His head tilts to the side, questioning if I’m telling the truth.
“I’m serious. I was really unhappy, and when—” I quickly stop myself, not ready to tell him everything about that aspect of why I was at the bar that night. That will have to come later. I sit down and take a sip of my wine to buy time. “Just know, I’ve never blamed you for anything.”
He nods, obviously feeling better about the guilt he must have been holding on to since we first saw him this morning. “Tell me about him.”
That’s when it hits me. Here I was, worried about what this meant to me, seeing him again, but I didn’t put myself in his shoes. He just found out he has a son that he knows nothing about. My heart aches when I think about how much he’s missed.
“Here, let me get something for you.” I stand and head toward my bookshelf that houses my photo albums. When I come back, I’m wearing a huge smile as I show him my favorite picture of Leighton as a baby.
He’s mid-bite of his food, and he gasps, wiping his mouth and then reaching out to grab the frame I’m showing him.
“This is him?” he asks in awe.
I sit and watch as his eyes tear up at the cutest little boy you’ve ever seen.
My mom loved playing a game with him where she would ask, “How big is that baby?” She’d taught Leighton to raise his arms high above his head, and she would say, “So big!”
In the photo, he has his arms up high and the cheesiest grin, making his chubby cheeks look even bigger. I can’t look at the photo without a glee of happiness washing over me.
Travis peels his sight from the picture and turns to me. “He really does have my eyes.”
I grin. “I can tell you, not a day has gone by since he was born that I haven’t thought about you when I see him.”
He props the photo up on the table, so we can see it clearly.
“Was he a good baby?” he asks, taking another bite of his food.
“As long as he was being boob-fed, he was happy.”
“That’s my boy,” Travis teases.
I pick up a napkin and throw it at him, which feels really good because he’s right. Leighton is his boy, and for the first time since he was born, I’m not worried about having the conversation with him about who his dad is.
After dinner, we move to the couch, where we spend the rest of the night talking about Leighton and where we’ve been since he was born. Every memory I had of Travis comes rushing back. I learn quickly that I didn’t just make him up to be something he wasn’t.
He’s better.
He’s grown, as I have too. I can see the maturity of being out of college and being a doctor has done him well. He tells me he hasn’t dated much, but by the looks of him, I find that hard to believe. When he mentions how he spends most of his days with married women and their kids, it makes a little more sense.
“What about you? Have you dated much?” he asks.
I’m nervous to tell him I haven’t been with anyone since him, so I leave that part out and say, “The only dates I’ve had are with a little blue-eyed boy.”
He takes my hand and stares into my eyes. “So, what about this blue-eyed boy?”
My heart stops, and I inhale a quick breath.
Thankfully, he continues, “I’ve thought about you often after that night. We definitely clicked. I’ll never understand why you left, but none of that matters now. Seeing you again was a surprise—especially with Leighton—but I’m so glad to get a chance to be with you again.”
I grin, knowing I feel the same way. All night, I’ve felt like we were back at the bar, getting to know each other all over again yet really for the first time.
We stare at each other, and I feel that pull, that drive that brought us together last time. It’s more than magnetic, and it’s bigger than the universe.
Right now, he’s the only thing I want, and when he takes my hand in his, I feel his touch deep in my soul.
“I know we’ve already done this, but, Michelle, I really want to kiss you,” he says, running his finger down my cheek.
I lick my lips, nodding my head and leaning into him.
When we meet, sparks fly, and electricity shoots through my body. It’s here and now that I remember why I threw caution to the wind. When he touches me, I feel things I didn’t know were possible. Last time we were here, I thought it was the pain Daniel had brought me as well as the loneliness our marriage had caused me. Now, I know it was none of that.
It’s him.
If there’s anything such as soul mates, Travis is absolutely mine. There’s no doubt in my mind now. The universe brought us together twice and gave us Leighton in the process because it knew we were meant to be together, just in due time.
When he pulls away from me, he takes my hand and places it against his chest, so I can feel his heart pound.
“Do you feel that?” he asks, keeping my palm against him.
I nod and take his hand, holding it against my own beating heart. “I feel it here too.”
He stands and takes me in his arms, walking me down the hall to my bedroom. When he steps past Leighton’s room, he stops, taking in where his son sleeps every night. The way his face lights up is the sexiest thing ever.
He wants this. He wants me just as much as he wants Leighton.
There’s not a single hesitation in his stride as he enters my room and places me down on my bed.
Slowly, he removes my flats and kicks off his own shoes.
When he leans down, his lips meet with mine. With his strong arms holding him above me, I run my palms down his torso, feeling each line of his abs through his shirt underneath my fingertips.
I want more of him, so I take the next step and move his shirt up. When my hands touch the softness of his skin, a tiny moan escapes my lips. It’s been so long since I’ve been with a man, but no man is like him.
Travis puts my body on pins and needles of lust and need. I become a woman I don’t even know when I yank his shirt over his head, taking it completely off.
Once his is on the floor, I don’t wait for him to reach for mine, removing it myself. He can tell I’m greedy to take it to the next level, and he wastes no time as he crashes his lips against mine.
We rush our hands to each other’s pants and pull them down as fast as we can. Without any thought, my panties are off, and his boxers are on the floor.
As he slides into me, I scream in ecstasy.
I’ve spent many a nights dreaming of having a man next to me, with me, making love to me, yet even in my dreams, I didn’t imagine this.
He fills me to the brim, and I’m so wet and turned on that it sends the most intense sensations through my core to fill my entire body.
I don’t know whether to scream or moan or lie here in absolute shock from the way he makes my body feel.
It’s intense.
It’s almost too much.
Yet, when he slides in and out of me, it’s like the feelings double, and I quickly lose control.
I grip his ass, needing to hold something before I float away. He grinds harder, and I scream louder.
When he holds my face, kissing me while slamming into me, I finally lose every part of my being and clench around him so hard that he pauses, enjoying the waves of me gripping around him.
As his body convulses and quakes inside me, my head falls back, and I take a deep breath, closing my eyes and not wanting to move a muscle, praying the sensations rushing through my body never go away.