Always

Chapter 54

The massive Oak tree directly in front of me had wooden planks going up it, used as stairs. Letting my eyes follow the trail, I shielded them against the sun, and saw an old and rustic, but sturdy looking structure closer to the top of the tall tree. Wow, that's high, I thought, walking around the tree to see it from different angles. I couldn't believe that Colby helped build this. I didn't even know he knew how to use a hammer. This trip was starting to let me see that there were a lot of things that I didn't know about the man that I was going to marry. That was an uneasy thought that I shook out of my head. I knew who Colby was and what was in his heart. What did it matter if I didn't know all of his childhood stories, or how he used to act before me. I knew who he was now. I stepped closer to the tree, letting my hand trail around the middle, feeling the rough bark beneath my fingertips. There was an engraving towards on the side, about 4 steps up, that seemed to be crudely carved with a knife. I leaned in to get a better look and saw the initials C.B + T.P    I huffed out an annoyed breath. It was like the universe was trying to play an annoying prank on me. "I'm not in the prank wars bitch," I mumbled under my breath, tracing the C.B. with my finger. I was in my own head so much so, that I didn't hear the glass door slide open, or the footsteps behind me. I jumped when Colby's arms snaked around my waist. "Heey," He chuckled out. "It's just me. What's got you so zoned out?" I was still tracing the letters on the tree and his eyes followed my hand. "Oh." He replied, his voice wary. He let go of me and pulled a pocket knife out of his pocket. Making a large X through Tessa's initials, he turned his head back to me smiling, then faced the tree and started carving. When he leaned back again, I saw my initials under his, inside of a heart. Well if that isn't the sweetest shit. I had never had anyone do something so simple or juvenile for me. He smiled, his blue eyes, sparkling in the sun, waiting for my reaction. "Better?" He asked, his tone light and teasing. I rolled my eyes, while my heart did silent flips in my chest. "Much." I said, feeling the curve spread across my lips. "So you were into treehouses?" I asked questioningly, pointing up to the structure. He laughed, his deep chuckle sending chills through my body, as he came behind me again. He wrapped his arms around me and rested his chin on my shoulder. "Yeah, I used to love that old thing. I would spend whole days and nights in that thing." "Why didn't I know that you could actually build things?" I asked incredulously. I felt the lift of his shoulders against my back as he shrugged. "I don't know. It never came up. There's not a lot of reasons to do it with our lives in LA." I leaned my head back on him, looking up into the tree, admiring the craftsmanship that had to go into it, to make it still look so presentable after all these years. "I'm finding out that there's a lot that I don't know about you Mr. Brock." I said teasingly, but I could hear the sadness in my own voice. He lifted his head from my shoulder and put his hands on my hips, spinning me to face him. His brow was creased, and he was biting that damn lip again. My eyes caught the newish bird tattoo on his hand, between his thumb and index finger, as he brought it up to play with his bottom lip. "We haven't really discussed our past with each other that much, have we?" He asked, taking that same hand and running it through his hair. I felt a rush of warmth surge through me that I knew all of these little habits of his. The lip biting, the hair mussing, the earring and ring twisting. All of his little nervous or bored habits that I adored. I wrapped my arms around his chest, and laid my head down on it. His hands trailed up and back down my sides before they found my lower back and and pressed there, forcing me closer. "Doesn't matter." I said, my voice muffled a little by his chest. "We have our whole lives to learn it all." He leaned back from me, and I looked up meeting his gaze. He smiled softly at me, and leaned over to press the sweetest of kisses onto my lips. "That's right. We do." 

After what felt like forever, the meal that I helped make was ready, and the men came in from outside to eat. I always thought that was a stupid thing, to have the women inside cooking, with the men outside working...but when I saw Colby walk in the through the sliding glass door, shirtless, his skin glistening with the layer of sweat that was coating his body...I couldn't remember why I thought that was stupid in the first place. I watched as he took his shirt, that was hanging out of his back pocket, and wipe his sweaty face with it, before tossing it towards the laundry basket by the back door. My mouth was dry, and I couldn't seem to force my eyes away from his back, watching his tattoos stretch and flex across his muscles as he stretched his arms above his head, working out the kinks. He turned back towards me and caught me practically drooling. I took in how the sweat made his hair curl, and his skin had a slight red tint to it, that I knew would darken. I saw the heat flash in his eyes before his tongue darted out, drawing his bottom lip inside mouth, his top teeth biting down, and slowly letting it back out. F*ck. I was drowning. Right here, in his parents kitchen, with his parents and his brother, and there was nothing that I could do to stop it.