“Wait. Don’t fall asleep.”
“I’m in a sex coma.” His eyes are fully closed now, and he’s so damn stubborn, I laugh fondly and kiss his nose.
“No. Not yet.”
“Oakley,” he whines, but there’s a fondness in his voice. He’s not really annoyed.
“Come on. Let me show you something.”
“Another meteor shower?” His eyes open, and I see actual excitement in them. It does funny things to my insides. I thought, for sure, he’d think I was dumb for wanting to wake up at two in the morning just to watch that, but I think he loved it even more than I did. He told my parents all about it today at their house.
They shared a look I couldn’t quite decipher, but I’m pretty sure it made them happy. It made me happy too. Sharing that with him and hearing about how much he loved it.
This guy.
I don’t know how it happened, but I think I might be slightly obsessed with him. But then, I get a little sad when I remind myself this is just temporary. That soon he’ll want to leave, and I’ll have to let him.
I can’t be the one to hold back a guy like Travis. He’s destined for huge things, but maybe, just maybe, he’ll look back on these small, simple memories and smile someday. While he’s going on lavish vacations and making a shitload of money. Changing the world.
Hopefully, I’ll be a fond memory. I know he will be for me.
“You okay?” He looks concerned now, and I realized I’ve spaced out a little.
“I’m fine. I want to show you your present though. Please.”
He smiles, shaking his head, but he tosses the covers off him and climbs off the bed, fully naked and making me fucking stupid. What was I planning to do? I can’t think.
My cock starts to harden, despite having come no more than ten minutes ago, and he laughs, tossing me a pair of sweats. “Is that my present?” He looks at where the sheets are tented over my crotch, and I shrug.
“Well, yeah. It’s one of them.”
He grins at that, so damn cute when he does that. “Oh, I’d definitely be satisfied with that.”
“Later.” I begrudgingly stand up, despite seeing he’s just as hard as I am, and suddenly, my present doesn’t seem so important, but I did work hard on it. “This present first.”
He nods in agreement and tugs on a pair of sweats, just as I do. Then I lead him into the spare bedroom of the house, the one I use for projects when it’s too cold to work outside.
It still kind of smells like the paint I used, but I don’t think he minds when his eyes land on his present.
“Oakley.” He doesn’t say anything else. He just stands there, and I hope that’s a good sign. I worked for a while on this one, wanting to get it just right.
He turns to look at me, and I have to admit I’m a little nervous. “Do you like it?”
He looks back at the white bookshelf I made out of some old fence posts from my parents’ property—I got permission from mom first, of course. It’s nothing really special, and it’s not too big because I figured he’ll probably move around a lot.
But I know he likes to read. I noticed several books piled up around his small apartment, but I didn’t see a shelf.
“I love it.” Pride settles deep in my chest, and I stand up a little taller when he says that.
“Yeah?”
He walks to it, his hand dragging over it. “This is from your parents’ house, isn’t it? The wood?”
I shouldn’t be surprised he noticed that, because Travis pays attention to everything. I’m happy he does. “Yeah. I asked my mom, and she said since it was for you, it was fine. Plus, they want to replace it all soon anyway.”
“Pinterest?” he asks with a smile on his face and one eyebrow raised.
“Of course.” I smile and pull him into me. “Do you really like it?”
“I love it. It’s so nice of you, Oakley.”
I kiss his lips, not wanting to let him go. His body feels so good against mine, our bare skin pressed against each other. “I wanted you to have somewhere to put your books.”
“Thank you.” He grins and then pulls me back to the bedroom. I think he’s going to take me up on my other offer, but he goes for his phone.
For a moment, I’m worried that maybe he’s checking his messages from Ryan—something that still doesn’t sit right with me. I hated that the little fucker sent him a message on Thanksgiving, but I can’t tell Travis what to do.
I knew he was talking to Ryan when we first hooked up. And I know Ryan is the end goal for him. That I’m a placeholder, but it still feels awful, thinking about them talking.
I try to avoid those feelings as often as I can.
But it isn’t messages he pulls up as he pulls me next to him on the bed. “Okay, so I’m nervous about your present. And I almost backed out of it.”
“Is it naked photos? Because I’m here for that.”
He rolls his eyes and playfully smacks me. “No.”
I feign disappointment, but he ignores me as he pulls something else up on his phone. I look and notice it’s a work order of some sort. I recognize the name of Mrs. Culbertson and then turn to look at him, my confusion only growing. “What’s that?”
She’s a client of the landscaping company, but I don’t know why Travis would have a work order for her on his phone. “Okay, so . . . She mentioned she wanted to update her patio last time we were there and asked us if we’d want to do that for her . . .” I remember that, but we were busy that day and didn’t have time to talk about any details.
“O-kay?”
He smiles, but I can tell he’s nervous. “Anyway, I went over to see her and showed her some pictures of your work.”
“You what?” I’m not mad, but I’m still confused.
“She flipped over the firepit you made for Jameson and Garrison, and she wants something like that. So I quoted her a price. I think it should be right, but you can double-check. She’ll cover the cost of the materials and labor.”
I look over the work order, seeing he’s pretty dead-on for the cost of both, and look back at him in awe. “You did this for me?”
He shrugs almost sheepishly. “You’re incredibly talented, and I know it was the business part that was holding you back. I thought maybe I could help.”
I lean forward and kiss his sweet lips softly, so grateful to him but unsure about how to express that. I settle on a very simple, “Thank you.”
“You’re not mad?”
“No. This is fucking awesome,” I say truthfully. “When do I start?”
“I told her March would probably be warm enough, hopefully. I mean it is fucking Kansas, and the weather does what it wants.”
“March sounds good,” I say but then remove the phone from his hands and put it on the table next to us, helping him out of his pants next. “So, about your other present.”
He cups my hardened cock in his hand and kisses me hard. “Oh yes, I definitely want that.”
Yeah. Best Christmas ever.
TWENTY-SEVEN
TRAVIS