She opened her legs, impatient. But he had other ideas.
He kissed her endlessly and ran his hands down her body, toying with her breasts and tasting her nipples.
“Travis.” She couldn’t wait any longer. She arched her hips upward so that his hardness slid against her wetness.
Travis groaned, deep and gruff. Instead of putting himself inside her, he moved down her body, making her jerk with sensation as his knowing mouth kissed her ribs and the center of her belly.
He went lower.
“No.” She tried to coax him back up. “You’re going to make me—”
His tongue found her aroused clitoris, performing expert circles.
“Travis!” she cried out.
“Yes.” His tongue delved into her, stimulating just the right spot and electrifying her unbearably. She came with pulsing intensity, vaguely aware of her loud yell.
She heard him cursing with sexual wildness as she floated back to coherency. Pushing her knees wide, he used his thumbs to arouse her again. She couldn’t stand it. Gripping his hair, she tugged.
He worked his magic a bit longer, nearly making her come for a second time. Then blessedly he moved over her. She held her legs wide as the tip of him entered her. He stretched her wet flesh. Tight. Soft. Hard.
He slid in farther, achingly slow, until he sank all the way in. He drew back and slid back in. She felt every inch of him.
Suddenly he stopped, holding himself inside her, his face contorted with ecstasy. He was on the edge, but he held off to wait for her.
Raeleen reached her hands above her head, bracing herself against the wood headboard. Travis propped himself up on his hands push-up style and began moving again.
Mind-numbing sensation paralyzed her. Travis thrust harder and she cried out. He relentlessly continued, finding the spot that sent her rushing into oblivion.
He groaned with her release and moved faster, jerking her body with each penetration, prolonging her orgasm. No...stimulating another one. A deeper one.
“Travis,” she breathed, so hot she thought she’d go out of her mind.
“Yes. Say my name again.”
“Travis,” she all but worshipped.
He groaned again, pumping deep, and reached his finale.
Her heart throbbed, and she couldn’t catch her breath. “Wow.” She could barely speak.
Travis lay on top of her, spent like her, softening inside her but still pulsing.
At last he rolled off her and they lay side by side as reality descended. She’d just had the most unbelievable sex she’d ever experienced. With Travis. A TES operative.
“You did that on purpose,” she said.
Chapter 7
The next afternoon, Raeleen walked beside Travis after landing at Dulles International Airport. TES’s private plane had gotten them here, and now she assumed she’d go into the airport and take a commercial flight to New York. Seeing a waiting car ahead, she wondered if he was just going to get in and leave her behind without ado. She’d never see him again.
After angrily denying he’d seduced her on purpose, he’d rolled over and gone to sleep. Waking up this morning had been horribly awkward. She’d hardly slept, and he’d slept like a baby. That rattled her ire. She burgeoned with affront, and he’d made no attempt to rectify anything.
What grated on her was that he seemed perfectly fine with that. Totally unruffled by what had transpired. No man had ever hurt her. She’d always been the one in control. Why did it have to be Travis who managed to strip that from her? The graphic recaps of them on the hotel bed weren’t a big help, either. She couldn’t believe she’d had three orgasms. She’d never had that many.
“Did you make arrangements for me to fly to New York, or will I have to do that in the airport?” she asked tersely. Why he’d flown them into D.C. she didn’t know. Up until now, she hadn’t thought to find out where he was headed from here. Maybe D.C. was home for him.
“There are no arrangements, and you aren’t making any. You’re coming with me.”
“What?” She stopped walking.
He reluctantly did the same, looking at her with leashed annoyance. “Your father wants to see you. I’m taking you to the D.C. TES office.”
TES had an office here? He hadn’t told her that!
A man who must work for TES passed them and put her luggage in the trunk of the black sedan. “Hey! That’s my bag.” She started walking toward the sedan.
Travis caught up to her and opened the back door of the car. “You can go home after I take you to your father.”
“Don’t you mean after you’ve completed your orders?” she retorted.
He remained unmoving. “Get in.”
Didn’t he care about last night at all? A terrible emotional weight fell upon on her. How could this be happening to her?
“Why did you kiss me if it wasn’t on purpose?” she asked, more of an accusation.
“Just get in, Raeleen. After I take you to your father, you’ll be rid of me.”
“I don’t want to be rid of you.” Or did she? Suddenly, she was so confused.
“No?”
She’d been very resolute about her antimilitary rule. Would it be wise to change her mind now? Sticking to that rule made her feel safe. The way she felt with Travis just now didn’t feel safe.
She needed safe.
“We had sex,” she reasoned.
After studying her face in what had to be perplexity, he said, “What are you saying? That you want to start seeing me on a regular basis?”
She flinched, her head jerking back as the impact of that idea hit her. “I...”
The same anger that she saw last night and this morning toyed with his mouth and eyes. “Get in.”
She did, but only because she was so confused. Did she want to see more of him? After they went to see her father, what then? She’d go her own way. It would be bad to get involved with him if she wasn’t sure it was right for her.
“It was good sex,” she said when he got into the seat beside her. The best she’d ever had.
“Glad to be of service. Anytime you want a repeat, just give me a call.”
His sarcasm stung. Didn’t he see that it had meant something to her? “I don’t have your number.”
More of that anger zeroed in on her. He pulled out his wallet and handed her a business card. Only his number was on it. She looked there and then up into the challenge in his eyes. Snatching the card, she stuffed it in her purse.
He looked perplexed again.
Would she call him? For more amazing sex? Maybe...
The driver sat in his seat and began to maneuver out of the airport.
“Can we stop for a cheeseburger on the way?” Eating would settle her stomach, and nothing would satisfy her more than her favorite.
“Sure.”
“It can be a drive-through. In fact, sometimes those are the best. Greasy. Cheesy. Full of pickles and sauce...”
“I know just the place.”
Was he wooing her now that she had his number?
* * *
Travis took her to the Burger Shack, in the middle of a tree-lined block of colorful three-story buildings with
carriage-house charm. Long and narrow, the yellow, orange and green interior was well maintained and brightly lit. Seated across from Travis at a yellow-tiled table, she tried not to feel like this was their first date.
Raeleen picked up the juicy double cheeseburger, a couple of drips of grease assuring her it would rank among her favorites. No lettuce. No tomatoes. Just plenty of pickles, cheese, onions and a secret sauce. She took a big bite and savored the experience.
Travis pointed to the corner of his mouth, indicating she had something on hers. She licked it of
f, and his eyes smoldered briefly before his rigid control, back since sleeping with her, resumed and he ate some of his burger, an exact replica of hers. He wanted to see what she thought was a good burger.
“This is a little different than a hurricane,” she said.
“Kind of hard to go to a burger joint during one, yeah.”
She laughed a little. “Burger joints are my best shows.”
“I’d have never guessed,” he teased.
“The one that sticks out the most is this place called the Roadrunner Diner in Obetz, Ohio. It’s right off a main highway and is run by the family matriarch—a seventy-five-year-old woman who shows no signs of retiring within the next decade. She keeps everyone in line, from her two daughters and four grandsons, to the wait staff and busboys. Her restaurant was awarded number one sixteen times by the health department.”
“And the burgers?”
She rolled her eyes heavenward. “The bomb.”
“The one I’ll never forget is in Istanbul. A man and his wife run it. It’s a small café that relies on tourism to survive, but it’s not located anywhere mainstream. I only found out about it from a cabdriver. I like it there because it’s clean and they always have fresh food, even though it sometimes is hard for them to keep it in their inventory. The menu is small, but every entrée is special. And yes, their burgers are good.”
“You’ve been there more than once?”
“Tried every item on the menu.” He ate a bite of his burger.
“I’ll have to give them a call. One of my venues fell through at the last minute. Maybe they can accommodate me.”
“I’m sure they would.”
Not only did he complete dangerous, heroic missions on his travels, but he also met many different kinds of people, in many different economic situations. And he cared about them.
“You’ll have to send me their information.”
“I’ll give it to your dad.”
With the mention of her father, Raeleen’s enchantment at being introduced to a new restaurant faded, and she finished in silence. She also fought a poignant disappointment that he’d contact her father and not her. He’d given her his card but hadn’t asked for hers.
Why should that bother her, anyway? She had no intention of taking this further than it had already gone. She had already allowed it to go too far. Unless it was only for sex...
He paid for her dinner and let her leave the restaurant ahead of him.
Melancholy stole over her as she walked beside Travis, looking for the sedan but not seeing it. Having sex with him had been a mistake on so many levels. It made walking away so much harder. Walking away should not be hard at all, and yet her heart was an opposing magnet to it.
Travis put his hand on her lower back. “Dad’s is just ahead.”
“Dad’s?” No wonder the sedan wasn’t here. Dad’s was a bakery right up the street, the sedan in front of it.
She saw the sign from there, a brick storefront with a bright and cheery sign lit with a single word: Dad’s. Her melancholy grew heavier. Her father was in there.
Travis held the door open for her. A bell jingled and the refurbished hardwood floor creaked as she stepped inside. Passing a handful of small, square tables with white runners and fresh carnations on them, she took in the iconic photos of D.C. in varying shades of sunlight and smelled fresh coffee wafting with the scents of baked bread and pastries.
The wall behind the L-shaped counter was full of tea and coffee machines, and a glass case featured the day’s specials. What sounded like ’50s jazz played at a moderate level, but just above that she heard voices coming from the kitchen. Then the swinging door leading there opened and her father appeared, followed by a man and a woman.
Seeing her father gave her a good dose of resentment, harbored resentment. She hadn’t seen him since Christmas. A big man with graying hair that was thinning to expose more of his head, he looked like he’d lost some weight. His stomach was trimmer now.
“Raeleen,” he said with a strong voice full of relief.
When he reached for her as though to embrace her, she avoided him, stepping aside and focusing on the attractive couple next to him.
“Hi, I’m Odie.” The dark-haired, dark-eyed beauty smiled and stuck out her hand. “This big bakery chef is my husband, Jag.”
Raeleen shook her hand and then Jag’s. His green eyes revealed no emotion, but the white apron with Dad’s scrawled across his chest hinted to a personality. Along with her father, they formed a half circle in front of her and Travis.
“Great to meet you.” Or not. More of her father’s secret soldiers. She was surrounded by them.
“Travis.” Odie checked him out. “You heal well.”
“I only had more than two years.”
“Cullen likes to be sure his team is healthy.”
“I couldn’t be healthier.”
“Haley was glad to hear you’re back to work. You know she and Rem are running a private military company now, don’t you?”
“I heard, yes.”
Raeleen watched for signs of feelings in Travis but couldn’t tell if the news of Haley’s life with another man bothered him. She didn’t think it bothered him much, since she was pretty sure that wasn’t the real reason he had trouble with women on assignments. Something deeper drove that, and she’d love to find out what that was. If only she would see him after tonight.
“You know about Haley, don’t you, Raeleen?” Odie’s leading tone suggested she did this a lot, fish for information.
“Travis told me a little about her.”
“Did he now.” She looked speculatively at Travis.
“Odie...” Jag warned. He must know his wife. It lent a touching note to people who’d seen a lot of violence in their work.
Finding herself connecting, Raeleen distanced herself, eyeing her father, who was busy assessing everyone.
“She worries about you,” Odie said to Travis, ignoring her husband.
“That’s Odie for you,” Jag interrupted. “Always interested in everyone’s personal lives.”
Odie elbowed him. “You’re lucky I was interested in yours.”
Jag chuckled. “Don’t I know it.”
“Why does Haley worry about Travis?” Raeleen asked, well aware of her father’s continued silence. He had a habit of holding back while others carried on a conversation. It gave him time to gather information before he dived into whatever point or purpose he had in mind. And now that point or purpose was centered on his daughter.
Odie’s hesitation became obvious. She glanced between Travis and Raeleen as though she’d just confirmed a curiosity.
“Does she think I’ll get shot again?” Travis joked.
Odie turned to him. “Far from it. She’s afraid you’ll never get married.” Then she looked at Raeleen. “I’ll have to reassure her.”
“And I’ll have to have a different discussion with Travis than I planned,” her father finally said, indomitable eyes pointing at Travis.
Both he and Odie had noticed something in Travis and Raeleen. What had it been? Travis didn’t seem to know,
either. But then how close he stood to her materialized, and so did the way she’d asked about Haley.
“Raeleen has an aversion to TES operatives,” Travis said.
Was he trying to say he and Raeleen weren’t having a relationship? They weren’t. He’d rescued her and they’d had sex. Did that constitute a relationship?
Odie laughed. “I don’t believe it.” Then she amended, “And then again, I do. Being the daughter of Colonel Roth and all.”
“Odie had one of those with me,” Jag said to Travis. “An aversion.”
“I hope it’s not contagious,” Raeleen couldn’t help quipping.
“Enough,”
her father interrupted. “We don’t have time for that nonsense.”
“Right. Because everything is always about work,” Raeleen complained.
“We can talk more about your relationship with Travis if you prefer,” her father replied. “Since there appears to be one.” When no one commented, he moved to a table. “I want to know why my daughter’s cameraman was beaten in Anguilla.” He sat down and everyone else did the same, all five of them huddled around the small table, her father on one side of her, Travis on the other.
“Odie looked closer into Dietrich Artz’s financial situation,” Jag said, effectively steering the topic where it belonged. “He’s about to lose his restaurant.”
“Motive for wanting to sell valuable art,” Travis said.
“Art?” Odie looked confused, something Raeleen was certain was a rare occurrence.
“Landon told us the people who beat him up were after a painting, but he couldn’t tell us what kind,” Raeleen explained. Travis hadn’t told her father anything of what Landon had said. After telling Odie he’d been beaten, he’d said he’d brief them when they arrived in D.C. Only at the time, with her standing near while he spoke on his cell, he’d said when he arrived in D.C. The urgency of transporting Landon to a hospital in the States had taken precedence.
“Why was your cameraman involved?” her father asked.
Raeleen turned to him and hesitated. She’d always been careful about protecting his secrecy, even though she hated it. But this time she’d slipped up.
“They wanted to know why Raeleen had been kidnapped,” Travis said for her. “What made her important enough to use for leverage.”
“She was Deet’s lover,” Odie surmised.
“Yes, but if John and Vivian kidnapped her, why were they killed?” Travis asked.
“Maybe Deet was trying to sell the painting to whomever beat the cameraman up,” Odie answered.
“And Vivian tried to stop him.” Travis nodded with the plausibility of that.
“Deet is on the run. His house was ransacked,” Raeleen reminded them all.
“Could Vivian have been the one trying to sell the painting?” Colonel Roth put in.
Seducing the Colonel's Daughter: Seducing the Colonel's DaughterThe Secret Soldier Page 10