AintNoAngel

by J L Taft

  Jessie watched as he came back and scooped her off the couch.

  “Where is your bedroom?” he asked.

  “Upstairs.”

  She felt so incredibly tired now that he was here.

  He held her gently and carried her up the stairs and into her room. He laid her down and it was then she noticed she still had her gun in her hand. It wasn’t like her to forget that it was there. But her brain seemed to be working in slow motion.

  Travis noticed it too. “Why don’t you let me have that while you get some sleep?” he said as he eased the gun from her hand.

  She fought to keep her eyes open. “Travis?”

  “Yeah?” he answered as he laid her gun on the dresser.

  “Thank you for coming.”

  He turned to look at her then. Sitting down next to her, he tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I told you if you needed me I would come and I meant it.”

  Jessie dozed off, safe in the knowledge that Travis was watching over her.

  Chapter Six

  Travis awoke early Monday morning with Jessie wrapped around him like ivy. He remained still and tried not to think about how long it had been since he had woken up in a woman’s bed. He had only had one semi-serious relationship in his life and even then he hadn’t made it a habit to stay all night.

  It hadn’t felt like this when they had stayed in the motel room. It was neutral ground. But she sensed something different with them being in her bed. Everything smelled like her and he had spent the long hours of the night listening for any sign of danger.

  Jessie had stayed on her side for a while but then had rolled and laid her head on his shoulder. It had fit perfectly and her small hand had reached for his in sleep. He hadn’t held a woman’s hand since high school. At least she had been sleeping and wouldn’t remember it.

  He told himself that he was just keeping her safe and that’s why he was here. Even if sleeping on the couch would have sufficed. She stirred and Travis used her movements to untangle his body and get up.

  He slipped his boots on and couldn’t help pausing at the door to look back at her, her hair sprawled out on the pillow he had just left. He suddenly wondered what her hair would look like against his satin sheets back home. He had an apartment in Portville but he was hardly ever there. Shaking off his thoughts of Jessie on his bed, he headed down the stairs.

  Marc and Brad were both in the kitchen and they looked up as he entered. Mentally he kicked himself. He should have at least put a shirt on. Marc whistled and Travis couldn’t contain his laughter.

  Marc introduced him to Betty and the guys chuckled at his state of undress.

  Betty on the other hand gave him a stern look and pointed at him with her wooden spoon. “Don’t you dare hurt that girl or I’ll be forced to take drastic measures.”

  Travis fought to remove the smile from his face. “Yes, ma’am.”

  When Jessie woke Monday morning she was alone but the pillow next to her was balled up and the blankets were a disaster. Travis must have lain next to her all night. She sighed as she stretched out her sore muscles, thinking that she wished there had been another reason why the blankets were tangled.

  She took a quick shower before going down to the kitchen, surprised that it was almost lunchtime.

  “Hey there, sleeping beauty,” Travis said as she went immediately to the coffeepot.

  Looking at Betty and Travis over her mug, she wasn’t surprised to find Betty giggling like a schoolgirl and Jessie stood for a moment to watch.

  “This sure is the best pie I’ve had since I was home to have my mother’s, Betty.”

  It took Jessie all of two seconds to see that he already had Betty wrapped around his finger. He was definitely a charmer and sexy as hell to boot. Just the sight of him in her kitchen made her heart beat a little faster and the room seemed a whole lot smaller.

  Taking a seat across from Travis at the table, she smiled at Betty when she put a piece of pie in front of her. If Betty thought it strange that she had a man in the house she didn’t say but Jessie knew there would be a hundred questions later.

  “Where are Marc and Brad?” Jessie asked.

  “Oh, I sent them off to town for a few things,” Betty replied.

  “How are you feeling?” Travis asked as his gaze ran over her face.

  “I’m fine, thank you. Did you sleep at all?”

  “A little after the sun came up.” He pushed his empty plate away.

  Taking a sip of her coffee, she looked at Betty pointedly.

  “I’ll just be in the garden if you need me.” She bustled outside and left them alone. Jessie didn’t talk about Cyrus in front of Betty. There was no reason to involve her and the less she knew the better.

  “What is the plan, Travis?” she asked as she took a bite of pie.

  “Where did you get the gun?” he countered.

  “It was my father’s. And before you ask, yes, I know how to use it,” she said defensively.

  Travis didn’t look surprised by her statement.

  “Are you going to send the money, Jessie?” He leaned back in his chair and she fought the urge to squirm under his gaze.

  “No, I’m not. I don’t owe him a damn thing.”

  Travis nodded and stared intently at her for a second, as if he were trying to decide if she was telling the truth. “Can I ask why not?”

  Jessie dropped her fork on her plate and it clattered loudly in the silent kitchen.

  “What do you mean, why not?”

  “Look, I’m just saying that if you sent it to him he might just leave you alone and disappear from your life altogether.”

  Jessie debated her next words carefully. She needed him to understand that she wanted this to be over.

  “Travis, he won’t. He blames me for losing his job and ruining his life. He will come for his revenge sooner or later. And, to be honest, I’m tired of waiting. I’m tired of looking over my shoulder. I need your help.”

  He was silent and Jessie realized he was going to turn her down.

  “I’ve already been hired by someone to track him down. It wouldn’t be right for me to take money from you too. This is dangerous, Jessie, and I think the farther away you are, the better.”

  “I’m not running. Let me hire you as a bodyguard then.” She hated that she was pleading but he was right, the whole situation was dangerous.

  “Jessie, you aren’t telling me something. What is really going on?”

  Taking a deep breath, she told him about the letter and the two phone calls in detail. When she was done, Travis let out a big breath and stood to pace the short length of the kitchen.

  Jessie sat quietly and waited.

  Finally he turned to her. “Okay, here’s the deal.” He put his hands on the table and she had to tilt her head to look up at him.

  “Hire me on to work at your landscape business. But I don’t want you to pay me. We can set up the equipment to trace his calls, see if we can find him before he finds you.”

  “I have to pay you, it wouldn’t feel right otherwise.”

  “That’s the deal, Jessie. Take it or leave it.”

  “Fine, but what if he doesn’t call again?” she asked.

  “Then we’ll be ready when he makes his move.”

  “Okay, Travis. We’ll do it your way. But know this. I am trusting you. Don’t make me regret it.”

  Travis called Ian after his talk with Jessie in the kitchen. She had excused herself to do some paperwork and hadn’t invited him along. Things were getting more complicated by the second. He had made a promise that he now wondered if he was going to be able to keep. Granted he didn’t expect Cyrus to miraculously make contact with her after all this time.

  He shouldn’t have spent a night between Jessie’s legs. It had clouded his brain. All he could think about last night when he had been lying next to her was all the things that they hadn’t had time for in their agreed one night together.

  Like those long legs of hers
over his shoulders.

  He worried that he wouldn’t be able to keep his word. She was too sexy for her own good. What he needed to do now was stay focused and keep them both from being killed.

  “Davis.”

  Travis jerked back to the present. “Ian. I have a development on the Parker case.”

  “Where are you, Turner? I expected you to still be sleeping at your desk when I came in this morning.”

  “Parker’s ex-wife called me last night after he contacted her. He is extorting her. It might be the in we need to get our hands on him.”

  He could hear Ian drop his booted feet to the floor and he pictured him grabbing a pen and whatever paper was closest. Ian was a creature of habit.

  “I take it you’re back in Hill Valley?” Ian asked.

  “Yeah, I may be here for a while. Is that going to be a problem?”

  “It’s slow right now so shouldn’t be. How long we talking?”

  “I don’t know yet. I’ll be in to pick up the call-tracing equipment today.”

  “What is he extorting her with?”

  “Money or her life,” Travis told him.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing,” Ian told him.

  “Let’s hope so, Ian. I’ll see you later,” Travis said before he hung up.

  First things first, Travis needed a tour of the property and then he was going back to his place for clothes and equipment and he was taking Jessie with him. He wasn’t going to let her out of his sight.

  Jessie felt stupid for admitting that she trusted Travis. She wouldn’t have if he hadn’t looked so surprised when she said it.

  But now that she had, she wasn’t so sure. Why did she trust him? He hadn’t been very forthcoming about himself. When she thought about it she didn’t really know anything about him.

  Before she could think twice about it, she dialed the number for Maggie Sinclair, Jessie’s lawyer.

  Jessie only told Maggie that she was looking into hiring a new employee and needed a background check.

  Maggie promised to have it for her in a couple days and Jessie hung up, refusing to contemplate what Travis would think if he knew she was checking up on him.

  * * * * *

  Travis followed along behind Jessie as she showed him the grounds and where to find certain plants and trees. It was a large property, bigger than he had first expected. She had renovated one of the barns into several rooms that she could rent out to her employees. It was smart.

  Brad and Marc had gone off to work and had come back later in the afternoon. If they had been surprised to see him still there, they covered it quickly. Jessie easily put them back to work, little things that needed to be done. But Travis had seen through her. She just wanted them out of the way so they didn’t ask any questions.

  Marc seemed very protective of Jessie, going so far as to ask her quietly if she thought hiring him was a good idea. Granted the guy didn’t know who he was.

  But Jessie let him know what she thought of him questioning her by dismissing him to go and change a light bulb. He wandered off with a good-natured smirk on his face.

  He couldn’t help but admire her stubbornness and feisty, no-nonsense attitude. She wasn’t the type of woman who would be taken advantage of easily and he still had no idea how she had gotten mixed up with Cyrus.

  He watched the sway of her hips as she wandered in front of him. He wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to keep his hands off her. She was a wet dream waiting to happen.

  She rambled on about plant types and where they were located but his eyes refused to move from her ass. It just looked too good. It had been a long time since he had the time or the energy for a long seduction and he wished now that he had never made that stupid agreement with her for one night only.

  “Have you ever done this kind of work, Travis?”

  “Huh?” His brain was slow to catch up. Raising his eyes to her face, he saw the smile there and knew he had been busted drooling over her ass. But she didn’t seem to mind and he wondered if he could talk her into changing their agreement.

  “Have you ever done landscaping?” she asked again.

  “Yeah, but not since high school and then it was only a summer job.”

  “Good, that will be helpful. Okay, so all of those bags of mulch need to be loaded in the back of this truck. Think you can handle that?”

  “Sure.” He was briefly surprised that she was really going to make him work. But then he caught the glint of challenge in her eyes. She was testing him. For what, he didn’t know but it wasn’t in his nature to give up a challenge.

  “Let me know when you’re done,” she said as she sauntered away and he wished that he could go up behind her and give her ass a quick slap.

  He couldn’t help watching until she was out of sight. Turning to the mulch, he found Marc standing a few feet behind him. He hadn’t heard him come up.

  That was bad. He was so distracted he hadn’t even noticed someone creeping up on his back.

  “Something I can help you with, Marc?”

  “I don’t know what’s going on but I want you to know I haven’t seen her smile this much in a long time.”

  “No problem.” He heaved the first bag over his shoulder and dropped it in the truck.

  “So she decided to give you a chance?”

  Travis wasn’t sure what chance Marc meant but he thought it best to agree. “Guess so.”

  “A word of advice. Don’t think for one minute that she won’t do as she says.”

  “All right, I’ll keep that in mind,” he said, heaving another bag of mulch.

  Marc stood there for several long seconds, debating his next words.

  “Something else you wanted to say?” Travis said, stopping to look him in the face.

  “I know it’s none of my business but are you planning on seducing her?”

  “Why? Are you going to warn me against it?” Great, he was going to have to stop with the ogling, apparently it was obvious and he certainly didn’t need the “back off” lecture from Marc.

  “Actually, no, I wasn’t.”

  Travis dropped the next bag and looked at Marc. “What?”

  “It’s just that she is too wonderful of a woman to be rotting away, taking care of this place alone. She deserves to have some fun of her own but if you hurt her, I’ll have to kill you.” He said it with a smile but Travis suddenly didn’t think that he was kidding.

  Travis watched as Marc turned and walked away. This was going to be stickier than he thought.

  * * * * *

  Jessie watched from the cover of the front window as Travis steadily worked his way through the pile of mulch. It was a sweaty and tedious job, one they all hated, and it was a good way to break in the new guys. She had a few who had quit and walked away after the first few bags, bunch of pussies.

  But Travis didn’t seem to mind.

  After Marc spoke to him for a moment he got into a rhythm—lift, step and drop. A few more bags and he paused to lift his shirt over his head, wiping his face with it before tossing it over the bed of the truck. Oh my. He certainly was good-looking.

  She felt naughty peeking out of the curtains at him but couldn’t bring herself to turn away. His tanned muscles flexed and bunched under the strain and a shiny coat of sweat covered him. Her eyes were drawn again and again to the tattoo that covered his right shoulder. It was large and started at his neck and traveled halfway down his biceps, covering the top corner of his chest. His faded jeans hung low on his narrow hips and she licked her lips while watching him.

  She wished circumstances were different. Letting the curtain drop back into place, she headed for her little office at the back of the house. It was time to deal with some paperwork. If that didn’t cure her wet panties then nothing would.

  It was several hours later when Travis found her at her desk, the computer screen shining on her face.

  She looked exhausted.

  “Hey,” he said as he walked over to stand behind h
er and rub her tense shoulders.

  “Mmmm. That feels good.” She leaned back into his hands and closed her eyes.

  “Why don’t you call it a day and ride to my place with me so I can get clothes and the equipment I need? I’ll buy you dinner.”

  There was no way he was leaving her here anyway.

  “Okay,” she said, sitting up and shuffling papers. “Just let me turn my PC off.”

  It surprised him that she didn’t primp for twenty minutes like he expected. She disappeared in the bathroom for five, grabbed her purse and was ready to go.

  They drove in silence for a while. Both of them were lost in the circumstances that had brought them together.

  Travis was busy lecturing certain parts of himself that were responding to her scent in the close confines of the truck cab.

  He stopped at a little place along the way for dinner and he was surprised at how much she made him laugh. It wasn’t that she was intentionally funny but she still managed to make him smile.

  They also had a lot in common. He didn’t trust easily and neither did she. Neither of them had been in a serious relationship for a couple years. Although he understood why she wouldn’t be.

  The rest of the way to his place they talked.

  “What happened to your parents?” he asked her gently.

  “A drunk driver hit them head-on. He walked away and they didn’t.” Her voice had that flat, emotionless tone again. He noticed that she did that when she didn’t want to talk about something.

  She lapsed into silence and he felt like an ass for even bringing it up. What he really wanted to know was how she had met Cyrus. But he figured she wouldn’t want to talk about that either.

  After a few minutes she went on, “I met Cyrus right after it happened. It was one of his first big accidents as chief of police.”

  Travis remembered it now. It had been his first case as a rookie cop. He had done most of the legwork but had never met Jessie. The accident had been brutal. Cyrus had done all the talking with the family members and the local media. But he didn’t tell her that.

  “He started making it a point to check in on me. Took me out to dinner,” she said quietly.