I turn back to the main room where Emma, Ali, Storm, Tate, and Blaze are decorating the nine-foot Christmas tree Blaze hauled into the clubhouse an hour ago in an effort to lift everyone’s spirits. They were all excited to get a little piece of normal but for me, it only reminded me that this is the first Christmas without my mom so I run upstairs and started spying on them from the top landing. Sighing, I shrug. “I guess.”
“Feel like sneaking away for a bit? I have a surprise for you,” he says, pressing a kiss to my neck, just below my ear and a shiver runs down my spine as I struggle to keep my eyes open. My gaze flicks to the couches in the corner of the room where my brother, Chance, Carly, Smith, Henn, and Kady are all sitting around, talking and Lincoln glances up before leveling a glare at the man standing behind me. Travis’s grip on my hips tightens as he presses another kiss against my skin.
“What is it?” I ask, ignoring Lincoln’s murderous look as I turn to face Travis. His arms wrap around me as he flashes me a playful smile and presses his body to mine, his gaze heating. I arch a brow and twirl my arms around his neck, fighting back a smile at his terrible poker face. “Oh, it’s like that, is it?”
“Only one way to find out.”
“Lead the way, then,” I tell him and he takes my hand. His answering grin is so adorable that I would have done just about anything to see it but he doesn’t need to know that. As he drags me down the hallway, my mind drifts to our date last night. It was simple but also kind of perfect and exactly what we both needed after the stress of the last couple of days. Travis took me to this line of food trucks parked near a cute little park and we got something to eat before walking around for a bit. When we got back to the car, things got steamy and we ended up re-enacting what happened in the clubhouse parking lot the morning we got back from Tawny’s apartment except this time, I wasn’t just getting myself off. Smiling at the memory, I glance up as Travis opens the door to get up to the roof and looks back at me with a twinkle in his eye. If I didn’t already know he had a surprise planned for me, one look at his face would give it away in an instant but I kind of love how he can’t keep a secret to save his life. And the way he’s so excited to do something like this for me just melts my heart every single freaking time.
“Close your eyes, Princess,” he instructs when we get to the top of the stairs and I arch a brow as I shoot him a look but he doesn’t back down. Finally, I sigh and close my eyes. He gives my hand a squeeze and opens the door at the top of the stairs before leading me out onto the roof. A cool breeze caresses my skin and I shiver, prompting him to pull me into his arms as he presses his lips to the top of my head. “Okay, open.”
Opening my eyes, I blink a couple of times before taking in the scene in front of me. He has set up an air mattress with pillows and two large, fluffy comforters right in the middle of the roof and I turn to him with a scowl. “What’s this?”
“I was thinking about last night and you said one of your favorite things was to look at the stars so… ta-da.”
“Travis,” I breathe, smiling as I drop my head back to look up at the sky. Millions of stars stare back at me and warmth rushes through me at his thoughtfulness as my heart beats a little faster. Turning into him, I throw my arms around his neck and press up on my toes to seal my lips to his. As his arms wrap around my waist and pull me closer, he makes a noise somewhere between a sigh and groan before the tip of his tongue teases my lips, demanding more and I give it to him without a second thought. One hand slips into my hair, cradling the back of my head as his tongue explores and teases my mouth but my entire body begs for more contact. Just when I think he might give me what I want, he pulls away, breathing heavily, and meets my eyes before shaking his head.
“I really didn’t bring you up here for that…”
I shoot him a look and he chuckles.
“Well, not just for that.” He pulls away and takes my hand again. “Come on. Let’s look at some stars.”
Peeking over at him as he leads me to the air mattress, I can’t help but smile. “This is very cute.”
“I’m a cute guy,” he answers, shrugging, as he shoves me back onto the mattress and I laugh, bouncing a few times before settling into one spot in the middle of the bed. When I’m comfortable, he lies down next to me and pulls me closer, wrapping his arm around me as I lay my head on his chest. Silence descends over us but it’s comfortable as we both look up at the sky, dotted with millions of tiny little lights and as I stare up at them, I feel more at home here in Baton Rouge than I ever have before.
“Thank you for this, Travis,” I whisper, turning my head to look at him as he does the same. He smiles and butterflies flutter around in my belly.
“Anytime, Princess.” He leans down and steals a quick kiss before pulling back and meeting my eyes. “I have a question for you.”
I nod. “Shoot.”
“I’ve noticed the tattoo on your ribs and I’ve been trying to figure out what it is since the first time I saw it but I’m at a loss,” he says with a laugh and I smile, despite the pain in my chest, as I cuddle into him. I toy with a loose thread on the sleeve of his t-shirt as I think about the ink embedded on the side of my body and tears sting my eyes.
“It’s the mountain range where my dad died.”
He sucks in a breath and places his hand on my cheek, directing my gaze back to his as his brows knit together and pain flashes through his eyes. Just like last night when he shared his loss with me, he doesn’t anything. Instead he just presses his lips to mine again in a soft kiss that says everything that sounds so trivial when spoken out loud.
He’s sorry.
He knows what I’m going through.
He’s here for me.
Somehow, when he utters all those things with a kiss instead of words, they mean so much more and my chest constricts as I squeeze my eyes shut, a few tears trickling down the sides of my face. When he finally pulls away, the emotion staring back at me in his green gaze steals the air from my lungs and I can’t cope. He shakes his head before pressing his lips to my forehead and I fucking melt.
“You have got to be one of the strongest people I’ve ever met, Rowan.”
I shake my head. “I’m not any different from anyone else. I’ve lost a lot but there are people who have lost more or they were born with no one in their corner fighting for them. I think that would be worse than loving someone only to lose them.”
He leans in to kiss me again and just as his lips brush mine, a clinking sound echoes through the air, breaking us apart as we look at each other with wide eyes.
“What the hell was that?”
He shakes his head before jumping up and creeping over to the edge of the building. When he gets to the edge, he peeks out into the parking lot before hissing a curse and running back over to me. He grabs my hand, his mouth pressed into a thin line, and his eyes hard as he meets my gaze. “We have to go.”
“What’s going on?” I ask and he sighs, running his hand through his hair.
“The cops are about to bust in downstairs.”
My eyes widen. “The cops?”
“Yeah,” he answers, his gaze flicking everywhere like he’s searching for a threat. “They’ve got fucking S.W.A.T and everything. This is bad, Row… really fucking bad.”