Chapter 9

Ivy couldn’t sleep that night. Her fear of rejection and her lack of self-confidence were the very reasons why she had never allowed anyone to get close to her. It was why she had always shied away from sex. The longer she waited, her inexperience grew and she was twenty-four years old now and still a virgin.

Travis Dunn had outrightly rejected her. Even though he had bought her a dress, invited her to his home…at the last minute, he changed his mind. Just at the very moment when she was ready to give herself to him. She was ready. She had never wanted to be with a man more. She had forgotten all her inhibitions, let go of her pride and her self-doubts and wanted to strip there, right in front of him. But Travis had told her that she wasn’t thinking straight and he had commanded her to go home.

Ivy was embarrassed and still reeling from her uncontrollable desire for him. She lay awake in bed for hours, till feeling frustrated; she leaped out and switched on her laptop. She couldn’t distract herself from thinking about what a complete fool she had made of herself.

On the internet, she tried looking for all the information she could find on Travis Dunn. Some of the information she knew already.

Ex-Marine

Voluntary Retirement

Collected investors for his construction company

Made Millions of dollars in turnover in the first five years

Worth Billions now

Travis Dunn was the poster child of the American Dream

About his personal life, Ivy could find out very little. Most of the stuff was garbage…rumors. There were fan sites dedicated to him, with paparazzi and tabloid photos of Travis in designer suits and tailored clothing, walking out of clubs, with beautiful women dangling from his arms. He was well known as a womanizer, for his fast cars and his successful business deals. He had managed to create a reputation for being a hard sell. A no-nonsense, respected businessman and yet a sex symbol for women all over the country.

From what Ivy could tell, he didn’t seem to have been in a serious relationship with anybody, ever. There were no photographs or articles about him with the same woman, twice. Were they all one night stands? Casual week long relationships before he sent them packing on their way? Why did these women fall for him? Did they really all just want one night with Travis Dunn? Was he that good in bed that one night with him was worth it? Ivy didn’t stop searching. She couldn’t.

She scanned through websites and photographs and trashy online magazines, till she saw that one particular woman was photographed with him three times. They were the same three pictures, old and pixelated…seemingly from at least two decades ago.

With her heart racing, Ivy dug deeper, getting swallowed in the deep dark hole of the internet till she found a short article which made her squint. She read it quickly, then read it again, till she was reading it for the third time and knew that she wasn’t just imagining it.

The article had the same photograph with it. A younger Travis, with the same features, the same smoking hot body but just a fresher face, a happier expression…a more genuine smile. It seemed to be a personal photograph, like a family picture…one that was not taken by the paparazzi. A close up of Travis, with his arm around a beautiful brunette. They were both smiling at the camera. The woman’s long curls were in Travis’ eyes but he didn’t seem to mind.

She didn’t have the same super-model-like qualities that Ivy had seen in the other women Travis was photographed with. She had a more natural no-makeup look, with large green eyes and a strawberry shaped smile. They seemed to be the same age, in their early twenties and it was clearly a picture from before Travis became a successful and wealthy businessman.

Ivy read the article again. Her name was Mia Kazinsky and the write-up alleged that she was Travis Dunn’s long-time girlfriend and recently engaged. Travis had left for a tour in Iraq, and they were supposed to get married after he returned. Mia died in a car crash while he was away.

That was all the article said, nothing more. It had been written around the time that Travis gathered investors for his new construction business and apparently, nobody else seemed to have written about this piece of history from his life again.

Ivy curled up her legs on the chair and stared at her laptop screen in the dark. Travis had been engaged to a girl years ago. That was the last time, she could find any evidence of at least, that he had been in a serious committed relationship. What had happened to him after that? What kind of loss did he experience from Mia’s death that he was unable to commit to anyone else?

She couldn’t even remember why she was spying on his life anymore. All she could do was stare at Travis’ smiling happy face, with Mia beside him. The last thing she wanted to feel after her visit to his house, was sympathy. And yet, that was exactly what she was feeling for him. She didn’t want to be so bold as to assume that she had him all figured out, but at least she knew why he behaved so strangely with women. With her.

But what was the point in thinking about him now? She shut her laptop and climbed back into bed again. It was over. It was a short period of madness in her life and with any luck, she wouldn’t have to see him ever again.