by Eve Gaddy
Siobhan came back with his beer. He thanked her, sipped it, set it down and said, “Tell me something, Tobi. Did I do something to piss you off that I’m not aware of?”
She looked totally shocked. “Of course not. I’ve only seen you three times since I’ve been back in town. How could I possibly be mad at you?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s why I asked.”
“Why would you think I’m pissed at you?”
“Well,” he said, taking a drink. “The other day at the clinic you said you didn’t want to go out with me because we’re friends. You value our friendship, I think you said.”
“I—yes.”
“I guess that means you don’t value Zack’s and Levi’s friendship?”
She stared at him a minute. “Oh…crap. They told you I went out with them.”
“That they did.” He nodded. “They’re my partners and my best friends. It shouldn’t surprise you I’d find out. Besides, this is Whiskey River. Nothing stays private for long.” He drank more beer, waiting for her response.
“It wasn’t a big deal with either of them. They’re both hung up on other women, for one thing.”
“What? No, they’re not.” Come to think of it, maybe that’s what Levi’s problem with Dana was. But Zack?
She snorted. “Of course they are. I knew it within five minutes of being with them. Levi has a thing for the architect for the airport. Dana DeLong.”
“Why do you say that? Last I heard him speak about her, she wasn’t his favorite person.”
“Really? Well, that must be a smoke screen. We saw her at the restaurant and he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. And vice versa for that matter.”
“Okay, it’s possible,” he conceded. He knew Levi and the architect had both been in town when the Wildcat Tower was built, but he didn’t know anything more. Maybe he’d ask Zack about it. “But Zack’s not hung up on anyone.”
She laughed. “Of course he is. How do you not know that?”
“Why would I?”
“Because he’s got the hots for your sister.”
Travis choked on his beer and slapped down the mug. “Laurel? My sister, Laurel? And Zack? Are you kidding me?”
“No. What’s so hard to believe?”
“For one thing, Zack’s a hound dog. He knows I’d kill him if he hurt my sister.”
“Is he? He doesn’t seem like a hound dog to me.”
“Okay, that might be an exaggeration. But he sure as hell likes the ladies. And generally, they like him.”
“What’s wrong with that? Besides, Laurel is obviously more important to him than those other women.”
Good God. Zack and Laurel? How had he missed it? If Tobi was right about Zack, did Laurel return his feelings? Travis resolved to get to the bottom of that.
Siobhan came back. “Can I get you a refill?”
“Sure. Do you want something, Tobi?”
“I’ll just have a Diet Pepsi. Thanks, Siobhan.”
Travis got back to the matter at hand. And it wasn’t what women Tobi thought his friends were into. “So if it wasn’t a big deal to go out with Zack, and it wasn’t a big deal to go out with Levi, does that mean you think—or you’re afraid,” he added provocatively, “that it would be a big deal to go out with me?”
She tossed her head, long dark hair flowing. “Dream on, flyboy. It’s good to know you’re just as obnoxious now as you were in high school.”
“Thank you,” he said modestly. “You just gave me the answer I wanted.”
“How’s that?”
“Because in high school you thought I was obnoxious whenever I was right and called bullshit on you.”
“I thought you were obnoxious because you were. Just as you are now,” she stated. “It had nothing at all to do with you being right.”
Travis laughed. Siobhan brought them their drinks just then, which was probably fortunate since Tobi was looking more annoyed by the moment.
“All right, if that’s not it, then why won’t you go out with me?” he asked after Siobhan left.
She sighed and sipped her drink. “Fine. I’ll go. Tomorrow night to Austin you said.”
“Great.” He paused, trying to gauge her mood. She didn’t look irritated any longer. He couldn’t have said what the expression she wore meant. “Tobi, if you really don’t want to go, whatever the reason, just tell me. I’ll back off.”
“And have you thinking I’m afraid to go out with you? Not a chance.”
“I’m serious. I was teasing before.”
“So you don’t want to take me to Austin?”
“Of course I do. I wouldn’t have asked you in the first place if I didn’t want you to go. But not if you feel forced into it.”
“This has become far too big of a deal. I’ll go with you and no, I don’t feel forced into it.”
“I hope not.”
“Do you want me to pinkie swear?” she asked, clearly exasperated.
He pretended to think about that. “Yes. That would be good.” He held out the little finger of his uninjured hand.
Tobi linked her finger with his. “Annoying as you are, I swear I’m going with you because I want to.”
Travis smiled. “All right, then. I’ll pick you up Saturday, around five.” Maybe then he could figure out why she’d turned him down in the first place.
*
Saturday arrived and with it Tobi’s date with Travis. The drive from Whiskey River to Austin took a little more than an hour. A little to Tobi’s surprise, they talked easily, mostly about the difference in her previous job and the new one in Whiskey River.
“Do you think you’ll miss your old job?” Travis asked. “Wasn’t it a lot more exciting than what you’re doing now?”
“Sometimes, yes. But in medicine that’s usually not a good thing. Besides, I don’t think Urgent Care is boring. I’ve already seen a variety of patients and problems.”
Travis took her to a small, intimate Italian restaurant in Austin. The hostess showed them to their table, gave them menus, and left.
White linen tablecloths covered the tables. Red linen napkins, sparkling crystal, beautiful white china with scalloped edges, and gleaming silverware completed the table settings. The lighting was soft and muted. Classical music played in the background and beautiful green and flowering plants were everywhere. The paintings on the walls were for sale from a mix of local artists, according to Travis. And there were candles. Lots of candles. All in all a very romantic setting.
“I thought you weren’t going to flirt with me?”
“I never said that. Anyway, I’m not flirting.”
“What’s all this, then?” she asked, waving a hand.
“This is romancing. Totally different thing from flirting.”
She couldn’t help but laugh. Between Wednesday night and today she’d almost called him to back out several times. But she didn’t want him to make more of that than he should. Didn’t want him to think she was “afraid” to go out with him. Or at least, that’s what she told herself.
Tobi wasn’t afraid. But she didn’t quite trust herself when it came to Travis. Which was ridiculous. So what if he was hot? Just because she went out with him didn’t mean she was going to sleep with him. And even if she slept with him that didn’t mean she’d fall in love with him. According to her therapist and her ex, she didn’t do love. But Travis was tempting. Too tempting to resist.
The waitress came and they ordered wine, thankfully interrupting her thoughts. “Do you come to Austin often?” she asked Travis.
“Fairly often. Sometimes for business, sometimes for pleasure. I lived here for a while several years back.”
“So you’re familiar with the music scene.” He nodded and she continued, “Tell me more about this band we’re going to hear. Tomar and the FCs, you called them. They’re not a country group, are they?”
“No. Not country. They’re a local band. Mostly soul with a bit of rock and roll.”
“Sounds interest
ing. I haven’t listened to any live music in I don’t know how long.”
“You lived in Dallas. Are you telling me you never went to a club with live music?”
“Not in the last couple of years. My boyfriend didn’t go in for that.”
The waitress returned with their wine and took their order. Chicken Parmesan for Tobi and lasagna for Travis.
“A toast,” Travis said, picking up his wineglass.
Tobi picked up hers. “What are we toasting to?”
“To your eyes.”
She stared at him a moment. “Are you kidding? Can’t you think of anything more original than that?”
Blue eyes wickedly alight, he laughed. “Just making sure you were paying attention. To old friends.”
“That’s better,” she said, clinked glasses and took a sip of wine.
“You do have beautiful eyes, you know.”
Tobi narrowed said eyes at him. “They’re hazel.”
“Yes, they are. But hazel can mean a hundred different things. Sometimes I think it’s what you’re wearing that influences the shade and sometimes I think it’s your mood.”
Interested in spite of herself she said, “Tell me about these shades.”
“When you’re wearing blue, like you are tonight, they’re blue. And not just blue but gray blue or sky blue or light blue. Then when you’re wearing green they’re jade green, or emerald. Sometimes they’re brown. Cocoa or milk chocolate. And finally, sometimes they’re a combination of all of those.”
“When did you discover this? We’ve only seen each other three or four times since I’ve been back.”
“I’m very observant.”
She snorted, unwillingly charmed. “You’re full of blarney is what you are.”
He let that pass. Their entrées appeared and they were quiet a moment, enjoying the delicious food. “My chicken is wonderful.”
“Good. I like this place.”
She wondered how many women he’d brought here. How many he’d romanced like he was trying to do with her. And why, for God’s sake, did that matter? She didn’t plan on anything serious with Travis. Maybe if I tell myself that enough times, I’ll actually believe it.
“I’m curious about something,” Travis said. “At the ball you said you were taking a break from men.”
“Yes, I have been,” she agreed cautiously.
“Yet you’ve been dating.”
She took a bite and swallowed before speaking. “I wouldn’t call it dating, exactly. That implies something more serious.”
“You’ve gone out with Levi, Zack and now me. At least. I call that dating.”
She shrugged. “Call it what you want. But I’m not in the market for anything serious.”
“Duly noted.” He reached across the table and took her hand. Played with it as he spoke. “Does that mean you are in the market for something…unserious?”
Their eyes met. She didn’t pull her hand away. “I don’t know. I might be.”
“Good to know.” He continued to hold her hand, rubbing his thumb over the palm. It was strangely seductive.
She managed to tug her hand away and said, “I told you I was engaged before. Getting engaged was a mistake. I should have known, but he convinced me to try. Not long after we got engaged, we broke up.”
“Was it bad?”
“Is a breakup ever good?”
“Good point.”
“You can’t let anyone get close,” Steve had said. “You fake it well, but in reality there’s a big part of you that won’t ever lose control enough to really love someone.”
At the time she’d dismissed it as Steve justifying why it didn’t work out. But in the past, months after the breakup, she’d wondered if he’d been right. She hadn’t let a man get really close to her. Ever. Steve had managed more than the others she’d dated a few times but never for long.
Another sobering thought was that she had no close girlfriends either. Not since Shannon had died. She’d had friends, sure. But no one, other than her parents, to share the real Tobi with.
Travis looked sympathetic but didn’t push her to share more. Honestly, she’d told him most of it when he was helping her with her bookshelves. “We were both caught up in our careers and the relationship suffered. So we called it quits. But when he married so quickly after we broke up I wondered if he’d been seeing her before we split up. After that, I started thinking about moving.”
“Why did you come back to Whiskey River? When you left you swore it was for good.”
“It surprised me too. But I was awfully young back then. I wanted to experience life in the big city.” She laughed softly. “I certainly got my wish. I’ve lived in one big city or another since I left home after high school. When Raleigh and Clint approached me, I reevaluated. I wanted to be in a smaller town, with a slower pace. They really like Whiskey River and had more work than they could keep up with. The more I talked to them the more the idea appealed to me. So I changed my mind.”
“I’m glad.”
She smiled at him. “Enough about me. Why did you come back?”
“Because of Zack and Levi. Zack inherited the airfield. He saw the need for a larger airport in Whiskey River and convinced Levi and me to become partners in the operation. That was about three years ago.”
“When did you start flying? It must have been after you quit baseball.”
“Baseball quit me. But yeah, that’s when I started.” He shook his head. “I was really at a loss after I realized I’d have to find another career. I’d never thought about anything else.”
“What did you do after you left baseball?”
He gave her a wry look. “At first I drank a lot. Moped around feeling sorry for myself. And then Harlan got sick of it. He kicked my ass and told me to get over myself. Lots of people had career changes. Some of them forced, some not. I had a brain, so use it.”
She smiled. “Tough love.”
“Yes, it was. I needed it. Not long after that I saw a college buddy of mine who was a pilot. He took me up in his plane and that was it. I fell in love with flying.”
Travis was in love with flying.
And she couldn’t even bring herself to walk onto an airplane.
Yet here she sat, being romanced and charmed by a man more appealing than any man she’d ever been with.
Damn it.
Chapter Seven
After dinner Travis took her to the Flying Saddle club, where the band was playing.
Tomar and the FCs were one of his favorites. He’d seen them live for the first time when he lived in Austin several years ago. Now he tried to see them whenever he got the chance.
“What do you think?” he asked Tobi during a lull.
“About the band? They’re good. Not what I usually listen to, but I like them.”
They stayed for another hour before deciding to head back. Travis had a semi-early morning lesson and needed to get back home.
They didn’t talk much on the way home, but Travis reached across the console and held her hand. Crap. He was in trouble here. He’d always liked Tobi. Been pretty good friends with her a long time ago, until she’d quit keeping in touch.
But this was different. He wanted to take her to bed, which wasn’t a surprise. After all, she was a beautiful woman and he’d been celibate for a while now. But he really enjoyed just being with her. Getting to know her again. He suspected she had a lot of hidden facets. Ones she hadn’t had when she was a girl.
“You’ve been awfully quiet,” Travis said as he pulled into her driveway and put the SUV in park. “What are you thinking about?”
She smiled. “Maybe I’ll tell you later.”
“Now that’s a provocative statement.”
“Do you want to come in?”
He looked at her for a long moment, trying to gauge her mood. He smiled. “Sure.”
“Would you like a drink?” Tobi asked Travis once they were inside.
“Water would be good.”
; “I have beer if you want it.”
He followed her into the kitchen. “Just water. I’m flying with one of my students tomorrow so I limit the booze the night before.”
She got out a glass and put ice and water in it before handing it to him. “Do you have a lot of students?”
“A few. I’m always looking for more.” He sipped his water. “For the first year after I came back I flew for a company out of San Antonio. But once Zack, Levi and I bought a jet for charter, I quit. We’ve been trying to grow our charter business since then.”
She leaned back against the counter. “How is that going?”
“Pretty well. There are two pilots and two copilots now. If business gets better we’ll add more of us. We also opened up an airplane repair business and overseeing that is keeping me busy.” He put down his water and walked over to Tobi. “You never did say what you were thinking about on the way home.”
Her mouth kicked up in a smile. Her lipstick was gone, but her lips didn’t need it. Her mouth was plump, beautiful and enticing without it.
“You first,” she said.
Travis took her face in his hands, bent his head down and captured her mouth. He traced the seam of her lips with his tongue and she opened to accept him. Her taste burned its way through his bloodstream, as potent as whiskey, as sweet as sin.
Ending the kiss, he kept his hands on her face and said, “I’ve been thinking about kissing you since I realized who you were at the Boots & Bangles ball.”
“I kissed you Saturday when you came over,” she said, her voice husky and her eyes locked on to his.
“You did. Because you lost a bet.”
“Well, if we’re being honest—” She slid her palms up his chest, put her arms around his neck and said, “The bet wasn’t the only reason I kissed you.”
He grinned and lifted an eyebrow. “No?”
“No,” she said and kissed him.
Travis slid his hands down to her waist and pulled her closer. She came willingly, pressing herself against him as she continued to kiss him. He walked them backward, pinning her against the refrigerator. He slanted his mouth over hers, dipped his tongue inside her mouth. Her tongue teased and beckoned him; her arms tightened around his neck.