Page 96 of Pink and Country

“My mother, excited? You talked to the wrong lady, baby. My mother doesn’t do excited. She doesn’t show emotion. A refrigerator is more expressive than her. Are you sure we’re talking about the same woman?”

I elbowed him. Travis raised my tank top to expose my midsection, kissing and tickling my flat stomach with his mouth while lying beside me on our bed. My fingers combed his blond hair.

“I’m telling you. After we missed Thanksgiving, she feared we wouldn’t show up at all for Christmas. I missed all the family traditions growing up. This year, I even bought matching pajamas for us. It’ll be fun.” He sighed. “Where’s your Christmas spirit?”

Travis dropped a trail of kisses on my bare skin. “I know how much it means to you. The thing is, I want you all to myself. Sharing is not my thing. I’m a selfish prick when it comes to you.”

With a firm grip, I pulled at his shirt until he leaned closer, and our lips met. “I’m here, and I won’t go anywhere because I can’t imagine my life without you.”

Travis peeled my shirt over my head and brushed my skin, his hands sending shivers all along my spine.

“April, we’re destined to be together. There’s no one else for me out there. I wish we’d stop the time and stay in this moment forever. I love you.”

My eyes glazed at his words. Travis wiped the tears off my cheeks with his thumbs. Our mouths fused, and I forgot everything else. Only he existed in that instant. Only us.

“I love you too, Travis. You’re the other shoe I didn’t realize I was missing until I found it. Or rather until you found me.”

“How romantic of you, baby.” He snickered.

My hands pushed his chest back. “You know what I mean. Growing up, I pictured the man of my dreams a million times but never thought I’d meet him someday. It all seems like a dream.” I ran my fingertips over his back muscles.

Travis gripped the hem of his shirt and raised it over his head before throwing it on the floor. He deepened our kiss and rolled me over him. With my hand holding my long blonde hair over one shoulder, I dropped kisses all over his tanned skin.

“You know that house we made an offer on last week?” I nodded, never lifting my mouth from his chest. “We got it. They called this morning while you were in class. We’ll be able to move in by the end of next semester.”

My head sprang upward. “You’re kidding?”

The grin Travis flashed my way lit up his face. Stars shone in his eyes. “No, baby. We’re homeowners.” I crashed my mouth on his, and we kissed until my lips felt sore and he stole every breath from me. Then Travis buried himself inside me, and we screamed each other’s names as we came undone together.

My excitement bubbled inside me. “I can’t wait to tear down the wall between the kitchen and living room.” Nana would be proud I put some of the life insurance money to good use.

“I can’t wait to fill all the bedrooms with little blonde babies running around.” I shoved him in the chest, laughing.

“Don’t get in over your head, Travis Benson. We’re twenty. Give us a couple of years.”

“The more we wait, the more babies we’ll have.”

“Is this a threat?”

“No. A promise.” His hands found my waist again, and his fingers dug into my flesh, tickling me until I surrendered.

“Okay, fine. Let’s fix the house first, then we’ll talk about this plan of yours. And we’ll need jobs first. Real jobs.”

“Oh. This means you won’t work as a clerk at the library forever? I kind of dig the whole sexy librarian look.”

“No, sorry to break your fantasy.”

“Fine, we’ll get grown-up jobs. In the meantime, let’s practice some more. To be ready when the day to have babies will come.”

We spent the rest of the afternoon in bed. Our practice run turned into many practices. Travis stepped out of the shower of our small apartment with a towel wrapped around his waist. I tugged at the corner of the fabric and exposed him.

“Oops.” I put my hand over my mouth and widened my eyes, feigning surprise. “I think I might need another lesson. I forgot what we did last. You know that new trick we tried.”

My boyfriend cocked an eyebrow in my direction. His body loved the idea of giving me another private session. It pushed against my thigh. “You forgot? Really?”

“Mm-hmm. You wouldn’t want me to be redshirted, would you?”

“Not if we want this plan of ours to unfold perfectly. I’ll be the bigger man here and make sure you remember every single detail of this lesson. I’ll even give you a free pass. You may try it one more time for free if, for whatever reason, you need to perfect those skills some more after today.”