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“Don’t write yourself off so quickly,” Hal said. “Nobody says you can’t celebrate a goal. And this Rand guy?” he made a sound and waved his hand in dismissal. “Sounds like a leech. You’re a hard-working girl from the sounds of it and I’m sure your boss will see that.”
I smiled. The praise shouldn’t have meant anything to me. Hal had no idea what the dynamics were like at my office, after all, but it felt refreshing. I could see shades of Travis in all of his family. That blind encouragement. The aggressive positivity. The attitude that wanting something was more than enough.
I snuck a look at Travis and saw he was smiling, too. He gave my thigh a little squeeze under the table and I let him. It felt good to be surrounded by this kind of warmth, but some deeper part of me worried it would make me soft. I could imagine feeding off this kind of conversation so much that it dampened my hunger and drive to go after the real prize. That was dangerous.
Travis was dangerous.
He gave my shoulder a little punch. “Cheer up, Lizz,” he said. “You look like someone just told you to take the day off tomorrow.”
“You hear that?” Hal asked his wife. “Lizz. They’ve even got nicknames for each other.”
I sighed. I’d been meaning to correct Travis on that and never managed. Now it was practically set in concrete. “I’m fine,” I said.
“Well,” Kenzie said as everyone was making their way out of Travis’ apartment a little while later. “I’m still in shock a little to see my brother in an actual relationship. But I’m grateful you managed to tame him, even if it’s just a little bit.”
Travis laughed. “I’m not just a little tamed. This one has me practically domesticated.”
I rolled my eyes. “I do not.”
Kenzie smiled at the two of us, then lifted baby Abigail’s chubby arm to wave goodbye to us. I was surprised when everyone except Sebastian took turns giving us goodbye hugs, and then the door was closed and I was alone with Travis again.
“That was… something.” I said.
Travis slid his arms around my waist and locked his hands behind my back, pulling me closer. “It felt good,” he said. “Having you there like part of the family. It felt like you belonged.”
I looked down. “I’ve never been part of a family like that. I felt like the black sheep.”
“No,” he said. “They loved you. And damn, I thought you were dangerous for me as it was. Now I’m over here imagining white picket fences, pot roast dinners with the family, barbecues and cargo shorts…”
“No cargo shorts,” I said, laughing a little.
“See that?” he asked. “You’re already so different than you were just a few weeks ago. I think I’m going to take credit for being a good influence on you.”
“I wouldn’t go that far.”
He lifted my chin so he could meet my eyes. “I’d go farther.”
“Stop it,” I said softly.
“Is that an order, Ms. Holland?”
Ms. Holland. I didn’t even know he knew my last name, but I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. “Maybe,” I said, even though I knew I should’ve been taking several very large steps back and away from him.
“I’m a very persistent man. ‘Maybe’ might not be enough to keep me away. If you want to know what I think… I think the best thing for your work life would be to release all this pent-up desire you have for me.”
I scoffed, but it lacked any real punch. “Who says I have any pent-up desire for you?”
“This does.” He slowly dragged his fingertip down my arm and watched my skin explode in goosebumps. “And these do.” he ran his fingers down my cheek where I could feel the heat blossoming. “I could present a stronger case if we got you out of these clothes.”
This wasn’t happening. “Travis… I—”
“I know, and I’ll take it slow.”
“You know what?”
“You’ve never done this before, have you?”
I opened my mouth to speak, then clamped it shut.
“Hey,” he said, cupping my face and running his thumbs across my skin. “I’m not going anywhere, Lizz. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t been fantasizing about this exact moment for weeks now, but I’ll also wait. Impatiently, but I’ll wait.”
I was frozen. I was terrified, but I couldn’t bring myself to shake my head.
It felt like my life had been on rails before Travis. It was the proverbial ride he was always talking about, except mine was a five mile per hour slow roll through a business park with no twists and no turns. It was a slogging, inevitable plow toward success. I wasn’t even sure if being a CEO would feel like the complete victory I’d always assumed it would. Just a few weeks with Travis had already shaken that certainty.
