by Lori Wilde
He and Dani had had sex, not just once, but twice. He'd had great sex before, but this was different. Being with Dani had been different. Everything about it had been more intense. Every touch and look they'd shared had seemed to bring them even closer together. He knew he should be rattled by what had happened, but he wasn't. Being with Dani felt right, and nothing on this planet could stop him from spending as much time as possible with her.
When she started to reach for a soda, Travis got it for her. She tipped her head and studied him, a small smile lurking around her lips.
“You have such wonderful manners,” she said, almost to herself rather than to him. “I remember you always had wonderful manners.”
Travis chuckled. “Hey, that's what all guys want to hear after making love to a woman—that they have great manners.”
She laughed and nudged him under the table with her knee. “That wasn't what I was talking about. You know I thought you were sensational in bed.”
Despite himself, he grinned. “Yeah, you, too.”
Dani continued to study him. Then she asked, “Did your father teach you manners?”
Realizing she really did want to talk about this, Travis took a sip of his soda, then explained. “My dad wasn't exactly what you would call an involved parent. But since my mother took off when Max and I were little and we never heard from her again, he was all we had. He wasn't mean to us. He just ignored us. So for many years, we kind of ran wild.”
“Did you get into a lot of trouble?”
He shook his head. “Nope. We were never that bad. Just rough around the edges. Until we were stationed in Japan.”
When he paused, Dani smiled. “What happened?”
“The woman who lived next door to us grabbed Max and me one day and chewed us out for being what she called 'Wild-West outlaws' and having no manners. She told us we were guests in Japan and that we were a poor reflection on our country and that we'd never amount to anything unless we changed.”
When Dani gave him a soft look that told him she felt sorry for him, he laughed. “No, it wasn't a mean thing. She was right. We were out of control. By telling us we'd never be anything, she got our attention. And then she did something that made all the difference. She dared us.”
Dani frowned. “Dared you?”
“She dared us to learn how to behave like gentlemen. She said if we could prove we'd learned how to behave, she'd cook us four homemade dinners. If we failed, then we had to clean her house once a week for a month.”
Dani laughed. “How old were you two?”
“I was eight. Max was ten. And a dare is a sacred thing, so naturally we accepted.”
With a smirk on her face, Dani said, “Of course. Did you win?”
He pretended to be insulted. “Of course we won. Although it wasn't easy since we knew nothing about manners. We ended up finding a book at the base library on manners that had been written a couple of decades earlier, so we picked up a few habits that were out of style. But we did learn the basics, and we really enjoyed those homemade meals.”
“What a great story. And I'm so happy to hear you didn't have to clean that woman's house after all.”
“Oh, sure we did,” Travis admitted. “The book said that polite people do nice things for other people. Naturally, Max and I took that to mean that we should clean her house, so we did.”
She gave him a soft, sweet look and said, “Okay, I didn't think it was possible to like you any more than I already do, but you've proven me wrong.”
The way she was looking at him made Travis more than a little nervous, so he admitted, “Just remember, there are a lot of stories I could tell you that wouldn't make you think I'm a nice guy.”
But instead of discouraging her, Dani simply shook her head. “I doubt it. You're a good person, Travis Walker.”
Feeling unsettled and embarrassed by this conversation, he cleared his throat and asked, “So what about you? Where did you learn your manners?”
“I'm pretty sure I was taught in the womb,” she said, rolling her eyes. “You've met my mother. She wouldn't stand for a child being rude or making noise for that matter.”
Yeah, Dani's mother definitely struck him as the children-should-be-seen-but-not-heard type.
“Must have been tough,” he said.
“It was difficult.” She moved the food around on her plate. “That's why I love Freda so much. When she moved into our house, she brought life and energy and fun. Despite all her efforts, my mother has never been able to subdue her. Freda does what Freda wants to do, and as a little girl, I thought she was magical.”
“Freda is her own woman,” he said.
She took a bite of one of the brownies, then added, “I know, and that's why I still think my grandmother is one of the most unique people I've ever met. I admire her a lot. She lives life on her own terms, which very few people do. I guess in a way, I still think she's magical.”
Travis smiled and pointed out, “And we're finding out that may be true in more ways than just one.”
With a nod, Dani said, “True. I really am starting to think maybe she's right, maybe there's something to these curses after all. Oh, right, they're romantic suggestions, not curses. Whatever they are, they shouldn't work, but they seem to.”
Travis studied Dani; he was going to miss her after she moved. He liked listening to her, liked talking to her. She was so unique, so different from other women he knew.
“So why a ranch?”
Her question caught him off guard. “What do you mean?”
“Why are you giving up your exciting life as a detective to work on a ranch?” she asked.
Travis had given the decision a great deal of thought over the past few weeks, but he’d never really talked about it with anyone, even Max. “I don’t know. Without Max around, I don’t want to spend my life investigating other people.”
“No longer curious?” she teased.
He shrugged. “I don’t think I ever was. Snooping into other people’s business isn’t a lot of fun. I got into the game because of Max. We like to stick together, and when he decided to take up ranching again, he wanted me to join him. It wasn’t really a tough decision. The ranch has a main house and the second house set aside for the foreman. I decided to move into the second house, and Max and his wife live in the main house. It works well for both of us.”
She seemed genuinely interested in what he was saying, so he wasn’t surprised when she said, “Go on.”
“I like the thought of working a ranch again and spending time outdoors. Plus, I like horses.”
Her gaze was direct when she asked, “You had a ranch as a kid, right?”
“Kind of. It was small, and my dad didn’t really pay attention to the place, so it failed rather quickly. But we spent lots of time with our horses, and we kept them long after the ranch failed.”
“So you and Max are going to do a ranch right this time,” she said, more as a statement than a question.
Travis shrugged. He usually hated talking about his feelings and his plans, but with Dani, it seemed natural, like it made sense.
“Are you going to raise cattle?” she asked.
“There are lots of cattle ranches around, and so instead, we’re going to focus on horses and kids,” he said.
She laughed, seemingly delighted by his answer. “I love horses. I used to take riding lessons when I was younger. One horse in particular meant the world to me, and I wanted my parents to buy him, but they wouldn’t because of my mom. She hates animals.”
“I guess that’s why you have so many dogs now,” he teased. “Because your mom wouldn’t let you have animals when you were growing up.”
Dani laughed. “Yes. Well, and no. Sure, I got a rescue dog, and then another, and then a third as soon as I got my own place, but it wasn’t to spite my mom. It was because animals bring joy into my life.”
“Where are your dogs while you’re running around with me?” he asked.
“A friend i
s taking care of them. You’ll have to meet them. Their names are Jo, Beth, and, of course, Meg.” At his confused look, she explained. “They are characters from the book Little Women. I don’t have a dog named Amy because she dies in the book.”
“I see,” Travis said, but he didn’t completely. He’d never read the book.
“Anyway, tell me more about your horses,” she said. “What kind?”
“We’re going to focus on specific breeds of horses and probably collaborate with the other horse farm near Honey. They’ve shown a lot of interest. Together, we’re going to create programs that use horses to help kids. In some cases, they’ll just be standard riding classes. In other cases, we’ll bring in experts to set up programs to help kids in need.”
The smile she gave him made his heart beat faster in his chest. “I like your plans, Mr. Walker. They sound wonderful.”
He thought so too. “I'm sorry things aren't working out for the case,” he admitted. “I know you have plans too.”
She shrugged. “I can't think about that right now. We'll just have to see how tomorrow goes.” She stood and asked, “Want to go back to bed?”
“Are you tired?” He glanced at the bed and then back at her. Personally, he'd never felt more awake in his life, and sleeping was the last thing on his mind at the moment.
Dani flashed him a sassy smile and pulled his T-shirt off over her head. “I wasn't exactly thinking about sleeping.”
At that moment, Travis knew he was going to have to be careful, because if ever there were a woman he could fall for, it would be this one.
DANI OPENED HER EYES slowly, not wanting the harsh morning light to spoil the magic of last night. It didn't, at least not completely. Travis was still next to her, one of his long arms draped across her waist.
For a selfish moment, Dani kept perfectly still, and a silly thought ran through her mind—maybe if she didn't move, the spell would never be broken. That surreal feeling she'd had for the past few hours would never leave. It was a feeling of rightness, a feeling of completeness.
An absolute certainty that something special and unique had happened.
“I can hear you thinking,” Travis murmured, and then he leaned forward and kissed her back. “You're thinking way too loudly this morning.”
“Ha. Shows what you know. I was not thinking,” she teased, turning over to face him.
It wasn't fair. How could he look even sexier when rumpled and sleepy? She knew she didn't look her best first thing in the morning, but Travis did. He should be on a poster selling something. With his broad shoulders, devil's grin, and early-morning stubble, the man was sexy enough to sell flippers to fish. Amazing.
He cocked one eyebrow. “Even now you're thinking, and no good can come from thinking the morning after a night of rowdy sex.”
Dani smiled, enjoying the camaraderie and banter they shared. “Oh, really? You sure about that?”
He skimmed one hand down her body, his talented fingers reawakening her desire. “Absolutely. The only way to approach a morning after is to reconfirm that all the pleasure felt the night before was real and not just an illusion.”
She pretended to think about what he'd said. “Hmmm. Is that the only way? Seems to me that there would be hundreds of ways to approach the morning after. Maybe we should try some of those other ways first.”
Travis leaned forward and nibbled on her chin. “No. There's only one that works. And since there is only one approach, the smart thing to do would be to follow that approach. Then we could verify for ourselves that last night wasn't just the world's most amazing dream. That it was, in fact, real.”
Any thought she'd had of discussing this further slipped away when he started kissing her. His kisses were warm and lingering and determined to arouse.
She might have managed a small protest if he'd stopped, but he didn't. He kept kissing her until Dani lost the ability to think at all.
TRAVIS SCANNED THE room, making sure they hadn't left anything behind, but the place was clean. Not just tidy, but spotlessly clean. Not surprisingly, Dani was a neat person.
At some point after they'd shared a shower that had lasted a long, long time, she must have straightened the bed and picked up every trace that they'd ever been in the room.
The woman needed to relax.
He glanced over at her. She was putting on makeup.
“You cleaned the room,” he said.
“I didn't want Louise to think we were slobs.”
He chuckled and walked over to stand behind her. He picked up her brush and slowly ran it through her long, dark hair. “More importantly, we don't want her to know we followed her advice and did some exercising last night.”
“I think she already figured that out when I went down for snacks.” Dani closed her eyes as he continued to brush her hair. “And by the way, what we did last night was more than mere exercise.”
“I think it was the Olympics of sex,” he said with a laugh. What had started out as fun had quickly turned into something explosive. They'd each been hungry for the other, and no amount of lovemaking seemed to satisfy their appetites.
Frankly, he was surprised he could still walk this morning. But even now, even after hours of making love to Dani, all he could think about was how much he wanted her again. Rationally, he knew that sort of unquenchable desire for her should bother him, but oddly, it didn't.
“I can't believe I'm about to say this, but you want to talk about last night?” he asked, and immediately felt like hitting himself in the head with the brush. How dumb could he be? Here was a beautiful woman who didn't seem compelled to discuss what was happening between them. Why couldn't he just accept that? Normally, he'd give anything for a woman who would simply accept the situation.
But this time with Dani was different. Last night had been different. He might joke, at least a little, about it being the Olympics of sex, but it had been a hell of a lot more than that. There was a connection between them.
Always had been.
He knew it. And he knew she knew it, too.
“I thought we'd agreed beforehand that we were simply following Louise's advice and using each other as friends with benefits,” Dani said, opening her eyes and locking her gaze with his in the mirror. “I don't think either one of us wants it to be more complicated than that.”
But it was more complicated. Something had happened last night, some bond had been formed. That connection between them had deepened and become meaningful.
They both knew this was more than just exercise. He could see in her eyes that she'd felt what he'd felt. But he could also see in her eyes the need to ignore what had happened. It wasn't easy, especially since he'd never felt anything like this before. But the lady was right.
There was no percentage in hashing this out. Dani was moving to New York soon. Those plans couldn't be changed. He’d already decided to stay in Honey and build the ranch with his brother. He had plans, dreams. He couldn’t blow all that away so he could follow Dani to New York. Even if he’d wanted to, he wouldn’t walk out on Max. For most of their lives, it had been the two of them against the world.
He could never bail on his brother.
So exercise was all this could be.
“I hear exercise is good for you,” he teased to lighten the mood.
She rewarded him with a sexy smile. “Oh, really?”
He slipped his hands around her waist and fiddled with the buttons of a shirt of his that she was wearing. “Yes. Exercise is very, very good for you.”
“I would have thought you'd had enough exercise to last you quite some time,” she said, her voice becoming noticeably breathy when he popped a few of the buttons free.
“I'm a firm believer in the theory of the more exercise, the better.” He turned her so she faced him, then he leaned down to brush his lips across hers.
As he hoped, Dani readily accepted his invitation. She slipped her arms around his neck and then murmured, “Let's see just how firm a believer y
ou are.”
Chapter Seven
Dani looked at the notes she'd written down about Sarah Davenport and then mentally crossed her fingers. The woman ran a dog shelter, and a stray that had been brought in had given birth the previous night. Complications had resulted, so she'd wanted to be there, but this afternoon, she'd said on the phone, she had plenty of time to talk to them.
Even though Dani was hoping for the best, she realized her track record wasn't very good.
“I don't see how Sarah can disappoint us,” Travis said as he turned off the main road and headed down the narrow winding path leading to Sarah's house. “The woman is happily married. She runs an animal shelter with her husband, two grown daughters, and her granddaughter.”
“Nana said that love would amaze her,” Dani said, drumming her fingers on her leg, nervous tension coiling inside of her. This was their last shot, the last person Dani had time to visit. It had to work. “I don't even want to consider what that curse could mean.”
“I have a good feeling about this one.” Travis reached over and patted her hand, stopping her nervous action. She knew the gesture was intended to be comforting, but as always when he touched her, she felt a tingle of awareness. How was it possible to want a man you'd just spent the better part of ten hours making love to? Amazing.
She was glad they were being sensible about their relationship. As Louise had said, as long as you agreed to things up front, there was no reason why a relationship based strictly on friendship and sex couldn't work.
If Louise could make such a relationship work, then she and Travis could. They were both mature adults who'd been involved in relationships before. They understood priorities and goals and appreciated each other's career plans.
There was no way this wouldn't work.
Now if she could just head off this lawsuit, she'd be a happy woman.
“Let's hope the third time is the charm,” Dani said as Travis pulled up and parked in front of several buildings. One was a ranch-style house with brightly colored flowers planted in front. Beside it was a long white building that she guessed was the kennel.
