Travis's Gift (Riley's Pride #3)- Sandra R Neeley Page 0,51

those fliers. That means, depending on what time it is now, we have less than eight hours to finish up anything we may have forgotten.”

“Okay,” came his mumble, but Travis made no effort to get up.

“Move!” Libby said, trying to shove his weight off her body. But all her squirming around managed to awake the beast in him for another reason altogether.

Before she knew it, the upper half of Travis’s body was lying on hers and his face was close to her as he slowly ran his nose along the warm, soft part of her neck right below her ear. His Tiger rumbled in appreciation as Travis lifted himself and slipped his left leg between her legs.

“Travis,” Libby breathed out huskily.

“Mine,” he said, on a whisper.

Libby didn’t answer as she lifted a hand to cup his cheek. She ran her thumb along his cheekbone and stared into his eyes as his eyes flashed while he and his Tiger both looked down at her. He lowered his head, giving her plenty of time to stop him, and pressed his lips to hers. When she didn’t protest, he licked her lower lip, asking her to let him in.

Libby’s hand slipped to the back of Travis’s head as he kissed her, and she didn’t hesitate to open for his insistent tongue to dance with hers.

“Missed you, Libs,” he said, between kisses and nibbles of her mouth.

Travis lifted up on one arm and used the other to pull his teeshirt off her. He tossed the shirt to the side and looked down at her lying beneath him in his bed. “So beautiful,” he said, gazing down on her while he dragged the fingertips of one hand along her ribcage and the outer curve of her breast.

Libby’s breath caught when he ran his fingers along her skin.

Travis settled down with his face level with her chest and kissed her breasts slowly, teasingly, working his way to her nipples. He took his time flicking them with his tongue and nipping them just enough to make her gasp before soothing them again.

After a while, he wasn’t content to adore her breasts any longer. He wanted more, needed more. He slid his body further down until he was kissing her belly and the slight indentions beside her hipbones. When he began to drag his tongue further down, gently tugging her panties down slightly further, she stopped him.

“Travis?” she asked, hesitantly.

Travis looked up at her where he paused, the fingers of his right hand curled in the side of her panties, ready to pull them out of his way.

“I…” she said, not sure exactly what she wanted to say, but feeling she needed to lay some ground rules.

“You what?” he asked, his voice still holding that rough, sleepy quality.

“I… I just…” she struggled.

“Say it, Libby. Whatever it is,” Travis encouraged, praying she didn’t want him to stop.

“I can’t do this,” she said.

Travis’s Tiger whined in his mind.

“I can’t do this and then go back to whatever you happen to decide is next,” she said.

Travis smiled at Libby seductively. “Do you really think I’ll ever let you go? You sealed your fate the day you drove into my yard to help me prepare for the Christmas Village. And if there was ever any doubt about it, the moment you slipped in bed beside me last night erased it. You’re mine, Libby. I will not settle for less. I’ve spent too long being an ass. I will not ever let you go. If you don’t want me inside you this morning, say so, and I’ll stop. But it changes nothing. You will spend every night beside me here in this bed. You will wake with me every morning, and you will have me inside you — often. If you need more time to acclimate, that’s fine, but it changes nothing. Sooner or later it’s going to happen. You are mine, just as I am yours.”

Libby watched Travis as he slowly lowered his head and ran his tongue below the edge of her satin panties while he kept his eyes glued to hers.

Libby already knew most of her talk about not giving in and needing time to trust him again was just that — talk. She’d never stopped loving him, never stopped dreaming of him, and had only managed to barely block it all out because of the pain it caused her when he pushed her away. But, he was offering her — no, demanding of her, everything she’d ever wanted to