16. Lila
CHAPTER 16
Lila
It was late Wednesday afternoon, and I was restocking a few glasses on the shelves when I heard Travis cursing from the kitchen.
I peered through the window to find him hunched over the worktable where Manny was usually stationed at. He was clearly struggling to do something.
“What are you doing?”
He startled slightly and looked over his shoulder, struggling and failing to wipe away the annoyed scowl on his face before he looked to the clock on the wall. “You’re early.”
“Hello to you too.” I smiled as I pushed the swinging door open and walked into the kitchen. “Desi asked me to come in since she’s going to receive a big delivery to stock up for the carnival this weekend. What’s wrong?”
“Manny forgot he had jury duty this morning, so he won’t be back in time to prep before we open. I’m trying to do that to help him out. That is, I would if I could read the man’s damn handwriting.”
“Can I take a look?”
Travis blinked. “Be my guest. ”
“It can’t be that bad.” I glance down at the instructions Manny must have written for these types of situations when he couldn’t be here. In Travis’s defense, the chicken scratch handwriting made me momentarily wonder if the instructions were even in English. They were.
Travis scoffed. “Told you.”
“I’m sure we can figure it out together. Is that the word fish scratched out, or…”
“I think it’s a different four-letter word,” he answered dryly as he looked over my shoulder.
“Why am I not surprised? You know, for such a quiet man he sure has a potty mouth.”
“Potty mouth, huh?” Travis smirked.
I laughed. “Hey, I have an innocent kid in the house. I have to keep him that way for as long as I can.”
He pulled out a few pans to place them onto the iron stove top before coming back to the table. “I’m surprised he isn’t already unleashing an onslaught of them given your grandfather was around him.”
At the mention of my grandfather, I was reminded of Irene. My conversation with her the other night and all the creative ways she called me names faster than a gun shooting bullets. The threats she made about coming back to Willow Vale…
The thought of seeing my mother again made my chest ache. It…it scared me. Not for myself, but for River. The last thing I wanted was for him to ever see her the way I did my whole life. I never wanted him to be scared or disappointed by someone, even though I was sure it would happen later down the line because that was the reality of growing up.
But I’d try my damn best to shield him from all of that for as long as I could .
Noticing my sudden my mood shifting, Travis nudged my shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing!” I smiled. “Let’s just read Manny’s instructions.”
Travis didn’t push me to talk about what was clearly bothering me, but I knew he kept a watchful eye on me. Together we deciphered the instructions on how to get the ovens going for the pizza dough Manny prepped last night.
“The dough is already made so all we have to do is get it rolled out and assemble it,” I said, squinting at the instructions as if that would make me understand better.
Travis grumbled as he went to the fridge and pulled out two bags labeled “pizza dough.” He was about to dump them onto the chopping block when I yelled, “Wait!” Travis startled, looking at me as if I grew two heads. “You can’t just put it onto a surface without putting flour down first!”
He made a face. “Really?”
I snorted. “Man, you really aren’t a cook, are you?”
A wry grin spread across his lips. “I am. I just choose not to be if I can avoid it.”
I watch him turn toward the pantry, reappearing with a bag of flour in one of his large hands. He rolled the sleeves of his flannel shirt up his arms, revealing the corded muscles beneath the dark blue fabric.
I quickly looked away, tying my hair up into a messy bun atop my head to get it out of the way before washing my hands.
“Okay, let’s get started then. I’ll roll out the dough and you get to finishing it up.” I reached for the bag of flour and started to open it.
“And here I thought I was the boss.”
“Well, I’d rather be the boss than be on Manny’s shit list,” I said as I kept trying to lift the flaps of the crinkly bag. When I finally got it open, I accidentally ripped it with a little too much force. I gasped as a plume of flour shot up. I started coughing the moment I inhaled it.
“What the hell am I doing?” I groaned as I waved my hands to get rid of the grains floating around the air. When I could finally see, Travis was standing across the table from me.
I caught him looking at me with a funny expression on his face. His lips were in a flat line and his eyes were wide. He brought his fist up over his mouth as his shoulders started to shake.
“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You…” His voice shook and by the sound of it, I thought he was about to start crying or laughing. Both of which seemed impossible for him. “Your face…”
“What about my face?” I caught my reflection over his shoulder from the mirror hanging over the hand sink and gaped. My face was covered in flour along with a few strands of my hair. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” I frantically wiped the flour off my face only to stop when I heard it.
A deep raspy laugh.
I looked at Travis and found him practically hunched over the table.
“You are not laughing at me right now!”
“I’m not…” he gasped before chuckling some more. “I swear I’m not.”
“Do you not know what laughing is? Because that’s what you’re doing right now.”
“The look on your face…” He wiped his eye as he struggled to compose himself.
I crossed my arms, narrowing my gaze which only made him laugh harder. It was deep and loud, louder than I’d ever heard it .
I’m sure I wasn’t considered an intimidating person by any means. Looking like a clown while I tried to scowl at Travis probably didn’t do me any favors either.
“I’m glad you’re having fun. For a second there, I wondered if you even knew what that was.”
Travis walked around the table to meet me as I wiped my face. “Pouting really isn’t your thing. I’m the one who is supposed to have the shit attitude, darlin’.”
“I am not pouting,” I lied. I kept scowling, not wanting him to see the effect hearing him refer to me as darlin’ had on me.
He crossed his arms as he leaned against the counter. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah,” I mimicked him, which only made him chuckle some more. I pointed at the mess. “I just washed my hair this morning too. You have no idea how hard it is to tame this.”
“Just shake your hair out, I’m sure most of it will come off easy.”
With a sigh, I untied my hair and flipped my head over, doing as he said. Manny would have kicked us both out a long time ago for goofing around like this. In a way, I was glad he wasn’t here to witness the way I was making a mess in his kitchen.
When I straightened, I pushed the curls over my shoulder and faced him. “How does that look? Is it all off now?”
“Almost.” He was smiling as he reached over and ran his thumb over my cheek. His touch was warm, and I shuddered at the familiarity with which he touched me. As if he had done it a hundred times before. A pang of sadness hit me, knowing he used to touch me like this. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him as he wiped away the grainy flour off my cheek. When he noticed I was staring up at him, his smile slowly dropped. He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing before he murmured, “Now it’s all off.”
“T-thanks,” I said breathlessly.
I felt it the moment the air around us changed. Like this electrical charge surged in the room, heightening my senses. His eyes drifted toward my lips, and I couldn’t help but lick them when they suddenly felt dry.
His jaw ticked, and I felt my breath catch in my throat as he inched closer. His hand moving to cup my cheek. I should push him away, right? This was crossing into dangerous territory and I couldn’t do that. We shouldn’t do this.
But it felt so… good to have him touch me. To feel the warmth radiating off his broad chest. His spicy scent that made me dizzy. My hand travelled up to grip his forearm to steady myself.
“What the hell are you doing to me?” he rasped, whispering it as if it were a secret just between us.
I leaned into his touch as I whispered, “Travis, we shouldn’t.”
“Shouldn’t we?” God, did his voice drop another octave? My body reacted to him in a way I didn’t want it to. The way he was looking at me right now made me wonder what he’d do if I said yes.
I took in a shaky breath as his hand moved further down my neck. “We—we definitely shouldn’t.”
“Then why is your heart beating so fast right now?” His thumb rubbed my pulse point in slow tantalizing circles where I suddenly felt the fast beat of my heart.
“Because you make me nervous,” I admitted breathlessly.
“Why do I make you nervous?” His hand moved back up until his thumb pressed against my bottom lip. I watched him watch me, his dark gaze focused on the way his thumb ran across my lip .
My hand squeezed his arm, and he took that as encouragement to close the space between us. The worst part? I desperately wanted him to close it.
“Travis,” I breathed, unable to control the sound of my needy voice. Not sure exactly what I was asking for, but I wanted more .
Before I could stutter another word, he breathed out harshly, “Fuck it.”
I gasped as he leaned down and?—
“Hey, Lila? Can you help me restock the delivery? It just came in.” Desi’s voice carried down the hall as she hollered for me. Then she sounded entirely too close. “Hey, where’d you go?”
Travis and I shot apart—more like I did, and he just stood there motionless—before Desi pushed her way into the kitchen.
“Oh, there you are! I was wondering where you disappeared to…” Desi trailed off as she looked between us. She arched a brow and grinned. “Am I interrupting something?”
“No,” I hurried to say.
At the same time Travis said, “Yes. Go away.”
I held up a hand and forced a laugh. “No, you’re not. Travis just didn’t know how to read Manny’s notes, and now he does. You’re welcome. I’ll get back to work now.”
“Delilah,” Travis called out to me, but I was already hurrying toward Desi who watched us with a grin the entire time.
“What’s on your face?” my best friend called out as I practically ran down the hall and locked myself in the bathroom. My heart was pounding in my ears as I slapped the faucet on to splash my face with cold water to get rid of any flour that may have stayed behind.
When I finished and stared at my reflection in the mirror, I took in my wide eyes and flushed cheeks all caused by one man.
I knew now that there was no escaping the effect he had on me when we were so close to one another. Being friends was one thing, but doing what we were about to do in the kitchen? It would throw me into a tailspin. Worst part is? I wanted him . And not as a friend.
I groaned, “I’m so screwed.”