Me And Mrs Jones (17 page)

“You want to know about my life before I came here. I only think it’s fair that you finish telling me about the girlfriend who got away in your life. I asked you before and you blew me off. I want you to give me all the details tonight. Can you agree to do it?”

Leaning forward, Travis placed his elbow on his knees and linked his fingers together drawing her attention to the opening of his shirt and the chest hair on display there. All other thoughts left her mind, but how good it had felt when Travis made love to her earlier. God, her night had started off at such a high level and now here she was about to tell Travis about her past.

How does stuff like that happen and especially to her?

“I can go first if you don’t believe I’ll tell you about my ex-girlfriend. I don’t want any secrets between us,” Travis said as his eyes held hers while he patiently waited for her answer.

“No, I can tell you about my past first,” Renee said. “I know that you’ll keep your word to me.”

Water rushing out of the foundation a few feet from her and Travis in the backyard gave Renee the soothing peace she needed to figure out where she should begin telling Travis about her life. So much had occurred in her life since she’d first met and married Robert. It seemed like a lifetime ago since they were together.

“I first met Robert when he was shopping at the grocery store. I had seen him off and on but I never really gave him much attention because when I first saw him, I wasn’t that into him because he came across as very cocky to me. He acted like every woman within twenty yards of the place should want him and I hated that quality about him.

“He even asked me out a couple of times and I turned him down flat without even a second thought about it. Robert just wasn’t my type of man and I was done even being bothered by him, but something happened to change my mind about him.”

“What happened?” Travis asked, cutting in.

“My parents died...no they got murdered,” Renee admitted.

Travis sat up straighter on the lounge chair and touched her hand. “What do you mean they got murdered?”

“My parents were very trusting people. I mean, I don’t think they ever thought a person had a bad bone in their body at all. Well, they lived on the outskirts our town in a house they had saved up their retirement money to build and one night when they came home from a date night they surprised a burglar when he was going through the safe on the wall in the den and he shot them dead on the spot. One bullet through each of their heads. They never had a chance to even make a break for it. However, the police officers and coroner both told me they died instantly and felt no pain.

“My parent’s homicide got a lot of publicity from the media after the police caught the burglar. Robert found out where I lived because he sent me a card and some flowers. He told me that he had worked in the same office as my father a year before he retired and was truly sorry to hear about their deaths. He wrote in his note that if I ever needed someone to talk to at all to give him a call.”

“So you called him?”

Renee moved her hand away from Travis’ “No, I didn’t call him. Actually, a couple of days after I got the card and flowers, I saw Robert at the grocery store. We struck up a conversation with each other and this time when he asked me out on a date I didn’t say no.”

“Robert knew who you were all along when he first saw you at the grocery store, didn’t he?”

Grabbing her glass off the table, Renee took a sip of her drink and placed it back down on the table before answering. “Yes, he admitted to me on our fourth or fifth date that he did know who I was because he had seen me visiting my dad at his job.”

“What made you marry Robert?”

Back then if anyone had asked Renee that same question she would have told them hands down it was because of love, but now she knew it was out of need. Robert filled a void left in her by her parents’ murder. He wasn’t anything special or even romantic.

All the times they had gone out he showed hints of being a control freak, but she was still too much in her own personal grief process to notice until she was too deep in the marriage to get out.

“I thought he could give me the love I wanted, but now I see how wrong I was and I wasn’t getting any younger. I didn’t want to die old and alone. Robert was there and we got along well enough with each other, so why not say yes to his proposal.”

“Were all of the years of your marriage bad? Were there ever any good times?”

Good times with Robert? Was there such a thing? She had been so blind by her misplaced love for him that she thought she was having a good time, but they had truly been living separate lives until the divorce.

“No, Robert loved getting his way too much and when he didn’t those were worst times in our long marriage. He never knew how to take the blame for when he did anything wrong. Robert constantly thought it was the other person’s fault. Do you know that he even hit his boss and got fired? Luckily, his boss was kind enough not to press charges and fired Robert instead.”

“Is that why you moved to Wicker Valley?” Travis asked her.

“Robert found a job here, so I packed up everything and came here with him. I knew our marriage was over before then, but I wanted to give it one last try because my parents had been married for over forty years. It hurt me to think my marriage was falling apart.”

Placing his hand on top of hers again, Travis gave it a light squeeze. “Renee, you’re a beautiful woman and you did the right thing by tossing Robert’s ass out of your life. He didn’t deserve you at all. You’re talented, gorgeous and any man’s dream. I’m glad you aren’t married anymore.”

“Care to tell me why?”

“I wouldn’t have gotten a chance to make love to you earlier and it’s something that I want to repeat if we ever get a chance.”

“We can’t do that until you tell me about this girl who broke your heart,” Renee said.

A shadow passed over Travis’ face as he let go of her hand and moved back away from her. “I don’t talk about her much, not even to my parents. I’ve gotten over it, but it still hurts to remember it.”

“Travis, what was her name? Did she die or something?”

“No, Jenni isn’t dead...she just decided she would rather be with a woman instead of me.”

Chapter Twenty Six

“How did you find out your ex-girlfriend was cheating on you?” Renee finally asked when her momentary shock wore off and she could speak again.

“I walked in on her kissing her roommate and she told me then that things were over between us. I don’t care if Jenni figured out that she was gay. I’m upset that she couldn’t have told me before I caught her in the act. She broke my trust and my trust isn’t something that I give away freely to anyone.”

“Travis, I’m so sorry,” Renee said, placing her hand on his knee. “I know how it is when you find out the person you’re with is cheating on you. The pain you feel is gut wrenching. At least for me it was and I wasn’t even in love with Robert anymore.”

Travis shrugged to hide his frustration. “For the longest time, I thought what happened with Jenni was my fault. I spent so much time working on my art that I thought maybe I had pushed her into the arms of another person. It took me months to realize that Jenni’s decision to leave me had nothing to do with me, but it was all about her.”

“When the person you love cheats on you it hurts all the same. Whether it was with a man or woman doesn’t matter. Cheating is cheating and I can’t stand it. I won’t be with another man who I think will even think about getting into bed with another woman.”

Grabbing Renee by the hand, Travis pulled her to him lying back on the chair positioning her in front of him. He linked their fingers together over her stomach and loved how perfectly Renee’s body molded against his. He watched as the night lights Renee had installed around her backyard came on as soon as nighttime came.

“I’ll never think about being with another woman. You are so perfect for me. I want to be with you as much as I can. I still have so much to learn about you and you about me. Tonight proved how much we are meant to be together.”

“I know that you haven’t talked much about the fire since you came home,” he said placing a kiss on the top of her head. “How are you doing? What’s going on in that head of yours? Stop keeping so much in and tell me.”

“Honestly, I think a part of me is still in disbelief I won’t have a place to go to tomorrow. I hate to think about going there in the morning and seeing all of the devastation in the daylight. My baby almost burnt to the ground and I couldn’t do anything to save it. Nothing at all! I was totally useless and I despise that empty feeling more than you know.”

“Do you really think Robert had something to do with it?” Travis asked as his fingers massaged her stomach through her shirt.

“Yes,” Renee answered without missing a beat. “He’s mean enough to do it just out of malice because I wouldn’t talk to him, but he isn’t going to win. I’m going to rebuild my gallery. The fire marshal told me it might cost between 100,000 to 200,000 dollars.”

Travis let out a low whistle. He’d only seen part of the damage because the fire was still burning when he left. But he never thought it would be anywhere near that extent. “That’s a lot of money. Are you sure you’ll be able to afford to rebuild?”

Moving her body a little, Renee glanced over her shoulder at him with a determined look on her face. “I have never been a quitter. I told you I was going to rebuild my gallery and that is what I’m going to do.”

“Baby, in the short period of time I’ve known you I can tell that you aren’t a quitter and I think that is one of the qualities I admire the most about you. I know how much you loved your gallery. I saw the utter heartbreak on your face as you watched it burn and here you are taking it so calmly. You are one impressive woman.”

“The one thing my parents taught me was never give up in the face of adversity. Always stick with something no matter how hard it might be because in the end the fight was worth it. Whether you win or lose I loved that piece of advice and it has always stayed with me over the years.”

Turning Renee around the rest of the way to face him, Travis ran his fingers through her hair and stared down into her eyes. Something about Renee made him feel at such peace. He had been drawn to women in the past after his break up with Jenni but none of them made him want to spend his every waking moment with them like Renee.

She was beginning to mean so much to him and he didn’t want to let her go. He liked the idea of being by her side for as long as she needed and wanted him there. Most people talked to him like he was a kid since he was only twenty-nine and, in their eyes, hadn’t lived long enough to know anything, but Renee didn’t treat him like she had to teach him anything. She treated him like he was her equal.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Renee asked, running her index finger down the front of his shirt. “You just got so quiet all of the sudden. Were you thinking about Jenni again? Have I brought up some bad memories for you?”

Grabbing Renee’s finger, he kissed the tip and then placed it back against his chest. “No, I wasn’t thinking about Jenni. She’s happy now with someone else and I’m glad for her. I wouldn’t want to be in a committed relationship with someone who was only pretending to be in love with me. It wouldn’t be fair to either one of us.”

“Do you think Jenni was ever in love with you?”

Travis pondered. “I think she loved me because we were friends first and she was the one who pushed me towards my art, but no, she was never ‘in love’ with me. I’m glad things happened the way they did or I wouldn’t be falling for you right now. That’s what I was thinking about.”

“Oh, you’re falling for me,” Renee laughed. “Is that even possible in the short period of time we’ve known each other? I thought we were still getting to know each other, Mr. Cole.”

“Haven’t you ever heard of two people looking into each other’s eyes and knowing at that exact moment they are meant to be with each other for the rest of their lives?” Travis asked as his hand ran up and down the length of Renee’s back.

“Yes, I’ve heard of people connecting only after a couple of dates,” Renee answered. “Who hasn’t?”

“Don’t you think it’s happening to us? Honestly, have you ever felt this connected to another man after such a short period of time? Let me answer that for you,” Travis said, cutting off Renee before she could speak. “I know you haven’t because if you had you wouldn’t be here with me right now. Instead you would be somewhere with him. Am I right?”

Arching an eyebrow, Renee stared at him. “Okay, if you know me so well how about you tell me what I’m thinking at this exact moment.”

“Sweetheart, you’re thinking the same thing I am which is why don’t I shut up and kiss you,” he breathed as he lowered his head capturing her lips with his.

One of his hands slid down to her waist holding Renee against his body, so she could feel what she was doing to him as his cock grew even thicker and longer above her belly button. Meanwhile his other hand grasped the back of her head and his tongue invaded her mouth dying to get to the delicious taste waiting on the inside for only him.

With a soft moan, Renee wrapped her arms around his neck and tugged him even closer to her body. The thin fabric of her shirt offered no protection from her hard nipples poking through and into his chest.

Drawing her fuller lower bottom lip between his teeth, Travis sucked on it causing his hunger to rise swift and hard inside his body. He moved his hand further down Renee’s body over her hip then he grabbed her leg and pulled it over his waist, rocking his cock against her damp underwear.

He was hurting so badly and he needed some relief. Just the thought of being buried deep inside of Renee again almost made him come inside his underwear, but he couldn’t let it happen, not out here in her back yard.

“God, I love your mouth,” Travis groaned against Renee’s swollen lips. “I love the taste of you, but we have to stop.” He rested his forehead against hers and stared down into her beautiful dark eyes.