Texas Heat (Stubborn Texas Siblings Book 2) (5 page)

Chapter 7

Laurie had no sooner walked in the door and Travis
swooped her into his arms, swinging her around making her
laugh. “I figured you’d be in a good mood once I told you I
finished your car and it’s good to go… but I hadn’t even
told you yet. What’s with the exuberant welcome?” she
asked when he lowered her to the floor, clutching her
tightly around the waist, keeping her body pulled tightly
against his own.

“I was just glad to see you,” he answered huskily. “But
now that you’ve told me that you worked a miracle with
my car, I feel even more of a need to kiss you,” he told her
honestly, lowering his head and doing just that.

Her body slumped against his chest and she moaned as he
swept his tongue into her mouth. He made behaving herself
very difficult when he insisted on holding her in his
powerful arms and pressing his thick lips against hers. He
devastated her completely when he touched her with his big
hands the way he had the other night when they’d come so
very close to being intimate. She knew it wouldn’t take
much for them to get right back to that position again.
Almost as well as she knew that when that happened, there
would be no stopping a second time around, and that when
she did give in to him, she’d be ruined for any other man.
The way he made her feel just kissing her as he was now,
told her that much. Most likely no other man’s kiss would
ever be more than just pleasant or “nice” after the heat and
need that she experienced when Travis touched his lips to
hers.

Travis sensed her panic rising within her and reluctantly
broke the kiss, stepping away from her. He ran his big hand
over his head, making his hair stand up on end. “You
should probably pack a bag,” he told her in a husky
murmur. Clearing his throat to bring his voice back to
normal, he went on. “In order to keep from picking you up
and carrying you to your bed, I think it would be best if we
were on the road before night fall. Because I know myself
well enough to know that I’m pretty much at the end of my
rope here. One hot look from you, and it I would have you
flat on your back with my body fully imbedded in yours
before you knew what happened. I can tell that you aren’t
ready for that…”

Laurie trembled, thinking she may never mentally be ready
for the reality of Travis making her his in the most intimate
way a man could. Shaking her head in confusion, she
walked away from him back to her room. She’d never
known it was possible to be nervous, excited, afraid and
desperate all at the same time. It was a very exhausting,
exhilarating and baffling state of mind.

Before she had a chance to change her mind, their things
were packed away in the trunk of his car and they were
driving down the road. He swung in to a drive-through and
bought them some hamburgers, French fries and soda for
the road, filled the gas tank and had the car powering down
the freeway in no time.

They were almost to the border between Texas and
Oklahoma before Travis pulled in to a hotel parking lot to
get some sleep. “I’ll get us separate rooms,” he told her as
he climbed out of the car. Laurie didn’t know if it would
make much of a difference or not. After riding in such close
quarters with him for as long as she already had, her pulse
was sporadic at best and her libido and her adrenaline were
both kicked up so high, she highly doubted she’d get any
sleep any time soon, no matter how close or far from Travis
she slept.

When Travis came knocking at her door the next morning,
Laurie was still wide awake. Her eyes were bloodshot and
had huge dark circles under them. Once again, she wished
she was the sort of woman who indulged in buying such
frivolous things as makeup. She hated the idea of letting
Travis see her like this… he’d know the second he saw her
that she hadn’t slept a wink the night before.

Sighing in resignation, she held her back erect and opened
the door to her room, walking out into the bright sunshine
as if it was no big deal for her to walk around looking like
death warmed over. She looked across the street at the
convenience store and cleared her throat. “I need to make a
pitstop over there,” she said, nodding in the store’s
direction. “We left in such a hurry; I didn’t think to grab
sunglasses.”

Travis nodded his head in complete agreement. She hadn’t
noticed the signs of exhaustion in his eyes and on his face
yet, and if he could continue to hide them from her beneath
his cowboy hat and under a pair of sunglasses, that would
be great. She didn’t need the guilt of knowing that thoughts
of the two of them together had kept him wide awake with
a raging erection all night long. It would be his little secret.
As would the fact that even now, all soft and sleepy
looking, he found her to be the sexiest, most desirable
woman he could remember ever having looked at.

She’d made it pretty clear that hearing such things made
her nervous. Seeing proof of it would most likely only
make things worse, and that was the last thing he wanted to
do. He knew when they got to his mother’s house, they’d
be stuck sharing a bedroom… one with only one queensized bed in it. It would be close quarters, and he knew that
when that time came, there would be no more hiding how
much he wanted her. With his Ma believing they were
married, there would be no sleeping in separate rooms at
her house, and the guest room; otherwise known as his old
room, was barely big enough for the bed and the dresser
that were in it. There was no chance of him offering to
sleep on the floor. It wasn’t large enough to hold his big
body even if he curled into a tiny ball.

The rest of the drive to his mother’s house was made in
awkward silence, up until they were about a mile away.
Travis cleared his throat. “Um… there’s something I think
you should know, before we get to my Mom’s place.”

Looking over at him, Laurie wondered what he was so
worried about. He gulped and glanced nervously over at
her. “In order to pull this whole married life farce off,
we’re going to have to act the part of a couple of love
birds… My Ma is going to expect us to share a bedroom…
and a bed. For us to touch… and kiss. A lot.”

“I kind of figured as much when you told me that you had
told her that you were married and didn’t have the heart to
tell her the truth.”

“Oh… Good. I’m glad you understand.”

Travis pulled into the driveway and ran around to her side
of the car to open her door for her. His mother was standing
on the front porch with her arms crossed, tapping her toes,
watching them closely.

Laurie stood next to Travis and he pressed her against the
car, leaning towards her. He whispered softly in her ear,
pretending to be nibbling on her neck. “Don’t look now,
but Ma’s watching… We need to make this good.”

The next thing she knew, his lips were eagerly caressing
hers and his hands were moving slowly from her waist to
the sides of her breasts. By the time the kiss ended, Laurie
was weak in the knees and she was sure if he wasn’t
propping her up, she would have melted into a puddle of
goo at his feet.

“What was that for?” she whimpered when his lips left hers
to move to her jawbone.

Travis would have answered but his mother was headed
their direction. Apparently she was finished waiting for him
to introduce her to the woman she believed he’d married.
“I’d begun to wonder if you’d make it in time,” the older
woman said, approaching Travis.

“Ma, don’t start. I told you, our lives have been busy. Plus
we had a really long drive. We got here as fast as we could;
given the late notice you gave us.”

“Better late than never, I suppose.”

Travis sighed and Laurie laughed, reaching her hand out in
offering. His mother shook it. “Since it’s pretty clear my
son has no intention of introducing us, I’ll do it. Then I’ll
scold him later for losing the manners I instilled in him as a
child,” the older woman said, sending Travis a glare.

“My name is Laurie,” she said, grinning from ear to ear.

“Can I admit something to you?” the older woman asked as
she took Laurie by the arm and led her into the house,
expecting Travis to grab their luggage.

“Sure,” Laurie said, following her in to the kitchen.

“When Trav told me he’d gotten hitched, I was convinced
he was spinning a bunch of lies, just to make me feel
better.”

Travis dropped their suitcases on the floor just behind his
mother and cleared his throat. “Ma, I’ve never lied to you
before, what made you think I’d done so now?”

“Because you’ve never been one to settle into a relationship
for more than a couple of weeks. No matter how hard I’ve
tried to get you interested in seeing a woman who might be
good for you, you’ve rejected the idea… at every turn.”
“What can I say? Until I met Laurie, no other woman has
ever given me any reason to consider tying the rest of my
life to hers.”

Laurie rolled her eyes at him and
smirked. “So, where can
we put our things?” she asked, when he shot her a look that
begged for help.

“In Travis’s old room of course,” the woman answered as if
the question was ridiculous. “I turned it into the guest room
after he moved out. Surely your husband talked to you
about this…”

“What can I say? Travis and I have more of a physical
relationship. We don’t talk much.”

Travis grinned and pulled her into his arms. “On that note,
it’s been a really long drive. My wife and I are going to call
it an early evening. We’ll chat more tomorrow.”

Chapter 8

Laurie stilled in the bedroom doorway, staring at the bed as
Travis stood at her side, nibbling on her neck. “When you
said we’d be sharing a bed, I thought it would be somewhat
larger…”

Travis ushered her into the room and kicked the door shut
behind them. He sucked her earlobe into his mouth,
breathing hard. “It’ll be plenty big enough for what I have
in mind,” he told her in a gritty voice.

“Your mom’s not watching anymore,” she whimpered as
he slowly began backing her towards the bed.
“Thank God…” the words were said as he lowered her to
the bed.
“Trav…”
“Don’t talk,” he begged, brushing his lips against the curve
of her shoulder, moving towards her neck.

As his hands moved to the skin of her thigh, Laurie sighed
lustily. “I thought we agreed to hold off,” she whimpered
warily as his hand moved towards her hip under her skirt.
“Tell me you don’t want me… honestly, and I’ll stop,” he
promised, knowing she couldn’t do it any more than he
could have.

Giving up on putting a stop to things, Laurie settled her
hands on his chest. A deep sigh came from within her as he
settled his body between her legs.

Down the hall, a crash sounded in the hall followed by a
blood-curdling scream. Travis groaned and stood up. He
went to the door and pulled it open. “Ma? You alright?” he
called out, shifting uncomfortably in an attempt to hide his
raging erection.

She was on the floor at the other end of the hall and he
cursed as he rushed to her side. “Ma? What happened?”
Laurie straightened her clothes and rushed over to them.
“Should I call an ambulance?” she asked nervously.
“No dear… I’ll be fine. Just help me up,” the older woman
answered; her voice shaking.

Travis swept her up into his arms and started to carry her
towards the front door and Laurie settled her hand on his
shoulder. “She doesn’t want to go to the hospital,” she said
softly.

“And I don’t want to sit by and do nothing other than watch
my mother die,” he told her in a breaking voice.

“For the love of Pete, boy… I’m not going to die… not yet
anyways,” his mother scolded. “Now, help me to my
room.”
“Ma, the whole reason we’re here is because you called me
and told me that you were practically at death’s door,” he
argued.

“It’s high time
you came home and brought your bride here
to meet your Ma. At death’s door or not, you should have
wanted to bring her home, Trav.”

“I have a very crazy schedule and a successful practice. It’s
not as if I could easily just drop everything to come home
just because my mother feels the need to control my life.”

“Honestly, Travis. I don’t want to control your life. I only
want to be part of it. You got married behind my back and
didn’t bother to tell me about it until I tried to set you up on
a date.”

Laurie looked at him and smirked. He laughed and settled
his mother onto her bed. “What did you want me to do,
Ma? I’m a happily married man. I couldn’t very well agree
to go out with another woman.”

“No, you couldn’t… but you could have bothered to tell me
you were getting married in the first place so I could have
been there.”

Travis glared at his mother and then turned his gaze
towards Laurie. “We were in a bit of a hurry,” he said
desperately.

“It was my fault,” Laurie found herself saying. “When
Travis asked me to be his wife, I was so excited I couldn’t
wait… I begged him to rush the wedding. I forget about
what family life can be like when the family doesn’t live
practically in your lap. My brothers are overprotective and
are forever sticking their noses into my business. Don’t
blame Travis for our rushed nuptials. I just wanted to get
married before my brothers could do something to stop it
from happening.”

“What about since the wedding?” she asked; the hurt
showing clearly in her tone of voice. “I don’t even know
how long you’ve been married.”

Travis sent Laurie a look that begged for help and she
smiled at him, walking over to him and looping her arm
around his.

“It was love at first sight, wasn’t it, Trav?” she said,
looking up at him with a look of sweet affection on her
face.

“Absolutely,” he answered, wrapping his big hand around
the back of her neck and tugging her closer so he could
lower his mouth to kiss her.

“Tell me about the wedding,” his mother asked, pulling her
blanket up to her neck, getting cozy and looking from one
of them to the other.

Travis sat on the edge of the bed and took his mother’s
hand in his own. “You need to get your rest, Ma.”

Laurie walked over to him and ran her fingers through his
hair in a loving gesture. “We got married a couple of
months ago,” she said, winging it. “It was a quaint
wedding, just us and the justice of the peace. We didn’t
need anything fancy,” she said when the older woman
frowned at her son in response to what Laurie had said.

“I can’t believe you didn’t give her a real wedding … I
raised you better than that, Travis.”

“Oh, he wanted to,” Laurie rushed to explain, not wanting
to cause a rift between Travis and his mother. “Rushing
into the quickie wedding was my idea.”

“Why? You aren’t pregnant, are you?” she asked, lowering
her eyes to Laurie’s belly.

“What? No!” she answered, moving her hand to cover her
flat belly as her eyes flew to Travis, looking to him to save
her.

“Not that we’ve exactly gone out of our way to avoid
pregnancy,” he said, grinning widely as he reached down to
grab her butt.

Laurie spun around to stare at him in disbelief. “We aren’t
exactly trying, either,” she said, staring into his eyes.
“We could be,” he said softly, pulling her tightly into his
arms, looking lovingly into her eyes.
“Travis… what are you saying?” Laurie asked in a shaky
voice.

He lifted his hand to rub his thumb over her cheek, cupping
her chin with his hand. “I can’t think of anything I’d enjoy
more than making a baby with you, Laurie.”
His mom started laughing and Travis lowered his head to
brush a kiss across Laurie’s lips, choosing to block out the
sound of his mother’s laughter. Laurie slumped against him
and lifted her arms to wrap them around his neck. The kiss
was wild and out of control and Travis picked her up,
turned on his heel and headed straight back to his bedroom.

Travis kicked the door closed and carried Laurie back to
the bed, pulling her shirt off over her head before he put her
down. He pressed hot kisses to her chest, sucking her
nipple into his mouth. “I need you,” he told her huskily
before moving his mouth over to her other breast.

Laurie moaned as he moved his mouth down her stomach
to her waist line. His hand smoothed up her thigh under her
skirt. “Trav…” the word came out as more of a groan than
a spoken word. “Please don’t tell me you want me to stop,”
he begged, pressing a hot kiss to her inner thigh, making
her tremble.

Travis moved his lips up to tease the already damp, swollen
lips between her legs through her underwear and Laurie
gripped the sheet in both of her fists at her sides. When she
didn’t tell him to stop, he quickly pulled her underwear
down her long legs and flung them across the room.

Laurie gave up pushing him away and tugged him up so
she could kiss his lips. Travis groaned and stopped
touching her long enough to rip his pants and underwear
from his body.
“I feel as if I’ve been waiting for this moment forever,” he
whispered huskily as he tugged her skirt and underwear
from her body, baring her body to his view.

“Touch me,”
she begged as he moved his mouth back to the
sensitive spot where her neck met her shoulder to place a
hot kiss complete with wandering tongue.

“I’m going to do a lot more than touch you,” he promised,
pressing his groin tightly against hers, pressing just the tip
of his engorged member into her moist core, making her
whimper with need.

“Trav… please,” she begged; her whole body trembling
with need.
“Tell me you want me,” he demanded in a gritty voice.

“I want you… now,” she answered, rotating her hips,
taking him further into her heat. Travis moaned and pushed
forward, groaning even deeper when she wrapped her legs
around his hips, forcing him to thrust the rest of the way
into her body.

Laurie cried out in pleasure and dug her fingernails into the
skin on his shoulders. Their lovemaking was hot and by the
time it was over, they were both sweaty, breathless and
exhausted. Travis held her in his arms, feeling more than a
little woozy. “I knew we’d be incredible together, but I
never imagined it would be that spectacular.”

“Just hold me in your arms and with a little luck, we’ll both
get a little sleep now that we’ve given in to the longing.