6. Travis
TRAVIS
“I want you to know something.” Setting down my wine glass, I leaned slightly closer to the absolute wet dream sitting across from me.
She had never been more beautiful, alluring, captivating than she was tonight, seated at a table in one of the city’s most popular, upscale restaurants.
We were more than one hundred floors above the city, with panoramic views greeting us no matter what direction we looked in, and there was nothing more breathtaking than the woman smiling at me now.
“I am hard as steel under this table. I have never had to fight so hard to keep my hands to myself as I have tonight.”
Penny’s fair cheeks went pink the way I knew they would. She swept her brown locks over one shoulder, sending me a burst of sweetness from her hair and skin. “I think it’s this Nevada air,” she murmured. “It’s really getting to you.”
“You’re really getting to me,” I countered. “And don’t act like I’m not hopelessly in love with you no matter where we are. I can’t get enough of you.”
“You just want to see what I have on under this dress.” She ran her hands down her sides, skimming over the soft, black fabric. I honestly didn’t care what she was wearing. I would have rather gotten her out of it. She looked good in anything.
Still, she wasn’t completely wrong. There was something about being here with her after spending so much time as parents.
Not that our sex life was dull. Nothing could’ve been further from the truth.
Still, the hectic nature of our lives meant I had come to appreciate nights like this much more, focusing solely on her.
At least for as long as I could. “Oh, look at this.” She handed me her phone, where a photo of Olive trying to eat Sofia’s nose made me laugh. I loved seeing the two of them love each other like they did.
Yet, for some reason, when I looked away from the phone, there were tears in Penny’s eyes.
All thoughts of how I couldn’t wait to ravish her when we got back to the suite were overshadowed by those sparkling eyes.
“All right, I have to ask. What is really on your mind?” I set the phone down and pushed my plate aside, staring straight at her.
“Don’t tell me this is all about missing the girls.
I know you too well for that. What is getting to you? ”
“It’s so dumb.” She sniffled, shaking her head while dabbing the corners of her eyes with her napkin. “We just finished that incredible meal and this is such a beautiful restaurant, and I’m blubbering like a baby.”
“You’re not blubbering,” I told her. “And you’re not a baby. You’re upset. What can I do?”
She took a deep, shuddering breath, and I noticed she didn’t bother telling me I was wrong. “There is something. I didn’t want to bring it up because I don’t know if I want to do it or if it would even be worthwhile. But it’s been on my mind.”
“And you couldn’t tell me?” Again, where did I get off? There was something I wasn’t telling her.
She may as well have lifted the very thoughts from my head when she replied, “I didn’t want to say anything until it was more than just an idea. And I haven’t said anything at all to, you know, encourage her.”
“Slow down. Who are we talking about? Encourage what?”
After releasing a soft laugh, she waved her hands. “I’m sorry. I’m so nervous for some reason. Remember my friend, Leah, from school? We were roommates before I graduated. I know I’ve mentioned her.”
“Sure.” The specifics hardly seemed important at the moment.
Another deep breath seemed to unlock her tongue, allowing the words to pour out.
“She works in a program for gifted students at a school in LA. Poorer kids, you know. Disadvantaged. And one of her coworkers is moving upstate after the end of the school year. Leah asked if I would want the job. She said she could get me in with no problem. She has spent the past, like, three years raving about how much she loves this job. She said her coworker burst into tears when she announced having to move. She doesn’t want to leave.
Honestly, even though I can’t believe it, I’ve given it some thought because it’s exactly what I always dreamed of doing.
Helping kids who are gifted but don’t have the resources to pursue their goals.
Mentoring and guiding them. It’s what I always dreamed of.
But it would mean a lot of changes for us.
” She gulped down most of what was in her water glass like getting it all out had left her parched.
Now, it all made sense. All of her talk about whether the girls would turn out as well as they had if things changed. “And you’re worried if you aren’t home with the girls all the time, it would hurt somehow,” I concluded.
“Of course.”
“How long have you known about this?” I asked, keeping my voice low so she wouldn’t assume my surprise was something more negative and shut down.
“A couple of weeks. I didn’t want to tell you because it’s such a huge step, and I’m still unsure whether I want to accept the job.
It’s completely up in the air,” she added, her eyes darting over my face like she was searching for a reaction.
“I mean, it’s not like I was even given an official offer.
But Leah said it’s pretty much a done deal. If she recommends me, the job is mine.”
What could I say? If it was what she wanted, it was what I wanted, even if the idea of both of us being away from the girls left my chest feeling tight. Plenty of couples did it, didn’t they? They made it work.
“What do you think?” she asked after I’d been silent for too long. “I know it would be a big change. We would have to juggle a lot of things. But hey, people do it all the time.”
“No, we could make it work,” I agreed. “I have no doubt.”
“Then why do you look so worried? See, this is why I didn’t even want to bring it up. I know how important it is to both of us that the girls?—”
“Would you stop for a second?” I asked with a laugh. “You’re ten miles ahead of me. I need to catch up.”
“Sorry,” she breathed out. “I’m just… I’m nervous.”
“About what?”
“I don’t know… about what you think. I know we talked about me not having to go back to work, and you know how much it means to me being with the girls. I love that they have stability. That they grow up knowing I’m always there for them. But…” She trailed off, frowning while lifting a shoulder.
“You can be just as amazing a mother while working to improve the lives of other kids.” That, I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt. “What I need to hear is, is this what you want to do? Because if it is, I wouldn’t stop you. I want you to have everything you need, no matter what it is.”
“Until Leah suggested that job, I thought I had everything I needed,” she insisted. “But this was my dream before I ever met you, and I guess it was still sort of way down deep inside me.”
The idea of her suppressing her dreams for my sake was unacceptable. “I understand. And I am telling you, I want whatever you want. We’ll make it work, no matter what.”
Her face glowed when she smiled, and only then did I understand how much strain she’d been carrying around. “I still want to think about it a little bit, but knowing you’re behind me means everything.”
“Always,“ I told her, and I meant it.
Even if it would mean rethinking my plans a little.
She must have noticed the way my face fell because hers did in response. “What is it? You don’t really like this idea, do you?”
“It isn’t that I don’t like it.” I could only laugh at myself for being a fucking idiot. “I have taken it for granted that you would always be home with the girls, and now I’m seeing what an asshole move that was.”
Her face fell. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I’ve been considering expanding to Portugal.”
“You what? Since when?”
I filled her in on the high points, which didn’t take very long since the idea was nothing more than a sketchy, vague notion. “There I was, assuming you would always be there. That was wrong. I should’ve discussed it with you before I ever asked my team to run the numbers.”
She fell silent for a long moment, and I sat back to watch the wheels turning in her head.
“Things are going to be pretty messy for a while, I guess,” she murmured.
“I mean, you hired me to help you get through the New York expansion, and now we’re looking at expanding overseas.
I don’t want to add any extra stress to the situation. ”
“No. Don’t do that.” Suddenly, everything was so clear.
“Take the job if that’s what you want. And if Portugal is meant to be, I’ll make it happen.
We have all the resources in the world at our fingertips.
I don’t need to be over there very much physically.
I have staff for a reason. I have assistants, partners, and people I can trust. If this means I need to trust them a little more and get out of the way, so be it.
If it means going back to the agency where I found you to look for another nanny for the girls, so be it.
Though I doubt we’d ever find anyone like you. ”
Her eyes narrowed, and her lips pursed. “I hope not because look what happened when you hired me,” she reminded me with a wry chuckle.
“Honey…” reaching across the table, I took her hand and closed mine over it, “… I am a one-woman man. That, you never have to worry about. We’ll make it work.
I want you to have everything you need, whatever it takes to make you feel happy and fulfilled.
And there will never be a day in our daughters’ lives when they don’t feel completely loved and supported.
I know it for sure. That’s all they need. ”
“So, you don’t hate the idea of me working?” she asked, wincing a little. “You keep talking about how I’m the glue holding us together. What if I can’t be the glue anymore?”
“We’ll figure it out.”
It was amazing, the change that came over her. The way her smile widened in relief. “I feel a lot better now,” she confessed. Her bottom lip disappeared under her teeth, and a familiar light sparkled in her eyes. “So, how about we go back and I show you what I bought today?”
There was a small problem with that idea. “You think I’ll be able to wait until we get back to the hotel?” I asked, signaling for the check. “I’ve already spent all of my self-control.”
She laughed, but I wasn’t kidding. And I proved it as soon as we were in the back seat of the limo that Clay had arranged for us tonight. “Take the scenic route,” I told the driver, then raised the privacy partition between us.
I didn’t waste any time reaching for her and pulling her into my lap so fast she didn’t realize what was happening.
Not that I thought she would resist. No, in fact, she wound her arms around my neck and treated me to a deep, slow kiss.
And I thought I was hard before. That was nothing compared to the way I strained and twitched, eager to sink deep inside her wet heat.
“I love you.” She wiggled in my lap, rubbing against me, leaving me groaning into her mouth as our kisses heated up along with the caresses we shared.
“I adore you,” I whispered back, working my hands under her dress and gripping her ass, pulling her as close as I could to my dick. “And later on, you’ll have to model your new lingerie for me. Right now? I want it out of the way.”
“I can do that for you.” Reaching between us, she pulled the crotch of her panties aside so I could enter her with two fingers. She rode hard, letting her head fall back, giving me access to her throat and the creamy swells of her tits.
“I want you,” I growled out against her sweet, soft skin, running my tongue under the top of her dress in hopes of catching more of her essence.
When that wasn’t enough, I withdrew my fingers from her sopping pussy and licked them, helplessly groaning as I did.
There was nothing in the world like this. Like her.
And it wasn’t enough. I needed more. I needed her around me, squeezing me. She quickly worked my fly, dipping her hand inside my boxer briefs and wrapping her fingers around my straining shaft.
“That’s right. Stroke it,” I whispered, lifting my hips to fuck her fist. “Make sure I’m nice and hard for you.”
Her soft grunts of approval only heightened the desire racing through me, making it impossible to do anything but lift her by her hips so she could line me up with her pussy.
When she sank down, taking me inside her, we both gasped before I groaned in satisfaction. I was back where I belonged, deep inside her, the only place I ever wanted to be. This was my true north, right here, my center point.
“How do you feel so good?” she whispered, closing her eyes and absorbing the sensation as I did.
I didn’t only have the pleasure of feeling every last inch of her tight pussy, I got to watch her, admiring the way she so thoroughly gave herself over to her body’s needs.
It didn’t matter that we were in the back of a limo.
Hell, that might’ve made it better the way it did for me.
Knowing nobody knew what was going on as we rolled past. Multicolored flashing lights washed over Penny’s angelic face now contorted in an expression of almost agonized pleasure.
“Ride me,” I grunted out, holding her by her hips and guiding her up and down.
Once she found her rhythm, I took it further, unzipping her dress, admiring the black lace bra that pushed her tits up so alluringly.
Her nipples poked at the fabric, and I took one between my teeth, nipping gently, then sucking hard.
Her gasp filled the limo as she took the back of my head in one hand and pulled it closer, arching her back and giving herself to me.
“Yes… yes…” she whispered, rolling like a wave, chasing her release. There was nothing I could do but hold on, letting her lead us to the edge and beyond.
“So hot,” I grunted out, worshiping her, lost in her, and relishing the sound of her sweet sighs while her pussy worked my cock. “Come on me. Come with me.”
“Yes…” With her teeth gritted in desperation, she rode harder, faster, clinging to me, trembling. Her soft cries filled my ears along with the rush of my blood, and then, finally, she tightened and went stiff, clenching around me.
That was all it took to push me over the edge. I buried my face between her tits and grunted as my balls emptied. She was all I would ever want or need. The only woman I could only imagine spending my life with.
“So good,” she whimpered, trembling against me, her muscles still spasming by the time she lifted herself off my lap with a soft groan.
“Good doesn’t begin to describe it,” I whispered, kissing her, savoring the taste of her lips.