His Dark Promise (Siren Publishing Classic) (2 page)

When Jason, from IT, moved in to take over dancing with her after Travis disappeared, Holly knew it was time to leave the dancing to someone else for a while. Slipping through the crowd she made her way out of the ballroom and up the spiral staircase that led to the powder room on the first floor. All she needed was a few minutes alone to get her racing hormones under control. Then and only then she could head back out there and join the party and resume her search for Mr. Sex God himself and see where this night would take them and her.

Travis leant against the back wall of the hotel ballroom waiting for Holly to return back to the party. She had scampered out of the room so damn quickly he hadn’t had a chance to stop her. That was almost an hour ago after delivering his dark promise to her. He was starting to think he had scared her off, that perhaps he had come on too strong. Had he misread her signals she had been throwing his way over the past few months? He knew they were both attracted to each other. The chemistry between them was unmistakable. Never in his life had he ever felt so strongly for one woman. Travis not only wanted Holly in his bed but also in his life as well.

Tonight he had every intention of making her his, by taking her in every way a man could take his woman. If he could just spend the next two weeks with her before she fled to London for a year, he would then have a chance at winning her heart. All he needed was a chance to prove to her that he was more than capable of having a long-term relationship with her. A relationship he would always honour and respect no matter how much distance the world put between them.

The first time he stared into those soft-green eyes of hers, Travis knew Holly was the woman for him. He had barely even glanced at another woman since that day. He sure as hell hadn’t slept with any other woman in the last six months, mainly due to the fact that a certain little stubborn minx had managed to entice him in every way known to mankind.

Even when she knocked him back time after time, Travis never gave up hope that one day he would overcome Holly’s rejections and make her his. He was that positive he could win her over that he kept on pursuing her, even though each time she turned him down it felt like he’d been kicked in the guts. But he never once thought about giving up on her. Now, seeing her standing on the threshold of the ballroom looking around nervously for him, Travis could feel the undeniable pull toward her. He smirked to himself when he caught sight of her frustration of not finding him. With so many coworkers and their partners filling the large ballroom, he was able to observe her without her noticing him. He would make good on his promise to make her his in every way tonight.
By the looks of it,
Holly just needed some more tim
e
to simmer in the heat he had built up within her from a few suggestive words. And when that same heat simmered to boiling point then he would make his move. So for now he would stay in the background to observe her from afar and wait patiently for that moment to come.

* * * *

Holly was having a devil of a time trying to locate Travis. It was like he just vanished into thin air. His promise of “you’ll be mine before the end of the night” sounded more like a fantasy of hers than resembling anything close to the truth.

Drawing in a deep breath, holding her head high, Holly placed one foot in front of the other and walked across the ballroom floor until she was standing up at the bar. “Champagne, please,” she told the barman when he asked what she would like to drink. As the strapping young man behind the bar poured her drink, Holly kept her eyes hovering over the dancing bodies and wondered if he was out there again. Was Travis out there even now teasing some other poor wanting female with his dark promise of making her his? God, she hoped not. Not that she had any say in the matter. He didn’t belong to her and he didn’t own her. There were both free agents, free to mingle with the opposite sex and flirt with them any way he or she chose to.

Maybe he changed his mind and was now hiding from her. That was the one question Holly didn’t have the answer to, and she hoped he hadn’t changed his mind to rock her world. He really didn’t need to tease her like this. Her mind was already filled with dark deeds he could tempt her with, and she wanted to be tempted. She wanted him to lure her into his world where only dark lustful desires belonged. She needed that from him and knew he could provide that to her.

Now that he had set the bait in the trap for her, Holly found herself wanting to take the bait. Stuff the whole “holding off things” if tonight was the night she would finally swap bodily heat and fluids with Travis Kane then she would take it with both hands. She would wrap her naked, writhing body around his and hold on for dear life.

Being in his arms while she was in the clutches of a diabolical orgasm would be the ride of a lifetime. One she would more than likely never get to experience again. Only a foolish woman would make the mistake of going back for seconds with Travis Kane. When it came to that man there were no seconds and there were definitely no thirds either. It was straight up a onetime deal with him. If you tried a second time or more with him you would ultimately risk your heart to him. Holly wanted to be that foolish woman who risked her heart to him. His commitment issues may have made her hesitant before now but not anymore. The thing that made Travis Kane so tempting to her wasn’t just his spectacular muscular physique or his sexual prowess that he had going for him. That man had charisma in spades and the looks of a Roman god too, all six feet four inches of him. Plus, he had the dark good looks to match it as well. His silky dark-brown hair he wore slightly longer at the back so it almost reached the collar on his shirt was so very sexy. His hair wasn’t too long either, just long enough to be able to run your fingers through it. His eyes, though, they were dangerous. They drew her in and made her knees weak and her feminine sensibilities quiver in anticipation of surrendering so completely to him.

He was a dangerous male in and out of the bedroom. Holly knew all this and that still didn’t persuade her not to lose her heart to him. If she did sleep with him she would risk showing him that he meant more to her than just a one-night stand. Did that scare her? Shit yeah it scared her, because a risk like that could ultimately cost her every chance she could ever have with him. Nevertheless, she could no longer ignore the ache that was so deeply imbedded within her for him. It never failed to rise to the surface whenever he was around. Her ache couldn’t be fulfilled by just any other male. It had to be Travis Kane who satisfied the need within her. She needed him to ease that ache and she wanted him to conquer her so thoroughly it left her breathless and panting his name begging him for more.

Throwing back the glass of champagne in one gulp, the drink immediately went to her head. She felt less uptight and a hell of a lot looser. Deciding to take a gamble and risk dancing on her own again, Holly pushed her way through the crowd to get to an empty spot on the dance floor. She only stopped for a brief chat
with
those who blocked her path.

She finally managed to make her way back onto the dance floor several minutes later after chatting to every Tom, Dick, and Harry in the room. Raising her arms in the air, she spun slowly around in a circle while shaking her booty. Travis Kane was close by. She could feel his lustful gaze tracking her every movement. Knowing this, Holly was resolute in putting on a little show for him. She would tease him with her sexy moves, just like he teased her with his sensual words.

Little by little, she let one of her hands travel down the front of her body to the hem of her dress. Gripping the silky black material with her fingertips, she very slowly dragged it up inch by torturous inch until she was flashing his watchful gaze a hint of the red garter belt she wore high on her thigh. Her other hand tossed her loose auburn locks around her shoulders. Her body undulated to the heavy beats of the music blaring around her. Over and over she taunted him and all the other men around her with her moves.

Untangling her hand from her hair a few songs later, Holly let her hand drift down to her breasts. She cupped one for the briefest of seconds, allowing her thumb to lightly graze across her hard nipple. She held in the moan wanting out from the sensations stabbing at her hard little buds, a sensation that ran all the way down to her clit.

As the song came to an end, she heard the faintest of male growls and chanced a look in Travis’s direction. Oh yeah, she was putting on one hell of a show for him, and she would bet that if she kept this up he would be up here with her in less than five minutes, if he lasted that long. Sniggering to herself, she raised her hand to toss her hair back again.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the crowd part and knew Travis was coming to stake his claim on her. Hiding her knowing smile from him, she turned slowly in a circle. Letting her dress fall back down into place, her hands travelled seductively up her body then around her neck to lift the hair gathered at her nape. Lifting her heated gaze to his, she gave him a slow, sexy wink then lowered her eyes to the floor. She shifted her body side to side in time to the sexually explicit R & B song currently playing and waited for him to approach her.

Holly had to control her own raging hormones building within her at the feel of Travis’s arms circling her waist. She had to fight the urge to not moan from the brush of his hot breath against her flushed skin. He didn’t say anything to her for long moments. He just danced with her. His hands did most of the talking for him. They slowly edged their way down to the V between her legs. His touch was both warming and seducing.

Whatever he wanted from her, Holly was more than aware that her natural instinct was to concede to his every demand. She was
of
two minds though. Should she give in and grant him what he wanted from her, or should she continue to deny herself a chance of really knowing what it was like to be with a man that could make every other man before him seem less than average in the bedroom department?

She had no control left inside of her to fight against the overwhelming need to be taken by him. She was his tonight, no doubt about it. Holly had known it as soon as he uttered that dark promise to her earlier in the evening. Oh god, this was it. She was going to have to stop fighting and give in to the dangerous desires he represented to her and every other woman in the room.

Lifting her arms up, she wrapped them around his neck to lock him to her. She could feel his hardening length pressing into her lower back as she moved with him. Their seductive little dance wasn’t going unnoticed by the other coworkers in the room. At this point in time, Holly didn’t care what they saw or didn’t see because right now nothing else concerned her other than Travis and his devastating touch.

Turning slowly around in his arms she came face-to-face with the man who seemed to know exactly what she wanted and how he alone could give it to her. Her stare lingered on his hard male lips. His lips were like a wicked treat she hadn’t had the pleasure of a tasting yet. And she wanted a taste. God, did she want a taste of them. She found herself wondering if he would try to dominate the kiss if his lips meshed with hers. Or would his kiss be slow and sensual to build up the flames of desire within her?

Holly was desperate to find out. Licking her lips to moisten them, she reached up on the tips of her toes while he gazed down at her, watching her every movement through hooded eyes. His dark amber eyes were heated with his own arousal and she wondered briefly if her own eyes reflected her lust and longing for him.

His strong hands tightened at her hips, holding her to him while their lips moved in closer to each other’s. Her arms, still entwined around his neck, drew him down nearer to her, forcing him to concede some of the power he had over her. Her lips were only an inch or less away from his when someone bumped into her, causing Holly lose her footing. Suddenly her lips were nowhere near close enough to his. She almost groaned from being oh-so close to having his taste on her lips.

She spun around to growl at the person who had interrupted them, only to stop when she saw a waiter with a tray filled with champagne flutes for the upcoming speeches. Crap, she totally had forgotten about the speeches that were starting at nine o’clock. Hell, she hadn’t even noticed that the music had stopped and everyone around them was staring at them instead of at the stage set up at the edge of the dance floor for the directors and the chairman of the company to address the employees.

Holly could feel the warmth of her blush rising to her face as she glanced up quickly at Travis. She could see he was amused by the fact that he had distracted her enough that she had absolutely no idea what was going on around her. She scowled up at him only for him to return it with one of his own.

He then reached around her and grabbed two glasses of champagne from the waiter and lifted one crystal flute to her lips. Slowly he tipped the glass up so she could take a small sip. The champagne bubbles burst to life on her tongue as she swallowed it down. He then held the glass out for her to take from his hand. Her hand shook slightly as it brushed against his. Holly realized then that she either needed to remove herself from his clutches or else they both needed to make a quiet exit out of the room so they could find some place secluded enough to continue on where they were so rudely interrupted from moments ago.

The speeches were finally wrapping up about thirty minutes later and the live band was heading back up on stage. Travis turned Holly around to face him. Looking deep into her eyes he hoped that she would accept his proposition and not knock him back like she usually did. He couldn’t handle her rejection tonight, not after the way her body had responded so effortlessly toward him. “Come with me, Holly, up to the hotel suite I have booked for the night. I promise to make it worth your while.” He said the last part to her with his eyes roaming freely down the length of her body. Travis noted the way Holly tried not to squirm under the heat of his gaze while she pretended to consider his offer.