Shades of Grey (19 page)

“At the diner, nursing some pie and coffee, waiting for me to come and give them their jobs back.”

Just like her father had done before her. Sarah remembered him doing the same crazy stunt several years back. She couldn’t recall what had happened for her father to lose his cool but he had, firing all of his men at the same time. On the same day, he’d arranged to meet the men at the diner. Sarah had driven him out to apologise and get his workers back, paying for lunch as well.

A few minutes later, Travis pulled up outside the diner. Sarah peered through the windows. All of her workers were there, and, yes, they nursed coffee and pie. Absurdly, she wondered if it was cherry or apple.

She took a deep breath and turned to Travis. “Maybe I should do this alone?”

He was already shaking his head and leaving the truck. “I don’t think so, honey. We’re in this together, remember?” He came round and helped her out, stayed close and guided her down, but instead of getting out of her way he pushed her against the truck so anyone watching could see.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

She glanced around. People were staring at them, and she didn’t like to have all that attention.

“Showing those men whose woman you are and that I’m back. They’ll respect me for bringing you here and you for bringing me along. You got rid of them because you thought I’d left you, and, baby…” He cupped her cheek and forced her to look him in the eye.

Sarah saw determination and the message he was trying to get across.

He was going through this with her whether she liked it or not.

“I think I’ve given you a little too much control,” she teased, moving her hands around his neck and rubbing her breasts against his chest.

His eyes dilated, and he dropped his gaze to her heaving mounds.

“Huh, and here I thought you were over me.”

He cupped her ass, rubbing her cunt on his hard-on. “I’m never going to get tired of you, honey. Now let’s go and get you your workers back.”

He swatted her ass. She yelped and glared at him.

He just smacked me on the ass!

She kind of liked it, and was that so bad?

He chuckled and followed her into the diner. A few other people ate lunch, but her workers were spread over four tables close together. The older ones looked at their watches and glanced her way.

“You’re a little late, sweetheart,” the oldest man said.

Sarah couldn’t stop the smile. “Sorry, but I got held up.”

“You here to stay, Travis?” he asked.

The men looked at Travis behind her, and Sarah saw the respect they already had for him. She wondered what would have happened if he’d come back and not stayed with her. She would never wonder about that again—Travis Williams was all hers and he’d be hers for a good long while.

“Yes, sir, I am.” Travis took her hand.

The men grunted and each looked at the others.

“I’m sorry what I did, guys, I really am,” she said.

“Miss French,” the old man said. “I worked for your father and I watched you grow from a fine young girl into a beautiful, fair and sometimes temperamental woman. Now, these younger men thought they’d lost their job over that Clark boy. I want you to assure them that, like your father before you, you’ll be prone to your tempers, but come the afternoon or the next day we’ll all be back in a job.”

What a way to feel like a bitch.

“I swear I won’t do anything like that again, I—”

“Gentlemen, this morning was my fault,” Travis said. “I wasn’t there—no doubt you’ll hear all about it soon if you haven’t already. My lady thought I’d left her, and she took her anger out on you. Anyway, I can promise you, from here on out, Sarah will be directing all of her little moods my way—and only my way. Now, before we move on with getting you guys back to work, I have something else I want to do first.”

Travis went down on one knee before the whole diner. With her heart thumping, the diners silent, Travis took her hand.

She held her breath as he gazed up at her. He was so handsome and sexy and this couldn’t be happening. She’d pinch herself later.

“Miss Sarah French, I know we haven’t known each other for a long time, but I can swear on everything I am that I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life being with you. I want you to have my babies and be with me when I grow old. I can’t guarantee life will always be easy, but I
can
guarantee you’ll own my heart. Please, would you do me the honour of becoming my wife? My one and only?”

Music—all she could hear was wonderful music.

“Is she alive stood there?” the old man yelled.

“Maybe she didn’t hear you,” another said.

“I’ll marry ya, Travis, if she doesn’t.”

She heard all their words but only had eyes for Travis. She loved everything about him, the man and the wolf. She’d willingly take everything he had to offer her and more.

“What’s it to be, honey?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

His proposal and the day seemed so surreal. She took her hand out of his and pinched herself.

“Ouch.”

Travis got to his feet and kissed her hand. “This is the real deal. No joking. I want you forever.”

“Yes, yes, yes,” she said, flinging herself at him. She was so happy, and the tears this time were from joy. She couldn’t believe how much she’d gained in such a short time.

The old man got up and offered them his congratulations. “She’ll be a handful.”

They all warned him, but Sarah knew in her heart that Travis was up to the challenge.

She smiled at him, heart full to bursting, her knees a little weak and new butterflies taking flight inside her. Travis kissed her neck and whispered beautiful words of love in her ear.

“Let’s celebrate with more coffee and more pie,” one of the workers shouted to the room.

Sarah laughed. “Which flavour?”

“Apple.”

Yum, her favourite.

* * * *

They stayed and ate pie, Sarah holding Travis’ hand the whole time. Women came into the diner as soon as they heard the news and congratulated her. Everyone wanted to be a bridesmaid, but by the end of an hour Sarah just wanted to go home, be fucked, then travel to Vegas to get married in one of those quick and cheap bridal shops.

Travis drove home, the sexual tension mounting with every passing second. Her pussy was driving her crazy, and the need to have Travis fucking her was so intense she felt she would weep if he didn’t drive faster.

He parked the truck and she looked at the house. It would need to be cleaned because of Rodney touching her things.

“How’s your hand?” he asked suddenly.

Sarah glanced down, shocked to feel that it didn’t hurt much under the fresh bandage she’d wrapped around her palm earlier. She removed the gauze.

“Wow. It’s almost healed.”

“There are some things you’ll need to know about me, honey, things I’ll tell you as time goes by, but your healing…that’s from my saliva. When I bit you, it entered the wound, gave you faster healing properties. It’s handy being a wolf sometimes.”

He grinned but seemed a little distant, gazing into space. Sarah glanced at the house again, wondering why his mood had gone down.

“What’s the matter?” she asked.

He’d promised to fuck her in every room of that house and she wanted that. After the past two days, all she wanted to do was end this one by being in bed with him.

“I should have been there for you,” he said quietly. “Rodney and Clark should have never gotten the chance…”

Sarah understood his concern. “I’m fine, really, Travis.” She placed a hand on his cheek and implored him with her eyes to believe her.

“Do you really want to marry a wolf?”

His vulnerability was showing through.

Sarah leaned over and took his face in her palms. “I love you, Travis, the man not the wolf. Okay, if you start howling at the moon and going seriously furry all the damn time I’ll have a problem, but you, like this, I love you. I don’t care about the wolf thing.” She kissed him then pulled back and smiled. “You’d better warn me, though, if I’m expected to give birth to a pack of little wolves.
Then
I’ll have an issue.”

Travis laughed and exited the truck.

Please let him take me out of the truck and into the house and fuck me. I’m dying here.

Travis opened her door and took her in his arms. He was so strong, wasn’t straining in carrying her over the threshold. She giggled as he made his way straight upstairs.

“I thought you said every room?” she teased.

He didn’t reply, but instead of taking her to the bedroom, he moved to the bathroom.

“Come on, Travis, I’m desperate here,” she complained.

He sat her on the toilet seat and went about running a bath. He didn’t talk to her but continued to work around her. Lavender bath soap was added to the tub, creating bubbles in the water. He tested the temperature then came to her. He pulled her to her feet and kissed her.

“I’m going to clean you and love you, honey.”

How could she protest when all of his attention was on her?

He lifted her shirt out of the way, not taking any notice of her plain bra, then dropped to his knees. He removed her boots and socks, then unzipped her jeans, and she held his shoulders to lift one leg then the other as he pulled them down and off, followed by her plain panties. Never before in her life had a man treated her this way.

“Please hurry, Travis,” she begged.

“Not yet.” Travis came back up and removed her bra, stroking his thumb over a pointed nipple. His gaze remained on her.

Her body was on fire and he wanted to bathe it. So not fair.

He picked her up in his powerful arms and lowered her into the tub. She expected the water to be steaming but it was lovely and warm and the bubbles surrounded her. Closing her eyes and leaning back, she moaned, her muscles suddenly protesting. Maybe a bath was a good idea after all. With his hands on her shoulders, he moved her forward, and she opened her eyes to watch Travis’ naked ass as he joined her. He got in behind her, his hard cock pressing against the base of her back.

She tried to turn but he held her steady and, taking a cloth, slowly washed her.

“I want to take care of you,” he whispered.

She leant back and let him touch. He hummed in her ear and washed her hair, every touch made with the intention to soothe. He ran his fingers through her hair, working the knots out. Her muscles were already Jell-O, and she loved every second.

Finally, after what seemed a lifetime, he cupped her breasts. She arched back and groaned.

“Your breasts are the thing of dreams.” He stroked and fondled the mounds of flesh.

“What’re you doing to me?” she whispered.

He trailed his hands down her ribcage and back up, his intention to tease every last bit of tension out of her, she was sure of it.

“Please, Travis.”

“I’m loving you, Sarah. Relax and let me show you what true loving is all about.”

Sarah watched him work over her body. She arched, not caring about the water, whether it sloshed onto the floor. All she wanted was Travis and his touch.

“You have such a pretty pussy. I’ve fantasised about sucking your cream out of your cunt.”

Sarah gasped at his word choice—so naughty, so rude, but, fuck, she liked it.

“I want you always,” she said. “Please, Travis, show me everything. Teach me everything.”

He stopped touching her, lifting his hands away, and Sarah looked up at him. His eyes shone brightly, the love clearly written in them.

“I love you, Sarah. And me not touching you? It’s killing you, right?”

She loved hearing those three words, had waited a lifetime to hear them. “I love you too, and yes, you’re killing me.”

He stroked her cheek and grazed his thumb along her lips. “That’s how it’s always going to be, you wanting me like this. I’ll make damn sure of it.”

He pushed his thumb inside, and she touched him with her tongue.

“Do you trust me?” he asked.

“With my life.”

There was no hesitation. She anticipated what he had in mind for the rest of their lives together. She loved him, and, no matter what, he had her love and trust.

Chapter Fifteen

Having washed and tended to Sarah in the bath with deliberate slowness, Travis dried her the same way, drawing the towel over every speck of her skin. She groaned, moaned and growled her frustration, so he slowed some more. He wanted her desperate, her cunt dripping for him, her nipples on those gorgeous tits of hers hard and wanting.

“Travis, I—”

“Hush, honey. Just let me do this. Just feel.”

She stood beside the bath, legs slightly parted, arms loose by her sides, and he wanted more than anything to turn her around, bend her over that damn tub and sink his cock inside her heat, balls deep. This was as much a test for him as it was for her. He needed her to know that he would treat her right, arouse her for a long time before taking her the way his body screamed he should. Hard and fast, relentless thrusts that jerked her body—but she wasn’t ready for that roughness, not yet. She was so new to this, and although she’d coped well when he’d taken her virginity and the times afterwards, he wasn’t a fool. It would hurt her again this time, though not as much, and if she was as relaxed as she could get and sopping with her tangy cream, it would ease his way and soothe any pain.

God, he loved her, thanked God for her stubborn streak despite how much it had grated on him in the past. With all they’d been through, she was still strong, but he knew the demons would lurk in her mind, jump out at her when she least expected them—and he’d be there to soothe her when nightmares took their evil hold.

He knelt in front of her, brushing the towel over the dense hairs covering her mound, and fuck, his cock ached. His balls drew up, asshole puckering, and he counted to ten in an effort to take the edge off his lust as he dried her damp curls. Difficult, though, when her heady, womanly scent came towards him from between plump cunt lips that begged for him to taste them. To lave his tongue from the bottom of her slit to the top, twirling the tip around her throbbing clit until she snatched in a breath and whimpered.