose and fell, the air thickening between us. “I’m in therapy. I go weekly. What he did…it affects me every day still,” I admitted, baring my truths to him…baring mysoul.
Pain flickered in his hazel eyes, and he nodded slowly. “It breaks me. What happened to you, to Aiden. I wishI’d—“
“It wasn’t up to you to save me, and it wasn’t up to Brock either. It was up to me, and I did it, Travis. I was leaving him that day. My bags were packed, and my keys were in my hand. I was going home. Icamehome,” I said, needing him to understand something that I’d only just come to understandmyself.
I drew in a breath, smiling softly at him. “And you make that bearable. I can forget, for a little while. You give me hope again, and it’s scary and invigorating all at once,” I laughed, brushing away the wetness from mycheeks.
He gazed at me with wonderment. “You’re my home, Becky. This thing may have started out as sex, but it’skismet.”
I kissed him then, exhausted by words and overwhelmed with need. I climbed onto his lap, my fingers weaving through his curls. I straddled him, our lips and tongues clashing in the most breathtakingway.
His fingers gripped my ass, and he let out a low moan as I ground against his erection, seeking relief of this deep ache withinme.
He pulled away, laughing a little, his eyes never leaving mine and the molten desire never fading from his. “I’m trying to do the right thing and not make it all about sex, but damn it Becky, I want to bury myself so deep in you that you feel me for days afterwards,” he all butgrowled.
“Can’t it be a little bit about sex?” I asked innocently, bringing my lips to the side of his neck, just below his chin. His cock twitched in response, and I smiled into hisneck.
He stood, taking me with him, his fingers gripping me tightly. My legs wrapped around his waist, finding purchase there. “Is this still your room?” he whispered, nodding to the door on the far left of thehall.
I nodded, biting my lip. “You rememberedthat?”
“Let’s just say you took centre stage in more than one of my adolescent fantasies,” he said, the corner of his lips darting up in a playful halfsmile.
Travis left in the early hours of the morning, knowing that I didn’t want to throw a new relationship in my son’s face without talking to him about it first. He kissed me on the cheek, leaving me in the warmth of my bed with a contented smile on my face, a lightness in my heart and plans to meet up with himlater.
Friday’s storms had given way to sunny skies, and I knew that Aiden would want to go to the property. At nine o’clock, I heard him stirring so I got out of bed myself. I put on a pot of coffee and tossed a couple of waffles in the toaster for Aiden and some toast forme.
He ambled down the hall, sitting heavily in one of the worn kitchen chairs. He yawned, wiping the sleep from his eyes. “Can we go to the lake,Mom?”
“Sure!” I smiled, smothering his waffles in butter and syrup. “Breakfast first,” I placed his plate down and went back for my raisintoast.
“Can we see if Travis wants to come?” he asked in between hurriedbites.
“I think Travis has plans today, but we could ask Max,” I replied. That appeased Aiden, and he smiled widely atme.
“Okay! I can’t wait to tell Max that Travis played Pie Face with us!” he exclaimed. I wrinkled my nose, and his expression fell. “What?”
“We probably shouldn’t tellanybodythat Travis was here,” I said, drawing in a deepbreath.
