“Please,” she whimpered, wanting more.
“Please what?” He cupped both breasts in his hands, watching in the mirror as her eyes fluttered closed in ecstasy.
“I want you to make love to me,” Kali pleaded, placing her hands over his, urging him to squeeze tighter.
“How much?” he growled, driving her wild with his caresses.
“So much that if you don’t do something very soon, I …” Her voice drifted off helplessly, leaving no doubt in his mind how much she wanted him.
“I wanted to hear you say that,” he whispered. One of his hands inched its way down the front of her jeans to the zipper, lowering it by a fraction of an inch with each deep breath she took.
In retaliation, Kali decided to do a little exploration of her own. Letting her fingers roam recklessly, she smiled when she found the male bulge, knowing it wouldn’t be long before Travis would have to surrender to his own body’s needs. She caressed him with teasing fingertips, bringing a throaty groan from his lips.
“It appears, cowboy, you’re not as safe as you thought you were,” she whispered.
Travis turned her around in his arms, never letting his hands cease their erotic possession. “Right now you’re the one who can’t be considered safe,” he said roughly, pulling her sweater over her head. When he had stripped her of her clothing, he gently pushed her onto the bed. Dropping down beside her, taking full pleasure with her mouth, he continued his sensuous exploration of her breasts.
Kali could still see their reflection in the mirror and found the sight of her naked body and Travis’s still fully clothed unbearably titillating. Her hands roamed freely over his muscular form, needing the comfort of the feel of his body just as much as she needed his touch and his loving.
“Do you realize how much I love you?” he asked with a groan, rolling over until she lay beneath him. “Kali, I would do anything to make you happy.”
She smiled, reaching up to caress his face with her hand. “Then make love to me. Please …”
“Whatever you command, I’ll do.” He quickly rid himself of his clothing, and before Kali could draw another breath, he was back beside her. Travis didn’t wait long. Taking hold of Kali’s hips, he thrust himself into her, smiling to see her tremble when he entered her. She closed her eyes, feeling herself rapidly reaching a climax. What made it beautiful was that she knew she wasn’t alone. Just as she felt the shudders of her orgasm, Travis cried out her name. When they finally returned to earth, their breathing was erratic. They lay in each other’s arms, savoring the closeness.
“I talked to Malcolm this morning. He called while you were in the shower.” Kali decided to bring up something she needed to share with him.
Travis was instantly alert. “And?”
“Still no word about Cheryl.” She snuggled closer to him for comfort. “One of the detectives is positive she isn’t in France any longer, but he isn’t sure what country they moved to. He’s advised giving up the search, since he feels he’s doing nothing more than wasting my money.” One lone tear streaked her cheek.
Travis cursed under his breath. He wished he could do more than stroke her and say meaningless words. He wanted to tell her he had taken up the search for her but he didn’t want to infuse her with false hope. He made a mental note to contact his people in the morning to see what news they had. One thing he hadn’t brought up was the idea that Cheryl might not want to see her mother anymore. After all, it had been over two years. How much did a little girl remember? Since her father was such a bastard, he could have told her any number of lies about her mother, and Cheryl might not want to come back. How could Kali handle it if her daughter rejected her after all this time and pain? One thing was certain, though: He intended to be present if and when Kali was reunited with her daughter, because he wasn’t going to see her hurt again.
“You don’t want to give up,” he stated quietly, continuing to rub her back.
She shook her head. “If I give up, it’s the same as saying there’s no hope in finding her. Malcolm did suggest we cut down the number of detectives and only follow good strong leads.” She buried her face against the curve of his neck, her loose hair falling across his chest. “What he meant was that he didn’t think we’d get her back, either.” Her voice was muffled with unshed tears. “And now you’ve turned my life upside down.”
“I have?” He betrayed mild surprise at her charge.
“Yes, you know very well after I came back out here that I would have trouble returning to Virginia. You knew I wouldn’t be able to go back into seclusion again because I’d see so much out here to keep me busy. Who knows, maybe I should talk to someone about ‘Human Frailties,’ if it’s as good as you and Jenny say it is. I just hope I can convince everyone else it’s fiction, even if there is a strong parallel between the fictional characters and my own life. I can imagine you’re proud of getting through to me about that too. You’re a horrible man, Travis Yates, because you always seem to get your way.” She braced herself up on one elbow looking down at him with accusation in her eyes.
He grinned unrepentantly, yet he was serious when he told her, “I meant it when I said I wouldn’t let you go once I truly had you.”
Kali chewed on her lower hp. “Then I guess there’s only one thing for me to do.”
“And what’s that?” He thought he knew the answer, but he wanted to hear her say it out loud.
“Pose for your damn book!” she shouted, jumping on him to show him she meant every word.
Travis wasn’t about to complain.
Chapter 15
Three days had passed, and Kali was surprised Travis hadn’t brought up her agreement to pose for him. Instead, he had taken her to the beach one day and to the Norton Simon Museum another, so she could have her fill of the beautiful artwork the building housed. Today he had gone into the studio, explaining there was work to do. A few hours after he left, she was surprised to hear a knock at the door. Since the house was set so far back from the main road, she knew it couldn’t be a salesperson. She laughed with joy when she looked through the peephole and found Jenny standing outside.
“I can’t believe it!” Kali squealed as she jerked open the door and hugged her friend. “You look so wonderful! You let your hair grow!” She stepped back to get a better look at her.
“You don’t look so shabby yourself,” Jenny replied, teasingly, eyeing Kali’s lilac shorts and pullover shirt. She sobered. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner, but well, Travis and I thought you should have some time to yourself before anyone else descended on you.”
“You mean Travis decided,” Kali countered. “Believe me, I’ve had firsthand experience on how that man works. But why would he keep you away? Come in. You have time for coffee, don’t you?” She stepped back so the other woman could enter.
Jenny looked amused. “Don’t give him all the blame. This was part of my decision too. I knew how traumatic coming back here would be for you and that Travis would take excellent care of you, so I didn’t worry. If there had been a problem, then I would have been out here like a shot. And, yes, I have time for coffee. In fact, the slave driver gave me the day off.
Kali looked at her with skepticism. “Give me a break. If you’re anything with him like you were with me, I know exactly who gave who the day off. In simple terms, you went in and told him you were taking it off—no ifs, ands, or buts!”
Jenny followed her into the kitchen. “Yeah, that sounds about right. I was only helping out the poor man by taking the decision out of his hands.” Once they were seated with steaming cups of coffee, Jenny took a closer look at her former employer. “My God, you look more beautiful than ever, and I have a pretty good idea Travis has something to do with it. You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”
Kali ducked her head. “I guess you could say something like that,” she admitted.
“Something like that? Hey, I had to work with him after he came back here. Attila the Hun would have been a pussycat
compared to Travis. He was unbearable to be around. He didn’t straighten out until I threatened him with dire consequences!”
“Meaning you were going to fire him.” Kali giggled, sipping her coffee. She looked at Jenny with amazement. “I forgot how it felt to laugh and feel carefree again. I wasn’t alive back there, Jenny, I was just going through the motions. It took Travis to make me realize where I was going wrong.”
“So are you going to pose for him?”
“I already told him I would.”
Jenny frowned. “When did you tell him?”
“Several days ago.”
“He never said a word,” she murmured. “No offense, but do you think he might not have believed you?”
“Meaning words said in heat of passion and all that?” Kali shrugged. “Perhaps he didn’t. I’ll have to set the record straight when I see him tonight—although I will admit I’m not too sure I can go through with it. It’s been a long time.”
“Travis doesn’t work like most photographers.”
Kali thought about that afternoon spent with Helene Dumont. “Yes, I know,” she responded softly.
“He loves you a lot, Kali. He’d do anything for you.”
Kali looked at her quizzically. “You sound like you’re trying to reassure me for some reason.” She laughed, but her laughter halted when she saw her friend’s serious expression. “Something’s wrong, and both of you are keeping it from me. What? Is it Cheryl? I want to know!” she demanded.
Jenny sighed, digging into her large leather tote. “I told Travis he wouldn’t be able to keep this from you for long, but you know how stubborn he can be.” She shoved a newspaper toward her.
Kali looked down at the tabloid. It was a sleazy paper known for its sensationalism, and her blood froze. Pictures of Travis meeting her at the airport, kissing her in the garage, walking with her at Ports O’ Call, and even one of her holding up a scanty piece of lingerie in a department store. She swallowed the lump in her throat.
The headline read, MODEL KALI HUGHES CUDDLES UP WITH NEW LOVER, PHOTOGRAPHER TRAVIS YATES. And below, the first lines of the article read: Is she in L.A. to make a comeback, or just for a bit of recreation? There’s still the big question: Where is ex-husband Blayne Savage and her daughter?
“Why?” she whispered, remembering her feeling of being watched in the stores.
“Kali, Travis is furious about this.” Jenny reached across the table to grasp her hand and found it ice-cold. “He’s been on the phone for hours today, threatening everyone from the photographer to the publisher.”
She felt close to tears. “It won’t do any good, and both of us know it. Now I have to go back to Virginia.”
“Come off it, Kali, I know you too well. You’re not that much of a coward,” she said sharply.
“Why couldn’t he tell me about this himself? Why did he send you here to do his dirty work?” She pushed the offending newspaper to one side.
“Because he thought you might prefer having a woman present,” Jenny said softly. “Plus he was afraid you’d cry, and he’s absolutely helpless when it comes to tears. I slammed a file drawer on my fingers one day, and he almost came apart while begging me to stop crying. He even promised me a raise.” She hoped to lighten the atmosphere. “Look, Kali, tomorrow the headline will be about someone else and you’ll be old news again. You know how it goes in this town.”
Kali forced herself to think rationally. “You’re right,” she finally had to admit. “I’ll be old news soon enough. And Travis is right; I’ve been doing enough running. I may as well stand and fight, and the best way to begin is to pose for his book.”
“Are you planning on going back to modeling?” Jenny asked her.
She shook her head. “No, I’m too old, and it doesn’t hold the fascination for me that it used to. I’ve discovered I enjoy writing. In fact, I’ve been keeping a journal while I’ve been here. I’m going to talk to Malcolm about suggesting a literary agent, and I’ll submit ‘Human Frailties’ to see if it’s publishable. Maybe that’s where my talent lies now.”
Jenny lifted her cup in a silent salute. “And to think I was against Travis seeing you. You’ll never know how glad I am that I gave in to his bullheaded insistence on finding out where you were.”
Kali smiled. “So am I.” She knew her next job would be to prove to Travis that she was willing to pose for him.
She would have been stunned if she had known that Travis was on the phone to Europe most of the day, insisting he be contacted immediately if there were any solid leads.
He was just as surprised when he returned home that evening to find her setting the table for a cozy little dinner. He listened to her reasons for posing for him. Yes, he had thought her promise was just spoken in the heat of passion, and he was pleased to learn that she was serious. He didn’t waste any time and arranged to photograph her in a few days’ time, before she lost her nerve. All through the evening he waited for her to bring up the subject of the tabloid, but she never said a word. He could only feel that having Jenny with her while she read the story had done the trick. At bedtime Kali made love to him as fiercely and passionately as always, and he clasped her to him tightly, as if afraid he’d lose her if he let her go. Travis prayed that the sensationalism would die down and she could finally lead a normal life again. She more than deserved it, and he would make certain it would happen.
Kali was in a nervous state the morning she was due at Travis’s studio. After refusing to eat any breakfast, she walked into the bathroom for a shower. She stood in front of the bathroom mirror, a washcloth in one hand and her cleansing lotion in another. The longer she stood there, the more she grew to hate the face staring back at her, the face that was due to be photographed in two hours. She dropped the plastic bottle and cloth in the sink and returned to the bedroom where Travis was finishing dressing.
“I can’t go through with this,” she told him flatly.
“All right, why can’t you go through with this?” He acted much too calm to her way of thinking.
“I’m not doing this for myself but for you, and it’s all wrong!” Her voice began to rise several decibels. “From the beginning you’ve tried to change my life, and like the fool I am, I allowed you to—just the way I allowed Blayne to change my life around to please him.” Travis’s face tightened at that statement, the dark expression revealing his displeasure as his gaze swept over her pale features. “I can’t do it!”
Travis remained in the same position, his arms crossed in front of him. “There’s a lot of things in life we feel we can’t do, but we somehow find the strength to do them. Just as you will, as soon as you realize you need to do this work to prove to yourself it wasn’t modeling that caused your pain but your ex-husband. I’ll wait for you in the den.”
“I hate you for doing this to me,” she shouted after his retreating form.
He halted and turned around. This time there was nothing but sadness in his dark eyes. “If it will make you feel better, you can hate me all you want.” He walked away without looking back.
Tears glistened in Kali’s eyes, but she refused to give in to them. She knew she didn’t hate Travis, but she felt she had to blame someone for her awful state, and he was the only scapegoat around. She went back to the bathroom to finish getting ready.
Travis was seated on the couch reading a magazine when Kali walked in. He looked up and, without saying a word, got to his feet and led the way out to his car. They rode into town in silence, and he dropped her off at the studio while he went on to another appointment. He thought she might relax more if he wasn’t around while she was getting ready.
At the studio, Kali was surprised and pleased to find Larry and Karen, the makeup artist and hairdresser she had worked with most often in the past. It did a great deal to set her mind at ease, until she saw the large studio with its many cameras and light fixtures. That was the final straw. She ran into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
“Where is
she?” Travis demanded, walking in and fearing the worst when he didn’t see her.
“In the bathroom throwing up,” Jenny said bluntly. “Travis, she is scared to death. Admittedly, having Larry and Karen here has helped, but it wasn’t enough.”
He cursed softly. “So what are you trying to tell me?”
“Go over there and let her know you’re here. I know you were trying to help her by staying away, but the one person she needs now is you.” She pushed him none too gently.
Travis walked over to the bathroom door and knocked softly. “Kali, honey, it’s me.”
A few minutes later the door opened. She looked pale but composed.
“Would you believe me if I said I throw up the first day of any assignment?” she said, making a feeble attempt at a joke.
He pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. “Hey, they did a good job on you. You almost look like a model.”
She punched him in the stomach. “Don’t make me laugh. I don’t feel like laughing.” She wrapped her arms around his waist, digging her fingers into the small of his back. “I’m sorry I was such a bitch earlier,” she mumbled against his shirtfront.
“You’re more than forgiven if you’ll give me one or two smiles for a picture,” he said coaxingly, reveling in the soft feel of her body against his.
She drew back. “Thank you for bringing in Larry and Karen. That was very nice of you.”
“I’m a nice man. I also thought you’d feel better with familiar faces around you. I asked Jenny for a recommendation, and she said they were two of the few who had stood behind you years ago.”
“I never really knew,” she murmured, shaking her head with wonder. “I guess I was so wrapped up in my troubles that I didn’t bother to find out if anyone still cared to be my friend. I was too convinced that I was all alone.”
“And what about Jenny?”
She smiled against the front of his shirt. “You know Jenny. She refused to go away all the times I told her to leave me alone, and in the end I was grateful for her presence no matter how many times I cursed her.”
Only Love Page 20
