Authors: Lucy Francis
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.
Worse, number two, he didn’t want more than friendship. She
knew she got to him. The flashes of heat and desire in his eyes told her so, as
did the possessive way he sometimes pulled him to her, only to let it turn into
a friendly hug because he didn’t want anything more. And she hadn’t forgotten a
single detail of his kiss after their first date. But he had his own reasons
for staying just friends. He bore the weight of huge responsibilities right
now, and she knew he’d been hurt before.
Number three, Danny. He was a great big roadblock all on his
own.
Enough already.
There was no sense
in twisting herself into knots when going with the flow was the only option she
really had. They were friends, definitely. At the moment, Andri couldn’t
reconcile where benefits would fit into their lives without creating additional
problems neither of them needed. That idea went back on the furthest, coolest
burner on her mental stove. She released all her thoughts to the warm evening
breeze, losing herself in the rushing fountain’s music.
****
Night spread through the sky above Travis. In the
light of old fashioned lamps on posts throughout the hotel’s gardens, small
groups of people still gathered, talking, laughing. Travis quickened his pace,
his need to feel Andri beside him increasing as the minutes passed. He ignored
the warning in his head. Being with her, talking with her, touching her filled
him up, brightening his dark soul, and his internal mantra of
keep it light, don’t get too close
grew quieter.
He got a lucky break. One of the couples he’d introduced
Andri to earlier in the evening had seen her recently, and pointed him in the
right direction. He passed through a vine-covered arch and spotted her standing
by a fountain. He crossed the walkway quietly, trying not to disturb whatever
her thoughts might be. He stopped a few feet from her, letting the vision of
her fill his senses.
She faced away from him, staring at the tumbling water. Her
gown swirled around her in the evening breeze, outlining her legs, the curve of
her hips. The bare skin of her shoulder and upper back made his fingers ache to
touch her, to caress the silkiness of her shoulder, the curve of her neck, to
catch her vanilla scent as he kissed her nape. The tiny lights dancing on the
trees glinted off her dark hair, the thick, loose twist calling to him. Her
hair should be loose, free, in his hands.
He got less than a foot from her before she realized someone
was there and stiffened. Before she could turn around, he shushed her. “It’s
just me, Andri.”
She relaxed and turned her head slightly, watching him in
her peripheral vision. He grasped one of the few stray tendrils of hair
floating across her back, twining it around his finger, the strands silky
smooth, then released it. He set his hands on her shoulders, and she shivered.
Her soft skin tempted him. Travis trailed his thumbs gently down her spine to
her waist, then ran his fingertips up again. The silken texture of her skin
matched that of her dress, a sensation nearly too much for his control. His
breathing quickened, his heart pounding like he’d run here to the fountain. He
tightened his grip on her shoulders, winding in his desire a bit.
“You owe me one for leaving me by myself with the most
annoying client of the decade.” He tried to mask the edge of want in his voice,
and knew he failed.
She trembled when he shifted nearer, so close behind her yet
not quite touching. “It seemed best to let you talk business alone,” she said,
her grainy voice wavering.
Travis laughed softly. “I think I’ve talked enough.” He ran
a hand along her throat, up under her chin, tilting her head to the side to
give him access. He couldn’t resist tasting her there, to see if she was still
as sweet as he remembered.
The sound of her gasp sent a tremor down his spine as he
pressed his lips to the heated, tender skin along the side of her neck. The
vanilla fragrance, so completely hers, wrapped around him as he slid his other
hand down her arm and across her waist, pulling her tight against him, his
chest pressed to her back.
He trailed kisses along her neck and jaw, his pulse roaring
in his ears, his groin stirring. Her soft, small hand spread against the back
of his hand, pressing his palm hard to her abdomen. Every muscle in his body
cranked tighter and he rested his chin on her shoulder, fighting inside to
master his desire before he lost it completely.
He released her chin and raised his hand to her mass of
hair. His fingers found a pin and eased it from the thick strands. As he
released the second one, she shivered in his arms. His awareness of her grew
acute and he refused to think, to reason beyond this perfect moment.
He nuzzled her ear, the scent of her sweet and exotic and
entirely intoxicating. “I want my hands in your hair,” he murmured, then
flicked his tongue along her earlobe. She said nothing, her breath catching,
but her hand met his, pulling pins loose. He took the pins from her, dropping
them in his pocket. She sifted through her hair with her fingers, and the heavy
dark waves tumbled down across his shoulder and neck, touching a chord deep
inside him, drawing a groan past his lips. Heated memories of his dreams, of
her wrapped around him, surfaced hard and strong.
Travis pulled her around to face him, the need to taste her
more than he could bear. Her eyes, huge and deep, searched his and she curled a
hand around the back of his neck. Her touch yanked his control over the
breaking point. With his arm around her waist and his other hand knotting into
her mass of hair, Travis lowered his mouth over hers.
Their lips touched, held, then melded. Electricity ripped
through his body when she responded to him. He felt her slip a hand inside his
jacket and up his back, and Andri wrapped her other arm around his neck,
pulling him securely to her. The pressure of every sweet curve filled him,
overwhelmed him. He drew the tip of his tongue across the seam of her lips.
A whimper escaped her. She parted her lips beneath his, and
he deepened the kiss. The faint taste of cola and chocolate on her tongue
overloaded his already buzzing senses, and he lost awareness of anything beyond
her mouth, her body. He felt her weaken in his arms, her fingers flexing and
tightening on his shirt, his neck. He slid his hand down from her waist,
pulling her hips flush against him. Her breath hitched, and in that moment he
knew he was lost.
Panic clamped around his heart. He broke the kiss and lifted
his head, suddenly unable to breathe. God, what had he done? He’d allowed
himself to blur the borders of their friendship and the price for both of them
loomed in his head. He gently, deliberately disentangled himself from her arms.
She looked up at him, dark eyes still hazy with desire, a
smile on her soft lips. Her expression told him she had no idea she’d stripped
his heart bare, no idea she held the power to crush him. God help him, he
didn’t want her to know. He’d known he was flirting with danger, but spending
time with her felt so damned good. She was everything he needed, everything he
wanted. But the potential they had to hurt each other sent the scale so far out
of balance, how could he possibly justify anything other than friendship?
The breeze kicked up stronger then, cooler, sending a shiver
through her, giving him the way out he desperately needed. “It’s getting
chilly. I’d better get you to the car.”
“You do a fine job of keeping me warm,” she said, her low,
whiskey voice luring his body.
Panic shifted into higher gear. He took a deep breath,
searching inside for something to barricade himself. Anger at himself for
allowing things to go a little too far rose, but he refused to wield that
against her. Instead, he reached for a grin. “Andri, it’s time to take you
home. Chivalry isn’t dead, you know. I’m supposed to protect you from things
that lurk in the night.”
Her dark eyes flashed and she smiled again. “Things like
you?”
Oh, if she only knew. He shook his head and took her hand.
“Come on.”
Travis regretted kissing her. Andri watched him during the
drive home from the fundraiser, and the regret flickered in his eyes and
threaded through his voice, even as he laughed and talked with her. She kept
the conversation light for his sake, though his obvious remorse tore at her.
No one had kissed her like Travis did. Ever. Not even close.
His heat still imprinted her, searing her all the way to her toes. She
struggled to keep her mind on the conversation, not on the memory of his strong
hands or the sure way he had taken possession of her. He could have taken her
right there in that secluded spot in the garden, if he wanted to. Could have
her now, if he asked.