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Travis was unlike any other man she had ever met, that was the trouble, she told herself when, having made their goodbyes to a smiling Catherine and Michael, they walked out to his car. It wasn't just that he was inordinately sexy—although he was. Or totally in control of himself and everyone else—although he was. Or even that the whole of him—looks, personality, everything oozed a magnetism that was lethal. It was the other side of him, the tender, caring side which she had glimpsed a few times now that was compellingly attractive. Or perhaps it was a combination of all those things. She didn't know any more but she wanted to see him when he was up in this neck of the woods, even though she knew it was madness.
'Enjoyed yourself?'
His voice was lazy as he opened the car door for her and she slid inside before she said, 'Yes, it was lovely to see Catherine and Michael again,' although she knew that wasn't strictly what he'd been asking.
'And me?' As he joined her in the car shivers of something warm and not at all unpleasant trickled over her nerve-endings. *Was it lovely to see me again?'
He was laughing at her; the devilish glint in the grey eyes would have told her even if he wasn't smiling. Unfortunately, as she'd watched him get in the car, images of what he would look like naked had blown her thought processes and Beth found she couldn't come back with an appropriate put-down. Instead she said a little shakily, 'We had a nice evening, didn't we?'
'Oh, we did, Beth,' he said solemnly. 'We had a very nice evening, as it happens. The first of many, I hope.'
Beth exhaled. Sitting here in the shadowed car park, his nearness was excruciatingly real. Fantasy meeting reality.
'But there were a couple of things that weren't to my taste.' He eyed her lazily, his voice smoky.
If she didn't want him to kiss her she shouldn't ask what they were, she knew that. The look on the dark rugged face said so. 'What were they?' she said weakly.
'The first was that there were too many damn people about.' He lifted a hand and stroked the side of her flushed face. 'Which created the second, namely that I couldn't give in to the urge to do this.'
The kiss was long and hungry and satisfyingly deep. Beth wondered if he knew just how extraordinarily good he was at kissing and what a turn-on it would be to any woman. Probably so. In fact a sure-fire certainty. And then she stopped thinking and just gave herself up to the mindless pleasure he was creating.
She was ruffled and dishevelled by the time he settled back into his own seat but alive from the top of her head to the tips of her toes with sheer pulsating sensation.
'You taste of brandy and chocolate mint,' he said throatily as he started the car without looking at her again.
Which was just as well. She needed every second she could get to compose herself. She was relieved her voice sounded fairly normal and not at all like she was feeling inside when she retorted, 'It was you who insisted I have the brandy, remember? I was quite happy to stick with just coffee.'
'Oh, I'm not complaining.' The powerful car nosed out of the car park on to the road with the grace of a big cat. 'In fact, remind me always to take my brandy that way.'
She smiled. 'OK.' She could do this. She could flirt too.
He gave her a slow grin in return before looking back at the road ahead.
They continued on in silence and with every mile Beth was questioning herself. Travis's kisses made her realise that there was more, much more to sex than she had ever realised before because certainly Keith hadn't made her feel a tenth of what Travis did. A hundredth. His sexual expertise was captivating and so was his charm, and it was that which she found fright¬ening about him. Because it made her feel vulnerable. And she had promised herself she would never be vulnerable again.
But she wasn't, not really, she told herself quickly. Not in a way where she could be badly hurt again anyway. This was just a thing of the flesh and as such not to be compared with the devastation she'd suffered when her marriage had ended so horribly. She had to keep things in perspective here.
Things? Or Travis? As the thought hit she slanted a glance at him under her eyelashes. Because keeping Travis in per¬spective might be harder than it sounded.
The sky was velvet-black and pierced with stars as they drove on through the Shropshire countryside, but although Travis was quiet and so was she Beth felt the atmosphere within the car was electric. Did he sense it? She couldn't tell. He was* his normal relaxed self outwardly, steering the powerful car with little effort.
Eventually they turned off into the lane which led down to her cottage and then Travis's house, and now Beth found her heart was racing. Would he suggest seeing her tomorrow? Would he expect to come in now? He'd spoken of taking things slow and easy but what did that mean to a man like him?
