Travis glared daggers at his brother. Dane had been his favorite right until that moment. “I’m not going to fuck with her.”
“He’s not,” Rachel said. “We were just doing a little experiment. Turns out, it worked.” She laughed, but it came out as an awkwardly stifled giggle.
Travis struggled to process anything further because most of the blood in his body was residing below the waistband of his pajama bottoms.
“Can you at least start locking the door?” Dane asked, resigned. “It’ll prevent an unsuspecting someone—mostly me—from finding something I shouldn’t.”
“What are you even doing here?” Travis asked, eyes narrowed.
Dane’s eyebrows rose at the tone. “Lights were on. I was checking in on Rach.”
“Please don’t tell your mom,” Rachel said quickly, standing to pace between the sofa and one of the armchairs. Travis adjusted himself so he wouldn’t be pitching a trouser tent, and stood, moving toward Rachel. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and, thankfully, she let him take her weight.
Pressing a kiss against the crown of her head came naturally.
Flying solo had nothing on what he’d just had with Rachel. What she was giving him even now.
“Please don’t tell them,” Rachel said, softer this time. The soft seemed to get Dane’s attention.
He took in the scene—Travis and Rachel, the puppies sleeping on the rug, the work Rachel had strewn all over the coffee table by the sofa, the half-eaten bag of milk chocolate Dove candies Travis hadn’t noticed before.
“Fucking hell,” was all Dane said as he, once again, pressed the lock on the door. Then he turned and addressed Travis. “You need to be more careful.” Dane pulled the door shut behind him.
“He didn’t agree,” Rachel said, panicked.
“He’s worried.” Travis squeezed her shoulders before turning her to face him. “I’ve always done this thing when someone tells me I can’t have somethin’, I want it. So he’s worried. Rightfully so.”
“Your parents just told you that you can’t have me, so you want me?” The vulnerability in her gaze hit him hard, like an overhead punch to the cranium. “That’s what I thought.”
Of course that’s what she’d thought. That’s what everyone thought.
He hadn’t exactly given them a reason not to.
“No,” he assured, keeping his tone gentle like he would if he were talking to the pups or the boys. “This is different.
I’m not sure what it is exactly, but the chemistry at the lake and on the sofa…I want to explore that. See where it takes us.”
“So it’s the other thing,” she said under her breath. What the hell was the other thing?
“I’m not usually a see-where-it-takes-us kind of person.” Rachel started to extract herself from his arms. “This is all new to me.”
He let her move away, because deep inside he understood she needed the space to think.
“But you considered trying it,” he said, again, keeping his tone low and soft. “And you did try it.”
She brushed a strand of hair from her face. “I can’t take that kind of risk long-term. Kissing you on the sofa is one thing…what happened after is something totally different.”
“It’s me, Rach—I won’t let this hurt you.”
But he was Travis, so she was certain that’s why it would hurt her.
“That’s not how it works, Travis.” She hugged herself. “We both know that’s not how it works.”
He shoved his hands in his hair. “Fine, agreed, we can’t prevent each other from falling.”
She nodded.
“But we can promise to soften the landing,” he said, hoping she’d agree.
