He stopped in his tracks, realizing that he’d just walked at least three blocks and had left Rachel alone in the car, in a strange neighborhood he knew nothing about.
But he wasn’t ready to go back. He had no idea how he was going to explain his sudden departure, or what he was going to do with Rachel.
He needed a moment to regroup, and walking farther away wasn’t going to do him any good. He noticed a small cafe a few paces up and stepped over, taking one of the chairs. He needed to calm down. It was an innocent comment, one that shouldn’t have sent him reeling like he had.
But it did.
He took several deep breaths, trying to calm the fury, confusion, and desire that mixed like poison in his blood. He tried to sort out his thoughts, knowing that, in moments, he needed to head back to the car before she took off, leaving him frantic to find her.
He couldn’t let her do that, and a side of him knew that’s exactly what she’d do if he didn’t get back soon. He rubbed his eyes, trying to get a grip on his state and sort out his thoughts, when he heard the voice above him.
“I’m sorry, Travis. Please don’t be angry with me.”
He looked up to see those sweet green eyes welled with tears. Her hair sparkled like spun gold in the afternoon sun, casting a halo around her head. The fresh scent of lavender circled around him, encasing him in a fog of desire that somehow managed to calm his anger and confusion. He glanced away, feeling suddenly drained by the storm of rage that had just swept through him.
“Look,” she said. “You got your answer from Layla. You know why Carrie broke up with you. It wasn’t anything you did. You don’t need to go any further with this.”
He heard the words, but they didn’t register. Holding his gaze on the storefront across the street, he asked, “How do you do it?”
“Do what?”
“How do you get over the anger when you know it wasn’t their fault?”
He heard her sigh as she lowered to the seat next to him. Quietly, she began, “You acknowledge it. Then you realize that the feelings are normal. You accept that it doesn’t make you a bad person. You accept that it doesn’t mean you don’t still love the person, or miss them any less.” She smiled wryly. “That’s what the therapists say, at least. When I get over my anger, I’ll let you know how I did it.”
He looked back to those glassy sage eyes and allowed himself to smile. “I overreacted.”
“Shh,” she said, pressing a finger to his lips.
Through her tender touch, her understanding words, he was overcome with the urge to kiss her again, but he held the impulse at bay. The woman was like a skittish little squirrel, the slightest wrong move sending her scampering away. And right now, he really wanted her by his side.
“We’re two broken souls, aren’t we, Rachel?”
She grinned and blinked, causing a small crystal tear to drop from her eye and catch between those long, feathery lashes. He lifted a finger and brushed it away, then took her hand in his.
“Come on, let’s go come up with a new plan,” he said.
Chapter Five
The drive back to the city was a quiet one. A calming one. Rachel leaned against her seat and shot a sideways glance at Travis. His eyes were on the road, and his strong hands held the steering wheel with the utmost of ease. Her gaze drifted lower, to his wide mouth and firm lips. No, soft lips, she remembered, as the memory of their kiss wafted into her tired brain.
What was happening to her? Why did she feel like she’d boarded a roller coaster and was in the process of a series of exhilarating highs and crashing lows? Since Travis had walked back into her life, her emotions had been on edge. The battle still raged inside of her, a war of pain and bitterness, desire and hesitation. And her greatest weapon, that defensive shell she’d constructed over her heart, didn’t seem to be holding out. Travis was slowly finding his way in.
“Do you want me to come in?” he asked, his voice telling her he wasn’t going to force her into anything.
She saw the sun setting in the horizon, dipping below the skyscrapers and office buildings of the city. Did she want him to come in? Yes. No. She didn’t even know anymore.
He pulled up in front of her building and stopped the car, watching her with an expectant expression.
Her heart thumped in her chest at the sight of his light-brown eyes. God, she did want him to come in. She couldn’t bear being alone anymore, sitting in her lonely apartment and eating Chinese leftovers. Her home had always been her haven, her shelter from the storm of uncertainty that raged outside. She’d never brought a man into that shelter, until Travis.
“Rachel?”
Temptation swirled in her belly. She didn’t want to be alone. She didn’t like to be alone.
Hattie doesn’t like to be alone.