Indecent Danger (Danger Incorporated #3)(26)
“Pretty well. From what I’ve seen he’s a nice guy who may not be the greatest businessman or judge of character. According to Jason, Tom is clean and doesn’t have any unusual or expensive vices unless you count a string of polo ponies.”
Aubrey sipped her drink, the cranberry tart on her tongue. “He plays polo. Now that’s a sport that they don’t show on television very often. Do you play?”
Travis laughed, that dimple flashing in his cheek. “Are you kidding? I ride broncos, honey, not polo ponies. You want a trust fund baby I can introduce you to several this weekend, but that’s not me.”
Images of Travis in his well-fitting old blue jeans, worn boots, and a flannel shirt were making Aubrey uncomfortably warm. She’d seen him tame a wild horse and it had been incredibly erotic to watch how gentle and sweet, yet firm, he was with the animal. Completely in control and totally trustworthy. The horse had ended up eating a sugar cube out of Travis’s palm.
“I don’t think that’s really my type.” She gave him a flirtatious look from under her lashes. “I already have my eye on someone.”
Travis growled but his eyes lit up playfully. “Tell me his name. I want to know my competition.”
Aubrey giggled, pretending to hesitate. “I don’t know if I should say it. I wouldn’t want to start anything.”
“I bet he’s a loser.”
Shaking her head, she leaned forward so only he could hear her. “Far from it. He’s handsome and sweet. Smart and successful.” Something inside made her bold. “And I adore him. When he kisses me my knees go weak.”
Clearly she’d lost her damn mind. What on earth made her say that out loud? Her momentary courage had flown the coop and now she had to press her hand to her stomach so she wouldn’t throw up. She didn’t want him to think she was pushy. She didn’t want to give him the chance to reject her.
But Travis didn’t think she’d gone too far. Their gazes locked and he was looking at her like she was a juicy T-bone and he was a hungry lion.
Oh shit.
“Then there’s no chance for me?” His smile grew wider and her heart skipped a few beats. “It sounds like you might be in love with him.”
Love? Did he use that four-letter word?
She wasn’t ready to say it. She wasn’t even sure she was ready to feel it.
Did he love her?
Aubrey was so nervous she thought she might faint. Her pulse fluttered and she had to concentrate to keep her breathing even.
Apparently Travis didn’t expect her to respond, which was good because her mouth and tongue didn’t seem to be working properly. Instead he smoothly changed the subject to the mine contract they’d sewed up right before this weekend and what it would mean when they returned to the office in a few days.
Her heart rate returned to almost normal and she didn’t feel like tossing her cookies any more.
A temporary reprieve only. Travis was still looking at her with an almost feral intensity. When they returned to the suite things were bound to get interesting.
Would they or wouldn’t they?
She didn’t know the answer but her body was begging for a definite yes.
It was wrestling her stubborn brain to the ground and giving it a wedgie.
It was going to be a cage match to the death. Winner take all.
Chapter Fourteen
?
Travis had pushed too hard at dinner.
He’d mentioned love and it was way too soon, really. But, dammit, he wasn’t some callow youth who didn’t know what he wanted in a woman. He was a grown ass man, over forty, who had been around the block more times than he could count or remember. Finding a wonderful woman like Aubrey felt like a miracle after all these years. He’d given up hope of there being a woman out there who cared about him for himself and not the Anderson fortune. If he lost everything tomorrow she’d still be by his side, of that he had no doubt.
“Do you want to watch some television?” Travis asked as they entered the suite. They needed a distraction from the tension brewing between them, and Aubrey had mentioned she was too keyed up to sleep. “We could order in a movie or something.”
She kicked off her high heels with a relieved sigh. “That sounds like a great idea. Let me get changed and take off my makeup.”
Aubrey slipped into her room and Travis quickly shrugged out of his suit, replacing it with a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt. He padded out to the living room and picked up the television guide on the coffee table to see what movies were playing. There was a romantic comedy she would enjoy and the latest blockbuster superhero flick as well.
“Did you pick one out?”
Wearing pink cotton pajama pants and a matching tank top, Aubrey looked impossibly young. Her face was scrubbed of any cosmetic artifice and her feet were bare with cherry red tipped toes from her pedicure earlier in the day.
A wave of unaccustomed insecurity washed over him as he gazed at this tiny woman who had the power to hurt him so much. She was young, not yet thirty, and he was over forty. He worried that eventually she’d grow bored with him or worse, that he wouldn’t be able to satisfy her. At his age he couldn’t make love all night anymore, although he was no slouch in that department. Just because he couldn’t come a dozen times a night didn’t mean she couldn’t. He’d be more than happy to make sure she experienced multiple orgasms every single day of her life if she wanted them.