Page 23 of Willow Vale

Travis reached a hand down and I took it, watching as he interlaced our fingers before tugging me around his truck to the tailgate. When he pulled it down, revealing the manyquilts, blankets, and pillows on the truck bed, I felt my breath catch.

Travis said, “you always said you wanted to star gaze to see if you could catch a shooting star, remember? Figured we’d try it now.”

“You…remembered? I said that so long ago.” I looked at him, that overwhelming feeling of being seen by him hitting me all over again. It was too much. Too good for me.

He was too good for me, wasn’t he?

A cruel voice in my head—my mother’s voice—saidyes. Travis Adler was too good for me, and I was a fool for letting myself get swept up in him.

“Hey.” He ran a hand up and down my arm when he noticed my mood take a dive. I could never hide anything from him, and it was as much a reprieve as it was maddening that he knew me better than my own mother did. When I looked up at him with tears in my eyes, all I saw was worry in his. “What’s wrong, darlin’?”

For a brief second, I wanted to tell Travis everything. Beg him to make this night last forever because I had no idea if Irene would be sober when I went home. Tell him how sad and afraid I’d been since he left for college before I did. Because as much as I pretended it wasn’t, my life was one big, lonely mess.

Only that it didn’t feel like one when I was on Silver Hill with his family who loved me as if I were a part of it. I didn’t feel like I wasn’t good enough when I was with Travis.

I closed my eyes for a second before I opened them and smiled at him. I didn’t want to worry him. I didn’t want to ruin this. Not tonight.

So, I grinned and said, “I like when you call me that.”

“What?” Travis’s eyes never left mine as he leaned forward and whispered, “Darlin’?”

We got lost in our kiss. Only this time, it wasn’t slow or gentle. It was hungry and searing. He kissed me until we finally climbed up onto the truck bed and fell into the blankets and pillows he laid out just for us.

Kissing him like this felt like we were making up for lost time. All those years I felt this simmering crush threatening to bubble up to the surface. All the times he protected me from bullies in school for making jokes about my family. Or the lack of one. The unspokenwhat ifsbetween us over time that became impossible to ignore.

It was all leading up to this.

To us.

He whispered my name against my ear before he kissed my cheek and then my jaw. I gasped at the new sensation of his lips moving over my skin. When he kissed his way back up to my lips and slid his tongue over mine, I felt it then. This sudden need.

Something so powerful I couldn’t ignore it.

I moaned against him, and the moment the husky sound hit both our ears—we froze. Travis leaned back and stared at me, eyes darker than I’d ever seen them and hair a mess. He was beautiful like this. Wild and unmoored. And I had done that to him. The same way he’d made me dizzy and so unbelievably happy.

My heart was pounding in my ears as he swallowed once, probably the only sign I would get that he was as nervous as I was.

I wasn’t a fool. I knew that Travis had girlfriends before, and he most likely had sex too. But I was the total opposite. Inexperienced. Because of that, I knew Travis knew that too.

“Delilah…” he breathed.

I swallowed before whispering, “I’ve never…I don’t know what to do.”

He nodded, his eyes raking over me and lighting my skin on fire before he said, “We don’t have to?—”

I sat up, taking him by surprise when I said, “I want to. I want it to be you.”

If I hadn’t been blushing before I definitely was now. But funnily enough, I didn’t feel scared like I thought I’d be when I’d lose my virginity. That’s how I knew I wanted it to be him. I trusted Travis more than anyone. He made me feel safe and cared for, and I knew he always would.

When he didn’t say anything, only stared at me, I felt myself losing my nerve.

“U-unless you don’t want to because I might be bad at it,” I stammered.

Travis blew out a laugh and shook his head. “Believe me, Delilah. I’m not worried about that.” Before I could ask him what he meant by that, he added, “I just want you to be sure. You’ll tell me if you change your mind?”

My heart bloomed in my chest. Butterflies erupted in my stomach. And that need I couldn’t ignore returned.

“I trust you,” I said as I leaned forward and kissed him. Then I reached down to the buttons of my dress with shaky hands and slowly undid one at a time.

---