She looked disappointed and was trying to hide it. “You need to go help your friend.”
“I’m coming back,” he promised. “Once I find the emerald, nothing is going to keep me away.”
“You don’t have to convince me,” she said with a wobbly smile. “I believe you. You’ve never lied to me or had an ulterior motive.”
Travis kept silent. She didn’t know that he’d suspected she had taken the emerald. And she never will.
“If you say you’re going to return, you’re going to return,” she said confidently. “And I’ll be here when you get back.”
16
AN HOUR LATER, Travis walked into the small kitchen as he pulled on his T-shirt. Christine almost sighed with disappointment as the soft cotton covered his well-defined chest and hid the way his jeans rode low on his hips.
He frowned when he noticed Christine was still in her bathrobe. “Shouldn’t you get ready for work?”
“I called in sick a couple of minutes ago,” she said. “I told Laurie it was a twenty-four-hour bug.”
“You did? And she believed you?”
She smiled. “No.” She didn’t care what her coworkers thought. She didn’t know how long Travis would be gone and she wanted to make the most of the time they had together.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” he asked as he set his hands on his hips. “You just had a three-day weekend and people still think you had something to do with Faye’s missing bracelet.”
“The police called me while you were in the shower. Guess what?” she asked in a hushed, confident whisper. “The bracelet was found in the Lamb residence.”
“Imagine that.”
She rested her hip against the kitchen table. “I updated Laurie when I called in sick. She is so relieved.”
“And the rest of Cedar Valley will find out in the next ten minutes,” he predicted.
“But I can’t celebrate the good news with my coworkers,” she said as she flattened her hand against his chest. “I am staying in bed for the day.”
His eyebrow rose. “All day?”
“That’s right.” Anticipation beat hard against her chest. “But before I go back to bed, there’s something I need to know.”
Travis swiped his tongue along his lips as he stared at her mouth. “Okay, what?”
“What’s on your bucket list for sex?”
Something wicked flashed in his eyes. “I don’t have one.”
She gave him a look of disbelief. “I’m sure you have some fantasies.”
“I do,” he said in a drawl as his intense gaze made her blush.
Why wasn’t he telling her a few of them? Did he think she wasn’t ready for them? Was he worried that he’d shock her? “Are there any you want to share with me?”
“Yes.”
Her skin stung as her pulse skipped hard. “Name one thing on your bucket list.”
“You.”
She gave him a wide smile and brushed a light kiss on his mouth. “Good answer. But what’s on your list?”
“You,” he repeated as he placed his hands on her hips. “You are my list.”
She must have misheard. “I don’t understand.”
“I want to make love to you outdoors. Have sex in the shower with you. Under the stars and when I first wake up. I want to make love to you slow, and I want it hard and fast. I want you and only you,” he confessed gruffly. “You are my list.”
“Oh,” she said weakly.
“I will never get enough of you.”
She believed him. His words were like a pledge. A vow.
“Tell me more,” she said. “No, better yet, show me.”
Christine perched on the edge of the kitchen table and parted her legs, drawing him closer. Travis cupped her face with his large hands and tilted her head up to receive his mouth. He caressed her lips with the sweetest kisses. She opened her mouth and drew him in.
Christine dipped her hands under his shirt and her fingers skimmed his washboard abs. She flattened her palm against his chest and felt his steady heartbeat under her touch.
She loved this man. Christine knew it was too soon, too fast, but she couldn’t deny it any longer. The knowledge didn’t scare her. She was ready to risk anything to protect this feeling, to make it grow stronger.
And she didn’t want to hide her feelings from Travis. There was no longer a need. She wanted him to know how she felt about him. That she trusted him with her life, her body and her heart.
“Did your bucket list include stolen moments in the kitchen?” she asked against his mouth as she teased his flat nipple.