Crazy Ever After

Chapter Seventeen

He reached out and curled his fingers around her upper arm and started walking to the elevator, almost dragging her along with him.

“What’s wrong, Samara?”

“Nothing’s wrong, other than you manhandling me across the lobby.” She tried to wrench away, but he tightened his grip on her. “What are you doing here, Travis?”

He paused in an alcove off the lobby and glared down at her. Hoo, he looked pissed. Her insides fluttered. Her nerves already thrummed like a live wire. She didn’t need this on top of everything else. She dug deep for control.

“I came to find you, what else?” he muttered. Now both hands clasped her upper arms, and he held her like that, as if he wanted to shake her. The heat radiating off his body scorched her. “What the hell were you thinking coming here by yourself?”

She lifted her chin. “I’m here on business.”

“What the fuck business are you here on?” Now he did give her a little shake. “I told you there was no point in pursuing that crazy idea. Why can’t you just listen to me?”

She stared back at him, her long bangs falling across her eyes, but she couldn’t reach up to push them aside because he restrained her arms so tightly.

“And why are you looking like you just got mugged or something?” His eyes widened. “Samara.”

“I didn’t get mugged.” She swallowed, not wanting to tell him what had happened to her since she’d arrived. “I’m fine. I told you I can look after myself.”

“This country isn’t safe for a woman on her own,” he ground out. “Jesus, Samara, I could just put you over my lap and spank your ass.”

Her insides went hot and liquid at his words, and her legs went weak. Luckily he was holding on to her so tightly. A shaft of intense longing speared through her. Oh, god. Oh, god. Imagining his hand on her ass had her burning up with feverish need.

She squeezed her eyes shut momentarily.

“Why do you keep treating me like I’m a stupid child?” she said through gritted teeth.

“Because you keep acting like a stupid child!”

They glared at each other.

“Really? Are we going to do this here?” he asked. “Come on. Let’s go to your room.”

He released one of her arms, slid his hand down the other into hers, and gripped it tightly. He started walking—make that marching—toward the elevator.

“Travis.”

“Just wait,” he muttered. She scurried after him, because if she didn’t he’d drag her into the elevator. “What floor?”

She told him. He punched a button, and once the doors closed, he turned to her, crowded her up against the wall, and kissed her. Hard.

Her head spun. Her tummy fluttered. Her pussy ached.

Another emotion she didn’t even want to admit to floated beneath the lust— relief. Relief that he was there, that someone was there. Because she was scared.

Inside the hotel room, he kicked the door shut behind them and dragged her to the center of the room. Fisting a hand in her hair, he held her head while he kissed her again, his other arm sliding around her and pulling her against him. Her body arched into him as his mouth devoured hers, and her fingers dug into his shirt and held on, a ferocious need for him rising up inside her.

He drew back then strode to the bed, tugging her along, and sat on the edge. She stood between his spread knees, blinking down at him, heart hammering, chest lifting and falling with quick breaths. What was he doing?

His hands clasped her hips, shifted her to the side, and in a quick move she was lying across his knees. “Travis!” She lifted her head to try to wriggle away, but one arm pressed her down, and the other laid a gentle swat on her butt.

He was spanking her!

Another crack of his palm against her bottom sent a wave of heat over her body, and a broken cry tore from her throat.

“Need you bare,” he muttered, and flipped her onto her back. He deftly unfastened the button of her knee-length shorts, tugged the short zipper down and yanked them, along with her panties, down her thighs. Then he flipped her again as if she weighed nothing, and this time when his palm landed on her ass, the sting flashed through her.

“Travis!” She struggled again, but only halfheartedly because the truth was she was melting, her pussy turning molten and aching, her breasts throbbing. She complained about him treating her like a child, but this was a very grown-up spanking. A very erotic, adult spanking.

He continued to lay fiery taps on her cheeks, and her ass caught fire, heat flaring along every nerve ending. She let it consume her, her body a hot glow of pleasure and pain. The sharp, forbidden thrill of being spanked streaked through her body right to her clit.

When he stopped, she lay there over his hard thighs, face pressed to the bed, panting. His hand now stroked over her bottom, gentle, slow, and when she felt him bend and press his lips to the heated flesh, her head lifted and jerked back.

“Samara.” Her name was an agonized groan. “God, Samara, you drive me crazy.”

She closed her eyes, fought for breath, aching for him to turn her over and take her. When he didn’t, she rolled. His hands caught her and kept her from rolling to the floor. She wriggled off him, drew her tank top up and over her head, reached behind her for the clasp of her bra, and let it fall off. She lay back down and watched him.

With a low groan, he moved over her, kissed her mouth, then stood and quickly tossed off his clothes. He fell over her, his mouth on her in hungry, voracious kisses, his hands all over her, cupping her breasts, stroking her face.

Awash in a shimmer of edgy heat, her entire body burning up, she kissed him back, stroking her hands over his shoulders, over the heavy muscles and satiny skin, up and down his back, and lower to his ass, where she yanked him closer.

He moaned into her mouth then dragged his lips over her cheek and jaw. “Crazy,” he muttered. “I must be crazy.”

“Then we both are.” She turned her head on the pillow to give him access to her neck, and he licked the sensitive flesh and made her shiver with delight. Then he moved, reaching between them for the erection she couldn’t ignore, so hard and thick and hot. She loved his cock, needed it inside her, needed it now. He took himself in hand and nudged at her entrance, so shamefully wet and slick from when he’d spanked her. She didn’t even want to think about how much that aroused her or what that meant.

She parted her legs, bent her knees, and cried out when he pushed into her. He hesitated.

“No, don’t stop.” She grabbed his ass again and pulled him closer, and he sank deeper inside her, so big, stretching her in such an amazingly satisfying way. And yet, with the heat coiling inside her and tight excitement building, she needed more. Fire rippled beneath her skin, every nerve ending sparked, and exquisite pleasure bloomed inside her and spread through her body. His cock driving into her in hard strokes touched sensitive places that lit her up, and she slipped a hand between them to find her clit and add to the sweet sensations.

“Fuck, Samara.” Travis moved over her, on his elbows, sliding his hands into her hair, holding her head, kissing her mouth again and again. “You feel so good. So damn good. Hot and tight.” He kissed her. “So wet. Pulling me in.”

“Fuck me, Travis. Make me come. Please.” She was nearly there, so close, ecstasy twirling and tightening inside her, and he buried his face beside hers as he powered into her fast and hard and sent her flying. Pleasure flashed through her, her body tightened, and her fingers dug into his flesh.

“Fuck,” he muttered. “Forgot...” And he came, too, in long hard pulses, her ankles hooked around his waist, his fingers tangled in her hair, his breath hot and loud in her ear.

“Samara, god, Sam, what you do to me.”

They lay like that for long moments, their skin slick with perspiration, breathing hard, hearts thundering. Oh dear lord. Never mind what she did to him; he annihilated her. Every single time.

Once again, lust had overcome good sense. Travis sighed inwardly. “We forgot to use a condom.”

“Oh.” The word was a soft sigh in his ear. After a short pause, she said, “I won’t get pregnant.”

“You’re safe with me.”

“I know.”

He rolled off her and collapsed beside her.

“I’m sorry, Samara. I know we shouldn’t have done that. I was just so...you get me so hot. I was furious at you, and relieved you’re okay. Oh yeah, and did I say, furious?” He paused while she gave a choked little laugh. “We have to get the hell out of this country and back to Portland.”

“No.”

He rolled onto his side to look at her and firmed his lips. “Do I have to spank you again? Christ, woman, you drive me crazy. Do you not realize how dangerous this is?”

“I want to finish what Dad started.”

“Samara.” He cupped her jaw forcefully and turned her face to his. “Don’t you see? There is no project here.” Then he closed his eyes briefly. “Shit. I’m going to have to tell you this. I knew I was going to have to tell you but not for this reason. Jesus.”

“Tell me what?”

He blew out a long breath. “Seven years ago your father and I had a big blowup about...something he was doing.”

“My mom mentioned something about that.”

“She did?” He frowned. “What did she say?”

“Um...she said that you two argued about it. She said that’s what you’d been talking about when I overheard you.”

He wanted to roll his eyes. Oh, yeah, that conversation. Shit.

He sat up on the bed, naked, momentarily distracted by Samara lying there also naked, beautifully naked, her perfect breasts bare, her long hair a tangle of auburn silk on the white pillow. He swallowed and tried to focus.

“She also said you thought Dad was doing something illegal.”

He sighed. “I came across some documents that led me to believe your father had gotten involved with...with a drug cartel in Matagalpa.”

“Drugs?” Her mouth fell open. Then she laughed. “That’s crazy.” She pushed herself up to sit also, distracting him yet again with her slender shoulders and arms, her naked breasts tipped with tight little nipples, her small waist. She grabbed the duvet and tucked it up under her arms.

Travis rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah. You’d think. I didn’t know what to do about it, and I went to Dayna for advice. Well, she confronted Parker, and they had a big argument about it, and then he was furious at me for saying something like that to her. For even thinking he would do something like that.” Travis shook his head. “But he didn’t deny it. He just told me I should trust him and not worry about it.”

“Well, there had to be some explanation.”

“Maybe.” He shrugged. “But he wouldn’t give it to me. There were a lot of drugs coming into the country from Matagalpa at that time. Cocaine mostly, some opium. The DEA was involved, and I think they were investigating your father. I think they thought he was smuggling cocaine into the country with coffee shipments. Nothing ever came of it, so either he stopped before he got caught...or...hell, I don’t know.”

“I can’t believe that!”

“I know, and Parker was furious that I thought that. He was even more furious that I talked to your mother about it. It was a...well, let’s just say it was a challenging time for Parker and me. It just about ended our partnership.”

Her eyes widened. “Is that why you moved to L.A.?”

“Yes.” Travis nodded, his mouth a grim line. “That’s why.”

She sat quietly for a moment, thinking, then said, “But he got over it.”

“Yeah. He did. We both did. Thank Christ. But...I’ve been worried that your dad was involved with drugs again. I think that’s why he was here in Matagalpa, and I think that may be what got him killed.”

Her brows drew down. “How can you say that? He wouldn’t have been involved with smuggling drugs. That’s crazy, Travis.”

“I know, but...he was so evasive about what he was doing here. He wouldn’t tell anyone; it was all top secret. You know, you couldn’t find anything much either in all his files. So let’s just go home, Samara, before we get ourselves mixed up in something we shouldn’t.”

“I did find something.” She lifted her chin and held his gaze. “I did.”

“What?”

She told him about the Paquita coffee bean, and all the information she’d found on her father’s laptop.

He listened. He took it in, considered it, examined it. Was it possible?

“It’s true, Travis. If we can finish that deal, it will be an unbelievably profitable deal for the company. It will make us all kinds of money.”

“Yes.” Oh, man. Oh, hell. “I don’t know, Samara. I still have a bad feeling about this. About being here.”

A flash of something in her eyes made him pause. “What?”

“Nothing.”

He gripped her chin with his fingers and forced her to look at him. “What? What aren’t you telling me?”

She lowered her lashes and nibbled her bottom lip. “Well. Yesterday, this man approached me as I was getting on the elevator and told me I should go home.”

“What! Who was he?”

“I don’t know. He’s staying here at the hotel. I saw him by the pool, and I thought he was watching me. Then I saw him in the bar, and he followed me to the elevator and told me I should go home.”

“Jesus Christ!” Red hot fury surged in him again. “That’s exactly what I’m talking about! How could you be crazy enough to come to a place like this on your own!”

“There’s more.” She bit her lip, peeked up at him through her lashes. “This morning, I started to drive to the Alvarez estate to find Javier Alvarez.”

“Hell. I was afraid of that. But...” He frowned. “Why’d you come back?”

“I think...someone was following me.”

He sucked in a breath. “Oh, for Chrissake.” He closed his eyes. His chest started to hurt again. She was determined to give him a heart attack.

“I don’t know if it was the same guy, but whoever he was, he was dark like him, wearing sunglasses. I started driving around, just to see, and he kept following me. He was staying back, and he was actually pretty good at it, but I got nervous, so I decided to come back to the hotel.”

“That’s why you looked like that when you walked in. Jesus.” He should have made her tell him right there and then what was going on, but his emotions—and hormones—had gotten the better of him, and instead, he’d dragged her up to her room to spank her and fuck her. Hell.

“That’s it,” he said determinedly. “We’re getting out of here. Right now. Next flight back.”

“No. I told you no, Travis.” She set her small jaw. “I’m going to see Javier and see if I can still make that deal. It’s going to help get us back on track.”

“It’s not worth our lives,” he gritted out. “Don’t be stupid, Samara.”

“You just told me I’m not stupid. You just told me you know I’m all grown up. I know I’ve made some mistakes. But I want to do this.”

He strode across the room and picked up the phone. Ten minutes later, he’d discovered the next flight back to the States was tomorrow night. He sighed, but booked them on it anyway.

He hung up and turned to face her. “We’re leaving tomorrow night.”

“We have tomorrow, then, to go the estate.”

He slowly shook his head. “Samara.”

“Come with me. Please, Travis.” Her eyes held his.

Hell. His resolve disintegrated beneath her clear green gaze. And the enticement of an incredible coffee bean. “Fine,” he growled. “We’ll leave first thing in the morning.”

She smiled. Tipped her head. “Thank you. So, what should we do to pass the time until then?”

She slid off the bed, moved toward him, and dropped to her knees.

“Oh, hell.”

Her fingers encircled his cock, which swelled and lengthened at her touch. His blood surged hot in his veins, and lust exploded in his brain as her tongue played with the head, circling, rubbing against that sweet spot on the underside, licking up and down, getting him wet so she could slide the tight ring of her lips over him and down. Up. Back down. He closed his eyes, let his head drop back, and fisted her hair in his hands. Her mouth was a dream, a hot, wet, sucking dream. Sublime sensation consumed him, a fiery tortuous ecstasy, making his legs go weak. He widened his stance, bare feet planted on the thick carpet, and when her fingers slipped between his legs to fondle his balls, he almost lost it right then.

“Oh, baby,” he groaned. “Oh yeah. Lick them, honey. Lick my balls.” He released her hair with one hand and held his cock up and out of her way. She eagerly complied, her teasing tongue sending fiery waves over him, his skin tingling, his testicles drawing up so tight at her touch.

“Love this,” she murmured. “Love your cock. I love the taste of it, the feel of it in my mouth, so thick and heavy.”

Her words inflamed him, ecstatic sensations sliding through him.

“And I love your balls,” she continued. She nuzzled the hair at his groin, kissed his thigh, licked tenderly over the taut sac again and again, then took one testicle into her mouth and sucked. Pressure built, and tingles slid up his spine, his fingers tightening in her hair. “How big and tight they are. Mmmm.”

Her pleasure at giving him pleasure was like the biggest imaginable stroke to his ego, making him feel fucking on top of the world. There was nothing, nothing in the world, hotter than a woman who loved sex like this. Samara, usually so bossy and in control, now on her knees in front of him clearly loving what she was doing, should have seemed subservient, but at that moment, he was the one who felt at her mercy, completely, utterly vulnerable, like he’d do any damn thing in the world for her.

He was crazy about her.

He opened his eyes and looked down at her as she took him in her mouth again, his swollen girth stretching her lips, her fingers again cupping his balls, her fingernails gently scraping and torturing him. He gritted his teeth, and the muscles of his ass tightened. He resisted the urge to thrust harder into her mouth, deeper into her throat.

“So good,” he groaned. “Your mouth, Sam. God, your mouth on me...so hot.”

She drew back and dropped her gaze to his cock, dripping and flushed. She smiled then tenderly rubbed the sensitive head of his dick over her wet lips. Heat flashed over him, and he moaned again. She looked up at him, long lashes framing her big eyes, hazy with lust, hot for him. So beautiful. So sexy.

Her cheeks hollowed as she sucked hungrily on him again, and everything inside him exploded in a hot violent burst. He held her head, trying to pull her back in case she didn’t want to do this, but she gave a small shake of her head, her eyebrows drawn together, and held him in her mouth as he came in long exquisite bursts.

She swallowed and let him slide out of her mouth, gently licking around the head, all shiny and super sensitive, then sucked him into her mouth in one last gentle pull.

“Jesus,” he croaked, and he went to his knees on the floor, too, and wrapped his arms around her. “Jesus Christ.”

They stayed like that, kneeling in front of each other, hugging, emotion swelling up inside him so big it almost choked him. He felt both an overwhelming sense of gratification and...love.

He rose to his feet, picked her up and carried her over to the bed, where he gently laid her down, so precious and valuable. To him. So important. So...everything.

She drove him crazy, yeah, but he wanted that kind of crazy, needed it like an addict needs a drug, needed her, needed her craziness, forever.

He parted her legs and knelt between them as she watched him with heavy-lidded eyes and a sultry smile. He leaned in to her to lick her sweet folds, slick with arousal, sweet and heady. He kissed the crease where thigh joined hip, brushed his lips over the puff of auburn curls, drew his tongue down over the softest skin in the world. She opened her thighs wider for him and moaned her delight. She tasted as sweet as sin, like desire and delight. Delicate. Delectable. He swallowed her taste, suckled on her soft flesh, kissed her clit, and then licked over it. Her body shuddered, and she whimpered, and when he drew her clit into his mouth and so gently sucked, she cried out, fisted her hands into the sheets and came in his mouth. So beautiful. So sexy.

They slept in her room that night. She awoke in the darkness, unsure of the time, draped over him, legs twined with his. She moved against him, rubbing with a latent need that quickly grew. She petted his chest—hard muscle, silky hair, hard little nipples— and made him twitch. She slid her hand lower, caressed his belly just beneath his navel, tangled her fingers in the rough hair below that, then reached lower still. Semi-hard, his cock swelled eagerly into her fingers. She smiled.

She stroked him, velvety skin over his hardening shaft and thick pulsing veins, and rubbed her thumb over the wet tip. His groan rumbled in his chest where her head still rested. She kissed his chest, tasting his skin with her tongue. His arms tightened around her, and then he rolled her to her back, coming over her, big and strong and powerful.

She gazed up at him in the dark, the moonlight streaming in the balcony doors where they’d left the curtains open, casting his body into highlights and shadows, emphasizing his high cheekbones and strong jaw, his dark eyes, his firm mouth. Silver and blue shadows sculpted his shoulders and biceps into powerful curves and dips as he parted her thighs and pushed her knees back. He moved between her legs, his knees spread wide, his thighs thick with muscle, the dark gold curls at his groin gleaming faintly, his cock thrusting up with erotic demand. Her lips parted at the sight of it, so engorged and beautiful. Feminine satisfaction swept through her that she did that to him, that he wanted her, and she blinked at a sudden prickle in the corners of her eyes.

“You’re beautiful, Samara,” he whispered, his gaze holding hers. “So beautiful.”

“So are you.”

His mouth curved in a wry smile, and she smiled too, her mouth tremulous.

Heat washed over her body in slow, luscious waves, pulsing from deep within her.

He laid his palm on his groin, his cock between his middle and index finger to help guide him into her. She watched, breathless and hot, then closed her eyes as he pushed inside her. Never enough. Never.

He eased himself in, slowly, in and out. “Take me, honey. Take me...like that. Oh, yeah.”

“Yes.”

When he was in and they were pressed as close as they could be, joined there so intimately, he set his hands on her waist and held her, his hands so big on her body his thumbs almost met on her abdomen, and he began to move in her, sliding in and out in slow strokes. Then he moved over her, took her hands in his, and pressed them to the bed beside her head, taking his weight on his elbows, and he kissed her. He licked into her mouth, dragged his tongue over her teeth. He nibbled her lips and sucked her tongue, all the while rocking into her with his hips in a drugging, enthralling rhythm. She curled her fingers tightly around his and kissed him back.

“You feel so good,” he whispered in her ear. He nuzzled her hair, kissed her cheek and the side of her neck when she turned her head.

So good. So very, unbelievably good. Flames licked over her body, and pleasure bloomed inside her, spreading all the way to her fingers and toes, consuming her.

He rose up on his knees again, set his hands on her inner thighs and continued his relentless stroking in and out of her, a sweet ache building and building inside her. She opened her mouth, gazing up at him, so powerful above her. Sensation so acute it was almost pain built inside her.

“Travis.”

“Sam.”

He took her hands again, clasped them in his, and held them in front of her chest, steadying her body for his harder, faster thrusts, and their eyes met and held as he moved in her.

The man he was...was everything to her. His strength, his sense of purpose, his confidence. His loyalty to the company. His aura of competence and power that made her feel like she could always count on him.

The man he’d been when he’d rejected her all those years ago. Though it had hurt her, she knew now he’d done the right thing. Because that was who he was. The man he was now, who’d let her have a chance in managing Cedar Mill when she’d thought he was going to try to shut her out. The man he was to follow her to Matagalpa because he was worried about her. The man he was, driving her crazy with his bossy protectiveness, even though deep down inside...she loved it.

She watched, entranced by the molten heat in his eyes, the sensuous curve of his mouth, the muscles rippling over his body as he moved against her. His cock inside her hit every nerve ending, hit tender places so deep inside her it hurt. So good.

He lowered himself on her again, his body hot and heavy, though again he was on his elbows. One arm curved around the top her head, his hand caressing her hair, stroking her forehead, tipping her head back so he could kiss her throat. He suckled her flesh gently then licked there. “Sam,” he murmured. “Sam.”

He whispered words against her hair, his mouth burning a trail on her skin. Their soft sighs of pleasure mingling, he pushed into her again and again. Flames burned hotter in her womb, and pressure built, pleasure vibrating through her. She strained up into him, and one more time, he rose to his knees and found her clit with his thumb. Their eyes met and held, his so full of tenderness and worship she had to close hers as emotion rose up inside her in huge swamping waves.

He touched everything inside her—including her heart.

Sensation inside her spiraled up, tightening into a sharp point of need, so tight, so high she was almost scared of what was going to happen, and then he took her higher still, higher than she’d ever been, and she shattered, sweet sensation cascading over every nerve ending, sparks flashing in front of her eyes. She cried out and reached for him, and he fell over her, pressed the side of his face to hers, and found her hands again with his, his fingers clutching hers like he’d never let go. His body went tight and still against hers, and he pulsed into her.

“Sam.” He kissed her, over and over, his mouth on her forehead, her eyebrow, her cheek. His nose rubbed against hers, and they breathed in tandem, sharing air. Her heart thundered, and her body pulsed around his cock, still buried in her.

It all became so beautiful in that moment, so exquisite, so important she knew everything in her life had changed.