by Lucy Francis
Yet, when Travis arrived, Andri had to stop before she opened the door and put a hand on the jamb to steady herself. Suddenly, it really did matter what he might think of her appearance. It flew in the face of wanting to stay just friends, but she desperately wanted him to look at her with heat in his gaze. She could use the confidence boost.
Once she got a grip, she pulled the door open. Travis wore a beautifully cut black tuxedo, with a silver-gray vest and long tie. Electric heat sparked into goosebumps across her skin. His sunglasses disappointed her. She needed to see his eyes, to read her reflection in them and know if Rachel had successfully helped her find her inner Cinderella.
As if reading her mind, Travis slid the sunglasses down. His gaze dropped to the floor-length hem of her gown and slowly glided up her body, till his eyes met her own. The answering fire in his sharp blue gaze stole the air from her lungs.
“My God, you look incredible.” His voice was low and husky.
Her heart banged against her ribcage in response. “Thank you. I was about to say the same about you.” She stepped onto the landing, pulling the door closed behind her. Travis stepped toward her, one corner of his mouth quirked into a smile.
Desperate to ease the thick tension filling her, Andri reached up and pretended to straighten his perfect tie. “Seems to me you said ‘black’ tie.”
He grinned, capturing her fingers with his own. “Taking a walk on the wild side.” He tucked her fingers into the crook of his arm and escorted her to a sleek forest-green sedan.
“Nice car.”
He opened her door. “Thanks, it isn’t mine. I borrow it from my dad on special occasions. The truck isn’t quite appropriate for a dress like that.” He leaned down close to tuck her dress into the car, meeting her eyes with a smoldering look, setting her blood to sizzling as he backed away and shut the door.
Yes, she’d wanted to see that heat, that desire in his gaze, but seriously, if he didn’t stop looking at her like that, she might burst into flames. Heaven help her if he touched her. She’d char to a crisp.
****
Travis attended several big charity functions a year, at his mother’s insistence. Sometimes as a representative of Holt Construction. Sometimes as the prized son of an influential family. Always regardless of whether or not he wanted to attend. He simply did his duty.
Of countless events, he didn’t recall ever feeling this sense of anticipation before. Anticipation edging into hunger every time he looked at Andri during the drive up the canyon.
They conversed lightly, about movies and music, favorite restaurants, places they wanted to see, crazy things they wanted to try sometime in their lives. That was one of the many things he enjoyed about Andri, how easily they talked, how they never ran out of things to say to each other. Yet there were times they were perfectly content to be quiet in each other’s company.
He turned his thoughts back to keeping his latest mantra running in his head. Keep it light, keep it fun, enjoy her company, don’t dig too deep, don’t get too close. He didn’t want to fail her, to hurt her.
Her whiskey voice tantalized him as they talked, but as they laughed together, desire melted into that strange kind of delight he always felt in her company. Similar to the old-friend comfort he felt in Rachel’s presence, but decidedly not just friends.
The fundraiser was in full swing by the time they arrived. The Silver Lode hotel donated space for the fundraiser every year. The beautiful gardens were cluttered with people, spilling out from the ballroom. He took Andri’s hand, twining his fingers through hers as they descended a paved walk into the flow of business power players, politicians, sports figures, actors and other local movers and shakers.
Scanning the crowd, it appeared nearly everyone who was anyone in the region had come. Mother must be pleased, and not just because a huge turnout meant a successful fundraiser. He’d noticed over the years that event planning seemed to stoke her inner fire. She glowed a bit brighter, had more bounce in her step as she worked to make her vision happen. Travis liked that side of his mother.
Every few feet, someone spoke to him. Travis introduced Andri, not resisting the surge of jealousy-tinged satisfaction rushing through his veins when other men gave her appraising looks. She held herself with dignity, carried on intelligent conversations, charmed the socks off everyone he shared her company with. Travis couldn’t remember the last time he had been so proud of the woman on his arm, or smiled so much at one of these events.
He placed a hand on the small of her back and guided her through the crowd toward the small stage where his father stood.
Someone appeared beside him. “I’m happy to see you made it, Travis.”
His mother, wrapped in ivory chiffon, had come to him, and for a moment, he froze. The slight smile on her artfully made-up face caught him off guard as much as her presence alone. “You know I’d never miss one of your events, Mother.”
Her gaze switched to Andri, and he said, “Mother, you remember Andromeda Miller.”
The smile brightening his mother’s face as she shook hands with Andri confused the hell out of him. It actually looked genuine. “Of course, Rachel’s friend, from the July Fourth festivities. So nice to see you again, dear.”
Andri exchanged a few pleasantries with his mother, then excused herself from their company to find the restroom. He watched her walk toward the open ballroom doors for a moment, the gentle sway of her hips mesmerizing him until his mother cleared her throat.
He forced himself to look at her. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
His mother’s brow lifted, but a slight smile still remained. “I said, she’s a lovely young woman. But I see you’ve already noticed that.”
Standing under Sophia Holt’s gaze seemed to shrink his collar to an uncomfortable tightness. “Yes, I’ve noticed. She’s a good friend, and pleasant company.”
“You do look like you’re having fun for a change. Good for you.”
And then it was over. A congressman joined them, instantly shifting his mother’s focus away from him. He’d received his allotted shower of attention from the woman who brought him into the world, and it was far more direct than what she typically offered him at one of these things. She never gave him her complete attention, usually speaking while looking through him, watching the crowd lest she miss someone important to her cause who might need to be greeted. She’d actually focused on him, though it was likely Andri who made the difference.
Yes, Travis knew Andri was something special. It didn’t require his mother noticing her to tell him that. How strange that she had, though. He had no idea what to make of it, and it left him unsettled. After years of craving and actively seeking his mother’s attention, Andri got it with no effort at all. It shamed him to admit that made him a little jealous, a reaction that shocked him almost as his mother had.
****
Andri made her way carefully through the sea of black coats and colorful gowns worn by well-heeled guests as she returned to the festivities. She spotted Travis in a section of the garden, speaking with another couple and a petite blonde woman she recognized as Georgia Grant, the Silver Lode hotel manager and one of Rachel’s friends.
Travis looked in her direction as she joined the group, and he broke into a wide grin. Her heart jumped, her skin tingled, and suddenly she felt as if the crowd had vaporized and it was just the two of them in that garden. In that moment, she realized any hope she had of not falling for him was gone. Too late.
Georgia excused herself to check in with Travis’s mother and Andri, snapping back to reality, waited for an introduction to the elegant couple standing beside Travis. He presented her to Curran and Victoria Shaw. “Mr. Shaw owns DCS GlobalTech. He’s moving the company to Salt Lake and we’re remodeling the office building.”
She perked up, recognizing the company name, while the impeccably tuxedoed man grinned and shook her hand. “Please, both of you, call me Curran. We’re old friends by now, aren’t we, Travis?”
>
Travis laughed and looked down at Andri. “I suppose we are. We built his home and his sister’s a few years back. That was one of the last jobs Rachel’s dad, Sam, did before he retired.”
“Sam’s a good man,” Curran said. “I’m glad to hear he’s enjoying retirement. I keep telling Ian he should get his dad on the slopes with us sometime.”
Andri’s eyes widened and she giggled. “Oh, you are a brave man if you ski with Ian. He’s insane on the snow.”
“He is that, but Curran’s a bit of a madman himself,” Victoria said. “I refuse to go on some of his runs.”
Andri returned Victoria’s smile, then granted herself a good five seconds to envy the woman’s tall frame, draped in a glamorous, strapless copper gown. She tuned back in on the conversation. Curran had a bit of an accent, though she couldn’t quite place it.
“Do you know anything about the Naturalist Basin, Travis?” Curran asked. “I’ve heard it’s fantastic, but I don’t know if my nephew could handle the hike.”
Travis frowned, thoughtful. “It’s gorgeous, but it’s over seven miles in from the trailhead. If you really want to take him, you might want to go on horses. There are a lot of restrictions to protect the area, though. No fires, primitive camping. I’d check with the forest service before you try it, just to be sure.”
Victoria leaned into her husband’s side. “Are you going to invite the womenfolk?”
Andri felt another touch of envy when Curran looked at his wife with absolute devotion. She’d give a good decade off her life to have a man look at her like that. “If you’d like,” he said. “Or, you and Kelli can go indulge in a spa weekend before her wedding plans drive her completely mad.”
Victoria laughed and turned to Andri. “His sister, Kelli, is getting married in October, and she’s this close to tossing her plans out and eloping to Vegas.”
Andri remembered all too well the frustration of planning a wedding. “Poor thing.”
Victoria nodded. “I love your name, Andri. What do you do?”
“Thank you. I’m an unemployed computer geek. Network engineering, IT, support, that sort of thing.”
Victoria’s amber eyes lit up and she nudged her husband out of his conversation with Travis. “Sweetie.” She pointed at Andri. “Network engineer.”
Curran focused on her, morphing in a split second from devoted husband to business mogul. His aura of complete control got her immediate attention. “Experience?”
Andri pulled herself together in a microsecond, faced with what she instinctively recognized was an opportunity that might lead to a job. “Seven years, including four managing IT. I specialize in cybersecurity, I can write a mean database, and I don’t have an aversion to talking to people, even the ones with problems who want to yell at me.”
The expression in Curran’s green eyes intensified, and he chuckled. “I certainly prefer a tech guru with people skills. We need a good engineer but we also need an IT manager. Ours doesn’t want to move with the company.” He slipped a wallet from the pocket inside his jacket and withdrew a card. “Do you have a pen?”
She retrieved one from her clutch and accepted his card. He gave her a number to write down on the back, and then said, “That’s Jamie Mickleson’s number. He’s the CEO. Call him Monday morning, tell him I sent you.”
She couldn’t help the smile threatening to split her face. “Thank you, I will.”
The evening passed in a blur. Andri tried the wonderful appetizers from the trays held by roving wait-staff, and Travis introduced her to so many people she doubted she’d remember any of the names other than the Shaws.
Watching Travis navigate with ease through the powerful crowd, the difference in their upbringing became even more apparent. He knew a ridiculous number of the guests, and made connections with new people rapidly. He picked up on conversation topics quickly, because he seemed to remember something of value about each person and their work or their families or their passions. She admired such adept people skills.
Andri had been a shy child, and Dmitri had warned her that she’d better learn to act happy and outgoing, or she wouldn’t make any friends. Between that advice, and training herself to let his teasing roll off her back, she was able to survive just about any social situation, but she shuddered to think how out of place she’d feel tonight without that sort of life training.
She and Travis ate dinner in the ballroom, sampling foods from the nearest of a dozen or more buffet tables, and the chatting with other guests continued through the meal as the crowd shifted and flowed. Andri let Travis guide her through the evening’s festivities. After spending some time in the main garden area, listening to a very funny comedian perform, Travis wrapped an arm around her waist and escorted her back into the ballroom. The tables had been cleared and chairs rearranged just in time for the auction, the highlight of Sophia Holt’s event.
As they took their seats, Andri turned to Travis. “Wait, it’s an actual auction? I thought these things were usually the silent sort.”
Travis grinned and gently brushed a stray lock of hair off her forehead with his fingertips. Such a small thing, a light touch, yet it seared her skin and made it hard to concentrate as he spoke. “That would be more civilized, but Mother decided that having an open auction where people egged each other on to higher bids would be better for the overall fundraising effort. It’s definitely more fun this way.”
Sure enough, bidding at the auction grew spirited, not just in the interest of the children’s hospital the proceeds were destined for, but for the sheer competition. Travis bid on several items, building the prices higher and higher, but bowing out before he actually purchased anything. Andri watched him, enjoying the lively spark of competition in his eyes. She had no idea if he could possibly afford to pay the price if he pushed too far and won, but the longer she watched, the more she saw his shrewdness. He never pushed his luck and he knew exactly when to back down. She hadn’t seen this side of him before, and it fascinated her.
The bidding for a unique bronze piece, sculpted for the auction by one of Utah’s most renowned artists, grew heated, and Travis was in the middle, stirring it along. Curran Shaw called across the aisle, “Mate, I don’t think you really want that piece, you’re just driving up the price. You’ve been doing it all night.”
Travis faced Curran, his lips turned up in a sly grin. “Possibly. I might be trying to soak you for all you’re worth in the name of a good cause. If you think that’s so, why don’t you stop bidding and concede the piece to me?”
Victoria Shaw laughed and shook her head, dark curls bouncing. Curran studied Travis for a moment, until the auctioneer said, “Going once.”
“What the hell, it is a good cause.” Curran broke into a smile, then waved at the auctioneer. “Thirty-five thousand.”
Travis nodded at his nemesis. “It’s all yours, sir.”
The audience laughed, and the auctioneer quickly wrapped up the bid. “Sold!”
After the auction, people began leaving. The sky darkened, chasing away the last of the paint the setting sun had tossed on the sky above the western mountains as Travis guided Andri through the crowd.
A slim, sandy-haired man sporting a goatee and a double-breasted gray tuxedo approached from a side path. “Travis Holt, you’ve proven difficult to reach lately.” The man’s smile brought to mind a late-night infomercial host: blindingly white, smarmy and altogether fake.
Andri saw Travis’s irritation in the way his jaw clenched. “Mr. Jasper. What can I do for you?”
Ah, that was it. Travis had regaled her with tales of the finicky Craig Jasper. He’d been thrilled last week to finally close on the man’s house. The one she’d worked on the day she literally fell into Travis’s arms.
Travis had refused to talk business on behalf of the family company throughout the evening, at least when she’d been beside him. While she appreciated his devotion of time to her, Andri decided it might be best for Travis to talk to Mr. Jasper now so
he didn’t have to later in the week, when something really important might have to be infringed upon.
She slid her fingers out of his hand. “Travis, if you’ll excuse me for a moment, I’m going to grab a drink before everything is cleaned up.”
He nodded, his gaze unreadable. “I’ll find you when I’m finished.”
She left him enduring his client. At one of the tables along the garden path, she picked up a diet cola and a tiny chocolate confection she knew would add to her hips before she even tasted it. She popped the sinful dessert in her mouth. Calories be damned. Life was too short not to eat chocolate.
Life was too short not to enjoy a lot of things that weren’t particularly good for her. Like Travis. She couldn’t help it. They fit together in such interesting ways, with so many similar interests. He’d quickly become one of the best friends she’d ever had, but lately it was getting harder and harder to keep the physical attraction under control. The more she knew him, understood him, enjoyed him, the more she found herself craving him. How was she going to work around that?
She sipped her drink as she wandered up the walkway, exchanging goodbyes with a few people she’d met. By the time she finished her drink and disposed of the cup, Andri found herself at an amazing fountain. Strands of tiny white lights strung in the nearby trees twinkled like a fairy garden and reflected in the water tumbling over the spiral structure.
Staring at the water, she revisited the idea of being more than just friends with Travis. It came to mind every now and again, especially since his slightest touch sent her hormones bouncing around. But she repeatedly pushed it back. Number one, her life was still too unstable to be messing around with a relationship. She needed a job, needed to be standing fully on her own two feet before she got involved with anyone.
