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He stroked them away with his thumbs, felt the callouses rasp over skin satiny soft and smooth. “I thought maybe there were others Miles hadn’t tracked down. So I went to him. But you’d been thorough and you helped break that ring into pieces. It had turned into an obsession by that time. I couldn’t help you. But I’d damn well help the next girl like you. I’d stop the next Wilson Steele, the next Stephen Beresford. If I did that, maybe I’d sleep at night. So I called Miles. He wouldn’t talk to me. I went to the address on the card he’d left me. He wouldn’t see me. I booked a hotel room and called every damn day, leaving a message with his assistant when he wouldn’t take my calls. It took him two weeks but he finally talked to me. I told him I wanted in.”
“And he let you in,” Isabel said. “Just like that.”
“No.” Travis snorted. “Notjust like that. I ragged him for weeks. He threatened to have me arrested, threatened to have me hauled back to California. I told him to do whatever in the hell he wanted. I’d just come back. Finally, he told me I wouldn’t be of any use to him because of my ... pretty-boy, semi-famous face. I told him I’d take a sledgehammer to it if that would help.”
Isabel closed her eyes. “I’m afraid to ask if you were serious.”
“Close enough.”
She grabbed his arms, her nails biting into his skin through the worn cotton of his shirt. “You’reinsane. You could have gottenkilled.”
“I was already dead inside.”
She shuddered, then, grabbing two handfuls of his hair, she hauled his face to hers and kissed him.
It was a deep, rough kiss, a tangling of tongues and teeth and it ended almost as quickly as it had begun.
“No. Don’t say that. Don’teversay that.” Then she shoved at his shoulders. “Move,” she said thinly. “I need ... I ... just move. I have to think about this.”
Travis shoved to his feet, biting back a grimace as pain from his side tore through him. Earlier, he hadn’t felt it. Now the pain came crashing back and he almost reveled in it. It was better than the pain twisting in his heart as he watched her walk away from him, alone in the darkness, her shoulders slumped and her arms wrapped around herself.
Chapter 15
Over a week passedwith the two of them seeing each other only in passing.
Isabel told herself she wasn’t ignoring him. Not exactly.
She had plenty of shit to do.
The kids were starting school on Wednesday and she hadfourchildren to shop for, clothe, and prepare for school this time around—she’d rarely had so many kids under her roof, and rarely so many school-aged kids to get ready at the same time.
Jacob didn’t make things easy, either.
He picked fights over the smallest thing, although he stopped skipping out on his chores after that first night.
The next morning—the morning after she’d learned such devastating secrets about Travis—Jacob had woken up late, as Isabel had expected, and come down to find the rest of them finishing up a huge breakfast spread that had consisted of French toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon. He’d asked where his food was and Isabel had coolly informed him that he could have cereal. He’d gaped at her. She told him that if he didn’t help with the clean-up, he couldn’t expect nice meals. So, if he wanted something other than cereal, sandwiches or TV dinners, he needed to learn out how to pull his weight.
