Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
Isla
Early the next morning, I’m somehow on the side of the riverbank that borders our campsite with a fishing rod in my hand.
“Have you been fishing before?” Travis asks.
“Not since I was probably ten years old.”
He nods. “That’s okay. I’m assuming you still understand the basics of how to use a fishing rod.” He arches his eyebrow.
“Theoretically. I’ll try not to have you end up with a hook in your ear or something.”
He chuckles, bending down to pull something out of his large tackle box. Grabbing something, he turns and raises his hand. In it is a lure that looks like a little green fish with a hook at the end.
“We’re going to use these lures to see if we can snag a rainbow trout for dinner. It’s a spinner, which should work well in the river since the water is moving.”
Whatever he says, he’s clearly the master here.
“Can you put it on my line for me? I’m afraid I’m going to stab myself with the hook.”
He gives me an indulgent smile and stands. “Of course. I’m nothing if not a gentleman.”
“You didn’t sound that gentlemanly in the tent last night.” I knock my hip to his.
A growl ruptures from deep in his throat. “Honey, don’t tempt me or we’ll be in that tent all damn day.”
I laugh and hand my rod to him.
Once we’re all set up, Travis demonstrates how to cast. I try it a few times, but I’m doing something wrong because the line doesn’t come out properly and just plops into the riverbed right in front of me.
“Here.” He comes around behind me and places his hands over mine on the fishing pole. “Move it like this.” He shows me, his hard chest warm on my back, and I get the feel for the motion. “Then when you’re about here”—he stops the rod—“that’s where you’re going to hit the button to release the line.” He steps away from me. “Give it a go.”
I do, and this time, my line actually makes it a third of the way into the wide river. I smile. “Thanks for the help.”
He grins, and there’s so much pride that it confirms what I’ve already suspected—Travis likes being the one to help me with things.
Within forty-five minutes, I’ve grown bored, having not even gotten a nibble on my line. I give up on fishing, bringing my chair from the campfire near Travis, and settling in with my book.
“How do you do this for hours on end?”
He looks over at me. “Do you want to go for a hike or something?”
It’s sweet that he’s offering, even though it’s clear he’s enjoying himself. “Not at all. I’m happy to sit here and read. We can go for a hike after lunch. I’m just wondering how you do it.”
He chuckles. “It’s an exercise in patience.” Travis reels his line in and recasts it. “It’s peaceful. Helps to clear my head when I’m out here. Not sure if you noticed, but I’m not an overly social person.”
We both laugh at his self-deprecation.
“You don’t say?” I widen my eyes, and my mouth hangs open like I’m in shock, and Travis rolls his eyes.
“Not to mention, when you do finally catch something, it feels like a victory. It’s like a shot of adrenaline.”
I allow him to go back to his thing, and we’re quiet. I return to reading my book for a bit before Travis speaks again.
“Does your family live around here? You don’t mention them much. In fact, I don’t even know if you’re from around here.”
I place my bookmark back in the book and set it down on my lap. “I was raised on the East Coast, but I went to college out this way and just never left because I preferred the pace out here. It’s more laid-back. My parents had me later in life, so they’ve already retired and live down in Arizona now. I don’t have any siblings or anything, and over the past few years, all my college friends moved away or returned to where they came from.”
He glances away from the river, over at me, with a wrinkle between his brows. “That sounds lonely.”
My chest squeezes. “It kind of has been. I was so happy once I met Camila and we hit it off. She’s been a great friend this past year.”
“Yeah, she’s going to be a great addition to the family,” he says. “Are you close with your family?”
I shrug. “We’re not as close as you are with yours. I’ve seen you guys in action. You’re all a tight-knit group. I get along with my parents, and I talk to a couple of my cousins on a fairly regular basis, but I’m the only one who lives out this way, so it always feels like there’s a limit to how close we can really be when they aren’t a part of my day-to-day life.”
He nods. “That makes sense.” He recasts again, and I admire the way his back muscles flex with the movement.
“Do you wish it could be different?”
My head bobs back and forth. “Yes and no. It would be nice to have them live five minutes down the road, but I like my life here in the Pacific Northwest, so I don’t think I’d be willing to give it up to move to Arizona to be close to them.”
Before Travis has a chance to say anything, the end of his fishing rod dips toward the water.
He grins. “This was the part I was telling you about.”
Travis slowly works to reel the fish in so that he doesn’t lose it on his line. It appears to be a delicate balance, opposite of what I assumed.
“Can you grab the net?” Without looking at me, he nods to his left where the net lies on the ground.
I get up from the chair and pick it up, moving to stand closer to him. My weight shifts from one foot to the other in anticipation.
“Step closer to the edge, and when it gets into the shallows, scoop it up out of the water.”
I do as he says. As soon as I can see the fish thrashing in the shallow water close to the bank, I extend the net and scoop it up. It’s surprisingly heavy as I lift it from the water.
“Good job,” Travis says, coming to stand beside me. “Set it down over here.” He motions with his hand, and I do as he instructs.
Like he’s done it a thousand times before, he reaches into the net and removes the hook from the fish’s mouth. Then he goes for a sizable rock on the riverbank and hits it over the head.
“Now we have dinner,” he says. “I’ll wrap it up and put it in the bear cooler so no scavengers get it. I’ll fillet it right before we eat it.”
“Do you always eat what you catch?” I ask.
“Not always. If I’m not going to eat it, I throw it back in the water. But when it comes to you, yes, now that I’ve caught you, you’re never being thrown back in.”
I shake my head and chuckle, then help him put all the fishing stuff away before he makes good on his word.
That night, after a delicious fish fry, the two of us lay on a blanket close to the riverbank so that we’re outside of the forest and can look at the starlit sky.
It’s gorgeous. I forgot how many stars you can see when you don’t have to deal with pollution.
We’re side by side on our backs, with one hand wrapped around the other’s. Travis’s thumb roams up and down the side of mine. We’ve each pointed out the constellations we know, and now we’re enjoying a comfortable silence. It’s nice not to feel like I have to fill the space like I have with every relationship before this. Travis is quiet by nature and appears to find comfort in the silence.
So far this weekend has made me fall even harder for him, to the point that I’m ready to share our relationship with the rest of the world. It’s been on the tip of my tongue several times over the past twenty-four hours to bring up the conversation, but I don’t want him to feel pressured.
I’m deep in thought about whether I should trust my instincts and say something when a shooting star blitzes across the sky.
I point up to the sky with my free hand. “Oh my god, did you see that?”
“Make a wish.”
I close my eyes, wishing that this thing between Travis and me will develop into something deeper and long-term.
Travis releases my hand and rolls onto his side, so his head is propped up on his elbow and he looks at me. “What did you wish for?”
“If I tell you, it won’t come true.”
“Want to know what I wished for?” He runs his hand down the length of my ponytail.
“If you tell me, it won’t come true.”
His deep brown eyes glitter from the fire that’s probably twenty feet away from us at our campsite. “It has to do with what I’m about to ask you.”
My breath hitches, assured from the tone of his voice of the importance of whatever it is he’s going to say.
“I don’t want to sneak around anymore. I want to tell my brothers that we’re seeing each other. I want to be able to kiss you goodbye before I leave the office for the day, and I want to be able to invite you to family dinners. While I recognize that it might make you feel awkward because I am technically your boss, I think the payoff of being able to integrate you into my life completely is worth the short-term awkwardness of us finding normalcy. How do you feel about that?”
I place my palm on his cheek. “I want the same thing. I’ve been thinking about it all weekend and wasn’t sure if I should bring it up.”
“Never be afraid to bring anything up with me. The only way we’ll run into trouble is if we’re not honest with each other.”
I don’t know the details of what went down in Travis’s previous relationship, but it’s clear that it made him hesitant to pursue another one. That was never clearer than when I left his house the night we went bowling. So, to hear him say that he really wants to make a go of things with me fills me with so much joy I want to jump on top of him and kiss him all over.
“Then I say we tell everyone. Maybe next Friday is a good time since everyone will be together.”
Lucas told me that this coming Friday they want to celebrate me being with RENT-A HUSBAND for a year. It’s crazy to think that an entire year has passed since I first met Travis.
“It’s a plan then. We’ll tell everyone on Friday.” He kisses me.
Our kiss is slow and easy and bursting with emotion.
When he pulls back, he stares into my eyes. “I want to make love to my girlfriend under the stars.”
I tear up at his wording, whispering, “I want that, too.”
Slowly, Travis undresses me until I’m completely naked on the blanket, bathed in only the moonlight. Then he removes his clothes and settles himself between my legs.
When he pushes inside of me, our gazes lock. They don’t stray away until I’m clenching around him and closing my eyes as I climax. He soon follows, spilling inside of me, and we lay in each other’s arms, basking in the bliss of contentment this weekend has brought.
It’s chilly, but neither one of us seems to mind until sometime later when we move into the tent, still naked, and make love a second time.
It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this happy and hopeful. Maybe my wish on a shooting star really will come true.