Always (Always Series Book 1) Read online

  Travis has muscles with ripples and ridges in all the right places. His skin is soft and warm to the touch. Leaning forward, I place a soft kiss on his chest, while his hands are in my hair.

  My lips continue to travel the expanse of his stomach and chest, not wanting to miss a single place, as my hands find their way to his strong back. He tilts my face up, capturing my searching lips that want to taste every inch of him. His teeth sink into my bottom lip, pulling just enough, making a moan leave me. I can’t believe how much I want him and how my body is lighting up for him. Although, I shouldn’t be surprised because it’s like this every time I’m with him.

  He reaches for the hook on my bra at the same time I reach for his belt, hungry eyes fixed on each other. My bra starts to fall down my arms as I reach my hand into the front of his pants, curling my fingers around his erection. My hand slides down his hard shaft, and I’m about to push his pants down when I hear the sound of the front door unlocking. Shit!

  Our eyes find each other in panic as I jump from the table, grabbing my shirt and running to the laundry room to put it back on. I hear Travis mutter a “fuck” as he gets his pants buckled, but his shirt is over by me. I wink at him as I grab it and turn around the corner, leaving him shirtless and with a boner in the next room. I hurry to clasp my bra and pull my shirt over my head before I hear Ollie and Tatum walk inside.

  I make quick work to look like I was still doing laundry when I hear their voices enter the house. “Mommy?” I hear Tatum call, not sounding like her chipper self. Concerned, I run out to see why they’re home a day early and she sounds upset.

  “What’s wrong, sweet girl? You alright?” I ask as I pull her in for a hug and look at Ollie and Adam behind her for answers.

  “She woke up with a fever today and was doing alright but kept crying to come home. To you. So, I finally gave in,” Adam says, sounding annoyed by the fact that his daughter is sick.

  “Why didn’t you call me? I could have come picked her up or just talked to her on the phone to try to settle her down.”

  “She asked for you. I brought her to you. On my weekend. You’re welcome, Josie.”

  I look at Ollie with pleading eyes to take his sister into the next room so I can talk to their dad. He gives me a small nod in understanding. “Come on, Tates, I’ll put on your favorite movie, OK?” They walk out of the room hand in hand, making my heart swell for how much my baby boy takes care of his little sister. Then I hear, “Dude, why don’t you have a shirt on?” I have to bite the inside of my cheek so I don’t laugh when I hear Travis reply that I was washing it because he had gotten food from dinner on it.

  “I knew I wouldn’t win with you. If I’d called, you’d say I should have just brought her home. I bring her home and you say I should have called. I can’t win!” Adam yells at me.

  “Why are you acting like a five-year-old? She was sick and didn’t feel good. Did you even try to hold her or make her feel better? Or did you make her stay away so you wouldn’t get sick too like you always did before when Ollie was sick?”

  “That’s not fair. I have a huge meeting Monday I can’t miss.”

  “Of course,” I say rolling my eyes. “Well, I got it from here. Thanks for bringing her home. You can go now.”

  “Can I have them next weekend since I brought them back early?”

  “Are you kidding me right now?”

  “No, I’m being quite serious, Josie. I do love my kids, despite what you may think.”

  “I’ll let you know. I’ll let them decide what they want to do.”

  “Sure,” he snorts, “you do that.”

  “I can’t do this with you right now. I’ll call you to sort it out, alright? Have a good night, Adam.”

  “Whatever. Watch that Gellar kid. I know his dad. That family is bad news. Always has been. I don’t like him being here alone with you.”

  “Travis is harmless and as much a part of this family as Ollie and Tatum. Besides that, it’s none of your damn business who’s in my house when.” And I slam the door in his stupid face.

  “Gah! The nerve of him!” I say to myself as I stand there to take a minute before I greet my children properly.

  “You OK?” The sound of his voice startles me, making me jump. He chuckles at that as he walks closer to me. “I didn’t mean to scare you. But are you alright? That sounded pretty heated.”

  “You heard?” I ask, nodding toward the living room, silently asking if my kids heard, too.

  “Tatum is focused on her movie, and Ollie is upstairs.”

  “Thank God,” I say, releasing a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

  “Thank you.”

  “For what?” I ask confused as to why he’s thanking me for anything right now. I’m pretty sure he has the biggest case of blue balls ever, and now who knows when we’ll be able to finish what we started, let alone touch and kiss each other again.

  “For what you said to him. About me.”

  I shrug. “It’s the truth.” I start to walk to him, wanting to wrap my arms around him and kiss him again, but stop myself, giving him a small smile.

  He reaches out and grabs my hand, bringing it to his lips and kissing it. That simple gesture meant more at that moment than anything else he could have said or done. I knew then that I was in so much trouble when it came to Travis Gellar.

  I was falling for him.

  Fast.

  TRAVIS

  After letting go of Josie’s hand I turned and walked to the kitchen to clean up from our dinner that ended before we could finish dessert. I’m not even mad though. I know that Ollie and Tatum are her whole world, and I’m just damn lucky that she lets me be a part of it.

  Adam is a prick, however. I never liked him when they were married, and I certainly don’t like him anymore now. He’s never treated her with the love and respect and adoration she deserves. I plan on making it my mission to show her exactly how beautiful, loved, and adored she is.

  Once I’m in the kitchen I pass Ollie picking at the leftovers on the counter. I give him a nod before I gather the dishes from the table, putting them in the sink to rinse, like Josie likes, before I load them in the dishwasher.

  “I fucking hate my dad,” Ollie admits in a mutter only I can hear.

  “Join the club, dude.”

  “You hate my dad, too?”

  “Well, I meant the club of sons hating their dads, but I’m not exactly a big fan of yours, either.”

  He snorts in understanding. Ollie and I have talked about our messed-up dads through the years about as much as any teen boys do. But we both get where the other is coming from regardless of the differences of our fathers.

  “I don’t know why he even wants us at his place most the time anyway. He never does anything with us and hardly acknowledges us. I’d almost rather it that way, but it’s not fair to Tate. She doesn’t really understand yet. And I want to fucking punch his face with the way he talks to my mom. I can’t believe she stayed with him as long as she did. He’s such a fucking tool.”

  “If you hate it there why don’t you just not go? Aren’t you old enough to make that choice?” I decide not to mention the part where I’d gladly punch Adam’s fucking face for how he treats Josie, too, because I don’t want to give myself away with how I feel about her.

  “I can, but Tatum isn’t old enough yet. I wouldn’t make her go by herself. She’d be miserable.”

  “You’re a good brother.”

  “I hope so,” he says with a sigh.

  I’ve got the dishwasher loaded and started, and I’m on to handwashing the pans before he speaks up again, leaning a hip on the counter next to me. “You and my mom do OK while we were gone?”

  “Yeah, she didn’t feel good yesterday herself. She had a fever, so she stayed in bed and had a lazy morning. I worked this afternoon” – I shrug – “Nothing crazy.” Except for me telling her I love her and some serious making out.

  “Oh, shit! You should have called me. I would ha
ve come back with Tate ASAP. Any excuse to get away from the sperm donor.”

  “Sorry, dude, I didn’t even think about it. I got home from work last night after looking at apartments with her, and she was in bed. I checked in and she was burning up. I gave her some meds, and her fever broke. She seemed fine today. Same with Tate, you think?”

  “I don’t know, probably. Those two are one in the same,” he says with a laugh and shake of his head. “Well, nonetheless, thanks for taking care of her. You always do, and I really appreciate it, man.” He pats me on the shoulder and leaves the room before I have to respond, thank fuck.

  I finish cleaning up the kitchen before I peek around the corner to check on the girls. A smile pulls on my mouth when I see the two of them asleep on the couch, with Descendants playing in the background. (Yes, I fucking know what that movie is. I’ve watched it at least six times with Tatum before, thank you very much.) I lean against the wall and watch my girl sleep for a minute. She’s wrapped up in a blanket with Tate curled into her side. They look so sweet together. I wish I had memories with my mom like this, but I don’t. I remember Josie taking care of me when I was sick or hurt more than my own mother.

  I push off the wall and walk to the sleeping girls. Careful not to wake either of them, I grab Tatum and carry her up to her room, tucking her in and turning on her favorite night light before I close her door and head back to get my girl. She’s still sleeping when I get back to her.

  I walk through the downstairs, turning off lights around the house and making sure the doors are locked before I turn off the TV and scoop up Josie to carry her to her room.

  I haven’t seen or heard Ollie since he left the kitchen earlier, so I’m praying he doesn’t choose this moment to appear and ask why I’m carrying his mom to her room. Thankfully, his door is shut and he doesn’t appear as I walk into her room and lightly kick the door closed behind me with my foot.

  Gently, I lay her down on her bed before turning on the lamp on her side table so I can see what I’m doing. I want to make sure she hasn’t spiked another fever before I leave her to sleep, but she stirs awake when I place my lips on her forehead. “Hey, you,” she says in a soft voice with glazed-over eyes.

  “Hey, pretty girl. I’m just checking that your fever didn’t come back before I head to Ollie’s room for the night.”

  “You always take such good care of me, Trav.”

  “I’m just returning the favor of how you always care for me,” I say before I kiss her on the forehead again.

  “Did Tate get to bed?”

  “I carried her up and tucked her in before I carried you up. Her night light is on, and she doesn’t feel fevered anymore, either.”

  “Thank you for doing that.”

  “You don’t have to thank me. I’m just taking care of my girls. You need anything else before I go?”

  “I wish you could stay with me.”

  “Me too.” I can’t help the laugh that escapes.

  “You probably have the worst case of blue balls, huh?” she laughs.

  “You think that’s funny?”

  “Kind of. But I did have every intention tonight of having you in my bed.”

  “That is not helping, Joes.”

  She laughs again as she pulls my hand to get me to her level. Lacing her fingers in my hair, I close my eyes and decompress under her touch. There’s something so intoxicatingly relaxing about Josie’s touch. She pulls me to her, kissing me once, twice and then a third time before her tongue seeks mine. I know it can’t last long, but I’ll take all the Josie I can get whenever I can have her. We pull apart, and I know I’m sporting wood. I stand and adjust myself before I bend and kiss her on the head one last time before I walk to the door. “Night, pretty girl.”

  “Night.”

  I go directly to the bathroom and take a cold shower. I don’t know if it helps any though because when I wrap a towel around my waist I’m still sporting a semi. Fuck, this girl. I smile and shake my head as I make my way to Ollie’s room.

  He’s already snoring when I walk in, Beats on his head, curled under his blanket like he always sleeps. I pull on a pair of shorts and fall onto the spare bed in his room that’s more my own than the one down the street. Lying there, I can’t help but think about Josie. We came seriously close to getting caught, but we recovered well. I hate that we have to sneak and I hate that I have to lie to my best friend, but I don’t see any other way, at least for a while.

  Then I think about yesterday at the apartment and coming home and taking care of her. I think about this morning and how special it was. I think about what almost happened tonight and the quick peek I got at her beautiful tits. Oh great, now I’m hard again. A small groan comes out of me. Looking at the clock I see it’s now 2 a.m. I wonder what would happen if I snuck in Josie’s room right now…

  I don’t even remember getting out of bed or making my way there, but now I’m crawling in her bed and I don’t even care. Consequences be damned.

  I curl my large frame around her small one, one arm under her head, the other around her waist and my lips find her shoulder. I pepper her skin with kisses as my hand finds its way under her shirt and skims her nipple like I did this morning. And just like this morning, I’m rewarded with a soft moan.

  Except this time, I also get another reward. Her hand makes its way inside my shorts. I’ve never been happier with my decision to not wear underwear than at this moment. She runs her hand down my rock-hard cock like she had done earlier tonight. She pumps me a few more times before she runs her thumb over the head, spreading the beads of pleasure around before she turns and shifts to straddle my lap. Sitting on me, staring at each other in the dark, Josie does the single sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. She takes the thumb that was just rubbing me and pushes it into her mouth, licking and sucking me from it.

  “Do you have any idea how sexy you are? The things you do to me. Fuck, Joes, and I haven’t even been inside you or tasted you, and you already own me.” Reaching up, I cup her face and bring her lips to meet mine, tasting me on them and devouring her mouth.

  I reluctantly stop our kissing. “I need to go,” I say resting my forehead on hers.

  “You don’t have to,” she slyly says. I open my eyes and see her teasing smile lighting up her face.

  “I don’t want to do this with Ollie and Tate home. When I have you, and Josie, I will have you, it’s going to be special. It’s going to be just us, loving each other.”

  “You’re such a romantic, Travis Gellar. I had no idea that this brooding boy with the tense jaw had such a soft, sweet side to him.”

  “Only with you. Everyone else can go fuck themselves.” She playfully smacks my shoulder with a laugh. “I’m serious. I guess besides Ollie and Tate, too, but really I don’t care about anyone else in this life.”

  “That makes me sad, Trav. Not even your mom? I mean, I know you’ve had a rough go with her and everything, but she’s still your mom.”

  “I told you before. I just can’t anymore. She made her choice, and I wasn’t anywhere near it.” I shrug like I don’t care, but the truth is it still hurts.

  “I’m sorry, baby,” I smirk up at her. “What?”

  “You just called me baby. I like it when you call me that.”

  “Oh really?” she asks, smiling down at me, her hair falling around her beautiful face. I love when she’s like this with me, carefree and relaxed.

  Not able to keep my hands off of her, I reach up, my fingers going through her hair, and I bring her down to me for another kiss. “Really.”

  I kiss her again, my tongue seeking permission this time. Her lips part for me. My tongue finds hers, stroking it. I swallow her moan, savoring every part of her mouth.

  Chapter 9

  Josie

  “Fuck, I should go or I’m going to end up fucking you tonight, and I don’t think you’re ready for that,” he says, kissing me on the nose, sweet and innocent.

  “After the way you just kissed me
, I might let you.”

  “Why do you have to be mean to me, Josie? You know I’m in my prime fucking years and you’re saying these things and you’re rubbing against me. That’s just not nice. I’m so hard right now it hurts.”

  “Sorry, not sorry.” I laugh as I run my leg against his hard length.

  “Woman. I’m going to spank you soon.”

  I stop then, my mouth forming an ‘O’ without any sound. Travis kisses me once more, soft and sweet on the lips. As much as I love our deep, sexy kisses, I think these are my favorite.

  “You better go before I end up fucking you.” He lets out a groan against the side of my face.

  “You are seriously killing me. A slow death. My tombstone will read: Here lies Travis Gellar. He died of the hardest cock known to man because Josie teased him so much.”

  “You are so ridiculous!” I laugh into his chest. But he is really hard; I do kind of feel bad.

  He laughs with me into my hair. “You do things to me, Josie, that no one ever has and I don’t think ever will.”

  “Trav, half of me wants to sling my leg over you and ride you into the morning. But the other half is telling me that my kids are down the hall and I’m not entirely ready to go all the way with you yet. I’m sorry.”

  “Hey. I’m teasing you. I wasn’t expecting anything more tonight or even soon. I was only hoping to cop a feel and kiss you before I went back to bed.”

  “You got a feel alright.”

  “Not as much as you, you selfish woman,” I tease.

  “I’m sorry. I do feel bad. But I also feel really good right now.”

  “I love you, Joes. I really, really do,” I chuckle.

  “I don’t think I’m far behind you, baby.” His smile stretches so wide, I can see the whites of his teeth in the dark. He gives me one last goodnight kiss before he pries himself from my bed, closes the door behind him, and leaves me wide awake and blissfully happy.