14. Penny
PENNY
T he door to Sofia’s room had barely closed when Travis practically attacked, telling me he had been waiting for me to finish saying goodnight after he did. Nothing about the way he acted while helping me put her to bed had hinted at the animal raging inside.
“She’s still bummed—” I didn’t get the chance to finish the sentence when his mouth covered mine, wiping away every thought I had as his body forced mine against the wall. There was no room for thought when my endless, unquenchable thirst for him roared to life.
Something about what happened tonight made me want him more than ever. To be close to him, to hold him. Somewhere along the line, he had missed out on so much. I understood him better than I ever had.
His hands ran down my body and up again as he picked me up, holding me close to his chest as he carried me to his room.
My heart was pounding out of control, excitement and anticipation sweeping me up the way Travis had swept me up in his arms. There was no question what was about to happen, no question of whether I wanted it.
Some things were inevitable. I was beginning to think this was one of them.
He kicked the door shut once we reached his room, carrying me to the bed and sitting with me in his lap.
I settled down against his rigid dick, wiggling my ass while he worked his hands under my dress.
His mouth, hot and greedy, moved up and down my throat before his tongue dipped between my breasts and made my pussy clench.
I whimpered. His teeth caught the top of the dress and pulled it down until his tongue could sweep around my nipples, tightening them almost painfully. “Mm… just like that.”
“You are so fucking perfect,” he growled out against my heaving chest, every sweep of his tongue sending lightning bolts of sensation straight to my clit. My fingers ran through his hair, holding his head close as I ground against his erection.
I was dripping wet by the time his fingers worked under my thong, gliding through my slick folds, and I couldn’t help but ride his hand. What was happening to me?
I felt free.
Wild.
“Ride me,” he gritted out, lying back. I scrambled off his lap and slid the thong down to my ankles, watching as he undid his belt and fly. I pulled a foil wrapper from a box in his nightstand and opened it, unrolling it down his shaft, his eyes transfixed on my every movement.
I didn’t bother taking off my dress, straddling him and guiding him inside me. There was no time. He was so needy, and I knew that need. The kind that would never be fulfilled, though I would never stop trying. I couldn’t.
“Oh, shit,” I breathed out, adjusting to the size of him, the way he stretched me to my limit.
I could take him deeper this way, set the perfect angle.
When I leaned forward with my back arched, the head of his cock rubbed my G-spot while my clit ground against his pelvic bone. Stars exploded behind my eyelids.
“I could watch you do this all night,” he groaned out.
His hands were all over me, caressing and groping, setting me on fire, making me move faster, taking him harder, following my body’s needs to the sound of his strangled grunts.
He reached behind me, unzipping the dress, and I pulled it over my head, taking him faster while he cupped my breasts, burying his face in them when I leaned over him.
“You feel so good,” I whispered, racing to the finish. My body was trembling, and a sheen of sweat broke out over my skin. I had never felt this alive. This whole.
“Look at you.” His fingers sank into my hips, pulling me down, working me the way I worked him. “Riding my cock. Throwing your head around, tits in my face. So fucking hot. Fuck, so tight.”
I was getting tighter the closer I came to finishing. He felt bigger, wider, but that was my pussy clenching around him in the seconds before I gave myself over to complete bliss.
“That’s right,” he grunted out, still working me up and down his cock as I shivered and moaned. “Squeeze your pretty pussy for me. Make me come.”
He slammed me down against his base one last time, then threw his head back, grunting his way through his release. I was pretty sure a tornado had just run through the room from how dizzy and weak I was by the time I fell to the side, flopping on my back with a soft sigh. “That was intense.”
He didn’t react, really, only pulling back the duvet and waiting for me to crawl up the bed before draping it over me. I was still trembling, fluttering inside, almost a little embarrassed at how hard I came.
He didn’t seem embarrassed. He seemed pretty damn pleased with himself as he slid between the sheets and lifted his arm to make room for me against his chest. This was what I needed. His warmth, his solidness. “I’m sorry if I caused any trouble tonight,” I whispered.
He tensed a little, and I wished I hadn’t said it, no matter how heavy it had weighed on my chest.
“You didn’t. I’m sorry for what he said and how he was. I can’t say I didn’t know it would be that way, but knowing something is going to happen and witnessing it are two different things. He always goes further than I imagined.”
There’s still something he’s not telling me. I felt it just as clearly as I felt the soft sheets under me and the beat of his heart beneath my palm. There was something else he was holding back. But he was stubborn and didn’t trust easily.
I was na?ve to think he would feel like he could trust me, no matter how much we have been through together.
No matter how many nights I spent in his bed, sneaking out before dawn in case Sofia decided to wake up early and come looking around for her grown-ups.
It hurt a little, the sense that he was holding me at arm’s length.
What could I do to make him understand I wasn’t going to use anything against him? I wasn’t going to hurt him.
If there was one thing I picked up during that nightmare of a dinner, it was how much he must’ve been hurt by that monster at the head of the table.
“Can I tell you a secret?” I whispered in the dark, touching my head to his shoulder.
He grunted softly, and I continued, “I didn’t know people like him existed.
Not really.” Just mentioning that awful man left a sour taste in my mouth.
I could find something good in just about anybody, and some people challenged the hell out of me while I tried. But Harrison Knight was a lost cause.
“Yes, he’s real.” His chest rose and fell in a sigh. “Now you know why I didn’t want to go. There is nothing human in him. He doesn’t bother trying to hide it,” he murmured as his hand stroked my hair. It was a good feeling, the kind I wanted to sink into.
“I’m really sorry I pushed so hard to go,” I whispered. “I should have trusted your judgment.”
“You couldn’t have known. But yeah,” he added with a snort. “Maybe trust my judgment. I know what I’m talking about.”
“Okay, don’t break your arm patting yourself on the back,” I grumbled, nowhere close to being serious.
“Please…” He laughed. “I had a special rich guy surgery that lets me pat myself on the back without injuring anything.”
“Hmm. I figured you had enough money to pay someone to pat your back for you.”
He snapped his fingers, scowling. “Dammit. Now she tells me.”
Somehow, I managed to laugh with him, though the questions in the back of my mind refused to quiet down.
How could a sweet woman like Mrs. Knight stay with a man like her husband?
Duty? Did she really love him? Or was she dependent on him?
I couldn’t imagine being trapped that way, and I was more glad than ever I would never fall into that trap.
Even if I had a man like Travis at my side, something long-term, I would want a job of my own—security I didn’t have to rely on anybody else for.
Life could change in the blink of an eye, after all.
“I’ll tell you something,” he offered, lifting his head a little to look at me.
He was wearing something close to a grin.
“I didn’t know there were people like you, the way you describe your family.
Loving and supportive, spending time together.
I didn’t know families like yours existed, and now that you’ve met mine, you can see why,” he added with a snort of laughter.
“But your mom is so sweet.”
“She is.” His voice softened with fondness. “Anything that’s ever been good about me is thanks to her. Even when Dad insisted I had a nanny when I was growing up because all of his friends’ kids had nannies, she went out of her way to find the right one for me.”
“I’m glad she did, even if I don’t envy those poor women. Whoever they were.”
“Hey.” He gave me a brief, halfhearted scowl. “I was a perfect angel.”
I was thinking more about his dad harassing those women, but bringing him up wouldn’t help anything. “A perfect angel? Hang on a second,” I said, scooting away from him until I was on the other side of the bed.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Getting out of the way so I don’t get struck with a bolt of lightning after the lie you just told.”
“Not a chance.” He grabbed me and pulled me close no matter how I squealed and wiggled. “If I get hit, you’re coming with me.”
It scared me a little how good it felt to be with him when he was lighthearted like this.
How easy it was to care. The more I learned about him, the more I wanted to know.
The better I understood him, the more I dreaded the day when my six-month contract was up.
There was still plenty of time on it, more than three months, but already there was an ache in my chest that got a little stronger every day I came closer to the end.
I wanted to live in the moment, but there was always part of me looking toward the future.
Wondering, hoping but too afraid to voice those hopes.
But wouldn’t it be nice if he didn’t want me to leave? Now that I knew Sofia and loved her more than I thought possible, I couldn’t imagine saying goodbye to her or her daddy. The idea left me chewing my lip to hold back a wave of emotion.
For now, our laughter died down, and we settled into silence, lost in our thoughts. I wanted to stay awake, to absorb as much of this as I could, but sleep showed up and pulled me under.
Leaving me to dream about a future that might never be, no matter how much I wanted it.