After Always (Always Series Book 5)

by Lindsay Becs

  I pull in the drive and the lights at Tilly’s house catch my eye, making my heart hammer in my chest. We didn’t really discuss anything about tonight, but I do plan on making a move of some sort.

  Running inside, I take a quick shower before knocking on Tilly’s back door. I’m so excited to see where this night goes with her, I’m already sporting a semi thinking about it. See? Teenage boy. Reaching down, I adjust myself real quick before I knock again and slide the door open.

  “Tilly?”

  “Uh, just a second,” she calls from her upstairs bedroom.

  I should wait down here, but my feet have other ideas and move toward where I know she is. Her bedroom door is half open, and when I peek inside, I see her standing with her back to where I’m standing. She’s got nothing on but a pair of lacy black panties as she slips a dress over her head, letting it slide down her curvy body.

  I watch as she pulls the material into place and looks at herself in the full-length mirror in front of her. She huffs, shaking her head and moves to pull the dress off.

  “Leave it,” I say, startling her. Her eyes find mind in the mirror, where I’m watching her like a creep.

  “I’m so nervous,” she says with a shy smile.

  Pushing open the door, I walk to her, invading her personal space where I’ve never been before.

  When I reach her, she’s still facing the mirror, eyes trained on mine. My hands go to her hips, skimming down to the front of her thighs and back up. She trembles under my touch, matching my nervous hands. My fingers continue to travel up her body; her sides, arms, across her collarbone, and into her hair, exposing her neck. My lips kiss the place where her shoulder and neck meet, trailing up to her ear.

  “You’re beautiful,” I whisper, meeting her eyes again in the mirror. “You don’t need to dress in anything special for me to think that.”

  My hand travels back down her body, pulling her back into me further. Making sure she knows how she’s making me feel right now. I raise a brow at her in question to see if she understands. She smiles, and it’s followed by a small laugh, which is all I need to know she understands.

  I turn her in my arms to look into her face. “I like you, Cookie. And as much as parts of me really want you right now, I’m not quite ready for all of that. But I’d like to have dinner with you, kiss you when I want, and hold you while we watch a movie together. Is that alright?”

  “That’s more than alright.” She smiles, relaxing in my arms.

  “Now, change out of that dress and into something comfortable and put on a bra,” I tell her, stepping back and walking to the door. “Because if you don’t, I’m going to be picturing what you look under your clothes all night,” I add before leaving her room.

  “Pervert!” she yells when I get to the bottom of the stairs.

  I laugh, walking back to my house, where I pull out steaks to grill. As I finish cutting the potatoes for the foil packs that I’ll add to the grill now that it’s hot, Tilly arrives.

  “It already smells good,” she says, walking up to me. “I brought dessert.” She holds up a plate of cookies with a smile.

  “I do like your cookies.” I smirk. Then my eyes roll over her, taking in her leggings and T-shirt, and my breath catches. Closing my eyes for a second to clear my head, I slowly open them, willing my thoughts of Josie to give me tonight and stay at bay.

  The food finishes cooking while we fall into easy conversation. We eat, then move into the living room to settle in for a movie. Pulling Tilly in close to my side when she tries to sit too far away, she looks up and smiles at me, liking that I’m not afraid to get close to her tonight. I can’t hold back anymore. My lips meet hers, my tongue pushing in to taste her.

  Shifting so I can reach her better, I pull her up to meet me. Our lips never part as our bodies shift into position and our tongues tangle. I reach up and pull the band from her hair, letting her soft curls fall around us. I love the feel of her ringlets as my fingers sink into them. We kiss soft and slow, letting our mouths seduce one another.

  Her small hands find the hem of my shirt and slide under, fingers dancing across the bare skin of my back. Reaching behind my neck, I pull my shirt over my head and toss it behind me somewhere. Tilly gasps for a second when she sees me, eyes roaming across my chest and abs, making me smirk at her approval.

  “Shut up,” she says before kissing me again, embarrassed about the obvious eye-fucking she just gave me.

  “I’m glad you like what you see.”

  “I definitely like what I see.”

  We go back to kissing and devouring each other’s lips.

  “I feel like I’m a teenager again,” I laugh against her neck. “I haven’t made out like this in a long time.”

  “Me either. But, damn, does it feel good,” she rasps, letting her head fall back as I lick up her throat, nipping at her chin.

  “You taste so good. I can’t wait to taste all of you.”

  Slowly, she pulls her head up, her hooded eyes meeting mine. “I’ve never…”

  “Oh?” I quirk a brow in question.

  She blushes, biting her lip and shaking her head.

  “Do you… Lie back, Cookie. I’m ready for dessert.”

  “What?” she asks all breathy.

  I smile at her and push her to her back. “Lie back and relax,” I softly command.

  Her arms go to cover her face when my hands find the band of her leggings and start to pull them down.

  “Wait!” she protests, stopping me. “What if it smells like fish or bread or nasty or something?” she asks panicked, and I think she is adorable flustered like this.

  “You trying to feed the five thousand down there?” I tease. “Tilly, look at me,” I tell her, not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable. I wait for her to give me her eyes and see that I’m ready for this. I want this. I want her. “I’m not going to do anything you don’t want. Do you want me to do this?” I wait for her to answer, and she gives a small nod. “Not good enough. I need words, Till.”

  “Yes. I want this.”

  “What’s this?” I push.

  “Please don’t make me say it, Travis,” she begs. I raise a brow at her. “Fine. Yes. I want your face between my legs, Travis. Lick and suck and do all that stuff and make me feel good because I’m so fucking horny right now,” she says, all whiney by the end.

  I smile and in one pull have her leggings off and her knees bent and spread for me. My cock throbs behind my jeans, straining against my zipper. Stupid me for not putting on gym shorts. I stand to remove my pants. Tilly hears and opens her eyes wide to see what I’m doing. I smile down at her as I step out of my jeans.

  “They’re getting a little tight.” I smile at her. “Relax,” I encourage, pushing her shoulders down, but she fights me, sitting up and removing her shirt, leaving her in nothing but a lacy see-through bra.

  Any last stitch of self-control and maturity just went out the window seeing her like this. It’s been a long time since I’ve been with a woman or seen one naked and willing in front of me. I really could have an embarrassing case of premature ejaculation happen here.

  Throwing my head back, I let out a breath. “You have any idea what you are doing to me?” I jump when I feel her hand grip my stiff cock through my boxers. “Fuck, Cookie,” I hiss. “Stop. This is supposed to be about you.” I look back down at her and see an evil grin on her face.

  Bending forward, my mouth covers her nipple through the lace of her bra and I suck, making her moan. And holy shit, hearing Tilly Lane moan in pleasure is the hottest thing ever. Needing to hear it more, I do it again and again to her other breast, working her up.

  Her fingers go into my hair, and I begin my descent down her body, kissing the top of her mound, both sides of the apex of her thighs. Putting one of her legs over my shoulder, my tongue dips to taste her. I hum in approval as I lick from back to front, teasing her clit before sinking into her over and over.

  Her hips begin to buck as her
orgasm builds. With one of my arms, I pin her hips down, closing my lips over her clit and sucking. Peeking up her body, I see her skin is flushed and sexy. Pushing one of my digits inside her, my tongue continues to dance over her sensitive flesh. Adding a second finger into her, I curl them into a hook to work her up more and more as my mouth latches on and sucks an orgasm out of her. She shakes and erupts on my tongue as her thighs grip my head in a vise.

  Once she relaxes and comes down from her high, I lay my head on her hip bone and smile up at her. “Your cookie tastes good.” Our eyes meet, and we both break out in laughter together.

  TILLY

  Minutes After Orgasm

  I feel high and sated laying under Travis after he just delivered the best orgasm of my life. Holy shit fucking damnit, that was good. My body continues to hum with after-gasms still hitting each time he shifts and hits my sensitive skin.

  He liked eating my cookie and now I want to try his rocket pop…

  I knew waiting for him to be ready would be worth the wait. I had a feeling it’d be good, but I didn’t expect that good.

  I can die a satisfied woman now. And we didn’t even hit a homerun yet.

  TRAVIS

  “Penny, stop before you crash my truck!” I hear Jesse yell at her.

  He asked if he could take her driving today to help prepare for her driver’s test. I had to laugh when I agreed. Penny might be pretty fucking great under the hood of a car, but behind the wheel is another story.

  I look up in time to see her laughing from the driver’s seat while Jesse looks like he’s going to puke as the truck comes to a stop just shy of hitting the house. Jesse’s door flies open before she has the truck in park, and he drops to the ground.

  “Oh, sweet land that I love,” he says, laying his face in the grass. Bear runs to him from the porch, where I’m sitting, and licks his face before sitting on his back. “At least you’ll help me stay put instead of getting in a car with her again,” he points to a still laughing Penny.

  He turns to look at me then. “You did not warn me. Not cool, Travis.”

  “Hey, you asked if you could take her driving. You never asked if she was any good.”

  “Evil.”

  “At least if she scratched the paint or dented your truck, you know a guy who can fix it,” I tell him as he flips me off. I’m not even mad.

  Jesse has become my resident bodywork guy at Pretty Girl. He can still fix engines fine, but his real love turned to the bodywork side of it all and he’s really talented with it.

  Since he graduated, he’s been working at Pretty Girl full time. He took the pay raise humbly when I moved him into the position that put him in charge of all the business that came to be in that department. I have no regrets; he’s been the asset we needed.

  “LP, you think you’re ready for your test tomorrow?” I ask her.

  “Yep! I’m gonna pass with flying colors,” she answers, sitting next to Jesse, who still hasn’t moved.

  “There will be flying colors alright,” I hear him mumble, followed by a smack to the head by Penny.

  The next day when I took her, don’t you know she passed her test and drove impeccably. When Jesse and I sat there slack-jawed and watched her, it was Tilly next to us who started laughing. Turns out, she and Penny had a bet going that Penny could make us believe she couldn’t drive while Tilly had actually taught her right.

  “I did it!” Penny yells, running to us with her new driver’s license. “Thanks for helping, Tilly, and for helping fool these two,” she says with a thumb pointing at Jesse and me.

  “It was fun watching that unfold. I almost lost it when your dad told me you drove up on a sidewalk the other day,” Tilly tells Penny as they both stand there laughing.

  “Evil!” Jesse yells to both of them.

  We head home to celebrate with pizza and a cake that Tilly made for her.

  Jesse says goodbye, going home for the night, and Penny heads to bed, leaving Tilly and me alone for a minute before she needs to leave.

  We’ve been doing the secret thing since the night Penny stayed with Jesse. We haven’t gone as far as that night since, with Penny and/or Jesse around, but we manage quick kisses and short make-out sessions here and there.

  It makes me feel like a child all over again, sneaking around. It also helps with not feeling the need to rush things either. Even with waiting so long to get here, I’m glad there isn’t more pressure.

  I also can’t deny my growing feelings for Tilly, and it continues to scare the shit out of me.

  I have eight letters from Josie yet to be opened and read, and I’m not sure I’m ready to read any of them yet. I’ve been ignoring my box for a while. Maybe it’s a good thing.

  Or maybe it means something I’m not ready to admit yet.

  Chapter 15

  Travis

  Fourteen Years After Josie

  Happy 40th Birthday, old man!!!

  You are over the freaking hill!! Welcome to my side, baby. How’s it feel? Sucks, right? Hahaha!!

  Are you turning into a silver fox yet? Oh crap, or are you losing your hair completely? Although, I’ve seen you bald before and you still rocked it looking hot as sin. I’m convinced you are still as gorgeous as ever. Manly and masculine and so deliciously yummy. You are, aren’t you? Not fair, Trav.

  I hope you have the best birthday! Celebrate big! Get drunk and wake up wondering why the hangover at forty is so much worse than at twenty or thirty. Go see some ta-tas dance or drive on a racetrack or smoke some weed for old time’s sake. Just have fun. Knowing you, you’re probably going to have a fire out back and eat your weight in s’mores, which is as dangerous as you’ll get. Regardless of how you decide to celebrate, know I love you so damn much.

  Always,

  Josie

  I let out a loud laugh when I read Josie’s “Over the Hill” letter.

  Damn, I miss her sense of humor. I miss her impulsive need to do something crazy every now and then. I miss the way her eyes would drink me in when I’d walk inside from work and strip from my grease-stained clothes. I miss her laugh. I miss holding her by the fire pit. I miss her.

  Leaning my head back, I take a minute to miss her fully, all the way through my soul and straight to my heart. I don’t let myself go there wholly like this often, but sometimes I still need that little Josie fix to keep moving forward.

  I’m thinking about Josie’s fortieth birthday. About how Ollie put forty pink flamingos in our front yard with a big sign announcing her birthday to the neighborhood. How Tatum and Penny helped me pick out forty different types of floral bouquets that were delivered to the house throughout the day. How I painted a 4-0 on my ass and did a special dance for her in our room once all our friends and family left after a party in her honor. I made sure to give her the right number of birthday spankings and then kissed each one away.

  I’m lost in my memories of Josie and don’t hear anyone enter the room until I feel a hand on my shoulder, making me jump.

  “Sorry,” Tilly says, looking embarrassed when she takes in the scene. I’m on the floor of my bedroom with letters surrounding me written by my late wife. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you,” she says softly. “Tate’s family just got here.”

  “You didn’t interrupt me.” I smile at her to try to ease her, but her eyes scan over the handwritten letters that I never told her about.

  “Travis…” she starts when I lace our fingers and pull her down to sit with me.

  “Come here,” I tug until she’s next to me, our fingers still entwined. It feels right and good, which surprises me with Josie all around me right now. Leaning over, I kiss her lips in another attempt to take away her unease.

  I open my eyes and look right into hers. “This is Josie.” I smile, then look down at the letter still in my lap. “She left a box of letters for each of us when she died.” I hear Tilly’s breath catch at that and give her hand a squeeze. “Josie was… incredible. She knew exactly what each of us would nee
d to hear for every occasion. I’ve read almost every letter in this box at least five times. For a long time, I lived each day to find another one she’d hidden somewhere instead of placed in this box or read another one just to read it. To feel her, to hear her, anything.” I pause and look back up to Tilly. “I only have six left now that are unread, and it scares me the closer I get to the last one.”

  “Oh, Travis,” she says, putting her hand on my face.

  “It scares me, but I think when I read that last one, I’ll be ready for it. Just sitting here and having you see this is big. I don’t feel like you’re intruding or that I’m cheating on her in some way like I thought I would.” I look up at her again with a small grin. “I’m glad it’s you.”

  I kiss her again, and she kisses me back. With Josie all around us in this room, in this moment, I kiss Tilly and I mean it. Josie’s words crinkling under our shifting bodies as we deepen our kiss. A kiss that has me thinking of nothing but Tilly and how much I know I’m falling for her.

  She slows our kiss before I want to, but I listen to her cues. “Your whole family is downstairs waiting for you to celebrate your birthday. We should go down to join them.” She smiles against my mouth, which won’t leave hers completely yet.

  “OK,” I say, kissing her again. “You go. I need to put all this away.”

  “Thank you for sharing this with me,” she says, standing.

  I smack her ass as she walks away, getting a yelp from her when she turns to shoot me a look. I give her a wink before she disappears to go downstairs.

  Dropping my chin to my chest, I smile big to myself. I’m happy. Tilly makes me happy.

  When I walk downstairs after putting my letters away, I’m greeted with everyone wearing fake grey mustaches and glasses, holding canes.

  “Ha-ha. Very nice, guys,” I tell them, shaking my head as they all laugh.