But she had been wrong.

“Lily, Lily two-by-four. She can hardly fit through the door.” She had looked up at Travis, begging him with her eyes to defend her. To tell the other kids to be quiet. But instead he just looked away and kept eating his cake.

Tears had filled her eyes as she ran into the girls’ bathroom to hide. Travis hadn’t even tried to stop them from making fun of her. He used to be her friend, but now he wasn’t anymore. And that was the worst thing of all, worse even than some kid in class calling her fat.

The memory combined with the here and now, and Lily lost control. She threw her whole body behind her attack. She was going to tear the beautiful bastard from limb to limb.

“Lily! Stop hitting me.” Travis imprisoned her wrists in his large hands. His mouth fell open, and he stopped apologizing when he saw her outfit. “What the hell do you have on?” he said, his surprise evident.

“What do you care?” she spat. “What does it matter? You can dress a cow up in fancy clothes, but she’s still a cow. Isn’t she?”

Lily dared him to disagree with her.

But instead of being intimidated by her fury, Travis’s mouth set into a dangerous line. “How many times am I going to have to say this to you, Lily?” Each word hit her like a bullet.

“You. Are. Not. Fat.”

Two tears ran down her cheeks, and the will to fight left her body. “I am. I always have been. I always will be. Lily, Lily two-by-four.”

“No, sweetheart.” His voice was more gentle than she’d ever thought it could be. “That was just a stupid kid who said those things.”

“Why didn’t you defend me?”

“I was scared.”

“Of what?”

“Of you. I thought you were perfect.”

“No.”

“Beautiful.”

“No.”

“I loved you, Lily, even then.”

Both Travis and Lily looked at each other in shock.

Travis took a deep breath, then smiled. “I love you.” He swallowed, as if testing the words on his tongue, in his mouth. “I love you, Lily.”

Lily’s arms went limp as she leaned into Travis’s warmth. Everything was instantly forgiven, and even though she wished she knew better, she didn’t.

Travis had just said the words she had been longing to hear her whole life.

“You love me?”

Softer than a feather, Travis kissed her lips, and moved his hands past her wrists to intertwine with her hands. Lily was afraid to say anything that would break the spell. She was afraid Travis would start laughing, that he’d say, “Just kidding.”

But then he whispered the words, “I always have,” against her lips, and she was lost to anything but him.

With a groan that spoke volumes of desire, Travis threaded Lily’s red locks between his sticky fingers.

He tilted her head to get better access to her mouth. Lily opened wide for his invasion, meeting his passion with her own. Whisky merged with Travis’s signature essence. He tasted like magic.

He pulled her tightly to him, cupping the huge bulge between his legs in the soft valley of her thighs. Lily wanted to sink into him, to be naked and filled all the way to the brim with his raw heat.

Her unspoken prayer was heard. Travis laid her down on the floor. “This dress has got to go,” he said.

Before she realized it, his fists were curled around the collar at her neck and he was ripping the dress clean down the middle.

Underneath the linen atrocity, Lily was stark naked. She had stripped off her sexy underwear along with her sexy dress.

“On second thought,” Travis said, “you can wear that dress as often as you like, as long as you promise to be smooth and naked beneath it.”

“I hate that dress,” she said as she reached for Travis to pull him down to her.

“Me too. Ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.”

They laughed together, but when he laid his heavy weight on her, their laughter faded away. Lily sucked in her breath as sticky cream smeared onto her br**sts from his shirt.

Travis ran his hands between their bodies. “Uh-oh,” he said, “looks like someone has gelato all over her.”

“Do you like gelato?” Lily murmured huskily.

Travis smeared the chocolate around her puckering areola. “That depends.”

“On what?” Lily held her breath as Travis bent his mouth over her breast.

“On how it’s served.”

His words were hot against her flushed skin. Lily arched up into his mouth, but instead of sucking her nipple into his mouth, he gently pushed her back into the soft carpet and lapped chocolate off the undersides of her br**sts.

“Mmm,” he said, rearing up over her. “You should taste this.”

He swept his tongue inside her mouth. Lily sucked the chocolate off his tongue and he groaned.

“More?”

Lily nodded, her heart beating so hard she was afraid it might leap put of her chest altogether. I love you.

The words pulled at her insides and sat on the tip of her lips unsaid.

Travis licked ever-narrowing circles on the soft flesh of her br**sts, until her tight ni**les were the final bit of chocolate surprise. “I always save the cherry on top for last,” he said with a wicked grin.

Nearly incoherent with need, Lily watched Travis’s lips surround her nipple. She closed her eyes as his teeth lightly raked over the sensitive tips. He sucked one peak hard into his mouth.

“More,” she moaned.

Cupping her br**sts between his palms, Travis showered loving attention on both ni**les at the same time. He ran his tongue through the deep valley between them. Light stubble raked Lily’s inflamed skin.

Having never felt so safe before, Lily reached for his hand and tried to put it between her legs. Travis looked up from her br**sts, his pupils dilated, his breath coming hard. “Is that sweet pu**y of yours feeling neglected?”

Unable to form words, she nodded.

Barely above a whisper, he said, “Let me see.”

Lily spread her legs so that he could see how wet she was. Travis leaned down over her cunt, so close that his breath teased her something terrible.

“Oh my,” he said, running his index finger down the length of her lips, “you are wet, aren’t you?” Travis brought his finger to his mouth and sucked her juice in. Tilting his head to one side, he raised an eyebrow.

“Hmm. Needs a little something.”

Lily gasped as he spread her legs wider and spread cold gelato onto her vagina.