Page 31 of Ice, Ice… Maybe?

“You’re not mad?”

“Heck no – are you kidding? I’m going to sleep in this thing every single night,” she admitted emotionally, looking up at him. “Thank you.”

“Can I say something awful?”

“Sure.”

“I hate my busted lip and how sore the stitches are – because I really want to kiss you right now.”

“How about a hug and you can save the kiss for when you get your stitches removed,” she suggested softly, smiling at him. “Or…?”

“I like the ‘or’ option already,” he chuckled throatily, his half-lidded gaze holding hers.

“Stay still,” she whispered, leaning up on her toes and gently dropping an innocent peck on the corner of his mouth. “How’s that?”

“Proof that I’m an ungrateful turd,” he muttered in a hushed whisper, looking at her with such longing. “It’s sweet and didn’t hurt, so I’m grateful for that – but when I kiss you, it’s going to be quite different.”

“You promise?”

Her husky voice hung in the air as they gazed at each other. She saw his warm gaze ignite with those two simple words as he swallowed. His hands, where they rested on her hips, now had his fingers digging into her waist, clutching her.

“Cross my heart, Becca.”

She laid a hand over his chest, smiling up at him – and he placed one of his over her hand, holding it close. Forget having worked on her feet for ten hours today, she realized silently. She could cheerfully stand here in Travis’ arms forever, just like this.

“Let’s finish the macaroni, and why don’t you show me your collection of ‘nerdy stuff’ that you are so secretive about.”

Welp,Travis wasn’t lying,Becca thought silently.

The first floor of the house was exceedingly normal and casual. Leather couch, wooden end tables, simple painting over the mantel, nothing outlandish. The second floor was a little different.

She had never seen so many collectibles, statues, old toys, and gadgets in her life. The man obviously had a boy trapped inside of him with an obvious addiction to Toys R Us and movies. As they went up the stairs, the first thing she saw was a pinball machine and a Pac-Man game cabinet.

“Oooh very nice,” she began, turning to look at him and pointing at the unit – only to hesitate as she saw the theater room in the distance and a doorway with frosted glass that said, ‘Man Cave.’ “You watch movieshere?”

“All the time,” he admitted, smiling nervously at her. “It helps my brain relax before a game. I get really anxious thinking about plays, how I can get more weight into a certain shot, what I could do differently this time around, and other things, and yeah, I’m a huge movie buff.”

“Same,” she volunteered. “Do you have a favorite one?”

“I like the Alien series, Resident Evil series, and the newer Star Trek movies. Chris Pine makes a fantastic Captain Kirk,” he gushed and then caught himself, causing her to laugh knowingly.

“Don’t hold back – I like the new McCoy guy, but I don’t remember his name.”

“Karl Urban.”

“Ahh,” she said simply, putting her hand in his. “And what’s in the ‘Man Cave’?”

“Probably where you dump me,” he muttered under his breath as he rubbed his shaggy head, pulling her forward. Before she could comment, he pushed open the glass doorway. Becca just stood there, stunned.

She had no words.

The ‘cave’ had to be the size of her entire apartment, and every wall was lined with glass shelves backlit with LED lights. There were statues of different characters, figures, and creatures behind the glass, and each one looked to be a foot tall – along with different Star Wars helmets. There was a cardboard stand up in the corner of Han Solo about to fire his gun from one of the movies, and a complete life-size Stormtrooper uniform was on display in another corner, making her wonder if he wore it.

There was a massive table in the center of the room, laden with toys. The man had a plastic aircraft carrier about seven feet long with all sorts of G.I. Joe figures on it, airplanes, weapons, etc. He obviously put a lot of care into this room because it was carefully tended. There was a small tote near the table with a compressed air can to remove dust along with some microfiber towels and other things.

“Wow…” she said simply.

“You hate it.”

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