“No freaking way!” Tessa exclaimed, turning to me with the widest grin on her face. “Travis?! How?When?”
“It’s a long story, I should probably tell it another time,” I said, casting a pointed look toward the driveway. Travis was stepping out of his truck, a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of champagne in hishand.
My suspicion of Elle’s knowledge was confirmed by the unsurprised smile on her face. She tucked a strand of her wavy dark hair behind her ear and smiled. “That’s awesome! I’m happy for youguys!”
I breathed a little easier, feeling their genuine excitement forme.
Brock, on the other hand, was noticeably less thrilled about it. He had a hard set to his jaw and a somber look on hisface.
Luckily, Braden heeded my warning from the other day. He put his hand on Brock’s bicep to slow him down enough to say something. Brock nodded reluctantly, and although the air was still thick with tension, he stopped stalking towardTravis.
I watched warily while Travis and Aiden started walking up the sidewalk to the house. Travis didn’t seem the least bit uncomfortable. Aiden was chattering happily to him, reminiscing about the night of the storm, all the while being his smiling, charismatic self. He paused before Brock and Braden, tucking the champagne under his arm and shaking each of their hands in turn. “Hey man! How was theDominican?”
“Great,” Brock replied, his toneclipped.
“Alright, let’s get those steaks on the barbeque, fellows,” Tessa instructed, breaking up the terse moment and giving her husband a pointedlook.
Travis let my brothers walk ahead, and paused before me. The smile on his face was genuine contentedness, and his eyes swept tenderly across my face. “Hey Becs,” he murmured, his eyes pausing to rest on my lips. “These are for you, and I brought champagne to celebrate the newlyweds. It’s non-alcoholic, so Aiden can partake in a toast too,” he added, making me fall for him a littlemore.
I accepted the bouquet from him, and held my breath when he purposely brushed the back of his hand against the back of mine when he passed. The subtle gesture had my heartstuttering.
Taking a stabilizing breath, I followed himinside.
Travis
Dinner was a little bit awkward.Brock really wasn’t at all stoked about me being there, but he put his best foot forward for Aiden. His smiles seemed a little strained, and he avoided looking directly at me, but he wasn’t the kind of guy to cause a scene and Tessa seemed to keep himgrounded.
They left after dessert, once they’d given Aiden gifts they’d bought for him in the Dominican, after telling us that they were still jet lagged from their trip. He hugged Becky before he left, but he barely cast a second look in my direction. I figured he’d be pissed for a bit, so I tried not to let it get tome.
Shortly after they left, Elle and Braden dipped out too, claiming that Elle’s mom needed help with something. I figured they were trying to give us someprivacy.
“Alright Aiden, it’s bed time!” Becky instructed after everyone had gone. Aiden and I were playing Minecraft. I’d always been big on video games when I was a kid, but I hadn’t had my own gaming system until I started working part time at the gas station near the diner where my mom worked. I’d saved up for months to buy the first generation Xbox. I still had it, I’d held on to it for nostalgicpurposes.
“Awe but I wanted to stay up with Travis!” Aiden pouted. “We’re building arollercoaster.”
“You’ll see him again soon, but he’s going home too. I have to work in the morning,” she replied. “Come on, let’sgo.”
Aiden let out a loud sigh, but stood, setting his controller on the table. “Bye Travis,” he murmured, still rocking thepout.
“Later bud,” I couldn’t help but smile. Becky mouthed at me to wait, and followed him down the hall. I shut down the system and went into the kitchen to clean up the post-dinner mess. There wasn’t much of one, Tessa and Elle had cleaned up the majority of it before they left, but I still didn’t want Becky getting stuck with the rest ofit.
Twenty minutes later, she returned to the living room and sank down beside me on the couch. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, pulling her against me and breathing in her sweetscent.
“What are you doing this weekend?” I asked. While she’d been busy putting Aiden to bed, I’d been plotting. I wanted to spend as much time with the both of them as I could before I had to return toNashville.
“Nothing really. Aiden has a game on Sunday, but aside from that…we’ll probably just go to the lake,” she shrugged,unconcerned.
“Why don’t you come to my place? We’ll take my boat out. It’s been a while, she needs a tour,” I chuckled. “I think Aiden would enjoyit.”
“He probably would,” Becky nodded deliberately, likely weighing the pros and cons of such a venture with me. I held my breath, worried that she’d sayno.
“Can you be ready aroundnine?’
“That shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll bring some sandwiches,” shesmiled.
I pressed my lips to hers, tasting her like I’d gone weeks without doing so. She let out a quiet gasp, barely audible, and all but melted into me. I pulled away for a moment, resting my forehead against hers while I looked into hereyes.
Biting her lip, Becky moved so that she was straddling my lap. She ran her hands through my hair—tugging it at the roots a little before she kissed me again. My hands went to her ass, gripping it and grinding her against my thickeningerection.
