When I reach the top, the brightest smile flanked by infuriatingly cute dimples is waiting. He’s standing with his hands in the pockets of his jeans, his computer bag slung across his body. His olive-green quarter zip sweater complements his auburn hair and brown skin in a way that emphasizes his radiating warmth. He reaches up to smooth a hand down his fade, and my knees threaten to buckle. Looks aside, Trevor’s the whole package. I’ve never let myself appreciate it before now.
“Hey, Gem.” He wraps me in a hug and kisses the top of my head. Giddiness flutters inside of me at the deep baritone of his voice calling meGem.Lightheaded, my body fuses to his, and I fall into the immense safety I feel whenever I’m tucked under his arm. Suddenly, he goes rigid, and every doubt I had on the escalator washes over me.
“Can I still call you that?” he whispers in my ear. “Gem?”
The giggle that bubbles from my throat at my surprise prompts him to step back and search my face with furrowed brows. He’s worried about using the nickname that just had me swooning? “Yeah, Trev. You can still call meGem.”
The smile stretches back on his face. “Good. I think I’d have a hard time stopping that one. It’s just your name at this point. You hungry?”
I smile and shake my head. “I already ate. Iamready to sit down, though.”
“Well, let’s go then.” He slides my backpack off and slings a strap over his shoulder. We venture into the crowd toward the gate, my anxiety kicking up a notch. The noise and bodies bumping into me sets my teeth on edge. Right when I’m about to move to the outskirts of the walkway, Trevor slips his hand around mine, giving a squeeze that immediately sets me at ease. He’s not acting any differently than he has been. Maybe this is a good sign the kiss didn’t ruin everything. This hand-holding thing is new though. “Almost there,” he says, and when he flashes that smile, I don’t have a care in the world. He could lead me right into the loudest chaos, and I’d only hear his calming timbre.
It’s only a twenty-minute wait before boarding the nonstop flight to Nebraska. We’re riding in first class, our seats the only ones in our row, and once we’ve settled, the panic I’ve been pushing down for weeks takes over. I’m meeting Trevor’s entire family tonight. We haven’t even discussed what’s going on with us, and we’re about to drop a pregnancy bombshell on them, dealing with whatever the resulting fallout is for the rest of the week. Every single aspect of this trip is new territory for me. I’venever met a man’s parents before, so I’ve certainly never told anyone I’m pregnant with their grandchild seconds later.
“Breathe.” Trevor’s smiling at me when I meet his gaze. “You know you do this thing with your hands when you’re nervous?”
I look down at the intense clutch I have on my fingers and pull them apart, shaking them out for good measure. “I…yeah. Since I was a kid. Used to rub the skin raw.”
“Here, let me help.” He reaches over, wrapping his hand around mine and settling them on the fixed armrest between us. That same calming effect washes over me, and I can’t deny what’s happening. Trevor’s becoming a silent comfort. A subtle demand I can’t outrun anymore. “Better?”
I take a deep breath and smile back. “Yeah, but can we talk about the other day, just to get it out of the way?”
He quirks a brow. “What about it?”
“Well, I kissed you, and then you kissed me, and we haven’t talked about it…”
Trevor smirks, hooking a finger under my chin as he leans in. “You want me to kiss you again, don’t you?” he whispers.
Hell yes. The feeling of his lips on mine has been a dominant scene in the couple of wet dreams I’ve had since Sunday. I nod, and his eyes flicker with craving as they travel down to my mouth, taking their sweet time finding their way back to mine. Whatever’s brewing between us feels inappropriate for the front of a bustling airplane. “I think so.”
“Scale of one to ten?”
Ten. But I don’t want to seem too eager. “Uh, maybe an eight,” I say, unable to stop my teeth from sinking into my bottom lip.
His thumb trails over my chin, pulling down slightly until it releases my trapped lip. “Kissing you has been the only thing on my mind since Istoppedkissing you. Let me know when it gets to ten…”
“W-what?”
“Isaid”—he inches closer—“I won’t kiss you again until I knowyou want it as much as I do.” His deep rasp skitters over me as his nose grazes mine, our eyes bolted together. I’m trapped. All it would take is a few centimeters to get us to our destination. “Not until you’re aching for it so much”—he wets his lips—“you can’t think of anything else…” I’ve made up my mind to close the gap right as the speaker crackles above our head. The jarring static pulls us apart, with the flight attendant who settles in the aisle next to us keeping us from diving back in. Trevor doesn’t let go of my hand, though. Sweeping his thumb over mine, he leaves tingling streaks across my skin as we listen to the introduction from the cockpit.
“Do you have a picture of your family on your phone?” I squeak out. The proud smirk on his face doesn’t help the pounding in my chest.
“Yep… Is that what you’re nervous about? Meeting my family?”
Nodding, I drop my eyes to my lap. “I think it might calm my nerves if I can put faces to their names.”
“They’re gonna love you.” He squeezes my hand.
“You keep saying that. Picture?”
As he leans in, the smell of his citrus and clove cologne wraps me in a cozy cocoon as he digs for his phone. He pulls up a picture taken from Christmastime last year. “Okay, so these are my parents, Asa and Adele.” He points to a short Black man wearing glasses and a slender Black woman with a silk press brushing her shoulders. “Then there’s Lainey and Eli. Both students at Omaha University. We call them the twins.”
“Twins run in your family?”
“Adopted, remember?” He blows out a chuckled breath. “But still, no. It’s a long story.”
“It’s a long flight.”
