“What do you mean?” Ally asked, confused.
Travis crossed his arms in front of him and his brows narrowed, spearing Ally with a dark glare. “He made you quit school so he could finish. Then he made you give up your writing to work even more hours at a goddamn bar in a shitty neighborhood. He shamed you into doing exactly what he needed. Did he ever give a damn about you, what you wanted? Obviously not, or he wouldn’t have been hopping into another woman’s bed.”
Ally opened her mouth, wanting to tell him that Rick hadn’t technically hopped into another woman’s bed. He’d used theirs. But she wasn’t so sure her slimy ex hadn’t done some hopping, too. “It wasn’t all him,” she admitted reluctantly. “I wanted security, too. That was the plan. To finally have a life that wasn’t chaos, a life where I didn’t have to worry about pinching every single penny I had.”
“And was your life always so chaotic?” Travis asked as he stepped forward, stopping a few feet away from her.
“Yes. I grew up with one parent, and she was an alcoholic, drunk more often than she was sober. So yes, I wanted a normal life.” Ally’s heart was racing, and she took a deep breath and let it out. It wasn’t that she didn’t know that she was a codependent mess sometimes, but it wasn’t a topic she really wanted to discuss with someone like Travis. Actually, she didn’t really discuss it with anyone.
“So you busted your ass to make the wrong guy happy, a man who didn’t give a shit about what actually made you happy,” Travis stated flatly. “So when is it your turn, Ms. Caldwell?”
“I’ll have my chance as soon as I straighten everything out,” Ally argued.
“Will you? I wonder?” Travis said hoarsely.
“I can’t change the past. Yes…I was stupid. Yes…I was gullible. I need to learn from my mistakes and move on,” Ally said hesitantly.
“You’re a pragmatic organizer on the surface, but a dreamer inside,” Travis observed. “But one thing I don’t understand is why you took his shit for so long. You’re not the type of woman to put up with crap from anyone. I should know. He must have been one hell of a manipulator.”
Ally shifted uncomfortably. “He was.” Rick was never openly hostile or angry. Ally could have dealt with that by kneeing him in the balls and walking away. But he had a way of making her feel guilty and responsible for everything, and he’d played on her vulnerabilities. “He was very good at it.” Ally sighed. “I guess I wanted the dream, and I had everything planned out perfectly. It just didn’t work out exactly the way I had planned.” She’d dealt with everything Rick threw at her just for the possibility that some day she might have a normal life, making excuses for him just like she’d made excuses for her alcoholic mother all her life. She told herself life would get better, that Rick would be a better man once he wasn’t under so much stress. It wasn’t until the moment she’d seen him screwing another woman that she realized that she’d been the one living a lie. He’d always been an ass**le. Seeing him with another woman had finally shaken her into reality.
“You’re a smart woman, smart enough to get anything you want,” Travis said huskily, stepping close enough to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Did you love him?”
Ally glanced up at Travis, their gazes locking together, and she was unable to look away. His expression was stoic, but his eyes were heated with a mesmerizing stare that made every thought except him fly out her brain. “I-I don’t think I ever knew him. I think I loved the idea of a plan and a normal life.” Travis was close enough to smell now, and Ally stepped back for her own self-protection, her back hitting the living room wall. She’d already made an ass of herself the night before. Travis was her boss, the billionaire boss from Hell, and she needed to remember exactly who he was. For some reason, she had memory problems when he got this close, like everything in her body overheated and short-circuited.
Travis moved forward and braced one hand against the wall beside her head, the index finger of his other hand moving in a pattern from her ear to her cheek. “Ask me to kiss you again, Alison,” he demanded, his finger tracing her lips.
Ally wanted to break eye contact, wanted to run as fast and far away from Travis as she could possibly get. The grim expression on his face was at odds with the torridity of his dark, liquid eyes: a look that both frightened and enthralled her.
She didn’t want to think about his rejection the night before, or why he wanted her to ask again. Finally, she simply asked, “Why?”
Travis took the coffee from her hand and set it on a small table next to him, his eyes never leaving her as he tipped her chin up, his thumb stroking over her skin as he answered, “Because I’ve been waiting all night for you to ask me again, this time when you’re sober. Ask me,” he rasped demandingly, his breath moving in and out of his lungs as though he’d just finished a long, hard run.
Oh, how Ally wanted to heed this one command from Travis. She wanted to feel those hard, demanding lips on hers more than she wanted her next breath. But she whispered, “I can’t. You’re my boss. I’m your employee. We can’t do this.”
“The hell we can’t. You’re fired,” he grumbled.
Maybe this was the one time that Ally appreciated the fact that Travis canned her on a daily basis. “Fine,” she answered, grasping his dark, immaculate tie and yanking his mouth down to hers, unable to overcome the temptation to touch him, have him touch her. Her eyes slid closed, her senses immediately intoxicated by the feel of his hot, demanding mouth covering hers, his insistent tongue overcoming any resistance or hesitance she may have had earlier. She opened to him, and he plundered, taking what he wanted, and at the same time giving her exactly what she needed.
Ally moaned into his kiss, her hands spearing into his coarse, dark hair, shivering at the feel of the strands sifting between her fingers. He palmed her ass with one hand, brought her up hard against his muscular, heated body. His fingers grasped the clip in her hair and pulled, releasing a cascade of blonde locks down her back. Fisting her hair, he tilted her head back further, allowing him complete access to her mouth.
Sweet Jesus, I’m in trouble!
Travis kissed like a man possessed, and Ally responded, giving back exactly what he gave to her, lust crashing over her body like a tidal wave. Her core flooded with liquid heat, and she rubbed her body against him in frustrated passion, irritated because she needed to feel his heated skin against hers. His heavy suit jacket kept her hands from touching his bare skin, and she wanted it gone. She wanted everything gone.