Wild Weekend (9 page)

“Christine?” Travis’s eyes widened in surprise. The woman had a thirst for adventure and an interest in everything. She couldn’t shake loose her cautious nature, but her excuses to avoid any risk were just as entertaining as watching her explore the world around her.

“That’s what he said,” Laurie said with a cluck of her tongue. “Especially in bed.”

His mouth dropped open. “Say what?” Christine had been magical and mind-blowing in bed. Nothing she did had been mechanical or predictable. She gave from the heart and had made their one night memorable.

“Hmm...you don’t agree?” Her blue eyes danced with triumph. “Good to know.”

Travis clipped his jaw shut. Damn, this woman was good. He wanted to shake Christine out of her hiding place with a few mentions about Vegas, but he wasn’t going to discuss that night. She may have had an ulterior motive taking him to bed, but it meant something to him. He wasn’t going to share that moment with anyone else.

“How did Christine respond?” he asked. Most women he knew would retaliate.

“Christine didn’t make a scene. She handled it with grace, just as we knew she would,” Laurie said with a hint of admiration. “Now I wonder if she went to Vegas to let her hair down. Prove to herself that he was wrong.”

Was that also why she took the emerald? Did she need to do something extreme, something illegal, to show that her ex-boyfriend was wrong about her? That made more sense to him than the other motives he had considered.

“Travis?” Christine’s unsteady voice echoed in the lobby. “I thought I heard you.”

Travis’s breath hitched in his throat when he saw Christine in the lobby. His heart began to pound as she walked toward him. Her brown eyes seemed bigger and her features appeared more delicate. The simple brown dress highlighted her pale skin and feminine body. Her movements were innately sensual. She didn’t need high heels to show off her incredible legs.

Christine had a determined smile on her face as she clutched her cell phone as if it was her lifeline. He knew she wanted to take control of this reunion and get him out of here. In the most ladylike fashion, of course, because that was what people expected.

Not if he could help it. “Christine.” He held his arms out wide.

Her smile took a dip as she stood in front of him. “What are you doing here?”

“You know why I’m here.”

“No...” She gave a cautious look at Laurie, who showed no interest in leaving them alone. “No, I don’t.”

So that was how she was going to play it. Innocent until the very end. He could play this game, too. Expose her lies and her true self to her friends.

He stepped forward and gathered her in his arms. “I missed you,” he admitted in a growl. “I missed this.”

Her body went rigid in his embrace. “I don’t understand.”

“You left so quickly yesterday morning,” he complained. “Snuck away like a
thief.
”

“Um...Travis?” She looked from side to side as her cheeks turned red. “What has gotten into you?”

He didn’t know. He meant to pretend he was a devoted lover, but it felt too real. He found the pull irresistible. Travis bent his head and claimed her mouth. Heat exploded between them as she parted her lips. He darted his tongue into her mouth, desperate for another taste of her.

He broke away when he realized he was getting into dangerous territory. She had a hold on him that he didn’t understand and didn’t want to break. “I’m not ready to let you go,” he said gruffly.

Christine carefully stepped out of his embrace and gestured to the door. “Why don’t we step outside and discuss this?”

“As you wish.” He gave a sharp nod. “I’ll follow you anywhere.”

9

C
HRISTINE
SCANNED
THE
area when they stepped outside the bank. No one was around, but she knew her coworkers were watching her from the windows. She was tempted to find a private spot, but that was asking for trouble. Especially after that kiss.

She brushed her fingertips against her mouth. She wanted to kiss Travis so much that her lips stung with need. The instant attraction they had shared in Vegas had been exciting and new. Now it was inconvenient.

And the flare of desire in his eyes didn’t make sense. She didn’t turn heads when she walked through town. Why would Travis watch her as if he knew exactly what she looked like underneath?

“Okay, Travis,” she said as she strolled to a tree with low branches next to the parking lot. “What is really going on?”

“You tell me.”

She gave him a quick glance when she heard his sharp tone. She saw his harsh features and felt his hot gaze. She had never seen him this intense. “I don’t understand. Is this some kind of joke?”

“Believe me,” he said in a low voice, “I’ve never been more serious.”

“Why me?” She turned and leaned against the tree trunk, then looked up to meet his gaze. “You had your choice of women in Vegas.”

He gave her a curious look. “And I chose you. The question is why did you choose me?”

“Are you kidding?” she asked. Travis was everything she admired in a man. He was a mix of strength and gentleness, of knowledge and action. When she was in his arms, she felt safe to break out of her comfort zone.

“Why did you?” he asked. “I really want to know.”

“Travis, what we had was fun.” She didn’t like that description; it made her time in Vegas sound trivial. That weekend changed her. Travis changed her. “But I am not the kind of woman men pursue.”

He tilted his head. “What are you talking about?”

Wasn’t it already glaringly obvious? Christine curled her hand tighter against her cell phone and the device bit into her palm. She had never been mysterious or stunning. She didn’t attract male attention.

She didn’t mind it. At least, that’s what she told herself. She had other things to offer in a relationship. She was the caregiver, the cheering section. But that wasn’t enough to hold a man, apparently. When Darrell dumped her because she wasn’t exciting enough, it had been a wake-up call.

But she still wasn’t stunning or mysterious. She could dress the part of the femme fatale, but she was still too cautious to fulfill what the sexy shoes promised.

“You wouldn’t have noticed me in the casino if I had dressed like this,” Christine said as she gestured at her dress.

Travis flattened his hand on the tree trunk above her. “You wouldn’t have noticed me if I hadn’t approached you.”

“Don’t be so sure.” Her dream list didn’t include sex with a tall, dark and gorgeous man, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t have noticed Travis.

He leaned in. “Would you have done something about it?”

Her world was growing smaller as Travis filled her senses. She pressed her spine against the rough bark. “Depends on how brave I felt at the time.”

“How brave do you feel now?” he asked. He raised his other hand and caressed her cheek. She trembled from the soft touch. “We’re in your territory now and you know that I came all this way to find you.”

“It’s different,” she insisted hoarsely. “This isn’t Vegas. I have to be on my best behavior.”

Her phone chimed. She glanced at the text from Jill.
He kissed you?
Christine closed her eyes and groaned. Gossip traveled fast in this town.

“Does your best behavior include hiding under a desk?” Travis asked as his hand rested against the fluttering pulse at the base of her throat.

She opened her eyes wide as the embarrassment gripped her. She could barely breathe. “What?” Her voice sounded strangled as heat scorched her skin.

“Just now?” He gestured at the bank building. “There is no other door to your office. You were under the desk, weren’t you?”

“Okay, yes.” Christine tossed her hands in the air in defeat. She should have known she was no match for Travis Cain. He saw everything. And why wouldn’t he? She was no different from the countless women who threw themselves at his feet. “You caught me. I should have expected that. I panicked when I saw you.”

His eyes darkened. “Why?”

“I didn’t want you to see me,” she said in a harsh whisper. “Not like this.”

Travis’s hand drifted down the side of her body, grazing her breast. “Like how?” he asked.

“I’m not a woman of action, but I want to be. I went to Vegas and pretended to be someone else. A bolder version of myself....” Her voice trailed off as she became very aware of Travis’s hand spanning her waist. “But I wasn’t that brazen after all.”

His hand skimmed her hip. “I don’t understand.”

“I’m just a small-town girl,” she admitted. “My days are filled with my job and my friends. That’s it. I haven’t traveled around the world. I don’t even have a passport.”

“Then how...” His fingers flexed against her hip as he looked around the bank. “This doesn’t make sense.”

“I lied because I didn’t think the real me would interest you. I still don’t.” She heard the chime of her cell phone. She squeezed the phone in her hand and ignored it.

“So the bucket list was a lie, too?”

“No, that was the truth. There really is one.”
Unfortunately,
she thought with a twist of her lips. She wished she had never found it. It only reminded her of time wasted. Of dreams unfulfilled.

“How do I know it wasn’t some pickup line?” he asked. “A clever way to keep me at your side. I never saw the list. I was taking your word for it.”

If only she was that clever when it came to luring men. “I didn’t have it with me because I had it memorized.”

“Anything else you’d like to confess?”

“Didn’t you hear me? The list is true. It’s a real thing,” she insisted. “My friend Jill has seen it. I don’t go waving it around to people because it’s not something to brag about. I only have two things checked off.”

“Wait a second.” He let go of her waist and placed his hand on the tree trunk, trapping her. “You told me you wrote it when you were eighteen. That you had a hundred items on the list.”

She felt a wave of prickly heat crawl up her neck. “Yes,” she muttered.

“You only accomplished two things in ten years? That can’t be true.”

She wanted to say it was because she was confined here in Cedar Valley. That she couldn’t take a risk with her neighbors watching, waiting for her to fail. But she knew that was no longer true. That had been an excuse.

“I wanted to do all those things but life got in the way,” she said dully. “Whenever I wanted to try something, my plans fell apart. If I raised the money for a trip, I would suddenly have to use that money for emergency home repairs.”

“You’re not the type to give up at the first sign of failure.”

“I’m not,” she said with a small smile, pleased that he recognized that about her. “But after a series of setbacks and disappointments, I thought I’d take a break. The crazy thing is that I’m much better at helping my friends and family achieve
their
dreams. I’m good at it. I thought it would be good practice until it was my turn.”

“But your turn never happened,” Travis guessed. “Until last weekend when you decided it was your time. That’s why you were in Vegas. No other reason?”

She shrugged. “Why else would I be there alone?”

Travis peered into her eyes. What could he see? Christine wondered. Could he tell that her life was built more on disappointments than achievements? That nothing came easy for her? She would read every article on setting goals and still come up short. There was a time when she used to think something was wrong with her. Why else did some people get everything they wanted and she was still waiting for a break?

“What two things did you cross off?” he asked suddenly. “I know one of them was to win money.”

Christine winced. Oh, why did he have to catch that part of the confession? “I decided that if I crossed one item off, I could add one,” she explained.

“The last thing you did in Vegas was win money. After that....”

She fought to meet his gaze. “After that...was you.”

Christine saw the light of surprise in his eyes. The sharp, angular features in his face softened. The edge of his mouth tilted up as he gave her a confident, sexy smile.

She crossed her arms and glared at Travis. “Shut up. I don’t want to hear it.”

His smile grew wider. “I didn’t say a word.”

“You don’t have to.” She had some crazy dreams on that list and now she’d given him the biggest ego boost.

“Hey, why are you glaring at me?” he said with a laugh. “You’re the one who added a one-night stand on your list.”

“No, I added you,” she corrected him. “And I crossed you off the list.”

His smile disappeared. “Was that why you slept with me? Because of some list?”

“If I was desperate to check something off my list, I would have added sky jumping or driving a Ferrari,” she said. “I could have added anything on my list and I wanted you. I wanted you the moment I saw you, but I wasn’t going to get distracted.

“I wanted you more than anything else Vegas had to offer.”

“And now that you’ve had me, you’ve crossed me off your bucket list and you no longer have any interest in me. Is that it?”

I wish.
Instead of getting Travis Cain out of her system, she realized she wanted him more than ever. “No, that’s not it at all. I know that Cedar Valley will bore you. I’m just saving you some time.”

“Christine, you had my full attention the moment you stepped into that casino. Nothing’s going to change that.”

His declaration warmed her. Travis might believe what he was saying, but she knew it wasn’t going to last. “Big words for a man who doesn’t believe in staying in one place for long,” she murmured. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

* * *

S
HE
WAS
GOOD
. Travis watched Christine closely. She was selling this little innocent small-town girl routine. For a moment he believed it. He wanted Christine to be exactly what he first thought—a mix of sweet and spice.

Was it possible that she could just be a hardworking woman who hadn’t had a chance to go after her dreams? And that emerald could bring in enough money that she could leave this tiny town and live out her craziest, most expensive fantasies?

He wished Christine wasn’t the thief, but he had to face facts. She was the only person who could have stolen the emerald. His suspicions were confirmed when she hid from him. Only a guilty person would panic.

She’d recovered quickly. It made him wonder how often she found herself confronted by the victim of her crimes. She said she was hiding because of how she was dressed? That made no sense. She was beautiful and sensual and no clothes could hide that.

“Oh, great. I just saw my neighbor walk by,” she muttered. “She doesn’t come to the bank on Mondays. She must have heard about your public display of affection in the lobby.”

“You were with me every step of the way,” he said with deep satisfaction. This woman who was way out of his league put him on her bucket list. Her Vegas to-do list. He couldn’t help but smile.

“Hello, Rhonda,” Christine said. Travis watched Christine give a friendly wave at a young woman with a pixie cut and a long, flowing dress. “Looks like it’s going to storm today.”

“Good morning, Christine,” Rhonda called back as she strolled to the bank’s main entrance. “I see you brought a souvenir back from Vegas.”

Christine slumped against the tree trunk and groaned. “Do you see what you started?” she asked Travis.

“And that’s when I’m on my best behavior,” Travis replied. It was time for her to figure out how much trouble he could cause.

“They are going to think that I’ve lost my mind.” She covered her face with her hands. “They won’t believe it was a phase and I’m too young to be having a midlife crisis.”

“They’ll think it was a knee-jerk response to how Darrell broke up with you.” That would explain her Vegas weekend. He was beginning to think this was Christine’s motive for taking the emerald. She was probably regretting taking the gem and didn’t know what to do to fix the situation. That sounded more like the Christine he knew.

Christine’s shoulders went rigid and her hands slowly dragged down her cheeks as she stared at him. “How did you know about that?”

He shrugged. “I heard things.”

She spread her arms out wide. “You’ve only been in town for five minutes!”

“I met Darrell the moment I drove past the welcome sign.” How could someone with Christine’s wild streak be attracted to such a bland guy? “Really, Christine? What were you thinking?”

“And you think I’m better matched with you? Remember that the woman you met in Vegas was the fake me. The pretend Christine.”

Travis didn’t think so. He believed that he’d seen the real Christine in Vegas. The pretend one was standing before him now. “I’ll soon find out.”

Christine narrowed her eyes. “How are you going to do that?”

“I saw a bed-and-breakfast just off Main Street. I’m going to reserve a room.” He suspected the place would be frilly and floral. It was going to be torture.

“You’re staying there?” Christine started to shake her head. “You’re going to hate it. The woman who runs it has so many rules. You’re going to get kicked out before you unpack.”

“Where else can I stay? Unless you’re inviting me to your place,” he teased.

Her eyelashes fluttered and she bit her bottom lip. “It’s a mess.”

Travis’s stomach clenched when he saw the sparkle in Christine’s eyes. She was considering having him stay? He thought he was the only one who wanted to continue what they had started. “I like messy.”

“It’s small,” she warned him.

“Sounds cozy.” Maybe too cozy. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to prowl around like a caged animal. Was that what Christine was counting on?

“People will talk.” She glanced around the parking lot.

“They’re already talking,” he pointed out. “You could deny we’re involved, but no one would believe you.”