Footprints on my Heart

Chapter 24 -- Battu

battu(bah-tew') This describes certain jumps and steps, for example, jumping and landing from two feet, or a specific movement that is usually performed at the 'barre' - to stand on one leg, the other leg will then beat against it.
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I must have fallen asleep or at least drifted into another dimension because I did not hear Travis come back into the room. I did feel how his kiss lingered on my ear, his tongue gently rimming the cartilage of my outer ear and nibbling the lobe, making things low down my body.

I woke up to Travis kissing the back of my neck and stretched languorously. I opened my eyes to find Travis was watching me, probably seeing the lust in my eyes and knowing he had me under his spell.

"Morning, Flower," he murmured. I turned in his arms, snuggling into his chest, feeling euphoric. His hands roamed my back, stopping to tangle in my hair.

Travis' hands running along my side, raising goose bumps and making me aroused, drawing a moan from me as he began to kiss my neck.

The faint light of early morning was filtering in through the half-drawn curtains. The sunrise is about to grace the metro but lights around the veranda and out in the garden were still there, providing a soft glow lightly illuminating the two of us.

He tugged gently, tilting my head back for a kiss. His mouth and hands became more insistent and I arched into him. He cupped my behind, pressing me into him before lifting my leg and hooking it over his hip. I felt the evidence of his arousal between my thighs and rocked along its length, whimpering.

"Trav, work.. remember? Rush hour?" I said as I pushed his chest away.

He chuckled as he drew his face away from mine. I sat up and slipped my bra on, motioning for Travis to hook it behind my back. He did, then kiss the clasp and reached down to pull his sweatpants.

The strap fell down my shoulder making it bare and vulnerable. Travis took it upon himself to straighten it for me. I reached for a hairbrush and smoothed back my hair, giving the long dark locks loving strokes.

Travis slipped out of bed, disarmed the alarm and walked into the bathroom. When he came back, I yawned. I was amazed at how things had turned out. He looked down at my face, perhaps he saw a tranquil in sleep and he gently drew his finger across my freckles and along my jaw. We spoke about our past, we even spoke about what we wanted in our future, but we never spoke about what it was we were doing together in our present... well, until now that is.

"I just don't get why you can't just leave some of your stuff here." Travis stated with annoyance; this wasn't the first time we were having this discussion. He tried to slow his breathing and willed himself to calm down but felt the anger slowly leach out of his body to no avail.

"I mean, it's ridiculous that you can't just spend the night if you feel like it because you don't have your stuff here and that you need to always lug that huge bag around anytime you plan to." The words were said in a matter-of-fact manner but his expression looked pained.

I sat quietly as I usually did whenever he brought this up. Arguing would've been pointless. It wasn't the first time he brought this out. Every single time he gets the opportunity to do so, he grasp it -- perhaps, hoping I would finally give in to his whim. He would say what he needed to and then eventually calmed down. I looked on his bare feet first; his toes were kneading the scarlet carpet.

"You said you're not comfortable with my old place in Alabang because of Mich so I bought this." He gestured on his grandeur Serendra pad which seems like a showroom to anyone that might see it. Windows acted as walls and one could imagine stepping out and bouncing off clouds to catch even better views.