It was already nine in the evening, and Travis had not returned yet. Each minute I waited for him, I got worried.
Had he finally given up on me? Had he finally given in to her? Did he think we were hopeless and that he just had to continue with the original terms of our agreement? While I, on the other hand, had decided to keep him for myself, to go after what I wanted, and what I loved, no matter the consequences?
I had food delivered to the room, and I set a candlelight dinner for us. I showered and dressed in an elegant Victoria’s Secret nightdress under my silk robe. I wanted to show a bit of effort to Travis…he deserved it after all I’d done to him.
But as each minute passed by, my hopes were going down the drain. It was still his birthday. Maybe he’d decided to have a bit of fun himself. And forget the one person who had caused him pain…me.
Eleven in the evening. The food had gotten cold, and the ice in the bucket had turned to water. In all frustration, I decided to give up. Travis probably wouldn’t come back tonight. I called room service to take the food away.
I went onto the balcony. There was a lover’s moon again that night. It illuminated the skies perfectly. The city lights proved that people out there still refused to sleep. Proof that Travis could still be out there somewhere…
I sighed. It would have been perfect. But maybe I’d decided to fight just a few hours too late. When I decided to give in…I guess Travis decided to give up.
“What was room service doing here?” I heard a voice ask behind me.
I took a deep breath. “Taking away the dinner I prepared for us,” I said in a low voice.
He didn’t say anything. I turned around to face him. I didn’t disguise the tears in my eyes. He would know immediately that I had been crying anyway.
He looked at my face, and then at the silk robe I was wearing. I should have been embarrassed, but I was so angry, I didn’t have time to feel anything else.
“I’m going to bed,” I said haughtily. “Happy birthday again!”
I walked past him, but he was quick to catch me by the waist, stopping me. He tilted my chin up so I would face him. I stared back at him and raised a brow, making no effort to disguise any emotion I was feeling at that moment. Let him read me like a book, for all I care!
He narrowed his eyes. “What were you planning to do?”
“Nothing!” I replied.
“You can lie better, Brianne,” he said.
“If you’re so smart, why don’t you say it out loud yourself?!”
“It’s still my birthday, and you promised to give me anything I wanted,” he countered.
“Oh, the wishing line expired an hour ago!” I snapped.
Tears seem to fill his eyes and he smiled at me solemnly. “Are you just doing this because it’s my birthday?” he asked. “Or is it because you want me as much as I want you?” His voice was a whisper…full of emotion, full of desperation.
I took a deep breath. The anger I felt a while ago was slowly melting away. I just could not stay angry with this man. I realized that he was my one weakness, too. He always had been. I looked into his eyes. “Maybe I realized you’re all I want, too, Travis.”
His arms immediately came around me into a tight hug. I heard him suck in a deep breath. But he didn’t say anything.
“Where have you been, Travis?”
He laughed. “You really had to ask.” He caressed the back of my head. “I went back to the office to work...so I could forget we had a fight. The video logs in the building will prove that. And I’m glad you’re worried.”
Instantly, my heart was filled with joy and relief. Travis bent down to pick me up. Silently, he carried me to the bedroom and settled me down on the bed.
He stared at me seriously…desperately. Then slowly, he kissed me, gently at first, and then passionately. I breathed in the scent of him. He nuzzled my neck, and I clung to him for dear life.
“Travis…” I whispered.
I felt him tug at the strings of my robe. Slowly, he took it off me, and he kissed my bare shoulders. He took off his shirt and then he came down and kissed me again. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and I kissed him back with the same intensity, the same passion.
He stared down at me, with all tenderness in his eyes.
“This will change everything forever, Brianne,” he whispered.
I nodded. “I know.”
He smiled at me wistfully. “I discovered I’m going to be possessive and jealous. I am going to officially end your quest to find the man of your dreams.”
I nodded happily. Tears welling up in my eyes.
“In return, I offer you my protection, my faithfulness…I will try my damn best to fill the shoes of that man you were looking for. I will try to make you happy, Brianne.”
Tears filled my eyes. I nodded. I touched his cheeks with my fingers. “As long as you promise you won’t touch any other woman…I think that is enough.”
He smiled. “I promise,” he said in a sober voice. “How could I, anyway? All I want for the rest of my life is you.”
He bent down slowly and kissed me again. I felt him reach down to his pants to get out of them until he was only wearing a pair of boxers. There was no disguising how much he wanted me. I could feel him against my abdomen. I let out a moan of pleasure.
Travis slowly took off my nightdress, kissing the skin he revealed. I felt like I was running out of breath. Shards and pieces of my dreams were mixing with what I saw before me. I was unable to believe what was happening between us…that finally, this was happening for real.
“Travis…” I whispered against his skin.
“Brianne…” he whispered.
I clung to him for support. His touch was too electrifying. I was afraid I could not handle the intensity of his kisses and the magnitude of emotion I felt with every caress.
“Travis…” I moaned as he kissed my neck. He was right. It was my weakest point. I instantly turned mindless at the touch of his lips on that spot.
“Open your eyes, Brianne,” he whispered softly. I did as he asked. “I want you to look at me, remember me as I make love to you.”
I giggled softly. I pulled him to me and gave him a kiss on the lips. “I will never forget this, Travis.”
He smiled. There was still something in that smile that was desperate and yearning. I hugged him to me to assure him that everything was going to be okay. That every single thing he promised me a few minutes ago, I promised the same to him.
“This is not a dream, Brianne. This is real,” he said. “You’re giving yourself to me. I’m pledging my soul to you.” And he went inside me.
It was everything I ever expected and more. Fireworks seemed to have exploded everywhere. It was as if all my dreams were coming true at the same time. I ignited with every touch, every kiss. Hearing him moan my name was the sweetest of all sounds I could ever hear.
I could feel him inside me as he had been before…many years ago. It was the same, and yet it was different.
We rode the tide of passion together. My peak wanted to be reached. With Chris, it wouldn’t always last long enough for me to get there. But with Travis, I could tell that he was holding back, he was trying to control himself.
“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.