Me And Mrs Jones (5 page)

She felt a warm flow rushing through her as she tried not to race back to Dana’s office. Travis was gorgeous and he seemed very interested in getting to know her better. Now, all she had to do was make sure he wasn’t trying to get closer to her because of the gallery.

Dana would be the perfect person to talk to this about. Her best friend always had the best advice. She had never pictured herself with a younger guy. Hell, she’d been putting all of her time and energy into the gallery for so long that she hadn’t looked twice at the opposite sex, but first she had to find out what Dana’s problem had been with her earlier.

****

Travis watched as Renee walked away from him towards the office at very back of the room. He couldn’t help but admire the way the jeans hugged Renee’s tight ass and long, toned legs. She was so beautiful. He had noticed her talking to Dana the second he walked through the café’s doors.

He’d tried to be cool as he made her way over to them, but he couldn’t take his eyes off her. Renee was hotter and sexier than Halle Berry. Unlike most of his friends who loved dating girls younger than them, he secretly always had a fascination for older women. Yet he liked being the one who came on to them and not the other way around.

Her interest in him wrapped around his body the second he came within touching distance of her. Yet, he could sense she was trying to hide it from him which made him even more drawn to her.

Renee’s skin reminded him of the pieces of caramel candy his grandmother kept in a bowl in her living room. He had a horrible sweet tooth and she made him want to take a bite out of her.

The artist in him noticed how Renee’s facial features were delicately carved; her mouth was full and inviting. The corners of her mouth turned upwards more than they turned down like she had a ready smile waiting for everyone who came in contact with her.

Thick, dark hair hung in long graceful curls over her shoulders and a small tendril was against her silky skin softening up the already perfect features of her beautiful face. But what had captivated him the most was an inner strength that did not lesson her femininity at all.

Travis hadn’t meant to come on so strong after Renee handed him her card, but he got the feeling she wasn’t going to make a move. So, hell yeah he jumped the gun and did it himself before one of the men in the speed dating competition beat him to it. Renee was a very interesting and appealing woman that he wanted to know more about.

“Excuse,” a feminine voice said behind him.

Turning around, Travis found a waitress behind him holding a cup of delicious smelling tea.

“Yes, how can I help you?”

“Where did the lady go you were just talking to? I have her tea now. I got held up with several customers and wasn’t able to finish her order until now,” the waitress told him.

“Renee is going to talk to Dana and then I believe she might leave. I’m not positive.”

“Great! I wish she’d cancelled her order instead of just leaving. This tea is too expensive just to pour down the drain.” The waitress spun away from Travis and stomped off before he got a chance to tell her he would take the tea off her hands.

Renee was a tea drinker just like him. The more he found out about her the more he wanted to learn. Travis thought his interest in getting back into the dating pool had completely died when his ex-girlfriend dumped him. Yet, after his chance meeting with Renee today; he was beginning to rethink his idea of becoming a hermit.

He wondered why Dana had never mentioned Renee to him before now. Three times a week, he usually made an appearance to pick up his tea order along with his painting supplies at the art shop across the street.

Making the last minute decision to come inside to check on his order had been a good idea because otherwise he wouldn’t have gotten introduced to Renee. Travis couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he thought about her. She made his entire body heat up with awareness. Now, all he had to do was get past whatever was holding her back.

As hard as she was trying, Renee wasn’t good at hiding her fascination about him which didn’t upset him at all. He liked that she was attracted to him.

Travis glanced down at his watch noticing he was already thirty minutes late getting back to his painting. He still needed to make a trip to the art supply store and then visit his parents before heading back out to the campsite.

He took one last look at the closed office door in hopes of seeing Renee again, but he seriously doubted she was going to make another appearance.

Reaching into his pocket, Travis pulled out the tan business card twirling it around his paint covered fingers. This little piece of advertisement was going to get him a step closer to learning more about Renee Jones.

Travis replaced the card and then made his way towards the exit sign. His mind was already on the painting he wanted to show Renee. He wanted to impress her with his talent and hopefully get to know her a lot better during the process.

He didn’t even care that he had left without getting his tea. Travis knew he had more important things to take care of and the tea could wait until the next time he came back into town.

Chapter Six

“Dana, what in the hell was your problem out there?” Renee asked the second she walked into her friend’s office closing the door behind her. “I’ve never seen you like that before. Why were you such a bitch?”

Dana tossed the bag of tea back down on the desk as she turned around and looked at her friend with a blank expression. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I wasn’t acting like a bitch when you were throwing yourself at Travis. Can I help it if I got embarrassed by your behavior? I decided to leave before it got any worse.”

Renee couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Did Dana actually have a problem because she was having a nice conversation with Travis? Was there something going on between the two of them that she didn’t know about? Travis didn’t act like he was interested in her friend.

If there was, then she wouldn’t think about trying to get to know Travis better. She would keep things strictly professional between them. She wasn’t the kind of woman who would backstab her friend for a man.

“Why were you upset by my behavior? Is there something going on with you and Travis?” Renee asked as she walked closer to her friend. “You should have told me when I asked about him.”

“No, there isn’t anything going on with me and Travis. I just found it so funny how you haven’t been interested in any guy Cruz or I wanted to set you up with. However, when Travis walked through the door you practically had drool running down the side of your mouth. I mean he’s been coming in here for a few weeks now and he never stared at me the way he did you today.”

Renee was astonished when things started to become clearer to her. Dana was jealous!

Her best friend wanted Travis which was surprising since Dana had always been attracted to older men. They always in return seemed to love her friend’s exotic looks. Half the time when they were around each other more men asked out Dana than her and it never bothered her.

It was an awakening experience that left her reeling for a few seconds as she thought about how to deal with this situation.

“Dana, I wasn’t aware of your attraction to Travis. Now that I do know, I promise that I won’t allow our fascination with to each other to go any further. He’s supposed to show me some of his art work soon and I’ll make it clear to him that I don’t date my clients.”

“What! Are you crazy? Don’t you dare do something so stupid,” Dana said, resting her hip against the side of her desk. “I saw how Travis’ eyes lit up while he was talking to you. You would be a fool not to accept a date from him if he asked you out. Just ignore my jealousy. I guess I wasn’t used to a man not paying attention to me first.

“You haven’t been out on a date since the divorce. If you really get a chance take it, you never know what it might lead to. Travis is a very good-looking guy. I know for certain that half the women in town have been offering to pose nude for him.”

Renee’s eyebrow went up in shock. “Are you serious? Who in their right mind would offer to do something like that?”

“Were you paying any attention to how sexy Travis was when you were talking to him? I think you were since you were outrageously flirting with him right in front of me,” Dana teased her.

She wondered if Dana was baiting her. “How could I not see how good Travis looked? I might be older than him, but I’m not dead yet. I wonder how old he is anyway.”

“He’s twenty-nine.”

Wordlessly, Renee stared at Dana from across the room as Travis’ age started to sink into her head. “God, I’m forty-two years old. I can’t possibility be thinking about getting into any kind of relationship with him. He’s a kid.”

“Come on. You know Travis sure in the hell doesn’t look like a kid. He’s a man and we both know it. So what if he’s younger than you. There are a lot of women out there in May-December romances. Now, I’m telling you if Travis asks you out on a date you better not turn him down or I might have to tell Cruz on you. We both know how he can be when he gets pissed at us.”

Laughing, Renee went up to Dana and gave her a hug. “Okay, if Travis does ask me out on a date I’ll think about accepting it; however, I’m not going to worry about something that might not even happen.”

Dana leaned back from her and then grinned. “Oh, I know Travis is going to ask you out.”

“How are you so sure?”

“One thing I know for sure and that’s the look of a man interested in a woman. When it comes to ‘
the look’
it’s the same with every man, regardless of age.”

“Are you sure about that?” Renee asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Sometimes she had a hard time believing the nonsense Dana came up with.

“I’m one hundred percent positive. So, are you done arguing with me? If not, I’ll have to think twice about giving your tea order to you.”

Instantly, Renee sobered up. She wouldn’t be able to make it the rest of the day without her order. Most people were addicted to coffee, but she was the total opposite. Tea was her drug of choice and Dana knew it.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have doubted you. Now, can I have my order?”

“I thought you would see it my way.” Reaching behind her back, Dana grabbed the bag of tea off the desk. “How about we go to lunch? I’m starving and I can leave my manager in charge of the rest of the speed dating. I know Jacob and he won’t care at all. Anyways, I want you to tell me how everything turned out at your show last night.”

Renee took the tea from Dana. “You have a deal. I wanted to discuss a few other things with you anyway. I have a couple of ideas I want to run past you about the café and my art gallery. I’m hoping we can blend the two of them together somehow.”

“Great, I can’t wait to hear your ideas. Let me grab my purse out of my desk and we can be on our way.”

Moving back, Renee gave Dana enough space to get off the desk. While her friend was going to get her purse, she let her mind travel back to her conversation with Travis. He did hint to her that he might be interested in going out on a date with her.

There was no denying it at all. Renee was totally attracted to Travis. She also got the impression that Travis wasn’t against the thought of dating an older woman, but could she actually say yes if he called her up for a date?

Chapter Seven

Standing out near the lake with the sun shining down on the water giving it a natural sparkle, Travis tried to keep his mind on the painting he was working on but he couldn’t keep his thoughts off Renee.

How could she not be controlling his thoughts? She was the most beautiful woman that he had ever laid eyes on...and he did mean woman. His past relationships involved girls his age or a little bit younger. However, in the short period of time he had spoken to Renee, he had found her mature and so much more interesting than any of them.

Everything about Renee screamed to the artist in him to find a way to paint her. Her essence would just flow off the canvas if he was talented enough to capture the pure beauty of her soul.

Travis had a hard time remembering when he’d been this interested in getting a woman to pose for him. A few of his girlfriends in the past had done it for him and after the relationship was over, he had given them the drawing or painting because they asked for it.

But, if he was lucky enough to paint Renee, he would keep her in his collection. He wouldn’t be able to part with it.

Now, all he had to do was figure out a way to get Renee to agree to his idea. She came across like she was a little apprehensive of him. He didn’t know what caused it, but he had to find a way to fix the problem.

Nothing he wanted to do would be able to happen if Renee couldn’t handle being around him for a long period of time. He did get a sense of satisfaction knowing Renee was drawn to him. The interest in her eyes didn’t go over his head because he felt the same thing during their short conversation.

Back at the café, Travis had to fight his overwhelming need to be closer to Renee. He had wanted to touch her so bad but quickly decided that moment wasn’t the right time to make his move on her. Scaring her off wasn’t his plan at all and an unwanted touch might have sent her racing for the nearest exit sign.

No...Renee needed to learn more about him first. Just from their short time together he got the feeling she was the type of woman who wanted a man to move slowly and not jump in without a plan.

Placing his paint brush down on the table next to him, Travis reached into his overall pockets and pulled out the business card Renee had given to him. Renee’s invitation to bring some of his artwork to her gallery was the perfect opening that he needed. While they were discussing his talent, he would also use it as a way to find out more about her.

Usually he was very confident about his ability to get a date with the opposite sex, but for some reason he was nervous about just asking Renee out of a date. Was it the age thing? Would she consider him too immature to go out on a date with?