The way he said the words, had her lighting on fire.
He flicked the end of her nose bringing their bodies close. “Would it be alright if I just watched?”
She sucked in a sharp breath. There was hardly anything between them, but his clothes. Her leotard left her feeling exposed and naked. And those eyes caressed her from head-to-toe thoroughly. Her cheeks tinged pink, and her balance was off.
“If you don’t mind a room full of giddy little girls,” she cautioned.
“Are you kidding? You forget I have a little sister. And you look great,” he said, placing a hand on either side of her hips, distracting her brainless with that marvelously male body.
She felt like satin under his hands, and his blood heated. The urge to nibble on her skin, on her lips was overwhelming. He was sunk.
A cute little giggle brought them swiftly back to reality. Jumping out of his grasp, it looked like her students had started to arrive. She gave him a cheeky smile. “If you say so.”
“I’ll just hide out in the back corner. No one will even see me,” he assured, falling back into the shadows.
And he was right, except she knew he was there and occasionally caught glimpses of a golden glow. It was something she noticed more and more when she was around him. There was something odd about Travis.
When the class ended, she found he leaning up against the building outside, his hands tucked casually into his pockets. The wind blew his sandy hair, carrying his sexy scent. She had been worried he had already left.
“Hey you’re still here.” She sounded winded.
“You are amazing,” he said sincerely, and he meant every word, even though he already knew it. This hadn’t been the first time he had seen her dance.
Pushing off the brick, he walked her to the parking lot. Dusk was rolling in, darkening the evening sky. A light mist had fallen, now freezing with the dropping temperatures. It might be getting cooler outside, but Emma was like a furnace, she welcomed the cool spray on her flushed cheeks.
Would there always be this heightened tension between them? It made her want to be utterly reckless. Like now, she wanted to throw herself in his arms. She was sure this wasn’t a normal reaction even for hormone crazed teenagers. If so, hers were going bonkers.
“Be careful. The roads are slick,” he warned right before he shut the door. His voice was like velvet brushing over her highly sensitive skin.
Chapter 6
Purring the little engine to life, she waved at Travis and backed out of the space. Her stomach was still flip-flopping, and she missed him immediately.
Her car zipped along the road, until she got to the more unpopulated areas where few used the road. The sucky thing about living in the middle of nowhere, the roads were never plowed or salted.
And he wasn’t kidding. Her little Eclipse was all over the road. Keeping her speed under ten miles an hour, she trudge her way down the long, deserted country road. The towering treetops canopied overhead making a long dark tunnel. Giving the Eclipse a little more gas, she suddenly felt a rush to get home.
There was something out there giving her the creeps. That feeling of being followed was strong on her neck. Glancing in the rearview mirror, she checked to see if she was being tailed. Nothing but blackness. No other headlights joined hers on the street, and she convinced herself she was being silly. And paranoid. Why would anyone be stalking her?
Dividing her attention back to keeping her car on the road, she gripped the wheel tightly. She didn’t see the animal until it was practically kissing the hood of her car. Or she thought it was animal. From the quick glimpse she was able to get before everything turned chaotic, it looked like a mangled dog with the most hideous eyes. It was really the eyes that had stuck with her, a searing red which flamed through the pitch black night.
Slamming on her brakes instinctually, the tread of the tires couldn’t grip the slippery road. She knew she was in a shitload of trouble. The brakes locked, and her little car spun out of control. Headlights blurred wildly, shinning on the blacktop in roller coaster speeds. Closing her eyes, she held the steering wheel like it was her lifeline. Her head was spinning with the car.
It felt like a lifetime before her car finally came to a screeching stop. She found herself staring down the other lane into oncoming traffic, well if there had been any. Thanking her lucky stars that this road was like a ghost town, her muscles were taunt.
Holy shit that had been close. Too close.
Inhaling long deep breaths she tried to steady her ferociously pounding heart, it hammered in her ears. She was pretty sure that her car hadn’t hit anything, including the seriously wacked dog.