“Yes, oh fuck.Just like that. Fuck yourself on my cock,” he grunted, holding still as she continued to move on him, throwing her hips back as hard as she could, slamming him in as deep as she could take him, as deep as he could go. Over and over again, she rode him from in front. His mouth dropped open, brows drawing together into a deep V as he struggled to hold his orgasm at bay, fighting back the words that he ached to say. He loved her. He loved her. He loved her. He wanted to tell her, so that she knew how fucking important she was to him. She was everything. But he didn’t want to tell her like this. When he said those three words for the first time, it needed to be perfect.
“Goddamn. Take what you want, baby girl. Take all of it,” he whispered raggedly. “Take everything I have.”
“Travis,” she mewled, her back arching low, her round ass high. He grasped her hips hard in his hands and hammered into her, over and over again. She was quivering around him, tightening, and she sobbed, “I’m going to—Travis—”
Wrapping his hand around her throat, he hauled her up so that her back was flush against his chest, his other arm banding around her waist. Her head was thrown back against his shoulder, her eyes squeezed tightly shut, mouth dropping open in a silent scream as she came. Her abdomen contracted wildly, her thighs shook, her pussy squeezing the fucking life out of him as he continued to slam into her.
“Fuckingbreathe, Red,” he rasped raggedly into her ear, because the fucking woman had stopped breathing as she came around him so hard it drew his own from him.
Harder, faster he thrust, until the tingle at the base of his spine ignited into sparks shooting through every one of his extremities. Vision tunneling, he came hard, emptying into her with long, hot bursts. Panting, chest heaving against her back pressed tightly to him with each breath, he held onto her as the world righted itself around them. She was trembling, wholebody shaking violently with the force of her climax and the aftershocks, still upright, her back pressed fully to his chest.
Sobs shook her then, and she clutched at his forearm still banded around her middle with trembling fingers. He turned her face toward him, covering her mouth with his, kissing her with every ounce of hunger and possessiveness that coursed through him. Tears tracked down her cheeks, and he swiped at them with his fingers. Still they kissed, pouring everything into the other. All the words he ached to say, but wouldn’t let himself. Not yet.
Gentle, sipping kisses replaced the fervent ones from before, but tears still trekked down her cheeks. “Roxy,” he whispered against her mouth. “Breathe, my love.”
A hiccupping sob escaped her, and then she was pulling away from him, turning in his arms. She threw her arms around his neck, burrowing her face in his throat as she clung to him. Her shoulders shook with her tears, and he hated it. It crushed his chest into dust.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, smoothing his hands over her hair as they sank into a sitting position on the bed. He cradled her close, but she shook her head. Finally, the tears seemed to slow. “Was I too rough?”
“God no,” Roxy laughed huskily, leaning away to swipe at her face with the heels of her hands. Leaning her cheek against his chest, directly over where his heart beat beneath it, she sighed, closing her eyes. “You’re perfect, Travis. This is everything I’ve ever wanted.”
Chest aching, throat burning to say the words, he swallowed them down. “Come on, baby girl. Let’s get some sleep. I think it’s been an emotional couple of days.”
She nodded, allowing him to tuck her in. He padded into the tiny bathroom—they really would need to find something bigger soon, this loft was miniature in comparison to his bulk—and returned with a warm, wet washcloth. He cleaned her up, shushing her with a stern look when she protested, and then slid into the bed behind her, curving his arm around her waist and pulling her tight against his chest.
“Go to sleep, Roxy,” he whispered, pressing his lips to the back of her neck. She snuggled into him, wrapping her arms around his arm that was banded around her. “I’ve got you. Always.”
Forty
Roxy waited until Travis’s breath had slowed into deep, even breaths before she slid out from beneath his arm. Padding over to the door, she double and triple checked the lock. It seemed secure, but so had her house in Melody Hills.
Crossing quietly to the fridge, she opened it just a crack, not wanting the light to wake Travis. Pulling a bottled water out of the pre-stocked fridge—she was sure she had Jodi and Serenity to thank for that—she drank half of it while standing by the tiny kitchen table. Moonlight filtered through the small windows on the other side of the room, slices of silvery blue light arcing across the bed and the man that lay in it, the sheet barely covering his lower half, one leg thrust out from beneath it.
He looked peaceful as he slept and so beautiful she ached from loving him. It had crept up on her, stealthy and slow, and she had had no chance of fighting it. She had possibly fallen in love with him the day she’d woken in his lap after passing out. When he’d let her see the soft, quiet Travis behind the former MMA fighter ‘The Reaper’ that he let everyone else see. Or maybe it was the day he’d called her out on her bullshit, and then had still taken care of her even after she had acted like a temper tantrum throwing brat.
Or that night, when he’d confessed to being dazzled by her.
She’d been just as dazzled by him. His quiet grace, the beauty in his strength, the careful way he caged everyone else out. Everyone except for her. He had let her see all of his brokenness, all of his shadows, all of the scars that he carried both on his mind and his body.
He was everything she had never known she wanted, had never allowed herself even the thought to cross her mind that someone like Travis could be hers. That a love like Freeman had found with Jodi, like Kasey had found with Shauntelle, could ever belong to her, too.
Despair fairly choked her. Everything she’d fought so hard for, everything she’d run from… it had all been for nothing. Because he would always find her.
Her eyes burned from both exhaustion and from her tears, but she refused to let her eyes close. She couldn’t sleep, despite the late hour. Not with Neal out there, probably watching, waiting for her to be vulnerable. She wouldn’t let Travis get hurt because of her. She would rather cut out her own heart than to put him at risk.
Sinking into one corner of the couch, she flipped through Facebook, watched TikToks, and scrolled Instagram. Every creak and groan of the old barn around her made fear rachet her heart into her throat. Every shadow that drifted across the floor from the windows by the door caused her eyes to flash toward them, watching for him. The clock moved at an agonizingly slow pace, the minutes drawing out interminably. She tried to read on an ebook app for a while, but nothing held her attention, until her eyelids became too heavy to remain open. Checking the clock, she sighed. In another hour the sun would be up, and Travis would be waking.
And she would be forced to give up the best thing that’s ever happened to her. If only to keep him safe, as he’d done for her.
Sliding back into the bed, she curled against his side, allowing herself this last little bit of time with him. In moments she was asleep.
Forty-One
“Good morning,” Roxy murmured as she stepped up onto the wide, covered front porch of the big house. Serenity sat in a hand-crafted Adirondack rocking chair, cup of coffee balanced on the armrest. She’d waved at Roxy from across the wide yard as soon as she’d stepped down the loft stairs.
“Good morning,” Jodi’s mother said with a wide, kind smile. These people, they were some of the best. Which meant Roxy would have to leave them, too, so none of them would be hurt by Neal. “There’s coffee ready in the kitchen, feel free to help yourself. Fallon stayed at a friend’s house for the weekend, and Levi and Freeman went out early to check a stretch of fence, so it’s just us here. Jodi works this morning, but she’ll probably come over around two this afternoon when she gets out. The guys should be back in about an hour.”
Roxy nodded, stepping into the massive, beautiful home. She knew that Levi had made a name in the small northern Michigan town, that he simultaneously ran the largest equestrian boarding ranch in the area, as well as owning a successful construction company. The man was worth millions, easily, but you’d never tell by looking at the man. His jeans were always well worn and covered in a fine layer of dirt, his boots were scuffed, and hishands were callused from years of hard work right alongside his employees. Roxy adored the big, gruff guy, and the petite, gentle woman that was his counterpart.
