This is Love by (Checkmate Duet 2)

“That’s great.” But I know her being here is not a good idea. She’s playing my best friend, and I don’t like that one fucking bit.

“Shit. I’ve gotta go. I left Logan in the car. You two play nice, okay?”

I give him a nod, and he leaves me to my thoughts.

Mia is acting out, begging for attention, and she knows Drew will give it to her. I thought she’d learned a lesson, but clearly, I was mistaken.

VIOLA

Once Drew leaves, I make my way back to Travis’ room, where he’s getting dressed.

“I’m not being weird,” I say matter-of-factly.

Travis smiles at me. “It’s okay. It’s all of the dirty sex you’ve been having.”

“What just happened cannot happen again. One moment longer and Drew could’ve caught us. He will kill you and me both.”

I lean against the doorway, and Travis walks toward me.

“I’d happily die for you,” he says, kissing me sweetly.

“Seriously. We have to be smarter about this.” Knowing that Drew could barge in at any minute and find us together makes me jittery and nervous.

He waits a long time before he responds. “I agree, but don’t be so paranoid around him. I’ll tell him right now if you want me to.” He turns and looks at me with an arched eyebrow and a cheesy grin as he picks up his phone and pretends to call Drew.

“Travis!” Heat rushes to my cheeks, and I’m two seconds from tackling him, but I know that would lead to round two. So, I reel it back, regardless of what my body wants.

A ding rings out, and I pull my phone from my pocket. Immediately I start smiling and laughing. It dings again and again. Travis studies me, watching me bite my lip as I respond. I can tell he wants to ask me who I’m talking to, but it’s not his business, as much as he wants to make it his business. I glance up at him, and he drops the smile, which only causes me to laugh again.

“Don’t worry,” I say, watching him tense, almost as if he’s jealous. I turn the phone around and flash him a picture of a flaccid dick on the screen. “Courtney sends me dick pics randomly, but they’re all weird and have issues.”

“That’s the most fucked-up thing I’ve seen in a long time. Is it wrapped around his balls?”

I laugh again. “I don’t know what it’s doing, but it shouldn’t bend that way. I’m so glad you don’t have a messed up one.”

“You mean you wouldn’t give me a chance if I had a weird dick?”

“No. Weird dicks are a hard limit for me,” I say with a smile.

The dick pics flood in and I go back to my phone. Tears stream down my face because I’m laughing so hard. I swear she has a folder of these gross pictures reserved just to torture me.

C: SO PLEASE COME OVER AFTER CLASS!

V: Okay! Geez.

C: I promise to make it worth your while ;)

I roll my eyes because I don’t think I want to know what she’s talking about. With her, there’s really no telling.

“Courtney has too much time on her hands. And shouldn’t you be reading that chapter?” Travis reminds me, dropping down on the couch and turning on the television. He stops on some old western where the gunshots sound like ricochets and everything on the screen looks brown—the horses, the hats, the shirts, and even the mesa in the background are the same color. I sit down next to him and begin speed-reading.

An alarm on my phone goes off, and I know it’s time to go. “Shit. Class. I’ll be back later.”

“There’s no way I could tempt you into staying, is there?” Travis lifts his shirt, and his abs beg me to stay. But I shake my head and stand, throwing my bag over my shoulder. I force myself to take a few steps forward.

As I walk past him, he grabs my hand and pulls me to him, causing me to stumble. My body lands next to him on the edge of the couch, and our faces are so close that the warmth of his breath brushes against my cheek. Tucking loose strands of hair behind my ear, Travis leans in and kisses me so sweetly that he practically steals my breath away. I feel like I’m floating, suspended above reality, as I experience him in a different way. Over the years, he’s whittled away at my heart and has finally carved a path straight through the middle. I hope to God this never ends. My hands thread through his hair and our movements become wilder, daring, almost animalistic in all aspects; it takes everything I have not to give into him again.

“The things I’d do to you right now,” Travis says in a low rasp, with his eyes closed, before he pulls away.