Breaking Travis (The West Series Book 5) (9 page)

Alex smiled over at her sister-in-law. “We’re having a boy.”

“Woohoo!” Missy said, this time waking up the sleeping girl in her arms. “Oh, baby, I’m sorry.” She rubbed the little girl’s hair and soothed her back to sleep as they all smiled.

T
ravis was dirty again. Why did it seem that every time he stepped foot in the old theater, he walked out looking like he’d crawled through the fields? He looked at his watch and realized he was going to be late for dinner at Holly’s if he ran up and showered, so he decided to jump into the pool instead. When he opened the back gate, Holly was sitting by the pool in a light blue sundress. She had decorated the picnic table, and he noticed that it was filled with food and the grill was going and wonderful smells were coming from it. There were candles and tiki lamps placed around the yard, lighting up the area. He’d never seen the place look better.

“Hi.” She smiled. “I thought we’d eat out here.”

“Sounds wonderful. I’ll just run up and shower.” He looked down at his clothes.

“You can take a dip.” She nodded to the opened pool. “I’ll join you. The brisket won’t be ready for a while yet.” She stood up and his mouth went dry as she pulled the blue cotton over her head. She was wearing a white suit this time and when she stepped into the water, the light material became transparent.

He stripped his clothes off quickly, keeping his eyes locked on her. He was thankful he’d stopped by the drug store and had purchased a box of condoms. Tossing one by the side of the pool, he jumped in next to her, causing her to laugh.

“Smooth,” she said, swimming over to him. “How did your meeting go?”

He shook his head. “I don’t want to talk about meetings when you’re standing before me dressed like that.” He nodded to her swim top. It was so see-through, he could see her nipples pucker under his watchful eyes. “Come here.” He reached for her and got hold of her ankle and playfully pulled her to him.

She laughed until his hands touched her skin, until his mouth covered hers in heat. He couldn’t stop the flood of desire he felt when he looked at her. He had allowed the floodgates to open and now there was no stopping his desires.

Her hands raked over his body as his rushed to push the small white material from her. Finally, when they were both freed, he kicked a few times until they were by the side of the pool. He put on the condom quickly then pushed her back up against the wall and slid into her in one quick motion.

She arched and cried out in delight, holding onto him tightly until he felt her convulse around him, then he picked her up and carried her to a recliner and laid her down. When he covered her, she moaned and wrapped her arms around him and kissed him until he felt himself lose the last thread of restraint he’d had.

“I hadn’t planned this, you know.” She chuckled into his shoulder.

“Why on earth not?” He smiled and placed a kiss on her shoulder.

“Well, maybe I had hoped to wait until after we had eaten.” She smiled. “Oh!” She sat up, pushing on his shoulder until he moved over. “My brisket.”

She rushed across the backyard bare naked and pulled the cooked meat from the grill.

“Whew, saved it.” She turned and he couldn’t stop himself from laughing. She was wearing two oven mitts and nothing else, and she looked damn sexy.

Holly sat across from Travis in her blue sundress. She hadn’t bothered putting her wet swimsuit back on, since he’d just pulled on his jeans. They ate her dinner outside on the patio and when the sun went down, she poured some cold iced tea from the small fridge by the grill, and they sat and talked and ate some of the cranberry bread she’d baked.

She kept telling herself not to put too much stock into their relationship, but the fact was that the more time she spent with him, the more she enjoyed his companionship more the more time she spent with him. He talked about some of the stupid stuff he had done growing up. About all the times his friends had gotten him in trouble, or the other way around.

“It doesn’t sound like Corey and Billy have changed much. Do you know I saw them car surfing down Main Street, bare-ass naked, just last month?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “They’re either going to kill themselves or someone will do it for them.”

“You know, we could have said the same about you a few years ago.” She took a sip of her drink.

He nodded. “I know.” He frowned and then set his drink down, stood, and then started pacing. “I was an alcoholic, a drug addict, and a fool.” He shook his head. “I was heading down the same path that Billy and Corey are still going down.” He stopped and looked down at her. She set her tea down and watched him, waiting. “I went to Vegas thinking I’d get rich by gambling. I was pretty good at cards. I thought I could take care of myself.” He shook his head. “Within the first week I ended up in jail with a DUI.” He shook his head. “They strip search you when you get there, you know.” He took a deep breath. “I had a few ounces of coke on me.” He closed his eyes, remembering. “I was looking at ten to twenty years in prison, and my father wasn’t there to bail me out this time. But then something happened. The officer on duty was a little older than my father. Anyway, I guess he saw me sweat, or maybe he just took pity on me. He held the bag of coke in his hands, looked over at me, and said, ‘We’ll just flush this.’ Then he flushed it down the toilet without another word.” Travis sat in the chair next to her and looked down at his hands. “I never drank, smoked, or did drugs after that. Not after being given a second chance at life. To be honest, I haven’t had the desire to do any of those things again.” He shook his head and ran his hands thorough his hair. “It’s funny, my old man used to bail me out like that all the time, but nothing had ever scared me before or meant more to me than having that man give me a second chance that night.”

“What did you do?”

“Well, since I lost my license that day and had a pile of legal bills, I tried to sell my truck and ran into Randy.” He sighed and leaned back in his chair.

“I’m sorry.” She reached over and took his hands. “It sounds like you had a guardian angel.”

He looked up at her. “It’s funny how you can turn something negative into something else.”

She smiled. “My father died when I was young, so I barely remember him, but if I close my eyes”—she did now and the image came to her like it always did when she thought of her dad—“I can picture him teaching me how to fight. He has a big smile on his face and he is laughing.” She opened her eyes. “But when I open them and think of him, I can only remember the day he died and the heartache he left.”

“How did he die?”

She closed her eyes and brought back the good memory of her dad. “He hung himself in my closet. I found him when I went to get my boxing gloves for practice.”

“I’m sorry.” He squeezed her hands gently.

She shook her head. “They claimed it was PTSD. But I remember him as happy and always laughing.” She hadn’t realized a tear had slipped down her cheek until he reached over and wiped it away with a fingertip. She took a deep breath. “Well, enough of that. What do you say to another swim?” She stood up and he followed, but then he pulled her into his arms and gently kissed her.

Instantly, she felt heat spread throughout her.

“Travis?” She tried to control what was inside her. She watched him shake his head.

“I’d rather go upstairs.” He started walking them towards the stairs and she followed.

When they reached her room, he slowly peeled her dress off again and then stood back and looked at her.

“Beautiful,” he whispered before reaching out and touching her gently with the back of his hand. He ran his fingers slowly over her skin, sending shivers down her spine. She closed her eyes and rolled her head backwards, enjoying the feel of him touching her.

“Travis—” She couldn’t voice her desires, so instead she opened her eyes and pushed him backwards until he fell on the bed. Then she slowly pulled his jeans from him, unbuttoning them, slowly unzipping them, and peeling them from his hips. When she leaned down and kissed the sexy muscles that played on his stomach, his hands went to her hair.

She pulled his jeans off completely and spent her time pleasing him with her mouth until he begged for her. Sliding up his body, she let every part of her touch him until she straddled his hips and looked down at him. He was beautiful. His dark eyes looked at her full of desire and need.

When he took her hips into his hands and hoisted her up until she could slide down on his full length, she smiled and moaned with delight. He filled her so completely, she felt like she might burst at first contact.

When she started to move, she reached down and rested her palms on his chest and felt his heart skip with hers. The faster she moved on him, the quicker she felt herself build up. She cried out his name as lights exploded behind her eyes, and then she rested her head against his chest. He held her for a moment, and then he reversed their positions as he continued the smooth motion, and she felt herself building again. She wrapped her legs around his hips, trying to hold him as tightly as she could as his hands moved slowly over her body. His lips were on her nipples, gently sucking when she fell again. This time he stilled with her and moaned her name with his release.

When he started to move, she held him tight. “No, don’t go just yet,” she said against his cool skin.

He chuckled. “I’m just going to roll off you. I must be squashing you.”

She shook her head. “It feels good. You feel good.” She ran her hands over his back, playing with the muscles she felt in his shoulders, his lower back.

He groaned. “Holly, you’re killing me here.”

She smiled, knowing she could excite him by just touching him. She already felt him hardening inside her again and wanted to explore even more. Her hands ran lower and she heard him groan as he started to move again.

“I’ll get you back for this,” he said against her ear softly. “Just wait…”

She didn’t have the voice to tell him that she looked forward to it. Instead, she lay back and enjoyed every moment she had with him while she could.

The next morning she was surprised to roll over and find him still lying next to her, looking at her. “Morning,” he said, reaching over and pushing a wayward strand of hair from her face.

“Morning,” she smiled. “What are your plans today?”

He frowned. “I have to swing by the park; they’re installing the playground today.”

“Oh!” She smiled. “That’s wonderful.” He nodded. “I’d love to swing by and see it after.”

“Sure.” He rolled over and sat up, stretching his arms over his head. “I need to go work out first.” He looked over his shoulder. “If I’m going to win Tuesday, that is.” His eyes looked sad all of a sudden.

“If you don’t want to fight”—she sat up and hugged her knees—“why don’t you call it off?”

He shook his head. “Can’t.” He got up and started walking to the bathroom.

“Why not?” She followed him.

He turned to her, one hand on the shower door. “Commitments. It’s not a pretty world, underground fighting.” He shook his head. “You wouldn’t understand.” He climbed in the shower, and she stood there watching him for a moment. Then she marched over to the shower and opened the door.

“Then tell me. Why can’t you call off a fight? Why don’t you just quit fighting?”

He looked at her, his head under the spray. “Because I owe Randy money. Lots of money. And until I pay him back every dime, I have to fight.” He dumped some shampoo on his head and turned around, dismissing her.

“What about going to the police?” He shook his head no. “They’ll probably work with you. I mean, if you turn them all in.”

She climbed in the small shower with him.

“Hey!” He stepped back, making room for her. “There isn’t enough room in here.”

“Sure there is. I’m small enough.” She reached up and took some shampoo and started scrubbing her long hair.

He frowned down at her, then reached over and took over rubbing the soap through her hair. “I’m going to smell like you all day.” He leaned forward and sniffed her shampoo.