“Later,” he whispers. “I’m gonna fuck you so slowly...”
“Let’s go!” Amber cries, rushing around the corner.
I laugh. “Beach time!”
Hand in hand with Travis and Amber, we head to the beach. We swim, build sandcastles, and laugh until our bellies ache.Amber snuggles beside me as the sun dips low. Travis watches, smiling brighter than I’ve ever seen.
“How many kids do you want, Mischief?” he asks as she drifts off to sleep against me.
“Oh, ten, at least,” I tease.
“You know you have to marry me first.”
I beam. “Obviously.”
“And then we’ll have heaps of babies.”
“Well, maybe not heaps...”
He laughs, then takes my hand and kisses it. “What you did today will never leave me.”
I smile at him, then down at Amber. “We’re a family now, the way it should have always been.”
A car rolls down the driveway, and Travis lifts Amber into his arms and walks down.
My heart has never felt so full of joy.
Travis says his goodbyes and before I know it, he’s behind me in the kitchen, arms coiling around my waist, his breath hot and urgent at my ear.
“You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” he murmurs.
I turn and press my hands to his forearms, feeling the pounding of his pulse. “You remember what you said the first time I asked if you loved me?”
He dips his head, teeth grazing my skin. “I love you to the stars,” he whispers, voice rough. “You are my better half, Mischief.”
Heat blooms in my chest. “You remember.”
He trails a fingertip down my spine. “I remember every damn thing—the bright wonder in your eyes, the wildness of yourlaugh, the way your face lit up when we were together. You were my shadow, Mischief, my constant light.”
“Trav?” I murmur.
“Hmm?”
“When did you first realize you were in love with me?”
He tilts his head, lips brushing the sensitive hollow of my throat. I feel the brief shiver that races through me.
“I loved you as a kid, I loved you as a girl,” he breathes, tongue flicking over my pulse, “but not like this.” He pauses, as if tasting the memory. “The night I kissed you, that moment you melted into me, I saw you. You became everything. I knew I’d die for you, and I knew I would never let go.”
A soft groan escapes me as he kisses me farther down, his mouth leaving a scorching trail across my collarbone.
“You are my everything,” he rasps.
His lips brush lower, sucking into the hollow of my ribs.
“My sunshine,” he whispers against the skin that quivers beneath him.
He moves again, fingertips grazing the curve of my hip, pressing me back against the counter until I arch into him.
