GAMBLING ON LOVE (Travis Series) (15 page)

“I think it would break him,” Sam said
.
They were quiet for a few moments before he spoke again
.
“Did I ever tell you I was named after my father?”

“I don’t think so.”

“His name was Samuel Scott Travis, but he went by Scott.”

“Scott Travis
?”
The name tugged at a memory Beth couldn’t quite grasp
.
“I think I’ve heard the name before, but I can’t remember where.”

“Are you sure about that?”

Beth concentrated harder
.
She knew she’d heard it before
.
Realization
hit her
as she re
called that
Samuel Scott Travis had signed the check she’d received from SST Shipping
.
Beth jerked with a start and sat up.
 

“SST Shipping was owned by Scott Travis
.
Damn it, Sam,
why have you been keeping it a secret?
You don’t
just
work for SST Shipping
—
you
are
SST Shipping.
”
She
remembered what he’d said about the owner having passed away
and instantly regretted chastising him
.
“Oh, Sam, I’m so sorry about your father
.
Were you close?”

“He was a good man, but he was tough to get close to
.
I respected him and when he asked me to take over the
company,
I believe I earned his respect
,
too.
”
Sam reached out to pull her back down next to him but she resisted
.
“Honey, what’s wrong?”

Beth couldn’t breathe
.
“Sam,” she said hoarsely, “you said the owner’s son fell in love.”

“Yes,” he said simply.

“And you’re the owner’s son.”

“Yes.”

“His
only
son?”

“Yes.”

She drew in a deep breath
.
“So
…
who did you fall in love with?”

“Don’t you know, sweetheart
?”
Sam sat up and cupped her chin in his hand, turning her face to his
.
“My beautiful Anne, how can you not know that I
’m madly in
love
with
you?”

Beth’s lips trembled
.
A
long with the rest of her body
.
“Sam
…
” she choked, “please don’t say it if you don’t mean it.”

“I never say things I don’t mean, sweetheart
.
I think I’ve loved you since that first dance
.
It’s just that I’ve never been in love before and didn’t recognize it for what it was
.
But I know now
.
I know what this heaviness in my heart is
,
too, Anne
.
I’m scared to death you won’t feel what I feel.
”
When she didn’t say anything, Sam’s heart felt even heavier
.
“I shouldn’t have told you
.
It was too soon
;
I should have waited, given you more time
…
”

“Oh, Sam!”
 

She threw her arms around his neck, laughing and crying at the same time
as she
pushed him down on the bed
and
kiss
ed
him with all the passion and fire in her heart
.
Sam
loved her
!
H
is strong arms wrap
ped
around her, holding her so tight
ly
she could barely breathe, but it didn’t matter
.
Nothing in the whole world mattered
except
kissing Sam and loving him, knowing that he loved her too.
 

“Anne,” Sam whispered against her lips, “say it, baby
.
Tell me you love me
,
too.”

“I do love you, Sam
.
I love you so much I can’t breathe for thinking of it
.
But…it’s
all happening so fast
.
How is this even possible
?
How can I love you so much when I barely know you?”

“Believe me,
honey,
this has my mind in a tailspin too
.
I
only
know how good I feel when I’m with you and how miserable I am when I’m not.”

Beth smiled happily and tucked herself close to his side
.
It felt good and right, as if his body was
designed to
mold perfectly to hers.
 

“I could just kiss that pudgy man on the plane,” she said sleepily
.
“Sam?”

“Yeah, honey
?”

“Thank your friend at the police station
,
too.”

“I’ll invite him to dinner one night and you can thank him yourself.”

“That would be nice
…
”
Beth
wanted
to stay awake
and
wallow a while longer in the knowledge
that
he loved her
. B
ut the busy day, the misery she’d felt when Sam didn’t call, and the remaining effects of the alcohol all worked together, forcing her to let go
.
S
he was sound asleep
within minutes
, a
warm
smile lingering on her lips.

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                       *
**

Beth woke in the morning to the tingling sensation of Sam’s lips gliding down the side of her neck
.
She giggled and twisted away from him
.

“That tickles!”

“Good, then it worked
.
I was trying to wake you up.”

“Any particular reason
?”
she
asked, knowing full well what his reasons were.

“Yeah,” Sam grinned, “so you could get up and make me breakfast.”

With
an indignant squeak
, Beth sat up
and
threw back the covers
, her escape cut short when
Sam’s powerful arm
caught her around the waist and hauled
her
back down
.
Smothering her
half-hearted protest
with a ravenous kiss, Sam
had her writing beneath him in a matter of minutes.

“Stop teasing me
.” She
stuck out her lip in a
mock
pout.

“If you want something, all you have to do is ask.”

“Okay
.” She
grinned
.
“I want you to get up and make
me
breakfast.”

Sam chuckled
as he
cupped her b
reast and
flicked his tongue across the taut peak.
“I need to leave soon or I’ll be late getting into the office.
”
He
drew her into his mouth, alternately sucking and nipping until the moan she was trying so desperately to suppress erupted from between her parted lips.
“I
’m afraid I
only have time for one
or the other,” he said, feathering kisses up the side of her neck.
I can make
breakfast…or I can make
love to you
.
”

Beth
curled
her legs around his muscular thighs
.
“I’ll hit the
drive-through
on the way to work.”

“Now why did I know that’s what you
would
say?”

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                   
*
**

Beth took a quick shower and scrambled to get dressed
.
He’d made love to her far longer than either of them could afford
;
she’d laughed until her sides hurt when Sam noticed the time and
attempted to speed
up the process
.
Then h
e’d complained that she was making it more difficult for him to finish the job, which made her laugh even harder
.

He’d sulked for a few m
inutes
afterwards
.
U
ntil she told him
about the
private washroom
in
her office and asked him to pick her up early for lunch
.
A slow grin had spread across his face
and
then quickly disappeared when he found himself getting aroused at the thought
.
He’d given her a quick kiss and rolled out of bed
,
swearing to high heaven that she was trying to kill him.

Beth parked her car and sat for
several
minute
s
,
her mind and body still hovering in that heavenly place Sam had taken her to this morning
.
She attempted to pull herself together
and
headed into the building
.
Vic was sitting at his desk, already deeply immersed in paperwork
. He
glanced up when she came in
,
grinn
ing
like a Cheshire cat when she got close to his desk
.

“Somebody got a little something last night,” he
teased
,
wiggling
his brows up and down.

“I don’t know what you mean,” she said, her eyes wide with what she hoped was
pure
innocen
ce
.

“Doll face, you have the satisfied look of a woman who’s been tossed in the hay but good
.
Shall I assume your Sam called?”

“It’s a long story, Vic
.
Grab one of those calorie
-
packed cappuccinos you love so much and I’ll tell you all about it.”

After she told Vic the whole story, he sat back with a big smile on his face
.
“Well, it’s finally happened
.
I thought you’d never let you
r
hair down long enough to fall in love.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Sweetie, I’ve watched you turn away man after man for years
.
You built a brick wall around yourself after Stephen broke your heart and I didn’t think anyone would be able to tear it down
.
Your Sam must be something special to bulldoze through
it
.”

“He is, Vic, and if you behave yourself today
,
I might introduce him to you when he picks me up for lunch.”

“Oh, I’ll behave,” he promised as he rose to go back to his desk
.
“I wouldn’t miss meeting this man of yours for the world.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                     *
**

Sam called her at ten
thirty that morning
.
“I’m between meetings
.
I love you
—
gotta
run.”

He’d waited only long enough for her to say she loved him too before hanging up, but it was all Beth needed to brighten her morning
.
The rest of the morning was a blur of phone calls and paperwork
.
She
didn’t even realize it was lunchtime until Vic opened her door and slipped through with a silly grin on his face.

“Now
that
is a man fit for my Beth,” he whispered.
 

She stood
and
laughed when Vic didn’t move
.
“Are you going to let him in or not?”

“I am, but first I have to ask you about the kitchen.”

Beth looked at him like he’d lost his mind
.
“The kitchen?”

“Well, yes
.
When Sam came in and introduced himself
,
I said you’d told me all about him
.
Then
he
said
,
I hope she didn’t tell you everything
.
Of course, I laughed and told him you confide all your secrets to me.”

“Vic, what on God’s green earth does this have to do with the kitchen?”

“I’m getting to that, don’t rush me
!
Anyway, that’s when Sam asked
whether
you’d told me what you two did in the kitchen last night.”

“He said
what
?”

“He mentioned the kitchen counter and a few appliances.
”
Vic planted his hands on his hips
.
“Doll, you and I have been best friends
forever
and now I find out you’re holding out on all the juicy parts!”

Beth burst into laughter
.
“Vic, I swear Sam and I never even went into the kitchen last night, although I’m thinking of using one of those appliances over the back of his head for telling such horrible stories.”

Vic crossed his arms
.
“He said you’d deny it all
.
I’m going to lunch,” he said
with a
haughtily
toss of
his
head
, “and when you feel you want to come clean with me, I’ll be waiting at my desk.
”
He
threw the door
open
and flounced out of the room.

She stood there
in
stunned silence
, her eyes narrowing into accusatory slits when
Sam
cautiously
stuck his head through the doorway
sporting
a guilty grin.
 

“Sam Travis, how could you do that
?
Now Vic won’t talk to me because he thinks I’m holding out on him.”

Sam shrugged, that rakish grin still pasted
on
his face as he slipped through the door
.
Breathe
, Beth told herself when
he turned and
flipped the
lock.