Finding Faye (K&S Securities 1)

His arms tighten around me, limiting my movements.

“Please put me down.” My voice cracks and a tear slides down my cheek. “Please.”

Chapter Eighteen

Travis

Her choice of movie couldn’t have been more perfect. Even if I tried I couldn’t count the number of times that I watched it with Faye tucked under my arm giggling at the antics of Experiment 626. Tonight was my all time favorite viewing. Faye fell asleep just minutes into the movie, but I sat up watching the whole damn thing. Sure, I could have switched channels, but it was nice to listen to the familiar dialogue with her small body resting heavily against mine. For the first time in days she finally stopped blatantly trying to tempt me and I am finally able to let down my guard. So I take advantage and gently pull her warm weight onto my lap. With her sleeping so sweetly in my arms it’s easy to set aside the rampant desire I feel for her and just enjoy holding her.

A little over an hour later I rise from the couch, my cuddly burden still in my arms, intending to tuck her into bed and make my way back to the sofa in my office. It’s not the most comfortable place to sleep, but it’s safer than sleeping in my own bed. I probably should have bought a bed for the spare room but I never took the time. Never have overnight guests so there was no real reason. The stiff muscles in my back and neck have me regretting that decision.

I know that Faye is awake when her arms loop lazily around my neck and she grumbles about missing her movie. I know I’m in trouble by the time I reach the top of the stairs. When she nuzzles my face like a sweet little kitten, then kisses my dimple and tastes it with the hot point of her tongue, I have no idea how I’m going to deposit her in my bed and walk away from her. I can’t help my desperate groan of need. She smiles up at me with so muc

h trust and hope shining in her exquisite amber eyes before they drift shut and she sweetly presents that sweet, lush mouth for me to take.

With my composure fracturing, I wrestle with my urge to take what is being offered. I have to look away for a moment to take calming breaths. Until her small voice apologizing takes me by surprise. How long have I been standing here trying to pull myself together?

She wiggles in my embrace.

“Let me down, Travis,” she demands, her voice quivering. I tighten my arms and she wiggles more.

“Please, put me down,” her voice is even more broken and I watch a fat teardrop roll down her cheek. “Please.”

It’s her second please that breaks through my stubborn idea that I know what is best for her. She needs me and I’m hurting her by holding myself back from her because of my misguided idea that she doesn’t know what she wants. It’s obvious that she does. She isn’t a child I need to protect from myself. She is a grown woman who clearly knows what she wants. Who she wants. By some miracle, who she wants is me, and I’m fucking everything up by treating her as if she isn’t smart enough to know her own heart and mind. I told her that I love her and she returned the words without hesitation and I’ve been withholding my affection from her.

Fuck! I hope she can forgive me for being a stupid asshole.

“No.” I growl the word and she freezes. “I’m not putting you down. You belong right here. In. My. Arms.” I punctuate the last words with kisses against her silky cheeks tasting the bitter salt of her tears. I finish by slanting my mouth over hers, swallowing her little squeak of surprise.

My tongue teasingly licks at the seam of her lips, begging for admittance. When they part allowing it to sweep inside, I can’t stop my broken groan. The taste of her mouth is the greatest prize I’ve ever won.

“Why?” she gasps, pulling back slightly. Her eyes are still glazed with tears, her lips swollen and red. She is the most gorgeous thing I have ever seen.

Faye

He’s kissing me again. Thank goodness! I’ve been so worried. He’s held himself so far back from me these last few days that I was starting to doubt that we had actually connected the way I thought we had. He had even seemed completely unmoved by my blatant flirting. But now I’m in his arms where he said I belong, the taste of my tears flavoring our kiss. I’m afraid to give myself completely over to him. Scared that tomorrow he will pull away again and act like I don’t know what I want with him.

Gasping, I break the kiss. I have to ask. Have to know what this means before I give myself over to the feelings coursing through me. “Why?”

He smiles into my eyes, lowering his face to mine until our foreheads touch. “Because you’re mine, Faye.” His voice is raspy , his breath soft against my damp mouth. “And I’m yours.” He slicks the tip of his tongue across his full lower lip with a small moan. “I can still taste you on me,” he mutters before I wrap my arms around his neck and crash my mouth against his, straining to get as near to him as possible. Lucky for me, being cradled against his chest makes that pretty easy.

I feel him walking again, but every cell of my being is focused on nothing other than the wet glide of our tongues, the scratchy texture of his stubble against my tender skin. The hot grip of his large hand where it cups my ass. I vaguely hear a door close, the sound muffled by the pounding of my blood as it races through my body.

Slowly Travis lowers me to the mattress, gently untangling my clinging arms. He tears his mouth free of mine, leaving us both gasping for air. He straightens, doing that hot guy thing where he pulls his t-shirt over his head with one hand before tossing it to the floor. His eyes remain locked on mine the whole time and I’m frozen in place in the middle of his bed.

I want this. Want to be with him. To be his, but at the same time now that we are here, in his room, I’m nervous.

As gorgeous as he is, I have no doubt he is experienced at all of this—while I… well, to be honest, other than reading erotic romance novels and touching myself under the covers at night, I am completely ignorant about what goes on between men and women. In theory, I know what to do to please him, but that doesn’t mean that I have the confidence to actually do it. Men want women to be bold, right? To know what they are doing, to know what they want? I don’t know, and I’m scared that if I mess up, do something wrong, that he might change his mind about me. About us; and I want him so very much.

The bed dips under his weight when Travis puts his knee on the edge of the mattress, resting on one forearm until he leans over me, crowding me back against the pillows. His scent envelops me, a hint of leather and forest and the clean salt of his skin. His sapphire eyes lock on mine as he lowers his mouth toward mine. We are like magnets being pulled together. Inevitable. I push up slightly on my elbows, trying to get closer to him. I slide my tongue over my lips, anticipating the feel of his next kiss, and let my eyes start to drift closed.

“Eyes on me, Faye.”

His voice is gruff and strained, drawing my eyes back to his. His face is hard and feral. Intense. He reaches out and smoothes my hair back from my face before cupping my cheek in his calloused palm. His gentle caress is so at odds with the tight look on his face, the hard heat of his hand, that I melt into his touch with a breathless whimper.

The sound seems to galvanize him into motion and he sinks over me, his broad chest blocking everything but him from my vision as he maneuvers himself until he rests heavily between my thighs.

I can’t stop the low pained sound that breaks past my lips as the rigid length of his cock presses against my core. I want to writhe against it. The sensation of his hard body pressing against me ignites a new kind of fire in my belly, and I rock my hips up into him. I can’t stop whimpering, small sounds of pleasure tumbling from my lips. An answering groan rumbles in his throat as he rhythmically presses himself firmly against the softness between my legs again and again. His lips nip and suck at the tender flesh of my neck as his rugged hands slide under my shirt, pushing it up until it bunches under my arms. He doesn’t stop until my breasts are bared to his fierce regard.