"Your face looks a hell of a lot better than it did 48 hours ago" Travis laughed whilst sipping on a black espresso coffee
"Thanks, apparently your 'guys' thought a girl with a beat up face might offend 'o chefe'" Taylor popped a grape between her lips as Travis watched from behind his shades and hummed at the sight.
She had learned the hard way that a starved body did not appreciate being stuffed with food so she took it slowly and softly and if that enticed Travis in the process well all the better.
"Trust that every one of those cuts or bruises were avenged" he smiled whilst running a finger absentmindedly over his battered knuckles and this time it was Taylors turn to reach for his hand and place a kiss on the skin that had been torn in her name.
"How are you here?"
48 hours ago she had been dragged out of the basement leaving Travis bleeding on the floor and completely at the mercy of his captors.
Taking another sip of his coffee he drummed his finger tips against the table and then tapped his teeth together. The shades making it hard for Taylor to work out what was going on in those beautiful, expressive eyes of his
"Like I said, my guys had the place surrounded, as soon as we knew you were safely in the SUV they moved in, we took our revenge then hopped on a flight here and er... here we are"
"So we're in Portugal?"
"Welcome querida"
"Why'd you bring me here? Without so much as a word?" Taylor crossed her arms over the thin, lilac sundress she'd been given as she awoke in the back of the car having landed in Portugal.
It had taken ages to manoeuvre herself into it, afraid of who was watching and who could see what.
Once she'd finally dressed she was handed makeup and told to cover the marks and she had to admit her mind had gone to dark places as she considered what kind of man would ask for her to be delivered to him in such a flimsy piece of clothing whilst wearing makeup.
"Why didn't you give me the option to come or stay?
"Because I couldn't risk that you would stay. Miami is not safe for you anymore"
"It never was"
Travis nodded his head and then tapped his chin with his finger "I can take care of you here"
"Won't the guys from the basement know to find you here?"
"Yes, but I work for them now so it's to be expected"
Taylors jaw dropped open in surprise "You work for them? Even though you 'took revenge' on their men. What ever that means" his knuckles telling her exactly what that meant
"I'm a man of my word Tay, I said if they let you go they could have me, the ass kicking wasn't part of the deal so they had to pay for that but nothing else has changed"
"So why bring me out here? Why kidnap me? Is it because you knew I would say no to living in a foreign country as a gangsters 'moll'. I loved my mom and I'm proud of the woman she was and I'm proud to be like her in so many ways but not that... I will never be that"
Taylor took another grape between her lips and then crunched it loudly, lifting the crystal champagne flute to her mouth and then sipping at the mimosa she had recently been poured.
"I'm not going to sit and worry every day that the police might show up at the door, not even for you"
"They never will"
She cocked an eyebrow at his arrogance as he stretched out his long legs and looked as though he was settling in for an argument he was confident he would win. That confidence did nothing but cause Taylors stubbornness to kick in full throttle.
"Oh so you'll be working somewhere, doing something completely legal then?"
"No, I won't be putting on a suit and going to work 9-5 in a bank or something if that's what you're asking" he sipped his espresso and appeared to gaze far into the distance
"So how do you know the police will never come knocking? How do you know someone won't sell you out or you won't make a mistake..."
His head span to look at her, his lips curled in disgust
"I don't make mistakes Taylor, never question that again"
"Never tell me what to do again"
"Well never ask silly questions again"
"Well never kidnap me again!!!"
"Fine!" He crossed his arms over his wide chest
"Fine" Taylor repeated whilst bitting down on her bottom lip, preventing the smile from widening across her face
"So you're staying then, it's decided" pushing himself up, he grimaced as some of his wounds screamed with the sudden movement
"No, we need to talk about this, you don't get to decide my life for me" but he had turned and was now heading inside. "Travis! Where are you going?! We need to talk about this now!"
Taylor jumped up from her seat and ran so she was standing in front of him, her hand pressed to his chest. "This conversation isn't over".
The final word caught in her throat as Travis' hands, quick as lightning dipped under the hem of her skirt and with two handfuls of her ass pulled her into him
"Call it paused then because I know I said I liked to hold off until I couldn't hold off anymore well, the final bit of my self control just snapped. I'm going inside to save us both the embarrassment of me taking you here, in front of our staff"
She barely had time to breath let alone speak before he had lifted her to him and then stalked into the house, moving as fast as his wounds would allow
"You're all talk Kelce" she whispered against his mouth "there's no way you are going to be able to take anything, the shape you're in right now"
"Oh it's going to hurt baby girl but the pain just makes it so much better for me. I hope you have your strength back because I have been waiting for this since the day i first met you.
* only the epilogue left
