by Tess Summers
Ava got to the Out and About section on page six and found Travis Sterling’s photo staring right at her. He looked good. He was wearing the outfit he’d had on when he first showed up last night except it included the tie and jacket she had imagined he had worn when he appeared in her parents’ kitchen with no tie and his sleeves rolled up. On his arm was the beautiful Victoria Thornapple, of the famous Thornapple cereal family. She was a dark haired, voluptuous heiress with perfectly pouty lips and a rack to envy.
Ava doubted the lips or the boobs were real.
She chided herself. You catty bitch!
Apparently the two were seen leaving the theater after having watched Les Miserables. Blech, I hate that play. She knew that made her highly uncultured; after all, everyone she knew that had seen it gushed over what a great production Les Miz was. Friends, co-workers, critics, her parents…and now, apparently, Travis. Strangely enough, the reporter did not hypothesize about the likelihood of Ms. Thornapple becoming Mrs. Sterling. Trav must be losing his touch. Ava giggled to herself. No, she could vouch that was most definitely not the case.
Ava thought about the picture of Travis in the paper the whole drive home. She wasn’t necessarily jealous, per se. It reminded her he really was unobtainable and she was right about Brad being the goal at the end of this. Last night, Travis had been out on a date with one woman, and three hours later, he was in bed with Ava. The two women’s roles could just as easily have been reversed, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing if she was going to remain focused and gain some experience to get Brad back.
She finished getting ready and by the time she was done, she was even impressed herself. The dress was a sleeveless, periwinkle blue number that came three inches above her knee and revealed a little bit of cleavage, which the necklace she was wearing drew attention to. The fabric was a heavy silk that hugged her curves just right. She hesitated to use the word curves to describe herself because she didn’t think her body qualified as curvy. Well, except her butt. She did have what one could call a booty; it was probably her best asset. Her breasts were nothing special, a little small for her liking but she always fixed that with the right bra. If she were braver she’d have a boob job, but was too scared of it getting botched, not to mention she didn’t like pain. Her face was pretty enough, she supposed. She’d been told her whole life she looked like her mother, and she thought her mother was beautiful. There was nothing special about her medium length blonde hair. She tried to keep up with the latest hair trends, but oftentimes found she was actually behind the times. She liked to keep her hair long enough that she could pull it up in a ponytail, and she wore a lot of ponytails and yoga pants when she wasn’t working. Tonight, after curling and styling her hair, it turned out pretty, if she did say so herself. That surprised her; usually when she wanted her ’do to look good, it wouldn’t cooperate. The hair gods were on her side tonight, for once. She put a spritz of her favorite cologne on followed by her makeup—eyeliner, mascara, and a shade of light pink lipstick. At the last minute, she added a brush swipe of blush over her cheeks, although she didn’t see a difference. That’s okay. She was pleased with how she looked so far.
Right when she thought that, she was sure he was going to stand her up. Her look had come together too easily; there had to be a catch.
It was only six forty-five; she was way ahead of schedule. No need to panic that he wasn’t here yet. She put her sexy CFM shoes on and tried to get used to walking in them before deciding to have a glass of wine to calm her nerves. Pouring herself a small glass and sitting down at the kitchen table, she started thinking more about the photo from the paper, then pulled the electronic edition up on her phone to zoom in on Victoria Thornapple. She really was a pretty woman. At least the man had good taste.
Would their picture be in tomorrow’s paper? Ava could see the caption now. Travis Sterling and unidentified woman leaving Evangeline’s. Would someone else be zooming in on her photo? All of a sudden, she wasn’t interested in going to a fancy restaurant. If she wasn’t ready to share she was dating him with Anne, she certainly wasn’t ready for the rest of the world to find out. There was also the idea that she didn’t want to be considered a flavor of the week by people she knew. When they did inevitably move on to other people, if she hadn’t gotten Brad back, she’d be the object of people’s pity and her mother would be devastated. No, she surely didn’t want to go to dinner tonight at the city’s hippest restaurant and get her picture taken by the press for Brad and the rest of the world to see. At least not yet.
Chapter 6
LOOKING at Ava’s text with her address made him chuckle. He already knew where she lived thanks to her mother requesting he look at the purchase contract when she bought her condo. Of course, Ava knew nothing about that, but that was when his interest in her was piqued. He imagined she was a master negotiator, cool and collected, able to get people to do whatever she wanted, and he was just the man for the siren’s challenge. Now that he’d met her in real life, he had no idea what to make of her. But he was still up for the challenge.
Driving above the speed limit having left the office late—a common occurrence for him—he would have to get ready in a hurry. Fortunately, her condo was not far from his place. He literally did live right around the corner from the Ericsons. He’d moved into his house about three years ago and loved it. It was his fortress of solitude, dogs and all, and he became very disagreeable when his privacy was invaded, like by his nephew, Patrick, and his friend last night. Luckily for Patrick, he wasn’t home last night to bask in his solitude. He chuckled again. No, he most certainly was not home last night.
He had been thinking about Ava all day. He had tried to be charming and impress her by sending those workers over this morning to help clean up. He didn’t think he needed to bribe her to make sure she went out with him tonight, but it couldn’t hurt. The fact she occupied his thoughts all day was disturbing. He never thought about women at work. To be honest, he was too busy to think much about them at all, except when he was actually with them. Not that he didn’t enjoy their company when that occurred. It just didn’t take a lot of work anymore to make that happen. There were benefits that came with being considered one of the city’s most eligible bachelors. Women pursued him now. He didn’t think he had asked a woman on a date in over five years, right around the time a local magazine did its Top Ten Available Men article. He was number three. Since then, he had plenty of women chasing him. Some were successful in catching him, but never for very long. One thing for sure, he never lacked for companionship when he wanted it.
So what was it about Ava that had him so distracted and wanting to make the effort?
If he had to venture a guess, he found her naïveté refreshing. He had no doubt last night’s lovemaking session also played a part. It really was incredible. She had tried to be bold and display a sexual prowess he knew damn well was an act. He could tell she wasn’t that experienced, but it didn’t matter. She made him feel desire he hadn’t had in a long time. If he were to be honest with himself, he’d never felt passion and connection like that before, ever. He’d thought he had once when he had started practicing law, but it turned out to not be what he had originally thought. Ava had been so willing to trust him and be a hundred percent there in the moment with him. That was not at all like the women he currently dated. He got hard just thinking about her. Actually, he’d had that problem several times today. Reliving the feeling of her body on his was pretty stirring. He was glad it was Saturday and there was no one else in the office.
Travis meant it when he told her he wanted to be naked with her all day today. He honestly didn’t want to leave her this morning. He had no idea what to expect when she woke up and feared she’d be instantly filled with shame and guilt and want nothing more to do with him. Or the reverse, she’d be madly in love with him and want to marry him next week. Both instances had happened to him a time or two or three in the past. A girl he had only taken to dinner twice tur
ned into a stalker, and that’s when he decided to start dating women who were as in demand as he was. They weren’t interested in anything more than dinner, getting their picture in the paper, and maybe a roll in the hay. What they lacked in substance, they made up for with looks and sexual experience. Damned if Ava didn’t have substance and looks (not to mention a feisty side, and an amazing ass). He hoped to help her in the sexual experience department.
But, it wasn’t just that.
It was all of it. The whole package. She was kind and caring, authentically so, and her nerdy innocence was so goddamn endearing. Then there was the matter of her intelligence. Sweet Mary and Joseph, a PhD? How had Frannie never mentioned that in all her chatter about her daughter? And to top it all off, she was hot. Smokin’ hot.
Shit. This could be a problem.
It’ll wear off; it always does. Yet, from where he was sitting at the moment, he wasn’t in a hurry for that to happen any time soon.
We’ll see how tonight goes. I’ll probably be sick of her by tomorrow.
He showered quickly and had time for a shave before dressing in his favorite tailor-made blue suit. All his suits were custom made—he knew he had made it when he bought his first suit made specifically for him. The navy ensemble had a matching vest and he liked how it looked when he took his jacket off. He picked out a starched white shirt and his newest designer tie, then ran a quick cloth over his shoes to make sure they were pristine.
Dabbing some cologne on his neck and putting on his favorite TAG watch, he gave himself a once-over in the mirror, then was out the door. He had just enough time to spare to stop and pick up flowers. He expected his efforts wouldn’t go unnoticed and had a feeling with her, they wouldn’t.
Knocking on her door at six fifty-five, he hoped she didn’t mind he was a few minutes early.
*
The knock on the door startled Ava. She looked at the clock. Of course he’s punctual. She teetered to the door in her ridiculously high heels, took a deep breath, and opened the door with a smile. Travis was standing there with red roses. Did he ever stop with the charm?
Travis looked her up and down. “You look amazing.”
He smells amazing.
“Thank you,” she replied as she moved to the side of the doorway, signaling for him to come in.
He handed her the bouquet. “These are for you.” Then he leaned over and kissed her cheek. The cheek?
She smiled and told him thank you again, but instead of taking the flowers, put her hands on each side of his face and kissed him on the mouth. There was something empowering about knowing she was only a temporary thing for him and she didn’t have to worry about where this was going. She could be herself, only braver and more adventurous.
The kiss was simply meant to be a more appropriate greeting than the cheek, given their intimacy last night, but it heated up very quickly.
Travis broke away and said, “If we keep doing this, we’re going to miss our reservation.”
That brought Ava back to reality. “About that…Can we talk for a second?” She stepped carefully toward the kitchen while trying not to trip and fall in front of him.
Travis looked at her as if wary about where this might be headed. “Anytime a woman asks if we can talk, it has never ended well.” He handed her the flowers. “You might want to put those in water.”
Ava motioned for him to sit at the table while she looked through her cupboards for something to put the flowers in.
“Do you want something to drink? I just opened a bottle of wine,” she asked over her shoulder as she opened up one cupboard door after another until finding what she was looking for in the cabinets above the refrigerator.
“No, I’m good for now. What do you want to talk about?”
She was now at the sink, filling a vase with water. Shutting the faucet off, Ava took a deep breath, then blurted out, “Is it okay if we don’t go to Evangeline’s tonight?” Then she busily started cutting the stems of the roses and putting them one at a time in the water, glancing at him only out of the corner of her eye.
Travis replied slowly. “Yeah, that’d be okay. Mind telling me why?”
She stopped after haphazardly cutting a stem, still not looking directly at him, and gestured with the scissors still in her hand. “It’s just, you know, I-I don’t know if we should be seen together, like, on a date. I don’t think I’m ready for that yet, you know?”
She was saying you know a lot. She didn’t like it.
He seemed to be absorbing what she was saying. She looked over at him and saw he was nodding with some uncertainty, staring straight ahead at nothing. With a teasing grin he looked over at her and asked, “Are you ashamed of me?”
The ridiculousness of the question made her burst out laughing. “No, of course not!” She hadn’t caught on he was joking. “I just don’t—I’m not ready to be in the Out and About section of the paper yet.”
He got up and went to where Ava was still cutting flowers. Putting his arms around her waist and his chin on her shoulder, he murmured into her ear, “I’m sorry you saw that today.”
She turned around to face him, scissors still in hand. “You don’t owe me an apology. But if you don’t mind, I think I’d like to keep things between us under the radar. My poor mother would have a heart attack if she knew we were…” She chose her next words carefully, “spending time together.”
He grabbed her shoulders and held her at arms’ length. She stumbled a little in her shoes. “Tell you what. We’ll keep things just between us, for now. If we’re still…” He paused then emphasized the next three words, “spending time together, we’ll allow ourselves to be seen together at the Wounded Warrior Project ball.”
It was a statement, not a question.
The ball was six weeks away. That should be enough time for her to be ready for Brad to see her and Travis at a public appearance together. “I can agree to that.” She held out her hand for him to shake it, as if to seal the deal.
He gave her an amused grin as he took her hand and shook it.
She placed the last rose in the crystal container, then pointed to her dress and asked, “Should I change?”
“As drop-dead gorgeous as you are in that outfit, and as much as I would love to see you in absolutely nothing but those shoes later tonight, I can’t imagine they’re very comfortable. Yes, go put on a pair of jeans.”
She was gingerly walking to her bedroom when he yelled after her. “And some comfortable shoes!”
It only took a minute for her to kick off her hooker heels and step out of her dress, leaving it in a heap on her closet floor while trying to find the most flattering pair of jeans she had. Darn it, they’re in the dirty clothes hamper. She found a pair that ran a close second in the accentuating her features department and slid them on.
She had no idea what they were going to do now that they weren’t eating out at a fancy restaurant. Poking her head out of her closet, she called out to him as she zipped up her jeans. “Where are we going?”
She paused, waiting for him to respond. No answer. She yelled his name.
After a few seconds, he appeared at her bedroom door.
“Did you call me, luv?” he asked, then, with a thud, leaned against the door jamb, grinning as he admired the view of her standing there in only a pair of tight jeans and push-up bra.
“I asked where we are going. I need to know what kind of top to wear. Should I dress it up or simply put on a T-shirt?”
He gave her an evil grin. “I think you should go just like that.”
“Come on, I’m serious!”
He crossed the room in three strides, grabbed her around the waist, and pulled her into him. “So was I.” She had noticeably shrunk since the last time he kissed her, sans her high heels. He gently started caressing her lips with his. It didn’t take long for their make-out session to heat up again. She knew she should stop it soon before things went too far and he thought she
was too easy and decided not to sleep with her again. That would be ironic.
Oohh but this feels so good! Just a little more…
When he slid his hand under her bra, she knew she had to hit the brakes and abruptly pulled away from him, gasping for air.
“We need to stop or we’ll never get out of here! Aren’t you hungry? I’m starving!” She pretended to start looking for a top while he stepped back to the closet doorway. She glanced over at him. He was standing there, hands in his pockets, watching her with that grin on his face again.
“I mean it! What kind of top?” She was unnerved, being in such close quarters with him and embarrassed that he just stood there in silence, blatantly admiring her.