4
An enormous lump lodged in her throat, as she suddenly considered why she wouldn’t give whatever was happening between her and Travis a chance to grow. Did she think she didn’t deserve a guy who cared? Did she think Travis didn’t really care? Whatever her reasoning, it was self-destructive and ridiculous. He was a man like any other. Yes…he was one of the wealthiest men in the world, but to judge him solely based on that fact was just plain stupid. She knew now that he was a good man beneath his gruff, solemn exterior. And she already cared about him. And he’d showed her more concern than any other person in her life ever had. Maybe that was the really scary part. “I guess I’m just not used to someone who cares. But I’d like to get used to it,”
she admitted hesitantly. And she wanted to care about Travis in return. He needed to lighten up, and whether he’d admit it or not, he needed someone who cared about him and not his bottom line. And that was something she could and would give him.
Getting him to open up to her wouldn’t be easy, and she wouldn’t have an easy time being vulnerable to him. But couldn’t it end up being worth the risk? Ally lifted a hand and stroked his rough jawline. “Will you let me care about you, Travis?”
She held her breath, terrified by leaving herself raw and vulnerable to this man, but wanting him too badly not to take the risk.
He caught her hand in his and kissed her palm. “Care, Ally. I need you.”
Ally let out her breath, relief flooding her body. In opening herself up to Travis, she’d unwittingly allowed him to reveal his vulnerability to her. For a proud, intensely alpha male like Travis, his risk was as big as her own. “I’m afraid it’s too late to start. I already do care,”
she whispered softly.
His dark eyes pinned her with a possessive look, but something miraculous happened at the same time. For the first time since Ally had known him, Travis Harrison gave her the happiest, sincerest, and broadest smile she’d ever seen, and she knew she was completely lost. And, seeing his handsome, almost boyish expression, Ally decided he was definitely worth the risk.
“That necklace looks beautiful on you, Ally,”
Mia Hamilton said sincerely, her eyes staring at Ally across the table of the casual family restaurant.
All four sets of female eyes at the table flew to Ally, murmuring their agreement appreciatively. “Where did you get it?”
Maddie asked curiously.
Ally squirmed in her seat, fingering the lovely unicorn necklace that she hadn’t removed since the day Travis had given it to her. The last week had been the happiest of her life, and not a night had gone by that Travis hadn’t been in her bed. He’d gone to work late every single day for the last week, grumbling that he couldn’t wait until she came back to work on Thursday. Travis filled her days with laughter with his naughty and thoughtful antics, and her nights with dark desire that never went unsated.
“It was a gift from Travis,”
Mia answered for Ally before she could decide what to say.
“Wow. It’s beautiful.”
Asha reached out, brushing Ally’s fingers aside to examine the small unicorn.
“It was a birthday gift,”
Ally murmured. Looking at Mia, she asked, “How did you know?”
Mia took a sip of her water and set it back down before answering. “Because I made it. Travis picked the stones and what I needed to craft it. And he gave me very little time to do it because he wanted you to have it that day.”
Ally gaped at Mia. The necklace she was wearing was a Mia Hamilton design? “I thought he just picked it up somewhere.”
Mia chuckled. “He did. My studio. He couldn’t find exactly what he wanted, so I had to make it for him. Those are the finest quality gems available. And he drew exactly what he wanted, so it wasn’t difficult to design since he did most of the work for me. He knew exactly how it needed to be. It’s unique. The unicorn must have significance. Why?”
Ally’s heart raced, the thought of Travis going to all that trouble and expense just to get her an exact replica of her fantasy unicorn making the piece of jewelry just that much more precious to her. “I write as a hobby. He liked the first story and the unicorn is one of the characters. He wants me to finish the books.”
“And will you?”
Kara Hudson asked from her seat next to Asha. “It’s a very romantic gesture.”
“Definitely.”
Maddie nodded from across the table.
“Travis has been different lately. He actually kissed me back on the cheek when I kissed him good-bye yesterday. And he’s smiling. Not that cynical, obnoxious expression he gets, but actually smiling. I was thinking he must be getting laid.”
Asha gave Ally a sly look. “Am I right?”
“Oh my God!”
Mia squealed. “You and Travis have been burning up the sheets? I should have known when he was in such a panic about the necklace. But I thought you were engaged?”
Ally hadn’t really had a chance to tell any of the women that she wasn’t engaged anymore. Only Asha knew. She explained what had happened with Rick and that she was no longer engaged, but she didn’t mention Travis. Maybe because the relationship was so new that she couldn’t really explain what they were to each other.
“Snake!”
“Asshole!”
“Slimy bastard!”
“Dickhead!”
Each woman interjected a derogatory name for Rick as Ally explained.
“So you’re free, and Travis pounced. Smart man, my brother,”
Mia said with a smile as she took a huge bite of her club sandwich.
Ally shook her head. “I wouldn’t say he pounced exactly.”
“How long did it take him to get you into bed?”
Asha asked, amused. “He’s had it bad for you for years.”
“Who says I slept with him?”
Ally said with false indignation. “Maybe we’re just becoming friends.”
“Bullshit,”
Kara remarked as she popped a fry into her mouth. “You haven’t denied it, so that means you definitely did him.”
“Travis is hot, but he’s always been so dark and broody. But I bet that makes him good in the sack?”
Maddie said thoughtfully.
“Stop!”
Mia held up her hand. “There’s an ‘ick’ factor for me here. He’s my brother. I absolutely do not want to know if he’s a good lay.”
All the women laughed uproariously, and Ally smiled.
Mia lowered her hand and leaned slightly across the table and asked in a loud whisper, “But did you do him?”
There was something really embarrassing about being questioned about her sex life by the sister of the man who rocked her world every time he touched her, so she merely nodded reluctantly.
“Oh, thank God,”
Mia answered, straightening up to continue her lunch. “No wonder he’s smiling.”
“We aren’t really serious,”
Ally told Mia nervously. “I mean, we’re just dating, getting to know each other.”
“Carnally,”
Asha added with a smirk.
Ally elbowed her friend lightly. “It’s nothing serious.”
Mia’s brows narrowed and her eyes danced with mischief. “You don’t know Travis well enough then. Even when he was a boy, if he decided he wanted something, he got it. He’s annoyingly persistent when he covets anything. He’ll have a ring on your finger within a month.”
“I don’t think he’s like that with me. I’m sure he won’t,”
Ally denied, embarrassed.
“He will,”
Asha agreed with Mia ominously.
“Do you care for him, Ally?”
Mia asked, concerned.
“I do. Probably more than I should at this stage of our relationship,”
Ally admitted, knowing she was beginning to care way too much, too fast. “I’m just a little scared. I just got out of a bad relationship.”
“Travis isn’t like that, Ally,”
Mia replied softly. “When he cares, he cares deeply. His affections might not be easily gained, but once you have them, he’ll never betray you. And he wanted the unicorn for you to show he cares because he isn’t good at giving or receiving affection. Honestly, I’ve actually never seen him care about a woman this way, and I knew when he finally fell, he’d fall hard. Please don’t hurt him. No one deserves to be loved more than Travis. And when it’s the right woman, he’ll love her obsessively and forever. It’s just the way he’s made.”
Ally’s heart squeezed inside her chest, knowing she’d give anything to be that woman. In the week since she and Travis had first made love, his affection was already changing her, making her hear his voice inside her head instead of all the negative things she’d always believed about herself. “I wish I could give him something,”
she mused quietly, thinking about his unrelenting support, his faith in her.
“I think you already have,”
Asha assured Ally. “He’s happy.”
Mia nodded her agreement and the group of women launched into more general conversation. The lunch was a totally enjoyable interlude, and Ally had fun getting to know Maddie and Kara better. It was obvious to her that all the women at the table loved their alpha male husbands to death, even though they good-naturedly complained about them being overprotective and overbearing at times.
Ally’s phone pinged in her purse as they were getting up to go their separate ways. Pulling it out, she smiled as she saw the text message from Travis:
I need to get rid of this damn desk!
He’d complained more than once how the desk distracted him, about the images he had throughout the day. Her heart flip-flopped at the thought, that she could actually be a distraction to a man as driven as Travis Harrison.
She said her good-byes to all the women, promising to become one of the regular members of their lunch club. Once she reached her car, she leaned up against it and texted:
As your assistant, it’s my job to find you a new one then, Mr. Harrison.
It only took a moment to get a reply:
Like hell you will. Nobody else is using this desk. I guess I’ll just be a masochist. How is your day?
She already knew he’d vehemently refuse to get rid of it, but she laughed out loud anyway before replying:
Good. Just had lunch with the girls. How about you?
He answered simply:
I miss you.
Ally’s heart melted, and she traced the words on her phone with a sigh. When Travis said or did things like that, her whole being ached for him. Travis wasn’t a demonstrative or bullshitting type of guy. Those words were sincere, an expression of his emotions at that moment, and she cherished them because she knew he didn’t express himself lightly.
She answered:
I miss you, too. I’ll make you dinner.
His answer came quickly:
I’d be happier if you’d actually be my dinner.
Ally barely stifled a moan at that thought. She needed to fan herself, and it wasn’t because of the humidity and heat of the Florida sun. There was nothing hotter than Travis’s demanding, bossy, alpha ways in the bedroom, and the way he mastered her body. But she answered him cheekily:
I offer to cook for you and all you want is sex?
It took a few minutes to get his reply:
I want a whole lot more than sex. And women don’t usually cook for me. Thank you, Ally. I’ll see you around six.
She frowned at his response, wondering exactly what he meant. Women didn’t cook for him? No…they probably didn’t. He did most things alone, and if and when he did have a date, she was pretty certain the woman would expect the finest from Travis Harrison. Did he actually think she’d been chastising him? She’d just been playing with him. She didn’t question whether or not he was using her anymore just for sex, and his answer had sounded rather remorseful. And for the very first time she realized that “thank you”
was actually in his vocabulary. And it touched her that he was thanking her for something so very simple. She didn’t want to see him be sorry for joking around with her. Truth was, she loved seeing him fun and playful, and his dirty talk always turned her on. It was doubtful that anyone else saw him that way. She answered:
Six is fine. And if you get here early, I’ll be your appetizer. But I will feed you. You’ll need the energy.
She held her breath, hoping he’d come back with a playful response. The last thing she ever wanted to do was crush Travis’s playfulness because he had taken her comment seriously. He was already too solemn, too serious, and his lighter side was something she wanted to see more of.
He replied:
If I didn’t have a meeting, I’d be in my car right fucking now.
Ally let out a relieved laugh and typed:
No need. I have to cook. But it’s warm today. I think I might have to cook naked. Think about that in your meeting. Hope it goes well.
His reply came almost instantly:
You’ll pay for that, woman!
Smiling, she returned:
I’m counting on it, handsome. See you later.
Ally put her phone back in her purse and opened the door of her vehicle. She drove to the grocery store to pick up what she needed to make Travis a nice dinner, her heart lighter than it had been for as long as she could remember.
She’s mine!
Travis clenched his phone tightly, staring at the words Ally had texted.
She misses me.
He thought he’d majorly fucked up by making her think he just wanted to fuck her. Well…he did want to fuck her. Every damn minute of the day. But Travis knew his physical desire was just a product of how much he wanted her to belong to him. He felt like a caveman, the desire to drag her off to his isolated cave where no one would ever take her from him almost unbearable.
He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, images of the time he’d spent with Ally during the last week floating through his mind. He’d now been the object of several of her sweet, warm smiles, and every one of them had hit him like a boulder to the gut. Oh, it wasn’t like they still didn’t argue—like the argument they’d had over the wardrobe he’d provided for her. He’d settled it by taking all the clothing upstairs and putting it away, ignoring her while she systematically listed reasons why she couldn’t accept them. He’d won when he kissed her breathless and told her he’d probably tear them all off her eventually anyway. Damn, but his woman was stubborn. Travis wanted to give her the world, but she wouldn’t let him.
If she knew everything about me, would she still want to be with me?
Chances were, she’d run like hell, and he really wouldn’t blame her. He’d shared a lot of things with Ally that he’d never shared with another soul. But there were a few things he just couldn’t seem to tell her, too afraid she’d look at him in horror and run away. And Travis knew that would destroy him.
I need to just enjoy the time I have with her. Not think about the future right now.
Problem was, he wasn’t the type of guy who just lived in the moment, and he needed Ally too badly to even contemplate her leaving him.
He opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling. Ally made him ecstatically happy, but more fiercely territorial than he’d thought he could ever possibly be. Luckily, she didn’t seem to mind the fact that he always took her hard, fast and rough. In fact, she seemed to relish it. But he wanted even more. He wanted her complete submission to him, needed to know she was completely his, and he couldn’t get his frenzied cravings for that under control. Did she know she had him completely by the balls every minute of every day and never let go?
I might have to cook naked.
Oh yeah, she definitely knew, and she did everything she could to make him crazy. He loved it and he hated it. It was almost like she wanted to see him break, go completely caveman on her.
“Sweetheart, you have no idea exactly how demanding I could really be with you,”
he whispered huskily, wanting to make her just as damn desperate as he was for her.
It wasn’t that Travis didn’t know that Ally was satisfied every time they were intimate. He made damn certain that she was. But he wanted her to let go completely, surrender herself totally to him and the white-hot passion that nearly consumed them both every time they were together. She was so fucking responsive, and she got so beautifully aroused. But he still felt like she was holding a part of herself back. And he was greedy. He wanted everything she had.
Glancing up at the clock, Travis cursed as he realized it was almost time for his meeting.
“Great,”
he whispered harshly. “I’ll sit through the whole damn meeting wondering if Ally’s really cooking naked, my dick so hard I won’t be able to concentrate.”
He got up from the chair and straightened his tie. He’d warned Ally that he’d make her pay for teasing him. Problem was, every damn time she touched him, he damn near lost it. Walking out of the office and toward his meeting, he smiled, thinking of a solution that could remedy that problem.
Ally entered her bedroom, still damp and completely nude after her shower, squealing as the door of the bedroom closed loudly behind her. Relief flooded her body as she saw Travis standing in front of the closed door, still dressed in his office attire.
Needing to take a couple of deep breaths because of the scare he gave her by appearing out of nowhere, she flushed as his eyes roamed over her, his expression feral and hungry.
“You’re early,”
she gasped, still not completely comfortable standing in front of Travis bare-assed naked. It was barely five o’clock, and she hadn’t expected him this early. She’d given him a key to the house, but he usually didn’t let himself in.
“I got extremely hungry for my appetizer,”
he replied huskily. “And I couldn’t wait. Catching you at this moment is extremely convenient.”
Ally shivered as she looked into his eyes. He seemed different tonight, almost dangerous. Not that she was afraid of him, her body reacting to his fierceness, his proprietary stare. “It is?”
she answered innocently. It seemed like the more desperately Travis wanted her, the hotter she became.
“Very,”
he answered casually as he stripped off the jacket of his suit. “Do you know what it’s like sitting through a meeting while visualizing you naked the entire time? I wasn’t exactly productive. And I did warn you that you’d pay for your teasing.”
He had. And there was nothing Ally wanted more than for him to take his revenge. “I’m sorry,”
she answered insincerely, because she really wasn’t very sorry at all.
“Don’t move,”
Travis commanded in a low and demanding voice. “That meeting was very uncomfortable, Ally. And I know what I’d usually do is fuck you senseless, but I’m not going to do that right now.”
Ally was flooded with disappointment, followed by curiosity. She watched him warily as he slowly removed his black tie. “Then let me just grab a robe—”
“No.”
Travis moved then, not stopping until he was right in front of her. “I don’t think so. I did promise I’d make you pay. The problem is that every time you touch me, I can’t think straight and I end up fucking you hard and fast. Do you like that?”
Ally looked up at him, confused. “You know I do,”
she answered quietly.
“But I’ve never really gotten the chance to explore you, find out exactly what you like.”
He moved behind her, and before Ally knew what exactly he had in mind, he’d tightened his tie around her wrists. “The only way I can think of to not lose control is to keep you from touching me,”
he said mildly.
Ally yanked at her hands. They were bound together behind her back, not tight enough to hurt, but snugly enough so she couldn’t move them. “Travis, what are you doing?”
“Making you pay first. And then finding out what you really like. Exploring you. Exploring your pleasure.”
Ally felt a moment of panic as her vision went dark, and she could feel Travis tying something at the back of her head. “I can’t see.”
The helplessness was both disconcerting and arousing.
Travis’s arms came around her waist, pulling her back against him. “Do you trust me, Ally?”
His hands roamed over her belly and up to cup her breasts. “You don’t need to see. You just need to feel.”
She relaxed back against his body, the feel of his clothed body against her back making her want to get him naked now. “I do trust you.”
He pinched her breasts, bringing her already hard nipples to painfully sensitive diamond-hard peaks. His mouth explored her neck, nipping at the skin and stroking over it with his tongue. Her pussy flooded and she squirmed uncomfortably with a helpless moan. She was completely at Travis’s mercy, and that sensation turned her on more than she ever thought possible.
“Do you know that the moment I got out of that meeting, I had to go get myself off, thinking about how I was going to get my revenge?”
he asked her in a hoarse whisper, his warm breath caressing her ear.
Ally quivered at the thought of Travis stroking himself while thinking of her erotic torture. “I wish I could have watched,”
she admitted in a breathy voice, her lack of sight making her bolder.
Travis removed his arms and placed one hand on her neck, bending her body over. “It made me want to do this.”
He moved her bound hands aside with one hand and stroked her ass with the other.
Smack!
His hand connecting with the flesh of her ass jolted her. She’d been expecting him to take her from behind, and she’d been more than ready. But the sting of his hand on her sent a jolt of electricity through her entire body.
Smack!
He’d landed the second stroke before Ally came out of her erotic daze enough to realize he was actually spanking her.
“Are you going to play nice from now on?”
Travis asked in a controlled voice.
Holy hell! Her ass tingled, but he wasn’t hitting her hard enough to really hurt. It was more of an erotic sting. His dominance and control was arousing, seductive. “No,”
she answered boldly, wanting more.
Smack. Smack. Smack.
Every time his hand connected with her ass, she let out a gasping, needy moan. Sweet Jesus, being helpless to Travis, him being in total control of her body was about to make her come, and he’d hardly touched her. “Please,”
she rasped, desperate for him to take her now.
He stroked over her ass, and then between her thighs. “I guess you like being naughty. Christ! You’re wet. Tell me what you like, Ally. What really turns you on?”
Anything with Travis, everything with Travis. “You. Everything you do.”
He was teasing her clit with his finger, gliding easily because she was so aroused. “It’s all good. You’re the first man who ever made me come. The first man who ever put his mouth on me. Everything you do makes me crazy.”
He put an arm around her shoulders to steady her. “Is that really true?”
He sounded angry and astounded.
“Yes. My ex was my first and only before you, and he never tasted me, never made me climax.”
Maybe it was because she couldn’t see his face, or because her whole body was trembling with need, but she felt like she could tell him anything, everything.
“I like being your first.”
His finger increased its pressure on the bundle of nerves he was teasing, his other hand sliding down her back and down the curve of her ass. “Do you like this, being helpless, trusting me to pleasure you?”
“Yes,”
she answered with a throaty groan.
The hand on her butt moved between her legs, wetting his fingers in her moist pussy and moving back up sensually to the area between the cheeks of her ass, lubricating the area before gently moving his index finger into her anus.
Ally’s body tensed, conflicted between the pleasure he was giving her by stroking her clit, and the apprehension of a forbidden sensation she’d never experienced before.
“Relax, sweetheart. I’m not going to hurt you. I’m just exploring,”
Travis crooned, pulling his finger out and then back in gently. “Does it hurt?”
It didn’t, and Ally let herself relax, starting to enjoy the gentle in and out motion.
She almost whined in disappointment as he took his hand away from her pussy. But almost immediately, his mouth took the place of his fingers, and Ally knew he must have dropped to his knees.
Her head began to spin as he continued to glide his finger in and out of her ass, while his mouth and tongue devoured her pussy.
“Oh God. Travis. Please. I don’t think I can take anymore.”
She was panting, trying to catch her breath as her climax built, Travis’s heated, marauding tongue driving her insane. His erotic imprisonment made her arousal sharper, any inhibitions she’d ever had completely gone. There was only the pleasure washing over her body like a waterfall, pummeling at her until she no longer had a coherent thought.
Her climax tore through her body the moment Travis buried two of his fingers into her empty channel, her body so full of him that she imploded. Her channel clamped around his fingers, and Ally threw her head back and groaned. “Travis, Travis, Travis.”
He was there to catch her before she hit the floor, her legs too weak to remain standing. Travis carried her, still trembling in the aftermath of her orgasm, to the bed and dropped her in the middle of it. She heard the rustling of his clothes as she panted, trying to recover her breath.
She let out an audible sigh as she felt his naked body come down over hers, the feel of his heated skin making her groan feebly. She felt the ties on her hands come loose, only to be fastened again over her head and obviously attached to the headboard. “Please. I need to touch you, Travis.”
She wanted to wrap her arms around his hot body, absorb his essence.
“Not this time. You look beautiful like this, Ally. I just want you to feel. I want this to last,”
he rumbled. “You might be the one bound, but I’m just as helpless as you are. I want you to need me as much as I need you.”
Ally’s heart raced, amazed that he just didn’t understand that she did need him just as much as he needed her. “I do.”
“Tell me what you want,”
he demanded, wrapping her legs around his waist.
“I want you to fuck me. Please. I need you.”
Travis let out a low growl of satisfaction and teased her clit with the silky head of his hard cock. He rolled her nipples between his fingers, toying with them. “You’re mine, Ally. Tell me you’re mine.”
“I’m all yours, Travis. And you’re mine.”
Ally felt the same possessive instincts rising inside her, the need for him to belong to her as much as she belonged to him. “I want you to be mine. And I never want you touching another woman,”
she told him fiercely, lifting her hips up, begging him with her body to take her. “Now fuck me.”
“Jesus, I love it when you say that,”
he rasped.
Ally never had a chance to ask him which part he liked. He impaled her swiftly and deeply, his cock sinking deep inside her, filling her. “Yes,”
she hissed. “Fuck me, Travis. I feel like I’m going to die if you don’t.”
She continued to babble encouragement, anything to try to make him understand that she had the same ferocious, carnal needs as he did.
Travis grasped her hips, starting with hard, deep strokes of his cock, each thrust ecstasy for her as he claimed her. “Mine,”
he grunted with every pump of his hips.
Ally was frenzied, her desperation to feel more of Travis making her crazy. She wrapped her bound hands around the tie and yanked, feeling the headboard yield and the cheap plywood slat give way. Her hands still bound together, she leaned up and looped them around Travis’s neck, bringing him down on top of her, her lips searching for his mouth. “Kiss me,”
she panted, her patience at an end.
“Fuck it! I can’t take it anymore. Touch me,”
Travis exclaimed irritably, his lips crashing down on hers and his cock beginning to pummel into her as they strained together.
Ally relished the feel of his body on hers, his demanding tongue invading her mouth. This is what she needed the most, this demanding, fervent passion that was about to make her come apart. Tightening her legs around his hips, she demanded more, meeting Travis’s every thrust with an urgency of her own.
She detonated, coming apart as she pulled her mouth from his, screaming his name as she came, her fingernails digging into his shoulders as her body pulsated.
“Oh, fuck yeah. Mark the shit out of me.”
Travis groaned carnally as his warm release flooded deep inside her.
He ripped the blindfold from her eyes, and tossed it to the floor, watching her shudder in the aftermath of her climax.
He rolled to her side, and quickly untied her hands. Ally wrapped her arms completely around him, plastering herself against the warmth of his body. As erotic as being bound and blinded had been, she’d missed being able to touch him.
They caught their breath with their limbs tangled together, their bodies moist with perspiration. When Ally was finally able to move, she looked up at the headboard. “I broke it,”
she said, mortified.
Travis looked up and his face broke into a broad grin. “I’ll get you another one. That’s good for my ego. I take it that’s another first?”
“Definitely,”
she verified with a sigh. “I guess every woman should get it so good that she breaks a headboard at least once in her life.”
Travis kissed her gently on the forehead. “Sweetheart, you can break as many headboards as you want. I wouldn’t complain.”
And then, to Ally’s surprise, he actually laughed, and it was a sound so contagious and rare, that she found herself joining him, both of them whooping until they were breathless all over again.
When they finally made it down to the kitchen, Ally’s dinner was pathetic, but Travis swore it was the best meal he ever ate. Ally knew he was lying, but it was the sweetest lie she’d ever heard.
Later that night, Ally was jolted out of an exhausted sleep as she felt Travis suddenly sit up in a motion so swift that it made her whole body shift, her head dropping back on the pillow as it slid off his shoulder. Pushing herself up into a sitting position, she could hear his erratic breathing and there was just enough moonlight to make out his face.
“Travis?”
she questioned softly, wanting to know that he was okay. “What happened?”
She stroked the damp hair on his forehead, her concern elevating another notch.
He groaned and swiped his palms over his face. “Something’s wrong with Kade.”
Getting out of the bed, he quickly dressed, buttoning his rumpled shirt as he added, “I have to go.”
He picked his phone out of the pocket of his pants, walking across the room to turn on a small reading light. He clicked a button on his phone, barking out immediately, “What the hell happened?”
Ally knew he was talking to Kade. Glancing at the clock, she noticed it was almost two o’clock in the morning, but Kade had obviously answered almost immediately.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
Travis asked, running a hand through his already rumpled hair. “I’m on my way.”
There was a pause as he listened before he added, “It doesn’t matter. I’m coming.”
He clicked the Off button and shoved the phone back in his pocket.
“What happened?”
Ally could see Travis’s tortured expression now that he’d turned on the lamp, and it tugged at her heart.
“Asha took a fall down the stairs at their house earlier today. Kade said they checked her over and she and the baby are both okay. But they’re keeping her overnight for observation.”
His voice was ragged and broken. “I’m going to be there in case he needs anything.”
“I’m going with you.”
Ally jumped out of the bed, her concern for Travis, Kade, and Asha setting a fire under her ass.
“No. Don’t.”
Travis’s expression was implacable. “She’s okay. I just need to be there for Kade.”
“How did you know?”
Ally asked curiously. Travis wanted to be there for Kade, but Ally wanted to be there for Travis. He looked devastated.
“I wish I would have known in time,”
Travis growled. “It started with my parents…”
His voice dropped off, and he hesitated.
Ally came up beside him and put a comforting hand on his arm. “What about your parents?”
Travis eyes grew dark and cold as he said in an icy tone, “I killed them.”
He shrugged her hand off his arm, picked up his suit jacket and left the bedroom without another word.
Ally stood there for a moment, her entire body trembling. She heard the door downstairs slam as Travis left, and she stood there for a moment in shock as she heard his Ferrari fire up.
Running out of the bedroom and down the stairs, she reached the door and flung it open just in time to see his taillights drive away from her house.
She closed the door and locked it, moving mechanically back up the stairs and crawling between the sheets that still smelled like sex…and Travis.
Her mind whirled over what had just happened, and the pain she’d seen on Travis’s face. As pieces of the puzzle fell into place, she buried her face in Travis’s pillow and wept.
Ally didn’t get much sleep that night, wanting desperately to go to Travis, but knowing he needed time and that the hospital wasn’t the place for a confrontation. When she finally got word of Asha the next day, it was from Asha herself. She called Ally, complaining about Kade’s behavior, and about the fact that he wanted to move their bedroom downstairs so she didn’t have to climb the stairs again. Every time she walked up or down the stairs, Kade was right behind her or in front of her, ready to stop her from falling.
Ally smiled as Asha went on and on, obviously disgruntled. Other than a few body aches, Asha was fine. But Kade was on her ass every minute of the day.
“Kade loves you, and I think you scared him pretty badly. You’re pregnant, Asha. Give him time,”
she told Asha patiently.
“I know.”
Asha sighed over the phone line. “He’ll lighten up eventually when he sees me go up and down the stairs safely enough times.”
Ally laughed, knowing Asha adored Kade, and her complaining was more out of concern for Kade than her own inconvenience.
After she hung up with Asha, Ally finished reading one of her books on adult children of alcoholics, incredulous about how she had every one of the negative behaviors that seemed to develop in children growing up with alcoholic parents. She’d been reading everything she could to try to learn more about her behavior and how to break free from her negative self-image.
“And then I went out and picked the worst man I could possibly have chosen for a partner,”
she mumbled to herself unhappily.
Strangely, she felt like she’d already started breaking some of her bad habits, refusing to believe the negative voices in her head as truth, and she’d work on the rest. Or maybe it wasn’t so odd, since she realized that Travis had started the process, had helped her to start deviating from her normal negative thoughts about herself.
Ally wished Travis had called himself, but maybe he was home getting some much-needed sleep, although she doubted it. Most likely he was hiding, running away. It was her last day of vacation. She’d see him at work tomorrow.
With that satisfying thought, she went to her computer to write.
Travis had obviously arrived on the upper floor, the usual quiet falling over the employees as he made his way to his office.
Ally did her usual countdown:
“Five…
“Four…
“Three…
“Two…
“One…”
Travis strode through the doors exactly on time, but he didn’t say a word. He shot a sideways glance at her, scowled and proceeded into his office without saying one damn thing to her.
Somehow, Ally had already expected that reaction. She got to her feet, smoothing down her cream-colored cashmere sweater dress, loving the feel of the material under her fingers. It was perfectly professional, with a decorative belt that clipped at the waist and hung comfortably at her hips. But it was a little bit shorter than her normal style, the hem hitting above the knees, and the material clung to every curve. The matching stilettos were plain but elegant, and she loved the whole outfit. She just tried not to cringe when she imagined what the ensemble had probably cost.
She shook her head as she went to the kitchen and poured a mug of coffee. Travis was never going to let her take back any of the clothes he’d bought, so she might as well wear them.
Not bothering to knock, Ally opened the door of Travis’s office, locked it quietly behind her, and placed the mug on his desk. “Your coffee, Mr. Harrison.”
His eyes never left the computer screen. “Fine,”
he grumbled.
She was right. Travis was hiding, and doing a lousy job of it. Their awareness of each other was electric in the air. Time for more drastic measures.
“You left something at my house,”
she told him in a low, sultry voice.
He looked up then, his eyes turning dark as he saw his black tie dangling from her fingers. Leaning forward, he reached for it with a frown, but Ally held it away. Moving around the desk, she positioned herself behind his chair.
“I don’t think so, Travis.”
She yanked his shoulders against the back of the chair and slipped the tie around him, pinning him and making a tight knot that restricted his body at the elbows.
He could have easily fought her, but he just sat there dumbfounded as she moved around in front of him and purred, “I think since I gave you your appetizer, you can repay me by giving me breakfast.”
She leaned down before he could say a word, speared her fingers through his hair and kissed him, an embrace that meant business. He responded immediately, his tongue dueling with hers as she kissed him deeply, languorously, removing her hands from his hair and started to unbutton his pristine shirt, jerking it out of his waistband and opening every button she could get to as she nipped at his lips and soothed them with her tongue. When she loosened the buttons on all but the top few that were restricted by his tie, she took her mouth from his and straightened. Placing one stiletto-clad foot on the leather chair right between his legs, she gave his chair a hard shove, and it rolled back just enough to allow her to sink to her knees.
One thing that had always bothered her was the fact that Travis never let her touch him this way, too worried about losing control before he satisfied her. Didn’t he know that she needed to touch him just as much as he wanted to touch her?
“Ally, what the fuck are you doing?”
Travis’s voice was hoarse and deeply aroused.
“I’m…exploring,”
she told him, giving his own words back to him. “I want to know what you like. Tell me what you like.”
She parted the material of his shirt and traced her tongue over the majestic phoenix on his chest. He’d told her why and how he’d gotten it, that it symbolized his dedication to weather the storm of the controversy after the death of his parents. “You’re so strong, Travis.”
She bit one of his nipples and then soothed it with her tongue. His body tensed, but he didn’t move, didn’t fight. She repeated the action on the other one, and then trailed her tongue down his ripped abdomen, moaning at the feel of his skin as her fingers trailed down the same path. Her nimble fingers undid his belt, flipped open the button of his pants and lowered the zipper. She yanked on his black boxer briefs, liberating his cock, which almost looked like it was twitching anxiously and fully erect. She wrapped her fingers around the engorged member and sighed as she looked at him, his head tipped back, the corded muscles in his neck straining. “God, you’re the hottest man I’ve ever seen. And you’re mine, Travis.”
She squeezed his cock lightly. “This is mine.”
She’d already figured out that he liked her claiming him.
“Jesus, Ally. If you don’t stop touching me, I’ll explode,”
Travis rasped, his head snapping up to look down at her.
Their eyes met in clash of wills, but Ally was determined to win this time. “That’s the whole idea, big guy.”
She licked her lips hungrily. “I want my breakfast. And I want to taste you until you lose your mind.”
“Already there,”
he answered darkly.
“Not yet. But you will be. I’ve wanted this since the first time you kissed me. It’s one of my fantasies. And I’m in charge right now.”
She knew she really wasn’t, that he was letting her do this, but it didn’t matter.
“My fantasy, too,”
Travis growled.
Ally wanted to ask him why he’d never let her do it, but she already knew the answer. Travis was totally unselfish when it came to giving her pleasure. What he didn’t realize was that it pleased her to give him that same ecstasy.
Lowering her mouth to him, Ally twirled her tongue over the sensitive head of his cock, lapping up a drop of salty moisture dotting the tip, sucking it off leisurely.
“You’re going to kill me,”
Travis groaned, threading his hands through her hair, causing her hair clip to drop to the floor.
She let the tip of his cock pop out of her mouth. “Do you like that?”
she asked innocently, mimicking what he’d done to her just a few nights ago.
“Fuck, yeah. I just don’t understand any of this,”
he panted.
“You don’t need to. Just…feel.”
Ally wrapped her lips around his cock and took him deeply into her mouth, letting her throat relax. Travis was built big, but she took him as far as she possibly could, tightening her lips around the shaft as she let him slide in and out.
“Christ. I’m dying,”
Travis grunted as he fisted her hair, his hips pumping.
Ally savored every groan that came out of Travis’s mouth as she gently fingered his balls, trying to take his cock even deeper into her mouth. She slowly increased her speed, Travis becoming more demanding as his hips jerked up to meet her mouth.
Ally didn’t stop as she tilted her eyes up, watching Travis as he watched her, as though riveted to the sight of her sucking him off.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I’m gonna come, Ally,”
Travis told her in a guttural tone.
And he did, his cock spilling his warm release into the back of her throat as his body bucked and he groaned her name over and over. Ally kept her mouth on him, savoring every drop of his pleasure, her tongue toying with the head of his cock until he slumped in the chair, obviously sated.
She gently tucked him back into his briefs and put his clothing back together. His eyes were still closed when she moved to the back of the chair and released the knot on the tie.
“Why?”
Travis asked in a confused voice.
“Because I wanted to,”
she replied sweetly. She bent and picked up her hair clip from the floor.
“Jesus. What are you wearing?”
Travis exploded.
Ally smiled at him. “One of the dresses you bought me. I didn’t have any matching lingerie, so I bought my own.”
She knew he’d seen the sexy panties and the top of her garters. She’d done it on purpose. Lifting the hem of the dress, she gave him a peek at the white ensemble underneath. “Isn’t it sweet?”
It was fairly modest, white with little pink bows.
Travis gaped at her as she let the hem float back down and arranged her hair again in a small decorative mirror on the wall.
Sashaying to the door, she tossed the tie across the room and Travis’s quick reflexes caught it in mid-air.
“For the next time I’m naughty.”
She unlocked and opened the door, looking back at him as she swung it open. “Enjoy your coffee, Mr. Harrison. But just for the record, I’m still not getting your coffee every day. Today was special.”
She walked out of the office, closing the door quietly behind her. Her heart was still hammering, her knees weak, knowing what she’d just done had been a risk. But she’d already decided that a life without some risk wasn’t worth living. With risk came hope. And she’d keep her hopes alive for Travis until all her belief in him was gone, until there was no chance for them. He was worth it. He’d lived in darkness for way too long, and he needed to conquer his demons or let them destroy his life. He’d been there when she needed someone to believe in her, and she wanted to do the same for him. Because, truth was, she trusted him more than any other person on earth. Now he just needed to trust himself.
Ally went to the restroom and cleaned herself up before returning to her desk.
She stared at Travis’s office door for a long time before going back to work.
Travis sat totally immobile for a long time, stunned as he looked at the door where Ally had exited.
His coffee was tepid, but he gulped it down anyway, trying to figure out if what had happened was really truth or if it was just a very vivid fantasy he’d conjured up because of his need for Ally.
Why isn’t she running?
His first shock had come when he discovered that Ally was actually at her desk today. He hadn’t expected her to be. Not after what he’d said the night he’d left her to go to the hospital. Had she been so tired she hadn’t really gotten what he’d told her?
He could have easily stopped what had happened this morning, but he hadn’t wanted to, hadn’t even been able to wrap his mind around the fact that he hadn’t been experiencing some sort of surreal fantasy. He fingered the tie on his desk, proof that she’d really been here. Part of him wanted to just go on and see what happened now, not confront any reality. Hell…reality sucked. He’d much rather preserve the dream. But his relationship with Ally was never going to progress until he faced her down, figured out what was going on in that complicated brain of hers.
He pushed the intercom button. “Alison, I need you.”
As he let off the button, he admitted to himself that truer words had never been spoken.
He waited as she let herself into the office, his cock hardening as he viewed the innocent-looking dress that was, in reality, a cock torture device. It hugged her body in all the right places, and dammit…it was way too short. Had that really been one of the outfits he’d purchased for her? He hated it. No…he actually loved it, but he didn’t want another man seeing her shapely body in the garment. And he sure as hell didn’t want anybody else to see what she was wearing underneath. It was white, for Christ’s sake. But Travis had just decided that white underwear with cute pink bows was the hottest thing he’d ever seen. Maybe it was speaking to his caveman: the virginal, sweet color making him want to drag Ally off and corrupt her as soon as possible.
Ally seated herself in front of his desk, a cup of coffee in her hand. She’d fixed her hair, and she looked every inch a prim, composed assistant. Hell…even that made him crazy.
“You wanted me, Mr. Harrison?”
she asked politely.
Yeah. He wanted her all right. But nobody would ever know that the woman sitting in front of him had a few minutes ago been a sexual goddess on her knees, sucking his cock until his head had nearly blown off. He cleared his throat and asked, “What just happened here this morning, Alison?”
“Did I ever tell you that I hate the name Alison? My mother used to call me that, and I don’t like being called by that name, which is why I prefer people to call me Ally,”
she answered in a calm, informative voice. “And as far as what happened? I believe that you stomped into the office without saying a word. I then brought you your coffee…which I almost never do. Then I tied my obstinate billionaire boss from Hell to his chair and proceeded to give him a blow job until he had an orgasm. I think I did something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time, making my fantasies of touching you any way I wanted come true. Does that sound correct?”
she asked him pertly. “Oh, then I gave him back the tie that he left at my house after using it to give me multiple orgasms,”
she added casually and took a sip from her mug, raising a questioning brow at him.
Travis nearly choked on the last of his coffee. “What the hell has gotten into you?”
Travis asked, squirming in his chair from hearing Ally bluntly recounting the morning.
“Nothing got into me. I gave you a blow job, but you never really got into me.”
Holy Christ! She was trying to make him crazy. He knew she was. “I’ll never call you by your full name again if you hate it. You should have told me.”
He paused before asking, “Do you remember what I told you when I left to help Kade? Did you hear what I said?”
“I heard you,”
she affirmed.
“Why are you still here?”
“Why wouldn’t I be? I work here.”
She sat her coffee on the desk and put her hands on the surface of the wood, giving him a stubborn glare. “I assume that what you meant that night is that you had a precognitive dream about your parents, and you ignored it, thinking it was just a nightmare. Therefore, you blame yourself because you didn’t stop what happened. You did not kill your parents, Travis. Your father killed your mother and then himself. He was mentally ill. It’s time for you to stop torturing yourself because you didn’t know the dream would really come true. It was not your fault.”
Travis gaped at Ally, her fierceness stunning him. Her gaze was wild and ferocious, and protective as hell. And all that strong protectiveness was centered on him. “It was the first time it happened,”
he admitted. “I hate myself for not saving my mother. If I had just paid attention—”
“You. Didn’t. Know.”
Ally emphasized every word. “What else happened after that?”
Travis looked at her, surprised. “It doesn’t happen very often. And sometimes I still don’t believe it, but I act on it if I dream of someone dying or getting hurt. Precognition isn’t accepted in mainstream science. It isn’t supposed to happen. There’s no proof that it even exists.”
“And there’s no proof that it doesn’t,”
Ally shot back at him.
“You believe in it?”
Ally sat slowly back down in her chair. “You told me once that I was pragmatic on the surface and a dreamer inside. I write fantasy because I believe anything is possible, that there are still so many things in this world that we can’t explain. So I try very hard not to discount anything. I don’t not believe in a lot of things. Things like precognition can’t be proved or disproved.”
She sighed and gave him an earnest look. “But I can tell you that I absolutely believe in you. Tell me about it, Travis. Please.”
Ally’s understanding, compassionate look broke Travis. He buried his face in his hands and spoke. “Like I said, it really doesn’t happen that often. You’re right about what happened with my parents. Looking back, it’s hard not to regret that I didn’t pay attention, but I thought it was just a nightmare. Then I started having recurring dreams about Mia. The first time, I dreamed that she was being abused. She was still in school, and I flew there just to reassure myself that she was okay. But the dreams were correct. She was with an abusive boyfriend, the same asshole who tried to hurt her once he got out of prison after I put him there for abusing her. She was married to Max when he got out of prison and came after her the second time, and I had a dream that she was running away, Max and Kade found her, and her ex killed all of them.”
“So that’s why you hid her, why you didn’t tell Kade and Max? And you saved her from the abusive boyfriend when she was in school. Your dreams actually saved her twice,”
Ally said breathlessly. “That’s incredible.”
“I never knew Kade’s accident was going to happen. I wish to hell I had known. But the night I woke you up, I’d just had a dream that he was in a hospital waiting room, distraught. I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t know what had happened. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a warning. The dreams just happen, and sometimes not nearly soon enough to prevent anything. And I had a vague dream about Asha that her ex-husband tried to kill her. That’s why I asked Tate to stay near her while his broken leg was healing. I had the same vague dream again the night before she was attacked by her ex-husband.”
“And Tate saved her life,”
Ally finished, having already heard that story from Asha.