Jesus Christ, he had even been doing his damndest to get her pregnant. He could deny it to himself all he wanted, but the truth was that every time he came in her, he had an agenda. An agenda that included her barefoot and pregnant with his child.
If she had his child, he had her. Forever. She wouldn't leave him if she had his baby.
How damn selfish could a man be? He had written the book. He had taken one look at her and that was it. He wanted her and so he took her. And he would be
goddamned
if he would give her up now.
His stomach churned like battery acid eating his insides. How could he hope to keep her when she met her grandmother? An old lady who loved her already and had always wanted to know her. Selena's sad story of violence and heartache would clinch the deal. She would offer Selena a home if she ever needed one, and the minute Selena had a way out of this hellhole with him, she would take it.
Hell, why wouldn't she? He was a mean son of a bitch, constantly demanding her attention, constantly showing jealousy, constantly getting his way.
His mind supplied him with a vision of the night they went to bed together after they had made love at the pond. She was so beautiful, coming from the bathroom, clean and fresh wearing one of the new pale pink nightgowns. He had stopped her in her tracks, his voice vibrating with arousal.
Get it off
. Her footsteps stalled.
Wh
-
What?
Her voice had been hesitant, and he had growled back at her.
Take the nightgown
off. I want to see you coming to me naked.
She paused and shook her head
.
Selena. Now.
Shit. The memory shamed him. He had taken her virginity that day, and that night, he had terrorized her. He was not only going to lose her, he was going to go to hell.
****
Selena played with the little skunks and laughed out loud as she watched them.
They were big enough now to play with the kittens. Sometimes the kittens got too rough, and she had learned the hard way that the skunks would spray the kittens if they got out of hand. She hadn't actually gotten sprayed herself, but she had just escaped to the front of the barn when that little tail pointed up in the air. The mother cat was worn out from trying to get the scent off all five of the little ones.
Selena continued to watch their antics while she tried to count the date. She knew her last period was after the episode when Travis thought she was ill. Right before they were married. Right before they began making love. Without protection, at her instigation. She was always very regular. Every twenty-eight days, like clockwork.
Was yesterday the day she should have been sick in bed? Or was it today? Could she be pregnant already? She supposed she could. Many women got pregnant on the first try.
And they were trying
. No words had been spoken since that first time when they hadn't used a condom. But she knew. She knew he wanted a baby just as much as she did.
She thought about having Travis's baby. My God, nothing would make her happier.
Well, unless she had his baby and he told her he loved her. She had started to tell him many times, but she was always scared. She was scared he would think she was pushing for something he couldn't give her. Or something he believed he couldn't give her.
She thought about the way he acted toward her, the gentle way he treated her. She remembered the fit he had thrown weeks ago before they were married, the day she brought lunch to him in the field. What he had said.
I tell you what, Angel, you
let me take you back to the house, strip you naked every night. You sleep in my
bed, and we'll see just how nice I can be.
She smiled at the memory. He had terrified her then. But a few short weeks later, she understood. She was sleeping naked in his bed every night, and he
had
shown her how nice he could be. Not that he probably even remembered the conversation, but he was right. The difference in him was amazing. Astounding.
He held her every night.
Naked
. A thrill went through her when she remembered how he had demanded she join him in bed, naked. He made love to her every night, usually twice, and sometimes during the day. Sometimes he was so gentle, worshipping her body with his mouth and his hands that she almost cried. Other times, he was demanding and aggressive, provoking her orgasm with a domination and control she couldn't think to resist.
He was undoubtedly the lover of her dreams. He was definitely the husband of her dreams.
Since they had gotten married, she could do no wrong with him. She had twice forgotten his dinner in the oven while she played with the skunks, and twice he had watched her throw it down the garbage disposal, and then helped her make sandwiches. She had accidently erased a whole evening's worth of his work on the computer, and he had pulled her onto his lap and asked her if she had been thinking of him when she made the mistake.
The only time he got testy was when he demanded her attention and she didn't oblige him fast enough.
Leave that. You can clean the kitchen
tomorrow, while I'm
moving the herd
. He had taken her hand and forcefully dragged her away from the kitchen. She thought he was going to take her to bed. She smiled at the memory.
He pulled her to the couch, and held her in his arms while they watched television.
She played with the little skunks, stroking them lightly, and decided she would wait to tell him that she thought she was pregnant until she knew for sure.
****
"Travis, what is wrong with you? Has something happened?" She walked around the desk and sank to her knees next to him.
He swiveled the chair toward her and she placed her hands on his knees. He didn't answer.
She spread her fingers on his thighs and studied him. "You seem different. Have I angered you?"
Travis felt her magic flow through him. Her question registered on his brain. He spread his legs and pulled her toward him. "No, Angel. You haven't done anything wrong. How could you? You're perfect." His hand closed in her hair.
"Perfect? Ha. You are funny." She smiled the smile of a seductress. Her hand moved toward his zipper. She looked up at him through her eyelashes. "I would like to be perfect for you." Her hand rubbed over him. "What would make me perfect?"
Travis felt his heartbeat accelerate as her witchery surrounded him. Every day, she learned a little more about the feminine control she had over him. He had been tutoring her relentlessly in her sexual education. His efforts had been yielding unfathomable rewards. But there was still one thing she hadn't learned to do for him. He hadn't pushed it. Hadn't needed to. Everything else they shared was amazing.
But he wanted it now.
Wanted it bad.
His voice deepened in arousal. "You want me to show you how to be the perfect wife, baby?"
Her hand pressed against him. "Mmm. Yes, please."
He leaned back in the chair. "Well, first off, you need to be naked for this." He crossed his arms over his chest and watched her.
She slid gracefully to her feet, and started unbuttoning her shirt, from the top to the bottom. She shook it off her shoulders. Her nipples thrust provocatively against her pink lace bra.
Travis silently congratulated himself on her undergarments.
She went to work on her shorts. His voice made her pause. "Did you remember to lock the back door?"
She unsnapped the button. "Yes." She slid down the zipper and pushed the shorts off her hips and stepped out of them. She had on matching pink panties. He felt his erection swell and pulse.
She stood in between his legs and teased him. "You do not like the pink? You want it off?"
"
Si
, baby, I want it off."
Travis watched the striptease performed for his benefit. The metamorphosis she was undertaking was amazing. She was completely captivating, her beauty exquisite.
He thought about the situation that had been like a thorn in his side.
Yeah, there was no
fucking way
he was giving her up.
He found her. He seduced her. He married her. She was
his
.
Selena unsnapped the clasp at the front of her bra. It loosened, but her breasts were so small, that it held, only showing a tiny glimpse of flesh on the bottom of her right breast.
Travis groaned out loud.
She took another step forward until her chest was only inches from his face. She wrapped one arm across her breasts, hiding them, cupping them, and took her other hand and slid one shoulder strap down and off.
Then she traded arms, and continued to hold the bra to her breasts while she removed the other strap.
She held the bra to her naked breasts and leaned forward and licked his lips once, then stepped back. "I am perfect, yes?" She teased him.
"Almost. Keep going." His voice was guttural.
Selena looked him in the eye, wet her lips, and dropped the bra to the floor.
Allowing him to look for two heartbeats, she teased him purposefully, then delicately turned her back to him. She still stood between his legs, and put her hands on each side of her waist and slid them down slowly until they reached her panties. She pushed them down, bending at the waist, and slid them off, one leg at a time.
Travis steeled himself, his eyes running over her curves.
She turned to face him, her violet eyes provocative. "I am perfect, yes?"
"Almost. Come here," he hissed, and reached out, grabbed her hand and pulled her closer. His hands landed on her hips and he gripped her, hard.
Her arms wrapped around his neck. "I want to be the perfect wife," she whispered to him.
Travis rubbed his hands up and down her hips and said indolently, "A perfect wife would be on her knees right about now."
She dropped to her knees in front of him.
Her hands landed on his thighs and she swirled one up and over the erection pulsing in his jeans.
"Would a perfect wife wait for more instruct--instructions?"
"No." He jerked the word out, and her hands went to work on his fly immediately.
She pulled at the snap, and moved down his zipper. He bulged against his briefs, his erection straining to be released.
Selena accommodated him immediately. She eased him out of his briefs and started pushing at the jeans that were stopping her from getting to him completely.
He reached down and helped her shove them off.
She undid the buttons of his shirt, one by one, kissing his chest as she moved down. At the last button, she wrapped her hand around his straining erection and raised her head and gave him a tiny, tantalizing smile.
He felt it all the way to his soul.
She kissed him softly on the lips and began the slow stroking with her hand that he had taught her. Travis felt her magic surround him as anticipation and lust swirled through his guts.
He knew she didn't realize what he wanted. Jesus Christ, she probably had never heard of it.
She continued the firm little strokes, and Travis closed his eyes once again and experienced her wholesome innocence.
He sat back in the chair, enjoying her ministrations, and struggled with himself. Her sweetness captivated him completely. During the last three weeks of their marriage, he had done everything to her in bed. Touched her in every way. Kissed and stroked every inch of her body. She had been shocked, so shocked, but she loved what he did to her.
She would want to know all of it. She would want that feminine power over him.
Travis took deep breaths as she moved her hand against him, and she swirled her tongue lazily down his chest.
He moved his hands to her shoulders, caressing her.
She continued kissing and stroking him.
His hands moved to tangle in her hair, gripping her, on either side of her skull. He moved her head slightly to the left until her mouth was on a male nipple. She licked it immediately. His stomach clenched.
He continued to hold her head and slid her over to his other nipple. She followed his direction, and let him move her head until her mouth was clasped to his other nipple. She sucked delicately.
He couldn't wait any longer. He wanted to feel that little mouth on him so badly he thought he would die if she didn't show him mercy.
He slowly and firmly pushed her head to his lap.
Selena emerged briefly from the sensuous languidness of sexual desire to feel him push her head down until it was buried against his straining manhood. His male scent enveloped her. God, he smelled so good. Musky and hot, she wanted to kiss him there, too. It was just a tiny, wicked thought in her head until she realized that he had maneuvered her there for a purpose. She sucked in a small, shocked breath, instant images of his head between her thighs inundating her.
He wanted the same.
She wanted to give it to him.
She closed her eyes, and with her hand still wrapped around him, took a small, tentative lick. She felt him jerk against her. She licked again, stroking him from base to tip with her wet tongue.
His body began to subtly shake and his erection swelled to throbbing fullness in her hand.
She lifted her mouth from him to speak, but he was still holding her head in a firm grip. She managed a few words. "This is what you want?"
Pleasure lashed at him. "God,
yes
," he hissed.
She put her mouth back on him. He had taught her well in the last few weeks, and she knew exactly how he liked her to move her hand. She added her mouth, wet him all over, and then just let the sexual excitement that was taking over her body do the rest.
When he felt sure her head wouldn't leave his lap, he moved his hands to her shoulders, down her arms and back up again, praising her with the stroke of his hands.
She looked up at him, her eyes tangled with his, and his gut clenched at the picture of dark violet pools watching him while she gave him pleasure.
She whispered to him, her mouth touching him, her hold firm. "I want to give you what you want, Travis." She took him all the way into her mouth briefly and held his eyes before slowly sliding it back out again. "Whatever you want. Whenever you want it."