One Wrong Move

by Meredith St. James

  "This is insane," I told Travis. I was propped up on a stool at a table near the pool tables in the back. Travis was standing next to me because of a shortage of seats. He was saving the only other stool at our table for Wren—who'd gone with Carter to get drinks.

  "I know." He dropped a heavy hand casually on my thigh as he leaned closer to be heard over the rowdy group playing pool behind us. "Are you sure you don't want something to drink? Just because I'm not drinking doesn't mean you can't."

  "I'm good," I reassured him.

  Travis had made it clear that he wasn't planning on drinking, which was good considering what Vinnie had brought up at The Burgundy. Travis and I had never re-visited that conversation. I wanted to ask but I wasn't sure what the proper etiquette was.

  As if he'd read my mind, Travis suddenly said, "I got sober after the accident. I even did a stint in rehab to help me get clean. That doesn't mean you can't drink around me. I stopped drinking a long time ago, it's not a trigger for me or anything when other people are drinking. I'm solid."

  I'd never imagined something like sobriety could seem so sexy.

  I felt myself looking at Travis in a whole new light. Gone were all traces of the teenage alcoholic with a chip on his shoulder about being the poorest person in the room. Travis had grown into the kind of man who'd learned what he was really worth. He'd learned to handle the chip on his shoulder much better than I'd ever learned to handle my own. Honestly, it made me feel a little guilty about how caught up in the past I still was. If Travis could so readily move on, why couldn't I?

  All of our interactions since running into each other had been while sober. If I believed Travis—which I had to admit that I did—then that's how the rest of our interactions would be, too. There was no crutch to help us get through the awkward stuff or things we didn't want to actually do. It added a layer of intimacy to everything that hadn't been there when we were younger.

  It was why I'd felt compelled to finally put enough trust in Travis to let him drive. And now, it was making me imagine all sorts of other things I wanted to trust him to do.

  Travis smoothed a finger over the stress lines that had appeared on my forehead. "What are you thinking so hard about?"

  "You," I answered easily. My voice lowered. "I let you drive tonight."

  "Trust me, I noticed."

  Travis had one arm settled over the back of my stool. I ran my hand along the length of that arm, mesmerized by my sudden, desperate need to feel his bicep. The hand that was still on my upper thigh tightened as a small groan escaped his lips.

  I let my hand trail over to the front of his shirt, disappointed by the way the material hid what was underneath. His hand shifted slightly higher on my thigh. Another inch and he'd no doubt feel the heat radiating off of me. I knew that it wasn't a good idea to fall into something physical together without hashing out the past, but it had been far too long since he'd touched me.

  "What are you doing?" Travis asked just as my hand started to dip dangerously low towards the waist of his jeans.

  "Forgot where I was there for a minute," I mumbled as I pulled my hand away from him and used it to fan myself.

  Travis let out a sexy laugh that made my heart race. I leaned into him. All of a sudden, he was looking down at me with bedroom eyes. I moaned so quietly that I wasn't sure at first if he'd even heard it.

  And then his mouth was on mine.

  It was just a quick kiss, one that hadn't even been scandalous enough to draw attention from the crowd. It was still enough to stoke the fire that was building low in my gut.

  "I want—" But I never got the chance to finish telling him what I wanted.

  Wren broke through the crowd with Carter right on her heels. She triumphantly held up her beer bottle and a pitcher of water that she'd somehow managed to secure. Behind her, Carter had a beer of his own but also an entire arm's load of glasses for us to drink from. I was impressed.

  Travis shifted away from me slightly, allowing the tension between us to cool. It was quite the relief, considering how close I'd been to jumping him right there in front of his friends and everyone else in the bar.

  "Now, in the name of friendship," Wren announced with enough over-exaggeration to make me believe she'd already finished at least one drink, "I propose a rousing round of icebreakers!"

  "Icebreakers?" Even Travis looked surprised by that one.

  Carter rubbed at his forehead awkwardly. "When I volunteered last semester with that after school program I made the mistake of telling Wren about the icebreakers they made us do."

  "What sort of icebreakers?" I asked suspiciously. And thus began the weirdest two hours of my life.

  Veronica

  "Can we pick up a movie before heading back to the house?" Wren asked from the backseat.

  "I'm up for it," Travis said. "I told Ronnie I'd take her home, though."

  My mouth moved faster than my brain. "You don't have to take me home right this second. I'd love to watch a movie."

  "Are you sure?" Travis asked.

  I nodded easily. I'd probably be a little tired at work the next day, but so what if I got home a little late? Stella was already asleep, so it wasn't like I'd be missing anything.

  "Woohoo!" Wren cheered.

  I knew I'd made the right choice when Travis smiled down at me. He looked pleased with me, and that made the prospect of not getting enough sleep completely worth it. Besides, I was starting to think that a late night at his place might have other perks after all the teasing at the bar.

  Wren chattered away as Travis drove us to one of those movie rental boxes outside a gas station. Carter offered to get out to get the movie since Wren was so tipsy, but she jumped out of the car anyway. He sighed in exasperation as he got out to help her, but I saw the smile he was wearing as he passed by my window.

  The second they were back in the car Wren started talking again. I found myself actually liking the way she filled the silence. She wasn't just talking for the sake of talking, she just had a lot to say.

  The comforting sound of her voice had me drifting off to sleep.

  A short time later, a hand shook my shoulder gently. "Ronnie, babe, wake up."

  My mouth opened on a yawn at the same time my eyes opened to find Travis leaning over me from my side of the car. I blinked a couple times. Wren and Carter were already walking into the house. Travis had managed to park the car and come around to my side to get me without me ever having woken up.

  "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep."

  "That's okay. Do you want me to take you home?"

  I should have said yes. I should have let him drive me home so I could safely crawl into the comfort of my own bed. Instead, I found myself shaking my head.

  "Can I stay here?"

  Travis' head jerked back on his shoulders. "You mean like… stay here all night?"

  "Yes."

  "Of course you can. You're welcome to stay in my bed."

  "That was my plan, yes." My voice was husky—which had nothing to do with me having fallen asleep. I watched Travis' Adam's apple shift as he swallowed hard.

  "Ronnie," he said my name like a warning.

  "Travis," I mocked.

  He held out his hand to me and I took it, letting him pull me up from the car. As we made it into the house together, Wren studied us curiously. Our hands were still locked. I was leaning into Travis. She smiled.

  "Sorry we kept you out so late. We didn't mean to run you ragged."

  I waved off her apology. I was one of those people who felt exhausted with anything less than eight hours of sleep, so being tired wasn't unusual for me.

  "No, I'm sorry. I really was looking forward to watching a movie."

  "There's always tomorrow. And I even picked something kid friendly." She laughed, holding up an animated movie that I was sure Stella would love. The implication was obvious.

  "I'm sure a certain little girl I know would love to watch that." Not wanting to be held off any longer, I sai
d goodnight.

  Travis hugged Wren and fist-bumped Carter before finally returning to take my hand and lead me off down the hall. As we walked, his hand slid out from mine and snaked around my waist instead. Outside of what I assumed was his bedroom door, he backed me into the door. His hands settled on the door on either side of my head, caging me in.

  "We probably shouldn't do this. You should probably go into that room alone." My heart started to sink until I realized how much it seemed to pain him to say it.

  "Neither of us were ever very good at doing what we should be doing," I reminded him.

  His eyebrows dipped. "And look where that got us."

  "It got us here."

  I grabbed for him like I was a drowning woman and he was my life raft. Our lips crashed together like tumultuous waves, completing the obnoxious metaphor that had formed in my mind.

  "Bedroom," I panted, reaching blindly for the doorknob behind me.

  The door flew open, sending both of us stumbling into the room. Travis slammed the door shut behind us. The space between us was filled with electricity.

  He stalked toward me, his hooded eyes promising a slew of delicious things to come. I fisted his shirt, dragging him closer. His hands settled on my hips. I tilted my head back, offering him unrestricted access to my lips. He kissed me square on my mouth first, but then his lips moved over my cheek and down my neck. I could feel my toes curling in my shoes.

  My hands were still on his shirt, which made it super easy for me to pull at the garment. He took the hint and helped me pull it off of him. The abs that greeted me made my jaw drop. Travis had been an athlete the entire time I'd known him—but college football had really transformed his body to a whole other level.

  "See something you like?" he teased.

  "All of it." I reached out and stroked the ridges of his abs.

  He groaned in pleasure, capturing my hand when it started to trail south. He raised my hand and kissed the back of it. He seemed fine to take things slow, but I was desperate for him. I pulled out of his grip to tug my own shirt over my head.

  Another groan left his mouth. He was already reaching for me again before I'd even managed to discard my shirt. It ended up falling abandoned to the ground somewhere around our feet.

  As he kissed me with renewed vigor, I reveled in the feeling of his bare chest against my own nearly bare upper half. My breasts strained against the black satin of my bra. Travis reached around to unhook the offending garment. I let the bra fall away as Travis' lips moved back to my neck and then down further still. His hands cupped my breasts, his thumbs rolling over my nipples and turning them into hard peaks. I arched into his touch.

  Then his mouth was there replacing his hands. I whimpered as he gently took one peak into his mouth, his tongue teasing me. We still hadn't even made it to the bed. My fingers played with the clasp of his belt. When my hand not-so-accidentally brushed against the bulge in the front of his pants, his breath caught.

  All bets were suddenly off. We pulled apart and started yanking our remaining clothes off at a furious pace. We became a mess of wandering hands and mouths desperately meeting as we tumbled into his bed. Years of pent-up sexual frustration showed in the frenzied way I touched every part of him that I could get my hands on.

  Travis climbed over me on the bed, my legs spreading so that he could settle in between them. The position meant that the bulge of his hard cock settled right in the crest between my thighs. I wiggled against him, crying out when the friction hit just the right spot.

  He pressed up a little, giving him space so that his cock lined up snug against my entrance.

  "Travis." I put my hand on his chest, pausing him as he hovered there. "I haven't… since…"

  It took him a minute before he seemed to realize what I was trying to hint at. "It's been three years. In all that time you didn't sleep with anyone else?"

  I shook my head for him, confirming it.

  "Shit, that's—" He cleared his throat twice. "I don't deserve how perfect you are." His eyes softened as he rested on one arm so that the other could gently caress the length of my body. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

  "More than anything."

  I put my hands on his shoulders and tugged him down to me. He slipped easily inside of me, reminding me that our bodies were made for each other. It was no wonder I'd gone so long without sleeping with anyone. There was no chance anyone would have compared.

  Travis and I moved together, my body pressing up to meet the rhythm of his thrusts. He didn't just fuck my body, he worshipped it. I felt a long-buried part of me coming alive under his body.

  I was the first one to go over the edge. My hands clutched at the sheets as my entire body vibrated with pleasure. I held him close to me as I rode out the sensations. He murmured something against my cheek but I couldn't decipher it. Waves of pleasure continued to descend on me until Travis finished as well.

  Afterward, Travis collapsed on his back on the bed. I rolled over to rest my head on his chest. We were both sweaty, but it barely fazed me. I felt sated and content curled up by his side.

  "What are you thinking about?" Travis asked me, his fingers pushing my tangled hair out of my face.

  "I hate that I can't check on Stella one more time before bed." My bottom lip jutted out in a pout.

  He traced a finger over my lip. "I'm the only one staying in the house until practice starts back up. Next time, Stella can come stay, too." I closed my eyes, my lips turning up at the corners as I imagined the three of us as a family in the big, empty house.

  Kelley, New York was turning out to be the best thing that had ever happened to me—and the best thing that had ever happened to us.

  Travis

  I woke up in the morning to a quiet knock on the bedroom door. Ronnie shifted on the bed but didn't wake up. I grabbed my discarded shorts from the floor and tugged them on before slipping out the door. Carter was waiting for me in the hallway.

  His expression was grim. "You've got a visitor."

  "Fuck."

  "He actually asked for Ronnie but I figured you might want to intervene."

  "Yeah, thanks." I moved past him towards the front door. Within a few steps, I was turning back. "Could I borrow your shirt?" I had a feeling walking out half-dressed wouldn't help me curry favor with Ronnie's brother.

  Carter pulled his t-shirt over his head and handed it right over. He was one hell of a friend.

  "Wren's in the shower. I'll let her know we might be asked to testify about your murder," he joked.

  "That bad, huh?"

  Carter clapped me on the back. "Eh, you'll be fine." He paused long enough to make me uncomfortable. "Probably, anyway."

  I groaned, pulling on the borrowed shirt and leaving Carter behind as I forced myself towards the door. I'd partially expected some sort of confrontation with Vinnie to be inevitable, but I hadn't expected for it to come so soon. More than anything, I wished I could stay in the little bubble of pure happiness I'd shared with Ronnie the night before.

  "Good morning," I greeted with as much calm as I could muster considering the circumstances. Instead of standing in the doorway, I stepped out to join Vinnie on the porch.

  Vinnie had been standing at the edge of the porch looking out on the neighborhood. He turned angrily at the sound of my voice. "I asked for Veronica."

  "You got me," I countered.

  "Veronica was just fine without you."

  "I don't like you insinuating that she's somehow worse off because I'm around. I haven't done anything that should lead you to believe that."

  "It's only a matter of time."

  "From where I'm standing, you're the one that's been holding her back."

  Vinnie took a menacing step towards me but I didn't flinch. If there was ever a time to hold my ground, that was it. I knew it was a risky move, questioning Vinnie's role in Ronnie's life, but I felt like it was necessary. He was babying her, keeping her from being forced to learn how to stand on her own two f
eet.

  "You have no idea how hard things were after what you did."

  "Can we stop dancing around this? I wrecked the car. I got drunk and wrecked the car."

  "A few inches to the left and—"

  "And Ronnie could have been killed. Yeah, I remember. But you know what? That didn't happen. So, feel free to keep fixating on that for the next twenty years if you want—but I'm not going to." I shrugged. "I love your sister. I've always loved her. I hope that you'll be able to accept that, but if not, it doesn't change anything."

  "I'll be coaching you. I could make your life miserable. I could bench you."

  I nodded. "Yep, you could do all of those things. I hope that you care enough about coaching our team that you won't want to, but if that's your choice then there's nothing I can do about it." I was majorly bluffing. I couldn't afford to ride the bench, not when there'd started to be speculation about my NFL prospects.

  My bluff seemed to work. Some of the anger had fled his expression, and anguish took its place.

  "You didn't just wreck your car—you wrecked her."

  "She's not wrecked." The very idea of that was unfathomable. "Ronnie is strong. And smart. And beautiful. And the best damn mother I've ever seen. She's incredible, not wrecked."

  A soft hand slid into the space between my ribs and my arm. My eyes found the top of Ronnie's head riddled with bedhead. She leaned into me, her eyes finding mine.

  "That was nice. Thank you," she said softly.

  I hadn't even realized the door had opened for her to come out. Idly, I wondered if she'd heard the part where I'd said I loved her.

  "Veronica, what the hell are you doing? One minute you swear nothing is happening and the next you're leaving your daughter home alone so you can shack up."