But nothing prepared me for the sight I saw when I approached my porch.
There, in all of her shivering glory, was Ava. Her long brown hair cascaded down her back as her legs shivered on the porch. Her arms were wrapped around her chest as she knocked again at my door, her car sitting in my driveway as it cooled down with its creaks and groans.
I stood there, just feet from the porch. Watching her as she knocked on my door again. I couldn’t believe it. After three months of worrying over her and wondering where the fuck she had gone… she was back.
“Travis? Are you in there? It’s me. Ava.”
“Hello, Ava,” I said.
She squealed and jumped, whipping her cold body around as her beautiful eyes landed on mine. I studied her body, looking for any signs of distress. Bruises or scratches. Bandages or limps. But the only hurt I saw was in her eyes.
Deep within her eyes.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I uh… came to find you,” she said.
“Well, you found me,” I said. “What do you want?”
I saw shock roll over her features as I stayed in my place.
“Well I… I told you I would come back,” she said.
“Uh huh,” I said gruffly. “You need something?”
“Are you okay, Travis?”
“Fine. You need anything?”
All of the anger I thought I had swallowed came bubbling back to the surface. What the fuck was she doing here after three fucking months? She had some nerve, showing up here thinking I would just let her back in. I wasn’t playing her game this time. I wasn’t eating out of her little hands. For all I knew, this was her father trying to pull some bullshit again. And I wasn’t going to have it.
Not after my family had finally gotten what they wanted.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I said.
“Please. Just give me a chance to explain.”
I walked up onto the porch and side-stepped her as I opened my front door.
“No thanks.”
I went to shut the door, but Ava put her foot in the way. The door halted in its tracks, leaving only a crack separating Ava and myself. I didn’t want to see her. I didn’t want to talk with her. All I wanted was for her to leave me alone so I could live the life I needed to for my father’s company.
It was all I had, and it was all I deserved.
“My father sent me to live with my aunt,” Ava said.
I sighed as I closed my eyes.
“I got to my house that day and my uncle was pulling up into the driveway to follow me there. He sent me to Spokane to try and… straighten me out.”
It was the way she said it that caused me to open the door. Ava slowly came into view, her trembling body shaking with tremendous force. Her eyes glistened with tears as she focused on my chest, refusing to meet my stare as I stood in front of her.
“Things didn’t work out?” I asked.
“I guess you could say that,” she said.
I gave her body a once over one last time before I threw the door open.
“Go sit on the couch. I’ll make us some coffee,” I said.
I heard her sigh as she scurried into my home. She sat on the couch, her back straight and her legs crossed at her ankles. She fluffed her hair back over her shoulders, giving me just a glance at her hands.
At the bruises and scratches that donned her knuckles.
It took every ounce of energy I had not to erupt. I slammed cupboard doors and tossed around mugs, brewing us a pot of very strong coffee. What the fuck had that woman done to Ava? What the hell was was wrong with her family? When the fuck were they going to understand just how screwed up they were inside?
I poured us each a cup of coffee, fixing it the way I knew she liked before I went to sit down next to her.
“Here,” I said.
She fluttered her eyes down to the mug before she reached for it. I got a good look at her hands. How battered and bruised and swollen they were. I grabbed her wrist, setting my mug of coffee down as I slowly slipped her long-sleeved shirt up her arm. There were bruises ricocheting up her forearms. Lashes and welts that could only be dealt by a ruler or a stick of some sort.
My blood was boiling in my vision as I released her wrist.
“What happened?” I asked.
Ava was staring into her mug of coffee, but she wasn’t drinking it.
“You can have whatever you want here. You know that,” I said.
“I just don’t think it’s wise to be drinking it,” she said.
“Why not?” I asked. “Because your aunt said so?”
“No,” she said. “Because I’m pregnant.”
My entire world slowed down as her words punched me in the gut. Pregnant? Ava was pregnant?
“You’re… how far…?”
“Four months,” she said as she looked over at me. “I’m four months pregnant, Travis.”
The gravity of the situation left me light-headed. Ava was pregnant. With my child. This beautiful young woman who had opened herself up to me and given me a part of her she could never give to anyone else was…
“Pregnant?” I asked.
“I know things didn’t turn out well between us, but I couldn’t get rid of this child,” she said. “I just couldn’t. The thought just… made me cry. I concealed it from my Aunt as long as I could, but once she tried to put me in a corset the secret came out.”
“Where did those marks on your arms come from?” I asked.
“That was just her way of punishing me. Corporal punishment when I didn’t fall in line with what she wanted.”
I would never hit a woman, but I’d kill her aunt if I ever got the chance to meet her.
“I don’t expect you to stand by me and I sure as hell don’t expect you to accept me back. But you deserved to know what was going on.”
My eyes raked down her form, noticing how baggy her shirt was on her. I took the mug of coffee from between her fingers and slowly laid her back into the cushions of the couch. My hand ran up her thigh, my eyes watching her as my fingers slid up her shirt.
I felt my palm descend around the small bump protruding behind her belly button as my world came to a stop.
I was going to be a father.
My eyes connected with Ava and I could see how scared she was. How panicked she looked and how young she seemed again. Her marred hands trembled, but her skin puckered at my touch. A heat drifted along her cheeks, painting her skin a beautiful pink as I leaned toward her stomach.
My lips pressed into her stomach as her breath hitched, the warmth of my lips penetrating her cold skin.
“Hello there, little one. I’m your father,” I said.
I kissed Ava’s stomach one last time before I rose my face to settle in front of hers.
“What are you doing?” Ava asked breathlessly.
“I need you to listen to me closely, okay?” I asked.
Ava nodded as a tear escaped the corner of her eye, traveling down her cheek and finding its death on her shoulder.
“Do you have your stuff in your car?” I asked.
“I do,” she said breathlessly.
“Are you still planning on going back to your family?” I asked.
“No,” she said with a whisper. “I can’t. Not even for my brothers. My father would—”
“Enough with your father. He doesn’t control you any longer, is that understood?”
“Yes,” she said. “I get it.”
“Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to bring your stuff inside and set up in any room you want. You are carrying my child, which means you are under my protection. Whatever you need, I’ll make sure you have it. Whatever doctor’s visits you need, I’ll make sure I’m there with you. I want to be a part of this child’s life, Ava. But more importantly, I want to be a part of yours.”
Ava let out a shuddering breath as another tear fell down her skin.
“Are you serious?” she asked.
> I leaned forward and encompassed her lips in a heated kiss as my cock swelled for her.
“Yes,” I said. “I’m dead serious.”
I looked into Ava’s sparkling eyes and saw my entire world. This beautiful, passionate soul was carrying my child, and there was nothing that was going to stand in my way of being a part of this. Ava’s hands rushed to my hair, yanking me back down to her lips as my hands traveled up her shirt. I could taste her passion for me. Her zest for life and her want for me still. I wanted her more than I could stand. I craved her more than I should have.
And now, we were going to have a baby.
The mountain was safe, Ava was back in my arms, and I felt more impregnable than ever. I tasted the whole of my future on the tip of her tongue as I picked her up, cradling her closely into my body. She shook with desire as her skin heated against mine. Our lips swelled underneath the pressure we bestowed upon each other as I carried her back to my room.
I had Ava back, and there was no way I was letting her go.
There was no way I was letting either of them go.
Twenty-Four
Ava
Tears fell down my face as Travis carried us into his bathroom. He set me down onto my feet, his hands roaming my body. He cupped my stomach, cradling it in his touch as my hands worked his clothes off his body. His skin was electrifying, setting a fire within my gut I’d dreamed about over the last three months.
Figuring out I was pregnant was the leverage I used to get away from my aunt, but it wasn’t easy. Once she found out I was pregnant, she was determined to have it given up for adoption. So I wouldn’t bring shame to my family. Shockingly enough, it took my uncle having pity on me and “forgetting” to lock the mansion gates that allowed me to get away.
Had it not been for his “forgetful mind,” I had no idea how I would’ve gotten away.
I fled to the only place I knew I would be safe, but I didn’t know how Travis would react. I was scared he would turn me away. Be angry at me for dropping off the face of the earth and not coming to see him. Never would I thought his reaction to my being pregnant would’ve been this.
Standing naked before him as the hot water of his shower wet our bodies.
My hands slid up and down his muscles, taking him all in like it was our first time. He was such a sight for sore eyes and the warm water soothed my aching hands.
He backed me into the water, wetting my hair and running his hands along my body. He dropped to his knees, peppering kisses down my curves as his lips landed onto my stomach. He placed kiss after kiss on my little bump as his hands pressed me into the tiles of his shower.
Then, his hands spread my legs.
I gripped at his hand as his tongue parted my pussy folds. I was dripping for him. More than I ever had in my life. I rolled against his lips as he worked me expertly, shaking my legs and rendering me a moaning, gasping mess. Water poured down my body, soaking me to the core as his tongue flicked my clit. He dove into my depths and lapped me up, drinking down my juices and pushing me to a precipice I desperately wanted to fall over.
“Travis. I’ve missed you. So much. Please. Please let me… oh. Shit. I’m… it’s… I—”
My climax rendered me silent. My jaw unhinged in pleasure as Travis pinned me to the wall. My legs fell out from underneath me, his arms supporting the whole of my weight. My hands curled into the tendrils of his hair, my nails scratching his scalp. I pulled him as deep into my pussy as I could get him, shaking on his lips as he rode me through my high.
I leaned against the tile wall, breathing heavily as he kissed back up my body.
“Come here,” he said. “I’ve got you.”
We slid back to the floor and I straddled his lap. His cock rubbed between my folds, slicking itself with my juices. I ground into him deeply, moving the tip of his dick closer to where I wanted it the most.
He slid in with a pop, pulling groans from both of us as my forehead fell into Travis’.
“I love you,” I said.
My eyes fluttered open and found his beautiful amber stare smiling at me.
“I love you, too,” Travis said.
His hands gripped my ass, rolling me deeply into his body. My clit raked against his skin, sending me spiraling for our second round. My knees planted into the floor as the hot water battered against our skin, our lips lazily kissing any inch of skin we could find on one another. His callused hands scaled my body, rubbing my back and smacking my ass. Encouraging me to roll faster as I bounced in his lap.
I wrapped my hands around his neck and clung to him tightly. My breasts bounced against his chest and his cock throbbed against my walls. I gasped and moaned into his ear, capturing his earlobe between my teeth. I felt him groan deeply, a carnal desire pouring from him as he moved quickly.
He planted my back onto the bottom of the shower, the hot water cascading around his muscles and dripping off his chiseled form. He was breathtaking. The perfect vision of a man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.
I reached up to cup his cheek, his lips moving to kiss the palm of my hand.
The suddenly, Travis pulled back. He snapped his hips into me, shooting a searing jolt of pleasure through my body. My fingernails dug into his back as he pounded into my skin, my toes running up and down the backs of his legs. I could feel every single muscle in his body working for my pleasure, dripping with life-giving water as the two of us writhed against one another.
“Ava. Fuck. Your pussy’s so tight. You feel… amazing.”
“Fuck me harder, Travis. Make me forget my last name.”
I saw an animal burst forth from his vision. He reared back onto his knees and grasped my ankles, throwing them over his shoulders. He slid deeper into my pussy. Deeper than I ever thought possible as he grazed along something that made me cry out in pleasure.
“There it is,” he said. “I found it.”
He folded me in half, spreading my legs so he could feel my swelling stomach against his. Time after time, his cock raked across that fiery spot, sending jolts of pleasure ricocheting through my limbs. My jaw unhinged in pleasure as Travis grinned down at me.
I felt my walls fluttering around his cock, milking him for everything he had as my back arched from the floor.
“I feel it. I feel you. Cum for me, Ava. Cum around my cock and take what you want.”
“Travis! Yes! Holy… fuck. Oh. Shit. Stop. Stop. It’s too good. I can’t… oh.”
My body fought between stopping and going. Continuing and bringing things to a halt. My body didn’t know if it was in pain or if it was being enjoyed. My toes curled, and my eyes rolled into the back of my head as Travis’ fingertips dipped between my folds. He flicked my clit, circling it with his thumb as he pounded into my hips.
It threw me over the edge for a third time, rendering me useless as he spilled himself into me.
He grunted and groaned, his cock throbbing deep within mine. I could feel his hot threads of cum filling me up, shooting from between my legs and dripping down my ass crack. He filled me until my body couldn’t take anymore, then he pulled his cock out and continued to cum against my skin.
My vision tunneled with pleasure as his entire body shook.
He fell on top of me, his forearms holding him up off my stomach. Our lips connected sweetly as we breathed one another’s air. We panted, heaving for air as the steam of the shower swirled around us. The room was spinning and my eyes felt heavy. I could feel our love for one another dripping from between my thighs as the shower washed it all down the drain.
“Holy shit,” I said breathlessly.
Travis chuckled into the crook of my neck.
“Guess we should wash up,” he said.
“I don’t know if I can. I can’t move,” I said.
“No need. I can clean you up.”
I laid there as Travis moved, leaving me vulnerable to the shower water. It battered down onto my skin, turning me a crimson red as I closed my eyes. I felt a washcloth desce
nd to my skin, circling around my body as I sighed with relief. Travis took time in washing me down, caressing every part of me and kissing my lips whenever he could.
“Do you know what room you want to sleep in?” he asked.
The question caused my eyes to flutter open as I caught his gaze.
“Got any room in your closet?” I asked.
The grin that crawled across his face caused his eyes to sparkle in a way I’d never seen before.
“I could make room,” he said.
“Good,” I said as his hand dipped between my thighs. “Oh… that’s so good.”
Epilogue
Travis
“Hey, look who it is!”
“Well, if it isn’t the belle of the ball and the beast of the underworld.”
“Are they talking about you or me?” Ava asked.
“Pretty sure you’re the belle and I’m the beast,” I said.
“That’s not very kind.”
“It’s Jasper and Leo. Did you expect any different?” I asked.
My brothers came striding up and wrapped their arms around Ava. She was seven months pregnant with our flourishing baby girl and looked more radiant than ever. Ever since my parents decided to take up permanent residence in Florida, my brothers and I had grown closer. I wanted my daughter to know her uncles. I wanted Ava to become a part of this family.
But most of all, I wanted all three of the business owners to have a close relationship with one another.
“How are you feeling, beautiful?” Jasper asked.
“You look good. That a new dress?” Leo asked.
“It is new, yes. Because I’m ballooning faster than my closet can keep up,” Ava said. “And thank you, Jasper. That means a lot.”
“Have you guys gotten everything together for the tax season? It’s gonna hit us sooner than you think,” I said.
“We can talk shop later,” Jasper said. “Right now, I want to hear all about how this last month has gone.”
“Yes. How is my little niece doing?” Leo asked. “She still using your kidneys as kickboxing bags?”
“She’s flipped a bit, so now she’s on my bladder. I’m two more well-placed kicks away from needing diapers myself,” Ava said.
6+ Us Makes Eight_A Teacher and Single Dad Romance Page 58
