by Lucy Francis
Andri smiled, as warm inside from his sweet words as she was outside from his touch. She backed up a half-step, then lay back on the bed, shifting her hair out from under her back. Eyes darkening as he watched her, Travis stripped off his pants and stretched out beside her.
She touched the beautifully carved muscles of his chest, thrilled at the combination of heat and hardness, suddenly craving the feel of him in her hand. Andri slid her hand down his torso, but he grabbed her hand before she reached her destination.
Travis shook his head. “In a minute.” He lifted her arms up over her head, locking the fingers of one hand around her wrists. “Let me touch you,” he murmured, sending off another ripple of desire to pulse between her thighs.
“Please do,” she whispered, her voice catching on a gasp as he nuzzled her, kissing her neck, her breast. His tongue flicked and swirled against her flesh, a moan escaping her. He trailed his fingertips from her collarbone down over her breast, her stomach, her lower abdomen. He released his grip on her wrists as he shifted down and she explored the muscles along his arm, his shoulder.
She sucked in a shuddering breath and flexed her hips as he ventured lower, encouraging him to please, please get there, almost, oh, God, yes. He took his maddeningly sweet time, his touch gentle as he explored, discovered, tasted, until she was trembling with need. And then everything inside her surged, peaked, exploded in climax.
Travis slid up her body, skin against skin, chest against breast, his smile full of primal pride, his gaze brimming with desire. Suddenly, his expression dimmed. “Damn. Andri, I wasn’t expecting this. I’m not a good Boy Scout.”
It took a moment for her brain to register his words and translate. No protection. He wasn’t carrying condoms. The intense satisfaction that bloomed in her heart at the thought that he’d been celibate so long he didn’t bother with an emergency packet in his wallet surprised her. “That’s okay. I was a very successful Girl Scout.” Bad periods had meant years of the pill. “We’re good to go.”
He grinned. “Glad to hear it, because I really, really don’t want to stop.”
She grabbed his neck, pulling him down to her, kissing him hard. “Please, don’t stop. Don’t you dare.”
He braced his weight on one forearm, slid his hand along her thigh, and slowly entered her, giving her time to adjust. The fullness, the sense of completion, took her breath away. She wrapped her arms around him, rocking her hips against him, and he took her cue. She welcomed him, relishing the way he fit her. As the rhythm built, she recognized and accepted how very, truly, deeply lost she was.
The realization colored her building excitement with the understanding that, whether he returned her feelings or not, a relationship with this man would likely be painful. She chose to take the chance, to risk misery in exchange for being with the man she saw struggling to shoulder the weight of his life. She’d simply have to take every moment as it happened and work to keep some sort of wall up between his suffering and her need to carry it for him.
She teetered on the edge of bliss, distracted by her thoughts until he surged against her, groaning her name. The thrill engulfed her and she came with him.
****
Sunday morning, Travis woke to the sound of movement in his room. He cracked an eye open and caught sight of Andri, all tousled hair and lovely skin and a truly outstanding ass. Oh, yeah, not his room. Hers. She slipped into the adjoining bathroom, closing the door with a tiny click. He stared at the blank white ceiling for a moment, trying to engage his brain rather than think with his growing erection.
The kiss by the fountain had done it. He knew for certain then they were more than friends. No. If he was honest with himself, he’d known there was more for a long time. After that kiss, he couldn’t deny his own truth any longer. For all her ‘friends with benefits’ talk last night, he was willing to bet she knew they were much more than friends, too. He growled at himself and tossed back the tangled sheets, making his way into the hall and the second bathroom.
The situation churned through his mind as he cleaned up. He wanted her around. Pure and simple. He’d let her down, of course. Somehow. He always did. He’d lost Jacob, destroying his mother’s love for him and ripping it away from Danny in the process. He’d failed in his marriage, made the colossal mistake of tying himself to Melody, and had his heart crushed under her favorite designer heels the day she moved out. Travis needed to push Andri away, but he searched inside himself and failed to find the part that could do it.
The truth was, no matter how brutally they would likely both hurt each other down the road, he needed her. And, God help him, he wanted her, too. So, headlong into the abyss he went.
When Travis returned to Andri’s room, he found her sitting on the end of the bed. Her hands rested in her lap, fingers curled into the hem of the enormous t-shirt she’d put on. Tension radiated from her, and for a moment, he worried that she regretted asking him to make love to her. He resisted that thought, realizing when her chin came up and her gaze sought his that it was fear of him turning on her that churned in her head.
His heart twisted hard as he recognized her fear. He had to reassure her. The time would come when he hurt her, but it wasn’t going to be now, and it damn well wasn’t going to be on purpose. He could fix this.
He sat beside her, picked up one of her hands, wrapped it in his own. “You know, your mom’s going to be seriously pissed at me. She did want you to attend Sunday services, and here I am, keeping you otherwise occupied.”
Andri laughed softly. “Oh, Ma would rant and rave if she knew you’d slept over. Missing church would be a far distant second.”
Travis pulled her into his side with an arm around her shoulders, giving her a gentle squeeze and pressing a kiss into her shower-damp hair. He ran a hand up her thigh, toying with the hem of her t-shirt. He slid her hair aside and kissed the gentle slope between neck and shoulder, tasting her skin, breathing in the intriguing scent of vanilla and Andri. When she exhaled and the tension melted from her body, he smiled. This would end one day, yes. Painfully, he had no doubt. But for now, they were fine, everything was okay. “Let’s get dressed. I want to take you home with me.”
She pulled back to look at him. “What’s the plan?”
“Not sure I know yet. But you might want to follow me in your car. I’d hate to head for work in the morning and leave you stranded.”
“Sounds good.” She grinned, warming his heart in a flash before she hurried to dress.
****
After a quick stop to trade his dad’s car for the truck—during which dad greeted Andri warmly, grinning from ear to ear—Travis took Andri home. His chalet sat on a hill overlooking the picturesque town of Midway, nestled into the foothills of the Wasatch Back. The log-walled house had few rooms, but each of them went a bit overboard on square footage. He couldn’t help it, he needed space to breathe.
He shifted his tuxedo jacket to his left hand and unlocked the door, wondering if Andri noticed his hands trembling. Ah, no, she was checking out the skyline, the surrounding mountains scraping the brilliant blue sky. He forced a bit more control over himself to steady his hands. Amazing that bringing a woman home for the first time would make him nervous, but it was suddenly a matter of great importance that she like his personal space.
He pushed open the door and reached for her hand. “Welcome, Ms. Miller. The grand tour begins momentarily.”
“I can hardly wait.” She grinned at him, and his stomach flipped in a way that left him a bit dazed. He could look at that smile every day for the rest of his life and never grow tired of it.
She followed him into the house. He lifted a hand to indicate the room. “Here we have the main room. Living area and entertainment space in one.” She glanced from the stark leather and wood furniture to the rough rock fireplace extending up the wall to the top of the vaulted ceiling. She nodded at the plasma television he rarely used, then stepped over to the far wall of the open space and trailed her finger alo
ng one of the built in bookcases. “Oh, very nice, Mr. Holt. You have a decent library, and…oh, this is cool.” She stopped at the shelves crammed with vinyl records. She crouched to slide album covers out and explored his collection a moment before turning a bright smile his way. “You have some seriously awesome stuff here.”
Giddy. Yeah, that was a word that fit the silly happiness bouncing through him. A girl liked his vinyl collection. Surely he hadn’t generated enough good karma in his life to deserve this. “Thanks. I’ve had a lot of them since I was a teenager, gifts from my Uncle Mac’s collection. I try to stop at yard sales and I troll the internet for new ones sometimes.” She pulled out a couple of glam rock LPs from the early 80s. “I found those at Deseret Industries a couple of years ago.”
Andri laughed. “Never know what treasures you’ll find at the D.I. It was always my favorite place to go thrifting in college.”
“Come on, the tour continues.” He held out a hand and she accepted it, allowing him to pull her up. She heartily approved of the kitchen and his supply of restaurant-quality pots and pans on the suspended cast iron rack. The main bath, guest bedroom, and office space completed the main floor. She admired his choice of wireless network router more than his kitchen setup. “You must get full signal halfway down the street. Please tell me it’s secure.”
“Yes, ma’am. With a nice, long, complicated password.” He laughed when she patted him on the head and nodded approval.
His heart skipped a beat as he ushered her to the curving staircase, leading up to the loft. “The master bedroom takes up the loft.”
Her gaze slid into his, all warmth and light. “Does the tour include the loft, then, or are you just mentioning it in passing?”
He touched her waist, ran his palm to the small of her back. “That depends. If I take you up there, will you help me break in the bed?”
Andri’s elegant brows lifted as she drew her fingers down along the buttons of the same white shirt she’d helped him out of last night. He’d have never believed it if someone had told him to make sure he had a change of clothes, just in case. “Is the bed new? Or are you trying to tell me that it’s new to being used by two people?”
He curled his fingers around hers, lifted them to his mouth, caught one between his teeth. She gasped, desire shimmering in her eyes. “I built this place after my divorce. The only women who’ve set foot inside are my mother, twice, and Rachel, but she doesn’t really count, and she’s never been upstairs, other than when she did the electrical work.”
“Hmm.” She tilted her head to the side, withdrew her fingers from his grasp and caressed his cheek and jaw, warming his heart as effectively as she ratcheted up his need for her. “You know, this is definitely a man’s home. I mean, you don’t even have curtains. Not that wood blinds are bad, but still. It tells me a lot about your need for a woman’s touch.”
“Oh, does it?” The sudden vision of his home mixing with the eclectic nods to decorating in her apartment filled him with delight. Damn, he was completely gone over this girl. He shoved away the nagging self-doubt that reared its ugly head. “You know, I do have one decorative item you might like. It’s upstairs.”
“With the bed.”
“Yes.”
“Then I suppose you had better lead on and let me see your more decorative side.”
He inclined his head, waving his hand up the stairs. “After you, my dear.”
She climbed the stairs and he knew the moment she laid eyes on his decorative side, as she put it. “Oh, Travis. Now that is spectacular.”
He followed her to the right wall. Between the door to the closet and the door to the master bathroom, the wall housed a massive saltwater aquarium. A rainbow of brilliant fish swam among corals and anemones, giving his home color and a bit of life besides his own, lending his bedroom some measure of peace. “You like it?”
“It’s gorgeous. The colors are amazing, purple and yellow and red…so vibrant. Oh, look at the black clown fish. I love those.”
He set his hands on her shoulders, ran his fingers lightly down her back until she shivered and turned to him, giving him a quick hug before she stepped around him to explore the rest of the loft. Beyond the half wall, the loft was open to the main room below. It was lit at the moment by diffuse sunlight from the huge north-facing windows along the third wall.
She faced the king-size bed. “Very nice.” A flare of heat raced across his skin when she sat on the bed, then stretched out across it. “It’s bigger than mine.”
He grinned and unbuttoned his shirt. “Mmm-hmm. I think we can put it to good use.”
Andri laughed, her grainy voice sending electric threads swirling and sparking through him. He ached for her, but took his time pulling off his clothes, determined to wring every ounce of pleasure from every moment of making love to his woman, including all the foreplay she could endure.
He lay beside her, naked, intending to kiss every inch of her as he removed her clothing. His intentions flew out the window when she stripped off her t-shirt and shimmied out of her shorts in record time, then settled herself between his knees. “What are you doing, Andri?” His blood pressure skyrocketed when she gave him a deliciously wicked grin and wrapped her fingers around him.
“I’m giving you, and your poor, lonely bed, what you both need. A woman’s touch.” He groaned when she put her mouth to work on him, beginning a very long, completely consuming, utterly satisfying afternoon that succored every neglected thing—his bed, his body, and his heart.
****
She braced herself. Andri regretted waking after nights when she dreamed of Travis, losing the remnants of him to the morning sun. Then she opened her eyes and pleasure burst inside her, glowing to the tips of her fingers and toes.
Two mornings in a row, it wasn’t a dream.
She stretched in Travis’s huge bed, then snuggled back into the pillow that smelled like him, listening to the sound of water running in the shower. She felt amazing, truly satisfied from head to toe. They had spent Sunday breaking in the bed. And the couch. And the kitchen countertop. Oh, and then there was the shower, that amazing marble shower with the built-in seat and the full-body shower heads. She knew every inch of his beautiful form now, and he knew hers.
One more thing she knew: she’d never be able to let him go. Not that she was ready to admit it to him. But tucking that truth away in her heart didn’t make it any less true. It merely gave her what she, in her darkest thoughts, understood was a false sense of security: the idea that she wouldn’t be hurt so bad when things fell apart if she didn’t actually tell him how much she felt for him.
The water stopped and Travis emerged in a cloud of steam from the bathroom, rubbing a towel through his hair. He quietly opened a few drawers, pulling out clothing, seeming unaware of her state of consciousness. She watched him move as he dressed, admiring the muscles flexing across his back, along his shoulders and down through his legs as he stepped into his trousers. There was something undeniably sexy about watching Travis dress, but she quieted the stirring inside her. If he didn’t absolutely have to go into the office, he’d still be laying beside her. She silently extracted a promise from herself not to delay him.
He reached into the closet for a pale blue shirt, then turned toward her while he fastened the buttons. His gaze met hers, and his lips curved into a genuinely happy smile. “Morning.”
“Hey, handsome.”
Travis tucked his shirt in, fastened his trousers, then sat down beside her. He leaned down, the clean smell of his skin enticing her, and kissed her on the forehead.
She growled at him. “I’m trying very hard not to climb all over you, you know.”
He grinned. “Believe me, getting out of that bed has never been more difficult.” He got up and walked over to the dresser. He searched under folded socks for a while, found what he wanted and said, “Here.”
He tossed something onto her blanket-covered stomach. Andri picked up the key, excitement coiling in he
r stomach. “Is this an invitation?”
Travis’s eyes narrowed, his grin turned slightly wicked. “No, sweetheart, it’s a demand. I expect you to be here when I get home tonight. Just lock up when you leave to do whatever you’re going to do to while away the hours.”
“You’re taking an awful lot for granted, Mr. Holt.” She yawned and stretched, relishing the blatant desire on his face when the covers fell away from her. “What are your plans for tonight?”
His gaze turned positively predatory and his voice dropped a notch. “Oh, just let your imagination run wild. I’m sure you’ll cover it.”
The thrill rolling inside took her breath away. He shook his head and said, “I’m not going to kiss you goodbye, because if I do, I’ll never get out that door, and I have a meeting in an hour. See you later, Andri.”
She waved, watched him descend the stairs, listened to the door open and close. Andri threw herself back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Life was good. No, definitely an understatement. Everything felt perfect.
****
Travis drove, his mind divided between navigation and the woman he’d left in his bed. He thought he’d forgotten how to feel, but Andri pulled something vital from the dark recesses of his soul. He needed her, needed the freedom he felt with her. She made it possible for him to breathe again, and he wanted her on a level so deep he didn’t even try to question it. It had been a very long time since he felt so strongly about anyone, not since Melody—
Light flooded through him, a chill shivering down his spine. Correction. Melody never did this to him. The way Andri affected him was like that rusty proverb about lightning only striking once. What were the chances he’d ever feel like this again? He’d be an utter fool to let her slip away.
Travis pulled into the parking lot at the Holt Construction offices, somehow refreshed and far more ready to face the day than when he’d climbed into the truck.
Chapter Ten
By the following Saturday, Andri was tired to the bone, and if she hadn’t promised Rachel a girls night, she’d collapse and sleep for twelve hours. She’d worked at GlobalTech for all of five days, but they were viciously long days. The company was under a very tight schedule to coordinate the switch from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City, turning L.A. into a satellite office while company headquarters moved.
