Good Girls Don't Date Rock Stars(13)

What if. Those two words were making her crazy. So crazy that, when she’d looked up into Travis’s eyes as he’d apologized and told her he would never hurt her, she’d almost stood on her tiptoes and kissed him.

Which was certifiable, no matter what old feelings she’d been fighting all day. If she kissed Travis, that was it. It would be wrong to be so intimate with him and not tell him something so personal.

Maybe not, though, if it’s just a one-time thing. You know what they say about Vegas . . .

They walked along the stone path, and Gemma had to admit she’d been thinking about sex a lot lately. It was hard to date in Rock Canyon; the minute something started to get serious, people started to talk. And while people were talking, she had Charlie to think about, and the things people said about her to him. She still remembered when she’d gone out with Marcus Boatman and all of Charlie’s teammates had given him hell because his mom was dating the coach. It had been only one date, and Gemma had been fine with that. The man hadn’t changed at all since high school.

Travis walked ahead of her over a stone tunnel bridge, and she felt a cool mist as she came behind him. To their right, a large hole had been cut in the stone wall of the tunnel, revealing a waterfall that disappeared into the stream below. She stopped in front of it, reaching out to touch the rushing water as it forced its way through her fingers.

Travis’s shoulder brushed hers and she said, “I never get tired of the sound of water.”

“I remember. Every rainstorm, you’d sit by the window and watch.” His mouth was near her ear, teasing away the strands of her hair.

“I still do that . . . . Ch—” She shut her mouth in alarm, cursing herself for almost mentioning Charlie.

“What? What were you going to say?”

His warm whisper blew across the skin of her throat, and her heartbeat picked up speed.

I need to get away from him before I do something stupid.


But as she turned to tell him they should go, she was startled to realize how close his mouth actually was. Licking her lips, she watched his eyes drop down and his head bend farther.

He’s going to kiss me.

And she wanted to let him.

Travis’s forehead dropped against hers. Her lips were only a hairsbreadth away from his, and she almost closed the distance. It had been so long since she’d been touched, and besides the few terrible kisses she’d had over the last ten years, she hadn’t been with anyone since . . .

Well, since Travis.

He moved closer, the warmth of his breath fanning across her lips, and she started to close her eyes, but Charlie’s face popped up in her mind, smiling with such wild abandon that it broke the spell.

“We should go,” she whispered, turning her head to the side.

Travis stopped, and the breath he took was so ragged and raw that her lower stomach twisted with desire.

“Okay,” he said, turning away from her to walk out of the tunnel and she groaned with disappointment.

She came up behind him just as the elevator doors opened and they stepped inside, neither saying anything on the ride down. When they reached the bottom floor again, she tried to let him off the hook. “You don’t have to go with me. I can find my way back to the elevators.”

He looked insulted. “I always walk my dates up to their door. It’s just good manners.”

“But this wasn’t a date—”

“What would you call it?” he asked, his eyebrow hiking.

Gemma shut her mouth and didn’t argue again. It did have all the earmarks of a date, down to the near kiss and awkward moments. That hadn’t been the plan when she’d accepted his lunch invitation.

What had she been expecting? She’d been curious, especially after his apology, and had wanted to find out just how different he was now from the boy she had loved. And she’d wanted to make sure she’d made the right decision by not telling him about Charlie ten years ago.

He’s happy. If I’d given him the option, he wouldn’t have all of his fame and fortune.

As they approached the main elevator, she blurted out, “You’re happy, right? I mean, with your life and everything? You wouldn’t have done anything differently?”

The elevator doors opened and they let people come off before getting on and telling the attendant the floor number. When Travis finally answered, it was with a wide smile.

“Yeah, sure I’m happy. I get to make a living doing what I love. I get to travel and meet new people. It’s what I always wanted.”

Gemma had no idea what she’d wanted or expected him to say, but his answer definitely irked her. Maybe it was the meet new people comment that made her think of all the girls they’d passed in the last few hours, snapping his picture and undressing him with their eyes.

“Good. I’m glad.”

Stepping off of the elevator when the doors opened, she hurried down the hallway without waiting for him. He followed behind her anyway, and leaned against the wall next to her room door as she searched for her key.

“Any chance I can get you to change your plans for tonight?”

She hesitated. “No. I’m going to relax for a while and then, later, I have the Kiss Awards ceremony to attend.”

“What’s that?” He was still lounging, relaxed.

She inserted the key into the lock and opened the door, walking a little way in and setting down her purse, only to turn back and find he had stepped in, too. Trying to calm the quivering in her stomach at having him in her hotel room, only a few feet from the bed, she said, “It’s for romance authors. It’s like the Country Music Awards for you.”