by CJ Roberts
“Aren’t you hungry, or isn’t my cheese strata worth eating?’ Casey teased. She had been watching Travis methodically pick at his dinner for the last ten minutes.
“It’s fine.”
“You haven’t touched the cucumber and onion salad either,” she noted, leveling a speculative gaze at his remote expression. At his shrug of indifference, Casey put down her butter knife and her muffin and stared at him. “Travis, is something wrong? Don’t you feel well?”
“I’m fine.”
She sighed and snagged her bottom lip. Maybe her news would improve his surly disposition. Casey cleared her throat. “Travis, now I don’t want you to get upset when I tell you this.” She stopped, wet her suddenly dry lips and smiled hesitantly.
His head snapped up. Here it comes, words that could kill as cruelly as any weapon. His fists slammed against the glass table, making the dishes, glassware, cutlery and Casey jump. “You don’t have to tell me anything. I saw you and him this afternoon.”
Casey blinked hard and swallowed convulsively. There was a savage glint in Travis’s tawny eyes and a ruthless twist in his lips that made her wriggle uncomfortably in her chair. “Look, I…I don’t know why you’re so angry. I…I wasn’t trying to do this behind your back. It just sort of happened –”
Travis lunged to his feet, sending his chair toppling backward onto the sundeck. “It just sort of happened.” He mimicked her words sarcastically. “I leave you on your own for two lousy hours and you pick up some strange man on the beach.”
Casey opened her mouth to protest but ended up sputtering unintelligibly.
“Shut up,” Travis interrupted rudely. “I don’t want to hear it.” His voice was angry and bitter and loaded with contempt. “I’ve been living with you for over four weeks and you’re still guarded and cautious with me. You’ve erected all sorts of psychological barriers to keep me physically away from you—when I know damn well that that you want me as much as I want you. But then you let a stranger, some man you barely know, touch you, touch your body and…and…” his massive chest was heaving, his breathing as rapid and shallow as if he’d run a marathon.
Casey stood up, placed her palms flat on the table, and stared into his blazing eyes. “I do know him,” her voice was quiet and controlled. “He is Ricardo Castillo, who lives in the pink villa down the beach. I met him and his wife –” she emphasized the word clearly, “last year in Boston. We spent a lot of time together. They are Matt’s friends, my friends, and your friends!”
She reached into the breast pocket of her shirt, pulled out a black leather key case, and placed it in the center of the table. “This is what I was trying to tell you about. These are keys for a jeep, a cabana, and an apartment in Acapulco. The Castillo’s are leaving for Australia tomorrow and have graciously lent us all this for as long as we want it.” Folding her arms across her chest, she settled back in the chair.
Travis stared at her for a long time. He shook the rage from his head and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. “You probably think I’m some insane, jealous idiot.” When Casey did not attempt to contradict his statement, he exhaled, righted the chair, and sat down. “Go ahead, tell me what you’re thinking.”
“I’m thinking that a trip into Acapulco tomorrow will do us both a world of good.” Casey rubbed the tension from her forehead. “I’m thinking that we’ve been stuck together in this place for too long. And when we do get into the city, we should go our separate ways.”
“For how long?”
“Long enough for you to come to your sense and realize that I’m not what you want in a woman. You’ve lost your objectivity where our relationship is concerned.”
“So we’ve gone back to square one?”
Casey nodded and stared at her hands.
“Is it because I’m an unemployed English professor with a dim future and –”
“Damn it, Travis, your financial and social position has absolutely nothing to do with this. Hell, I’m unemployed.”
“Then why don’t you trust me? I know my own feelings. I’ve been around –”
“That’s just the point. You haven’t been around enough here. Look, I know I’ve said this before, but I really mean it. If we had met in any other type of social situation, you would have never given me a second look.” Her voice cracked as her control slipped. “I know my own limitations. I also know I have a lot of hang-ups that have nothing to do with you.” Casey sighed and bit her lip. “I’m trying to be sensible for both of us.
“It was a stupid idea, sharing this place. It’s not like a co-ed dorm, it’s just you and me, not a bunch of people. And it’s quite obvious that all this togetherness has just made our hormones go crazy. Yes, that’s it…we are just two horny people being controlled by hormones. Between you being sick and then playing Tarzan and our trip to the jungle lagoon and all those olives and too much sun and wet bathing suits. And your getting mad over the seven erotic knights, with a k, and my bad sunburn. Then me being Cleopatra with the perky ass and the milk baths and position number thirty-eight in the Kama Sutra.
“And you playing doctor and all that clinical foreplay and…and our underwear tumbling around in the washer and dryer together and wet bathing suits and you naked with a staple in your navel and –” her words skidded to a halt, she took a breath and realized she wasn’t making any sense. “God, I need a frozen cheesecake.
At his snicker, Casey squared her shoulders. “Don’t even go there, mister. I am not PMS’ing, contrary to your masculine brain. I never have PMS and the pills I take only give you a period three times a year and I’m not due for another three months.” Her hand slapped over her mouth. “Oh, my God, you have successfully driven me insane!”
He swallowed his laugh and struggled to maintain a straight face. “Let me see if I’ve got this right. Tomorrow, when we hit Acapulco, we go our separate ways, each free to pick up someone that we find interesting and attractive.”
She nodded in agreement. “You can take the keys to the apartment and I’ll keep the keys to the jeep to drive back here.”
“All by yourself?”
“I was supposed to be here all by myself in the first place.” She stood up and began to clear away the dinner plates. She was tired of this discussion and annoyed at the images her mind was suddenly transmitting of Travis with another woman. “Maybe you should pack a few things. That way I won’t have to go back to Acapulco and see you for at least a week.
“And…” she leaned over the table and stared into his eyes. “If you ever tell me to shut up again, you will learn just how good a kick boxer I am. Plus, you can do the damn dishes!” Turning, she stalked back into the villa but somehow her brain registered his grinning face.
7
Acapulco greeted them in true festive fashion, heralding their arrival with a flurry of guitars, violins, and trumpets, courtesy of a Mexican mariachi band. The wandering minstrels were dressed in the traditional wide sombreros and silver-trimmed costumes of the charro, gentlemen cowboys. The city itself was set at the base of high green mountains that all but encircled a partially landlocked shimmering blue-watered bay with golden beaches. Despite the heavy tourist traffic and new hotels, Acapulco shimmered with exotic natural beauty, lush fragrant vegetation, and the raucous cries of tropical birds and parrots.
Travis pulled the borrowed blue jeep into the parking lot of the Castillo’s condo-apartment complex on Condesa Beach. “Well, this is where we part company.” He flipped off the ignition and favored Casey with a wide, carefree smile and handed her the key case. “Unless you’ve changed your mind?”
“No, no, I have not.” Straightening the sunglasses she had worn since she woke up, Casey reached into the back seat for her Panama hat and straw handbag before opening the passenger door. “If you don’t come back to the jeep by midnight, I’ll assume you’re staying at the apartment, you have that key, right?” Avoiding his probing gaze, Casey made a big production of shaking the wrinkles out of the black s
undress, adjusting the slim red belt, and checking the large decorative buttons.
“Well, I’m off,” Travis called with obvious enthusiasm. “Have a nice day.”
“Mmm.” She acknowledged his good-bye wave with a nod of the head while she busily unfolded and pretended to consult the tourist map she’d found in the glove compartment of the jeep. Casey had spent the forty-mile ride into Acapulco in silence while plating her emotions with armor and masking her fears with false bravado. Now she forced herself not to watch Travis’s tall, rugged figure departing from sight and was still standing in stiff attention long after the echo of his step had faded. Maybe she could find a nice quiet place with a rocking chair, turn her back on the world and suck her thumb. God, she hadn’t thought of doing that since she was twelve.
Damn that man! Casey inhaled a deep breath of invigorating salt air, squared her shoulders, and set off to explore the hedonistic playground atmosphere that had made Acapulco famous. She spent hours inspecting the curios and crafts that were displayed in the intricate cluster of small stalls in the waterfront park and seawall extension. The vendors were eager and friendly, but nothing appealed to her with the exception of a hand-tooled leather wallet she purchased for Matt.
She shunned the more conventional modes of transportation offered by the city in favor of letting one of the picturesque horse-drawn carriages take her to the grand cathedral in the center of town. The richly embellished Church of Santa Maria encompassed intricately carved towers and heavily ornamental cupolas that were breathtaking in design.
After touring two other churches, Casey attacked the colorful open-air markets and boutiques with a vengeance until the pavement burned through the soles of her sandals, making her feet scream in unison with her stomach for attention. She settled her tired body at one of the outdoor tables in a thatched-roof restaurant on Paradise Beach. The elevated patio offered a panoramic view of water activities against a backdrop of towering hotels and green hills.
After ordering a fresh shrimp salad, Casey relaxed into the padded chair to watch the colorful para-sailors take to the sky while the water skiers daringly zigzagged around the sport fishing boats and cruise ships that were docked in the harbor.
“Señorita.” A stocky, mustachioed waiter appeared at her elbow with a tall, shimmering goblet.
Casey blinked in surprise. She had not order white wine and said so. “Un momentito, camarero! No he pedido esto.”
The waiter gave her a wide, gold-toothed grin as he set the glass in front of her. “Si, Señorita. Un vasco de vino blanco es del hombre.”
Her smooth forehead puckered in confusion. She didn’t know any man who would send her a drink. “No comprendo.”
The waiter beamed and gestured to a table in the far corner. There a dark-haired, intriguing-looking man lifted his glass in a silent greeting. Casey swallowed nervously, then hurriedly looked away. “Gracias,” she mumbled, reaching for a cellophane-wrapped package of crackers to occupy her attention.
Casey casually glanced in the stranger’s direction when her lunch was served and found he was staring at her. Their eyes locked for a long moment, then blushing in embarrassment, she looked away. Her mind instantly reproduced his image from the chiseled chin in the sun-bronzed face to his eyes that glowed like brilliant topazes.
On the third bite of tender shrimp, the man made his move. She watched him weave easily through the maze of thatched-umbrella-covered tables. His tall, muscular frame looked invincible in a white shirt and close-fitting white slacks.
He stopped next to her and bent his head. “Buenas tardes, Señorita.” His voice was a husky melody in her ear. “¿Esta reservado este asiento?” He placed one hand on the back of the empty chair across from her.
Casey wiped her lips on her red linen napkin, smiled shyly up at him, then silently nodded her permission for him to join her. She stared at his supremely confident virile features for a long time. “Your accent is terrible.” Her luminous emerald eyes mirrored the tender smile that now formed on her lips.
He exhaled a forlorn little sigh, then grinned. “And to think I spent all last night perfecting it while I was lying alone in my bed – naked.” He raised a large hand to signal the waiter for another round of drinks. “I’ve been following you all morning. You’ve really run me ragged.”
“Travis, you weren’t supposed to pick me up!” She glared at him but failed to intimidate his triumphant smile.
“You told me to find someone interesting and attractive but I’d already done that.” His smile suddenly faded, his expression becoming very serious. He took her hand, palm up, and slowly caressed each finger. His eyes never left her face. “Did you really want me to find another woman to make love to?”
Casey couldn’t pull away from his magnetic gaze. The tender roughness of his fingertips stroking her skin rekindled the flames that snaked through her body and ignited her flesh. She stopped ignoring her desires as her body demonstrated its immediate reaction to what her head had consistently denied.
She closed her eyes, blocking out Travis’s anxious face, and finally voiced the words her heart had been whispering. “No. No, I don’t want you to find anyone else.” Her lashes fluttered open to reveal emerald eyes shimmering with tears. Her captured fingers trembled against his hand. Casey knew there would never be a better moment than now to tell him. “When you walked away this morning, my world came to a standstill. I walked for hours looking but not really seeing. There was no sun, no sky, no flowers, no beauty. I was scared that you would find another woman and I would never again feel the touch of your hands or the taste of your lips. I didn’t recognize what I had until it was gone.”
The rugged lines of Travis’s face collapsed in a tender smile. “Fate brought you into my life and gave me a patient soul. I’ve never been one to tempt Fate.” He lifted her hand to his lips. “Te quiero.”
She shivered at the desire that radiated from his eyes. “Travis, I’ve never had much love in my life,” Casey confessed awkwardly, apprehension clouded her features. “To be honest, you scare me. You are so positive.”
“And you still don’t know what your feelings are?”
She took a deep breath. “I know I’ve never been happier and more content than these past five weeks with you. I know I’ve never been able to confide and share and argue with anyone the way I do with you. I know there is a sympathy and an empathy between us that astounds me.” She paused of necessity to swallow the lump of emotion that had lodged in her throat.
The depth of her feelings gave her the courage to continue. “I know that having you in my life has made up for a great many things I’ve never had. I know you’ve given me a newfound joy and pleasure. I know my senses are sharper and I see things more clearly. I know that no matter what happens to me in the future I will never be happier than I am right now.”
Casey’s voice dropped to a low whisper. “I know that you disturb me mentally, emotionally and physically like no man ever has. You look at me, the way I’ve always dreamed a man would look at me. I know that I…I love you.”
Neither of them took any notice of the clattering of dishes and the chattering voices of the other diners in the crowded café. The colorful sailboat regatta in the harbor and the tunes of the strolling mariachi band went unobserved. Travis and Casey had ceased to respond to the external world. They just sat, holding hands, their legs entwined beneath the table, their eyes more eloquent than any spoken word.
When the restaurant closed later in the afternoon, they took a horse-drawn carriage to the Pie de la Cuesta Beach. They walked barefoot, arms wrapped around each other’s waists, through the warm tide, talking and laughing. Then they settled on the golden sand, waiting to view the extravaganza of color offered by the sunset. The city came alive in a virtual fairyland of blinking lights set against a wash of regal mauves and flaming crimsons.
Travis took Casey to the spectacular La Quebrada cliff formation to watch the famous daredevil performances of the ocean divers. T
hey stood at the base of the jagged cliffs on the belvedere observation platform, holding their breaths as the fearless divers plunged 150 feet into the narrow, rock-lined cove. The swan divers, carrying lighted torches, timed their descent to coincide with the incoming breakers.
They had drinks at the open-air palace, steaks at Blackbeard’s, and finally went dancing at Le Club. Travis drew Casey into his arms, their bodies melding together in slow, rhythmic movements. They danced in perfect synchronization to the music. She snuggled against him, her soft curves conformed perfectly to the rugged contours of his body. Her hands pressed into the silken material of his shirt, feeling the heat of his flesh. She rubbed her cheek against his neck, her fingers stroked the taut muscles, and her nose inhaled the warm lime scent of his skin.
“Having a good time?’ Travis’s low-pitched husky voice caressed her ear. His hands moved from her shoulders down her back to settle at the base of her spine.
Casey pressed herself tighter against him and savored his hardening response. “It’s been wonderful.” Her lips brushed across the bone of his cheek to the corner of his mouth. “Are we staying at the apartment here tonight?”
He shook his head. “We’ll go home together, all right?”
She looked at him, the black pupils of her eyes dominating the emerald irises. “That sounds perfect.” Casey felt strangely possessed and deliciously stimulated by her own sensuality. She wanted Travis as much as she knew he wanted her.
“Remember, burros don’t wear tail lights,” she warned in a lazy voice muffled by fingers that smothered a yawn.
Travis grinned. His right hand left the steering wheel to squeeze her exposed thigh. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep my eye out for the burros and the chickens and the armadillos and other assorted creatures that seem to be licensed to use the Mexican highways.” He expertly negotiated the jeep along one of the many high-banked curves on the ocean drive. “Take a nap. I think the piña coladas are catching up to you.”
