“Travis…” I whispered, almost in a plea.
“I know, love,” he whispered. “Just trust me,”
Slowly, I could feel it build up inside me. I held on to Travis, as I let him ease me into pleasure. Just then, it happened. I couldn’t turn back, couldn’t hold on. I was left with no choice but to let go…to jump into the cliff.
“Travis!” I screamed his name.
“Brianne…my wife,” he whispered.
My release was long and satisfying. It was nothing I had ever experienced before. He waited for me to finish, and then he whispered, “I love you, Brianne.” And finally, I felt his body rock as he released himself inside me.
We lay there for a moment, still joined, still locked in each other’s arms. I remembered the words he said to me before his release. I wondered if he was aware he said them.
Damn! It’s difficult when for years you’ve been saying those three words to each other constantly. I desperately wished he meant that a different way this time around.
Travis pulled away slightly and stared down into my eyes.
“Are you okay, love?” he asked.
I nodded. “I am.”
He leaned forward and kissed me gently on the lips. Then slowly, he pulled out of me. He lay back on the bed and pulled me toward him. He tilted my chin toward him so he could stare into my eyes. He searched my face, trying to read my expression, searching for any sign of regret, anger, or even remorse.
I giggled. “I’m perfectly sane, Travis. I know what happened between us. I will never forget it and I’ll never be sorry.”
He smiled. “Just checking.” He hugged me to him again.
I sighed. “I don’t have much memory of your face…that first time. I was completely blindfolded. Why didn’t you want me to look at you?”
He sighed. “Because I was…ashamed of wanting you too much! Tom asked me to take care of you, not covet you for myself. For years, I was reminding myself that I was forbidden to want you.”
“And so you haven’t had any memory of ever having me all throughout these years, either,” I said.
He sighed again. “Memories of you, your body, how you looked when I took your innocence away from you, even the pain on your face when I first entered you, are so vivid in my mind, I feel like it was only yesterday.”
I pulled away from him so I could stare into his eyes. “But, Travis…you were supposed to have closed your eyes.”
He chuckled humorlessly. “I couldn’t take my eyes off you! I was so…enchanted by how beautiful you were, I couldn’t close my eyes. Damn! I couldn’t even blink. I was afraid that if I did, you would disappear before my eyes. And I didn’t want that.”
“You cheated!” I accused him.
“I suffered for it, don’t worry,” he chuckled. “For years, the memory of your body haunted my existence. And knowing I couldn’t have you made it so much worse for me.”
“Serves you right then!”
He pulled me to him in a tight hug. “It doesn’t matter now, does it? You’re mine now.”
I smiled to myself. “Yes. And you’re mine too, Travis.”
“Yes, love. All yours.”
I stared up at him. “I can’t believe it. We used to be two kids who couldn’t stand each other.”
He chuckled humorlessly. “You couldn’t stand me. That wasn’t the same case the other way around.”
I stared up at him. “What do you mean?”
He stared at me for a while and he smiled. “I’ve always had a crush on you, Brianne.” His tone was shy. I was surprised by his confession. “You hated me. I figured the only way to get a little of your attention was to…constantly tease you. But I guess that plan backfired, huh.”
I laughed. “It did.” I knew I was blushing, and his confession made me happy. “Did Tom know?”
He fell silent for a while. When I looked up at him, he was thoughtful. Then he said, “He did. If there was one person who knew exactly what was going on in my mind, it was him. But he warned me off.”
I sighed. “If he were alive, do you think he’d be happy for us now?”
“Yes,” Travis replied.
“How can you be so sure?”
He stared down at me thoughtfully. “Because I was also the person who knew exactly how his mind worked and what he was thinking all the time.”
I smiled and reached up to kiss his lips. “Hard to believe that from being enemies, we would become the best of friends, and then we’d be lovers…”
He chuckled. He leaned down and kissed me on the lips again. “Lovers? No, love. Tonight, we just became husband and wife.”
I playfully slapped my forehead. Yeah! How could I forget that? Travis and I had never dated. We got married first, before everything else. And now, this marriage was consummated. We truly had become husband and wife.
I closed my eyes. I was very happy! I didn’t think I had been this happy in all my life. It felt like coming home and being in the only place I knew I would be safe…and being with the only guy I knew could make me complete.
I sighed. “How long do you think this will last?”
“Forever, Brianne,” he whispered. “I want you to be my wife, forever.”
I smiled. Travis didn’t directly say he was in love with me, but for now, it was enough to hear him say he wanted to make this work forever. And I knew no one would care for me as much as he did.
“Have you eaten?” he asked.
I shook my head. “My date sort of stood me up.”
He laughed and hugged me to him again. “Your date was crying his heart out in his office because he thought he’d never get to hold you like this at all, no matter how many of his masks he put down for you.”
I propped up on one elbow and stared at him. “And how many more masks are you wearing still?”
He shook his head. “No more, love. I just bared my entire soul to you,”
I leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the lips. “Good. Because you might break me if you don’t.”
“It won’t be possible for me to break you without shredding myself to pieces first,” he whispered.
I smiled contentedly in his arms. He said he loved me. I am not sure if he meant he loved me the same way I loved him...but for now, it was more than enough.
“Travis.”
“Hmmm…”
“That beast…that you unleashed…was not terrifying at all. In fact…it was quite gentle.”
I felt him shift to prop up on his elbow. He looked down at me. He had a twinkle in his eyes, and he gave me a devilishly naughty grin. My heart pounded inside my chest.
I laughed. “Travis…” I almost regretted what I’d said.
“Challenge accepted,” he said in a mischievous voice. My laughter died as he leaned forward and took my mouth in another heart-stopping, mind-blowing kiss.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
We stayed at the hotel for the whole weekend. We almost didn’t go out of our room. We couldn’t get our hands off each other. I lost count of how many times we made love. Afterward, we were happy to cuddle in each other’s arms.
I had never seen Travis this open or this happy. He was laughing most of the time, and he couldn’t resist a chance to pull me into his arms and kiss me.
It was bliss. It was everything I could have ever dreamed of. It was like for the first time in many years, I belonged to a family again. And I couldn’t be any happier that I belonged to a family with Travis.
“Are you happy with the apartment, love?” he asked. “Or would you want to move into a house?”
“I’ve just settled into your apartment,” I reminded him.
“Yes. But we need to think long-term now. If you don’t want to settle in New York, that’s fine with me. I can set up an office wherever you want. Pretty soon, we’re going to think about having kids. And I’m not sure you want to raise them in Manhattan.”
Kids. I smiled at the thought. Travis really wanted to have kids with me. I really was marrie
d now!
“You’re thinking about kids now?” I asked, laughing.
“Of course,” he replied. “I was a lonely kid when I was growing up. If it’s not too much to ask, I would like at least three kids.”
“Your birthday’s long over,” I reminded him.
He laughed. “Fine. I’ll ask for a baby for my next three birthdays then.”
“Travis, I’m going to grow big if I get pregnant every year!”
“And I’ll adore you just the same,” he said, giving me a kiss on the lips.
“All right. Why don’t we settle here in Manhattan for now? And as soon as I’m pregnant, then we’ll think about relocating somewhere else.”
“Okay, deal.” He smiled. He stared at me for a long while and then he smiled. “You have no idea how happy I am.”
Tears welled up in my eyes. “I’m very happy too, Travis.”
When we came back to his apartment, Travis looked like he was a changed man. We were greeted at the door by the bellman.
“Good day to you, too, Godfrey.” He smiled.
I was surprised because the bellman was not wearing his nametag, and yet Travis surprised us both by greeting him by his name.
It went on when we entered the lobby. He greeted the guys at the concierge by their first names. When he wouldn’t have even looked at them before when they had greeted him, he now knew every one of them by first name. And even they seemed to be very surprised.
Karl was at his doorstep when we got to our floor.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Cross,” he greeted him. “Mrs. Cross.”
“It’s Sunday, Karl. What are you doing here?” Travis asked.
It took Karl a moment before he could respond. “Well…I just wanted to ask if you needed anything for today. I wanted to remind you about your meetings for tomorrow.”
“I have them on my phone, Karl. No need to come here personally to remind me. Go spend the rest of your free time however you please,” Travis said.
Karl smiled. “Right. Thank you, sir. Have a nice day.” He nodded at me, and then he left.
When we got inside the apartment, I couldn’t help giving Travis a hug. I buried my face in his chest and sighed.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
I giggled. “Nothing, Travis. You’re perfect!”
Monday, Travis came home at five in the afternoon. He got me a bouquet of roses.
“What is this for?”
He shook his head. “Passed by a flower shop and thought of you.”
I got on tiptoes to give him a kiss on the lips. “I love them. Thank you.”
He deepened the kiss. And then his hands crept under my shirt. Electricity shot through me, along with a desire I thought I couldn’t handle.
“Travis…” I moaned.
We fell on the couch and Travis stripped off his jacket and his shirt.
“Travis, please…” I begged. I didn’t know desire could be this potent, erasing all sense of reason, replacing it with a sense of urgency.
In a minute, we were making love on the couch, whispering each other’s name, kissing each other as passionately as humanly possible.
When it was over, we lay there for a while, cuddling each other, while Travis told me what had happened during the day.
“Karl once told me you intended to liquidate your father’s company once you acquired it,” I said. “Do you still plan to do that now?”
He sighed and hugged me tighter. “Are you going to ask me to stop now, love? I once begged you not to.”
“There are other lives at stake, Travis,” I said. “Some innocent people whose lives depend on their jobs. One of your father’s employees could have a pregnant wife, and losing his job would mean losing their means to raise the baby. You can have your battles with your father…but you have to keep them clean. Make sure…there will be no casualties.”
He thought about it for a moment. He took a deep breath, and then he said, “You’re too good for me, Brianne. Sometimes, I don’t think I deserve you at all.”
“But I promised to save you, remember?”
“And you did,” he said. “Now, I couldn’t imagine life without you…” He took my hand and kissed my fingers. “Or without these fingers touching me, these hands holding me…” He kissed me on the lips. “Or these lips kissing me.”
I smiled at him. “I guess it will be like this forever.”
He smiled back. “Yes, love. Forever.”
Travis never came home late. When he did have a meeting, he let me know beforehand. Sometimes, he asked me to wait for him at a café in the hotel where he was having his meeting. He arranged for the limo to pick me up. After his meeting, we had dinner or coffee together. Travis was not afraid to show affection. He hugged me, kissed me in public. Sometimes, I was afraid we’d get charged with public indecency.
When I told him that, he just laughed. “I think I have enough money to pay that fine over and over again!”
Thursday night, we met Karl in the corridor.
“Coming to see me?” Travis asked.
“Yes,” he said. “I was just wondering if Monday would be a very busy day…because…if it is, I can come to the office, but if not, I was wondering…”
“Karl, you can take Monday off,” Travis said immediately.
“Really?” Karl’s face immediately brightened. “Are you sure? Because if it’s going to be busy, I’ll be okay. I’ll come to work.”
“If you want to go to the Bahamas, Karl, you can do so.”
Karl was surprised. And then he smiled. “I’ll bring a laptop just in case…”
“I’m not going to ask you to do some work on your weekend getaway. Now go, before I change my mind.” Travis said.
Karl beamed. “Thank you, Travis,” he said. He turned to me. “See you later, Brianne.”
We entered our apartment. “You told him he could call you Travis?”
Travis shrugged. “I figured Mr. Cross makes me feel old!”
I laughed and gave him a hug. “You’re wonderful, Travis. And no matter how old you are, I think you’re still the most attractive man I’ve ever laid eyes on.”
Travis pulled me into a hug and then asked me to sit down on the couch.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
He went into our room and then he came back with a folder. He looked at me wearily and then he handed it to me.
I started getting worried. “Travis, what’s going on?” I asked.
He sighed. “Everything I own, Brianne…is summarized in these papers here,” he replied. “Every bank statement, every piece of property that is under my name is in there. The original copies of the deeds are in my security deposit box, to which you will have access to.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why?”
“Because they are yours, too. I don’t want to hide anything from you. When we got married, everything that I was and everything that I owned became yours as well. So you should be aware of them.”
“But, Travis…I don’t want anything from you. I don’t need these.”
“You do, Brianne. You’re my wife. Before we got married, I had no beneficiaries at all. No one to give the fruits of my labor to,” he said. “Well…it has always been you. But that is specified in my will. That’s different. But now, you have to be aware of these things.”
“Travis, why? I don’t need to know.”
“Yes, you do,” he insisted. “Because if something happens to me…I want to make sure everything goes to you. Not anybody else whose only relation to me is a shared DNA.”
I raised my brow at him. “Specifically your father.”
He took a deep breath and gave me a slight nod. “I want you to be able to fight for your right. And you will be able to do that if you’re aware of everything. My father is very, very shrewd. And he’s getting desperate.”
Tears filled my eyes. “Travis…” I sighed. “Please. Don’t take this too far. I would rather be penniless any day, as long as I have you with me. I
don’t need all these.” I said, pointing at the folder in front of me. “I only want my husband.”
He smiled at me and then sat beside me, taking me in his arms. “And you have me. But you know me, Brianne. I always plan ahead. Always one step ahead of the game. I have to do this.”
It was sad to think about a future without Travis, but he was right. The coin had two sides. And the reality was that he had the father he had. I nodded and gave him a tight hug. He hugged me back.
“And I have something else to ask you, Brianne,” he said.
I stared back at him.
“What?”
“Whenever you’re ready, I want you to learn the ropes at my company.”
Now, panic gripped me. “What? Travis…I’m in to arts!”
He laughed. “And you’re smart. I’m sure you’ll learn fast. And I’ll be your teacher.”
“And what would you do if I don’t learn or if I make a mistake?”
His eyes gleamed. “Well, I’ll be happy to teach you a lesson.” Then he scooped me up in his arms and carried me to the bedroom. “In fact, I should give you have a glimpse of that now.”
I laughed. “Travis!” I landed on the bed with a bounce, and soon, he landed on top of me.
The laughter died in my throat as he leaned forward and kissed me thoroughly.
***
Travis had a meeting with his father in LA the next weekend.
“You want to come with?” he asked. “Although, I prefer he doesn’t see you.”
“Why?”
“My father is the devil incarnate. The less he knows about you, the safer you will be from him.”
“And what about you?” I asked nervously.
“I’m his son, Brianne,” he replied. “And I can take care of myself.”
I nodded. “Okay. I think I’ll just go to Connecticut. I need to visit Sarah. Plus, I have an apartment there that I need to vacate. I’ve got stuff to sell.”
He smiled. “Do that. I’ll come to Connecticut from LA to pick you up.”
“Deal.”
He kissed me thoroughly. “Two nights are going to be so long without you.”
I smiled. “I know. It’s like…I don’t know how to go back anymore, Travis.”