Give Me Strength (20 page)

Travis swallowed a mouthful of wine. “Who taught
you?”

I shrugged, finished chewing a delicious bite of
snapper, and set my fork down. “I taught myself.” Not wishing to
delve into the reasons, I changed the subject. “What about you and
Casey? You became friends at uni, right?”

He nodded. “I punched him in the face.”

“What?”

Travis laughed. “I did. Casey was wild back
then. Drunk at footy tryouts. Took me in a high tackle and gave me
a concussion. I got in a solid punch before they pulled me off
him.”

“Oh my God. What happened after that?”

Travis grinned. “We went out for a beer.”

I shook my head, but my lips twitched. “I wish
I
knew how to throw a solid punch.”

“You never learned self-defence?”

“No, but I should.”

“You want to learn, I’ll teach you.”

“Really?” I said with surprise.

He nodded. “You’re too small to ever throw that
solid punch, but there are things you can learn that could mean the
difference between getting hurt and getting away.”

“Thanks, Travis.”

He shrugged. “Want you safe, sweetheart.”

When our meal was finished and the bill paid,
Travis drove us back to his loft, changing gears in between resting
his hand on my thigh. My heart thumped in my chest when Travis
opened the car door and held out his hand. “I’d ask you how I did
for your first date, but the night isn’t over yet.”

Once inside, the smile on his lips turned
dangerous and nerves rolled through me like an ocean. I tossed my
bag somewhere and made a beeline for the kitchen.

“You mentioned dessert, right?” I opened the
freezer door. “Ice cream?”

A tub of Ben and Jerry’s strawberry cheesecake
met my eyes, and I felt thoroughly blindsided. The flavour was far
too sedate and sweet for someone like Travis. Although, I imagined
if there was ever such a flavour as
badass swirl with tough guy
toffee crunch,
it would be the one I’d pick for him.

I reached for it when a pair of hands grabbed my
hips and yanked me back. My breathing escalated when Travis put his
lips on my neck and nibbled his way upwards to my ear.

“Travis,” I moaned and turned in his arms. The
ice cream was trapped between us. He plucked it from my hands and
set it on the kitchen bench. Then his hands returned to my hips,
and I was lifted up onto the bench alongside the ice cream. He
pushed my thighs apart and wedged himself between them. Fire blazed
in his eyes as he took my mouth, his tongue thrusting inside. My
legs wound around his hips, pulling him closer, my body rubbing up
against the hardening length in his jeans.

Travis took a hand from my body and rummaged
through the drawer next to us. He broke the kiss and waved a spoon
in front of me.

“Didn’t you say you wanted dessert?”

“Oh,” I murmured and took the spoon.

He grabbed the ice cream and peeled off the lid,
offering it to me, so I dug the spoon in and scooped out a small
mouthful.

I started to bring it to his lips, but he
snagged my wrist, jolting me, and it splattered on my forearm.

He shook his head. “You’re my dessert,
sweetheart.”

My body throbbed painfully when he dragged my
arm towards his mouth, his tongue snaking out to lick the trickle
of ice cream from my skin. The spoon aloft in my hand, I brought it
to my lips and licked the scoop into my mouth.

Travis, eyes on my mouth, said hoarsely, “Put
the spoon down.”

It clattered to the bench when he brought his
mouth back to mine. His tongue licked along my bottom lip until I
opened my mouth and tangled his tongue with mine.

“Your mouth is hot and cold and sweet,” he
whispered against me and slid his hands into the back of my jeans.
“Fuck,” he groaned when my legs tightened around him, my body
rubbing against him. “There hasn’t been anyone since I had you
months ago. I don’t know what you’ve done to me, but I don’t want
anyone else.” He kissed me again. “Tell me you want me to fuck
you,” he breathed against my lips before moving his mouth to my
neck, his hands climbing underneath my shirt.

Travis pulled back and lifted my shirt up and
off, his heated eyes roaming over my body with intensity.

“Tell me,” he ordered, tossing my shirt to the
floor.

My breath caught when he tugged off his own
shirt and turned back to me, his eyes expectant as his hands roamed
up my thighs.

“I want you,” I moaned.

“You want me to what?” he rasped, watching his
hands as they slid up my torso to cup my breasts, confined in a new
ivory and gold lace creation. He undid the clasp at the back and my
eyes watched it join my shirt on the floor. I shivered when his
hands returned back to my breasts, his thumbs rubbing across the
hardened nipples. “Want me to what?” he repeated, leaning down to
take one in his mouth.

My head fell back, tingles shooting through my
body. “To…to fuck me.”

Travis groaned at my words, his tongue laving
over my skin as his hands reached for the button on my jeans. He
undid my zipper and with some wriggled movements on my part, he
pulled away to yank off my boots and peel off my jeans.

Sitting on the kitchen bench in nothing but a
pair of lace panties, I somehow found a glimmer of sense to ask
Travis where Casey was.

“Out,” he muttered, his tongue licking its way
up the insides of my legs. His hot breath and his mouth had me
aching when he pressed a kiss between my thighs.

“Oh God,” I moaned when he slid my panties to
the side and licked me. My hands braced behind me on the bench at
the feel of his hot tongue tasting me.

“Fuck,” he groaned. “I need to get inside you.”
Travis tore himself away and stood up. “Bedroom,” he rasped and
grabbed my hand. I was yanked off the bench, my eyes watching the
muscles play over his back as he moved. When I was picked up and
tossed on the bed, a laugh bubbled out of me. His eyes on mine,
Travis peeled off his jeans and underwear and my mouth went dry. He
stalked his way up the bed until he hovered over me.

“What’s so funny?”

My hands wrapped around his hot, hard length. He
shuddered, his eyes closing with pleasure.

“Nothing’s funny,” I murmured, watching his jaw
clench as my hands stroked him.

His eyes flew open, the green bright as they
focused hard on my face. “I want to savour you, Quinn, but right
now, I need to fuck you.”

Travis rolled over and opened his drawer, coming
back with a foil condom packet. He handed it over. “I want you to
put it on.”

My hands reached for it, biting my lip as I tore
it open. “You’re so bossy but—”

His mouth slammed down on mine before I could
finish saying that I liked it, his tongue tasting me over and over
until my lungs fought for air. Travis broke the kiss, sucking in
rapid breaths as I slid the condom on carefully. His arms wrapping
around me, he pushed me on my back. His hands came to rest on my
hips but only for a moment because they ripped the panties down my
legs. It was just how I remembered him from the first time, and I
didn’t care at all if they tore. I would buy a thousand pairs just
to feel the desperation of his hands needing to touch my skin.

They slid their way back up my legs, one of them
finding its way between my legs, rubbing me, sliding inside as he
shuddered above me. He breathed deeply, burying his face in my
neck, his tongue snaking out to lick me.

Travis rolled his hips and reaching between us,
I took the hard heavy length of him in my hands.

“Need you, Travis,” I panted.

“Whatever you say, baby.” He slid his hand away,
and my body ached from the loss. I shifted my legs, wrapping them
around his hips to accommodate his body, and so very, very slowly,
he inched his way inside me.

I moaned, my eyes burning at the intense
pleasure of him filling me.

“Look at me,” Travis demanded. “I want you to
see what you do to me.” I shuddered, but I opened my eyes and
brought a hand up to cup his face as he began rocking his hips.
“It’s never felt like this, Quinn,” he gasped, his movements
becoming more forceful. “Not even close.”

I leaned up and caught his mouth with mine,
sliding my hands up his back. My thighs gripped his hips tightly,
urging him harder and faster.

He rolled us over until I sat above him, his
hands running up over my ribs and breasts, his brow furrowing as he
groaned. The green in his eyes deepened as I began to move over
him. I leaned over, my hands holding onto his shoulders as my heart
thundered in my chest.

Travis slid his hand between my legs, his
fingers hard and firm as they moved and when I felt tingles begin
in my toes, I wrapped my body around him, burying my face into his
neck as pleasure bore down on me so intense it almost hurt.

“Quinn, baby,” he ground out as he began
slamming hard within me, eventually biting down on the tender skin
of my neck as he shuddered.

After a few minutes our rapid breathing eased,
but I remained burrowed in his chest, and he remained burrowed
within me, both of us apparently unwilling to break the
connection.

***

My eyes blinked open
sleepily and scanned the room, revealing I was alone. My hands
skimmed along the cool blue sheets to my left. The blinds on the
window were only half closed, telling me it was still dark
outside.

Swinging my legs over the edge of the bed, I
found my panties and standing up, I slid them on. Picking out a
shirt from the dresser, I pulled it on before leaving the room.

The loft was dark and quiet as my fingers
brushed through my tousled mess of hair. I noted our clothes no
longer littered the kitchen floor and the ice cream had been put
away as I padded softly through the kitchen. Catching movement out
on the back deck, I wound my way outside, opening the sliding
door.

Travis sat on the outdoor table, his feet
resting on the seat. He half turned at the sound, his lips curling
upwards. “Hey.”

He reached out an arm, snaking it around my
waist and pulling me into his body. I wound my arms around his neck
and curled myself into his lap, shivering in the cool night
air.

He was dressed in only a pair of half-buttoned
jeans, and my hands roamed over his bare skin, finding it smooth
and warm. “Aren’t you cold?” I muttered.

“Nah.”

My eyes fell on the cigarette packet. “I thought
you only ever smoked when you needed to think.” I looked at him.
“Do you need to think?”

His hands rubbed circles on my back. “Are you
gonna give me shit about smoking?”

I pursed my lips because it was on the tip of my
tongue to do just that. “Maybe.”

Travis chuckled, the deep rumble vibrating
against me, and I shivered again, this time from pleasure rather
than cold. “Good.”

“Good?”

“Yeah, good.” He tucked a curl of hair behind my
ear and brushed his thumb across my cheek, a gesture that was
becoming familiar. “Shows you care. I like that.”

I did.

Oh God I cared. So
much.
More than I
should. Enough to know he cared too. But Travis didn’t know me.
Maybe when he knew all there was to know of me, he wouldn’t care so
much anymore. The ache in my chest broke wide open.

The hands roaming his chest stilled, and I
pushed back a little, but his arms around me squeezed, locking me
to him. He pressed a swift, gentle kiss on my lips.

Fighting to block out the ache, I buried my head
in his neck and breathed him in. “Tell me about your job,
Travis?”

Travis exhaled, the sound deep and heavy.
“Okay.” He let one arm go from around me and twisted, reaching for
another cigarette. “Do you mind?”

I shook my head.

“I don’t know how much you already know about
what we do. Jared and Coby focus on the hostage negotiation and
security side of our business. Casey and I handle the kidnapping
and child custody.” He lit the cigarette and drew deeply, turning
his head to exhale a deep plume of smoke behind him. “The two
sometimes even go hand in hand. Custody disputes are common and we
get called in when they have the potential to turn dangerous or
when they already have. It’s our job to diffuse the situation.
Sometimes that involves using force. We pull kids out of
emotionally or physically abusive situations.” He drew again on his
cigarette, his eyes on the distance. “How can someone be given a
gift that needs so much love and care, and treat it like rubbish?
I’ve seen them starving and broken, Quinn, and every day it tears
me apart.”

I nodded into his shoulder because I knew.

“I think the guys aren’t sure I can do this job
anymore, and some days I’m not so sure either. This scar,” he said,
rubbing at his hip, “reminds me that I let someone down. That
someone died because I made a mistake. I hesitated and a kid died.
I’m scared of it happening again.” I could hear heartbreak in his
voice, and my chest burned. He exhaled another plume of smoke and
chuckled, but it wasn’t a happy sound. “How fucked up is that?” he
muttered bitterly. “Look at what they’re going through, and I’m the
one struggling to deal with it. But if I’m not there to help, who
will? Who’ll be there for them?”