by J. S. Scott
“And Tate saved her life,” Ally finished, having already heard that story from Asha.
“Yes,” Travis admitted.
“So your family knows?”
“No,” Travis replied irritably. “What am I going to tell them, Ally? They’ll think I’m as crazy as my father.”
“No, they will not,” Ally answered, her voice infuriated. “They’d never think that. Travis, you have a gift, a gift that saved both Mia’s life and Asha’s. It’s nothing to be ashamed about.”
He looked up at her dubiously. “My father was certifiable, Ally. And it isn’t a gift. I think it’s a goddamn curse. It’s not predictable. It doesn’t always help—”
“It has helped. I understand your frustration over not having control over it. But it saved your sister and your sister-in-law. “
“It makes me different. Separate from everyone else. I’ve always hated it,” Travis growled. “But yeah, since it helped Mia and Asha, I’d rather have it and be different than to see either of them harmed.”
“It makes you special. And you allow it to separate you. Especially from your family,” Ally argued. “I’m not saying you have to tell the whole world, but the people who care about you will understand. I think they’d accept it better than you think.”
Would they really? Travis thought about what he imagined Ally’s reaction would be to him, and he’d been totally wrong. Was it possible that he was so afraid that people would think he was as crazy as his father that he was overreacting? “I’ll think about it,” he grumbled.
“Thank you,” Ally said, her face lighting up in a smile.
Travis felt like he’d just gotten sucker punched in the gut. He wanted to tell Ally how much it meant to him that she could accept him as he was, but he didn’t know how. “I’m glad you didn’t leave me,” he told her in a husky voice. Not exactly what he’d wanted to say, but he meant those words too. Really, he was more than glad. His whole world had crumbled when he thought he’d never see her again, that he’d never see her sweet smile directed at him in the future. Her take-charge attitude and naughty words this morning had nearly made him come unglued, and she was actually becoming a cock teaser, which he loved. As long as the only cock she teased was his. Ally was starting to recognize her own sexuality, and he found that budding boldness erotic as hell. The fact that she hadn’t rebuffed him because of his peculiar ability of precognition, and had in fact accepted it quite easily, had sealed her fate. She was his forever. She just hadn’t entirely realized it yet.
“You’re worth fighting for, Travis, even if it did test my boundaries a little.”
He hated the vulnerability in her voice. “Baby, there are no boundaries between us. You can cross any lines with me at any time. Especially like you did this morning,” he rasped, trying not to remember watching her go down on him with such rampant enthusiasm.
“I want you to trust me,” she said, slightly forlorn.
“I do. It’s me I didn’t trust. Forgive me?”
Travis watched as she pretended to contemplate his words for a minute, a period of time when he didn’t even breathe.
“Mmmm…I suppose. But it might take a little making up on your part.” She gave him a sultry smile.
“Name it,” he agreed eagerly, finally taking a breath. There was nothing he wasn’t prepared to give Ally.
She pulled a bound manuscript from its place beside her from her chair. “Read the next book and give me your honest opinion. I had time to finish it while I was on vacation.”
Travis hadn’t even noticed that she’d brought it into the office with her, probably because he’d been too busy noticing her cock torture device of a dress. He snatched it eagerly, excited that she’d finished the next book. “That’s not a make-up, sweetheart. That would be my pleasure.”
“Then can I have one more thing?” she asked hesitantly.
“Tell me.”
“Will you let me touch you like I did this morning more from now on?”
Travis nearly groaned aloud. Ally would kill him, but in a good way. He was giving her anything she wanted, and her only request was to be able to touch him more? He was a damn billionaire, capable of making her every dream come true, yet all she seemed to want was…him. “If you do it, you’d better be ready for a quickie,” he warned her dangerously.
“No problem,” she told him with a wicked smile. “You recover very quickly.”
Now that was the truth when it came to Ally. He had another erection within five minutes of fucking her. “I’ll try,” he grumbled.
Her face lit up so joyously that Travis decided he’d let her do any damn thing she wanted to do to him, as long as she looked at him exactly that way for the rest of his life. She might be the death of him, but he’d die a very happy man.
Their trip to Colorado the next day was uneventful, but for Ally, it was spectacular. She’d never been in Travis’s private jet, and the luxury of the aircraft was unbelievable to her. Of course Travis had wanted to spend most of their flight time showing her the bedroom, which she gladly enjoyed right along with him.
She leaned back in the leather seat of the BMW she’d rented for him, unable to find him the Ferrari he’d requested. “Sorry you have to slum it with the BMW,” she told him facetiously.
“I guess I’ll just have to be a regular guy,” he answered with a grin.
She snickered, knowing Travis Harrison would never be just a regular man. “Yeah, just a real average Joe,” she agreed, nodding her head. “With two security vehicles following us from the minute we left that luxury jet.”
“Tate’s guys,” Travis said, disgruntled, maneuvering through traffic once they left the city limits of Denver. “You’ll be pretty safe once we get to Rocky Springs.”
“Me? It’s not me they’re protecting, Travis.”
“Of course it is. That’s the only reason I told Tate to send more than one. I wanted to be alone on the flight, so I left your security at the airport back in Florida, and told Tate to send some of his guys to the airport here. I don’t worry much about my own security. I worry about yours.”
“I’ve never had security before.” She looked at him, puzzled.
“Sweetheart, your beautiful ass has been tailed ever since your ex showed up at your house. You just didn’t know it.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re my woman and whether I like it or not, I’m a high-profile man. I want to make sure you’re safe.” He shot her a look not to argue with him.
“I didn’t know,” she murmured, not sure how she felt about being watched all the time, but touched that he was thinking about her safety. “I’m sure it’s not necessary.”
“It is,” Travis replied harshly. “Don’t argue with me on this one, Ally. I want you safe.”
Deciding she could deal with security because it was just part of who Travis was, she replied, “Okay.” She watched the scenery out the window, marveling at the high peaks of the mountains, the top of which still had snow. “Oh my God. Are those bighorn sheep?” she asked excitedly, looking at the rocky terrain by the side of the freeway.
“Yep,” Travis replied. “You’ve never seen one?”
“Never,” Ally replied enthusiastically. “I’ve rarely gotten out of Florida.” She rummaged in her purse for her phone to take a picture.
“Don’t bother,” Travis advised. “You’re too far away. Don’t worry. You’ll see plenty of wildlife here.”
“You know, that’s one of the things I was really excited about when I took this job. I wanted to travel, see other places. I was disappointed once I realized you’d never take me. But I guess it all worked out because I needed my other job.” She put her phone back in her purse.
“I wanted to,” Travis answered hoarsely. “But I couldn’t, Ally. It wasn’t possible. Even then, I wanted to fuck you. And to have you that close to me would have killed me.”
“It’s so hard to believe you were really attracted to me for that long. Travis, there
are so many women who—”
“Didn’t matter. I haven’t fucked another woman since I met you. I didn’t want a single one of them,” he said irritably.
Ally gaped at him. “You haven’t had sex in four years?”
“Nope. Just me and my fantasies about doing the only woman I wanted. But they were pretty hot fantasies,” he said jokingly, trying to lighten the conversation.
“Why didn’t I ever notice?” Ally muttered to herself.
“Because I didn’t want you to. You were engaged to another man. I thought you actually had the perfect life. But if I had known he was a dick, that he wasn’t making you happy, I would have started taking you with me,” he answered angrily. “I would have done everything in my power to get you away from him.”
Ally felt tears well up in her eyes, the knowledge that Travis had been there all that time wanting her nearly breaking her. She knew how she felt about him now, and if he’d felt even a small portion of what she felt for him, it had to have been difficult. “I wasn’t happy. Rick and I hadn’t even tried to have sex in two years. He made excuses, but I knew—”
“Don’t, Ally. Don’t think about him,” Travis barked.
“I don’t hear his voice anymore, Travis. And I’m actually grateful he made me leave him. It doesn’t hurt anymore,” she told him honestly.
“Whose voice do you hear?” he asked in a voice cracking with emotion.
“Mine.” Ally looked at his profile, his jaw clenched tightly. He obviously still couldn’t stand to think about her ex. “And sometimes I hear yours. Especially the naughty things.” She watched as he relaxed in his seat, his face softening.
“I wanted to kill the bastard for what he’d done. He’s lucky he just lost his job and his woman—if you can even call her that. Christ! She was barely eighteen,” Travis grumbled.
“How do you know that?” Ally inquired, slightly stunned that Travis knew about the other woman in Rick’s life.
“Because I filtered the right information to the head of his practice to get him fired, and then I bribed the woman to leave him. She was young, and dazzled by the fact that an educated man was interested in her. He’d fed her some line of bullshit about you, and she believed it because she was young and clueless. She never really knew the truth about you. She was mortified, Ally. I didn’t want her to destroy her life with an asshole. She was too damn young. I paid her tuition to go to college, provided she stayed away from him. She took the deal, and she told me she’d never see him again anyway.”
Ally stared at Travis for a moment, completely blown away. It was hard for her to feel sorry for Rick since she’d worked her ass off for years for him. And he’d get another job. Just not one as prestigious as the one he’d landed after college. But the fact that Travis had saved a young woman from Rick’s manipulative behavior touched her. “I knew she was young, but not that young. Thank you. He would have destroyed her.” Rick had nearly destroyed her, and she was older and wiser. She could imagine what damage he could do to a woman that young and naïve.
“You’re not pissed off?”
“No. Rick will get another job, but he might have to work a little harder. I can’t be sad about that. Maybe he’ll be too busy to go after barely legal women. But what you did for that girl is amazing. You’re amazing,” she breathed softly, knowing this wasn’t the first young woman he’d rescued. He’d also helped two young Indian women escape a bad fate when he’d been helping Asha.
Travis shrugged, looking almost embarrassed. “I thought it was the right thing to do.”
“It was,” Ally agreed, her chest tightening when she looked at Travis. He had so much integrity, so much hidden compassion inside him. And he never sought anything in return, never wanted recognition for the good things he did. In fact, he avoided the attention. Travis Harrison did what he thought was right, because of his sense of honor. “You’re one hell of a man, Travis Harrison.”
“I’m an asshole, Ally. And everyone knows it. But if you think that, I’m glad you’re delusional,” he said with a smirk. “Whatever it takes to keep you,” he added in a more serious tone.
Ally rolled her eyes. “And you think I’m delusional?” But her whole body flushed with pleasure. “Oh look! We’re coming up on the Eisenhower Tunnel,” she exclaimed, seeing the sign that they were getting close.
Travis shook his head, and smiled. “I didn’t realize you’d get excited over a big hole in a mountain.”
Ally gave him an admonishing look. “You’re cynical because you’ve traveled all over the world. The tunnel is incredible. It will take us right underneath the Continental Divide. And it tops out at over eleven thousand feet high. It’s one of the highest and longest vehicular tunnels in the world, Travis.”
“You did your research.”
“Of course I did. And it wasn’t research. It was fun. I’ve never been to Colorado. It’s beautiful here.”
“You might not think so when the snow starts to fly,” Travis answered wryly.
“I’ve never seen snow,” Ally answered wistfully.
“You will. You’ll be going everywhere with me from now on.” His statement sounded almost like a warning.
Ally thrilled at Travis’s possessive tone of voice as they entered the Eisenhower Tunnel. “This is incredible. We’re actually going right through a mountain,” she mused, thinking about how surreal it seemed to be in another part of the country, an area so different from Florida. “What’s it like in Rocky Springs? How big is the ranch?”
She’d only met Tate Colter a few times in passing, occasions where he stopped into the office to see Travis. He was blond, big, and gorgeous. But the only thing she’d really remembered was his incredible gray eyes and how polite he’d always been to her.
“Ranches,” Travis corrected her. “The town is small, but the Colters own over a thousand acres right outside of the town. They all have a ranch there. And then there’s a guest ranch, a spa, and ski resort. They have hot springs that run through the area.”
“Exactly how many Colters are there?” Ally had never known Tate even had siblings.
“Tate’s father is dead. But his mom still lives in the old homestead ranch near the resort with his sister. And he has three other brothers.”
“All wealthy, I’m guessing,” Ally mused.
“The Colters have been wealthy for generations. Their ancestors settled the town during the gold rush, and they were all innovative and started up some very prosperous ventures. So yeah, they’re all obscenely rich.” He hesitated for a moment before adding, “But they’re great people, too.”
Ally was nervous. This wasn’t a world she even came into contact with outside of Travis’s office. “I hope they like me,” she said tentatively. “But at least they think I’m just your assistant.”
“That’s not what I told Tate. And you’re not just my assistant,” Travis answered irritably as he exited the freeway and started navigating through a quaint mountain town.
“Then what did you say? We’re just…dating.”
“I told him I’m bringing my woman,” he answered matter-of-factly. “He put us up in one of the guesthouses on his property so we could have privacy. I think Sutherland is taking the other one.”
Ally hadn’t realized Jason was attending, but she was more concerned about what Travis had told his friends. “But I’m not really your woman. Not really.”
“If you say that one more time, I’ll pull this vehicle off the road and show you just how much you belong to me,” Travis said dangerously, leaving the small town and staying on a two-lane highway, navigating the twists and turns like they were nothing. “Don’t say it, Ally. That isn’t an empty threat. I’m more than ready to show you exactly what I mean right here and right now.”
Oh, God. Ally had never wanted to call him on a threat this badly. Her body ached for him, and she wanted him inside her so desperately that her panties were drenched. But it wasn’t exactly a safe area for him to be pulling off the road. And
she had no doubt he’d do it. “Show me later,” she told him breathlessly.
“Count on it,” he warned darkly.
Ally was speechless, thoughts of what exactly Travis would do to her later drifting through her mind. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, visualizing Travis’s powerful body over hers, his fierce look of longing that he always had in his eyes whenever he was inside her.
“What are you thinking about?” Travis asked curiously.
“Nothing,” she squeaked guiltily. “Just plotting my third book.” Liar. Liar. I’m so not thinking about a young adult plot at the moment.
“When is it going to be done? You left me hanging again,” he grumbled.
Her eyes shot open. “You already read the second book?”
“Yesterday. And it was fantastic, but you need to end this with a trilogy or you’ll drive me crazy.”
“I plan on it. And I think you’re biased. The publishers hated it,” she answered with a sigh, but pleased that Travis seemed to genuinely like the story.
“I don’t give a shit what they said. It’s fantastic,” he grunted. “I’m a reader. So my opinion is much more important,” he said arrogantly. “You need a good agent who can submit to the bigger publishing houses. Or you can publish them yourself. I know a good businessman who’d be more than happy to help.”
Ally already knew who that good businessman was, and she smiled. “So you’d let Kade help me?”
She laughed when she heard the predictably unhappy growl from Travis that she’d expected. When she stopped laughing, she told him more seriously, “Just the fact that you believe in me is enough. I think this is something I need to accomplish on my own.”