My gaze shoots up and I smile. “Always.”
He leans down. I expect him to just go all missionary on me, but Travis has other ideas. Instead, he tugs me up off the mattress, then leans back, resting on his knees.
“Take me inside of you,” he whispers right before he nips at my earlobe. I do as he orders, wrapping my hand around his cock centering it at my entrance. I slide down on him, slowly, enjoying the way he stretches me. Once he’s completely in me, I wrap my arms around him. Thanks to the position, I am slightly above him. He tightens his arms around me.
“Damn, you take my breath away,” he says, as he nips at my jaw. I shiver against him once again, loving the feel of his warm flesh against me, and the scent of him surrounding me. It’s all sawdust and musky Travis surrounding me. It’s the most amazing aphrodisiac. You just have no idea.
We start to move together. The urgency is there beneath the surface, but we take our time. No rushing, just enjoying ourselves. With each thrust into me, he pushes me closer to completion. He changes the angle of his thrusts, which adds more pressure against my clit.
Then he groans, tumbling us back onto the bed, him on his knees. I wrap my legs around him as he starts driving into me, faster, harder…deeper.
“Oh, fuck, yeah,” he shouts, as he presses two fingers against my clit. One minute, I’m so close I can taste my orgasm, and then the next, I am flying over the edge, bucking up against him. I feel my inner muscles clench around his cock and love the way he groans in reaction.
He joins me a moment later, shouting my name as he thrusts into me one last, hard time, his fingers digging into my flesh.
I loosen my legs as he collapses on top of me.
“Sorry. I might be dead though.”
I laugh, wrapping my arms around him. This…this right here is the best feeling in the world. He’s still deep inside of me, we’re both sweaty from our lovemaking, and I don’t think I have been this relaxed in the last ten years. I have never felt this complete with a man before, so carefree and comfortable. We still have issues, things that are not going to be easy to overcome, but right now, this feels right.
He pulls himself up. “Sorry,” he says again. Then he pauses. “Nancy, did I hurt you?”
I shake my head. “No. Why?”
He brushes something from my cheeks and says, “You’re crying.”
“Oh,” I say, sniffling. “Sorry.”
“No. Don’t do that.”
“What?”
“I feel like you’re moving away from me.”
I know what he means, but I have never been good with these kinds of talks, especially with a man.
I open my mouth to say something that is probably stupid, but he stops me.
“No, seriously. You don’t have to tell me what is getting to you right now if you don’t want to, just don’t cut yourself off from me. Please. It took us so long to get here.”
He reaches up and brushes his hair back from his face.
“Okay. And it wasn’t anything bad. I was just thinking this is the most relaxed I’ve been in a long time.”
I can tell that he knows I’m not being completely truthful with him. What am I supposed to say? Oh, hey, we still have issues with our show, I have a stalker, and yeah, I’ve loved you for almost three years and want to have your babies.
He kisses my nose—the man is so affectionate he might kill me with kisses—and smiles. “Okay. How about we have some dinner?”
“Sounds good.”
He pulls out of me, then slips out of bed, before leaning over and pulling me off the mattress and tossing me over his shoulder.
“Travis!”
He chuckles. “You are going to help me cook, whether you like it or not.”
I’m laughing as he takes me into the bathroom. I shove my worries aside and, just for right now, I am going to live in the moment.
Chapter Twenty-One
Travis
It’s the night of Estella’s birthday party, and I want to be anywhere but at the Howard Mansion. Growing up, I never thought I would end up here at a party. We came to visit Nancy from time to time, but it was a bit of a ways out of town, and my grandfather never wanted to drive us out here. So Nancy would have one of their drivers come get us. Many times, she just picked us up and we hung out around town. There was always a part of me that thought Estella didn’t want us around. They were the landed aristocracy, and I guess you could call us the serfs. Or…worse. My grandfather was a lazy jerk, who refused to do half the work on our sad little farm.
Juniper is a small Texas town that looks like a working-class kind of town. But when you add in all the money in and around town, it changes. Nancy’s family owns a lot of things, including a massive cattle ranch, and they are by far the richest, but they are not the only group of one-percenters we have in our midst. And when Estella throws a party, they come out of the woodwork.
I look around at the people milling around and recognize a few. At one time, Josh’s father would have been here. I wonder if Josh didn’t get invited or if he didn’t want to come. Probably the latter. Of course, I look over at Bree Russo and think if he had known she was going to be here, Josh would have been too.
I glance over at my companion. Nancy hasn’t said much since we arrived. She avoided most of her family, talking to a few people from town that I know she likes. Other than that, she acts like she would like to be here than anywhere else.
“Hey, we can leave whenever you want. Just say the word and we are out of here.”
She glances at me, a small smile curving her lips. I find myself falling into those sapphire blue eyes. They’re sparkling up at me, as if we share some private joke, and I can’t fight the happiness that fills me. She takes a sip of Russo Winery Chardonnay before she answers.
“I’ll have to kiss the ring before I can.”
I nod and look around, sipping at my own drink as I take in the clusters of people. Nancy actually considered not showing up because of the stalker. I knew it was just an excuse, but I would have agreed with her because I’m helpless to say no to her. She’d offered to come by herself, but there was no way I was going to allow that. She’s fragile right now, and since her family is the most passively aggressive group of people, I figure I’d be here as her backup.
So, between her family and our worry over a possible stalker, I’m a little on edge. Then there’s her dress. I glance at it as I take another sip of my beer. It’s the same shade of blue as her eyes, and she’s made up really pretty. I prefer her when she’s in a flannel shirt, jeans, and work boots, but I guess she’s sexy like this too. The dress hugs every one of her curves. When I first saw it, I thought it was demure. That is until I saw the back of it. While it shows no cleavage, it plunges all the way down her back, stopping right above the dimples in the small of her back. I know they’re there because I traced them with my tongue this afternoon when we had another round of out of control fucking. While we aren’t hiding away from the world, we’ve limited our outings, and it gives us a lot of time to ourselves.
I have always been pretty blatant in my sexuality. I have never shied away from the fact that I’m a man who likes sex. But this is other level shit happening. No matter how many times I have her, it never seems to quench my thirst.
“Are you going to brood all night?”
I glance down at her, surprised. “I’m not brooding.”
She chuckles. “You are doing a good imitation of brooding then.”
I smile at her. I can’t help it. When she’s happy, I’m happy. I slip my arm around her, enjoying the way she leans towards me. I didn’t know if she wanted to make us public. We haven’t really told anyone—not even Syd. But after tonight, there will be no doubt about the fact. There are press people here, so the pictures will be out at some point. Dammit, we should have told Syd.
“What’s going on in your head?”
I look down at her again and for a second, my thoughts grow fuzzy, and I can’t seem to form wo
rds with my mouth. She’s stunning all the time, but right now, she’s shining. Her hair is up in a complicated twist with strands artfully dangling down. She has makeup on, including some red lipstick that I just want to smear all over her face by kissing her. She’s wearing heels so she isn’t that much shorter than me. Most men not related to her would say this is the woman they’d prefer to have on their arm. Me—I want the girl with a ponytail, no makeup, and a hammer.
“Stop looking at me like that. We have to stay for a little bit at least.”
I lean down and touch my forehead to hers. “I was just thinking that you’re the most beautiful woman here.”
She moves away as she rolls her eyes.
“Nope, come back here. Let me finish.” That catches her attention. “You are the most beautiful woman here and that dress is amazing. But you know what? I like the whole package.”
“The whole package?” I don’t miss the way her voice becomes all light and feathery.
I nod, leaning closer so I can keep this between us. “All these fancy duds are nice, but I find you even more fuckable when you’re in your work gear. Tight pair of jeans, a t-shirt that shows off your tits, and your work boots. Gets me every time.”
She pulls back. “Really?”
“Every. Damn. Time.”
Her eyes flare, her pupils dilate. I lean closer to nuzzle her neck. I don’t care who’s looking at us. My dick is so fucking hard, I’m ready to drag her off into one of the eighty-five thousand rooms this monstrosity of a house has, and just fuck her until we both forget our own names.
Of course, as soon as I think that, I hear someone clearing a throat behind me. I sigh, irritated with the interruption, but I know that my fantasy isn’t going to come true. Not at the moment. I pull back and turn to find Estella standing there, her son and former daughter-in-law on either side of her.
Nancy looks a lot like Estella, in stature, and they share the same shade of blue eyes. Her father doesn’t look like either of them and, from everything I remember, favors his father. He’s a tall, thin man with dull brown eyes and gray hair. He always looks constipated. Her mother is blonde—I think. God, I can’t remember what her real hair color is. It’s scrapped back from her face so tight; I don’t know how it doesn’t hurt. She’s done a lot of things to her face, including too much Botox. It has that plastic look people get when they do it too much. She’s dressed in a black dress, a little too tight in my opinion. I have no problem with a woman wanting to be sexy no matter what her age, but if you’re going to have a boob job, let the tops of your dresses out so you’re not spilling out of it.
“Nancy,” Estella says. “I didn’t know you and Travis were a thing.”
And she doesn’t like it. Not at all. I can feel her dismissal of me, but I don’t let it bother me. There are people like Estella, and a lot of Nancy’s other relatives who look down on me. I might have money now, but they will always see me as the poor kid his drug addict mom abandoned.
“I guess I could have texted you now that you know how to do that,” Nancy says.
“Well, I invited Reggie Andrews.”
“That sounds like a mistake to me,” she says. “I mean, you are keeping tabs on him, right?”
“Why would she have to worry about that?” Nancy’s father asks.
“Date Rape Reggie loves to corner women at events like this.”
Her mother and father sniff their disapproval, but her grandmother’s expression doesn’t change. I have a feeling there is something else going on here. “I would like to talk to you privately, Nancy.”
Both her father and mother glance at Nancy’s grandmother. I don’t miss the fact that they weren’t invited and, apparently, they didn’t either. I’ve always felt that Estella might not like Nancy’s life choices, but she has a little bit of respect for what she has done with her life. Her son and his former wife—not so much.
“Do we have to? Don’t you have some puppies to go kick for your birthday wish?”
Her mother opens her mouth, but Estella holds up her hand. “You can leave when we are done.”
Nancy sighs. “Fine.”
She turns to me and I lean down closer to hear what she has to say. When she speaks, she whispers in my ear. “Behave and don’t beat up Reggie if you see him.”
“He deserves it.”
“He does, but if you do, then you have to deal with the fallout. Right now, we cut our loses and get out of here as soon as we can.”
I smile and kiss her forehead. “Deal.”
Nancy pulls back. “Let’s get this over with.”
Estella says nothing but turns and walks away, her cane stomping across the floor. Nancy’s father steps closer to me and frowns.
“Don’t think you can get Nancy’s money out of her. She would have to sign a prenup.”
I laugh in his face. “You do realize that we have the number one show on the network, right? I don’t need your daughter’s money, and if you think that is the only reason I would want her, you don’t know her at all.”
“And you do?”
“Yeah, I do. She’s funny, kind, and hard-working. There isn’t another person I would want in my corner when things get tough.”
He says nothing else but turns and marches off, his former wife had already abandoned us.
“Good job, Fillmore,” a sardonic voice says from behind me.
I turn and see Jon Howard approaching me. Jesus, what is it with this family and the way they seem to come at you from behind? And what does it mean for someone like Nancy who is sweet and kind?
“Surprised you made it here, Jon.”
He makes a face and sips at some kind of punch. He’s a little shorter than me, lankier in build, with a serious face and those same eyes Nancy and her grandmother share. I know he’s some kind of a genius, and he has that look. He’s got a Gucci suit on, but his hair is untamed, a little overgrown, and he’s wearing a pair of tennis shoes. He keeps looking around as if expecting an attack, and now that I’ve spent some time here with his family, I kind of understand it.
“I just have to avoid that LuLu. If I can get out of town tomorrow morning without her seeing me, I’ll be fine.”
“She’s been grounded,” I say with a chuckle.
“She works for the caterer. I don’t think she’s on staff tonight, but you never know.”
Of course, he would know that. With his background, he probably knows too much about everyone.
“I wish those people would have just left me alone,” he mutters, but I’m not even sure he’s talking to me.
“Is that why you did it? To be left alone?’
He nods. “I kept getting emails and messages from people. I have work I need to get done, and I don’t need all of Juniper Springs, especially those LOLs, bothering me. This seems to have made it worse.”
“Good thing you live in California.”
He says nothing, but I sense a stillness in him and look over. His jaw ticks as if he’s grinding his teeth.
“You still live in California, right?”
“I have a house there.”
“That really doesn’t answer the question, but hey, you can have your privacy.”
He shakes his head. “Anyway, I already kissed the ring, so I’m going to stay here for about fifteen more minutes, then I am out of here.”
I don’t know Jon that well, but I do know from what Nancy and Syd say, he’s the only family member Nancy likes. He didn’t go to school with the rest of us, mainly because he entered college at thirteen. I can’t even imagine that horror.
“So, you and Nancy, huh? Do I have to have a talk with you about how I will ruin your life if you hurt her?”
I smile at him, but he doesn’t return it. I can’t believe he just threatened me. I have about fifty pounds on him. Granted, he’s not scrawny, but I don’t think I would have a problem taking him down. I open my mouth, but he shakes his head.
“I’m not talking physically, but if you don’t want to end
up broke and have fake news splashed across the tabloids, don’t hurt my cousin. She’s the only relative I like, and I’ll do anything to protect her.”
I study him for a long moment, weighing if I should tell him or not. Part of me knows that he doesn’t need to know, but it’s not like he’s going to go squeal to the rest of the family. I glance around and know from the one or two times I have been here that there’s a small room just a few steps away. I motion with my head and then start off without looking around to see if he’s following me. I reach the door and realize that Jon is still standing there and looking at me like I’ve lost my mind.
“Howard, get your ass over here,” I mutter. He sighs, irritated with the situation, but follows me. We step into the room and realize it’s some kind of music room with a grand piano and a lot of seating. Jesus, our upbringings were so different. I mean, I always knew it, but this is the house she grew up in. Our house wasn’t even a tenth of this size.
“Fillmore, you have something you want to talk to me about?”
I blink and realize I was sinking into that old thought. Part of the reason I never took a chance with Nancy was because of our different backgrounds. I know it’s stupid, but our poor upbringing tends to color my view of everything, no matter how much I fight it.
“Yeah, sorry. Okay, Nancy has been having a few problems.”
“What does that mean?”
“Someone slashed her tires.”
“Is that why you moved in with her?”
For someone who doesn’t live here, he sure does know a lot about what is going on here.
“Yes.”
He frowns. “You’re faking a relationship?”
“No, that part is true.”
He studies me for a second. “I take it Estella doesn’t know?”
I make a face. “Yeah, the LOLs found out.”
“But no one told me?” He growls the question. “This family. First, I’m going to have to yell at Nancy.”
“You will not yell at Nancy,” I ground out.
He blinks. “Did you tell me that I can’t yell at my cousin?”
Love to Hate You: An Enemies to Lovers, Best Friend's Brother Romantic Comedy (The Fillmores Book 2) Page 20