Travis

The first gray light of dawn was nudging the night aside when the ‘Vette’s headlights sliced across the bar’s empty parking lot. I’d stayed so late the night before, I’d nearly closed the place. Only the knowledge of our Sunday riding date had motivated me to leave so I could be well rested for our excursion.

Spending time with Christine was becoming easy, almost second nature. What had begun as heated interest, was rapidly moving to something else. Something I could neither define nor explain. I only knew being around her was comfortable. If I was honest, I had to admit that scared me just a little. What did it say about me that I could so easily move on?

I was halfway across the parking lot when my steps faltered. Silhouetted by the bar’s exterior lighting, an ethereal angel emerged from the brilliance to join me in darkness. The image was oddly as disturbing as it was exciting. Shaking my head against the rush of baffling emotion, I crossed the distance between us to relieve her of the heavy pack she carried.

“What’s in here?” I tested the weight.

“Lunch, a few essentials, my camera. Why? Is it too heavy for you?” She reached for it, but I jerked the pack up, out of her reach, and she lost her balance. She saved herself from falling with a hand on my left hip. I sucked in a huge gulp of air.

She snatches her hand back. “Sorry. Did I hurt you?”

“No.” I bit the word off, gritting my teeth against my exquisite excitement at her touch.

I stepped to the back of my car, concentrating on cramming the overloaded pack into a trunk barely large enough to hold the spare tire. I had no intention of starting our day together with my obvious state of arousal between us. Only when control returned did I glance her way.

And immediately realized my mistake.

It wasn’t the sexy singer from Friday evening staring back at me, nor the provocative bartender from the night before. In the predawn light, her face was soft, tender. Her incredible eyes wide, a sense of sweetness surrounded her, bringing visions of carousels and cotton candy to my mind. A smile played around full lips I already knew were soft and welcoming. But it was the morning wind lifting a tendril of dark hair escaping her ponytail that did me in.

I wanted to see the rest of her hair blowing in the morning breeze. I wanted to touch it, run my hands through it. Control yourself, man. You barely know her.

“Aw, hell,” I muttered, tossing my inner caution aside. I settled my hands on her upper arms and dragged her up against me. Even as I registered that she came into my embrace willingly, I figured I’d probably regret giving in to my impulse.

But time enough for regrets later. I’d learned the hard way sometimes waiting held no reward.

With my knuckles, I grazed her cheeks on the way to my goal. As I combed my fingers through her silky hair, it sprang free from the elastic band and tumbled about her shoulders like a cloud, embracing me with the subtle sweet scent of her shampoo. Burying my head in that cloud, I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply.

* * *

Christine

“Oh!” I giggled. “You’re energetic this morning.” I should push off, keep him at arm’s length the way I normally did with interested men. Intending to do just that, I drew back and lifted my gaze.

The deep vulnerability reflected in his green eyes stalled my heart and held my breath in my throat. “I…”

Time seemed to freeze, suspending us in a single moment. When he moved, it came like the swooping of an eagle. One minute, he was meeting my stare; the next his lips crushed mine. Heat rose between us, swirled around us. This was no chaste good-morning kiss. This one packed the heat and promise of the rising sun. When he drifted back, I followed him, driven by the need to satisfy the deep hunger he’d awakened.

In a clever dance of kissing and caressing, pushing and leaning, we moved into and around each other. I found myself pressed against the trunk of his fast, sexy car, while his fast, sexy hands found their way to the edges of my oversized man’s Western shirt. He parted the garment and the heat from his palms branded me through the tank shirt beneath.

I locked my hands behind his neck and held on, moaning deep in my throat. With a feral growl, Travis lifted me and set me atop the trunk. He leaned against me, his mouth burning electrifying kisses along my throat. My heart settled into a heavy, rhythmic beat, a primitive drum pushing heat through my system, stealing my ability to draw regular breaths.

* * *

Travis

Even through two layers of clothing, the sizzle emanating from Christine slammed into me. Driven by need, I fumbled at the hem of her shirt. My fingers encountered soft, warm skin just as she settled herself more intimately into the embrace.

I could have her on the trunk of my car, surrounded by the crisp early morning air. She was as eager and excited as I was, and we could finish things right there where I’d started them, in front of her bar.

Across the street from the New Life Christian Church.

Where, in mere hours, Brother Bobby Higgins would be preaching his sermon to his conservative congregation.

One of Christine’s hands lingered at my waist, her fingers making tiny movements. Remaining upright became difficult.

“You know, I have a room upstairs,” she murmured against my throat.

Her husky invitation would have fueled many a teenage boy’s dreams. But I wasn’t a teenager. Hadn’t been for many years. Sanity and reason filtered to the front of my rutting brain. With no small sense of reluctance, I pulled back and stood with my hands braced on either side of her on the trunk of my car. What was I doing? I’d known this woman for a handful of days —less than that. I stared down at her face, struggling for the right words.

Eyes heavy with unsatisfied desire, she gazed back, her lips drawn up in silent question. She snuggled closer, tearing a moan from my lips. I stepped away and pulled a hand across my jaw. It was on me to stop the madness.

“I can’t believe I’m going to say this.” I tried to breathe but found myself inhaling huge gulps of air that smelled of her, of us. I was an adult, capable of self-control. But my hands trembled as I straightened her blouse, covering the parts of her I wasn’t finished touching. “We should stick with the plan for the ride to the high country.”

I allowed myself one last caress of her cheek before I angled away from her and adjusted my own clothing.

* * *

Christine

“Oh.” Heat rose from my neck and swamped my face. I moved my jaw, willing my tongue to work. “Sure. Okay.” It took effort to stand on rubberized legs when I slid off the car. I tried to fasten the buttons of my shirt with fingers that didn’t want to work.

Fear kept me from looking at him. Surely my emotions were parading naked across my face. What might he see in my eyes? What might I not see in his? So I studied the gravel at my feet and waited.

Travis took hold of my hands, squeezing lightly until I looked up at him. “Make no mistake, Bluebell.” His Wyoming accent wound through a voice thick with the need reflected in his gaze. “This ain’t finished by a long way. But if I make love to you, it won’t be with my car parked in front of your bar, and the majority of churchgoing folk in Pine Haven noticing when they descend on that parking lot over there for their Sunday morning worship.”

It was impossible to look away so I simply drowned in delightful desire, tingling in all the right places with his words. His voice held promise, and I shivered with anticipation. Something else was happening, something that went beyond physical. On one hand it felt nice. On the other, it terrified me.

A slow smile formed as I assigned a mental picture to his words. “Poor Brother Bobby has a hard enough time seeing most of his congregation parked here Saturday nights.” I straightened my outer shirt with a little wiggle. “But it would be fun to see the flustered looks, especially from some of the women who wanted your attention last night.” I sent him a playful little wink. “Don’tcha think?” Then I sauntered along the passenger side of the car, opened the door, and climbed in.

* * *

Travis

I stared at Christine’s delicious rear view until it touched down on the seat. Umm.

“Washington, Adams, Jefferson,” I whispered. Surely naming the presidents would dispel the heat. Not working so far. “Madison… Madison…” I frowned. Who came next? I’d known them all in order once. Committed it to memory in elementary school. How had I forgotten such a simple fact?

Christine.

That woman could make a man forget a lot of things. Maybe even my own name. She’d addled my brain with a wink.

Huffing out the lingering warmth burning through my system in a long slow breath, I mostly staggered to the driver’s door and tumbled into the seat.

The key was inches away from my hand but instead of reaching for it, I laid my hand on top of her knee. The move seemed more intimate than the moment we’d just shared, and Christine’s muscles trembled beneath my touch.

“Just so we’re clear on one thing, Bluebell. Right now, I don’t care what any woman in the world thinks except you.” As if to make me a liar, another woman’s loving words floated to the surface, and I faltered. No, I’d deal with her later. I’d waited. She had not. A gentle mental nudge eased her back where she usually hovered, not quite out of mind but definitely out of sight. I shook my head, as much to dislodge her from the moment as to make my point to Christine. “But I do know firsthand what talk in a small town can do to a person.”

“Yeah, about that,” she drawled, and an unrepentant smile twisted her lips. “The gossip boat sailed inside the first year I was here, right after I brought live entertainment to Valentine’s. All that gossip did was increase business. They can’t hurt me unless I let them.”

“Some would try,” I said evenly. “I’ve been gone a while but some things —some people —don’t change.” I squeezed her knee lightly until she met my look. The effort of reining in my desire tightened my voice. “I do want you, Christine. More than I’ve wanted anyone in my life.”

She laughed softly. “That was pretty hard to miss, ace.” Innocent blue eyes drifted to my lap where I was still in recovery mode.

“Don’t,” I whispered as my blood began to head south again. “Please. Or I’m not gonna care about anything but getting you up those stairs and loving you so good you won’t be able to walk after.”

She continued to caress me with those eyes, my biggest weakness.

“For the love of mercy, don’t do that!”

Christine sniffed. “Crippling sex, huh?” Her smile scorched its way along my nerve endings. “Are you a gambling man?”

My mouth twitched and I offered a half shrug. “I’ve been known to place a bet or two.”

A sly, knowing smile curved her lips. Leaning toward me just enough to give me a view of the valley leading to her personal Main Street, she spoke in a husky voice. “Good. Because I see you your crippling sex and I’ll raise the stakes to mind-blowing sex.”

Travis drew a shaky breath. “You aren’t going to make it easy, are you?”

Without saying a word, Christine held me captive with her eyes and gave a slow shake of her head.