His eyes darkened to a dangerous color. “I get that you’ve been through hell and back, but I’m not giving up on us. I love you, Emma.”
Talk about sucking the air right from my lungs. “Travis, you don’t even know me anymore.”
“That girl is still in there, whether you believe it or not. I wasn’t able to fight for you before, and trust me they will pay.” His voice dropped to frozen octaves. “But I am here now and I won’t let you go so easily this time, not without bringing the walls down around us first.”
“Travis, I need space. I can’t think when you are near me.” Crap. Had that just come out of my mouth?
He gave me a dimple grin. “Good.”
I smacked him, and he caught my hand, threading our fingers. Travis had more excuses to see me than Carter had pills. And after awhile, I was finding it extremely hard to shut them all down.
The pad of his thumb ran across my chin. He was messing up my game plan, getting inside my head with his sexy dimples and “boy next door” charm. Travis was dangerous, but not in the way I had been brainwashed to believe. His weapons were his devilish good looks and his lips.
Oh Lord, his sweet lips were some much more lethal than any dagger, arrow, or sword I’d ever faced. “You need to leave. Now.”
He finally agreed to leave, but not without a good deal of reluctance. I slouched against the wooden frame of the garage and laid my head back. There should have been relief and irritation inside me, not disappointment and regret.
This sucked big cajones.
Chapter 12
It was Black Friday and I was feeling the height of crankiness. The holidays weren’t exactly joyous, filled with good tidings and all that stuff. Not for me. My dad made the trek home from the facility where he had been spending most of his time with the new recruits.
Thanksgiving at the Deen house had been the peak of awkwardness.
My bedroom became my hideout, especially after the dinner I had just been forced to endure. Would this feeling of never belonging ever leave me? Would I ever be able to find myself again? Be happy with myself?
Question after question tormented my mind as I stared out my bedroom window, the sheer white curtains floating around me. I had been failing miserably at trying to convince myself that what I imagined I’d felt the other day with Travis had been a fluke.
Normally I don’t lie to myself.
Since our steaming make-out session in the garage, Travis had been constantly on my mind. For shit’s sake, even now my cheeks flushed just thinking about him, thinking about our kiss. I needed some severe therapy. Stat.
It was the buzzing of my cell phone, vibrating on my bed that tore my thoughts from Travis. Glancing at the number on my screen, I did a double take. “How the hell did you get my number?” I answered the phone. This was a secure line given to me upon my release from the facility. I’d given it to no one. Not even my mom.
“I have many talents, Em, as you know,” Travis replied in a voice both lazy and sexy at the same time.
How the heck did he do that?
I pretended that his voice didn’t cause my heart to go into cardiac arrest. “Oh, I bet. How about you use one of those talents to forget my number?”
“You wound me.”
I snorted. “As if that was possible.” He was sounding more and more like his pompous ass of a cousin. It must be something about demon blood that made them think they were God’s gift to woman and we all should swoon at their feet.
Ha.
Not in this lifetime.
He had another thing coming if he thought this was going to be easy. “I’m hanging up now, and if you know what’s good for you, you won’t call me again.”
“Emma.” My name tumbled from his lips in a plea. “I needed to hear your voice.”
Oh crap. He’s done it now.
My heart did a precession of cartwheels and maybe a few back flips as well. “You’re insane.”
“About you.”
I knew that he cared about me, loved me even, but hearing him say it out loud made my tummy turn to jelly mush. In my head, I could picture the dimples I was sure were winking at me. “You say that to all the girls.” After the words left my mouth, I realized that what felt like eons ago—back before I knew what he was—we’d had a very similar conversation.
Travis also remembered. “I thought we already covered this. There is no one else for me but you.”
If I closed my eyes, I knew that I would be able to see his face. Sandy hair that felt like satin in my fingers, sparkling aquamarine eyes filled with charm and charisma, and those damn dimples. He was the stuff of dreams.
“Em, come out and play with me.” His voice had gone sensual and silky.
I choked. His idea of play was definitely going to involve his tongue tangling with mine. I was more tempted than I should have been.
“I’ll pass.”
“I bet I could make you change your mind.”
Holy mackerel.
If he kept up that tone, I was going to need a cold shower. So I did the only thing I could think of. I hung up on him before I did something utterly stupid. His laugh echoed in my ear as I plopped on my bed, trying to calm my overheated body.