Travis

On the coffee table, where I’d emptied my pockets, my cell phone hummed with an incoming call. Ignoring it, I nudged the scrap of lace covering her breast aside. With Christine in my arms, nothing else mattered.

I wanted to take my time, savoring the moment at the brink of love. She was everything to me. She filled my empty places and made my broken places stronger. She balanced my strengths and weaknesses. I didn’t understand it, but her name was somehow burned into my soul. She moaned and arched into my touch as I teased one pebbled pink bud with the tip of my tongue.

The cell phone buzzed again, this time with the tone indicating a message. Christine stiffened and I groaned. I should have turned the damn thing off. She’d gone completely still beneath me, applying the brakes on our romantic interlude, but I didn’t move. If I touched the phone just now, I’d probably smash it in frustration.

The lamp next to the bed cast a warm radiance over her face. Cradled in my arms, she was soft, contented… vulnerable. What would it be like to see her face every night before I drifted to sleep, and again when I woke up in the morning? I wanted to find out. Would she want the same thing? If we weren’t going to make love, at least we could indulge in some pillow talk before I called it a night and headed for home.

“Ah, Bluebell…” I sighed, wrapping a strand of dark hair around my forefinger. “I’m going to want a lot more than just one night. If I spend the rest of my life getting to know you, I’ll still find something new every day.”

She opened her eyes and smiled. “I’m not going anywhere.”

As her assurance washed over me, my heart began to race. They were just words. She would have no idea that, to me, they were false promises. Only words. My breath caught in my throat, and liquid fire flushed through my system, only to be doused by instant ice water flowing in its wake. I hadn’t experienced such a reaction since PTSD had dictated my life. The tremors would come next. I didn’t want to have to explain everything to her. Not yet. I squeezed my eyes shut, nearing panic, fighting to force the beast back into the darkness, where it belonged.

Christine poked me in the side. “Your cell’s going off again.”

The trigger was broken, but the episode left me shaking. I rolled to the side, allowing her to sit, and drew a calming breath. I made no move to retrieve my cell. I probably wouldn’t be able to walk. Maybe she hadn’t noticed my lapse into mental instability.

Gentle fingers trailed a whisper of a touch along my jaw. “Travis?” I sighed. She’d noticed.

* * *

Christine

Travis’s eyelids fluttered open, and the shadows in them tore at my heart. “Travis, what’s on your mind?”

I’d barely finished speaking and already he was closed down, his expression shuttered against my concern. His groan was followed by a slow smile. Heat replaced the darkness in his eyes. “You.”

Apparently, some things were still off limits. Arguing the point would be useless, so I simply waited and watched.

His breathing slowly returned to normal, but he showed no inclination for talking. Satisfied that the shadows were fading, I bent over and pressed a kiss to his forehead. As I drew back, his hand snaked out and grabbed me by the wrist, keeping me with him. He flipped my hand over and pressed a kiss to my palm.

Green eyes met mine. “I lived away from here for a long time. Not everything is about my history here, and there are some things that are hard to talk about.”

An abrupt memory of the crystal angel dangling from Travis’s rearview mirror stalled my heart. I smiled and looked away, putting a mental Band-Aid on the little stab of pain as I backed off. Didn’t I have my own painful past, after all?

“I see.” I disentangled my hand from his grasp and stood, unwilling to share this particular vulnerability. Maybe it was a good thing his cell had interrupted us. He wasn’t ready for a relationship and I wasn’t ready if he wasn’t being a hundred percent open. “How about we check out that dessert then?”

I righted my bra, aware of my body’s protest at the unsatisfied hunger. His eyes followed mine, as I located my blouse and pulled it over my head. But I might as well preserve a bit of dignity. I stumbled to the kitchen, on wooden marionette legs, and yanked open the freezer.

My hand was on the carton of chocolate ice cream, when the first tear spilled over. What was I doing? Had I just become the other woman in a messed-up triangle with Travis and his missing woman?

Strong arms stole around me from behind and I stiffened against his touch.

“Hey, what is it?”

Gentle hands settled on my shoulders and turned me away from the refrigerator. He’d pulled on his shirt, but hadn’t fastened it or tucked it in.

I couldn’t meet his eyes. “Nothing. I thought I had some whipped cream but I can’t find it.”

Placing the backs of his knuckles beneath my chin, Travis tilted my head up. He pressed a gentle kiss against my lips but I held myself rigid. When he looked into my eyes again, I noted the sadness in his.

“We’re moving too fast,” he murmured. I nodded. “I think —maybe yes. I’m sorry. I must be driving you crazy. Hot, cold, yes, no.”

His thumb worked back and forth across my cheek. It was a long moment before he spoke. “Let’s take a step or two back.”

A wry chuckle slipped from my lips. “Is that even possible?”

Green eyes lit when he smiled. “Bluebell, I’m counting on it.”

“I don’t know what’s happening here,” I whispered.

His smile deepened. “I’m pretty sure I’m falling in love.” My heart lodged in my throat, threatening to explode outward. “Don’t say that.”

Travis looked like he wanted to say more but his mask floated down instead. “Okay.” He released me and bent to look in the refrigerator. “Let’s check out your dessert menu here. Ah, here you go.” He held up a blue and red can. “One spray can of whipped cream. What else do you have?”

The moment was gone, the shut-out complete. I gestured toward the sofa. “Sit down. I’ll find something.”

Raising one eyebrow, he looked between me and the sofa, then shrugged and padded across the floor. A hiccup of emotion bubbled out, as I realized we’d been in such an intimate position, yet neither of us had removed our boots. That could well have ended up in an even more awkward moment. I smiled and set about gathering some dessert, not the best substitute for mind-blowing sex, but it’s all I had at the moment. Then I followed Travis to the couch.

“Should I be worried about the reasons for your smile?” he asked as I knelt on the edge of the sofa.

“Surely a big strong man such as yourself isn’t afraid of a woman bringing him dessert.”

He nodded at the bounty I was laying out on the table in front of us. “No bowls, Bluebell, and only one spoon? Makes me wonder if I’m going to be the dessert you promised.”

Holding up the can of whipped cream, I laughed maniacally. “You found out my devious plan.” I shook the can then made as if to lather his body with it.

“First I’ll spray your belly, and then—” His arm snaked out and grabbed my wrist, tugging me down onto the sofa next to him.

“Oh!” I landed awkwardly, half against Travis’s chest.

“Stop teasing me and feed me the dessert you promised when you lured me into your lair, woman! I’m starving over here.”

My sat, laughter on my lips. “We can’t have that, especially when I have access to multiple types of chocolate. It doesn’t cure everything, but it helps. Let me show you.”

After popping open the top of the ice cream carton, I sprayed on a good measure of whipped cream, then added a handful of strawberries and topped it all with a drizzle of chocolate syrup. After swirling the spoon through the mix, I aimed it for Travis’s mouth.

* * *

Travis

Fruity sweetness and chocolate splashed across my palate, and I moaned out loud at the sugar overload.

“See? See?” Christine angled a look, studying me as I chewed. “I told you it was good. Deny me now.”

Her almost childlike giddiness captivated me and I couldn’t resist teasing. “It’s not a combination I’d have chosen, since I was raised on the simple Pine Haven fare…” I nodded and cocked my head sideways, pretending to consider the taste. “… but yeah, it’s okay.”

A smile worked its way onto her face as she gathered more of the icy confection on her spoon.

My mouth watered in anticipation.

But the second bite disappeared into Christine’s mouth, and she sucked on it like a lollipop. Childlike? Giddy? Forget those! The sensual siren in front of me rolled the spoon over and thoroughly licked the back, keeping her eyes on me, as she caught a stray smear of whipped cream from her upper lip with the tip of her tongue.

My blood went from pleasantly warm to boiling, in the space of a breath. Maybe I should rethink my dismissal of her proposed alternate use for the whipped cream.

The strident blare of an incoming call on my cell phone jarred the thought out of my head, and I frowned, already hating the caller. “Ignore it.”

But she was already leaning forward. “It could be important. Your dad or Grant.” I checked the phone. It wasn’t my father or my brother, so I tossed the phone aside without answering. “It’s just a friend who’s been looking into something for me.”

Her hand, already lifting another spoonful of chocolate and strawberry, hesitated. She lowered the spoon back into the carton and cast an assessing stare in my direction.

Too many interruptions, too many secrets between us. I didn’t want to talk about my reasons for leaving Pine Haven, or about Mac, or my time away. And I really didn’t want to talk about the search for Jackie Hollow that had consumed the last several years of my life. Not tonight. I was finished looking, and if I hadn’t been with Christine when Dan had called, I would have told him so. But from the sadness in her eyes before she looked away, she already knew who the call was about.

“You’re quiet,” I murmured, willing her to meet my gaze.

“What happens when you find her?” Christine studied the ice cream a moment longer then flashed a look up at me. “What happens to you and me?”

I blew out a breath. Easing the carton of ice cream and the spoon from her fingers, I set them on the coffee table next to my phone. “Christine.” I took her hand and kissed the tip of each finger. “I… don’t want to be with her. Once, I thought —maybe. But she wasn’t there —and now…”