Up the steps and into the small apartment, Roxy flipped the light switch on and crossed to the line of cupboards next to the fridge, opening several until she found a tall crystal water glass. Filling it with water from the sink, she then fluffed the blossoms they’d left sitting on the tiny table, placing the stems in the water. Centering it on the table, she smiled, then leaned forward and inhaled deeply. That deep anxiety that she had lived with for the last several months lifted, leaving behind space for joy and peace and love in its wake. Tears pricked her eyes and stung her nose.
Spinning slowly on her sneakered feet, she surveyed the tiny apartment. Travis’s duffel was perched on the edge of the bed, opened and clothes half strewn out of it from when he’d been digging for his hoodie to give her. Always looking out for her, protecting her. She wouldn’t have to worry, not anymore. She was safe. Safe with Travis. And that meant that it was time for her gun to find a new home, packed away, because she didn’t need it anymore. Not with Travis at her side.
Crossing the room to her purse, she stopped, nearly stumbling. The neon orange hit her first, and then her hand shook violently, fear and dread and panic warring inside her so brutally she thought she might throw up. The neon orange post it note sat gently atop her purse where she’d left it when they’d got in, that damning, hateful, familiar scrawl a cruel reminder that she was in fact never going to be safe. Never going to be free of him.
You can’t run from me, Rox.
And I’ll kill him for touching you.
Her vision darkenedas her breath was stolen out of her lungs by vicious claws, anxiety so potent she feared she may pass out. Shoving the note off her purse, her hands shook as she pried the purse open, digging through it. A sob broke out of her throat when her fingers closed around nothing where the small handgun should have been.No. No no no no.
Fingers closing around another scrap of paper, tears sprang to her eyes when she removed it and read the words written on a second neon orange post it.
Did you really think you could keep a gun hidden from me?
Footstepson the stairs behind her made her jump, her heart kicking viciously in her chest. Snatching both notes in her hand, she crumpled them, shoving her hands into the front pocket of the hoodie just as Travis opened the door, stepping inside. Her heart broke at the gentle smile that tipped up his mouth, those golden eyes that saw every single broken piece of her.
She schooled her features as best she could, smiling up at him as he closed the door and crossed toward her. Catching her by the shoulders, he rubbed his hands up and down her arms, as if to warm her.
“You didn’t have to come find me,” she whispered, her voice breaking. His brows drew together, but she smiled up at him. “I was just putting our flowers in some water so they don’t die.”
“Free just left with Jodi, and Kasey said he needed to get Shaun home and to bed before she turned into a gremlin or something,” he chuckled lightly, shaking his head. “And I couldn’t stand one more second away from you.”
That crack that had begun in her chest widened. This was so unfair! And Neal’s threat; she had no doubts he would kill Travis if he got the chance. She needed to make him leave, somehow. As soon as possible. If he had any inkling that Neal had found her, he wouldn’t go, he would stay, and she couldn’t stand the thought of him being hurt, of him dying— Her heart shattered in her chest, the ache nearly taking her to her knees.
His hands slid back up her arms, one going to the nape of her neck where he fisted his fingers into her hair, the other sliding to the front to collar her throat. It centered her, brought her back to him, as he tipped her chin up. Mouth descending on hers, he breathed, “I said our goodnights to everyone. Now, I want you naked, Red. I want you naked and on your back on the bed so I can eat this pretty pussy until you come all over my tongue.”
He kissed her then, thoroughly, drinking in her moans as she arched against him. Pulling the hoodie up and over her head in one swift tug, he dropped it to the floor, then reached for her shirt. She was naked in moments, shoving the jeans down her legs and tossing her sneakers away as he divested himself of clothes. Until he stood as naked as she was, every delicious, muscled, tattooed inch of him on display for her.
The light in the tiny kitchen illuminated just enough of the bedroom for them to see each other. She wanted to see all of him, wanted to imprint him on her mind, on her body, like he was on her heart, her very soul. If this was the last night she would have with him, she was going to take everything, give every particle of herself to him. Even if he didn’t know, and even if he would never understand in the morning.
She reached for him as he did for her, fingers frantic as she touched everywhere, following with her lips, her tongue. Dropping to her knees in front of him, he growled from above her, fisting her hair in his hands again. “Roxy, I said get on the bed.”
“I want this first,” she whispered, fisting his hard length in her hand, pumping from root to tip and back. His head tipped back with a raspy groan as she took him in her mouth. Looking up the length of his hard, tattooed body, her core tightened. She was so wet she ached. Clenching her thighs together, she bobbed her head, taking him to the back of her throat again and again. His thighs bunched and flexed beneath the palm of her left hand, and when he began to thrust, meeting her, she moaned around his length. His hand stroked her cheek, tenderly, sweeping beneath her chin. Eyes watering, she stared up at him from beneath her lashes.
“Fuck,” he snarled, clenching her hair tight enough to sting sharply, hauling her off of him. “Goddamn, Red. If you don’t stop—”
“I didn’t say to stop,” she panted, licking her lips. She dropped her eyes to the steely length of him, which twitched. “I want to taste you.”
Grasping the back of her neck with one hand and fisting his cock with the other, he guided the tip back to her mouth. She opened, greedy for him.
“Stick out your tongue,” he rasped from above her, and she did, electricity zinging across her every nerve, lighting her up at his rough demand. “Show me where you want my cum, baby girl.”
Roxy watched as he pumped his hand, and then his abs contracted, his thighs bunching. The hand at the back of her neck tightened, and then he groaned harshly as he came,painting her tongue with his release. His panting breaths heaved his chest like a bellows, but his eyes never left hers.
“So pretty,” he breathed, releasing the nape of her neck and sweeping his fingers across her cheek, his thumb sliding over her bottom lip. “Fuck, Roxy. Get on that goddamn bed and spread those pretty legs for me.”
Staggering to her feet, her knees ached, legs wobbling. He chuckled as she lowered herself to her back, and then he was on his knees before her. Spreading his hands wide on the inside of her thighs, he pushed her legs apart as he settled in, licking and suckling until she was a writhing, panting mess. Fingers fisted in his long hair, she bowed off the bed with a cry when she came, his tongue dancing wickedly around her clit. His approving hum thrummed through her and her legs shook where he’d laid them over his shoulders.
He rose from the floor, his gaze an inferno as he stared down at her nakedness. She expected him to climb over her, but he reached for her, flipping her over onto her stomach.
Thirty-Nine
“On your hands and knees, woman,” he rasped, letting his palm crack on one of her ass cheeks sharply. Redness bloomed there, and then he soothed it with his palm, rubbing and stroking as she did as she was told, rising onto her hands and knees on the mattress. Kneeling behind her, he used his knees to notch hers further apart, then gripped his aching cock in one hand, pumping it from root to tip several times. Feeling her come on his tongue, her hands in his hair, had gotten him hard again. He would never get enough of her.
Running the blunt head along her wet, glistening folds, he pushed in. Transfixed, he watched with hooded eyes as her body swallowed him whole, the sight of his hardness disappearing inside that tight pussy hot enough to make him see stars already. “You are so fucking perfect, Roxy.Fuck. Do you feel how well we fit together? You take all of me so fucking prettily.”
Dropping his hands to the slope of her waist, he spanned his fingers wide across her hips as she moved, shifting forward and then throwing herself back against him. Her head dropped between her shoulders, arms outstretched and holding herself off the mattress. She repeated the movement, moaning sharply when he went deep.
