Page 99 of The Lair

“This isn’t a mistake.”

He inches closer.

“Tell me to stop.”

I can’t.

I won’t.

“Allie,” he growls, bringing me impossibly closer.

And closer.

Every fear and doubt in my head dissipate. Maybe I’m being greedy, taking what has never been mine. And maybe I should feel bad for leading Travis on when he deserves better than this,than me. But it’s been way too long since I allowed my heart to beat for something. For someone.

And I need him to be mine in the same way I’m longing to be his.

“I don’t want you to stop,” I whisper against his lips.

My boss, the man who has taken better care of me than anyone else ever has, who shows me through his actions that I meansomethingto him, doesn’t move an inch. He doesn’t pull away, doesn’t lean in either, and it sends my heartbeat into overdrive.

His heavy breathing mixes with mine, but it’s not enough.

I need him closer.

I needhim.

“Allie,” he grunts.

His last warning.

My last chance.

The moment my lips touch Travis’s, something in me shifts. It tears the beating organ in my chest apart, giving way to a new emotion I don’t recognize.

I might have closed the space between our mouths, but the illusion of being in charge disappears quickly. Because Travis pecks my lips once, twice, before the beast in him lets loose.

The warmth of his hands seeps into my skin as his tongue explores mine. Our kiss starts slow, then changes to something less gentle. But his roughness is never cruel, never unwelcome.

A groan escapes the back of his throat as I wrap my arms around his neck, needing his body against mine more than I need my next breath. My legs curl around his waist, and suddenly I’m not on the pool table anymore.

The fact that Travis is a strong man has never escaped me. I just didn’t know he could support all my weight with such ease, and now my mind is going places it should stay away from. My center being pressed against his hardness isn’t helping either.

“Goddammit, Allie,” he grunts when he breaks our kiss.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard his voice sound huskier than right now, and it’s not doing my aroused body any favors.

His hands move lower and lower and lower as his mouth descends on the sensitive skin of my neck and he cups my backside.

“You have no fucking idea,” he whispers between kisses, his voice as hungry as his touch. “How badly I need you. Like the fucking sun.”

“Travis…” I beg as he pecks my lips. What I’m begging for, I’m not sure—for him to keep kissing me, to hold me tighter, to never stop.

“Tell me what you need,” he growls against the curve of my neck as I throw my head back to grant him better access. “Whatever you need, sweetheart, it’s yours. I’ve waited long enough to kiss you.”

It’s at this moment that I realize I’ve missed all the signs. His heightened protectiveness, the unexpected way he opened up about his past and his fears. How have I not seen it before?

Travis cares about me. Just as deeply as I care about him. In his own quiet way, but he does.

---