Free Texas Heat (Stubborn Texas Siblings Book 2) by Faith Loveright Page A

watch the two of you get all mushy.
Nor do I wish to watch you make out like a couple of sex
starved teenagers.”
    “Stay…
Keep doing your knitting,” Travis said, not taking
his eyes off Laurie’s face. “I’ll just take my wife to bed for
the night. That way you don’t have to worry about
watching us go at it like the newlyweds we are and we can
make love without an audience.”
    When he swept her up into his arms, Laurie moaned and
rested her head against his chest, giving in to the need to
touch her tongue to his lips. Travis groaned and tangled his
tongue with hers, sucking it into his mouth.
    After the loving was over close to an hour later, Travis
turned to look at the woman at his side. He reached out and
brushed her bangs off her forehead, tucking the strands
behind her ear. “Run away with me, Laurie… Marry me. I
can take good care of you. You don’t have to work another
day in your life if you don’t want to.”
    Laurie sighed and snuggled into his chest, playing with his
chest hairs with her fingertips. “I love what I do,” she said
softly. “Fixing cars is the one thing I’m really good at in
life. When I’m frustrated or can’t think straight, the puzzle
of fixing a problem in someone’s engine is the only thing
that makes it better for me. I’d go crazy if I couldn’t work
on cars. My dream is to rebuild the older classics from the
ground up… taking a piece of trash that doesn’t even run
and making it into the hottest, fastest car in town.”
    “So you can keep the shop after we get married,” he said,
compromising. “Just say we can always be like this
together,” he begged, kissing the curve of her neck.
“You’re just saying that because it would make your mom
happy,” she said, sighing sadly.
    “No… I’m saying it because it would make me happy,” he
told her honestly. “I want to be with you, Laurie. For real
and for always. I didn’t expect to feel this way when I first
suggested that you come here with me… At the time, it was
all about the sexual tension and nothing else. But
somewhere along the lines, it became about a whole lot
more, and I’m sure I’m not the only one that feels this way.
Admit that you love me, Laurie…”
“Heaven help me,” she muttered in a breathy voice. “You
know I do.”

Chapter 11
    Travis lifted Laurie up in the air and spun her around with a
grin from one ear to the other. “Sweetheart, we’re going to
be so happy together,” he promised as he lowered her feet
back down to the ground with her body held up tightly
against his own.
“I do believe this is love,” she whimpered when he pressed
a kiss to her neck. “But I can’t marry you…”
    A scowl crossed his face and he stepped away from her
with his arms wrapped around his own chest in a reassuring
hug. It was a lame attempt to mend the heartache that had
zinged through him with those four terrible words.
“Why the Hell not? If you love me, what’s to stop us from
doing something about it?”
    “Don’t put unnecessary pressure on me, Travis. My
brothers would have a fit if we got married. They’d say we
barely know each other. We only met a couple of weeks
ago. Eric lost his first wife in a terrible accident, and as a
result, he’s so overprotective of everyone he loves, he often
goes to unnecessary extremes to protect us… even from
ourselves without bothering to listen to all of the
information before he decides that we are going to get hurt
unless he steps in and does something about it. He blames
himself to this day for not being there and doing something
to save Victoria. My little brother hasn’t been the same
since our parents died… He seems to have a death wish and
fights Eric at every turn… But he’s even louder and more
obnoxious in his need to protect me. He sees it as his job
with Dad gone to make sure that no one ever hurts me.”
    “You make it sound like
a hopeless case… I’m not giving
up on you, Laurie. I’ve never felt like