Page 84 of Willow Vale

“I can’t do this. I can’t...” I gasped as he guided me into my bedroom and sat me down on my bed. My whole body wouldn’t stop shaking as he pulled me onto his lap, holding me tight. His deep voice rumbling against his chest as he urged me to match his breathing. It took a few minutes, but eventually I managed to do as he said. I couldn’t stop shakingbut that wouldn’t go away for a while until I calmed down fully.

Travis rubbed his hands up and down my back, my soaked shirt sticking to me like a second skin. I noticed he was just as soaked as me and that was probably why he was also trembling.

“Are you okay?” He asked, his voice gentle before he kisses my temple.

I nodded against the crook of his neck, taking in one last deep breath before leaning away from him. He studied me carefully and with worry as I ran a hand over my face. A few more minutes pass where neither of us speaks, giving me time to compose myself even if I couldn’t stop crying.

He pushed a strand away from my forehead as he said, “You don’t have to pay anyone back. That wasn’t even an option. You and I both know my parents would never accept it anyway. I sure as hell am not planning on accepting anything from you either. I’ve proven time and time again that I am here for you, Delilah. Did you think I wouldn’t support you in every aspect of your life now that we’re together? That I wouldn’t celebrate that you applied to go back to college when I know what that means to you? That I wouldn’t do something as crazy as pay off your mother’s debts if it meant saving you the trouble of doing it yourself?”

I shook my head, seeing my vision grow blurry again with unshed tears.

“I just can’t understand it. Why would you stick around when no one else ever has? What can guarantee that you won’t change your mind one day and decide to change me out for something else? Something better.Someonebetter.”

“This isn’t you talking right now, baby. You realize that, don’t you? This is Irene and all the messed-up shit she put youthrough that made you believe no one will stick around for you. God, I’m sick of her ruining any sort of future we could have had together four years ago, and she’s still managing to do the same thing even when she’s not here. I’m sick of missed chances and craving you so badly it hurts.” He placed his hand over his chest, as if to show me just where he was hurting, and I felt my tears roll down my cheeks when his voice cracked. “I’m sick of being too scared to tell you how much I love you out of fear that you’ll push me away because you’re too scared to accept that you can actually be loved by someone who would do anything for you. And, guess what, Delilah? I would doanythingfor you. There’s no limit to how much I love you.”

My breath caught in my throat.

Travis loved me.

He. Loved. Me.

I shook my head, the tears rolling down my cheeks like an endless river. “No one has ever loved me the way you do. I don’t know how to accept that. I don’t know how to fix myself. I’m sorry, Travis?—"

He wrapped me up in his arms and held me like I was his lifeline when in reality he was mine. I clutched the back of his shirt as he tried to soothe me with softly spoken words and gentle caresses. Catching all the pieces of my broken, battered heart, as if he were waiting for this day to come.

Because it was as he said before, we were inevitable. I couldn’t forget him four years ago and now that he owned every piece of me, I knew pushing him away would be impossible. He was my heart, my soul, the very earth I walked on and the air I breathed. I loved him in a way I knew I’d never love any other man. I wanted him. I wanted to be here with him and the Adlers—my family—and I wanted to be free from the crushing weight Irene had placed on me—whether if it was on purpose or indirectly.

I wanted to see what Travis saw when he looked at me.

Iwantedso much.

I said against his chest, “I want to get better.”

His arms tightened around me. “It kills me to know that I can’t heal the pain you carry, that you don’t see how incredible you are, but know that I’m here when you decide to take that step. Just don’t run away anymore.”

I couldn’t have stopped the tears from falling if I tried.

“I want you, Travis. I always have.”

He leaned back and tilted my face up to see the small smile on his lips.

“I know, darlin’.”

He kissed my cheeks, wiping away the tears before he moved on to my nose and forehead.

“Wherever you decide to go, whatever you want to do, I’ll be there. You can’t get rid of me. I love you, Delilah.” He said the same thing again and again in between kisses, my heart beating harder in my chest in response. He kissed my jawline and neck next. He whispered against my ear, “I love you.”

The way he said those words to me with such relief and reverence, it was as if he truly couldn’t hold back from saying them after finally letting them go. Revealing them to me. At the same time, they unraveled me.

I wrapped my arms across his shoulders, holding him tight. He nipped my collarbone and watched the droplets of water falling off the tips of his hair onto my skin. His hand traced over them before drawing over the tops of my breasts with his thumbs.

I let him lay me down on the bed and undress me one article of clothing at a time, peeling off my wet clothes until I was bare in front of him. His chest rose and fell faster as heran his hands over my shoulders and breasts, down along the curves of my waist.

“You are breathtaking,” he said. I was panting and needy by the time he pulled his shirt off with one hand, the rest of his clothes following not long after.

Travis worshipped my body. His hands palmed my breasts, and he took each one into his mouth, nipping and tugging with his teeth until I was urging him to ease the ache he was creating. He kissed his way down my body until I was writhing beneath him. Before he could move further down, I sat up and sank my fingers into his hair to tug him back.

He watched me, waiting to see what I would do next when I said, “I love you too. More than anything. I can’t live without you. I don’t want to. There is no me without you, Travis. There never has been. I love you so much?—”

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