Fix Her Up (Hot & Hammered #1)(70)

“Sure, Mr. Ford.”

A moment later, Travis closed the door. Obviously deciding to ignore the suspicious look on Georgie’s face, he stooped down and threw her over his shoulder. “What?”

“What?” Georgie fumbled to keep the sacred chicken parm upright. “I thought we were supposed to be courting the family-friendly crowd. There’s nothing family friendly about your . . .”

“My what?”

Georgie felt her face heat. “The towel hides nothing.”

Her world righted itself as Travis set her down on the cool counter, stepping between her legs with a wicked smile. “Are we talking about my dick?”

“The one and only.” God, he was so close with that flirting smile and he smelled like her soap. Was this man really in her kitchen, planning to feed her and deflower her? All on the same night? “I—I mean, you can’t exactly hide it.”

“Nah.” He tucked his tongue into his cheek. “It doesn’t hide well.”

Oh, mama. “Right. But, I guess, as long as the network thinks I’m the only one seeing it, you’re fine.”

A shadow crossed his eyes. “That’s right.”

Georgie wished she hadn’t just reminded him their relationship was based on reaching a goal. Wanting to bring them back to the comfortable place they’d been, she lifted her hands to settle them on his chest, but got cold feet and left them suspended.

“What’s that?” Travis frowned at her hands. “You seem hesitant to touch me. Like you’re not sure I want it.”

I’ve been dreaming about touching you for so long, having the opportunity seems surreal. “No, I—”

“That hug you gave me yesterday in your parents’ living room?” His palms skimmed up her thighs, setting off a low tug in her belly. “I’ve been jerking off thinking about it. Jerking off to a hug, Georgie. Your hands need to report for duty.”

She slowly settled her palms on his pecs, her fingertips sifting through now-dry hair. “Yes, Travis.”

A ripple moved down his muscled chest and stomach. “Keep them there.” Giving her a dark look, he reached to the side and opened the takeout bag, removing the contents with jerky movements. She heard the clacking of plastic forks and knives, but couldn’t look away from Travis’s flexing triceps long enough to deduce what he was doing. Until he held a bite of saucy, cheesy chicken to her mouth. “Eat. I’m at the end of my rope.”

Georgie accepted the bite, humming as she swallowed. “I have to tell you something.”

“Yeah?”

“I signed a lease on an office today.” His movements stilled, pride lighting up his eyes. It was breathtaking. She wanted to cuddle that reaction to her breasts and never let it go. It made her want to have the same pride in him. To give it back.

“Damn. Congratulations, baby girl.”

She wrestled with a smile. “The realtor was really put together and had that whole air-of-indifference thing happening, you know? When I was trying to get the courage to tell her I wanted the space, I thought of you standing up for me at dinner.”

He searched her face. “You did?”

“Yeah. It gave me a push.” She surrendered to the impulse to throw her arms around Travis’s neck, wincing when a bite of chicken got squashed between them. But when she tried to pull back, Travis dropped the plastic fork and wrapped his arms around her. “So I’m returning the favor now,” she whispered. “Just a quick reminder that you’re more than just baseball. It can still be something you love. Something you play and enjoy. And then you can return to you. You’re enough without it.”

His breath gusted into her neck. “Am I?”

“You bought my favorite dinner and turned my climbing tree into a fireplace.” She stroked her fingers over the hair curling at his neck. “You’re batting a thousand in the gestures department, Ford.”

Travis lifted his head, his serious expression slowly turning to amusement. “Was that an intentional baseball reference?”

“I was trying to stay on theme.”

Georgie squealed when Travis dragged her off the counter, urging her thighs around his hips. Her neck lost power and his tongue immediately took advantage, finding and exploiting her sensitive skin. Carrying her into the living room, Travis’s lips curved in her hair. “We’re just about done being fucking cute for tonight, Georgie, so I hope you got it out of your system.”

“Are we?”

“Yes.” His eyes turned serious as he lowered her onto the couch, his mouth hovering a mere inch above hers. “We are.”

She couldn’t squeeze her legs together with Travis’s hips in the way, but God she needed to. Needed to put pressure on the ache he’d tempted to life. The charming man with vulnerabilities to spare was fading out, leaving a famished, sexual being in his place, licking his lips and looking at her top to bottom. “What are we going to be instead?”

“Bad.” He produced the condom he’d tucked into the waistband of his towel, then snapped it off, dropping the white terry cloth beside the couch. “Really bad, baby girl.”





Chapter Twenty-One


As Travis flattened Georgie underneath him on the couch, the weight of hundreds of one-night stands pressed down on his back, catching him off guard. They dropped in to haunt him because nothing—no one—had ever felt like her. And with the taste of her mouth turning him into a hungering animal, he wondered what inferior high he’d been chasing when this one was out there.