Chapter 11

Today, be the badass girl you were too lazy to be yesterday.

-Coffee Cup

Hannah

Present day

I hadn’t been sure that I’d ever feel happy again. Not truly.

Sure, I had a son that was my world, and a daughter that was the light of my life. But with all that God had blessed me with, I still wanted more. And that more was the man that had just made love to me on the desk in his office.

We stared at each other, both of us still breathing hard, as we digested what we’d just done.

“Travis…” I hesitated.

He leaned forward, his cock still inside of me, and pressed his forehead to mine.

“Don’t,” he whispered. “This is one of the best days of my life.”

My world shimmered as tears started to form in my eyes.

“You…”

He closed my mouth with his, stopping the words before they left my lips.

“I’m tired of fighting.”

I blinked, letting the first tear fall.

He kissed it away with his mouth.

“Allegra doesn’t have any place with us anymore.”

Normally I would’ve balked at hearing another woman’s name roll off a man’s lips when he was still hard and buried inside of me. But this time? Those words were like music to my ears.

“But Alex…”

He dropped his forehead back to mine.

“I can’t dance to Allegra’s tune anymore,” he told me, blunt honesty written all over his face. “It hurts like my heart is being ripped straight out of my chest, but she’s already done that damage with me and Alex. If there’s anything left, I’ll repair it. But, to be honest, she’s going to have to be older before she understands that I’m not the bad guy.”

“But that could take years!” I cried.

He smiled sadly.

“I’ve done everything right. I’ve paid my child support. Contacted a lawyer. She’s not breaking any of the rules. She’s only filling my child with lies. I’ve tried to get full custody of her, but Allegra’s not technically a bad mother…it’s only in my eyes—and likely yours—that she’s doing anything ‘bad.’ No court in the state of Texas will take her away from Allegra.”

I knew that.

It hurt, but I knew that.

I knew it well.

I’d watched Travis struggle with the fact over the last year, and each time his daughter said that she hated him, it broke something inside of me.

“Trav…”

He kissed me breathless. “I’ll still get her. I’ll see her. I’ll try my hardest…but I’ll do it with you at my side.”

Those words had been the ones that I wanted to hear…I just didn’t like that he’d had to hit rock bottom with his daughter to say them.

I thought that those words would never come. That I’d never see the end.

And now that he was telling me everything that I wanted to hear, I wasn’t sure that I could trust them.

It’d been a long time, but this last year, with Travis only giving half of himself to me, I wasn’t sure that I’d ever find a way to be happy again.

And now that it was within sight, I wasn’t sure that I could trust it.

But I owed it to my kids to try.

I owed it to myself.

I deserved happiness.

And, so did Travis.

“Travis?”

Someone knocked on the door, and I froze.

“Who is that?” I hissed.

“The receptionist I hired last week. The one that has the hots for every man in the office.” He reminded me of what he’d told me last week.

He’d said that she was a young girl with stars in her eyes, and dreams of snagging herself a man.

Well, this was one man that she wouldn’t be snagging.

“Get up,” I told him, patting his shoulder.

He did, pulling out seconds later.

I winced at the wet feeling, but wasn’t alarmed. At my six-week exam, I had an IUD placed. Granted, I hadn’t thought that I was going to use it as fast as I had, which was a mere two weeks from when I’d had it put in, but it was what it was.

And I was glad that I got it.

As much as I loved my son and daughter, having kids was a huge pain in the ass when you had to work full time to support yourself.

Before I could so much as roll up on Travis’ desk, I found myself hoisted up by the hips and placed on my sock-covered feet.

I wiggled my toes and looked at the hole that was in one sock, right above my middle toe, and winced.

Today hadn’t been about looking sexy.

I was tired, exhausted, and had TJ’s two-month checkup—which was why I was off of work at all.

Today’s visit to Hail Auto Recovery had been about telling Travis how TJ had practically bounded to the top of the growth and height charts at the doctors, and it had turned into this.

Not that I wasn’t happy with where it had gone, because I sure as hell was. And so was my vagina.

But damn, if I’d known, I would’ve worn something sexier than what I had.

Speaking of clothes, my shirt smacked me in my face, and my yoga pants hit me somewhere below the waist and fell to my feet.

I glared at the man that’d thrown them at me, and reached down to snap my bra back into place.

That was when I saw the mess that I’d made.

Well, fuck.

There was breast milk all over my chest, and still leaking out, might I add.

But, with nothing else to do, I closed the bra anyway, thankful that I had those little cup things in that caught all the overflow, and shrugged into my shirt.

I was just reaching for my panties that were tangled in my pants when the door was pushed open.

“I’m tired of waiting, Travis Hail.”

I froze behind Travis’ desk, so very thankful that it was one of those huge ones that blocked everything—otherwise The Devil—also known as Travis’ ex-wife—would’ve gotten more than she bargained for.

Here we go.

Travis’ words were about to be put to the test a lot sooner than he’d thought.

The moment that her eyes came to a rest on me, I dropped my hands in hopes of hiding my nearly naked state.

“Hello, Allegra.” I smiled, wondering if my hair was a mess.

It probably was.

It hadn’t been all that great to begin with thanks to the fact that my straightener pooped out that morning. In my hurry to get out the door, I’d thrown it up into a braid and called it done.

I could feel wisps around my face, and I knew that I looked a little unkempt.

Hopefully, though, I didn’t look sexed up like I was feeling.

Then I started to worry.

The room had to smell like sex. Jizz had a distinct smell, and sometimes so did a vagina.

But then I remembered the fan that was in the corner of the room, always running.

Travis couldn’t function without a fan—something about him hating stale, stagnant air.

When I’d gone to ask him about always having one pointed at him, he’d only shrugged saying that it was a comfort thing. However, thanks to whatever phobia he wouldn’t talk about, I knew that the room wouldn’t smell too bad.

“Shouldn’t you be at work?” she hissed.

My brows rose, and I decided to take a seat in the chair and scoot up underneath the desk just in case she came any further into the room. If she did, she’d see that I wasn’t currently wearing pants, and I wasn’t sure how that would go down due to how much Allegra already disliked me.

“Allegra.”

Travis’ words had a bite to them that I’d never heard him use with her before.

I kinda liked it!

“Well, you’re the asshole that invited me here. How about you tell me why you called?” She dismissed me completely, not bothering to wait for me to answer her.

Travis, who I now saw, was completely dressed.

Guess that was a plus to our hurried frenzy moments earlier.

Thank God.

“Actually, I called to tell you that we needed to talk about the visitation schedule coming up,” he said. “With summer coming, I’d like to discuss taking Alex for a full month stretch. Allowing you to have her the complete month of July. I want to go camping in the RV with my parents, and I’d really like to take her with me.”

I’d get up and leave if I wouldn’t draw attention to myself. I was fairly positive Allegra would notice that I was half naked.

Oh, and let’s not forget the fact that I was now dripping with him.

“Absolutely not,” Allegra growled. “She will not spend a month straight with you. There’s no telling how she’ll act when she comes back from that.”

Or how much better she’ll act, but who was I to say anything?

“I heard that your father will be leaving for Europe in July. You were wanting to go with him.”

Allegra didn’t say anything to that.

“You’re not allowed to take her out of the state without my permission,” Travis continued on. “And I won’t be giving that if you don’t allow me to have her for the full month that we’re camping.”

Allegra looked like she’d stuck her tongue into something vile.

“Will she be there?”

Allegra’s words were curt, and I wanted to throat punch her.

“No,” I denied. “I need to work to pay my bills. I can’t just take a month off,” I snapped, hating her with every freakin’ ounce of my body.

If there were a word that was more severe than despise, or loathe, then that would be what I felt for the woman.

That vindictive, only caring about herself, woman.

Allegra didn’t have to work to pay her bills. Travis did it for her. Alimony in the form of six hundred dollars a month, not to mention six hundred dollars a month in child support.

Though, I guess I should be more thankful that it wasn’t more. Travis had been to court eight months ago when Allegra had decided that twelve hundred dollars a month wasn’t enough for her to live on—despite living with her parents and not having to pay a single thing—unlucky for her, she’d ended up having her alimony reduced from twelve hundred bucks a month to six hundred. Then, when she wasn’t satisfied with the court’s orders, she’d tried to get more child support. That time, there was a woman judge that was known to side with the woman on most cases, and the child support went from three hundred forty a month to four hundred.

So, he’d received a tally for the win column, and a tally for the loss column. Regardless, he still had to pay her money each month that she didn’t deserve, especially when she was living somewhere that didn’t require a rent check every month. She had a fairly new car that was paid off, also. Travis bought all of Alex’s clothes—which I would know since I bought them at the same time as I bought Reggie’s clothes. Though, Travis paid me back for it ninety nine percent of the time.

So no, she really had no expenses and had no clue what it was like to have to work for a living seeing as she hadn’t worked a day in her life.

Her father had supported her from the day she was born to the day she turned twenty-two, and Travis had done it after that. When they’d gotten divorced, Allegra had moved straight back into her parents’ house, and Travis still cut her checks every month.

I, on the other hand, had lived by myself for four years before I’d met my ex, and then when we divorced two years after Reggie was born, I’d lived by myself since.

I’d bought all of my own cars. I paid my own health and car insurance. I was a big freakin’ girl with big girl freakin’ panties. Allegra was a spoiled rotten brat that likely didn’t wear any panties at all.

“Do you mind leaving?” Allegra asked me.

I looked over at Travis, giving him my ‘I don’t know what to do’ look.

He winked at me.

“Hannah is my fiancée, and deserves to hear everything that’s being said,” he interjected. “I’m sorry, but she’s not leaving.”

My mouth literally dropped open in surprise, and I stared at the man who’d just uttered words I never thought would leave his lips.

“She’s your what?” Allegra shrieked.

I, however, was too busy trying to gather my bearings.

Fiancée? Deserves to hear whatever Allegra had to say. What?

I hadn’t missed that during my twenty-two minutes and thirty-nine seconds in this room…had I?

No, I was fairly positive I’d remember being asked to marry someone, and Travis wasn’t good enough to cause me to lose my mind quite that far.

Sure, he was excellent. Tongue tangling, for sure. What he wasn’t was one who got off on making me speak in tongues—or speaking in tongues altogether.

No, I would’ve remembered.

“Fiancée,” Travis repeated. “We’re getting married next year, but no, since she can’t get off of work, she’ll be unable to go on the RV with us. That’s not to say she won’t drive to those places and meet us for a few days.”

Oh really?

Allegra’s hard, cold eyes cut to me, and then moved back to Travis.

“Over my dead body will you get to take her with that woman.”

I gritted my teeth.

This was exactly how it was with Allegra.

They’d been divorced for seven years when I came along, and had been separated for nearly a year before their divorce. So, in no way, shape, or form was this a new thing when I came into the picture.

Yet, Allegra always acted like she had some previous claim on Travis, and made it very clear that nobody would have him but her.

In all honesty, it was exhausting.

There were days that I wished I’d never met Travis.

Then I immediately began to feel bad because if I hadn’t met Travis, I wouldn’t have my son. And Travis wouldn’t have me.

Travis needed the proof that not all women were vindictive like his ex.

“Well, then we can agree to disagree that you will be taking my child to Europe with you. So unless you’re willing to stay behind—which I highly doubt that you are—you’ll have to agree to those terms.”

Allegra’s cold, dark gray eyes were positively glacial when she swept her gaze over the two of us.

“You’ll regret this. Both of you.”

Travis shook his head. “There’s not a single thing when it comes to you, that I don’t regret.”

Allegra’s mouth dropped open.

“You can’t mean that,” she said. “Alex…”

Travis didn’t say a word.

I knew in his heart that he didn’t regret Alex. But Alex had been the baby that had trapped Travis with Allegra. The final straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak.

And now that kid was acting like her father—who loved her with all his heart despite the beginning of how she came to be—was an annoying gnat to be shooed away.

She was Allegra’s new mini-me.

And I hated that. I hated it bad. Yet there wasn’t a single thing I could do about it.

Travis stared at Allegra, and finally she opened the door.

“You’ll need to realize that you’re not the only person in this town that can do the things you do.”

Travis raised a brow at her.

“Are you threatening me or my business?” he asked, sounding mildly curious.

“If you want to take it that way,” she sniffed. “Have a pleasant day…Travis.”

With that, the woman left, not once looking back.

Travis said something quietly to someone beyond the door—likely his new receptionist—and slammed the door shut.

I stayed where I was, wondering if Travis locked it or not. Because I wasn’t going to go pantless in front of anybody else.

“Can you stand there and make sure that nobody else comes in?” I asked him when he started around the desk.

He grinned and winked, his eyes going to his destroyed desk—which I was just now seeing—and back to me. “I locked it…unlike you.”

I lifted my lip at him in a silent snarl. “I didn’t know that you were going to…” I dropped my voice down to the barest of whispers, “fuck me.”

He started to laugh, even going as far as to lean his left hand against the desk as he bent over and guffawed.

“Hannah, honey.” He grinned at me, and it sent shivers down my spine to see him smile at me with such happiness. “There are no kids here. You don’t have to whisper the curse words.”

I shrugged and stood up, pulling my underwear on, followed shortly by my pants.

The last thing to go on were my flip-flops.

“I have to go,” I growled. “I have a doctor’s appointment in thirty minutes. I haven’t gone to the grocery store yet, and I need to get Reggie’s family tree ready.”

He held up his hand. “What family tree?”

I frowned. “I told you last week that both girls had family trees. You were supposed to call your mom.”

He threw his head back and growled at the ceiling. “I forgot.”

I winked at him.

“I know. Which is why I called her last week when you only gave me a nod instead of doing it right then.”

Travis’ mom and I got along famously, and everyone loved me.

At first it was incredibly awkward to love a man that refused to return those feelings, and love his parents and family just as much as you loved your own. But now, it was as if they’d always been there, and I adored them.

Before I could exit like I’d originally intended to do, he hooked me around the waist and brought me around to face him.

“I know that me telling you that I was ready to make this work, and that I loved you, isn’t enough. I know that you’re going to need time from me, and I’m willing to give that to you.” He paused. “You’ve been there through everything over the last year. You’ve stayed when any other woman would’ve run. I owe you so much, but I’m going to keep asking you for more. I’m going to take, and take, and take, until you don’t think you have anything left to give. Then, when I’m sure I have it all, I’m going to marry you. Tie you to me forever, and make sure you don’t ever want to leave. I’m going to treat you the way you deserve to be treated, and I won’t fuck this up. I might, upon occasion, do something stupid. But just know that if I do, I’ll always make it up to you.”

Those words might’ve sounded stalkerish coming from anyone else. Coming from Travis, though, with his eyes locked on mine?

Not nearly as scary.

“Okay,” I whispered.

He dropped his forehead to mine, breathed me in for a few long seconds, and then let me go with a soft kiss to the tip of my nose.

“Be careful.”

My smile was brilliant.

“Yes, sir.”

He winked. “Now you got it right.”

I rolled my eyes and left, doing what I said I was going to do.

What I hadn’t expected when I got to my staff meeting, however, was to be fired.