Alibi by Nicole Edwards
Chapter Two
Travis Walker propped his head on hishand and stared down at the beautiful woman still sleeping beside him, the soft morning light peeking in through the window allowing him to see. It was one of those rare moments, the kind where he could simply remain still, his brain not erupting in chaos, allowing him to enjoy the peacefulness.
These past few months, or maybe the past few years, had done a number on him mentally. He was dealing with so much, and it seemed every time he turned around, there was one more thing to add to his to-do list. A wife, a husband, five kids, a highly lucrative business … they all wanted a piece of him, but it seemed there was rarely enough to go around. He wasn’t complaining, because he had a great life. Rather, he was just more aware of these rare moments.
Travis watched for long minutes, waiting until Kylie stirred, her internal clock signaling it was time to start the day. Because Gage had gotten up with Maddox a short time ago, Travis was going to take advantage of these few minutes he had alone with his wife.
“Mornin’,” he whispered when she rolled onto her back, her arm sliding up over her eyes as though she wasn’t ready for the day to intrude.
“Already?” she mumbled around a smile.
Travis tugged the sheet gently, allowing the soft Egyptian cotton to glide down and reveal one dusky pink nipple.
“What are you doin’?” she whispered, her arm sliding away, eyes opening, adjusting to the light.
He smiled, loving the way her nipple puckered as though beckoning him. “Startin’ the day right.”
“Kinda like you ended the day right with Gage in the shower last night?”
Travis leaned down, licked her nipple as he recalled those sinful few minutes he’d had alone with Gage. “Exactly like that.”
“Anyone ever tell you you’re spoiled?”
He chuckled, sucking lightly on her nipple, then applying more pressure until she was moaning. His hand joined the party, gliding over smooth, warm skin to cup her other breast, kneading the generous mound.
Travis proceeded to wake her fully with his hands and his mouth, lapping, licking, sucking, until she was whimpering and pulling at him.
“Is this where you want me?” he asked, moving over her, settling his hips in the cradle of her thighs.
Another whimper was her response, Kylie’s fingertips digging into his biceps, her knees clasping his hips.
Without preamble, Travis slid into her silky heat, enveloped by the tight velvety clasp of her pussy. He grunted as pleasure consumed him.
He wasn’t sure what prompted him to move slowly, to take his time, but it felt like the perfect moment. Brushing Kylie’s hair back from her face, Travis smiled down at her as he pumped his hips, pushing in slow and deep, enjoying the way her body locked down on him, those sweet moans coming from her. It wouldn’t last long, he knew that much. Kylie was a wildcat in the bedroom, and she preferred fast and dirty to slow and sweet, but he would take this for as long as she would allow it.
When she began rocking beneath him, attempting to quicken the pace, he knew she’d be issuing orders any second, and just thinking about it made him grin to himself.
“Travis,” she whispered, her hands moving to his ass, jerking him closer when he sank in deep. “More … please … more.”
He punched his hips forward, listening for her satisfied ahh, yes before doing it again and again until he had to put a hand on the headboard to hold them in place. He drove into her deeper, faster, watching her the entire time, loving the way her back bowed, her breasts thrust upward, the sleek column of her neck stretched as she twisted and contorted in a desperate effort to find her release. He wasn’t giving her nearly enough and he knew it, but Travis wanted to drag it out until she was overwhelmed by the simple pleasure, crazy with the need to come.
It didn’t take long until her nails were digging into his flesh, her body vibrating, her pleas coming faster. Only then did Travis shift positions, pushing up to his knees, adjusting so her feet were planted on his shoulders, allowing him to grab her hips and hold her lower half off the bed so he could pound into her hard and deep.
“Yes,” she screamed. “God, yes.”
With every driving thrust, her breasts bounced, an erotic sight that always got him. In fact, everything about her got him. Thanks to five pregnancies, Kylie’s body wasn’t the same as it had been before, but the truth was, Travis loved it more now than he had in the beginning. She was curvy and soft in all the right places, and never more beautiful. He knew it had something to do with the fact she was confident in her own skin, having grown into the role as mother and wife with the ease of a woman who knew what she was doing.
And she turned him on like no other woman ever could.
“You ready to come for me?” he growled softly, his fingertips digging gently into her flesh.
“Yes … yes … yes…” she moaned with every thrust of his hips.
Travis shifted again, bringing her feet down from his shoulders, slipping his arms beneath her knees and leaning forward, bending her in half as he fucked her, giving her everything he had.
Travis was aware his lovely wife didn’t want sweet and gentle. She wanted to fuck, to enjoy the pleasure assaulting every nerve ending. He knew this because she wasn’t scared to tell them as much.
It was then Kylie grabbed a pillow, placed it over her head, and screamed his name, muffling the sound so as not to alert the kids.
Unable to resist, Travis followed her right over that precarious edge, slamming into her one final time and draining himself.
When he flopped onto the bed, he pulled her onto her side, holding her close, kissing her forehead, and doing his best to catch his breath.
“Good mornin’,” he whispered.
This time, she giggled, nipped his chin, and said, “Yes, I believe it is.”
A couple of hours later, after Travis and Kylie had gotten up, showered—separately, much to Travis’s dismay—and joined Gage in making breakfast and getting the kids ready for the day, Travis was packing up the last of the snacks Kylie insisted on taking with them to the festival.
Despite their afternoon plans, they’d been doing their best to entertain the kids, but when it became apparent the munchkins were unable to focus on anything except for the upcoming Fantasy Festival being held in downtown Coyote Ridge, Travis decided it was time to get the festivities underway. Or rather, he’d informed the kids they would be leaving at exactly noon, which meant they had to watch the clock so they weren’t late.
“Daddy-O! It’s time! It’s time! Let’s go!”
Travis smiled as he tucked his cell phone in his pocket and grabbed the smart key to the Cadillac Escalade.
“I’m comin’,” he called back, hefting the duffel bag onto his shoulder.
“Hurry! Hurry!” Kate chanted, echoing her brother’s excitement.
For the past five minutes, ever since Kylie told the kids they needed to get their shoes on so they could leave, the house had been filled with whoops and hollers, the munchkins eager to get to their destination.
With key in hand, Travis stepped into the foyer to find the three oldest kids sitting dutifully on the bottom step of the stairs, their little butts wiggling with excitement.
He watched them for a moment, teasing them with his eyes, then laughed. “All right. Let’s get on with it.”
“Yay!” They were instantly on their feet, stomping toward the door, barely avoiding trampling one another in the process.
“Kylie! Baby, you ready?” Travis called up the stairs.
“We’re comin’!”
Kylie and Gage were in charge of getting Haden and Maddox ready, so Travis headed out to get Kate, Avery, and Kade buckled into their car seats.
“I’m gonna play with Derrick today,” Kate informed him.
“Is that right?”
“Nuh-uh,” Kade argued. “I’m gonna play with Derrick first.”
Travis tuned out the ensuing argument, a talent he’d acquired from having six brothers, and one he’d perfected after having multiple children. Over the years, he’d gotten pretty good at keeping an ear out for critical moments when he had to intervene. Otherwise, he would leave it to them to figure out.
“Are you gonna play with Derrick, too, sweetness?” Travis asked Avery as he secured her in her seat.
She nodded, smiled.
Avery was his sweet girl, the one who was quiet and shy, rarely instigating, but at the same time, smart enough to know to never back down. And he was pretty sure she’d adopted the same method of dealing with their arguments as Travis had.
Chuckling, he leaned in and kissed her on the forehead.
When he turned and closed the door, he saw Kylie and Gage coming out of the house, locking things up behind them. Gage had a kid on each hip, while Kylie had two more bags, in addition to all the ones Travis had already loaded up.
“Y’all good if I go?” he asked. “I’m gonna swing through and pick up Pop.”
He got a nod in response, so he offered a small wave and hopped in the SUV.
Twenty minutes later, with his father riding shotgun and three of his crazy kids raising a ruckus in the backseat, he was pulling into one of the empty spots at his cousin Rex’s bed-and-breakfast. He’d checked in with him ahead of time to see if they could secure a few spots for family, knowing the festival would cause everything else to fill up fast.
Gage and Kylie were already there and in the process of getting Maddox and Haden situated in the enormous wagon they used whenever they carted the kids to the park, which was quite often being that it was the only place that seemed to satisfy all of them at the same time.
“You want in, too, sweetness?” Travis asked Avery when he helped her out of her seat.
“Wanna walk,” she said in her soft-spoken way.
Travis glanced at Gage, shook his head to relay her answer since they never knew which way she would go. Sometimes she liked to exert her independence, others she wanted to be babied. Looked like she was a big girl today.
Once Kate and Kade were out of the SUV, Travis helped Gage grab the backpacks that contained all their things. They bungeed a couple to the wagon, the others being shouldered by them.
“Hope y’all are ready for this,” Curtis told the kids, taking Kate’s hand and then Kade’s, while Avery latched on to her mom’s.
“We are!” Kade confirmed in that boisterous voice of his.
“Good.”
“You wanna know a secret?” Kylie asked, falling into step with them.
“What’s that, darlin’?” Travis put his arm around her shoulder, pulled her to his side.
“I was hopin’ to get a little quiet time today,” she said, her cornflower-blue eyes sparkling.
“Quiet time?” Gage snorted a laugh. “Where do you hope to find this at?”
“I told Jess we’d sneak away to do a little shopping, maybe splurge on some coffee and a funnel cake.”
Travis ignored the unease that slithered down his spine at the thought of Kylie going off by herself. Although he would’ve preferred to keep her and the kids locked up in the house, safe and secure and under his protective thumb, he knew he couldn’t do that. They deserved to be out enjoying life, not hiding away from the possible horrors this life could bring.
“Well, if it helps, we’ve got the kids today,” Gage told her. “Your only job is to enjoy yourself.”
Travis glared at Gage, hating that he could be so lax about it.
When Gage shot a look back his way, Travis refrained from saying anything. After all, he had promised he would stop being so overprotective. It had been almost four months since Kate was kidnapped, and no one had seen or heard a peep from Juliet Prince, the woman responsible, in the time since. While he had his suspicions she was behind the text he received, leading him to JJ’s house prior to it blowing up, no one had clued him in one way or the other. He knew his cousin Brantley was working to locate Juliet, and he also knew Brantley was keeping the details close to the vest.
Despite his internal alarm bells, Travis was heeding everyone’s advice, backing off the search and doing his best not to look over his shoulder at every turn.
Gage nodded his head toward Kylie, a silent request for Travis to chime in.
“Yeah,” Travis agreed, hiding his reluctance. “We’ve got this. You have fun.”
It was her appreciative smile that made him feel both worse and better about encouraging her.