Slide Down on Me (11 page)

Bella had to agree with him. The pressure he kept up on her backside combined with the delicious feeling of his erection between her legs was potentially devastating to her being able to make good on her challenge.

And then, as she was contemplating her next move to drive him crazy, he thrust forcefully against her body, sliding his cock through her wetness. She grunted and he grinned up at her.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered. He repeated the move and she gave up on resisting, melted into him, letting him rock her to climax.

“Travis…Travis…Travis…” She said his name over and over again. Her ass tried to clench, the muscles tensing. He let go with one hand and his remaining fingers filled her. He finger-fucked her bottom, prolonging her orgasm.

When she quieted and went limp, he gently pulled his fingers from her body and that’s when she felt it—the warmth from his cock as he came beneath her, his semen coating their lower bellies where their skin touched.

Bella kissed him through the duration of his orgasm. “Could control it until we got back to the deck, huh?” she remarked after she lifted her head.

“I lied.”

“I’m glad.”

“But I
would
like to get back to the house.”

“Or just back in the water.”

“That too.”

Bella slid off Travis’ body and lowered herself over the edge of the floating dock into the cool water. Travis followed and playfully dunked her head under. When she came up, he was halfway to shore. “Cheater,” she muttered.

Chapter Eight

Saturday Afternoon

“What’s my car doing here?” Bella asked, stepping out from beneath the awning of the flower shop.

Her wide eyes made him grin and the sunshine glinting off her auburn hair made him itch to wrap the strands around his hands and tug her close. “It’s finished,” Travis said simply.

“Travis, I—” Her eyes darkened in the afternoon sun and something niggled at him.

“I know you’ll pay me when you can, Bells,” he rushed to reassure her. He wanted the car out from between them. Their affair hadn’t had anything to do with her car after that first kiss on her porch. At least not for him, though that hadn’t stopped him from reminding her that it had.

“Is that why you’ve been leaving in the middle of the night? Why you wouldn’t spend the night with me? Is that when you were fixing my car?”

“Yeah. Look, I wanted you bad, baby, and I knew you wanted me too, or used to at least. I just—”

“It’s okay. I did want you. You were the one guy I wasn’t supposed to ever have.”

“But you
have
had me.”

“I have—and I’m not done with you.”

“You don’t have to do this. I was wrong. I shouldn’t have made you sleep with me to get your car fixed cheaper. I would have worked with you on it, no matter what. I—”

“We’ve got to stop interrupting each other,” she quipped. “Travis, do you want to keep seeing me?”

He hadn’t expected her to ask. Just hoped. The sex had been incredible over the last few days and they’d had some great conversations, but none of it had begun from any innocent notion on his part. “Hell, baby, yeah. I do.”

“Then shut up. I have something to say, to ask, to propose, but I can’t do it if you keep feeling bad about what we’ve been doing for two and a half days.”

“Now c’mon. I don’t feel bad about what we’ve done. Only how I got you to agree to it.”

“You didn’t get me to agree to anything. I said yes knowing I could get you the money for the car.”

It was his turn to be stunned and gaze at her with wide eyes. “What?”

“Yeah.”

Even in the summer heat, she blushed. Pink lit her cheeks and she glanced away from him. The little minx. “Tell me.”

She sighed and locked gazes with him again. “Long story short, I have money. More than I thought. More than I knew when I first came back home. I thought I only had the trust fund and the little bit of savings. When everything came to a head with Artie, safeguards and security measures were put into place to protect part of my money. I wanted to keep it for emergencies, for my future, for my children. It was all I had left. I didn’t lose as much as others, but he ruined my family and my legacy. But then…”

She smiled gently and his heart flipped over. “Then
you
came along looking for something else, offering something more.”

“Shit, baby. I—”

“I swear, Travis. If you say you’re sorry one more time, I’m going to come over there and kick you. Not another apology. Not another anything until you listen to everything I’ve got to say. Understand?”

He nodded and she grinned. Truth be told, he couldn’t have formed any other words if he’d had to. She had him by the balls and he loved it. He couldn’t wait to hear what else she had to say, but no matter what it was, he wanted her. Not her money, not her name. He wanted
her
.

“I want to keep fucking you, Travis.” Her grin widened when his jaw dropped. Of all the things he might have wanted her to say, starting out with that would have been reaching too far into his dreams. “I want to keep seeing you. I didn’t want my car repair hanging over our heads—but before I could make arrangements with my bank, Mrs. Cleary informed me of some things. Some important things. Some life-changing things.”

“Mrs. Cleary is part of this?” Confusion clouded his voice and probably his eyes and most likely his face, since he’d scrunched it as he tried to follow her line of conversation.

“She is,” Bella affirmed. “I know I should have told you when I found out a couple days ago. I just didn’t want things to end before I was ready and if I’d said something, you might have wanted to stop. Only…only I don’t
want
to stop. I’m not ready for our arrangement to end and I was afraid if you knew—”

“Knew what?” he interrupted, still stuck.

“My mother invested in the flower shop. The investment was paid out and when she wouldn’t take the money back, Mrs. Cleary put it in an account. It’s now mine. She also made me a partner—a
full
partner.”

Bella seemed hardly able to contain her excitement and Travis was just trying to keep up. “You own half the shop?” A slight breeze could’ve knocked him over, he was so shocked at the turn of events in her life.

“I do.”

“And you have money?”

She nodded. “I have a check for the car. All two thousand, five hundred sixty-seven dollars and thirty-nine cents.

“I don’t know what to say.” There were no truer words. What
could
he say? His heart nearly stopped when she’d said she had money, afraid the class chasm would widen between them again, but they were adults so maybe it didn’t have to change anything.

Shit. She had money again. She could have status again. She was a business owner. She…

Suddenly the differences that existed between them during high school opened in his mind. He had her and he didn’t want to lose her, not now. He didn’t even care anymore about getting paid for the car, he just… Fuck, the whirlwind of news gutted him.

He stared at her and wondered if she could see the uncertainty in his eyes, if she could tell he was in turmoil. Everything ceased to exist but him and her and a small bit of physical distance.

His family never told him he wasn’t good enough, only that she was a different kind of person than he was, that she came from a different world, and he was better off finding someone like him. But he’d wanted Bella.

He
still
wanted Bella. Money or no money. Arranging flowers or designing people’s living rooms. He didn’t care. He at least wanted a chance. He—

“Travis?”

He blinked and shook his head, clearing his thoughts. “Yeah, babe. Sorry.”

“Are you okay?”

For a second she looked as uncertain as he felt and for some reason, that made him feel a whole hell of a lot better. “I’m good. Happy for you. I know it was unexpected, yeah? What Mrs. Cleary told you?”

“You could say that.”

“I guess that’s why you seemed kinda spaced out the other day. When you walked straight past the shop and on toward home.”

“I just didn’t know what to think, you know? It was… Well, it was as you said, unexpected. I wanted to tell you, but didn’t know how and thought maybe it would…”

She let her words hang in the air.
Thought maybe it would what?
He wanted to ask but he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. Then again, if he didn’t ask, how would he ever get to touch her again? How would he let her know that if the money didn’t matter to her when it came to their relationship, then it didn’t matter to him either? “Bella?”

“Can you answer a question for me?”

He was afraid to ask. Almost. “Sure. What is it?”

“Would you like to date me, Travis?”

“Date?” God, she kept flooring him. Soon he was going to have to scrape himself off the hot asphalt of the parking space. Bella rolled her eyes and gave him an irritated look. He didn’t even try to hide the smile that spread across his face.

“Yeah, you know, dinner and a movie, picnics at the lake, walks through town, being seen in public, holding hands, PDA. Any of that ring a bell?”

He’d collected himself and was once again on firm footing. “I’m surprised at you. A few days ago, you were afraid of what people would say about us being seen together, afraid of how that would affect me and my business. Are you saying you don’t care about that anymore?”

“No, I’m not saying that, but you said you could handle it and I figure I should take you at your word.”

Travis nodded and curled his fingers into his palm, the need to reach for her almost too much to stand. “I did say that, so yeah, you should trust me to deal with it.”

“Right,” she agreed.

“But what about the reputation you’ve been trying to establish for yourself? I understand why you’ve been trying so hard for, what was it, respectability? Being with me is definitely not going to earn you that. I have a good business, but I have a raisin’-hell reputation too. Of course, most around here don’t realize I haven’t been that guy in years, but I’m afraid with you, he might resurface.” Especially with the jam and honey and belt he had in the front seat of her car.

“Travis, I—”

“Naw, now it’s my turn to talk. I don’t much care for what people in this town think or say or do. In part, you serve as a reminder of what Artie did, of what too much money, too much greed, too much of everything can do. My brother doesn’t like that I’ve been seein’ you. And that reputation of… Well, it’s probably up in smoke. Coming back here took guts and courage and while it may not be my place to say, I’m proud of you for it. You, Arabella Drake…damn, baby. I want you. I want you here.”

“Then that leaves me still needing an answer. I know all that other stuff. I know there are people who’ll gossip and be all in our business. I just need an answer to my question.”

“Dinner, movies, picnics, walks? I can do that. PDA? Yeah, I can do that too, though you should be careful what you ask for. You’ve been living in a little cocoon since you’ve been back. Work and home. Dating would change all that. It would put you in the position of having to endure more looks and more whispers. So…” Travis shrugged and shook his head. “What else is on your list of requirements for dating?”

“Well,” she hedged. Her eyes sparkled, her lips twitched, and Travis knew that nothing he’d said so far was going to deter her. “Sex, but I’d already said I wanted to keep that going.”

“Sex. Hmm. But isn’t that extortion? Respectable dates, which between us is questionable, in exchange for sexual pleasure?”

“Maybe it’s sex in exchange for questionably respectable dates. If it could be sex in exchange for getting my car fixed at a lower rate, then…” She shrugged. She gave her nails, which were no longer manicured to glossy perfection as they had been at one time, a once-over glance too, acting for all the world as if this wasn’t a big deal, when in fact, he knew different. It was a very big deal to her or she wouldn’t risk asking him for something normal, something real, something more than a closed-door affair. It was a big deal, asking him to take a chance on someone named Drake.

“Bella.” He waited for her to look at him. When she did, her eyes were clear. There was no teasing spark, no hint of play. There was only interest in those blue orbs gazing intently at him. “Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?” He’d give her this last chance to say no, but he was pretty confident she wouldn’t take it.

“I’m sure that the sex is incredible and hot between us,” she answered softly, certainly. “I’m sure I like you enough to see where it can go outside of us being naked, or half-naked. I’ve begged for a lot over the last year. I’ve been humbled and more vulnerable than I can ever remember being in my whole life. I’ve been alone and I’ve had to learn how to live my life all over again. You said it took courage to come back home. It was the only place I could think of, the only place I wanted to be.

“I know some still don’t trust me or my name, but I’m not leaving. I’m stubborn. My pride has been kicked and knocked around a bit. I deserve to be happy though. To have love and hot sex. I want to see if the first part of that is possible with you. I won’t beg for it. I won’t plead with you to give me a chance at more than the few days we’ve had. I want you, Travis, but you have to want me too. You have to want me just as much.”

His response came swift and sure. “Come and kiss me, baby.” He had no doubt in his mind and he wouldn’t make her beg—right then.

Later, when she was naked. Later, when she was wet and ready to come. Later. That’s when he’d make her beg.

“Yeah?” Surprise and happiness laced her voice. She took two steps off the curb, two steps toward him.

“Come and kiss me,” he said again, and she took another step toward him. “Come and take me home with you.” Heat lit her eyes and she pulled one corner of her bottom lip between her teeth.

“Come climb in my lap and slide down on me.” He heard her moan.

“Come and get me, Bella Drake.” He spread his arms wide, the way he had a few days earlier when he’d offered her a fantasy. “I’m yours for the taking.”